When I went to pick up the salads, I found a new place that made me think of HAPPY and LAURA....the Taiwan Tea Room...will have to give it a try soon.

Good morning ladies,

Random thoughts from a crazed mind...

We are supposed to get bumped from that snowstorm in the plains. Start to snow about 3am and snow all through Friday. I hope not. So tired of the stuff. We are on the fringe of it so if it moves south a bit we might be spared.


As for your menu item Miss Annie - Ho...ger must at least be open faced and contain breast of something A Tea Room, eh? There was a Russian Tea room in downtown Chicago that I always wanted to try but never did. Go live vicariously for us. How nice that someone is finally doing something nice for you - ie. the "Surprise" wedding shower. Hope it is lovely. I'm quite hungry right now so going to take a pass on looking at that restaurant menu but I'll bet it's good. Enjoy your salad. Good going on the walk around the pond. Enjoy the nice weather. Just a comment on the generic thyroid meds. I hope you will get a follow up test, perhaps you have no symptoms of low thyroid either. I have been on it for 20 years now. I insist on the name brand Synthroid which the insurance company does not want to pay so I have to pay almost all of the cost of it. However I was on the generic and was having problems with it. My doc said the generic is not regulated as tightly and some people are ultra sensitive to it and subtle changes can make a difference in how they feel. Good luck!

I see that some trash dude in Texas has patented the name Breasturant for his chain of sex sells restaurants - (those like Tilted Kilt or Hooters with scantily clad young girls pushing overpriced food). I still laugh at the episode of Undercover Boss where the wife of the CEO was talking about how they had CLASS at the TK. At the time she was wearing a cross on her neck - they are very religious - but she was also feeling up some new prototypes for push up bras that claimed to practically push the boobs to new heights up and into the customer's faces. I'm sure God was very pleased with her life's mission. We are on the bullet train to the end of the world... Sodom and Gommorah all over again.

Laura - my sister said her favorite black tea is Bigelow's American Classic. Gee your WW at work plan runs long. All the ones I have been in were 10 weeks. I imagine that's quite a bundle of cash to put up front. I agree that it's a good idea to offer incentives to the employees for good health inititatives. I also agree (as a former smoker) that there should be penalties for unhealthy habits. And that includes obesity - you get a pass if you are actively enrolled in exercise and diet programs to address the issues but otherwise you pay more. Good idea on splitting the pizza dough - DH and I did that all the time when we made pizzas in TN since we like totally different ingredients. I'll bet you're glad the taxes are done with for another year. Whew... we sent our pound of flesh to the government before we left for the hospital last week.

Mel - chillax - I love it! He's on the phone now yelling at the prescription insurance people again who will not release the authorization form to the pharmacy so he can get his meds. He's making ME nervous with his yelling. Glad you got your laundry done, hope you didn't catch your fingers in the wringer I remember Grandma had one of those in the basement, it always frightened me. I can still remember Mom using it washing clothes. How many shirt buttons died in the rolls of the wringer Owwww on the knee accident - I hope you are ok and it's not too banged up. That had to hurt!

Shad - sorry to hear about your knee. That's quite the bummer as you are a big walker and that had to put a dent in your plan. Doesn't sound as if you have a swimming pool you can use so that really puts a wrench in the exercise plan. 3 more months in Darwin Oh my. Sounds like a wise thing to do if not your heart's desire simply to pay the bills off. Sorry to hear of that, hope you won't be needing extra money for tranquilizers or at least a few good glasses of wine to tide you over. And that raises a good point, will you have to arrange for some time off to work around your existing appointments?

Ceejay - I do understand how hard it is to change your very inner beliefs just to survive at work. It was something I struggled with more than anything but you have do what is best for your health and being on nerve medicine and ill effects on your health are too big a price to pay. You have to adapt.

It does remind me alot of the Lord in Downton Abbey. He struggled with how the world changed after World War I - all the old values and traditions were swept aside as the world got more "modern". And he had a hard time accepting change. I feel the very same way the last few years - not that I have a problem with change - I just feel we are headed in the WRONG direction.

Hello to Michelle, hope your studying is going well. I got a nice compliment on one of my writing assignments from the instructor the other day. This class sure is more fun than what you have to do. I wish you well, not sure I could do it. Why can't we take classes in arts and crafts instead

DH offered to take me out for lunch so I'd better jump on it before he changes his mind. Have a good hump day all...

Mel
Love the graphic today. Reminds me of my younger years. Mom was letting me roll the clothes through and yes rolled my fingers through too. Had bruised fingers for a while. That taught me.
Yes it is hard to cut back on some of the things I do at work.

Annie
Ah that's sweet of the gang at work to at least ask if you would be at work. But now you are suspicious to boot. I'm sure that you are correct though.

Laura
Wow a 17 week program is great.

Happy
The nerve med's are doing there job. I've needed them for a long, long, long time. This last issue at work is what broke the camels back. I just don't care any more. I'm trying to stay till I'm 65 but if another incident happens I'm out the door. My boss/friend wants me to stay until he retires. Then both our license will leave at the same time. The main reason that I'm staying for is my car payment and insurance.
That's an honor to have a good comment on one of your writing assignments.

Michelle
Are you still studying? Come up for a breather?

-------
Nothing new here. We're supposed to get rain this afternoon and tonight. Possible severe weather.

Shad
Don't know why I keep forgetting you. Will you take the extra 3 months or do you need a breather at home?

Somewhat less grumpy and annoyed today, but this knee is not going away in a hurry and I may yet have to take it to the quack (slang for dr) I don't think I have broken anything, but the clicking of bones and the sometimes lack of support is a bit of a worry. Yesterday I bought a kneebrace and that seems to have helped, but don't ask me to play zig zag running or do pirouettes please.

To answer the questions about the med stuff. Yes I am still taking the time off - it will be in the region of 3 weeks at home. Then I go back until the end of June where I am taking another 10 days off to go to NZ and celebrate with my sister, and I will catch up with M and his mob to see how the training school is going.

Mel - yeah, there are times when I could do with a mommy as well. Specially when I forget about the knee and try to pivot around - Need to keep a wall handy so I don't land on my nose.

Annie - 3 more months of cr*p. Well I guess I can dish it out as much as take it. They tried to make me lead the team. No, nada, nao, nyet, nein, non, iie, uun, iya, aniyo, Nee, naamik. I think you get the message. (isn't the internet wonderful - I found a site that tells me how to say no in 520 different languages. Now I just need to find out about WTF)
Not long to go now till you get hitched.

Laura - doncha just hate it when your pants are soaked and flap around your legs and drip into your shoes.

Happy - I do have a swimming pool in the complex. Just that the hours are not that great and there are stairs to negotiate to get there. I will however try that over the weekend.
Glad to hear you are enjoying your classes. Makes it much more motivational. Hope you can get to use the new knowledge in the future. Where did you go to for lunch??
Change is inevitable, but since we decided we HAVE to balance the books we have lost a lot of the versatility of the human race - ie, no incentives to increase production, create new and helpful gadgets, be inventive, and the more we have to reach out further to grasp the next dollar, the nastier we are going to be to our fellow neighbour also trying for the same dollar.
However maybe armageddon will come before we make all the animals extinct.

Gotta go. They turned the lights out in the office. Might be an indication to go home.

See ya

Ceejay - Meds working??? Does that mean you don't notice the stupidity around you any more?

Good Morning my little chickadees....

I guess it stormed here like crazy last night with golfball size hail. I wouldn't know, of all nights, I could sleep and didn't hear a thing. The tornado sirens also went off. Who knew? Sassy didn't even budge in bed. As a matter of fact she was quite the bed hog, as small as she is she is a hog when she stretches that long body out.

Have to call my St. Louis BF looks like they had tornados through there along with northern Arkansas. Just talked with BF, it went north of them around the airport and towards the inner city. She said there was a car with a house roof on top of it with the satellite dish still attached to the roof.

LAURA...you had some storms yesterday also. You all ok up there?

SHADDIE...I am passing my good thought of the day baton off to you, now you are responsible for HAPPY eating ice cream! Hope things smooth out and all the dummies took their smart pills today.

CEEG...you only have a couple of years to go on the retirement, good for you...I really do not see and end of work in my plans.

HAPPY...hope all that snow bypasses you. DH is in no condition to do anything about it and NEITHER are you! Got it. I was talking to the pharmacist at the store and she said if you start with a generic it will usually do the job, but if you try switching it up, that is when it doesn't work so well. We will see, I go back in 6 weeks for a blood draw.

Hey CHELLE hope all is going well for you today!

Loves

Good morning ladies -

another quick check in for me....I've been busy at work. I'm under pressure to complete my projects faster...so it's heads-down and focused for me. I'm doing a bit of studying after work...and I also tweaked my resume to be more of a website content manager and user interface designer/developer and less heavy duty programming. That way I know I'll be applying for jobs I'm already VERY qualified for, rather than jobs that are a stretch. Less rejection and less stress...and I'll grow into the more complex stuff when I'm settled in CA. And the best thing is I don't have to come down that much in requested salary. I'll still make enough to live on. Although I did see a job opportunity for a 6 month contract position in Hawaii and if I just knew 1 or 2 additional programming languages, I'd be a good fit. Sigh. It would be lovely to live and work in Hawaii...but at least in CA, I'll be close to family and my old friends.

Shad - So sorry to hear about your knee/leg pain. Did you tweak it while dodging and climbing over the mountains of b.s. at your workplace? Seriously, I hope the pain eases up soon.

Happy - So nice that you had a compliment on your writing assignment! I hope your DH is doing well.

Annie - How many days left? I'm so happy for you, sista!

Big hugs and much love to you all,

We had a bumpy night last night. But so far all I know of is rain and thunder. I was like Annie and slept through it. Every thing looks green and even the oak trees have almost leafed out. Part of northern Arkansas was under a tornado warning last night. It's still dripping rain. I want to go to Blytheville to pick up my new mini Ipad, then go to Sears to order a part for my lawn mower if they have them in stock. May look at the lawn mowers while I'm there but I don't want to buy a new one at this time, unless they have a very small riding lawn mower. If I do get a new mower only me will be using it. And then go to the pharmacy for my refills.
Called my bff to let her know that I'm not going to lunch.
Woohoo I've lost 2 pounds this week. I know now what I have to do and I will continue.

Shad
Combined with the meds and my new personal goals yes I am over looking the idiots at work. Hope your knee feels better. I'm taking care of me.


Annie
Glad that you were safe from the storms.


Michelle
Wow a position in Hawaii would be fun.

Morning ladies,

The snow is piling up outside. We are supposed to get 6 to 9 inches of the cold wet stuff. Ugh. It's pretty windy too - looks horrid out there. Thank goodness we don't have to go outside. If it's that gusty out there I'm not even going to shovel. Maybe if we can stay hunkered down until Sunday it will all melt without me lifting a finger Fat chance. Geez I am so over snow already. Good thing is that we know it won't stay around for long.

We went out yesterday - lunch at just a local restaurant. DH had fried chicken and I had baked fish. It was good. I don't know what this place does to their vegetables but they are always so good. I love their carrots and yesterday's steamed broccoli was just delicious. It was nice to get out. Only trouble is that I had a mess of returns to the library. 4 books for DH, 2 for me, a copy of Downton Abbey and 6 music CDs. Since there was so much stuff I put it in a large grocery bag and returned it to the library. Checking my record online it seems there is one book of DH's not checked in. We looked all over the house, DH insists he had all 4 books on the table - and he's pretty good about putting them in the same place as he finishes reading them. Since he did take them to the hospital last week, I asked if it's possible that he missed one. He said no, the one still out was the very first one he read before we left the house. I did go to the library yesterday and saw that all 3 books he had (all by the same author) are grouped together on the shelf. I was thinking that perhaps the librarian got distracted as she was checking things in (it happens) and somehow the book got pushed off to the side. I will have to call the library and ask them to look around again.

Ceejay - somehow I didn't think you had enough lawn at your place to mow but then I remembered the issues you have had with your neighbors and their "help". We had a small electric mower for the back yard in TN because the yard was cut up with the patio, pool, deck and landscaping. It worked nicely as long as you were mindful of the cord. Where would you store a riding mower? They seem small on the showroom floor until you get them home and then they grow 3 feet wide in either direction Congratulations on the pounds down this week!

Michelle - I am naturally suspicious so I'd think the Hawaii contract job was a dangling carrot I'm sure everyone would want that job - although you'd have to get premium pay to afford to live on the island. I noticed too that the web jobs seemed to be alot ALOT of under the covers programming work, rather than content development and management. Will the pay be better in SD? I would think it's more expensive to live there than in the cold midwest. Don't fret, you will be there before you know it. Just remember to "enjoy" :P your last days of cold and ice here. I will envy your beach living...

Annie - it's nice to hear that you finally slept through the night. And to sleep through a storm is even better. Is everything in place for the wedding? Thank you for passing the ice cream baton to Shad - I have been a good girl as promised. That makes sense about the generic thyroid meds if you start out with a low dose and start on the generics. At this point in my life I have no natural thyroid left so I can see when I might have an issue you did not. Hope all goes well with that - we all know that they never give you enough medication to actually help the issues I guess the thyroid is a very tricky bugger.

Shad - good heavens - you really did a number on the knee. Did you twist it or something? Sounds like some of the tendons are injured too. A brace or athletic bandage will often help for support. Hope you feel better - that's a bothersome injury. Please let me know if you find 250 translations for WTF Too funny. I don't know if my classes will lead to anything other than keeping my brain exercised, but the teacher made a point in one of the last lessons - there are something like 25,000 monthly magazines published around the world and they all need people to write articles to fill the pages. One tends to think like a television show they have dedicated writers but it's not the case with magazines. We'll see where it goes. It is meeting my immediate objective and that's what matters. You make a good point about how we have transitioned from a farming industry to a manufacturing industry to a service one and now everyone just chases the almighty dollar whatever that may be. I just think in many ways we have lost our humanity and our soul.

Laura and Mel - you were not on when I started typing this but I imagine when I post, I will see your note(s). Will respond to your comments in a minute.

Have a good day all. It stopped snowing for 5 minutes and I got hopeful, but apparently it was just a break in the clouds. It's blowing and snowing again.

Morning all.

Ceejay - Way to go on the weight loss!! Wow, is it part of your lease that you're responsible for mowing? A new mower purchase is a big deal!!! Ouch re the fingers in the wringer washer - a painful memory!! The iPad sounds like fun. BF thinks we should get one for reading e-books and having handy when we sit around watching tv, etc. Given we already each have smart phones and we have a desktop computer and bf has a laptop, it seems like a frivolous purchase for us...if money were no object, it would be different of course!

Annie - We're fine here. I know that it was rather windy last night and then right around bedtime it started thundering and raining, but nothing woke me. Glad our car was in the garage if we did get hail, but the warning that came across the tv screen was that the severe storms were going to be to the south of us in Indiana. Soooo - were your vehicles in the garage?? Sure hope so!!! Your lunch yesterday sounds yummy. Let us know how that tea room is if/when you go! Goodonya for the walking!!

Michelle - Sorry they're cracking the whip at your job, we're gearing up for our busy time now and there's some of that going on here. Ah, an assignment in Hawaii sounds heavenly! Sure you can't pick up those two languages lickety split??

Shad - Sorry your knee is still bothering you. Glad the brace is helping a bit. Do go see a doc if it's really not getting better. Well, three more months in Darwin then. Glad you've got some breaks in there to give you a chance to decompress. My wet drippy slacks were indeed very uncomfortable, so I did end up using the blowdryer in the fitness center locker room to dry them - much better.

Happy - Nice to get a compliment on your writing assignment. Have you caught up on your other assignments now that you've finished the DA dvds? How's dh doing? I hope his recovery is going smoothly and he got the !@#$% rx situation under control. I sure hope you don't get hit by the snowstorm - just too depressing to think of when it's close to mid-April! Re WW, now that I think about it, I think we were offered the option of either 10 weeks or 17 weeks. Of course the longer one was less expensive, and with the company covering 50% (IF I go to most of the meetings), I thought it was worth it to go with the 17 wk program. I'll have to seek out the Bigelow American Classic and give it a go. I also have almost all the spice ingredients purchased to try my own chai blend.

==
Nothing much to report. We made our individual pizzas last night and they were much easier to handle than one larger pizza, but we did have to bake them separately. They turned out delish. Wer'e getting better at it! Next time I might try goat cheese on my 'za. And I want to tweak the sauce to add just a bit of sweetness to it.

That's about it for me. I still have some soreness, but it's pretty bearable today (finally). I'm trying to figure out what to do differently in class this Sunday to avoid being so sore again. I know I want to use a lighter weight, but I also think I'll need to ease up the intensity some other way too - there were a lot of squat-type movements and the repetition alone made it challenging. Nothing in the class description mentioned it being an advanced level class or "challenging", so I'm going to see what the instructor suggests, and not feel bad if I have to make my own modifications and/or take more frequent rests.

Almost lunch time, and I didn't bring my lunch today. Might run out for a salad, prolly a mcd's caesar w/ grilled chicken. Doesn't sound quite as tasty as a hot spinach-bacon salad....

TTFN!

I'm so sorry to hear that EZMONEY (Gary) has lost his battle with cancer. He was very active in the Christian Encouragers and General Chatter threads. He was a huge teaser and there were a few times we had some playful disagreements but that was his way. He was a very loving guy and had a great way with twisting words around. I especially laughed at him calling his son-in-laws "kidnappers" for stealing his daughters. He was a fun guy and will be missed. ♥ RIP Gary.

I have gotten to know a few people on this forum indirectly, it's funny how people you've never met can also become old friends.

Aha - there's Laura. I tend to agree with you about the iPAD. DH bought me a Kindle and I feel badly that I hardly ever use it or the iTOUCH either but it sure does seem like they are forcing us into a smartphone world. No use for that either in these here woods DH seems to be doing fine. He is not so hypersensitive about every little twitch which is good. I think he finally believes he will be ok, tho I totally understand the fear of worrying that another shoe will drop. And yes, I am getting caught up with my schoolwork although I have to admit once course is rather challenging in both the assignments and the reference books she refers to in the course. Fortunately she will post snippets of text because many of the books are not to be found in our northwoods library system. And I wouldn't mind buying them but a few have had mixed reviews on Amazon so I am reluctant to shell out money for them. But the material is really, really good for someone who might one day be interested in writing professionally so all is not lost. While you are at McD's picking up a sandwich, can you check out those new wraps and report back? I'm sure they look good on the commercials but are probably calorie bombs. Glad you enjoyed your pizza too. There are lots of recipes for sauce on the internet, I'm sure you'll find something you like.

Talking about food has made me hungry. Best go find me some lunch too.

super quick check in...

I'm also applying for jobs in the SF Bay area. I'd prefer to live in San Diego...but the SF Bay area would be okay too. There's more work in Silicon Valley (which is the south end of the SF Bay Area and where I lived before), and yes, the job market is picking up there. There's high demand, and lots of job seekers (from what I've heard). The pay is good, and the cost of living is high. The cost of living in the SF Bay area and San Diego is significantly higher than Wisconsin, though maybe not much more than Chicago or NY. The cost of living in the SF Bay is higher than San Diego...maybe because of a better job market...I'm not sure. The weather is MUCH nicer in San Diego. I'll likely be paying around $1,200+ for rent in the San Diego area (currently I pay $825) and maybe $1,500+ in Silicon Valley but as I said the salaries are higher. I should be able to manage in either location. There are cheaper rents...but since I have Santa, I'm looking for a cottage or very small single-family home to minimize disturbance to neighbors.

If I end up with a job in the SF Bay, I'll probably stay there for a couple years and eventually still try and move to San Diego...or at least to the Northern CA coast. I'm even allowing recruiters to submit me for positions in Seattle, which is a booming market, and at least it would get me a bit closer to family in CA.

First step...land a great job!! Preferably either a permanent position, contract to hire, or very long-term contract position.

hugs,

Happy - You snuck in on me! I got in late to post today. Sorry to hear it's snowing and blowing by you. We've got yet more rain today, but no downpours to get soaked in, thankfully. Sorry about the library mishap - I hope the book turns up somewhere - at home or in the library. We too have a "spot" for the library materials when they're ready to go back.

What I thought was an ipad is really a tablet. oh well will have to get used to it.

Laura .
I really didn't need this but u know I do travel bit so I can check things out when I'm on the road. I still have a lot to learn.