Steel Magnolias -- #37
 

Good morning everyone! Well it is finally Friday. We had a huge thunderstorm roll through her last night and lasted quite awhile. Jack and I were watching a Law and Order episode, one neither of us had seen, and the storm came through 10 minutes before it was finished and we found out who did the killing and knocked out our satellite. Bummer! lol It was back and forth from then on until at least after 9 so I gave up and just went to bed. Missed this weeks "Burn Notice" so will have to watch it on the computer later in the week when the website puts it on.

Poor little Fortune was sick Wednesday night and yesterday until evening with loose stools, which you know is always fun with a pet. I gave him one of his Flagyl that the vet prescribed for him and it fixed him right up. He got into something out back I imagine as he is fit as a fiddle now. I am waiting for a new flew medicine to come by Fedex today. Kelly and Tom said they thought he had fleas at their house and I did find some scabs, but no "flea dust" that indicates fleas and he wasn't scratching at all and neither are we so who knows. I just decided to be safe and just change to another medication.

Jean: Good for you. Glad all your medical stuff came back normal. I am going to schedule my physical for October since we are going away in Sept. I set up my mammogram for my birthday month so I always remember so just do my physical at the same time. I was watching one of the home shows on tv a couple weeks ago and this young couple bought a big fixer upper house above their budget planning on remodeling the basement and having tenants. The show is called Income Property and this guy who has tons of income property comes in and gives them a couple options on what to do with the space to make it rentable. Well, I guess while the show was being filmed this poor couple had someone use their debit card somehow and stole over $1000 out of their account, which would have made their house payment bounce. The guy from the show and his workers got together and gave them a check for the money to put back into their account. Made me think that not everyone is out to get you! I like watching Holmes on Homes too. He is a really good guy.

Went swimming with T yesterday and had a good visit. We talked about a lot of things as usual and I learned tips on what to do and not to do while on a cruise. He is a learned cruiser now so can give me the inside lowdown! lol He scared me to death though. We were racing and he swims underwater and I on top. The water was a bit cloudy yesterday, I was swimming and he must have lost where he was because he came up underneath me right in front of me. I grabbed him right as he came up because I was still swimming and would have knocked right into him. We had a laugh about it, but it was a bit of a shocker. I can never beat him of course, but it makes for fun and great exercise.

Well gals, I am going to go and get some breakfast and get some work done. Have a nice weekend this weekend. Faye

Good evening, ladies! A lovely day in the low 80s and 50% humidity.

We had a really bad storm last night - flooding in some areas and the whole works. We sure needed the rain, however. It was so nice this morning I went for my walk. It felt good to be able to walk outside again. I hope this keeps up for awhile.

Jean, congrats for the good news at the doctor's office. It's amazing how losing a few pounds can improve our health.

Faye, that storm must have come right on over here! I'm glad you are getting to spend more time with T this summer. You have always enjoyed your swimming.

I'm going to go get a glass of iced tea and my book - "How to Wash a Cat" - a mystery, and sit outside and read this afternoon.

Enjoy your day!

Finally Friday
 

Good Saturday morning to you all! It is quiet here at the moment. Jack is asleep, I have fed Fortune and he is sitting here at my feet and no one outside is making any noise, no sirens, no loud cars, etc like there usually is.

We are going to try and get some cleaning today if it doesn't get too hot. We need to shampoo carpets again and I want to do my weekly cleaning starting upstairs, but it is going to have to wait if it gets too hot. I tried doing it yesterday but it was stifling upstairs and I just couldn't do it. I had already dragged the vacuum upstairs so I need to get it done first before working on the downstairs. We shall just do it as we can I guess. Maybe I can get Jack to vacuum while I am cleaning bathrooms to hurry it up a bit.

Jack's plant is allowing workers to work sliding hours, ie you can either come in a 6 am and work until 2 or work 7 am until 3. Well, except for Jack and a female electrician everyone else works the early shift so Jack said he and Beth are practically the only ones there after 2 pm except the two ladies who handle reception and accounting stuff and the plant manager. I guess all the foremen elected to work the early shift and all but he and this gal so he said the place is deserted from 2-3. I bet that is kind of weird.

Maggie: Glad you are sorting things out with the truck and Jeep. We own the Grand Marquis free and clear, but we have never had a question about the lien when we get tags. We have to have the cars inspected here before we can get tags, but nothing like Susan has to do in Va. Ours is mostly working turn signals, lights, etc and air quality thingy. Va pulls the tires and checks brakes and all kinds of stuff. I think if I am right, you have to pay for that too, but Susan may have to correct me. They do it through authorized gas stations and here we have city run places that do it. Funny thing you can drive into a suburb that is part of the county and they don't have to be inspected so I imagine a lot of dishonesty goes with the territory. For example, we live in the city limits and have to have it done, but Kelly and Tom live in the county and don't and they are just across town from us.

Susan: I am having a good time swimming with Thomas. Since he has gotten older we can talk about a lot more things and do a lot more things than when he was littler. I have to say though that when he dives to swim underwater I get a little nervous until I see that red head pop up. He is a little fish though and swims better than most kids. He doesn't have a fear of the water either, which makes it better. I have never heard of that book. I heard that the lady that writes "the cat who" books has passed away. They were getting a little stale in recent years I think. I need to go out and buy the other Evanovich book that came out a week ago. I just haven't seen it anywhere and I looked at Krogers and Walmart, both carry her books. I don't want to pay full price at a book store and our libraries are horrible here when it comes to getting new books. You end up on a wait list forever because they buy so few copies.

I guess I should get some chores done before Jack gets up. Have a good Saturday all. Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! What a lovely day, 83 degrees. I'll go for my walk after dinner.

I was down .8 at WW this morning. My friend Pat usually goes to a different meeting but she was at mine today so we went to Starbucks to have a coffee and catch up. I just had a decaf iced coffee with skim milk and splenda.

I went to the Kroger after the meeting and got a cart full of veggies, fruit, yogurt (including frozen yogurt), and meat. I was surprised when my WW leader suddenly appeared behind me in line. She congratulated me on the good choices. I have to finish my menus for next week when I get done with this.

Faye, you are right about the inspections in VA. Mine comes up in September. They can only charge $12 to do it, but mine are free because I buy my tires at the garage. While it is a pain, it is also good because you don't have a bunch of cars on the road that aren't safe. Before they start the inspection, they are required by law to remove your current sticker. If they find something that needs to be fixed, you either get it fixed there and then or you have to have it towed somewhere. It sounds like yours might be a city thing instead of statewide. I really didn't like the way the "Cat Who" author ended the series but I believe she was in her 80s. I sure did enjoy them for a lot of years.

Jean, right now I'm only wearing the Sketchers for walking. I'm a sandals kind of gal. Come winter when I have to go back to shoes and socks, I'll wear them daily.

Maggie, the kid at the DMV must not think anyone ever doesn't have a lien on their car. Sad comment on society.

Have a great evening!

Lords Day
 

Good morning ladies! It is already hot, hot, hot this morning. It was over a 100 degrees yesterday and looks like it is going to climb up there again.

My weigh in is tomorrow so I am hoping it is good news. I know I am fickle, but I went back to weight watchers but am using the other program too. I went ahead and signed up for WW online so I could keep better track. I do find that they need to bump up their list more. They haven't even put in their newest WW frozen items. I bought their little slider cheeseburgers for lunch and they are new and aren't in the system. I also found that Lean Cuisine meals seem to be missing too. As expensive as the thing is you would think they would try to have the largest data base possible to draw from. Ahh well!

Jean: I love my little red SUV. The Enclave is a pretty SUV/crossover and it is about the same size as our Mariner only it is sort of oval shaped and the Mariner is more the square and is a small SUV instead of a crossover. I love the red color. It looks a lot like our red. I was crushed when Ford said they were discontinuing the Mercury line as we love our Mercurys. I know Ford is still in trouble. My brother works for Ford in Chicago and is only working part time. He has a new house he had built 2 years ago and may lose it because his hours have been cut so drastically. He is a licensed electrician, but he is morbidly obese, over 50 and a severe diabetic all not condusive to changing jobs and if his credit is suffering because of his job problems it would make it even harder.

Susan: :carrot::carrot: on your loss. I don't see you loading up with junk food no matter what so you would probably never be embarrassed to have your ww person behind you at the grocery. :) I am hoping I finally got a handle on why I have the swelling we shall see. I am giving it a couple days and see it what I think was the problem is the problem, taking benadryl for insomnia. I looked all over about it causing swelling, but nothing indicates it causes this except in serious cases of tongue and face swelling, which I haven't had, but then I didn't take it yesterday and my feet have gone down some so we shall see. Ooh, I love going and getting fresh fruits and veggies. This next weekend is commissary weekend and Jack is getting back on WW so we will be bulking up on fresh veggies and fruit. I have found that Walmart actually has pretty good fruit. The commissary has some things that are great and some not so much. I am going to try and eat a salad with dinner every night to help with my veggies adding them to salad fixings.

Well, I need to go and finish the dusting upstairs than it is completely clean. We shampooed upstairs this morning so it is all smelling nice too. Tomorrow is cleaning downstairs then Tuesday is downstairs rug shampooing. Have a nice Sunday all! Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! It's only 75 after more rain during the night and it looks like we might get a little more. Perfect after the record breaking heat in June and July.

I went to early church this morning, made vegetable soup for the coming week, and ate my lunch. I didn't sleep very well last night so I think I might be going up and taking a nap, or at least read for awhile.

Faye, Manufacturers pay to have their food in the WW database and books. From experience, I can tell you it's not easy to update a 24/7 database because it has to be shut down for a compile for the changes to take effect. I like www.livestrong.com/mydailyplate to look up stuff and keep track of calories. Their database is humongous for food and exercise. By the way, my leader said if you said you were sedentary on the points quiz, you can count housework as activity. I like to keep track of it but I don't eat the points I earn. My pedometer that I ran through the wash cycle is working a little off so I ordered an new one from Amazon and got a little upgrade to the PC model so I can download my activity and track it on the computer. I think the best car we ever had was a Mercury Sable. Then I loved my Neons and now they don't make them. The Walmart here is more expensive than Kroger for produce and the quality is poor. I sure hope you have discovered the cause of the swelling. You might try one of the PM tylenol or other brand. I like Walmarts brand.

Have a great day!

Good morning ladies! I hope your week has started out well. I have some kind of tummy bug. I hope I didn't catch it from Will and Maggie! :D I woke up about 1 am queasy, but it is now full on so it is clear liquids for me I guess and crackers. Like Maggie, I am not vomiting but seem to have the other though not repeat acts for far so keeping my fingers crossed. I am just going to take it easy and do the downstairs tomorrow since I have the upstairs done now and the carpets shampooed upstairs. I can do the cleaning tomorrow and the rugs on Wed and maybe get some swimming in with T on Wed and Friday this week before he goes back to school next week.

Jean: They have a $1 to sign up right now and $53.85 for three months than it is around $18 a month I believe. Their little cheeseburgers are very good actually. I had one for lunch with fruit and ff chips. They are small but they have a good taste. Did you definitely decide on the Enclave for a new car? If so, congratulations. Funny how much stuff we accumulate in our cars, especially the glove compartment, but my Mariner has a bitty glove compartment so you can't stuff it with junk.

Susan: Thanks for the info. I have several programs that I can calculate, it would just be nice if those manufacturers would get on board. I mean, Lean Cuisine puts WW points on their boxes. I like their food better than WW stuff. I don't count any activity or extra points and stay right at my food points so I don't go over. I did use facebook and became Tonja as a friend so I could read her newsletter and such.

Well, I made my first goal, which is nice but I hate to say it out loud. I am just going to keep plugging along and working hard and since all these meds are finally out of my system I think maybe I may get somewhere now.

You gals have a good day. I am going to do a few little chores and then probably sit and watch tv today and rest. I just don't feel like doing much else. Faye

Good morning, ladies! We had more rain yesterday. Things are starting to look green again but the corn crop is lost.

Faye, I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. I'm making Tonja's strawberry pie today. It just looked good to me.

Jean, WW online is cheaper than meetings but you can never attain lifetime status. I need the accountability of being weighed by someone else and I enjoy our meetings and the people who come. We have a lively bunch and quite a few of us come at least 30 minutes early so we can catch up with each other.

Today is laundry day. Then I want to go pick up salad for this week - only $1 for Fresh Express Garden Salad. I'll go for my walk this afternoon because it is only 75 degrees today. I'm also going to the Y to sign up today. It will be $26 a month for me, based on last years 1099, and even less next year because I'm work less than half of what I did last year. All the classes are free. My friend Pat is excited because she already goes there and we can go at the same time and encourage each other.

Have a great day!

Moody Monday
 

Good morning everyone! I feel better this morning, in fact my tummy is growling because I haven't eaten this morning. I am hoping to get the downstairs cleaned, but we have been having the same temps Maggie had yesterday for three days now and supposed to continue through the weekend so my condo gets pretty warm by afternoon.

Susan: Cool, I am so glad you got a deal for the Y. I have to lose some weight before I decide what to do about outside the home exercise. I am finally getting the swelling back to normal. I guess it was the allergy pills. I am also putting my feet in cool water every evening for half an hour to help with anything overnight and it seems to help. I hope that the commissary has the little individual salad bags. Even though you pay more per ounce that way there is no waste. I find the bagged salads go brown pretty fast as soon as they are opened so the little individual fresh mix bags do well for us as long as I don't buy too many at a time.

Maggie: Sorry you are having problems with vehicle business. Boy, sometimes I think the horse and buggy idea worked better all you had to do was feed him and keep him healthy no dealing with bureacracy! :D We are dying of heat here too and poor Jack has to go down into a concrete hole this morning to repair something and it scares me to death. They have these safety procedures they follow but that doesn't allay my nervousness of him being down in a hole only connected by a cable.

Jean: Enjoy your new car! We get about 26-27 out on the interstate. We get about 22-23 here in town mostly. We had a ton of thunder last night and our power went out and came right back on, black clouds and interruption of our satellite but no rain. I have no problem driving 75! lol The trip to Indiana is either 65 or 70 on the interstate so we zoom!

I got a nice surprise yesterday. A friend I made at the law firm who moved away while I still worked there found me on facebook and sent me a message last night. She is a real sweet gal and I was glad to hear from her. I also "made friends" with two girls I went to high school with in the last few days. It is kind of cool to hook up with folks you haven't seen or heard from in a long long time.

Well gals, the work isn't doing itself. I need to get hopping. Have a good one! Faye

Titilating Tuesday
 

Good morning ladies! I still have my kitchen to clean this morning and then tomorrow will attack the downstairs rug shampooing than I am done. The heat index was near 120 here yesterday and I was drained even with AC and gave up on the kitchen until today. It was in the 80's at 3 am this morning so I imagine we will have another very hot hot day.

We had a huge thunderstorm blow through right as Jack got home yesterday. We had to go out in it and boy oh boy it looked like those pictures of when hurricanes blow through the coast. The temp dropped 20 degrees in about 5 minutes but didn't cool anything off. In fact, if possible, it was even worse humidity. Here is a link to a video of what the storm did!

http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/ab30f1...s/Storm-Damage


I had to cancel swimming today. My knee has been bothering me a lot the last couple days. It gets kind of out of joint and then pops back in on its own but that makes it sore. I have been limping around and don't want to make it worse swimming.

Maggie: A few years back I bought this quilted cube thing lined in sheepskin. It has a cutout for his head and a slot along the back. We have a harness for Fortune that we put on him, it has a loop of seatbelt material that goes through the shoulder harness of the seatbelt, the seatbelt runs through the slot on the cube and you click it into place in the seatbelt lock. He sits up high enough he can see out the window, he is secure in the harness and he can lay down in it if he wishes. It has a little drawer in front you can put his leash and stuff too. It is really nice.

Jean: Bob might grow to love his little crossover. I know we love our little SUV. I like that it sits up higher than a car for one thing. Our "loop" here is mostly 55 but everyone drives at least 70 and you get run over if you don't. I noticed when we travel to Indiana, ARK is 75, MO 75 and Ill is 70 and people still pass us like we are standing still. We didn't see any police at all going to Indiana, but coming home Ill was loaded with them giving tickets. I say put the dern car on speed control and then you won't speed, but of course, you have to set it at the speed limit and not 20 miles over! :) After I posted I got a friend request from a gal I worked with at another place that I haven't seen in 15 years.

Jack dodged the bullet and didn't have to go down into the hole. The heat index was about 140 down there so the foreman said they could forego it for the time being. I told him he should absolutely say no until the heat is better. They can't put your life in jeopardy and 140 degrees down in a hole by yourself with only a cable connecting you to the guys above, :no: I was really worried about him until he called me around 2 and told me they didn't do the job down in the hole.

Well, I better get to chores and such before the heat gets really bad. Have a good hump day all. Faye

Good evening, ladies! We've got Faye's hot and humid weather.

I went shopping for a swim suit today. It's too late in the season to get anything I'd wear so I went to Dick's Sporting Goods to get a suit for water aerobics...they don't have them in the store, only on line. That was the 5th store I had been to so I came home and ordered a Dolfin aquatard which is for water aerobics so more support, cut higher in the neck and back and the best part is it has 8" legs like bike shorts. My legs are awful so I'll feel more comfortable in this. I know the others are seniors and not in great shape either, but I won't go if my swim suit doesn't cover things.

This evening Glory and I went to Bella for the mystery quilt class. We now have all the instructions so I better get busy. Tomorrow night is my First Thursday Bee, and a workday, too.

Maggie, I tried fitchick.com but it came up as a running site. Did you mean fitclick.com? Those people you bought the truck from should give you more than you paid for sure. I hope they get it fixed to your satisfaction.

Jean, there are people who would lie to get lifetime if they just took their word they lost weight. You have to be weighed at a meeting all officially.

Faye, that was quite a storm! I looked at the video. I'm praying for the hurricanes to stay away. Season started June 1 and doesn't end until November but August and September are always the worst months for them. Rest your knee and maybe give it some support.

Time for a little tv. Have a good night!

Good morning to you all! I am not even going to guess on what the weather will be today other than hot! We still have an extreme heat advisory in effect until tonight. Luckily, Jack has a very short day as he has his semi yearly cardiology appt today so takes off most of the day for that. No climbing into hot holes for him today.

Susan: I couldn't get into the site Maggie said either, but thought maybe it was my computer because I couldn't get into the site you listed for me either. Have you ever looked at Land's End for suits? They have a great selection and size range. I found the same thing as I need a suit for Florida so I order one at a company that makes them to order. It should ship out next week. It is all black and has a little shirt that goes with it so I can wear it down to the pool or ocean or whatever. I found that all the large shops have sold out of the larger sizes of their suits or the ones they have are ridiculously expensive. I am not going to pay over $120 for a stupid swimsuit and the one I ordered is under $50. The one I use to go swimming with Thomas is falling apart and getting pretty thin and my other one has really never fit correctly. I am keeping my fingers crossed no storms or hurricanes the weekend we are in Florida. We have to cancel our reservation on Monday before our Thursday check in date so if there is any hint of bad weather we have a back up plan for a trip that is inland instead. I will be disappointed because I have never been to Florida, but we wanted to wait until the kids and college kids are back in school to avoid all the crowds.

Well, the house is done except for the downstairs shampooing and I may get to it next week as it may be a bit cooler. Jack replaced the air filter in the ac unit to see if it would help at least some, but I am not expecting much. Our unit is just too small and we can't afford to replace it with a newer bigger model.

Nothing else going on here. We have commissary weekend on Saturday so that should be fun. Have a great Thursday everybody! Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! It's a nice cool morning in my corner of the world with sunshine and a slight breeze. My windows are open and the birds are chirping at each other. I have WW today and need to go grocery shopping for the trip to the lake on Sat. Main items on my list will be home made ice cream ingredients. The hospital gift shop is open again and I'm supposed to work Sat. morning; I have to stop by tomorrow morning and meet with the volunteer coordinator to see the new register, and where things are kept. I have a mammorgram and bone density scheduled after that. We made a flying trip to Sioux City yesterday afternoon; I like to get the grandkids a new "going back to school" outfits. Iowa has a tax free weekend this Friday and Saturday, so I didn't want to battle the crowds.

Susan -- I wonder if anyone makes a long sleeved turtleneck/bermuda shorts version of a swimsuit? :lol: Enjoy your quilting bee today!

"Gma" -- Our heat and humidity are supposed to return tomorrow. I'm keeping my :crossed: that it doesn't rain during the day on Saturday so we can "party" outside at the cabin. I'm glad Jack won't have to be down in the hole working today!

I need to get busy! Have a terrific Thursday! :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

Titilating Thursday
 

Good morning, ladies! Getting into the 100s today according to the weatherman. It's actually 83 now so he might be wrong!

Quilting bee tonight so a lot of fun.

Faye, you can just go to http://www.thedailyplate.com/ and set up a free account. They will try to interest you in the Gold Star plan but stick with free.
Thanks for the heads up on suits. I ordered a 16 because I wear 14 pants and their sizing chart was halfway between. Most regular suits are cut too low in the neck or too high in the bottom and aren't suitable for water aerobics unless you want it to all hang out. Good idea on having the alternate vacation plans.

Jean, If they made the swimsuits you described, I'd be right there to buy one. Virginia has the tax free weekend this weekend too - Friday through Sunday. It'll be interesting to see what the gift shop has for sale now.

Maggie, I've been to www.fitclick.com before. Thanks for reminding me about it.

Here's a picture of the suit I ordered.

This is an Ellie Krieger recipe and I thought it sounded yummy. (Susan: I sent this recipe to Tonja)

Cook Time:10 min
Yield: 6 servings, 1 serving equals 1 1/2 cups coleslaw (this is only 2 pts per serving!)

Creamy Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients
1 cup lowfat Greek yogurt, or strained yogurt
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/4 pounds broccoli stalks (from about 2 1/2 pounds broccoli bunches)
1 large or 2 medium carrots
Directions
If using regular yogurt, place it in a strainer lined with paper towel and set the strainer over a bowl. Let the yogurt drain and thicken for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place sunflower seeds and 1/4 teaspoon salt on a rimmed baking sheet and shake to combine. Toast seeds until aromatic, about 10 minutes. Cool and reserve.

Combine yogurt, buttermilk, lemon juice, mayonnaise, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Whisk to incorporate and reserve.

Peel tough outer layer of broccoli stalks and trim off 1/4 inch from bottoms of stalks (should be about 3/4 of a pound. tender broccoli stalks remaining). Shred stalks in food processor, then shred carrots. Combine shredded broccoli and carrots with dressing and toss to combine. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and serve.