Hello all.

Happy - it was bright and sunny today, but extremely cold & windy. Bf was out front with the snowblower & I was out back doing the shoveling. After lunch I took doggy for his walk - about one block too far for me - doggy was fine of course. This weather is just brutal. I'm going to enjoy the break from it, but am still resigned to a lot more of this beastly weather upon our return. Glad to hear dh's eye is fine. Any restrictions on his activities?

Annie - Oh that's right. Dd's due date was the same as his daddy's bday. Not too long now - tell S. To hang in there.

Michelle- I'm quite bundled up these days. Wearing my warmest stuff even though I'm getting sick of it, lol. Our cruise is to the western Caribbean with ports o call to cozumel, belize, costa maya & honduras. Honestly the change of weather will be so nice the locale has become secondary.

Hellos to Shad, Ceejay & Susie.

×××
Took a different train last night where bf met me & near a mall with an Orvis store. We bought Coal a very nice bed, therapeutic, etc. He slept on it last night; we'll see how tonight goes.

No more excitement around here, so I'll sign off now. :wave:

I'm here! I have been missing you all so much. I wish it was easy to do this site on my phone but at least I was able to see what you all were doing weigh-loss wise on MFP.

My husband mentioned he could tell I was having withdraw from you all! :D

The doctor's appointment on Wednesday didn't tell us much other than the culture didn't grow any bateria so the hight white blood count was from inflamation somewhere. The doctor said he would make an appointment for DH to see a urologist...I told him that was already done and we go next Tuesday. He sort of just looked at me amazed. I said "we don't mess around with our health". We did ask him if this happened due to the blood thiners when we might expect to see things return to normal and he said 4-5 days. I asked if he thought that it might help if DH also went off the asprian and would it be hurtful because of the afib. He said to go off it for week and if the bleeding stopped to then start back every other day and see if the bleeding returned. DH didn't take it on Thursday forward and he had one void with blood and then he hasn't had any sense! We are thrilled but we will still see the urologist and we still want test ran to check it all out.

We are also going to reconsider the ablation for the afib because it doesnt seem that DH would be a good candidate for ongoing blood thinners. But first we must get this other issue and reason solved.

Happy: I missed that DH had a issue with his eye and needed surgery. I am sorry I missed that important detail in your life! I am glad he is doing well.
How was the shift at the thrift store? How is your knee feeling these days?

Shad: I dislike office movies. We have them at my work too from time to time and I you know they take a lot of time and I'm sure the expense is great. I always wonder why they talk about cutting jobs/restructuring and then do an office move. Seems like a job or two could be saved if we didn't do that.

Annie: I hope your daughter and grandson are now on the road to health. What a good mom you are to take off and go help.

You and I are getting a lot of cold, snow and wind this weekend. I didn't go out of the house today. I have been cleaning and organizing doing laundry, reading and napping.

We need to go to the grocery and will do that after church tomorrow. We are only going out and back once we decided! We are eating leftovers from the freezer and fridge. DH had beef and noodles for lunch and I had some vegetable fried rice. Tonight he is having chili and I'm having vegetable lazagna.

The Kawainis (sp?) are a great organization. You will have to let us know if you join.

Michelle: I didn't know you were a writer! what type of things do you like to write? Thanks for the PM with your new address

Laura: That cruise is coming up quick! I'm sure you will ready to leave Chicago for some warm sunshine and blue water..I"m ready to leave Ohio for that!

Ceejay: My DH had a bout with diverticulits about 3 years ago. He was really sick with it. It came up on a weekend and we thought it was the flu at first and then went to the doctor on Monday and he got antibodics. We also decided to be proactive and change his diet to avoid seeds and popcorn and corn and peas and nuts. Some things say that diet doesn't matter, others say different. So we went with taking them out of his diet and bulking up the fiber (do that slowly and drink a lot of water of you will have concrete!) he did it with supplements and in his food choices. Now he occasionally will have a small amount of popcorn and he has strawberries from time to time and nuts..but not very often and not very much when he does. He has only had the issue with it that one time.

I hope you are feeling better every day.

The dryer just went off. I have another load to wash and another one to dry and everything is clean and put away again.

I"ll see you all tomorrow. I plan to get up in the morning and do my walking DVD.

I hate posting from my phone so I will not

Well Annie if it's 12:29am and you are up even if you are not posting, I hope you are not having insomnia bouts again.

I am quite tired and about to hit the sack myself. Goodnight all.

Mornin' all,

Last one out, first one in I see. It's snowing again and supposed to get cold again. Good day to stay inside. I've got 4 library books I need to get read so I think I'll throw a pot roast in the crock pot, fire up the fireplace and do some reading. After I vacumn 12 pounds of cat hair from the rug. :lol:

Susie - that's funny that you missed us - I guess you don't know us well ;) :lol: just kidding of course! What an issue with DH. I just really don't like the blood thinners - so many things can be happening, especially on the insides that one is not always aware of. Not pushing the ablation as it has it's own risks but if it's an option for your DH, it's a pretty common procedure. My DH had it as well as a friend of mine - they had it for different reasons and both seem to be doing well afterwards if that's any consolation. I guess the best thing is to get second opinions, find a doc who specializes in electrical physiology of the heart and decide what is best. It also helps if DH is in relatively good health himself. My Mom has diverticulitis also and I was reading about how they are now recommending that people eat some of the nuts and seeds that they formerly were telling people to avoid. I guess it turns out that some people go to the opposite extreme getting little to no fiber in their diets trying to avoid another painful attack. And you need a certain amount of fiber to actually "wash out" the colon. So some fiber is needed for continued health. I tried telling my Mom this but as usual, she wasn't having any part of it.

Laura - the only restriction DH has is no heavy lifting for a few weeks. Of course I hollered at him when he was out snow shoveling. At first he was just pushing snow but then he started lifting shovelfuls. Being a guy, of course he said when he was lifting it he was thinking he probably should not be doing this but of course he continued to do so. I told him his new eye was going to shoot out across the yard and I wasn't going to help him go look for it in a snowbank! :mad: Men :rolleyes: I'm sure you are going to fell so invigorated once you get some sun and warmth on your face on the cruise. I am jealous!!! I hope that Coal likes his new bed. Hopefully he's NOT like a cat - use it once and they walk always although I am happy that our 2 cats are indeed using the cat beds. I think living the prison shelter life they are more used to grabbing what they can get and being grateful for it.

There is a job in the newspaper this week - part time milking cows for 2 hours twice a day. That's not something you see all the time - or ever in the city :rofl: I don't think it's for me. If I get the urge I can just go down to the end of the road to our neighbors with a mini farm - they have cows AND goats to milk. And the cutest Shetland pony. I would really like to get to know them better but it seems uncomfortable to just drive right into their farm for the sole purpose of being a nosy neighbor :o

Not much else to say - hope you are all enjoying your Sunday. It's already sleepy time for Shad who is getting ready for another round of work week. So enjoy it if you still have it. Looking forward to another episode of Downton Abbey tonight...

Morning all,
New week, new office, new cube mates to sort out. Not that I didn't know them previously but I never had to live with them (so to speak)

Interesting (?) weekend. Went to a garden trail with Chris (Japan) on Saturday. We had a lovely day wandering around other peoples gardens and on Saturday night I went to a barbecue with the work folk. It was good fun and I enjoyed that. Not too late home which was good, however I had imbibed some black ice vodka which had guarana added. Guarana apparently makes me wide awake but not drunk. That lasted to about 2 in the morning.
Went to the markets and the supermarket on Sunday morning. Came home and stewed up some apricots and froze some of them. Then tidied up a bit, changed the bedding and put the wash on. And in the afternoon down came the rain and with it wind. And guess what. Somewhere between 4.00 and 6.00 the ceiling in the bedroom decided to leak again. Oh yeah. I didn't catch it in time and the bed got wet, right in the middle and right down to the mattress. :mad: Sent an email to the landlady and the building maintenance man. Landlady rung to ask where I was going to sleep and was quite concerned about me sleeping on the couch. I'm okay with it said I although I must admit I didn't sleep terribly well.
I'd had an facebook message from M about the bibs I sent over for little Miss S and she was telling me that they had been looking at display homes and talking to builders about building a new house on their block. When I was over there, they had been talking about it and I had also mentioned to DS1 that they might be better off workwise to think of moving east. A point on which there was discussion but no definite answers. So I asked the question again in discussion with M about builders etc. Well the sh*t hit the fan and I had a message from DS1 telling me to leave off trying to push my opinions on them and they would do what they had to do which was best for them and Miss S. Hmmmmmmmm. Since I was just asking a question and not pushing anything, I must have upset SOMEONE by talking down their beloved home town. So okay. Thats the way they want it, don't ask me for anything either. I haven't said that to them. I wrote back saying that since it had been a topic for discussion at Christmas I didn't see the harm in it now, however if I had upset anyone then I apologise. I would butt out of their lives and since I hadn't been telling him how to do anything or what to do
since he was 16 I didn't see that I would start it again.
Once things calm down. I will write and ask for an update on Miss S and see if there are any new photos and leave it at that. Such is life.
If and when the new house gets built, it will have everything that opens and shuts in it, including a butlers pantry.

Okay, so I had better stop whinging and get on with coming to grips with the new office. I'll check back during the day and try to get some personals in.

Back from an exhausting trip to Paragould. This trip is getting a bit much especially when I'm exhausted. My aunt and uncles grand daughter turned 16 today and they had a family get together last night. I helped my aunt cooked dinner. I was in bed by 8 p.m.

Susie
Hmmm having with draws from the worldlies!!! Seeking a second opinion is always good a idea. As far as the diverticulitis goes, the doctor told me that I could test the waters so to speak. I can't eat any thing uncooked any more. Our cold weather starts tomorrow. But it's nice outside right now.

Shad
More drama on the home front makes life interesting. Hope it calms down.

Happy
Milking cows now a day is quiet simple. They use automated milking machines. You wash the udders down and hook the milking devices up. If I can do it, you can too. My uncle milked two hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Think he had 120 or more Herford's, those black and white cows. Just beware you may get peed on and or kicked.

Back again.
I've done a day at work, and come home, watched the news and gone for a run. Yep a run. I struggled up the hill at walking pace, but have managed to run all the way down the next road and then along Tokyo lane which is sort of flat with just a few humps and lumps. I feel quite pleased with myself.

Ceejay - yeah drama again. But that's okay, we are allowed to have a fight once in a while and I have to give the kid kudos for his loyalty to his other half. I would be interested to know if she would be as loyal, but I have no intention of finding out just yet. Happy is so short that she could just about stand under the cow to milk it. By the sound of it, the cow is hand milked which can be 'interesting'. Happy our local milk maid! :lol3: :rofl:

Happy - Hope you had a great day reading and staying warm. As for milking, well I hate to tell you this, but I don't think you can milk a Shetland pony. Other than that it's pretty straight forward. Ceejay and I have done it, maybe we should make it a mandatory step for the year. All of us must milk a cow. Might be a bit difficult round here.

Susie - yeah well we are addictive. We should come with a warning. Seriously addictive substantial people reside here. Hope your DH gets some good results soon.

Laura - not long to go now. I think I can understand that you want to get out of the deep freeze and into the sun. Makes sense to me.

Nothing much else is new. The move to the new office went quite smoothly and most things worked okay. Mind you it was organised by 2 women, so why wouldn't it go well.
I've made the bed again, it seems dry. I will sleep there tonight. Hopefully the bad weather has gone for a while. It really is a pain in the ***.

And that's it. I'm off to watch a program on tv and then to bed. I'll see you all tomorrow no doubt

Good Morning Ladies....

Oh what a weekend. Literally did not go out of the house on Saturday. I came down with lil man's cold. Yesterday the only time I went out was to get a salad at the little mom and pops restaurant. Just did the usual stuff around the house. Cook, clean, dishes, laundry etc etc.

I am holding my own over the weekend with 10 lbs down. Could of done better but was lazy, tired and snotty miserable. I am trying to incorporate a bit of movement for exercise, since I do not like exercising. I took the three flights of stairs in the parking garage and must say I was a bit winded, yes out of shape completely. A little movement is better than none.

SHADDIE...good for you on running, I am afraid if I ran down the hill I would end up appetite over bottom rolling down. lol. Yes women can organize and get things rolling much easier, securely, and quickly, imo.

SUSIE....you missed us, hmmmm, give it time. lol. No really we are a great bunch of caring women. Very supportive. Hope hubby's next doc appt comes out great! How are you doing with everything?

CEEG...I think it is high time your family in Paragould come to visit with you instead of you going there all the time. Just a thought.

HAPPY...omgoodness...milking cows not that you are even entertaining the idea, but no thank you from this sister chick. I draw the line on that one. Cleaning out Sassy's poopy cage due to her winter woes (won't go out) is about all the barnyard stuff I care to do. Yes, insominia. Usually 6 out of 7 nights a week. I really try to make myself stay in bed but after about 30-45 minutes, forget it. I am up.

LAURA....where do you go to find these on-line classes? Are they expensive? Just curious. I might do a class or two when I decide what it is I would like to do. lol

CHELLE...hope you weekend was very restful and you are back to your old self this morning! Hugs.

-17 windchill today, poor Curtis, I don't see how he does it. I know I could not. Bless his heart.

That's all,

Hugs

Morning all. Another day in Chiberia, as we have yet another occasion to call it that. Temp is minus 1, wind chill minus 19. But no Metra delays on my line, so I’m here at the office.

Susie – We must be growing on you, since you missed us. :D Funny your hubby could tell you had withdrawal issues. :lol: Good you’ve got the other doc appointment, just to rule out anything else going on with DH re the bleeding. Doctors must see a lot of procrastination (out of fear) from their patients, so it’s no wonder he was amazed with your proactive attitudes. I’m of your mind – I want to know what’s going on!! We have a lot of food in the house now, so no real need for eating out or shopping. Not that it stopped us from eating out on Friday night and at our local taqueria on Saturday.

Happy – How’s your progress on those library books? I have a couple book club e-books loaded on my cell phone, but I also want to bring one paperback book with me on the cruise. I went to the library yesterday to pick up a couple travel books re Caribbean cruise ports. I’ll try to look through those this week just so I don’t feel so uninformed, but I don’t plan on bringing them with me. I’ll have to stop at the library this week. Of course men will deny that whatever movement they are doing is not too heavy for them, though bf has been laying off the exercise for a couple weeks so as not to put pressure on his head because of the oral surgery. He has done the snowblowing though. Thankfully, Coal likes his new bed and has done some serious snoozing on it this past weekend. I’ll have to take a few photos. LOL re the cow milking job! Yup, you definitely don’t hear about those jobs in the city. :D

Shad – I do like your thought that we should all aim to milk a cow this year. My bf has expressed an interest in doing that, so I’d go along. Your weekend sounded…interesting. Of course, gardens sound very good to me about now! I wouldn’t want booze mixed with any kind of energy beverage – natural or not. Bummer about the leaking again. I’m glad your landlady is concerned!!! Just get her more concerned about fixing the leak and less about where you sleep!! Oy, family drama. Such a fine line to walk between interest/curiosity/wanting to be helpful versus perceived interference. Wonder if that’s a point of contention re housing in the household and you hit the sore spot?? Good you just said your apologies and backed off. Best not to get in the middle of that. Glad the office move seems to have gone off well. Good for you with the running!! Is running something you did for exercise in the past? I gave it a weak (i.e., brief) try a couple times as a teen, but never enjoyed it. Lately, except for my work commuting and dog walks, I’m getting very little cardio activity. I just hope it’s enough to give me the stamina to do the touring & other physical activities I want to do while on the cruise.

Ceejay – Sorry the trip to Paragould was exhausting, but I’m sure the driving gets to be a bit much, especially when weather concerns exist. And we all know being around family can be exhausting, haha. Re the milking of cows – I mentioned to Shad that bf would like to milk a cow, but I think he has a rose-colored-glasses idea of it that doesn’t include getting peed on or kicked! :lol:

Annie – Sorry you caught a cold! Congrats on the 10 pounds! I’m still tracking, but not making much of an effort to eat light. Good for you walking the stairs in the parking garage. It’ll make a difference if you keep at it! I think it's Happy with the online classes - I’m letting my brain go to mush by watching fluffy tv and reading fluffy novels. I’m hoping my physical exercise will keep me from becoming a total blithering idiot in my senior years because understanding all the medical, insurance, and financial matters that arise then will certainly require some brain power.

Hi Michelle!!! How are things in sunny CA???

==
Nothing much to report. Didn’t do all that much over the weekend except dog walks and the usual meals out, miscellaneous errands, laundry, housework. I’ve taken more clothes out of closets and dresser drawers for packing. I cleared off my camera’s two memory cards in preparation for my trip.

Today I’ll run over to AT&T at lunchtime to get an international calling plan set up on my phone for the week of my trip.

The admin is out today – schools are closed and she’s home with her daughter. The boss took a vacation day because of the cold. She may be taking more vacation than she will accrue before she retires on 4/1. Wonder if HR will make her pay it back, lol.

Okay, work to do, so I’m off to do it. TTFN.
:comp:

Good morning ladies,

It turned out to be a busy weekend, and I could've used one more day! The poker game on Friday night was fun. I pretty much broke even. Saturday I ran some errands, took Santa to the dog park and then got together with some girlfriends. D and I went out for breakfast on Sunday, then he had to work and I went to the "Shut Up and Write" gathering of writers. After that, my friend B and I grabbed a late lunch/early dinner. When I got home, I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

This afternoon I have my annual gyn appointment. Ugh.

My bronchitis was doing much better, but last night, I decided to clean the tub/shower using a cleaner that had bleach. My lungs have been irritated.


=======================
Happy - I'm so glad your DH is doing well with his new eye. I hope you and DH are staying warm. Frankly, it's hard to believe it's January out here. We're not getting the usual rain, and the temps have been in the mid 60s to low 70s. It gets close to freezing at night though. If I had that farm, and you drove up and introduced yourself, I wouldn't think you're being a nosy neighbor...just a friendly one. :D

Laura - I had forgotten you were going to Belize. Say hi to my step-brother if you see him. :lol: I hope Coal is enjoying his therapeutic bed. I got a laugh out of "Chiberia". Such a brutal winter y'all are having. Minus 1 actual temp with -19 wind chill.

Suzie - I'm glad your DH isn't having any more blood since he stopped the aspirin. I hope the bleeding doesn't return when he goes back on a reduced aspirin regimen. You're smart to still see the urologist and get this checked out further. I love to write, but don't take/make time to write as much as I'd like. I am currently just starting a novel based on my life.

Shad - I hope your new cube mates are ok. It's tough sharing cramped quarters with annoying people. Then again if you went to a barbecue with them, they must not be all bad. Guarana is a strong stimulant and not recommended for people with high blood pressure or heart issues. It's often contained in diet supplements. So frustrating about your roof/ceiling leaking! As for your conversation with M, some people are very touchy and can read things into the most innocent of questions. Good for you for going for a run!! If you are going to make milking a cow a mandatory task for Worldly Chicks, I wish you'd have done it when I lived in Wisconsin! Cows are a bit tougher to find around here, although there is a dairy farm not far from where I work. Actually, now that I think about it, I have milked a "fake" cow. At an event in Wisconsin, there was a beer truck, and the dispenser for the beer was a cow, and you had to milk it to make the beer flow out of its fake teat. :rofl: Does that count? :rofl:

Ceejay - Sorry that the trip to Paragould and back was so tiring. Nice that you were able to help with the girl's birthday celebration though.

Annie - I love the Indiana poem you posted. Bummer that you came down with Jacob's cold. So proud of you for the 10 lbs weight loss!

Lots to get done...so I'll try and check back later.

Love and hugs,

Brrr chilly morning ladies. The cows are passing ice milk today. Do they even make ice milk any more :?: - very thinly low fat ice cream - nah, they probably just add chemicals to cut the fats.

Anyhow, it's sunny but windy and very cold. Dangerous wind chills. I was supposed to work the shop this afternoon and just got a call from the coordinator that the morning lady won't be coming in. They have closed the schools and I suggested that if the schools are closed (which is also the standard for closing other places), that we should be closed too just to provide some consistency. I'm glad not to have to go in but I will probably go there tomorrow as it will be 5 degrees "warmer" and less windy.

Yesterday I rearranged furniture in the living room and cleaned up some hot spots. It looks nice. I also sat down and read the Fannie Flagg library book - it's a good story but I have the large print version and it's 473 pages. That's a pretty big book. I think they could have cut out a hundred pages by not dragging the story along as much as they did. I will probably finish it today and I have 3 other books plus they called me today from the library (which is interesting because it's actually closed) - must be robo calling. But anyway a book I ordered back in October of last year - and not a new book at that - finally came in. So I have a lot of reading to do.

Annie - it is me with the online classes. Check out ed2go dot com. They have courses associated to a local university. Actually what happens I think is that someone develops a course and it's offered online throughout the country. People associated to the universities monitor and run the classes, answer student questions, etc. They have a lot of different subjects - personal growth, fun or flat out educational. I am dabbling with taking grant writing next. Over time I have seen several places here looking for someone to help (volunteer of course) to assist with grant writing. Might be something interesting one day although I have to say that I personally hate doing fundraising - but writing a letter is not as intimidating as asking for money face to face :lol:

Laura - I think it's great that you are checking out some destination books ahead of time - might be able to save yourself some money by skipping tourist traps. And it never hurts to be an informed traveler now a days. Did you see that recent outbreak of Norovirus on a Royal Carribean cruise? I never thought about stuff like that but they said to be fanatic about cleaning your hands a lot so it's good that they have the sanitizing gel stations all over the place. I'm glad Coal likes his new bed. As for the director taking more vacation than earned, I'm betting they will just look the other way - they rarely go after people and certainly not management.

Annie - congrats on getting the 10 pounds off!!!! Great job! I know you hate formal exercise so I think taking the stairs is wonderful. They say even just parking your car farther away and walking - any extra movement is great. As for being winded, do like I do with yoga - it's hard now but gets easier as time goes on - that's one way to measure success. Sorry to hear your insomnia is still going strong - I was hoping it was easing up for you.

Yes, I think I will leave the cow milking to Shad and Ceejay. Annie and I will just work with the results of your labors :rofl: I think I touched a cow teat once and I didn't like it. :no: But I wouldn't mind brushing the Shetland pony.

Shad - geez on the DS and the queen of the manor. She certainly is a willful one, eh? Let's hope it doesn't rub off on S. Sounds like DS lets her have her say too. Shows you the power of the ladies on some guys. :rolleyes: You are smart to just take a back seat to it all. Sorry to hear they have not fixed the leaks. Perhaps you need a canopy bed??? :lol: Sounds like you had a nice stroll with Chris. I wouldn't mind some pretty gardens myself right about now.

Ceejay - thank you for the cow milking information. I was aware they can kick but forgot about the peeing part. That did it for me I'm afraid, not that I was entertaining the idea anyway. :lol: It's interesting that raw foods are irritating your tummy. Perhaps too much fiber is just as bad as seed for you? Stay warm as I see the cold snap has extended out your way.

Hi Susie and Michelle :wave:

Now that I have the afternoon back to myself I should go make something of it. Later chicks.

Love the Chiberia too ;)

Michelle what do you mean there are no cows in California? Remember that commercial a while back about cheese or something where HAPPY COWS COME FROM CALIFORNIA???? :moo::moo::moo::moo::moo: I can't remember the specifics but happy cows and California were a major part of it although I'm sure they are not trotting down at the SF Bay or around L.A. :lol:

Arrrgh, have a big dose of the munchies this morning. Will have to watch the food intake carefully from now on. I just went across the road to the French Bakery (boulangerie) and bought a mini pizza. Yum. Now I want some more. I wonder if my lunchtime salad is going to cut it??? I suspect not.

Happy - maybe the 'happy' cows were fed on something other than grass - grass in pot plants maybe?