2020 - Worldlie Chicks Hoping For a Better Second Half

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  • Shad,
    good to hear from you again. Was beginning to wonder if you had gotten lost in the bush but then remembered you have Covid and restrictions also so you probably couldn't roam too far. I figured most people are not posting because we are out of our routines and there's nothing much going on anyway. The problem is though that once you get away, it's harder and harder to get back and oftentimes I have thought we are finally drifting apart after all these years together. Would not like to see that happen.

    Must have been nice to get out of the house and see the sights a bit. I'm sure the shops were happy for your business. We have actually had much success at the stores in town. People come here to get away from the crowded cities. The locals blame the tourists / seasonals for the virus but in all honesty, from what I have seen and heard they are very careful. It's the bar flies and the politicals that are creating the problems with their anti-masking. So the small shops are doing ok - we did very well financially at the thrift shop. It's the bars that are suffering the worst of it as they depend on the high mark up liquor sales and say they can't survive on take away / carry out food orders.

    As I look at the snow out there Shad, I would love some of your warmer weather but keep the bugs and flies please. I hope you are not going to enter summer with another round of drought. You have had enough weather troubles in your area. I guess it's time to give up the volunteering for you also - seems the same for all of us - eventually we get tired of the political fighting, the power grabs and feel like it's just not worth the hassle. I am at the very very fringes of my volunteering and wouldn't mind being done altogether.

    I hear you on the weight loss. Steroids are infamous for puffing one up. Sorry to hear that you are having lingering problems with the sinus issues. Hope that is not permanent. I hate the headaches - nothing seems to relieve them as they took all the good over the counter medications off the market because they make good meth drugs apparently I have really cut back on my eating. Substantially - I eat about one meal a day which is probably not good but I fill up really quickly. Losing my taste for sugar also which I'm not complaining about. What I will complain is that I am not losing ANY weight at all. I was digging through the garage and found my old book of 7 Week Body Makeover from years and years past. I did not do the original restrictive diet but the one where you eat and avoid certain types of food based on your body type. And it introduced more frequent, mini meals thoughout the day. That worked well for me when I was working from home but once I had to go into the office again, I would often get distracted and not eat at the right times or according to program. And as Susie knows, you have to also incorporate a healthy dose of daily exercise as well.

    Well I started this yesterday, walked away for some number of various reasons so going to post before I lose this. I have to get dressed and out the door shortly to go pick up the last few remaining items I need at the grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner. Hoping I got there early enough before the crowds. If I don't get back here, wishing everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving in this year of weirdness. We are wrapping up the year, hopefully things will be better soon.
  • Morning all,
    Got a few minutes before I need to be somewhere else so I thought I would do some computer work. I'm playing an Elvis CD and thought of you Happy because it's one I bought when we went to Graceland together. I wonder if we will ever get together again sometime.

    Our COVID restrictions are now very loose. We can have gatherings of up to 100 people, weddings and funerals are more or less back to normal - well as normal as life gets these days. We can travel just about anywhere in Australia - still a few restrictions on Sydney although I gather from this mornings news that they will disappear on December 1. Also some restrictions involving Victoria, but these days after their long and hard lockdown they have progressed amazingly. Just goes to show what discipline and determination will do for a population not familiar with the word discipline. I can't travel abroad yet, can't go home to NZ but there is talk of a travel bubble between Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and NZ coming soon. I can get to NZ if I have to, but there are quarantine restrictions because they have all but eradicated the virus. Australia is nearly there as well. However it will be a long time until we can travel to Europe, UK or USA again. I was going to have Christmas with DS1 and family but they have too much going on with moving into the new house, her birthday and various other things so I will now leave it until late January or maybe February provided no one has any outbreaks again.

    Happy - It's a similar situation here , the hospitality industry is hardest hit and they moaned and groaned all through the pandemic restrictions. Some shops, eateries or otherwise will never reopen. However the ones who did okay were those who got online and delivered to various households. We actually have a drone service in our area, and while I hate the noise (sound like whining mosquitoes) it is one way of getting no contact handling of food and medicine and the tradies love it for getting hardware stuff that they needed in a hurry. They deliver (there's 3 of them) food from a local café, medical supplies to and from the pharmacies and small packets of things. These ones can't carry large loads like big pizza boxes and heavy weights but they do okay and no doubt the inventory people are working on ways to make the pizza boxes smaller.

    Another hot and sunny day today. Supposed to be a storm and rain coming later, but I take that with a grain of salt. I'm coming back as a meteorologist since they get paid big bucks to get it all wrong. However it is hazy enough and hot enough out there to be a storm warning. Guess I need to go batten down the stuff in the yard in case it brings wind as well. The dog is getting restless as well - a sure sign something is going to happen since he hates storms. He will be wanting to sit on my knee again when it hits. It's hot enough without a 40Kg dog trying to get on my lap.

    Tomorrow is haircut day and not before time either. It is almost completely unmanageable at the moment. I'm pretty useless with hairstyling so I guess I will tell her to cut it short but not make me bald. Okay, better go and try to sort out this blessed Christmas thing. Damned if I know what the treasurer of the club has done with the banking.

    Catch you all later.
  • Hello hello as a member said before

    Nothing new to report.
    __________________
    choices=consequences
  • !
    Hello! This is a short work week for me. I worked today and will work tomorrow and then I am off until next Monday! We get Thanksgiving and the Day after as holiday's and I took Wednesday off as well.


    Thanksgiving we will be with friends at their home. We see them every week and so we feel it is safe to do Thanksgiving Lunch with them. Other than that, I will do a bit of cyber shopping (I have a lot of it done) and DH likes to wrap so it will be good to get that started for the things we already have bought.


    DH is doing well with recovery from the RAF leg outpatient surgery he had last Friday. He gets the left one done on December 3.


    I am happy to report a 1.8 lb loss last week at TOPS. I have 19 lbs to go to loose my Covid-19.


    We found out Friday that we will be working from home through April 30, 2021. We will hear more about returning at the first of April. It is crazy to think we left the building the middle of March and it will be over a year before we go back.


    Shad: My DH and I are big Elvis fans. It has a while since we have been to Graceland. Our niece, Layna, turned 17 today and for her birthday she wanted a record player and albums for her presents. One of the albums that she wanted was Elvis' Christmas Album.


    Happy: Thank you for sharing the Cracker Barrell Recipe from Annie ; it is one of my favorite things to order at Cracker Barrell.


    Hello to Laura and Annie.
  • Hello Everyone and Happy Happy Thanksgiving....sorry Shaddie. You can be a turkey with us too if you like.

    Still loving this job. My leader is the best. There is sooooooo much to learn and I do learn something new every day. I have a journal and writing down everything so I have a reference. We have great resources so it is not too hard to become familiar with procedures. My boss is giving me half day off tomorrow (Wednesday and also Friday off all day) Thursday is a holiday.

    Our weather has turned chilly, but no snow HAPPY, which is just fine by me. We are hunkering down when I don't have to come to work.

    COVID has hit a little close to home. Samantha's ex-hub and his GF both have it. THank the Good Lord neither of the boys were around them. Their tests came back positive last Saturday. He will not be getting the boys at all for Thanksgiving and really he should keep his arse at home anyway. A few days before he started feeling bad he posted on social media hanging out in a bar, no mask. What a dummy. Probably where he got it. He gave it to his GF, they live together so no getting around that one.

    My niece, the nurse, who lives in Denver CO contracted it from her daughter, my grand niece, who works in the public mall setting. Now my niece the nurse has avoided it all this time and now has it. They are both mild to med symptoms. No thanks keep it in Denver.

    Pretty quiet around here. My boss has gone home for the day. I am the only one here, hence posting. lol.

    SUSIE...glad your shoulder is not giving you too much pain and Hubs is healing nicely.

    LAURA...you won't know how to act going back in the office when the time comes. How is that sickly admin doing?

    HI CEEG..hope you are well and enjoying your family.

    SHADDIE...still working like a horse around the ole corral. Wouldn't expect anything less.

    That is about all for me. Nothing too exciting going on. Got a chair massage appt tonight as I cannot turn my head to the left without pain. Slept on it wrong a week ago.

    Love you gals!
  • Hellos to all.



    Susie – Yes, can be hard to stay focused when working from home. Just being in the house is distracting – you keep seeing all the projects that need doing and thinking about them. When I was in the office working, it was “out of sight, out of mind” most of the time. == I’m glad things are going smoothly being at home with your DH. Nice to have someone doing the housework that isn’t you! == It’s smart for him to not try and work PT and possibly goof up his unemployment. By what you’ve already been through, you know all too well how difficult it is to deal with the unemployment agency when they are so overloaded. And it’s nice for him to get a breather! If he’s like the rest of us, he’s been working since he was a teenager and doesn’t know what it’s like to not work. I started when I was 14 - part-time back then - and have never stopped. == I’m glad the shots are working for your shoulder and that you can tolerate the pain that you do have until it’s safer to have the surgery. == I’m glad your DH’s surgery went well. Is there a long recovery? == We’re having an all-employee meeting around mid-December and I expect to hear that we’ll be WFH until sometime in spring. Who’d have thought this would go on for so long? == One year I asked for Christmas music for a gift and one of the CD’s I received that year was an Elvis Christmas album! I like it!



    Happy – How’s the move to the new laptop going? I ordered a new monitor through work to use at home because my old one (taken home from our old office space before we moved and got a whole new setup in the new space) has sporadically had its screen go black and it happens at least a few times per day. The monitor was delivered today at lunchtime, so I’ll set it up tonight. == I don’t get to Cracker Barrel and haven’t had that casserole, but it looks good - what’s not to like about potatoes, butter, cheese, sour cream?? Thanks for posting it.



    Shad – Hi stranger! I’d love to have a winter where the coldest it gets is ~60F. We just had our first snow where it covered the grass and it stuck around for a couple hours. I wasn’t particularly glad to see it, especially since we still have leaves to remove! But I wouldn’t like your summers…I don’t like my summers…I think I’d like summer in San Diego, LOL. As for LOLs – I was laughing when I read what you wrote about “…too many people being their normal stupid selves.” They're everywhere!!! == I hope you can get into a water aerobics class and that it helps move the scale. And also got a chuckle out of “I’m coming back as a meteorologist since they get paid big bucks to get it all wrong.” So true! == How did your haircut turn out?



    Annie – Yay for still loving your new job. == Glad the boys didn’t get COVID from their dad!! == I agree, being back in the office, whenever that happens, will be strange. I hope to be able to keep doing some WFH even when the office re-opens. The sickly admin is hanging in there. It’s good she’s at home, of course, because she’s on anti-rejection drugs due to her kidney transplant and is one of the vulnerable. I hope you enjoy your massage and that it unkinks the kink in your neck! I won a massage gift card in a fundraising raffle and I’m wondering when it’ll show up in the mail. I imagine the person who had the gift cards and other raffle items will deliver them to the office and they will be shipped out from there. Since the office services people in our office only go there once a week these days, it’ll probably take a while before everything gets sent out. I’ll keep watching my mail.



    Nothing much to report on my end. Taking days off to use my vacation time - today's the only day I worked this week. I have a 6-day weekend - woohoo! But I'm not really doing anything special. Doing some videochats with friends. Doing housework. Doing a jigsaw puzzle. TV, books. That kind of stuff.

    BF’s mom ordered some Thanksgiving dinners from the senior center or some organization that usually hosted a TG luncheon in person but did it via pick-up this year for obvious reasons. The pick-up was Saturday, so we had TG dinner at her place on Saturday. I hadn’t seen her in some time, so it was nice to catch up with her. She and my mother will be coming over on Thursday for dinner, and we’ll be having ham.

    That’s about it. Wishing all the Worldlies in the States a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! Everyone stay safe and healthy!! TTFN!
  • Good morning ladies,

    Happy December already. For a weirdo crummy year this in retrospect did go by quickly. Thanksgiving was quiet. I cooked - everything from scratch and after 5 hours of standing in the kitchen by the time the meal was ready I was almost too tired to eat. DH said everything was delicious and offered to fix me a plate. I thought i had comfortable enough shoes on but maybe even my New Balances were not good enough for a marathon cooking session. And I didn't cook a ton of food since it was just the two of us. I made a small turkey breast and we had enough for 2 and a half meals. Christmas is like in 3 weeks - I can't even fathom. I can't really decorate with the 2 young cats - Conan the Destroyer and his sidekick. Whatever I do put out can't be pulled apart or chewed on so that leaves out most of my decorations and most certainly a tree. I didn't decorate last year either - the kittens were little and still would have caused mischief but I frankly just didn't feel like it. I do admit to having lost my Christmas spirit and this is probably a good year to do so since we are supposed to stay apart anyway. I am kind of glad not to have to worry about going to parties with people I'd rather not be around anyhow so it's not bad at all.

    DH is turning 71 so he had to start taking money out of retirement savings. We do on a regular basis anyway to supplement as pensions alone would force us to live far more frugally than either of us care to and without kids, neither of us desire to do without so that someone else can squander the money after we die. It's a tricky game to figure out how much you can spend without setting yourself up for problems in your older, more feeble years when you might need it vs being too conservative and not enjoying it. DH has the itch to go places with his photography but my physical condition and having 4 cats really puts the kink in that so he plans a trip or two himself. It is very hard for me to get around with my knees - I think I damaged my replacement knee when I fell in May as well as some permanent damage to the left one. I am not quite ready for a double knee transplant and have to lose a substantial amount of weight in order for that to be mildly successful. The cold weather doesn't make it any easier. They closed the pool where I was going - they got a salt water system and unfortunately have had numerous problems with it ever since the facility opened. It's been down for almost a month now. I have really cut back on my eating. I have a big mid-day meal, no breakfast other than coffee and I am simply not hungry for supper most nights. I do make sure DH is fed. I have lost about 6 pounds over the last 2 months - it's super slow to come off and I swing back and forth with a pound lost, pound gained depending on the salts and such. I am not eating balanced meals either which I know is not good. I need to get more organized. In so many aspects of my life.

    I would love to change the house - the interior needs a good painting but with 2 story high peaked ceilings that is a challenge. I would also love to rip out the carpet and replace all the flooring with better wood throughout. Which means we somehow need to get all the furniture out of the house. That would be a very hard job for DH to do alone, would be better to have someone come in and do it 1, 2, 3 and done in a day or two. But DH is very picky. I also have a very expensive dining room set - table, chairs, a large cabinet and smaller butler cabinet that take up a lot of room and really don't fit in here. We got them in Tennessee when we had a separate formal dining room and the people who bought our house did not want to buy them so we took them with us. It's a Thomasville all wood, dark cherry set - very nice and sturdy but not the light pine of the Northwoods. Also this house is too small for a set like that. I don't know, I seem to be paralyzed by indecision these last 2 years. We talked about changing the kitchen, changing the living room, redoing the laundry / mud room, getting me a new car, taking a trip of a lifetime to Australia and New Zealand and I just can't seem to get my act together. So another year goes by and I just get older and let able to do things.

    I did get the laptop switched over. Was not as hard as I anticipated. I was able to download all my saved passwords into a spread sheet which helped tremendously. Some of the things I copied to an external hard drive and then copied over came out a little wonky, I am working on going through organizing things which gives me an opportunity to purge them. Windows 10 is not as awful as I remember when I first saw it. I am embarrassed that they no longer make this model of laptop (my new one) and come February my initial 2 year warranty will expire. Did I seriously leave this new laptop for almost 2 years before setting it up? I do like the keyboard and bigger, clearer screen. The only thing I don't like is the keyboard is metal like and it's chilly, especially in this part of the woods. Part of my cleanup was going through some documents and things that kind of took me down a trip down memory lane about my life so far. That was interesting, many bits I had forgotten or tend to get mixed up now when I try and think back.

    My Mom is doing good. She stayed home for Thanksgiving for the first time ever but my sister dropped her meals twice - homemade spaghetti and meatballs which she enjoyed on Thanksgiving and then got a basket of Thanksgiving turkey and fixings on Friday after my sister cooked. I had said that after we moved to Tennessee and were not able to come back that holidays had lost their meaning to me - Easter, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas it was just me and DH which came to be like any other day in our lives, just with better food and nicer china plates sometimes. It was sad for me and as the years passed, it actually got depressing which is why I think deep down I am not that excited about Christmas any more. But my sister who always wound up hosting the family meals said this was the first time she was ever home alone with no one but her immediate family and she LOVED IT. No cleaning the house, no cooking up a storm in her too tiny kitchen, no stress, no family members arriving 2 hours early and being totally in the way of everything just because that's the schedule they wanted to stick to. Sis said she could easily get used to these holidays. I said wait until you've had about 10 of them, in a row, for all holidays! Still I am happy that she enjoyed herself for once without the major stress and aggravation the holidays often brought to her. Sorry to be such a downer.

    Laura - hope you got your new monitor set up and working and it was the monitor - not the video card that was causing the blanking out. You are right when you said you would love Shad's winters but not her summers. That's the problem with most places that have mild winter temperatures. For the most part it's either short winters and beastly hot summers or if you find a place like San Francisco that is mildly temperate all year long, it's horrendously expensive or you have to deal with Mother Nature's droughts, earthquakes, wildfires and such. We've been looking for years, no perfect place unless you have lots of money to live in 2 places and toggle the weather! Enjoy your days off. Doesn't seem like you both are big travelers and this year is not one to do it so might as well enjoy yourself at home. Have you given any more thought to getting another pet? Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with the mommas.

    Annie - one of the best parts of changing jobs I thought was that renewed enthusiasm about something different and learning new stuff. I often stayed at jobs 7 years or so and by the end you get tired, jaded because you have seen a lot of b.s. and unfair treatment. Starting fresh is just wonderful - it gets your brain active and engaged too. Like walking outside in the bright sunshine and mild weather after months of gray winter days. I'm so happy you are enjoying yourself. I'm glad the boys did not pick up Covid. As widespread as it is, going to be more and more difficult to avoid it. Hope your niece will be ok also. I'd be afraid being a medical person - ticked off too that people are being so resistant to common sense. I hope the massage fixes your neck kink. I have a neck thing I got at Amazon that is filled with beads you heat in the microwave. I sleep with it most every night and it helps with the tension in the neck and back and I think the heat is soothing and helps me relax and fall asleep more quickly. I recommended it to my Mom but like everything she poo poo'd the idea so not wasting the money to buy her one though I know it would help her. Don't be like my momma

    Susie - hope you enjoyed your long weekend. Do you find work less hectic now that you are working from home? Or was a big part of the stress before the conditions you were working under and the new bosses are better? Glad to hear DH is recovering well from his surgery. Is it just healing or does he have to do any P/T? Congrats on the continued weight loss.

    Shad - ah that was a long time ago in Graceland. I think of you occasionally and how the world conspired to mess up travel plans. You have visited as we moved about the country and the place we are at now, I think would be the place you would most enjoy as it is about as far removed from the city live with lots of trees and nature and all that comes with it - bears, turkey, deer, birds and even the mossies in the height if summer are probably still not as bad as you are used to. Hopefully someday we can come down and you can give us the tour and you will be back here one last time before we are both in scooters or wheelchairs! Hope you sorted out the mess with the bookkeeping. I spent a few hours dealing with Microsoft and the banks because they changed the credit cards for the Humane Society and I can switch them over for the monthly subscription billing for the shelter PCs. Only to find that there is a glitch and the people I have to call - support is only available for a small window each day and then they have a 5 day holiday weekend! I am grumbling wondering why I am wasting so much of my time on this project. I do really want to be done with the volunteering. I told them I won't be doing bingo until they get this Covid under control which means maybe not at all next year which of course, they don't want to hear. Maybe 2021 will be the year of the hermit! Glad to hear that things are getting better for you. I suspect we are in for a rough patch as we have so many resistant to common sense here. The people in this country have got batty.

    Hello Ceejay!

    The sun is creeping up to the point where I can no longer see the screen so I'm going to post this and go on to other projects. Stay well everyone and check in from time to time.



  • Hello All.

    Workday's over and I thought I'd come say hello. I'm so tired. My mom's bathtub drain was clogged and when I dropped off some groceries for her on Saturday, I also tried to unclog it. My hands got all raw from trying to plunge it (wood-handled plunger) and they were throbbing by the time I finally went home. I couldn't clear the clog that day, and neither could my sister the next day when she was there to take my mom for a flu shot. She had the maintenance staff come and do it today. So glad that's taken care of.

    Yesterday bf and I changed out our bathroom faucet because it needed the washers replaced, but the inside workings were so rusted it couldn't be removed without wrecking it. Ugh. And it wasn't even that old of a faucet! Grrr. Bf did almost all of the work, but had me help with removing some of the parts from underneath the sink. With his ear issue, bf gets vertigo in certain positions, so that makes it very uncomfortable for him to work that way. I hated to spend money on a new faucet when we still have the crummy old vanity top. I need to get on the ball and find a trustworthy contractor to remodel our full bath. BF doesn't want to do the work and yet doesn't want to pay someone else, so it'll be an argument for sure.

    So my weekend wasn't all that great, but I'll get over it. Nothing else going on in my life. Just work, housework, shopping/helping my mother, reading, tv, jigsaw puzzle...repeat.

    Happy - I definitely feel it when I've been on my feet for longer periods of time. We have one of those foam runners/mats made for kitchens. It definitely helps cushion your feet. I also like it because it's easier to clean than a rug/runner - it's vinyl covered and you just sweep it off and wipe it down with a damp rag. === I haven't done any Christmas decorating so far either, and I need to buy some Christmas cards... === Re your DH's required minimum distributions - so not only must we try to make sure we have enough money to retire comfortably, but we must also continue to agonize in retirement over the right balance of spending to ensure we don't run out of money...oh fun. But it will be great to retire - saw your fb post the other day about not working. Yes, I will surely appreciate that when the time comes! But right now I'm content to appreciate not having to commute back and forth to/from work. === I'm sorry your knees aren't up for trips. And it's easier said than done to make health and weight loss improvements job #1, even when you're retired. Is there any kind of exercise you can do to help your knees feel better, and also exercises to amp up your metabolism? Maybe try to do some exercises with hand weights? === I know what you mean when you say you want to make changes to your house - spending so much time here now makes me hyper-aware of all the things that need doing and those I want to do. Sigh. == Glad the laptop switch wasn't as awful as you thought it might be. == Glad your mom enjoyed Thanksgiving - and same for your sister. I understand you no longer feeling the holidays are enjoyable without family around you, but I do understand your sister enjoying a break in having to host a meal for a big group. I find it very stressful - bf and I are never on the same page with it. I try to prep as much as I can in advance, and bf is very much a last minute person. Having people come over and then they wait hours for dinner is ridiculous and all because he didn't get an earlier start on this dish or that. Bleh. == My new monitor is set up and fine. It doesn't adjust up and down like my old one, but it seems alright at the height it is, and if I decide I need it higher, I could buy a riser for it... == Yes, I'd like to get another dog but BF has said he'll never have another one after losing our dog 4+ years ago - too devastated. I thought not having a dog for a few years would allow for some vacations/trips without worrying about a pet sitter/walker, but the trips haven't happened thanks to my foot for the past few years and due to COVID this year...I definitely want to have a dog again, but I think I'll wait until I arrange to WFH on a permanent basis even after the office reopens. This time around with the dog, I would definitely make sure things like doggy daycare, dogwalking and dogsitting are all set up so it's not like choosing between a dog and a vacation...

    Okay, gonna get this posted. Hellos to the rest of you! Pop in when you get a chance!
  • Hello Ladies...

    I am off FB for a while. It is just such a joy stealer. Too much negative and bs. I think people enjoy posting negative crap and hurting others. Even if it is unintentional. If you can't say anything nice just shut the fruit up. I know not everything is peachy keen, but when I let the negative get to me it is time to let it go.

    My friend Gina who owns the pizza shop, her hub, momma and dad all got covid. Not too bad. All are recovering. Seems I know more and more people that have it or had it.

    Our family Christmas is Sat the 19th. Same small crowd of 9 that we had for Thanksgiving. Only this time at my house. Serving the normal holiday meal. Chili. hahahahaha. Sick of ham and turkey, so chili it is. Cornbread, pie and salad. boom shocka locka.
    Work still going great. Yes, I agree with you HAPPY...all the newness of learning the job makes it for a fun environment, but along with that is being treated well. That part I did not get at WFargo.

    LAURA....many of my friends that WFH have adjusted to it so well that they do not want to go back into the office. They thought it was hard and couldn't do it in the beginning but now prefer it.

    Have a wonderful weekend all.

    Love yas.
  • Hello worldly chicks. It's been awhile since I've posted on this thread. I'm now posting of Steel Magnolias. They post more regularly There is nothing new to report except I've come back to Battlefield. Didn't like the other place. The day time was okay but night time was spooky. Sis made nephew move due to his behavior. I will just say he was living a playboy lifestyle and leave it at that.
    This is it for me.
  • Hello! I am excited and happy to report that I am now out of office from December 14 to Jan 4 for vacation time and Holidays!


    I am so excited to not have to think about work things!! I shouldn't have to much to go back to as most everyone will be out of office from Dec 21 to Jan 4, so really just this week and I don't think I will have that much as I told everyone 30 days before to have every thing they needed done to me by December 7 so I could work it to closure by Dec 11, my last day in the office until Jan 4. They about killed me with all they gave to me but at least I won't come back to it.


    DH has had both his leg surgeries and is doing very well. The swelling in his legs has diminished completely and that is without the compression socks but they told him to wear them daily and he is. He says his legs no longer ache.


    I have done all my Christmas shopping online with the exception of some Bath and Body products I need to pick up. I like to go to the store for those things. In fact we plan to go today and get that.


    DH has been wrapping most of the gifts as they come in; I have his to wrap. I plan to send him to the grocery later this week and wrap while he is gone. That man can spend a couple of hours at the grocery. He is very social and talks with everyone...I tell him it is ok as long as he has his mask on and they do to and they social distance, and no hugs or shaking hands.


    I wanted to check in and read all the posts as I have missed all of you.


    Ceejay: It is great to see you! I'm so glad you posted on our thread


    Annie: It sound like you have a nice Family Christmas planned. I'm glad to hear you are enjoying your new workplace. I hope your friend Gina and her family have recovered well from Covid.


    Laura: If the boyfriend won't get on board with getting the updates done, I would at least get contractors in to give me estimates and get an idea of the costs and then share that with the boyfriend and ask if he wants to contribute sweat equity or $$ to the updates because they are going to get done....you have waited long enough.


    Are you still working from home? I am and will be until May 2021 (that is what they told us 2 weeks ago). I do prefer it. I think if I could go in the office 3 times a week and two days at home, it would be a nice balance for me. I might ask about that after we come back to the office. We do have flexible working arrangements available to take.


    Happy: Very nice that you got the laptop switched over.


    I need to get a move on. We are planning to go get the Bathy and Body items in about an hour and I need to get my make-up on (I don't do much of that anymore daily except mascara!) and I want to eat a light lunch before we go.


    I'll be back soon! I promise!!
  • Hi ladies,

    Figured I'd check in. Not much going on. I have to finish a few Christmas cards, just not in the mood - you'd think I had to shovel a mountain's worth of dirt with all the time this is taking. I'd like Christmas to be over and the start of a New Year and put this year behind us. I am hiding out at home as much as possible. I agree with Annie - people are just crazy, crazy, crazy and opinionated and I really don't want to interact with them any more. Never noticed it as much as the last 2 years. Ugh.

    My knee is acting up and it's affecting my ankle too. Not sure if it's the shoes or the lack of therapeutic exercises but I have again started my P/T exercises. DH and I went to a session at the gym yesterday about corrective exercises. The guy was enthusiastic but not everyone can teach. The session was SO technical and dry - I felt like I was in a second year medical training program. He needs to learn to translate technical to English just like I had to do with computers. We might try a second session IF he actually shows us real exercises this time. I did some shopping for myself online with sales and DH is seriously debating about a new mirrorless camera for himself so our shopping is done. I sent packages to my sister and Mom so they got their goody boxes. Swiss Colony used to offer the very best Christmas oranges and sadly they have not carried them for years. They were a favorite gift of mine as the oranges were always juicy and sweet. I could order from many Florida citrus groves but these were a special orange only available between mid-December and mid-January so don't know the right kind to order.

    Susie - enjoy your time off! I'm sure you will find many ways to keep busy and have some relaxing time. Glad DH is recovering nicely.

    Ceejay - nice to see you. I admit I am very confused on where you are living. Are you with your sister, on your own or living in your sister's house? It seemed like you moved to a new town, more rural recently so does this mean you are back in the city again.

    Laura - sometimes the clog is so bad they need to rod it out when a plunger won't do the trick. Glad it got fixed. I feel your pain on the push me / pull you back and forth about remodeling. With us DH is getting older but he has always been meticulous. Not a perfectionist but do it correctly and let's face it, a lot of people do a mediocre job so he hates to contract someone because they do a so-so job and he gets mad paying good money for that. That's a bummer with BF's vertigo. I have the same problem, this time of year it's really bad - when the vertigo hits, it's sudden and about knocks you on your feet. A very strange feeling, not one you want to invoke but sadly it happens when you tip your head and going about life, we have to tip our heads! I hope you can find the right time to get another dog again. Yes, they do require extra thinking (tell me about it with 4 cats!!) but they bring so much to our lives. And yes, the hardest part is when they get sick or reach the natural end of their lives but it's no reason to not give another one a loving home on day.

    Annie - I agree with you about Facebook. People are just getting mean. Glad your friends are doing well with the Covid. I think I am more nervous about the cases that have lingering effects long past recovery. They had a lead article in our paper this week about a local resident who had a mild case but still months later suffers from sudden onset of exhaustion and headaches. I am on the fence about the vaccine at this point but I have time to think about it as not only would I be in the 3rd group but apparently the government has not done a good job of distributing the vaccine as the manufacturers have millions of doses sitting in warehouses awaiting orders to transport and institutions are getting letters that they are getting shorted out on what they originally thought they were getting. This country is so messed up. I hope we can recover and find a good normal again. Hope your family is doing well and the boys aren't going bonkers.

    Well I should get these cards finished and into the mail before the 1pm post office pick up. One week until Christmas - hoping that mailing them today will get them delivered to the next state in time. I feel badly for the post office workers. The things they put in place to slow down the post office have really messed them up for this, their busiest time of the year. Still our mail carrier is sweet and sunny when she knocks on my door and delivers the endless stream of packages.

    Hello to Shad - could use some of your warm weather at the moment - a little bit of sunshine too.

    Don't forget to look out your window tonight if it's clear. You will see 2 stars very close together very near the sliver of the moon. That is Jupiter and Saturn converging to create the "Christmas Star" on December 21. In all my years of being an astronomy fan, I have never seen them anywhere near this close. DH said because this has not happened in over 800 years Happy. It's kind of cool.

    Peace folks.

  • Hello everyone yet again MIA.
    It's been a busy couple of weeks with birthdays, Christmas lunches, sorting out problems with the volunteer work. Doing the work - getting no thanks but it is done anyway. And now we are one week away from Christmas - lucky I am not doing a lot of shopping to buy gifts because I hate going to the shops now - especially the big malls.

    Happy - you would not be happy with our weather. I'm about to go for my third shower of the day and 4th set of clothes and we haven't hit midday yet. The temps are well over 90F and humidity is almost total. We are waiting for the sea breeze to come in to make things bearable. Grass is growing as fast as I mow it. Rain is falling in great sheets, then it stops and the humidity strikes again. I did get the grass mowed this morning. And I have been working in the garden, and I have made tomato and capsicum soup. The computer is dead slow and this site is telling me my browser is full and to clear the browser storage. How do I do that.

    Susie - good to hear you are getting on with life at home. I'm glad to hear that the DH has come through his surgery well and is healing well. How is your shoulder these days. I am only giving gifts to the little ones this year. Although I have sent a gift card to the family down south and money to the grand child. Have no idea what to buy the son up here.

    Ceejay - nice to see you posting. Hope all is okay.

    Annie - you will be having your Christmas lunch today. Best wishes to all the family from us lot here in sweaty Australia. Yes Facebook is a bit of a nutcase now. I post much less than I used to. Don't read all the negative bits at all unless I think I can help someone who has fallen down on their luck as so many have these days, but I don't go out of my way there either since I offered help to a family who said they were struggling only to find the parents were still drinking and smoking and maybe drugging a well. End of help.

    Laura - always disagreements when we set out to do the DIY and improvements. That's usually why it is nice to live alone and make your own decisions. Right or wrong it's only you to blame. I'm still struggling through mine.

    And there we are, still COVID free up here, but there has been another nasty outbreak in Sydney's Northern Beaches so they are back in lockdown. Every frigging politician is so worried about the economy they won't enforce a strict lockdown until it becomes absolutely essential. No travel without quarantine between here and NZ for at least another 3 months now. Nobody over there better die or get sick or get married etc.

    So I'll head for the shower again and then have a break with a book in the air conditioning in the bedroom - A/C in lounge gave up the ghost after a big storm 3 weeks back. DS2 has been putting in a new one for me but it is not operational yet - apparently there is a leak somewhere so he has to fix that and before he could do so, he got landed with a week of night shift (which he hates) so I wait.
  • Happy - sorry to hear about the knees and ankles. It's not easy getting older. I doubt that it will be clear tonight enough to see the bright stars, however I will check it out shortly - where, when, why etc. Maybe the coming of a new messiah - could surely do with it. Hope whoever can talk some sense into the overpaid, underemployed, no ideas and no ideals politicians we have here.
  • Same old story here - hot, steamy. Not going to get any better in the next week either according to the weather bureau.

    Not much to talk about except we are at the summer solstice - today is the longest day. Well that can only be good news. Roll on February

    Annie - hope you are all okay there. Bloody COVID. We thought we had it bad over here, but it is nothing compared to the US. Still if it's citizens won't stay home, won't accept that it is real, won't wear the PPE gear to ensure that they don't pass things on, then the inevitable happens and good people suffer. Get well soon.

    Been out to lunch 3 days in a row. Better watch the intake or I will put back on that which I have managed to get off in the last couple of weeks (2.2Kg) Finally that prednisone is wearing off.



    Gotta go, beds to make, floors to sweep, dog to throw sticks for. And I had better think about some shopping for food for the dog and cat as well. Can't have them starving at Christmas.