Afternoon

Mary
Hello. Mel has pnuemonia. So good to see you back .

Happy
We did infact have some very ugly thunderstorms. Wondered if you were getting snow. Ssaw the blue over your state. One thing about retirement is that you don't have to get out in the weather unless you want to.

It's a normal Monday at work. Infact it's a bit on the boring side today.

I'm still contemplating retirement in August.

Quick post....super busy at work. We switched over to a new email and calendar software today...and it's taking some getting used to. Plus, I'm starting to tie up loose ends in preparation for my transition from reporting to programming.

I hope y'all are doing well.

Morning all,

Mary - good to see you posting with us. Yes Mel has been a bit crook - Aussie understatement for very ill - and yet she gets herself back up again and will be back with us at the end of the month. She doesn't have a voice at the moment or maybe only a little one. But just think what she will be saying and doing when she gets it back!!!!! Don't beat yourself up, life happens when we are planning other things. How are things going with you?

Ceejay - hope the storms have gone by now - actually I think you sent them down our way. We have heavy rain, reports of flash flooding and a slow moving weather system which we won't see the end of for another week or so. It's just on the anniversary of our big flood last year so there are some twitchy people around I can tell you.

Happy - more snow up your way. Well at least you don't have to go out in it. If there is any consolation in this, we are finding our days drawing in and it is not get light as early as it was, so spring for you is on its way. Wonder what you might find in a new garden when spring arrives - I presume bulbs would do well up your way.
My son the DS1 lives in Adelaide which is in South Australia. It's about 2500 kilometres from here so they won't be coming up too often. I am considering going down there for Easter, but now I am not sure whether I should wait for an August date - baby is due 5th August apparently.

Work carries on. I am through with doing the finance doco for the lazy b*stards. I'm told by the Test Manager that they have never had such detail in their documentation and that they are in danger of becoming educated. That sucks - bright financial bodies I can do without!
So I am back with my stuff. I'm just going over it and finalising the details like making sure we have the right data in the right place for the right job at the right time. Now all I need are the students and staff in the right frame of mind. And we are still 2 weeks out from training starting. Heaven forbid - PM is organised (maybe).

Did I mention that the corn was ready over the weekend so I ate it for lunch. Yummy corn on the cob. I have some tomatoes ready to eat as well. For all the neglect in the garden the tomatoes have cropped quite well. They are just not ripening very fast and I have to check everyday for ones that have a tinge of orange or red and pick them because otherwise the birds and the bugs get in there and feast on my dime.

Anyway, I am rambling here. I need to get on with the lesson plan and then decide how much paperwork I am going to hand out. Not much since most of them will never read it anyway.

Michelle just sneaked in ahead of me. Have a great day.

Ladies....this will be a trying week..lol YES I was selected for jury duty...blah....boring...however the case is something I do know a great deal about as I am sure you all do too! Cannot speak of the case, but can next week. It is a FIVE...YES..FIVE day civil trial...blah. My boss is having a fit that I will be out of the office all week. Sorry about you, but I am NOT breaking the law.

Gotta get dinner on the table and relax a bit before another 8 hour day in court tomorrow.

Loves and hugs

Afternoon everyone. I need a break.

Michelle - Looks like you snuck in on me yesterday. Glad Mischief's levels are more stable. Great you're able to forgo buying the expensive books, especially since they get outdated so quickly.

Ceejay - So is your sis moving to Branson, or will they also stay in Springfield? How exciting to think about retiring or working part time. Hope the numbers work out for you.

Happy - Awww, date night. Nice you enjoyed dh's choice. Yeh, my old wallet was a nice leather one and it got softer as it got older. It's a Fossil brand, and I also had a Fossil brand purse and it was good quality leather too. I saw a wallet similar to what I had on their site, so I might just buy that one and be done with it. Re snow - we got about 6-7 inches, and with the mild temps today, it might be just about melted by the time I get home today. How much did you end up getting, or is it still snowing?

Annie - Sounds like you had a great weekend!! How was jury duty?

Shad - Well, I can certainly understand wanting the child to be born into a stable family structure (even without the formality of marriage), and if I have the right DS in mind, I recall it didn't sound like it was such a sure thing... you feel how you feel, and that's not wrong. I hope everything is okay with mom and baby. Yeh, Murphy's law re the gym card - pay for the new one and the old with suddenly appear. Re my wallets - yeh, I like lots of slots, but as I was transferring cards from one to another, there were a few cards I felt I could probably leave at home. Hmmm.

Turtle - Howdy and good to see you here!! I'm sorry I didn't think to shoot you a message about Mel. Dunno what's wrong with me. Mostly I can't keep up with much of anything lately. Anyhoo...hope you pop in more frequently. Now I will be hounding you, lol.
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Feeling blah. Didn't do any project work today, and found myself burrowed in a convoluted budget vs. actual department expense nightmare that I'm still not through, ugh. Sometimes I feel guilty that I didn't follow my accounting roots, but not today, that's for sure!

Gonna try and wrap it up and get out of here. Oh, and found out the solution to the remote network connection. I was doing it the old way before our windows upgrade. Duh. Got the drive hard-mapped (whatever that is) and hopefully this is the solution.

Toodles.

Hi there chicks,

almost 10am and I'm the first one here today? I guess Mel was the early bird of the group. Speaking of which, hope you are resting and getting nice and strong my friend - we miss you

Got a good 6 inches of snow yesterday. Not quite a dumping but lots to clean up. I have made a mess of the house trying to go through some boxes. Sorting things here and there and then I had to stop and make dinner so everything got shoved to the side. We are going out for a little bit today - if someone breaks in I won't be able to tell! And I probably shouldn't admit that I did get alot of other "maid" things done in between like laundry, cleaning bathrooms, gathering the trash for trash day, etc so there was actually alot going on. Still feel like I didn't accomplish much.

So you have mild temps to melt all that snow you got Laura? I'm not sure that's such a good thing, stuff freezes overnight and makes ice and it gets so dirty so quickly. Maybe that's why I like the snow here - it stays nice and white - just looks like herds of wild buffalo come through the yard each day with all the deer tracks in the snow So, based on your comment are you secretly coveting a life as an accountant? I was better with words than numbers. Sometimes when they would talk budgets I could feel my eyes glazing over so thank goodness there's some of you that understand that stuff. Funny thing was in my old job, only the highest manager understood the numbers game - her underlings admitted they were really bad and disinterested in it. Should be fun for budget planning this year! I hope you fixed your remote connection for home.

Annie - so I guess this means you were selected for a high profile case. I hope they REALLY MISS you at work! Sounds like they will - not that they can do anything about it. I hope it's at least interesting to you - will you be able to sit in a wooden chair for 9 hours without fidgeting? You are so used to being on the go. Good luck.

Mary - welcome back. Perhaps if we name the February thread in your honor you will visit us more? We are just what you need to pull yourself out of a winter slump Trust us...

Shad - ah chasing the baby due date - probably best to save a few days when the baby makes it's appearance rather than try and be there precisely on time. Of course timing being what it is, you will probably be right in the middle of an implementation! I completely understand your feelings about the new one - it's a big shake up in your life, will take some time for the news to settle in. I know you will be as supportive as you can be. Given my dim remembrance of your back yard, I can't for the life of me imagine where you had the room to put sweet corn. It seems to like your yard, every time you mentioned eating it, it was quite delicious so you must have the right stuff for growing things well. Pity the bugs are so in love with your tomatoes. I'm a bit concerned about that too given the wild conditions out here and the plague of bugs we saw here in July. DH said he's going to get me a bee keepers outfit - might be a great idea after all. In Tennessee we had problems with the darn squirrels taking a bite - just one bite to ruin as many tomatoes as they could. Probably retaliation for DH shooting them. Squirrels seem to have gotten more destructive than I remember. Well it sounds as if you will be providing the company the first documentation that they have ever seen. Can it be that they might become too organized and actually KNOW what they are doing? Reminds me of a magnet I had at work - Conway's Law - In any organization there is one person who knows what is going on - this person must be fired.

Ceejay - I can tell you that once you really start the seed of retirement in your head it is amazing how quickly it runs through your brain. Work becomes unbearbly boring and tedious and you find yourself dragging through the day. Once I decided to leave it was the longest 3 weeks ever. I hated going in to work and there was no way I would have made it until the end of the year feeling the way I did. So be careful what you ponder On the positive side it is wonderful to laugh and the weather and not worry about it, my health is so much improved - blood sugar numbers are way way down, so is the blood pressure, I don't have the aches and pains I did from stress and I find myself laughing alot like I once did long ago and lastly, I don't want for much so not having the money is not a big issue. Now I probably won't be feeling quite the same way come May when I have to start spending the better part of our income on health insurance again but I still say this was a good decision. The timing has to be right though - try to estimate income and expenses as best you can and various scenarios so you don't get caught blindsided. Of course you can't anticipate everything but you can at least have something to work with.

Michelle - nothing as disruptive as changing out the base software you depend on. We went from Lotus Notes to Outlook and while they did a good job on training. the transition was bumpy - particularly when it came to scheduling our always busy conference rooms through the calendars. Sounds like they are disbanding your group pronto - like someone made a decision and the big guy answered "Make it so" and boom, it happened. Hope you aren't too harried! Do you already have a new place to move to or will you have to interview for spots?


Well we are to have lunch with the cousins so I'd better get cleaned up and presentable. Have a good one ladies...

Morning all. I don't know what happened to me yesterday, but it seemed I missed some posts.

Michelle - Good luck with adjusting to the new email/calendar software. Generally okay with ours - we went from Lotus Notes to Outlook about a year ago. But for some reason, we can't search email just within a folder - it defaults to searching the entire database!

Shad - Mmmm, corn on the cob. Hope you stay diligent w/ harvesting so you can enjoy your tomatoes.

Annie - Wow, 5 days away! Yup, I would guess your boss wouldn't be too happy about that. Hope you don't have to sign your jury paycheck over to your employer. You'll have to work extra hard catch up after being gone a whole week and deserve something extra! Not that it's all that much.

Happy - I spoke too soon re all the snow melting. The temp dropped quite a bit during the day yesterday and the wind picked up big time. I was totally underdressed going home, so I asked bf to pick me up from the train. The bad part was that he didn't walk the dog. So I walked the dog and it was hazardous because there was that frozen up melted snow to contend with - in the dark and with my energetic bratski wanting to move along without regard for safety. There's still snow out there, but the sidewalks are mostly clear, save the frozen puddle spots. Our yard, however, doesn't have much snow at all now except for the shady spots where the dog hasn't been running around breaking it up into smaller, more meltable sections.

So good to hear you've reaped healthy benefits from your retirement! Should come in handy when you have to pay for your own health insurance, LOL. I think you better post more about the negatives of retirement (are there any beyond the financial ones??), because the rest of us might start getting really jealous!! Have an enjoyable lunch w/ the cousins.

Hellos to the rest of you!
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Not much to report today. Scale is being kind, in spite of TOM week. My bp med definitely helps w/ the bloating, but I'm thinking that my reduced exercise of late (less rigorous) has maybe caused some muscle loss too? Still logging my eating.

Decided to skip the movies tonight. Planning a night out this weekend with friends. Next month a friend and I will be doing an overnight trip to Madison, WI. Just a quick trip to meet up w/ some other friends.

Better get back to it. TTFN!

Hi ladies -

It's been an exhausting week. And it's only Tuesday. Yesterday, despite being mentally and physically tired when I got home, I made meatloaf for dinner, and also made a couple make ahead dinners and lunches. Today, I had to run an errand at lunch and after work, I'll be getting some stuff done around the house and maybe doing website work.

DH is having a CT Scan today. The radiologist report from his chest xray last week was "Weird". The doctors and the radiologist haven't seen anything quite like it. They don't know if it's a fungal infection in his bronchials/lungs or what it might be. The fact that no one has been able to diagnose it yet makes me and DH a bit worried. The doc has been treating it like pneumonia, and the medicine really helped a lot for a few days, but now DH seems to be nearly as sick as he was last week. He goes back to the doc on Thursday to learn the results of the CT Scan. Hopefully, they'll be able to determine what he has so that they can treat it effectively. Otherwise, I'm suggesting to DH that he see a pulmonologist who specializes in the respiratory system.

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Ceejay - Good for you for thinking ahead towards your retirement. Congrats to your sister and BIL on their new condo! So they want you to come live with them? Awesome! I hope you didn't get hit with any of the tornadoes that were down there a couple days ago.

Happy - Glad you and your DH had a nice date night and enjoyed the band! Can you get your cousins to go see Barry with you? What recipe did you use for lettuce wraps? They sound yummy! 6" of snow? Yuck! Better you than us, sista! Especially since you don't have to leave the house if you don't want to. We got rain, which thankfully melted most of the snow on our driveway that DH was too sick to clear off. Are you going to make it to the raptor lecture tonight? As for my transition due to the disbanding of our group, we will all be put on separate projects that are currently underway. So I will have a job and don't have to interview for a position. Thank goodness! How wonderful that you are experiencing the health benefits of retirement? Is DH having the same benefits? How was lunch with the cousins?

Annie - Sounds like you had a very nice Friday, and a fun Saturday, but your Sunday was best of all! I love relaxing, do nothing days. Unfortunately, they're few and far between. Good luck with jury duty...bummer that your boss is upset...but thems the breaks...you gotta do jury duty.
Shad - I understand about you not being ecstatic about DS1 and his GF's baby on the way, especially given what you've said of their relationship. I don't think there's anything wrong with you. Sending loving thoughts and : to the baby, and I hope that DS1 and his GF's relationship becomes more stable. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of the castle. Hope you have a great week and safe travels to/from Yarrabee! I hope all the storms don't cause the damage they did last year! My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. Your yummy garden fresh veggies are making my mouth water. I'm so looking forward to planting my garden again (maybe even starting some plants early).

Mary - Great to hear from you again!

Laura - Yikes! Budgeted expense versus actual expense does sound like a nightmare. We had a snow melting rain early in the day, but it did get chilly at night (and early this morning). I'm glad you didn't slip or fall during the dog walk. Sounds like you have some fun stuff planned (for this weekend and next month in Madison).

Mel - I hope you are starting to feel better.

Gotta prep for a meeting.

Much love and many hugs,

Morning all,

Laura - budget vs actual! my eyes just glazed over there. Hope you get it all down pat and have some left over. Don't know about where you work but in most of my jobs I find that the budget devised leaves an awful lot of the month left over when the money runs out. Profit, profit, profit. Profit is all very well and not a dirty word but when you expect people to run something like an office or a coal mine for example and the money is not there to do it quickly enough or safely then something is wrong with your budgeting. I get so tire of hearing the men on the mines say that they get paid (very well as most would agree) to do a job for 12 hours per day (or night) but they are expected to be on the shop floor half an hour early and stay for half an hour afterwards. It's the same in offices. Nobody does a straight 8 hour day anymore - and the unions fought so hard for that all those years ago.

Michelle - I am coming to accept and understand this new beginning in the family. It is not my decision to make anyway. So now I am thinking of what to do for the new little family. I want to put away some money for the baby so by the time education comes around there will enough there to pay for it. And I want to tie up that cash so it can't be used to buy expensive clothes and shoes (these are label people we are talking about here) that the child will only wear a couple of times. I will have to talk to the accountant and see what I can do.
Hope you enjoy the new job. So pleased that you didn't have to compete for a job and they just shifted you from A to B.

Happy - watch the grammar - shouldn't that be speaking of whom and not witch, ummm sorry I mean which?
One thing my sister always says about her messy house is that at least if the burglars come, they will think that they have already done the place over so they won't try again.
I am not going to Adelaide for the birth. Not this chick thank you. I will go down a week or so after and see if I can help them out and get settled into a routine. Not that her family won't be there (in their droves - they are Italian/ Greek heritage) so it won't matter that I am not there. I can't compete with the noise.
Veges don't grow as well here as they would in a more temperate climate. Sure they grow fast, so where my Dad used to put in corn, it grew slower but they would crop much more heavily that mine do. I only get a couple of cobs if I am lucky per plant. You put six plants in, you get only a couple of feeds but it is yummy and I can grow it all year round which helps. Green stuff like beans, lettuce, spinach, rocket etc grows very quickly. Plant it one week, start harvesting leaves 3 weeks later.
I doubt that too many people will know what they are doing even if they read my doco. Too many accents abound and not everyone can understand them and as you know SAP knowledge doesn't come easy.

Oi Mary - get with the program. I will drag you into February although it may take some doing since I will be in training classes about then. No doubt I will be crazy enough by that time to think up something nasty for the title. February is not an easy month to try to visualise a witty saying.

Annie - doing duty at the jury. Hope you don't nod off mid rivetting revelation.

Haven't heard from Mel. Might just try to see if I can get her on the blower this weekend.

Gotta go, do some work for a change. It's leave early day today since it is raining hard out there and we are getting some flooding again. It won't be anywhere near as bad as last year though.

Speak and she shall appear. Latest from Mel.

still resting. very little talking.
no contact with the office and canceled all my meetings.
jen is doing only the emergency calls.
visiting nurses say i am making a great recovery considering the circumstances.
deep breathing still an issue with some left side pain.
lungs are sounding clearer each day.
the dr thinks its the muscles causing all the problems breathing.
she said i need a lot more rest and give myself time.
maybe i was rushing it a bit....but not much though. i don't want to end up back in the hospital.
sorry this is short. i feel like an old lady and tire easily.
i will keep your dates in mind. printed them out.
love, mel

JESUS MELLIE...for craps sake take care of yourself....and do right by the doctor and you...do NOT worry about the crap with the office..lets face it...it is not going to change..so kick back and let be bygones be bygones...

Civil Jury Duty was so boring and stressful...listened to six hours of testimony from a doc....then a two hour deposition from a doc on DVD...OMG. talk about boring and everything we have already heard. We still have to hear from 3 more docs LIVE....I am over this case...I have made my decision....I know that is not right, but facts are facts. and especially sinc the medical recview board has made their decision. REALLY...why in the h*ll did they pick me???????? Maybe because of all the deadbeats...I looked more sane??????? hahaha...I am a nut!!!

Gotta go...poor Curtis is having bad time with his tummy....guess I had better baby him....he is such trooper....

Have a wonder hump day and eveing.

Love and hugs.

Happy Hump Day ladies -

Today will be spent starting a requirements document for a report that I probably won't be developing due to the timing of the transition. My team lead has suggested to all of us that we spend time preparing/training for our new role, and just tie up loose ends on the stuff currently on our to do list.

Other members on our team are suggesting that the other developer and I should keep an eye out for internal job postings for when the reporting functions are taken over by the various business groups (product development, buying office, etc.), and I may do that. But I then start thinking about...what if, heaven forbid, anything were to happen here...what would offer better opportunities...strong reporting skills using a niche software along with Java programming experience that's over 4 years old. Or strong recent programming experience using Java and the latest programming technologies (e.g., programming for mobile devices, etc.).

DH had his CT scan last night, and he got the results, along with his recent chest xrays put on a CD. He is going to send a copy of the CD to a friend of ours in CA who is a radiologist.


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Shad - You are so right about no such thing as an 8 hour workday anymore. Unless your paid hourly...then by gosh, don't work a minute past 8 hours because we don't want to pay you overtime. Don't even get me started on the elimination of things that unions fought for. When DH's grandfather was alive, he was head of the Milwaukee branch of the AFLCIO. And my state's Governor is trying to eliminate collective bargaining and other union rights, which is one of the many reasons that organizers have filed petitions to have him recalled. I don't want to start a big political debate here, so I'll get off my soapbox. :soapbox: I think setting up a trust fund for your grandchild's education is an excellent idea, especially if the mum and dad are into expensive "labels". I've never been much of a label person. I look for quality, and I know from experience that quality doesn't always come with a big expensive label. I love your sister's messy house justification! I wish our growing season was more like yours. It seems we have to wait FOREVER to harvest ANYTHING, with the exception of lettuce and radishes. Wishing you safe travels on the flooded roads. I'm sending : to your area that people's lives, homes and businesses will be spared this year.

Mel - I'm glad you've got a visiting nurse to come check on you, and that you've cancelled all meetings and have no contact with the office. You do not need to be catching anyone elses germs! That's great that the lungs are sounding clearer. The muscles in the chest and back could be causing the pain/problems breathing. Also, several times that I've had pneumonia/bronchitis, I coughed so hard that I slightly tore cartilage between the ribs, which hurts like HECK! And the reason you get tired easily is because you're not getting enough oxygen. You DEFINITELY need more rest - MUCH MORE REST. Definitely do NOT rush it. There is nothing you need to do that is worth a relapse. Get well soon, sweetie!

Annie - Sorry that the case is so boring. I actually find medical stuff interesting...but maybe after listening to it 8 hours a day, repeating the same things, I might have a different opinion. I hope Curtis feels better today.


Well, best get started on the requirements doc. The sooner I finish that, the sooner I can move on with my new role.

Much love and many hugs to all,

Morning
Still no news to report.
I may go to the Social Security Office tomorrow to check out some things. I have already revised my budget. My sis said I didn't have to pay her rent. Mainly what I will have is my car payment and cell phone. If I don't retire in August, I will the next year. There are a few things that I would want my insurance to pay for. Plus if I go this year she wouldn't have to buy furniture for the condo. We could use mine.

Laura
Yes my sis and bil are keeping the house in Ash Grove near Springfield.

Annie
I've been lucky in not having to go to jury duty. Hang in there. Hope Curtis is feeling better.

Happy
I can tell that you are not as stressed since the move . Glad the numbers are improving.


Shad
Thanks for sharing the news from Mel. She's really having a tough time.

Michelle
Yikes for the dh. Hope the drs find out what is wrong.

Ceejay - That's great news that you're making steps toward retirement! I'm a bit jealous. So will your sis and bil just live in the Branson condo part time, but you'll live there full time? I wish I could retire. I need to come up with an idea for a book (or book series) that will be as successful as Harry Potter or the Twilight series.