Good morning to you all. So much for cool mornings. It was in the upper 70's yesterday, but it is hot and sticky this morning. Jack told me to keep cool and he's the one going outside of the house!
I have to call Penneys this morning as they have made a mess of shipping one of the orders. I don't know where it is or when it will come. It shows Wednesday, UPS Surepost, but UPS is showing it as the label just being created. Last night it showed it regular UPS and delivery on Saturday. This morning it says back to the Wednesday deal so I have to find out what is going on with us being gone.
I am packing stuff today and letting Jack do his tomorrow. I have my list all made out for everything and will pack my stuff for the most part. That little jewelry traveling case is going to come in handy this weekend for sure. We plan on leaving between 8-9 on Friday. We are both on Central Time so no change there like there is when we wen to Atlanta. The worst part is having to drive through Arkansas on the Interstate for over 2 hours and not one rest area. They used to have three along that stretch and they have closed every one of them. Once we hit Missouri, the first rest area is another 42 miles in. It says there is one in Blytheville, AR on Google, but I don't think that one is open unless they reopened it. It is a lot of farm land and the exits don't have much either. Guess I will have to take a coffee can like my grandma used to because grandpa wouldn't drive the interstates back then. It is about 5 hours to St Louis from here.
I decided I hated the way the blocks looked on the baby blanket and ripped the whole thing out (I have one section done,) and am doing a feather and fan baby blanket. It is so much prettier and pretty easy. It is only 4 rows then you repeat. The first row is the pattern set up then you purl a row, then knit a row, then purl, then back to the pattern row. Easy peasy. I am then going to make a pair of little Mary Jane style shoes. I wish I knew how to crochet because their Mary Janes are so much cuter. All of it is in the solid seashell color. I will try and remember to take a pic when I am done with the whole thing before I ship it.
I couldn't believe it when I went to buy a Golden Book yesterday. You used to get the little books for 99 cents. I paid $5 at Walmart for the thing. Brother! You want kids to read yet books are outrageous for them.
Susan: You wear me out just reading your texts. You are one fit lady. Hope you enjoy working at WW again. Hope your friend had a very happy birthday. I do my cleaning partly like you do. I only work one floor at a time and usually break it up into two days. I hate the carpet in the house but will have enough saved to put new floors in in about 18-24 months. I want to have plenty in my fund so I can buy whatever I want. I keep going back between wood look tile and hardwood and good quality laminate. Sooner or later I will have to decide. Thank goodness a roof is one thing we will never have to pay for. I am surprised you do. Isn't that part of your maintenance fees with it being outdoors? I let Jack believe he is choosing the clothes, but I pick all the colors together or he would be walking around in things like orange and green. He wanted to buy a red shirt with the olive shorts. I said, nope and hurried and found a better choice. I try and pick his clothes and he listens to me up to a point. His color combos can be awful though. He tries to get away with mixing stuff up after we buy it, but I gently remind him what we actually put together and most of the time he will change. I have to sort of make it his idea.
Jean: Sorry, can't make the rain move that direction. I got on a binge a couple weeks ago and cleaned out all the junk drawers and tossed stuff we never use. Some of the stuff/booklets we didn't even have any longer. I had one for a phone/answering machine and we took out the land line at least 6 years ago. I keep all the booklets just in case we need info on something that breaks or needs troubleshooting. They are in file folders. Those same neighbors wouldn't gripe so much if for some reason they needed the medical flight helicopter. We are in the flight path of the airport, which means FedEx planes at all hours and the National Guard is out there so occasionally you hear roars from a bunch of helicopters going over when they are doing their two week deal. Since Jack was in the Navy and we lived in the landing area for the base and F-4's would fly over the house really low, we got used to the noise. Jay never was bothered by noise when he was a baby because he was born when we lived there. If you can stand that roar, you can stand anything.
Well gals, I need to get breakfast and then onto packing and working on the blanket. You all have a nice day.
Good Morning! It's dark and gloomy here this morning . . . we got .21" of rain very early! We will gladly take it; it's supposed to rain more this afternoon so I hope the weatherman is right about that. Ian has a game tonight but they need rain too. I've been doing laundry, cleaned litter boxes, and have the dishwasher doing its job now. I need to get back to clothes sorting after lunch.
"Gma," I hope you get your Penneys order straightened out without too much hassle. We got our cable bill yesterday (after I haggled with them in May and was promised 12 months at the reduced price) and it was $5.00 higher than last month. I'm sure my tone of voice came across as angry; the rep put me on hold to check and came back within seconds saying she would adjust the bill. I did thank her for her help but still marvel at the incompetent people hired by public service companies. Interesting about Arkansas rest stops, one definitely has to plan ahead! I am really stiff if we drive much more than two hours at a stretch. The blanket will be beautiful and the shoes are so cute! I am guilty of buying things I really don't need at parties like Pampered Chef, etc. When I was in school someone was always having a catalog party, my kind of party because no food, no cleaning, just deliver the items at school. Beth used to sell PC and I have a few of her extras; some I've never used. Can you knit in the car? I hope you have nice weather for your weekend away.
The dryer should be done and I have another load ready to go. I think laundry multiplies when I'm not looking! Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Wednesday today!
Good morning to you all. Going to be a hot and sunny day today. The ac compressor just kicked on so the house is going to be nice and cool in a minute. It actually stays pretty cool for awhile when it is off as we come home from shopping or whatever and the house is cool, but you sure can't leave it off with 90+ temps everyday.
Today I have waxing day then we are going to get a bite out to eat tonight then run to the store for a couple more things and gas up the car. We will leave tomorrow morning, but not too early, around 9 or so. It is about a 5 hour drive, a little more than Nashville, a little less than Atlanta. We are so central that there are a lot of places we can go under 6 hours. I would like to go see our friends in Kansas City some time in the near future, but that is a much longer drive.
I am coming along on the blanket and I really like it a lot better. I changed my mind on the baby shoes and bought the pattern to make these instead since she lives in the Phoenix area. I found the sport weight for them in the same color yarn and am making them all one color, not two.
Jean: Everything for both orders all came together like one order. They sent the four t shirts, but two in blue and two in red instead of two in those two colors and two in two different striped colors. So I will have to take them back to Penneys for a refund. Back when I would get invited to Pampered Chef I couldn't afford the stuff, now that I can I don't know anyone here to has them. I do have a lot of their stuff though and I do like it. I bought it online. I like their pizza stone and some of their gadgets. I think I do more laundry now that it is just two of us then when there were all four of us. I usually do laundry every three days. I imagine I would do it more except Jack wears uniforms at work that they clean.
Good Afternoon! We've had sunshine for most of the day, cooler and breezy. Nice! We didn't get home until almost one last night/this morning, from Ian's game. He took his turn on the bench last night so only got to play four innings. My behind is dragging today! I have a load of laundry waiting for the dryer, balanced one checkbook, and wrote a couple cards for church. That has been the extent of my energy exertion for today. I think it is Bob's turn to cook tonight.
"Gma," the baby sandals are so cute! Little outfits are so much cuter than when our kids were little, especially for boys. That is too bad you have to return the Penneys order. What a hassle! I used to do laundry on the weekends when I was working. I liked getting it all done at once. Now it seems like I always have a pile waiting.
I need to get the clothes in the dryer before I forget. Hope you all enjoy a nice evening!
Good Morning! The sun is shining, NO wind, and a cool 60 degrees in my neighborhood. I can't help but wonder if we've had our hot/humid weather for the summer. That would be A-OK with me! I made two grocery lists and headed out first thing this morning. I had to pick up orphan cat food at WM and then forgot the Snickers for Ian's favorite salad. I know they are quite a bit cheaper there so may go back or just pick them up with rest of the fresh items at the grocery store later.
Not much else is newsy from here. Hope you all enjoy a sunny nice day!
Good morning, ladies! Another day of pouring rain and thunderstorms. Water is standing everywhere and I'm sure there will be some flooding. This is supposed to go on until Friday.
I'm sewing with friends tomorrow. Irene is coming for lunch today. My next door neighbor BBQd yesterday and she brought me a huge plate of pork chops, chicken tenders and wings, potato salad, baked beens and collards. I'll get 3 meals out of it.
Donna, I hope you are having better weather for you trip. The blanket and baby sandals are so cute. You actually have what we call a condo here - you don't own the land or outside. I have a townhouse and I own the land and outside. Condo fees are about $70 a month more than my townhouse fees in this development. We looked at them but they were too small for our bedroom furniture. My townhouse is 1,900 sq. ft. There was too much crime at the rest stops in VA so they closed them.
Jean, I'd gladly send you rain - do you want it sent UPS or FedEx? LOL I just looked out and there is a turtle crawling on my patio. Maybe it's too wet for him, too.
Good Morning! We are at the cabin; it's a beautiful cool, breezy, sunny day so far. Kids are swimming, Jason is cleaning the beach, Beth and Bob are drowning worms, Amanda and Will are reading. We had firecrackers going off last night until way after 10:00. To me it sounded like they were coming from a house close behind us; a deputy sheriff lives on that block so I wondered if he was home.
Susan, I'm sorry about your rain. Everything delivered by UPS is filthy dirty, gritty and disgusting this time of year. The trucks travel the gravel roads with their doors open. I have complained and said they should do the routes so the country road deliveries are last. The smart aleck manager said that's not possible. Fed Ex trucks come to town but just to deliver unless someone requests a pickup, for a fee I'm guessing. You have a thoughtful neighbor! How sad about the rest stops, scary too. Enjoy your sewing day tomorrow!
Kids are saying they are hungry so guess that is a clue to fire up the grill. Hope you enjoy a nice day!
Good morning ladies. We are back safe and sound and back to a routine for the moment anyway.
As I said on FB, the weekend wasn't all that great. We had problems at the cruise with me walking on uneven bricks, the outlet mall was deserted because basically they are barely in business anymore and the stores moved out to another bigger outlet mall and the brewery tour though really interesting caused us to get soaking wet as we had to walk from building to building and as we were walking from the main building a torrential rain storm came up and soaked us both through. Jack's ball cap is still wet from it. On the way home, I was driving and Jack was sleeping and I ran straight into a very strong rain storm with high winds and had to drive in it almost 90 minutes. Pretty awful. Of course we had to deal with the idiots here setting off fireworks close to the condos until after midnight. Glad July 4th is over for the year.
I have half the baby blanket done. I will finish it and get the little shoes done than I can block the blanket and hat and get it shipped out for the shower in August. I bought yarn to make an afghan for my best friend for her birthday next year and color change for the one I was going to make for us. Vicki's will be the almond colored yarn striped with two shades of aqua colors and ours will be a bright yellow and bright blue and white. I wanted to do the lavender and aqua, but the big wall picture I bought and the matching pillows are yellow and blue so have to go that route.
Susan: I have never heard of condos or townhouses where you own the land and building like a house. We are the other type where the property is owned by someone else, etc, etc. You have a really large condo. Ours is about 1600 square feet with the most room in the downstairs front room and den and the upstairs master bedroom. The other two bedrooms are very small with puny and I mean puny closets. The Tennessee rest areas have emergency call boxes that go right to the police precinct closest to the rest stop. The world is a nasty place anymore where you can't even stop to go to the bathroom.
Jean: Hope the kids had a good fourth. It actually rained on and off here but I guess they did the fireworks done on the river anyway. People were saying how great they were. Not me!!! For one thing the crowds, but you also have to park up on the bluff and walk down and back up and it is quite a climb. I am finishing up the trip laundry and will get it put away this morning. I noticed I am going to have to order another jewelry hanger thingy as my two are all full now. I had to double hang some necklaces as I ran out of places to put them.
Guess I should get going. I am working on finance/budget stuff this morning and it is driving me nuts. Have a good day and hopefully we will dry out soon.
Good Morning! The sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing, and the humidity is on the rise. We are supposed to be in the 90s this afternoon with rain in the forecast. Not much money to count at church so that didn't take long. I picked up the gift shop money and have that ready to deposit after lunch, along with checks to take back to the hospital. Ian has a game tonight and tomorrow night, both in small towns north of Sioux Falls so will be a late night getting home.
"Gma," glad you are safely home again. I'm sorry it was a wet weekend for you, and the mall being a disappointment. It seems like anything new being built around here is a strip mall like in the "old" days. We had three nights of neighborhood firecrackers. I always feel sorry for the animals who are scared by the noise. I think it would be hard to enforce, but wish the local police could do so since they are illegal in Iowa. I did enjoy watching the ones on tv. I had to chuckle at your ordering another jewelry container. I have my grandma's and mom's jewelry boxes and should take them to the local jeweler. They buy antique jewelry and I'd be curious to see if there is anything of value. I know the pieces I would want to keep for sentimental reasons.
I have a load of laundry that should be done in the washer so better keep moving. Today seems like Monday! Hope you all enjoy a terrific Tuesday!
Good morning all. Very humid this morning and heat index already mid 80's and going to get into the 90's for the next couple weeks.
This rainy weather is playing havoc with my hands and knees. I have been knitting a lot, partially to keep the left hand, which is my main hand and hurts the most liber. I have had to sleep downstairs for the last two nights because my knees hurt so much. I come down and put ICY Hot on them and taken some Aleve and they finally let me sleep. Usually they only hurt if I am up and around on them a lot, but the rainy weather makes them ache.
Going to try and get the upstairs bathrooms done today. I don't know if my knees are going to cooperate, but am going to try. They need cleaning again.
Jack made his appointment to go back into the ortho surgeon so he can get his thumb fixed. He has run out of the meds they gave him and it is hurting him pretty badly. Even the two braces don't seem to help at this point.
Jean: I have a full jewelry box upstairs besides the two hanging bags type I have downstairs and I ordered two more of those. I like to have colored jewelry to match outfits. I heard them setting off stuff when we went up to bed last night. Hopefully they run out soon. There are a couple dogs that live here on the street and I am surprised they weren't barking their heads off. We are illegal in this state too, but that doesn't stop them. Did you see the article about the kid in Houston who duct taped a bunch of sparklers together and set them off and they blew up in his face? He is likely going to be blind and he lost an arm I think and had other serious injuries. He is pretty young about 13. Sheesh!
Well gals you all have a nice mid week. I am going to get some breakfast and knit for a bit before tackling those bathrooms.
Good Afternoon! It's a beautiful afternoon in my corner of the world. We didn't get home from Ian's game until one this morning; too late for this old lady! I feel like I have been moving in slow motion all day. A couple loads of laundry, bedding and towels from the cabin, and lunch has been my day so far. I did drive by the nail place thinking it might not be busy right after lunch. The parking lot was full so I stopped at the card shop and came on home. I will go first thing in the morning to get my nails done.
"Gma," we drove home under a cloud cover of heat lightning last night. I don't ever remember seeing that last for such a long period of time, or cover such a large area. Rain was in the forecast but we didn't get anything. This morning when I came downstairs, the little black kitty was here for breakfast along with her three little black kittens. They are pretty spooky so I don't know if we will be able to catch them or not. I feel so sorry about your aching hands and knees. Has your doctor ever prescribed some sort of pain medication for arthritis? I know my stepmom takes a prescription Tylenol, or something similar. I didn't see the article about the Houston boy, how tragic! I thought sparklers were relatively safe when used under adult supervision. The kids had them at the lake but didn't light them until after we were gone. I remembered them as being longer, and all silver metal; these were shorter and wrapped in colorful tissue type paper with a little wad of paper on the end. Beth said that was so they would light easier. I remember, as a kid, my uncle putting bottle rockets in pop bottles. He always made us stand back away from him when he lit them.
I have laundry that should be ready to get in the dryer so should at least make that effort. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day, whatever day this is.
Good morning to you all. Pretty windy here this morning and looks like rain at the moment, but that may clear off as the day goes on.
I am getting nothing done but the essentials in the house at the moment. I can barely walk let alone go up the stairs. I have been trying to exercise them some to relieve the stiffness, but it seems to make them hurt more so I stopped. I did buy a pair of copper fit gloves to wear to see if they will help my hands not hurt so much. They should be here today. I hope they help so I can continue to knit as I have a couple more projects after the baby stuff that I want to do.
Jack has an appointment a week from tomorrow about his hand. It will take about another month or so before they can do surgery as they have to fill out his FMLA paperwork then he has to pick it up and take it to the plant and they have to send it to the director to sign off on before he can have the procedure done. Even if you have enough sick time built up they make you do FMLA. They aren't very quick about it either.
Jean: We used to always do the grey metal ones that looked like tiny little silver corn dogs. Since we don't see the kids on the 4th I have no idea what they look like now. Cherry bombs were big with older kids and I remember when I was in high school my brother and step brother lit one off in the house while mom was gone and burned a hole in the wood floor. I imagine it is still there. Wow, I imagine you were pretty pooped yesterday getting home at 1 AM. I am sure the kids appreciate you and Bob's efforts.
Good Afternoon! It's getting dark outside and looks like it could rain any time. There are storm warnings for the Sioux City area west of us so we may get some more rain. We did get a much needed half inch during the night. I had my nails filled first thing this morning then Bob and I had a date for stroke screening. A traveling clinic comes to his office for a day and they check for circulation blockages, bone loss, and this time an ekg. All of our numbers were good so guess we will be around for awhile yet. This afternoon I attended a funeral for mentally disabled man who was a custodian at the high school when I was there. On Sundays he would sit in the center second row pew and sleep through most of the service. His "job" at church was to remove the attendance sheets and turn them into the office. He had no family, and lived in low rent housing. In later years someone located an uncle who lived in a nearby town, but otherwise he had no one. The former church secretary took over as his financial caretaker several years ago. A few of the cooks and custodians were there so it was nice to visit with them.
"Gma," I didn't read the whole thing but sent you an arthritis link from FB. Maybe you saw it. Hopefully the gloves will help. It's too bad it takes so long for Jack's surgery paperwork. I'm sure he wishes it were done and over with. Ian had another great game last night and we missed it. Maybe he will decide baseball is more his game than football. I can only wish!
I see it is starting to sprinkle and the mailman just delivered the mail. Better late than never I guess. Hope you all enjoy a nice evening!
Good morning to you all. Going to be extremely hot again today. I sure hope Jack doesn't have to work out in it.
Not much going on today. I am going to work on the baby blanket and we are going out to dinner tonight. My best friend is going to call this afternoon so we can visit and catch up. We call each other every couple weeks or so. Her husband is going to be going through chemo and radiation soon if he hasn't started yet. I know she is fearful as her dope of a husband won't quit smoking. The cancer is right at the end of the trachea where it branches off into both lungs and they can't operate on it there. He is a fool and tried to tell her people who smoke enjoy it. I told her I asked Jack if that was true and he said absolutely not. Jack quit smoking back in 1992 and says even all these years later every once in awhile he will get the urge to smoke, but he didn't enjoy it, he was addicted. The thing is the guy cut back to a couple a day from a 4 pack habit so there is no reason he can't completely quit. He is a stubborn old coot!!
Jean: I am like you if I had a grandchild that played both sports, I would want him to play baseball too. Of course you can get injured in baseball, but the odds are better or most assured in football I think. Hope you got the rain you needed. We have been getting a lot of rain and looks like more may be on the way. It was nice that the custodian had people there at his funeral. When I graduated from high school, I went to work at McDonalds to help pay for the wedding. There was a mentally disabled man that worked there, taking out trash, cleaning around the building, that sort of thing. He was the sweetest man and I liked him very much. I imagine he worked there until he was too old to work there. I got my gloves yesterday and have been wearing the left one a lot. It seems to help, at least when I am using my left hand. I am also taking turmeric now too. The lady that does my waxing says she takes it and it has helped with her aches and pains. She said an Indian lady recommended it. I had heard that it can help with arthritis pain and such so we shall see. I bought it in capsule form because I don't like the taste. Poor Jack was in agony this morning. He had to use his hand a lot the last couple days and it is hurting him a lot. He took a couple Aleve and put his full hand brace on, but he was holding it when he went to work. I am just glad it is Friday and hopefully he won't have to do much today. Thanks for the link. I will read it when I leave here.
Good Afternoon! What a tragedy in Dallas! It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood, except for the wind. The humidity is down, windows and sliding doors are open. I'm gearing up the energy to make a lime Jell-o, cucumber, pineapple, and cottage cheese salad. I chased fur bunnies around this morning; I could vacuum every day from the looks of my floors.
"Gma," I hope you were able to visit with your friend this afternoon. My friend, who was Bob's neighbor growing up, and I usually talk at least once a week. Bob mowed after lunch and now is hoping for rain. All of the neighbors mowed before the 4th and their lawns were really brown. Our yard is dry but not quite so bad since the sprinkle we got the other night. Let me know how the turmeric works for you. I've heard of the name but that's all. Hope Jack had an easy day at work. Enjoy your dinner out tonight! Where are you going and what will you be hungry for? . . . inquiring minds want to know.
Not much newsy going on here, actually it's pretty quiet and I like it like that. Have a nice evening and enjoy the weekend!
Steel Magnolias #12
It is about 5 hours to St Louis from here.
We will gladly take it; it's supposed to rain more this afternoon so I hope the weatherman is right about that. Ian has a game tonight but they need rain too. I've been doing laundry, cleaned litter boxes, and have the dishwasher doing its job now. I need to get back to clothes sorting after lunch. 
Interesting about Arkansas rest stops, one definitely has to plan ahead! I am really stiff if we drive much more than two hours at a stretch. The blanket will be beautiful and the shoes are so cute! I am guilty of buying things I really don't need at parties like Pampered Chef, etc. When I was in school someone was always having a catalog party, my kind of party because no food, no cleaning, just deliver the items at school. Beth used to sell PC and I have a few of her extras; some I've never used. Can you knit in the car? I hope you have nice weather for your weekend away.
Fed Ex trucks come to town but just to deliver unless someone requests a pickup, for a fee I'm guessing. You have a thoughtful neighbor! How sad about the rest stops, scary too. Enjoy your sewing day tomorrow!
Has your doctor ever prescribed some sort of pain medication for arthritis? I know my stepmom takes a prescription Tylenol, or something similar. I didn't see the article about the Houston boy, how tragic! I thought sparklers were relatively safe when used under adult supervision. The kids had them at the lake but didn't light them until after we were gone. I remembered them as being longer, and all silver metal; these were shorter and wrapped in colorful tissue type paper with a little wad of paper on the end. Beth said that was so they would light easier. I remember, as a kid, my uncle putting bottle rockets in pop bottles. He always made us stand back away from him when he lit them. 
