Afternoon. I'll take Mel's saying of home again home again jiggity jig. I'm glad to be in my abode for now. Sure would have like to stayed another couple of days but I had to pay my rent today and pick up my pay check on Thursday. The drive back was 6 hours long but had good drive. The traffic was heavy between Branson and Springfield but that was to be expected. We did watch the Great Gatsby movie Sunday night.
Mel
Hope they can find the cause of your upset tummy. Feel better soon
Shad
Ugh, I'd be demanding my vehicle and the results on the error at the utility bill.
Laura
Sounds like you had a good week-end. Don't worry about the weight gain. It will come back off again. If I am around a scale I weigh daily to keep myself accountable. My sis had decent food this week end but I still need to weigh in in the morning.
Whew have spent the better part of this morning in the loo. My tummy is a mess and it feels like my intestines are doing flip flops in there. I think someone took the zippity out of my doo dah.
CEEG...glad you made it home safely. Sounds like the trip was a huge success. Yeah!! Now back to work..bleh.
SHADDIE...goodluck with all your troubles. Incompetent people.
LAURA...focus focus focus, you can do it girl!!
CHELLE...hope you are getting better since your fall.
Shad – Now you’ve got a deadline to get all these issues sorted out – good luck, you sure have a full plate of them. I hope a walk in nature will clear your mind for a bit.
Ceejay – Glad you had a good drive back home. How did you like the movie Great Gatsby? Yeh, I’m bound and determined to get the weight off and get out of this standstill I’ve allowed all summer!!! I know many people don’t think daily or frequent weigh-ins are helpful, but I do find it keeps me focused. I should make a point of stepping on the scale before and after the weekend to keep myself accountable!!
Annie – Sorry your insides are not happy today. Do you think it was something you ate? Hope it passes quickly - pun intended!!
Hellos to Mel, Happy and Michelle – hope your aches & pains are easing up, girls!!
==
I went to the movie “The Spectacular Now” last night. It’s gotten good reviews, and I enjoyed it. The leads and two other supporting actors are not anyone I’m familiar with, but they all were really good. Kyle Chandler and Jennifer Jason Leigh were also in it as the parents. I didn’t even recognize JJL – one of my movie companions thinks she’s had some awful cosmetic work done – and she’s only 50 y.o.… Anyway, it was a good story about a teenage boy who’s gotten on the wrong path in life.
The movie didn’t end too late and we didn’t linger afterwards, so I finally stopped at the gym and filled out the form to cancel my membership. Yay, that’s done!
When I drove up to the house, a skunk was hanging out right by the tree in our parkway!! Nervy beast!! I pulled into the driveway and phoned bf from the car. He shined the flashlight until the skunk made his way across the street. I still hot-footed it into the house. Sheesh I hate that!! I think I need to move out of the suburbs and back into the city. But then I’d have to contend with the urban wildlife – rats & pigeons. And the squirrels are everywhere – no escaping those critters, LOL.
I registered for my combo Pilates/Barre class yesterday, so I’m ready to begin something new. In the meantime, I might get going on an ab challenge.
It felt like I was up several times visiting the bathroom last night – it’s TOM week and all the water I’ve probably retained the past few days decided it was time to vacate my body. Scale was down a pound from yesterday’s home scale reading. Speaking of readings – my bp monitor has crapped out and won’t give me a reading. BF tried it out and believes it’s the main unit and not the arm band, which is a good thing because the unit has a warranty of 5 years and the arm band only has a warranty of 1 year (and that’s long expired). I have to check the mfr’s site to see where I need to return it. I see another trip to the PO in my future.
It was cool this morning when I cycled over to the train and my eyes were watering. I was blotting my eyes with a tissue enroute when my right contact lens moved out of position. Even though I stopped and rubbed around, I still couldn’t get it back in place, though I was sure it was still in my eye. Once I got to the station and had parked my bike, I managed to get it right. Oy! I wouldn’t have been too broken up if the lens had fallen out completely – it’s at the end of its life anyway. Sometimes I think goggles would be a good thing for riding in this cooler weather. Reminds me of the old time open air cars with the drivers wearing leather pilot-type helmets, goggles, and a white silk scarf, LOL. Dang, all I have are swim goggles, haha.
Okay, that’s about it for me. Everyone have a great day!
Super quick post. Back is still sore...but I'm finding it's more sore if I lay/sit around then if I move a little. So yesterday, even though I was sore, I forced myself to go to the gym. I told myself, I'll do 15 minutes on the bike...if it hurts worse, I'll stop. I ended up doing 1/2 hour on the bike. Tonight is water aerobics for an hour, but usually makes my back feel looser, not worse.
I'm crazy busy at work. I've got 3 top priorities to get done this week. No rest for the weary.
I'm looking forward to my birthday weekend. It should be a lot of fun!!
Sorry I don't have any time for personals...hopefully later.
Laura
The great Gatsby was a good movie. My blood pressure monitor has a battery in it so I'm forgetting to change that.
Annie
Hope you and Mel don't have the same tummy woes. I'm just now getting my diverticulitis under control. Think I'll stay on this diet for another month and gradually add in raw foods.
Mel
How are you feeling this morning?
Happy
Are you working at the store today?
Shad
Have you heard anything from the dealership about your car and or your utility bill.
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Nothing new for me today, just enjoying my day off. Doing laundry from the week end and this afternoon I'll get outside and wash my nasty vehicle. It caught a lot of bugs.
Just popped in, (as always), to say hello. Wishing Melody a VERY speedy recovery. I cleaned off a desk and found a card with a letter inside I'd intended to send her. It even had a stamp on it! The address was incomplete. So I guess I got distracted before tracking down her address. It's a few YEARS old now. She'll get a kick out of that.
Wishing you ALL well. Please be kind to yourselves and take care.
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Hi all,
Busy morning yesterday, tried to post last night and my internet service seems to go down ALOT in the late hours of the evening. Totally lost a big post of personals.
Between Mom, the kitten, some personal financial things going on I am crazy busy at the moment. Nothing bad, just very busy so excuse me for a bit while I take care of things.
Will be back later. Wishing those of you feeling under the weather some healthy vibes - especially Miss Mel who I desperately hope is not in the hospital.
DS stayed last night. We had some fun. His wife Kristin wrecked her car over the weekend and it is now in the shop for repairs. Bummer for them, they are down to one car, the Camry I gave them. We had chinese for dinner. I ate about 5 bites, I am just not a lover of chinese food anymore.
HAPPY....do you have dial up? lol. Reminds me how my dial up used to do me when I lived out in the stix many years ago. Hope you get kitty, momma and internet straightened out.
SHADDIE...any one dead yet?
HELLO JAVA!! Good to hear from you.
CEEG....back to work yet?
CHELLE...water aerobics are probably the best thing for you! Good for you.
LAURA...yikes on the skunk. So glad you didn't get sprayed. That would have been awful for a long time.
MELLIE....hope your silence doesn't mean bad health. Feel good vibes coming your way.
Message from Mel's Jennifer.
they have given mom antibiotics & pain medication.
they also agree it looks like the beginning of gastroenteritis.
she has a lot of pain and is in bed.
it won't be easy keeping her there.
I don't think she is up to the computer.
so I will keep in touch with email
No Annie, no one is dead yet. Car company and health insurance sorted (although still think the health insurance is outrageous). 2 down, 2 to go.
Shad - Thanks for passing along the update re Mel. Glad you've got some of the issues sorted (with no fatalities to date). Good luck (& perseverence!) re the remainder.
Annie - Nice you enjoyed your time w/ DS. Too bad about the car. It's hard to share a single car when that's really the only way to get around. A friend of bf and mine was in an accident not long ago and her car was totaled. This was a car she loved, had already had 10+ years, and intended on keeping for 10 more. She only planned on having to buy one more car for the rest of her life (she's in her early 50's), so this really messed up that plan. But as the saying goes...We plan, God laughs.
Happy - Sorry your internet service is not 100% - so frustrating. Especially losing posts!! Hope you're taking care of biz and things are less crazy by now.
Hi Java!! Too funny about the years old letter to Mellie. Go ahead and send it, I'm sure she'll get a big kick out of it. (Make sure there's enough postage on it, LOL. )
Ceejay - Glad you enjoyed The Great Gatsby. Day off yesterday - nice. Do you have another one today?
Michelle - Sorry your back is still sore. I hope you made it to the water aerobics class last night. Keeping the muscles moving is a good thing. Nice to have your b-day weekend to look forward to!!!
==
Nothing much to report. Yesterday I took advantage of a Labor Day sale and bought a 4-dvd set of Body Electric workouts for 30% off. The series is called "Unplugged" because they are sold without the music tracks so as not to violate the music rights. Past series' of Body Electric were aired on PBS with the music of popular artists and I guess they weren't subject to music royalties because PBS is not for profit; However, they can't be sold by Margaret Richard for profit because of the permission/royalty issues. And the music and voice tracks were not recorded separately, so there's no fixing those old series so they can be sold. For the two more recent series of BE workouts produced, the music and voice were recorded separately and therefore can be sold by MR without the music. Anyway... I'm excited to get this series because for whatever reason, it was never aired on PBS and therefore I never got a chance to record them for myself.
That's about it for me. Everyone have a great day!
I ended up only doing 1/2 hour of water aerobics last night and then my back made it clear it was enough. I did some stretching before I got out of the pool though.
Today after work, I'm getting together with a friend for an early dinner and then I might go to Costco to pick up stuff for my party on Saturday.
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
"We plan, God laughs..." Thank you Laura - best thing I've heard in a long time. I might even make that my signature - So true.
Internet ("high speed" my butt - you have to be "high" to think it's fast ) and phone service - both landline and cell are pretty 1980's out this way. Nothing much we can do about it except complain to ourselves. At least we have it. DH is complaining this morning about the slowness - I can never tell if it's us or the specific sites we are tracking. Yahoo mail and 3FC always seem slow to us. Re: Mom - my sister is looking into some nice senior apartments 2 minutes from her house. It would make it so much easier on her taking care of Mom because right now it's a 40 minute trek (on a good day) each way for her to get into the city. Street parking at my Mom's is a total hassle because there are too many people living in these single family houses that were meant for one car - each house has about a car and a half's worth of parking space in front and there are 3 cars on average in each household now. The house across the street has 10 people and 5 cars living in a house that has 2 bedrooms on the main floor and an attic area - go figure! Plus the traffic is a hassle and my sister is getting at wits end going up that way. Now the fight is to get my Mom out of her house. I understand she doesn't not want to intrude on either me or Sis but this is a gorgeous, bright and roomy 2 bedroom apartment. My Mom's house is literally falling apart - it needs so many repairs and updates. I told my Mom it would sure make it easier if we didn't have to deal with disposing of the house when she passes. Neither my sister or I need or are that interested in the little bit of money we'd get from the house so if my Mom lived off the proceeds of the sale - we'd both be totally happy with that. Of course my Mom is in total stubborn won't have no part of that mode even though her health, her eyesight and her ability to be on her own is declining rapidly. And then there is Nina the cat - we are dealing with expensive issues of getting her health on track. We had her on steroids which worked for the first week, now she has regressed. She is getting lethargic and was developing a belly pooch which we figured was fat because she is not moving much and is perhaps eating more than she should - she gets canned food twice a day with her meds and we leave the gastro enteric dry food out and available for Meadow to nibble all day like she likes. So I called the vet yesterday - they increased the steroid dose and suggested we also give Nina a probiotic. I went to go pick that up - $62 for 14 packets of probiotic and $15 for a refill of the steroids. Do you believe they charged us $27 dollars to MIX UP the darn steroids???? DH is getting frustrated at the continued expense of this cat. I told the vet we could not afford a million dollar cat. Anyway got home and last night I was petting Nina's tummy and was shocked to see it was hard like a balloon, not soft and poochy like I thought it was. Not sure if she was filled with gas or what. She is going potty so that's not the problem. DH softened up a bit when he realized she is just a poor, sick kitty. And Nina seemed to like having her tummy rubbed, she stretched out, looked contented and went to sleep so I'm sure she is suffering too. I have a garden full of tomatoes that I picked the other day - some of them need to be used up so I am looking for recipes. Some could use a bit of ripening so they are sitting in the windowsill. Our weather is goofy - dips to a low of 36 one night and tomorrow it's going to be 86 during the day and 60 at night. My veggies are confused. These temp swings are not good for growth. I did not freeze the blueberries I picked 2 weeks ago and wound up tossing half of them out Thank you DH for not chastising me about that. I had good intentions, just a lot going on and it seems like there were far more things that needed immediate attention than I could handle at once. My back is still giving me pain points throughout my body - although it's a nice day, I think I will put some chili in the crock pot and got put an ice pack on my back and sit and read. I am doing an extra shift tomorrow at the thrift shop. The coordinator sent out another scathing email again and I'm sure my partner will be (righteously) offended when she sees it and this might be the last straw for her. I calmed her down the last time, not sure I can do it again and frankly I don't blame her as I am kind of offended myself. Finally there is a job that opened up with the county government - I can probably do it, it pays really well compared to the minimum wage jobs here - health insurance is provided which would save us a lot of money too. I am debating about it - tomorrow is the last day to apply for it. 35 hours a week, I'm guessing 4 full days and a half day on Friday. Still thinking it over. The thing is, I know I am smart and capable in my mind but the fact is, I am old and other people do pass judgement. So that's my life in a nutshell.
Shad - thank you so much for passing along the Mel update. Poor woman - always a set back. Sending good, healing thoughts to you Mel. Shad - bet I am paying way more in health insurance than you are but I agree - it IS highway robbery, especially for what we are getting out of it. So does this mean you have or know the whereabouts of your new car at last??? Still fighting with the power company? And you're starting a new contract next week?
Michelle - sorry the back is bothering you again. Perhaps you started back at too fast a pace? Do they have a hot tub you can soak in after the gym? Maybe one of those hot patches you can use on your back while sitting at work or we would freeze a water bottle and put it in the crook of the back while sitting in a chair - good for a makeshift ice pack at work. I also did that when my foot was bothering me - no one has to know Feel better
Laura - how great of a score on the body electric DVDs! You can always add your own music if you like. I never thought about it but that makes a lot of sense about the background music and royalties - perhaps that's why so many exercise places use instrumental "generic" music. Oooh Kyle Chandler - I can look at that guy for hours on end!!! Bummer to think of him as playing a parent though. And yikes on the skunk incident! Good thing you saw him ahead of time and were able to take defensive maneuvers (thank goodness for spell check helping me out on that word ) I don't think you'd like it very much in the city. Apparently they are having a bit rat problem - even in the nice neighborhoods.
Annie - oh man - really sorry to hear about DS losing the car. That will make it particularly rough with him doing training at night. Hope they can make it around the repairs and that it won't break the bank for them. I hope your tummy has calmed down. I did smile at your comment of taking the zippity out of your doo dah - totally relatable. Feeling a bit the same - wonder if it's seasonal or just an after effect of trying to eat maybe TOO many of the summer garden veggies before they wilt out.
Speaking of which - anyone have a good recipe for fried green tomatoes. I might have one. Shame so many green tomatoes go to waste. And no, I don't like green tomato salsa either. Don't like hard tomatoes.
Hey Mary - thanks for peeking in. Had a smile at Poo Bear shaving the eyebrows off. He's a good sport to let to photograph it
Ceejay - did you just watch the Gatsby movie or did you get the one with the extra bonus material on it - almost like watching another movie. I didn't and was wondering how it was. Boy how I hate cleaning the car after a road trip - those bugs are glued on and hard to get off. Extra scrubbing required!
Time to go find some lunch and figure out what to pull out for dinner. I have a taste for chili but everything is frozen so I might have to work some magic there. Have a good day all...
Shad
Thanks for the update on Mel. 2 down and 2 to go on the situations you are dealing with. Good luck.
Annie
Hope no one was hurt in the vehicle accident. Actually I'm off work till Monday.
Laura
I like the saying, "We plan, God laughs." I'll have to write that one down.
For some reason I don't like the music with the work out DVD's. Great buy on the Body Electric DVD's.
Happy
I haven't watched the extra DVD that was in the movie. I may do that tonight. Sorry to hear that Nina is sick again. You could always make salsa out of the tomatoes. My niece and her bf made some good salsa this year.
It will be hard for your mom to move but once she see's the apartment she may want to.
-------------------
I really need to go do a follow up office visit with the doctor tomorrow to mainly ask some questions concerning the diverticulitis. I rested yesterday and I'm getting off to an early start today.
Nervy beast!! I pulled into the driveway and phoned bf from the car. He shined the flashlight until the skunk made his way across the street. I still hot-footed it into the house. Sheesh I hate that!! I think I need to move out of the suburbs and back into the city. 
But then I’d have to contend with the urban wildlife – rats & pigeons. And the squirrels are everywhere – no escaping those critters, LOL. 
Hope you're taking care of biz and things are less crazy by now. 
Nice to have your b-day weekend to look forward to!!! 
So true. 
) and phone service - both landline and cell are pretty 1980's out this way. Nothing much we can do about it except complain to ourselves. At least we have it. DH is complaining this morning about the slowness - I can never tell if it's us or the specific sites we are tracking. Yahoo mail and 3FC always seem slow to us. Re: Mom - my sister is looking into some nice senior apartments 2 minutes from her house. It would make it so much easier on her taking care of Mom because right now it's a 40 minute trek (on a good day) each way for her to get into the city. Street parking at my Mom's is a total hassle because there are too many people living in these single family houses that were meant for one car - each house has about a car and a half's worth of parking space in front and there are 3 cars on average in each household now. The house across the street has 10 people and 5 cars living in a house that has 2 bedrooms on the main floor and an attic area - go figure! Plus the traffic is a hassle and my sister is getting at wits end going up that way. Now the fight is to get my Mom out of her house. I understand she doesn't not want to intrude on either me or Sis but this is a gorgeous, bright and roomy 2 bedroom apartment. My Mom's house is literally falling apart - it needs so many repairs and updates. I told my Mom it would sure make it easier if we didn't have to deal with disposing of the house when she passes. Neither my sister or I need or are that interested in the little bit of money we'd get from the house so if my Mom lived off the proceeds of the sale - we'd both be totally happy with that. Of course my Mom is in total stubborn won't have no part of that mode even though her health, her eyesight and her ability to be on her own is declining rapidly. And then there is Nina the cat - we are dealing with expensive issues of getting her health on track. We had her on steroids which worked for the first week, now she has regressed. She is getting lethargic and was developing a belly pooch which we figured was fat because she is not moving much and is perhaps eating more than she should - she gets canned food twice a day with her meds and we leave the gastro enteric dry food out and available for Meadow to nibble all day like she likes. So I called the vet yesterday - they increased the steroid dose and suggested we also give Nina a probiotic. I went to go pick that up - $62 for 14 packets of probiotic and $15 for a refill of the steroids. Do you believe they charged us $27 dollars to MIX UP the darn steroids???? DH is getting frustrated at the continued expense of this cat. I told the vet we could not afford a million dollar cat. Anyway got home and last night I was petting Nina's tummy and was shocked to see it was hard like a balloon, not soft and poochy like I thought it was. Not sure if she was filled with gas or what. She is going potty so that's not the problem. DH softened up a bit when he realized she is just a poor, sick kitty. And Nina seemed to like having her tummy rubbed, she stretched out, looked contented and went to sleep so I'm sure she is suffering too. 
I have a garden full of tomatoes that I picked the other day - some of them need to be used up so I am looking for recipes. Some could use a bit of ripening so they are sitting in the windowsill. Our weather is goofy - dips to a low of 36 one night and tomorrow it's going to be 86 during the day and 60 at night. My veggies are confused. These temp swings are not good for growth. I did not freeze the blueberries I picked 2 weeks ago and wound up tossing half of them out 
Thank you DH for not chastising me about that. I had good intentions, just a lot going on and it seems like there were far more things that needed immediate attention than I could handle at once. My back is still giving me pain points throughout my body - although it's a nice day, I think I will put some chili in the crock pot and got put an ice pack on my back and sit and read. I am doing an extra shift tomorrow at the thrift shop. The coordinator sent out another scathing email again and I'm sure my partner will be (righteously) offended when she sees it and this might be the last straw for her. I calmed her down the last time, not sure I can do it again and frankly I don't blame her as I am kind of offended myself. Finally there is a job that opened up with the county government - I can probably do it, it pays really well compared to the minimum wage jobs here - health insurance is provided which would save us a lot of money too. I am debating about it - tomorrow is the last day to apply for it. 35 hours a week, I'm guessing 4 full days and a half day on Friday. Still thinking it over. The thing is, I know I am smart and capable in my mind but the fact is, I am old and other people do pass judgement. So that's my life in a nutshell. 
Feel better 
) I don't think you'd like it very much in the city. Apparently they are having a bit rat problem - even in the nice neighborhoods. 
- totally relatable. Feeling a bit the same - wonder if it's seasonal or just an after effect of trying to eat maybe TOO many of the summer garden veggies before they wilt out. 