A VERY GOOD morning chicklets


I got relatively nothing done yesterday except declutter the rooms of clothing tossed around & junk mail.
Jen came down and we chatted for about 3 hours.
Seems like every December we have to talk about Dear Old Dad & his Mum.
Two topics I would love to erase from my mind. But what can ya do.
She has some wonderful childhood memories of them both.
I am not a total "bubble burster".

The bldg was quiet. The party on Friday knocked them out.
Richie's kids arrived late last night....I went to bed....so I guess they got here.
OH JOY OH JOY!
I woke late and now it's brekkie time. Have a super day




Annie......Poor Sissy....and poor you. Sorry to hear about the medical benefits.
Richie has none either. He just can't afford them.
Hope you find some way for Sissy to be covered.
It's a shame that she has had so very much to worry about since the birth.




Shad.....Glad you are out & about with Chris & family.
Just thinking of shopping excited me!!
Sometimes I think that is the best part.
I love buying presents and making people happy.
I should have been born rich!!!!
Have a fabulous time and enjoy the BIG DAY

Morning girls,

First of all Mel thanks for pointing me to Pinterest. Like giving a trivia addict heroin I read your post yesterday and must have spent over an hour reading the site. SO much fun stuff! Sincerely tho, thank you for mentioning that. Lots of great ideas.

Even DH was getting tired of the slow internet so he called the service. They sent out a technician who checked things out and said when they set up our service they didn't do the speed set - there are 4 levels of speed you can get and while we have been paying for high speed, we've been getting basic crawl. So he said they should fix that on Monday. All I can do is read text based stuff. I cannot view the Christmas cards from Jib Jab, or YouTube or catch the free streaming video of one of my new favorite shows Once Upon A Time on the ABC network when last week's show failed to record here. We get alot of burps with Internet and Satellite TV. So after the phone guy left we went back to working around the house. Around 7pm our internet crapped out completely and last night at 9 so did our telephone. DH was sure it had something to do with him calling to the office. This morning DH found a spot upstairs in the house where we could get a couple of bars for the cell phone and called the phone company. What a joke conversation! But an hour later we had phone and internet again. Now I need to download my recipes - doing some baking today - amaretto brownies, Harvey Wallbanger cake, some butter cookies and a coffee cake. Got country ribs in the crockpot for dinner tonight and I have 2 beef roasts to slow roast today or tomorrow. Will cut them up and freeze them to take to Mom's for Christmas. Same with the goodies. New freezer comes tomorrow so I'll have plenty of room to store stuff. And while things are baking, I have more boxes to empty. It never ends.

Yesterday I went to the post office to mail cards and get some stamps and it was pretty busy in town. A nice busy tho - people hustling but polite too. On the 3 main streets of town they have speakers mounted on the holiday decorated light poles playing holiday music. It was small town, just like a book WAY COOL. I can't explain it. For the first time in years and years I felt like Christmas and I'm haven't been feeling it much this year either. I am just LOVING IT HERE! Of course ask me that in February when people all over the world invade this place over the Berkebiner ski race (kinda like the Olympics in this little town). They tell me you don't even want to go anywhere near town for the 4 days of the event. I'll be complaining about dahm touristas soon too

Mel - that was good of you to listen to Jen even if her version of happy is a little off. I think the older we get, the more we tend to reminisce. I loved your picture of the open door to the beach and the water. If you were rich you'd buy everyone presents, if I were rich I'd live on the beach

Shad - worst time of year for shopper-haters - this time of year hope you got what you needed done. Are you having a good time otherwise? Did it stop raining? Why are you washing on vacation or did you just bring an overnight bag?

Annie - tell Sissy not to get her hopes up about insurance. Our company was passing the cost of insurance to the employees backs for all non employee coverage so it cost me 2 1/2 times my rate to cover just DH. Coverage for significant others was 3 times the employee rate. I think companies are trying to drop health coverage as a benefit and expect the government to pay for it. Government on the other hand is so strapped now that so many out of work people are trying to get some benefits that they are cutting back too. TennCare in TN is dropping people like crazy and I think the same is true here in WI. And with so many people chosing to live together instead of marry, I guess they expect that domestic partners both work and take care of themselves. Another wrinkle in the new family unit. It can get crazy, especially for the kids when blended families come together. I'm just saying that maybe she can get coverage from him but it might take most of his check to pay for it. People are shocked when I tell them that our health insurance as retirees is way more than our mortgage (with taxes and escrow) ever was. Thanks for the book - I got my copy yesterday. Just scanned it but it looks like a good read. I will put it near the top for my after Christmas reading pile. Could you pick up my Momma on your way to see Curtis? She loves Long John Silver's and they closed all the stores around her. I'm sure she'll be happy to bring you a salad or healthy sub from Subway

Ok, better get off the computer here and get to my chores before the day wears away. Enjoy your weekend.

Back from Paragould. Helped my uncle this afternoon rearrange some things in his office to make it easier for him to manuever. Talk about some one who needs to declutter.

Speaking of health care--I'm glad I have it but it as Happy mentioned I think it's something companies will start to drop to help cut back on expenses. My aunt told me that my cousin picked up his wife on his insurance after she quit her other job. It doubled. She had another job when she quite but no insurance. I wouldn't be at all suprised if the city dropped our insurance plan.
Also my uncle told me that since he's been taking the b12 tablets that his b12 has stayed in the right range. Hope mine does also.

Shad
Sounds like you are having a relaxing visit with the family.

Mel
You should have gone to the party. but having a quiet day at home with Jen
was more relaxing.

Happy
Sounds like you are still busy. Glad the internet and phone service problem is resolved for the time being, at least.

IT'S MONDAY ALREADY?!?! WHERE DID MY WEEKEND GO TO?
SO MUCH TO DO AND SO MANY PEOPLE TO SEE THAT MY MIND JUST WANTS TO CLOSE DOWN.
NONE OF IT IS IMPORTANT AND I JUST MIGHT DO THAT THIS WEEK.
KEEP THE HOLIDAY EVEN SIMPLER THAN EVER.
BEST TO LET THE "MASSES" GET USED TO IT.
SO IT MIGHT AS WELL BEGIN THIS YEAR.
NOTHING IS REALLY NEW.
A FEW PHONE CALLS, ALARMS AND THAT WAS IT.
CALM WEEKEND FILLED WITH WORDS & MOVIES.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE


SPEAKING OF INSURANCE....THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL $5,000 TAG ON EACH MONTH FOR THE WORKERS AND THE BUDGET DIDN'T HAVE IT LISTED BECAUSE THERE WERE NO FUNDS. THE MONEY IS JUST NOT THERE.
LOOKS LIKE THE WORKERS ARE GOING TO BE FORKING OUT A LOT OF BUCKS.
GOV. CHRISTIE IS BEHIND A LOT OF THESE CHANGES AND SAYING "TOUGH".





HAPPY..... I FOUND PINTEREST THRU A WOMAN'S BLOG FROM AUSTRALIA.
IT WAS A SHOCK TO FIND SO MANY IDEAS ALL IN ONE PLACE.
THEN I FOUND THE PULL DOWN THING ON TOP AND FOUND EVEN MORE STUFF AND EVERY PICTURE LEADS TO ANOTHER SITE! YIKES!!
I THOUGHT....."I NEED TO SHARE THIS".
WHY SHOULD I BE THE ONLY CHICK WHO GOES BLIND ON HER PC!!!
HOPE THE PHONE & INTERNET STAY ON NOW!
HAS TO BE TOUGH THAT FAR OUT IN THE WOODS IN WINTER ANYWAY.
YOUR SMALL TOWN REMINDS ME OF THE JOHN DENVER MOVIE "THE CHRISTMAS GIFT", A LOVELY LITTLE MOVIE ABOUT BIG BUSINESS MAN GOES TO SMALL TOWN. CUTE. ENJOY THE SLOWER LIFE




CEEJAY......THE UNCLE MUST LOVE THE HELP AND NEXT TIME TAKE A GARBAGE BAG WITH YOU!! LOL
MAYBE HE CAN USE YOUR HELP DECLUTTERING!!!
I KEEP TELLING JEN...WHEN IN DOUBT, TOSS IT OUT!!!
GOOD TO HEAR HE IS DOING WELL WITH THE B12 AND HOPE YOU WILL THIS TIME TOO.

As usual, I was MIA over the weekend. Even though I had 3 days off, it seemed like I was STILL going nonstop. Today is going to be a nonstop day at work too. I'm so looking forward to Friday...which will be the start of 11 wonderful days off! Even though the last few will be painful due to the procedure, I'm looking forward to a little R&R time!

I'll try and post more later.

BTW, I LOVE Pinterest. I have a friend who got me hooked on it earlier this year.

And, last but not least, I tried to email this link to all of you...and I put it on FB. But I want to make sure all my wonderful Worldly sistas received my funny little e-card wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from me, my DH and the doggies.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KWP..._self_holidays


Love and hugs to all,

Good morning ladies,

Internet AND phone has been up and down all weekend. Not sure how long it will stay up so I'm going to skip personals for now and make a quick post.

My new freezer was supposed to be delivered today. Sears called this A.M. the delivery place checks the stuff before they deliver it and it had a big dent in the front - not sure how much damage it sustained so they are reordering it. This is a bummer as I was cooking and was planning on cooking more so I could take the frozen stuff over to my Mom's. Now I have to rethink that as I don't have enough space for all of it to go in my current freezer.

It's gray and dreary here today. Sleepy day but no time to sleep.

DH says internet is getting wobbly again so I'm going to post this. Be back later if things stay up.

Quick good morning to the Worldlies. Have to catch up on my post-reading and will be back later w/ personals.

I had a nice Friday - doc appoint was alright (still have asthma & allergies, dang it, LOL). Afterwards, I picked up the last couple items needed to ship a gift package to my mother & brother in MO. Wrapped, packed, and off to the post office I went. Nice lunch w/ bf (Mexican food), then a dog walk, then back to the antiques mall for more browsing but no purchases. No specific items in mind, so no buying. I am, however, amazed at how many pins they have there! My mother once mentioned making a little christmas tree covered in green felt and covering it with just pins. I think that would be a fun project, or maybe a theme of certain pins artfully arranged and framed - animals or flowers, etc. Course I didn't take note how much they were selling the pins for -couldn't be too much, as they are so plentiful.

Saturday I did a Circuit class first thing. Bf and I finally put out some outdoor Christmas decorations - a few that sit on the lawn, including our penguin, and a couple that hang from the house. Looks nice, even without icicle lights hanging from the gutters. After that, my friend picked me up and five of us went to the botanic garden for an indoor holiday exhibit - Holiday Express. Trains running all over and all kinds of Chicago area landmarks done in miniature and made out plant materials. Just beautiful! Will try to upload a few photos. My friend and I decided we may go in together on a household membership to the garden that lets us have free parking for two cars, if the fact that we really don't share a household isn't an issue... Anyway, we also toured some of the greenhouses - topiary, tropical, cactus/succulent. Lovely. I wish we'd gotten there maybe a couple hours later, because they had some nice outdoor lighting that would have been very pretty to see once it got dark. Oh well. Next year.

Sunday was the Christmas gathering on bf's side of the family. It was at the idiot brother/witch SIL's place, but it was actually a nice time. They now live in a spot that's much easier & quicker to get to than their previous home, so that was a bonus.

Okay, back to work. The boss is back from vacay. This week should be quiet. I'm taking Friday off - woohoo, another short week, and then five days off cuz Monday is our work holiday and then I'm taking Tuesday off too!

Cheers!

couple pics from botanic garden
First is me w/ some topiary pals, 2nd is Chicago skyline, all buildings made from plant materials - photo doesn't do it justice.

Hello Ladies....

What a beautiful day this was...my secret Santa gave me a BEAUTIFUL table runner, 2 hand towels, pot holder and oven mit...all in black with red JOY TO THE WORLD on it and holly...it is just beautiful....

Curtis and I are going shopping tonight..YUK...but it must be done as we have waited till there is enough $$$ to do so....therefore...even tho I do not like people...we will have to do this.

Well my man just came home...we are out the door..

Have a marvelous evening/morning..

loves and hugs

I FORGOT THE OFFICE PARTY IS TOMORROW SO I AM POSTING TONITE.
LOTS TO DO BEFORE THE MORNING.
GOT THE BAGS READY AND CLOTHES LAID OUT TOO.
JEN CALLED AND I GOT SIDETRACKED. THEN THE OFFICE CALLED TOO.

RICHIE'S DD IS IN PAIN WITH HER BROKEN LEG.
FORGOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT.
JOY TO THE WORLD!!!!! MAYBE I CAN PUT MY HEAD IN A FRASSING CAST!

I NEED TO JUMP IN THE SHOWER AND GET GOING HERE.
DIDN'T WRAP THE KIDS STUFF YET. OTHER PEOPLE NEEDED SO MUCH HELP!
BUT HOW CAN YOU SAY NO WHEN THEY ARE HALF BLIND!!
I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT.

I'LL BE BACK WEDNESDAY MORNING.
HAVE A SUPER DAY TOMORROW AND SMILE.....SANTA SEES ALL!!





HAPPY.....HANG ON TO THAT CONNECTION!!
I FORGOT TO ASK WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING.
SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE FREEZER REORDERING!!
DANG......BUT BETTER THAN THEM SENDING IT OUT AND LETTING YOU FIND IT!!!!!
KEEPING FINGERS CROSSED FOR YOU!! HAPPY COOKING.






LAURA.....LOVED THE PICS AND NEVER KNEW YOUR HAIR WAS SO LONG!!
WOW I LOVE IT. LOVED THE CITY SCENE AND THE TOPIARIES TOO.
I CAN IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST LOOK LIKE FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT!!!
ENJOY YOUR SHORT WEEK. WE HAVE ONE TOO!!
ALSO HAPPY TO HEAR THE GATHERING OF THE CLAN WENT WELL!!






ANNIE....HOPE THE SHOPPING TURNED OUT TO BE A FUN THING WITH CURTIS IN TOW!
GOTTA BUY GIFTS EVEN FOR THE BAH HUMBUGS OF THE WORLD.
I AM CALLING THEM SCROOGE BLOOD SUCKERS!






MICHELLE..... I MEANT TO TELL YOU THAT I GOT THE JIBJAB.
THEY ABSOLUTELY CRACK ME UP.
LAST MONTH JEN & RICHIE SENT ME A BEDROOM ONE.
IT WAS HYSTERICAL. THEN I GOT SHAD'S AND WE ALL CRACKED UP!!
HOPE YOU & DH CONTINUE TO IMPROVE

Looks like everyone is busy this week.
We got some more rain last night and heard a couple of rumbles of thunder.
We had a brief power outage a little after 7 a.m. Two poles are down which meant I had to call Arkansas One call. I hate that. Our ground is really soft due to all the rain. The light office took over at 8 a.m.
Feeling a lot better. Decided to follow the diverticulitis diet to the T. I don't really have to plan a lot simply because there's not a lot one can eat. My left side has been so sore that it's been difficult to exercise but I'm going to try this tonight.


Laura
Loved the pictures.

Mel
Enjoy the Christmas party.

Annie
I got the book yesterday. I'll look at it this week end.

Hello's to Happy and Michelle.

good morning chicks,

About to hop in the shower and head into the next town for some shopping and DH's 4th try at getting his drivers license. I don't really want to spend the time to go down there but I need one more panel curtain for the loft area and I'm afraid if I don't get it now, they might not have any left when I get back. Should not be so hard to find curtains and I HATE that they put one panel to a package so you have to buy 2 packages to get one set of curtains. They probably do this so you don't notice how outrageously expensive they are.

Anyway I have to get my butt in gear, will be back later.

Gonna take a break from work and do personals. This day has been sort of annoying. Woke up at 4 am when bf came to bed (says he fell asleep on the sofa at 11). And shortly thereafter Coal whined to go out because he didn’t go out for his usual potty break around 10ish. And then he didn’t want to come in, so bf let him stay out until he barked not once, but twice, to come in. So of course I was lying awake in bed waiting for that “let me in” bark. And then I couldn’t get back to sleep so I took my book to the sofa and read for a bit and managed to fall sleep for a bit. Naturally didn’t have the alarm so I slept til 6:30 instead of 6.

At work I had two meetings conflict on time, which was my own doing. Yes, I will have some cheese with my whine, LOL.

But…just past 3:30 now, so about 90 more minutes and my workday will end. Will leave a smidge early to see if the bookstore that opened in the train station has a suitable Secret Santa gift - one of the listed items was a desk calendar with "memorable quotes".

Shad – Hope you and your sister got through your remaining shopping without going insane. Are you visiting Chris now? Hope you’re having a GREAT time, and that it stopped raining.

Happy – Sounds like your visit to town the other day got you into the holiday spirit – that’s nice. I've been getting it in dribs and drabs. I enjoyed the old Barbara Stanwyck movie "Christmas in Connecticut" the other night. So was the 4th time a charm for your hubby’s drivers’ license?? Too bad your freezer wasn’t delivered in time to accommodate your cooking plans. You’re right about the meat gift we received – I just came across an ad for Omaha Steaks in a magazine, and they’ve been offering slashed prices. I’m glad bf’s mum didn’t spent uber $$ on it – she doesn’t have uber $$ to spend!

Annie – How did the shopping go? And how was Long John Silver’s? I’ve never been to one of those and there aren’t any open locations in our area anymore even if I wanted to…which I don’t. Everything there sounds like it’s deep fried, so it would be YUK for me as well. I’m so sorry your DD is in a jam with the insurance. I sure hope you can find a solution for her.

Michelle – Eleven days off sounds WONDERFUL, even if you’re both recovering from your treatments. Heck, some forced relaxation will do you both some good. I forget – when does your “holiday break” start?

Ceejay – Too bad about the diverticulitis. What’s so horrible about those types of conditions is that it seems like you can’t eat any of the foods that normally would be nutritionally desirable – high fiber, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. Our home office needs major help, can you swing by and help organize it? The alternative is dynamite, LOL. And the bad part is that the clutter seems to be spreading to the rest of the house!! Enough of the rain already!! Don’t need anyone floating away down there…

Mel – So how was the office’s holiday party? Anybody get inebriated and embarass themselves? I see everyone’s raving about Pinterest, so I’ll have to check it out. Glad you liked the photos. Took a lot of them, and now I need to get them uploaded to the computer. Hard for me to tell how they really turned out on the little phone screen…
--
Well, better get this posted and get back to work. Ladies, thanks so much for your cards and e-cards (and Annie, thanks for the book. I love having books like that in the house for reference). Sorry to say, getting cards out is not gonna happen for me this year, so please accept my heartfelt wishes for you all to have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy sharing it with your loved ones.

Hello Ladies of the World....

It is so hard to post in the evening as I do not have much time and so many things to get done....dinner, dishes, laundry, time with my man, and wrapping pressies at the moment....My man helps me with everything...but I tend to watch and see that it is done to my inspection...quietly without letting him know....I am tooooooo picky....lol

The shopping went well with the man...got a few more peeps out of the way. Altho we took a slight detour to New Your & Co. cause they were having a sale and that is the only place I can find tall anything....anyway he bought me 3 pairs of dress pants in tall and a blouse for work....this man is spoiling me...to no end....he is so good to me...scary.

Fixed cheeseburger casserole to take to sissy's tomorrow night. Wednesday's at sissy's...me taking dinner is just my excuse...it is really about seeing my lil monkey every week..lol...they are on to me...and I do not care.

Lil Monkey was 7 lbs 6 oz at the doc on this past Monday...he is officially a "newborn" and no long a premie. Yeah...premie clothes are too small and newborn clothes are too big....lol.....he is so sweet...babysitting this past weekend was absolutely the very best....man the love you have for a child or grandchild is nothing you can explain..just have to experience it.

Laura...glad you will get to enjoy the handbook...kind of silly as it is most things that you already know.

Happy...seems like if we don't get things when we see it...it is gone when we go back..unfortunately I learned that the hard way...get your needs when you see them...why is it the 4th time for DH to get license...I am sure I have missed the reasoning.

Laura...Long John Silvers is mostly grease and I feel like crap afterwards..which is exactly what happened....when we got home...I got down on my knees in the yard and barfed...I SWEAR...I will not do that again...at least for a while...LJS is not good for me....


MELLIE... I love the pix you are posting...you must have a direct line to great websites.

CEEJAY...we are in the midst of rain too! I feel very blessed that we are NOT having Snow.....looks like the southern states are having the snow probs... I do not wish that on anyone, but dang glad it is them and not me....

CHELLE...hope you are doing well and staying HEALTHY!!

SHADDIE...what the heck have you been up to on your time at home?

Not much else going on...my eyes are tired...the wine is kickin in...and I would love to go to bed to get the max out of all of this.

Have a wonderful evening/morning

love and hugs...

Hi all,
Not much time and not much good at this dial up business. I've been over at Chris' for the past couple of days and we have been having a fun time. Now I am back a Sisters place for the last 5 days of my stay.

Think I have all my shopping now and tomorrow I am hoping to go for a long walk along the coastline to see the seals. Yesterday went into the city and saw the Weta Cave which is all to do with the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies. Then we took Chris's homestay young lady (from Chile) to the Botanic Gardens and I took photos of her in the rose gardens and beside the ponds etc. We went looking for a Silver fern plant but it was nowhere to be found. Then we've been to shops and markets and finally sorted everything.

Can't personal. Tea is ready and time to get off this slow c*appy connection. Try to get back tomorrow with personals. See ya