OK Ladies...I am an idiot...

When I get in my car, I throw my cell phone in the cup holder. WELLLL...I had a cup of water in the holder and threw my cell right into the cup of water and probably 5 minutes elapsed before I realized it. Phone dead. Overnight rice treatment did no good, off to Verizon to get a new phone today. Bleh! Thankfully it is my turn to get a new phone. Laura and Chelle, I had your cell numbers prior. Please PM me them again. I lost everything. Anyone else that wants to share your # please PM me.

No personals, not in the mood. Feeling like a boob!

Annie
I feel the pain of the cell phone. I've washed my in the washer several time. This time I bought insurance on it.

Nothing new
Have a good day every one.

Morning all.

Annie - I PM'd you my cell ph. # What a PITA with the phone, especially losing the data on there. Are you going to get the same model, or a newer/different kind? It's nice having new features, but learning how to use it can be frustrating.

Mel - Hope things slow down for you and you get to rest up and have some time for yourself. Sorry to hear you friend is going on disability if she wasn't mentally ready to do that.

Ceejay - Glad you got some rest on your day off! Two trips to Wally world in one day - now that's not my ideal day! But I will get there sometime this weekend - have a few things to pick up.

Happy - Yeh, I notice a lot of my days are like that - all of a sudden it's late afternoon and not a clue what's been accomplished, even when it's not a lazy sofa day, LOL. Gosh you've got some thirsty hummingbirds!! They're preparing for what's to come just like your cousin, LOL. Good for you cutting back on other meals when you're eating out more frequently. It's all about balance... Between not driving as much and living in the 'burbs, I'm quite rusty with parallel parking now. You'd think it'd be 2nd nature after all the years in the city, but now I've spent 13 years out here, so that's a good long time of driveways and parking lots vs. street parking. And honestly, the cars have such different sight lines now, it's harder to do parallel parking when you can't really see where the hood ends!

Hellos to Shad & Michelle!

==
Didn't do much of anything last night, and we ordered pizza for dinner. I found another headboard that's a good possibility for us, but we might not get to see it til Monday because the seller is going away for the weekend.

I started watching the movie Mildred Pierce on cable last night. I missed about the first half hour, watched about 45 min. of it and recorded the rest. I might just see if I can borrow it from the library so I can see it from the beginning.

I went to Jazzercise this morning and the usual instructor was there, so yay. Good sweaty class. All showered now and got a load of laundry going. We let the towels pile up and now we have several loads of those to wash. Good thing we have a lot of towels!!

I have a hankering for some middle Eastern food - lamb kabob sandwich, some hummus...maybe a little piece of baklava to take home for later. I'll have to see what time bf is leaving for a charity event he's attending with a couple friends.

Okay, off to get my recipe binder set up wit my new index tabs! Have a great weekend everyone.

God Bless Adam at Verizon. He retrieved all my contacts off my dead to life phone. Thanks but need no numbers now.

LAURA...I got an I-phone this time. A huge jump from a basic phone that calls and texts, takes pix. Took me 10 mins to call my first person. Sheesh.

CEEG...it is so very painful on this new IPhone. bleh

Morning all,
Got here safe and sound. There have been some big earthquakes here in the past week, however none that could be felt since I arrived.

About to get down and dirty with my sister who is resisting most of the way. I'll be back as often as I can, but with this connection, it could be a while.

Take care.

Hi ladies -

Super quick post for me as it's late, and I'm tired. It's been busy around here with my step-mom's brother and his wife in town from New Hampshire. They are both SO nice. I hadn't seen them since my dad passed away in 2003.

I had a great day today. It started with a vet appointment for Santa that went very well. Then I decided to join Weight Watchers and release some of this weight and the unhealthy eating patterns that are holding me back. Then I got my hair colored by my step-mom's sister-in-law...and it's the perfect shade of strawberry blonde that I wanted! After that, D came over and made a delicious healthy dinner for me and my step-brother as step-mom, her brother and sister in law went over to a friend's for dinner. Then D and I went for a walk afterward! Such a perfect day! And I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep and a fun day with Santa tomorrow!

I'm sorry I've been so behind on reading and personals. Please forgive me.

Shad - I heard about the earthquakes in NZ. Not sure what's going on with you and your sister that you're getting down and dirty...so I'll have to go back and catch up on reading.

Much love,

MORNING CHICKLETTES

NOT WIDE AWAKE JUST YET BUT WE HAD AN ALARM AT 6. YAWN.
GOING TO EAT SOMETHING AND THEN LIE DOWN TO WATCH CARTOONS.
FEELING A WEE BIT CONGESTED WITH THIS WEIRD WEATHER.
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SUPER SUNDAY.





ANNIE....VERY SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE PHONE. OMG!!
WILL PM LATER. REMIND ME. LOL
PS: GOD BLESS ADAM!! GOOD NEWS!!


CEEJAY...NOTHING NEW IS A GOOD THING HERE!!! ROFL




LAURA....PIZZA...
HOPE YOU FIND THE HEADBOARD OF YOUR DREAMS!!
MILDRED PIERCE....GREAT FILM!!




SHAD....YES ...LIKE I SAID YESTERDAY...I HEARD ABOUT THE QUAKES.
STAY SAFE YOU GUYS AND KEEP US POSTED IF YOU CAN.
WILL TRY TO LISTEN TO REPORTS HERE.
ENJOY THE VISIT!!



MICHELLE......SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE ALREADY HAVING THE PERFECT WEEKEND.
MAY IT COPNTIMUE ON THIS ROAD!!!

Shad
Hope things are okay and there's not been any other earthquakes. We've been having some smaller ones in our area.

Mel
Ugh on the alarms. Maybe you should give the building a curfew--stay in bed until you get up. But I realize that's not feasible. Watch Tom and Jerry for me.

Michelle
No wonder you are tired. Have a good night's sleep. My sister had strawberry blond hair when she was younger. I love that color. Good for you in joining WW. It is a good program.

Laura
I've never eaten mid eastern food. I've eaten India food prepared by my nieces husband. He didn't make it to spicy.


--------
It's back to work for me. Nothing new.

Morning all,

Yesterday was such a crazy busy day - I was really on a tight schedule and not even sure I got on the computer. DH hurt his back so he is having to rest it for a few days, he politely asked me to handle a few of his chores in the interim. No problem, just more to pack in. I cleaned out the cat boxes and the floor, did 3 loads of laundry, baked a double batch of dog treats, watered the garden and all the plants on the deck as well as washed out and refilled the "water pots" we have that the birds, bunny, squirrels, deer and anything else that rambles by takes drinks out of. Since it's been so dry here I've been setting out water for them. The buck and does drink out of the bird bath and sometimes leave it bone dry. I ran into town to take in an package up the dog treats and set out some jewelry I had priced as well. Stopped at a roadside stand and bought some lovely cantelope, sweet peppers and some tomatoes. The roadside stands are doing very well with tomatoes this season since most of our gardens are a bust. Was talking to a man while waiting in line and he said his tomato plants are first flowering now. I'm a little further ahead of that but not by much. It warmed up a bit the last few days - can see a difference in the tomatoes so maybe I'll get a few. Today I need to do some work out there. I pulled the lettuces and one half dead green bean plant yesterday. More trimming and a little bit of picking to do today when I have more time. DH and I went to the casino last night - they had an Italian buffet. It was my only meal of the day and I did enjoy it. DH said the food was good but he wasn't crazy about it. They had several meats - a braised beef, chicken Vesuvio, a roast pork, some other pork dish in gravy, Italian sausage and bell peppers and of course - pasta, pasta, pasta. They also had a parmesan polenta which I loved - must learn how to make that. Desserts gave me a chance to taste things I have seen on the cooking channel but never had the opportunity to try - zeppoli, panne cotta, and a really nice marscapone cake with berries. I tasted a bite or two of each but my favorite was amaretti cookies which I always wondered about. I like amaretto - these were tiny crispy cookies with an amaretto flavor. Sorry - I probably just did food porn here. I only had one plate of food and what amounted to a reasonable portion of dessert. Would have loved to go back for seconds but no room in the tummy so that's a good thing. Afterwards we went in the casino for about an hour but neither of us were having any luck so we came home and watched some television. It was a nice evening out. Today I think DH will rest up again, I have a few things to do but not as rushed as yesterday which will be nice. I'm supposed to go blueberry picking with my cousin this week - waiting for her to pick a day.

Shad - I sort of missed what's going on with your sister also. Hope you have a good visit with the family and can avoid any earthquakes. It certainly is getting quite active over on that side of the pond.

Ceejay - your mention of middle eastern food had me thinking but then I remembered there was a small place in a bad area of town down by the Memphis airport that we would go to for lunch occasionally. They had really good middle eastern food. Sure don't have the variety of ethnic foods that they do up north. I guess northern goes for a sweeter bbq sauce too as I never cared for the tomato based sauces I found down in TN - that's how I got used to actually eating just a dry rub - thank goodness for Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce Are you planning anything special for your upcoming birthday?

Mel - I think the goldenrod is blooming - my allergies have been giving me fits too and I'm getting the vertigo that comes with fluid in the ears - a sure sign of the allergies. Hope you find a way to get rid of the sniffles.

Michelle - glad your hair turned out the shade you wanted it to be. Good going on joining WW - I assume you are going to a meeting after work somewhere locally? Good luck on the new job Monday.

Annie - that's a bummer on the phone - I can send you my landline # if you want it. Don't beat yourself up - it was an accident and those things happen - the kind of thing where you can see it happen in slow motion as you are saying nooooooooooooo! I had to smile at your comment about it taking so long to figure out how to make a call - we got a TracPhone - a very simple one made for the ELDERLY and I took it with when we were doing the Mom relay transfer. Tried to call my SIL and I could not figure out how to unlock the blasted phone! DH was trying to tell me but he was driving and could not look away. I swear it took 15 minutes also. This coming from a former I.T. person - guess I will have to renounce my technical membership although I was always better at problem solving than technical stuff I hope you get used to the new phone and I'm sure you'll be loving it (in a month or so)

Laura - Mildred Pierce - didn't she win an academy award for that movie? It's nice to see that you still use a recipe binder. I have printed some recipes but always debate about the quickness of being able to search on my computer vs a book. However there are a few go to favorites - like my cole slaw recipe that I always make from the printed copy. They have a couple of cute recipe boxes at the thrift store but it would mean rewriting things on index cards so I've talked myself out of it. Did you get your middle eastern food? You remind me that the one thing I really miss living here is the variety of food available to you where you live. BUT is it worth dealing with the day to day crowds and traffic? tough trade off

Well I have a cat at my feet begging for some attention so I'd better see to it. Half my life lately is tending to animal - clean and refresh the hummingbird feeders, water and feed the cats, put corn and seed out for the critters, fill water bowls outside - I might as well be a farmer Have a good Sunday all.

Well the peace didn't last long. And that is about all I'll say about that for the time being.

It's a beautiful day today and although I'm told and the 'quake link' tells me that we are still having earthquakes swarms, I have not felt any yet. I'm about to take myself off for a walk down the hill shortly and check out the town and tomorrow I will go into the city and see if I can meet up with some friends for lunch. Thursday I go out to Japanese Chris' place and will no doubt have dinner with her as well. My niece has set my computer up on her network so I have my own computer up and running. That's nice. At least I know the foibles of mine.

Happy - sorry to hear about the DH's back. How did he manage that or was it one of those things that just happen when you stand up or turn or move? It's obviously kept you busy.

Annie - Arghhhhh on the phone. Just when you think you might have a bit of money left over at the end of the week, along comes trouble and you are back in the sh*t again. What with feet an phones etc., you must be the frontrunner for August's Klutz of the month award.

Michelle - sounding upbeat and happy. Life is being good right now for you.

Ceejay - at least the earthquakes are little. Don't know what is going on with our little planet but it sure is complaining.

Mel - Hope you are feeling somewhat better today. No problem with earthquakes right now but I could be jumping the gun here. No news is good news right now.

Laura - Pizza - did someone say pizza? yum. However the niece has just made some berry and lemon muffins. I might just have to settle for those with coffee.

Okay - better dash. Might just cook dinner tonight to let the Nephew in law out of the kitchen for a night. He is a superb cook, but I can do just as well (I hope). It's a long walk down the hill and to get back, guess what I have to climb back up it. I'm trying to describe the steepness of this hill but the best I can come up with is to say to Happy - remember that incline we walked up when we went from the motel to see the music in the town square in Arkansas? Well take that incline and make if 10 times as long and slightly steeper. I shall be puffing at the top.

GOOD MORNING CHICKS

UP & AT 'EM EARLY THIS MORNING.
SOMEONE FELL AND HAD THEIR OWN ALARM AROUND THEIR NECK.
DIDN'T REALIZE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GETTING & PAYING FOR THIS THEMSELVES.
I JUST WISH THEY COULD WAIT TILL A DECEMD HOUR TO FALL. LOL
CAN'T THINK RIGHT NOW.
HAVE A GOOD DAY.




CEEJAY...I THOUGHT OF YOU WHEN I HEARD TOM & JERRY COME ON.
I KEEP THE TV ON FOR COMPANY. I LAUGHED WHEN I HEARD THEM CHASING EACH OTHER.




HAPPY....YOU HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY!!
HOPE DH FEELS BETTER. THAT HAS TO HURT.
EVEN THE FLOWER GARDEN HERE DID NOT BLOOM AS USUAL.
TOO MUCH RAIN AND THEN TOO MUCH COOLER WEATHER.
2 TREES ON THE PROPERTY ARE LOOKING LIKE THEY'RE DYING.
TERRIBLE GROWING WEATHER THIS YEAR.
I FORGOT ABOUT THE WEEKDS GROWING....THANKS.
WILL PASS THAT ON TO JEN. THE NEWS SAYS THE MOLD SPORE COUNT HERE IS EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH WITH THIS DAMPNESS.




SHAD....HOPE THE TRIP REMAINS NON-DEADLY!!! WTF!!
FAMILY....GOTTA LOVE THEM.
HOPE CHRIS IS DOING OK AND WISHING HER WELL.
HAVE A NICE DINNER WITH CHRIS AND THE FRIENDS TOO.
TAKE NOTES AND WE WILL HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO BURN UP THE PHONE LINES.

Monday morning which is my Thursday. I am off on W TH Fr for our brown county cabin stent. I am so looking forward to it altho the hot and humid temps begin returning starting today and by Wednesday it is supposed to be 90 and yuck out. Oh well, Curtis said we will just stay inside the cabin naked. WHAAATTT???? Wonder what HE has in mind. lol. Sounds fun and interesting. ba hahaha.

Yesterday was lovely. C and I went to see "We're the Millers", a lot of funny parts and I think the guy that played the son, was the best actor in the group. Such a nerd and I knew so many of those types that were my friends in high school. Of course, I liked everyone.

Then L. Fish Furniture was next door the the Olive Garden where we went for BLINNER...Lunch/dinner. I had soup (Pasta Figole) and salad. Anyway we ended up buying at L. Fish, new night stands for both sides of the bed, dining set (cherry wood), the higher pub style tables with stool type chairs. Also got a new reclining each end sofa and reclining love seat (Slate/gray color). Delivery should be tomorrow evening.

SHADDIE...OMG I could do the walk down the hill with you, IF my ankle and toes are feeling good, BUT you would have to hire Sven and his buddies to carry my fat arse back up the hill. Or I would just have to sleep at the bottom of the hill and wave as you all go past.

MELLIE....Maybe all the seniors need on of those "I've fallen and cannot get up" neck dillies. Also post that they MUST stay in bed from 9pm to 8am, no potty or snacking or TV. It is just not acceptable for you to answer alarms during those hours. lol

HAPPY....I think you may have started your own little zoo. Now just train the animals to endure petting and you can charge for the petting zoo. Hope DHs back gets to feeling better and can do his chores. You have so much to do already. All that food you mention makes me hungry, may have to go heat up my lunch for breakfast. lol

CEEG....Hi ho, hi ho, off to work you go.....makin those big bucks so you can retire from the public. Hugs.

CHELLE...your weekend sounded fantastic and so much fun. Have a marvelous first day on the job! Hope you love it there!

LAURA...no doubt wiggling around doing some sort of exercising, making me shameful for myself. Never heard of the movie Mildred Pierce. Let me know if it is worth renting. I love yummy pizza! Share please....

That is about it for me...must get some work done, even if I am dreading it.

Have a marvelous Monday/nite all.

Morning all,

Just got a call, they need someone to fill in at the thrift shop this morning and I am a sucker when it comes to these kinds of things so I said yes. I won't be working my usual tomorrow then - perhaps my partner will be glad to be by herself. Guess I won't be making dog treats today either. Big weather change from last night today - all of a sudden rain is moving in - or at least it looks like rain but maybe just dark clouds. All I can say is that everything on every inch of me hurts. Bad. If I actually had prescription pain meds I'd take one and I never do that. I don't know what's going on but I am so over this.

Anyway - I have to go scoop the litter box, chug my coffee and get in the shower to get to the shop on time so I have to skip personals for now. Happy Monday all.

Morning all.

Happy – Sorry DH’s back is giving him trouble. I hope it’s getting better now and that he can get back to his usual activities in maintaining your menagerie. . And your pain sounds like all your activity on Saturday (and probably yesterday as well) is catching up to you - and wasn’t your back/knee/hip still hurting?? And now you’ll be on your feet at the shop today! I hope you do take some sort of pain reliever - and plenty of it! - and get some down time in the next few days. I did get my Middle Eastern food fix on Saturday – we go to a place that has locations in Palatine, Glenview & Skokie. Very well run – consistent quality and very clean. Just love it and have to appreciate places like that when you sometimes end up in places that can’t even seat you at a booth that’s been properly wiped down.

I do appreciate having so many ethnic food choices around. As a kid it was limited to some Italian and Chinese, and nothing close to anything authentic, LOL. BTW, your Italian buffet sounded tastyl, even though I'm not a buffet fan. Yeh, I do keep a recipe binder because I want to keep the “keeper” recipes handy, and for me it’s handier to have the binder than to retrieve a recipe from the computer and print it off. Instead, the recipe is printed off once (or taped to a sheet of paper if it’s a clipping from a newspaper or magazine) and it goes into a plastic sheet protector. When we make the recipe, we pull it from the binder, tape it on the cupboard door (with blue painter’s tape) just above the counter where we’re doing the preparation - essentially in front of our faces at eye level. Any notes, comments, revisions are written on the recipe page so we’ll have them for the next time, and back it goes into the binder. Sorry your tomatoes didn’t do much this year. I finally picked some larger tomatoes on Saturday and bought some fresh basil and fresh mozzarella yesterday so I can make some caprese sandwiches. Yum! I finally noticed some very tiny green beans on my bean plants – crossing my fingers they have enough time to mature and be eaten, and not by rabbits!!

Annie – Enjoy your new iPhone! I kind of miss mine…I think it’s because I’m not thrilled with the podcast player I’ve got on my Galaxy. So great the Verizon guy was able to retrieve your contact info!!! Ah, a nice short workweek for you!! Hope you’re not too crazy busy for the next two days though. New furniture – cool. We have a sofa with the recliners at both ends – love it!!! I fall asleep quite often when I get that thing reclined all the way back, heehee. As for movement – I have a feeling with how busy you keep yourself, you burn plenty of calories mowing, gardening, keeping house, etc. I’m the one who should be ashamed - sitting on my heiney reading a book or watching tv way more than I should…

Shad – Glad you’re at your destination safe and sound and there are no EQ’s at the moment. What’s going on with your sis? The way you word it, an intervention of some sort comes to mind, LOL. Good exercise walking up and down that big hill.

Michelle – Sounds like you had a very nice Saturday and I hope your Sunday was pleasant as well. Good luck at the new job today!! Good going with joining WW. I’m not crazy about the point-counting, but the support and accountability are very helpful.

Mel – Those alarms just won’t end will they??!! Hope you’re a good napper – those sleep interruptions can have a big impact on you.

Ceejay – The foods I’ve eaten at the middle eastern place aren’t highly spicy (in terms of heat) but they do have their hot sauce available if you want it. Gosh, you’ve got earthquakes too??!! Don't want to ask what's next.

--
Well, not a good start to the day. A schedule I gave to my boss on Friday was waiting for me this morning with a lot of comments. Ugh. I was initially furious because before I did this schedule, I asked for some more guidance on what was needed and given very little info, and now that I’ve done it, all the suggestions come??? And the comments are in the boss’s indecipherable handwriting. Whatever. She has certainly developed that “short-timer’s syndrome” that soon-to-be retirees often experience.

So Saturday we went for our lamb kebob sandwiches, and then bf went off to the fundraising event with friends. I did some more laundry and then took my bike to the library (only a couple of blocks away from the train station). Picked up a book, season 4 of Monarch of the Glen (where I left off), and the dvd of the movie Mildred Pierce. Annie, that’s a 1948 movie starring Joan Crawford about a woman after her marriage breaks up. I’ve had the bedroom TV tuned to the Turner Cassic Movies network and they’ve had some good old movies playing lately.

I took doggy for a walk and the rest of the aft/eve was sitting around at home watching tv and reading.

Sunday I lazed away the morning with a book and did some of the new index tabs for my recipe binder. I also did some checking on flights and hotel for the cruise. I hate when there’s too many variables, and in this case there are. What a PITA. Have to find time today to phone one of my friends to discuss it.

Did some grocery shopping and also went to Walmart. I was whooped by the time we finally got home. I think the allergies are bad right now and that was part of it. I wore my glasses today.

Okay, better get this posted and get to it. At some point I’ll rework the darn schedule for the boss.

Super quick post...as I'm at the new job. I overslept this morning...or thought I did. I woke up at 7, when I had planned to drop Santa at day care at 7:30.

Anyway, I got Santa to day care at 7:45 and got to work by 8:15. Traffic was slow in parts, but always moving. I hope it stays that way. Later today, I'll ask my manager what hours he would like me to work so I can determine if I'll be going to the gym before or after work. Today, I'll go after work before I pick up Santa (if I get to the gym at all). No telling how I'll feel at the end of the day, which is why maybe going to the gym before work might work better for me. I can always seem to talk myself out of exercising by the end of the workday.

Hope y'all are doing well.

Much love and many hugs,