Morning all. At my friend's house where I stayed overnight.
Yesterday I lazed around most of the morning, reading & watching a couple of mad men episodes on netflix. Also started a load of laundry & the dishwasher.
Walked doggy & threw some things in a bag & bf got home in time to drop me at the train.
D, her sis & I just hung out , went out for a pizza dinner (malnati's) & hung out some more.
Relaxing w coffee/tea right now talking about vacations.
Supposed to be nice weather today. We'll see if I feel like raking more leaves when I get home...
Sorry to keep you all hanging as far as the interview. It went very well and I feel very positive about it. There are a total of 8 candidates. It will be narrowed down to 2 by the end of next week then another round of interviewing before the final decision is made. I am on the fence if I really want it or not. This is a very intense, deadline (a lot) driven position and frankly I don't know if I want to use up all my energy on that type of position. C says to take my time and find the job I really want. We will see. I do feel like a big bump on a log. Going into week 4, enough already.
C is taking his usual Sunday afternoon nap. If we have things planned, he doesn't take a nap, but if we are just hangin around the house, he tends to get a nap in. I cannot sleep during the day, heck I can't sleep much ever. lol
LAURA...I have lounged around all I want for a while. But it does sound like fun visiting with friends. Kudos to you for keeping up on your exercising.
CEEG..glad you had some company that you enjoyed for a change. Bout time.
SHADDIE....hope you are feeling better by now.
HAPPY...sorry your sleep was uncomfortable. Mostly why I watch Golden Girls all night long..lol
CHELLE..thanks for the good vibes. Saw on FB that the whale watching trip went great. It sounds very relaxing and interesting. Hope you back is better. I think I will get that book for interviewing.
SUSIE...great advice on the compensation portion of the interview. Thanks
Hi TERRA how's the walking coming along? I need to get my bunz in gear and do some walking also. We are supposed to have nice weather starting around Thursday this week, good time to start.
Bout does it for me, think I will get my bird feeders out.
Morning all,
Foggy day in old Wellington this morning. We are due for a royal visit (from Prince William and Kate and baby George). This is known as royal weather. Everywhere the Queen goes, the rain comes. She could have made a fortune in Umbrella fashion after all these years on the throne (so to speak).
Anyway due to the weather, half of the work force who went home for the weekend will not arrive until it lifts.
Feeling much better today as I took steps to 'remove' the problem over the weekend and consequently have a much brighter outlook on life.
Dinner last night was good. We had a fish pie (uggghhh I can hear some of you say) but it really was quite nice - not quite seasoned enough but that's probably because I don't put salt in a lot of things. The baby is growing like a weed and the DNIL was grumpy since he had to work all weekend. Dniece was grumpy because she got left at home holding the baby with no car so couldn't go anywhere, which is why I invited her into town and she came in on the train. She had made a feijoa cake. Now you might have to look up feijoa to see what it is. So that became desert with some cream and extra feijoas.
Daylight saving time finished Saturday night and I forgot to put the clocks back. So I ended up down at the markets in the half light at 6.15 instead of 7.15 - silly me. Which reminds me, I need to go to the breadshop today to get some more bread. It wasn't even open on Sunday morning and they are usually open early.
Happy - hope you are not buried under all that snow. It must be a pain in the neck by now. The yard is overrun by deer? Better than bears I suppose. Hope the thaw is starting soon.
Michelle - the problem will be simple in the end. Why didn't I think of that before - smacks head - moves code around type of simple. I have had similar sort of things with hyperlinking in the past. Grrrrr.
Laura - glad to hear you are having a good weekend with the friends. Always good to have time away from the mundane household stuff.
Ceejay - nice to have lunch with the family once in a while. Glad to hear that the Uncle with the knee surgery is doing well.
Annie - Bird feeders??? are you declaring winter closed??? Has Spring struck at your place????
Hope all the others are doing okay with the walking, challenges and exercises. I'm up to day six of the push-up challenge (2nd time around) and day 6 of the ABS challenge although I am only doing the crunches and leg raises. The rest is too much for one round. I will do them maybe next time - although the plank and the push-ups are similar in content. The biceps are getting stronger, wish I could say the same for the triceps and the abdomen.
Anyway, better get off here and go do some work. It's check out day on the latest documentation. Bah humbug. Lots of work to do.
Michelle ~ Thanks for commenting on my walking. I hope you were able to go on your short walk on your lunch break
Ceejay ~ Thanks for commenting on my walking.
Happy ~ H-~I~ back Happy
Annie ~ My walking is coming along well. Im glad to hear that the weather is going to be nice on Thursday so you'll be able to get out and do some walking outside.
I havent walked today but I walked around the mall for 3 hours with Scott yesterday so I think that makes up for not walking today but I'll be sure to walk again tomorrow.
My sister called today and we verified my plans to come May 1-4. She wants me to come up on May 1 and she will take off on May 2 and go to the show with us. And then spend time together on Saturday and Sunday.
Got two small cabinets clean out and reorganized.
Laura
That's the kind of week end I would like to have.
Not much else going on. Have to get ready for work tomorrow.
Hello Everyone--sorry I have been MIA. I would log in and read and think I had a minute to post and then I would run out of time.
The weekend has flown by quickly. I got my hair cut and colored yesterday and then we went to a wedding for a friend of mine whose son got married. It was a very nice wedding. He is a Marine so a lot of military influx but it was beautiful and those men look so handsome in uniform!
I did have a gain at TOPS on Thursday but I'm already working hard to get that off this week. We also started at 12 week challenge and a fund raiser with it where we asked people to sponsor us.
For the next 12 weeks we are focusing on losing every week..doesn't have to be a certain number but a loss. We all need to become more consistent with it. Most people are pledging me $1 a week for a loss. I do have some at $2.00 a week and one with $5.00. I told them that I would be accountable to them each week and let them know my progress. With my pledges there is a potential that I could make almost $200 for my chapter. We are trying to build up our treasury this year so that next year if we have Division Winners and they want to go to IRD we can help with the cost.
Today I had a lot to do around the house and I just felt overwhelmed so I decided to stay home from church and just work on getting things cleaned and in order. DH went to the grocery and we are now finished and in for the night and plan to watch some episodes of Nashville and Revenge that we have DVRd.
Happy: Has all that new snow started to melt? I hope you don't have any issues with your basement but I think it is a really good idea to get what you can off the floor.
As for the composite issues, it really could vary by brand, but some of the issues that I know that seem to be common is making sure that it is installed correctly. One of the boards that we offered was an interlocking system and we clearly stated that it had to have one side open and so much clearance of the ground so that air flow was there. People would ignore that.
The other is was that it does need to be cleaned every once in awhile or it can have mildew spots on it. Usually a good idea to clean it after the trees pollenate and get that off the deck even if you can't see it. People would see that mildew spots and freak out thinking it was mold. They seemed to not understand that the product is a composite and does has wood in it so, yes you do need to clean it. It is easier to clean it than cleaning a traditional deck and once a year is usually all it needs unless you are dropping food and things on the deck. I can't tell you how many people would say to me, this is no maintenance and I would say, it says low maintenance and it doesn't way you never need to clean it. Your kitchen floor is also low maintenance but you do clean it sometimes right? or even your car? I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Shad: A royal visit! Will you get to see them at all? Yeah for you for doing a push up challenge and an ab challenge. I am doing a push up challenge--a little different than the one Laura had. This time I'm doing them on the wall and next time I will go to the floor. Trying to build up my upper body strength. There is nothing wrong in modifying for your fitness level. We all have to start somewhere!
I have been amiss on MFP as well, but starting tomorrow I'm back to logging. Please join me! I'll be looking for you there.
Annie: Fingers crossed for the interview. I would love to see you get an offer--I know it would help you feel better about things. Did you get your bird feeders out?
Ceejay: I love naps! and I see you do too. That is good news about your Uncle's knee surgery.
Laura: I loved your lazy Saturday. Mad Men is one of my favorite shows and I can't wait for it to come back on. DH keeps track of when that is.
Terra: Walking around the mall for 3 hours counts as walking! You are doing GREAT with keeping your walking going.
Sorry I didn't post over the weekend. My weekend was super busy and so fun! I played poker with my friends until around midnight on Friday. Didn't fall asleep until nearly 2. Got up at 6 am to meet up with some friends to go whale watching, which was AMAZING! We saw two groups of whales, lots of dolphins, sea lions and otters too! Got home Saturday and watched a bit of a Wayne Dyer program that I'd recorded from about a month ago, then fell asleep.
Sunday I met up with some friends at the dog park, and then dropped Santa at day care for a couple hours while I went to yoga. My back was bothering me from trying to stay balanced on the boat while it was rocking and rolling in the surf.
Today is physical therapy and I'm hoping that in a week or two I'll be able to graduate to the more advanced class.
My shoulder is still bothering me a bit, so no plank or pushup challenge for me yet.
I've got lots of work to get done, but I'll try and check in later.
Happy – Wow, you got a lot of snow!! I hope the temps are getting milder and a (gradual) meltdown is happening in your area. Did dh get the back-up sump pump installed? Good thinking to get stuff off the floors just in case. My gosh that’s a lot of deer! Poor things are probably hurting (and hunting) for food. Good of you and your hub to provide some. Re the shop – what a shame about the damage to the building and inventory. I hope that a nice in-town location is found to help with the success of re-starting the shop. How long had the shop been open, and was it always in the same location? I did end up using my wheelie backpack when I went out to D’s. But I didn’t end up using the laptop at all – I had all my photos on cd’s, and some on my phone. And we never did get to the point of exchanging photos –we just looked at them.
Michelle – I’m glad you got the brochures ready for printing, but too bad about your back spasms. You must have felt better - your weekend sounded wonderful. Saw on FB you got to do your whale watching expedition – sounded amazing. We did one in Hawaii and it was very nice, but I don’t’ think it was all that long, and surely didn't experience nearly as much activity as you. How long was the trip?? Also saw you got in the dog park and yoga class yesterday – great job! Re Jazzercise, it can be high or low impact, however you want. I find the moves easily modifiable. If you go low impact, you can use your arms more to keep the cardio intense.
Ceejay – Nice you got in a nap. It’s good you can see your family regularly. Even if it’s not next door, you can get there somewhat frequently. Good to hear your uncle’s recovery is going well. Yay that your plans have been firmed up with your sis. Sounds like it’ll be nice visit!!
Shad – Glad you’re feeling better now. Sounds like a nice time w/ the niece/NIL. I looked up feijoa – guava pineapple. Sounds tasty. I see there’s already a controversy with the royal visit – the type of baby car seat they chose, lol. Speaking of little George – pretty cute little guy. So do you give a fig whether NZ remains a monarchy or becomes a republic??
Annie – Glad the interview went well. Sounds like the hiring process will go on for a bit longer. Good luck to you, if you want the challenge this job seems to present!! I know you’re jittery about being out of work this long – not many workers take more than 2 or 3 solid weeks off work at a stretch outside of unemployment/illness/retirement so it much be an odd feeling of being at loose ends. I've had a job since age 14 and I'm pretty certain I've never had more than 3 weeks off, voluntarily or not!! Anyway, I agree with C - try to be patient and wait for the right position for YOU to come along. I thought birdfeeders go out during the winter when food is scarce and go away once spring comes and natural food sources are once again more plentiful. Huh. My neighbors have birdfeeders. I’ll have to pay attention when I get home tonight to see if they’ve emptied their’s for the season yet.
Terra – Three hours at the mall!!! I can’t recall the last time I’ve spent any time to speak of in a mall or on a focused shopping trip. (I'm not fond of shopping.) Did you spot anything you wanted to buy – and did you buy anything?
Susie – I’m glad you enjoyed the wedding. All it takes is one big thing – a social event, project, outing, etc – to eat up a big chunk of the weekend and then it feels like it’s gone by in a blink of the eye. Good luck with your TOPS fundraising. I missed my ww meeting last week due to a meeting conflict at work, but I plan to go to tomorrow’s meeting. My weight is up on my home scale and I’m not happy about that at all. I can’t stand that all I want lately is junk and to not have to control and monitor everything I eat. I’m just not in a good place right now as far as this is concerned. In one blog I read, the writer said she was just striving to at least “be there” in April. For her that meant at least trying, doing little things like parking further away, watching portions, taking the stairs instead of the elevator/escalator, etc. My little thing today is when I eat my snacks, I’ll eat the fruit before the other items.
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My weekend was pleasant but not very productive. Oh well. What else is new, LOL.
My visit with my friend D was nice. Her sister lives with her and right before D & I left Sunday to drop me at the train, the two sisters got into an argument about the day’s plans. They are really close, which is wonderful, but it can also have its problems – too much togetherness in this case.
Back at home, I took doggy for a walk, then bf and I went to lunch. Shrimp and wings at Hooters. Usually I get the fish sandwich, but not yesterday. I’ve now fulfilled my annual Hooters obligation, lol. I don’t hate the place, but it’s always loud and with the servers wearing those ridiculous uniforms, it’s just not my kind of place. What I find really funny is that the one we went to always has a lot of families with young kids in there. Bf said it’s a great place for them – very casual and noisy. They can’t really disturb anyone, LOL.
After lunch, bf hijacked me over to a car dealership to look at the next car he thinks we should buy. Dealerships are closed here on Sundays, so it’s a good time to just look at what’s on the lot without interruption. In this case, it’s the Ford Edge SUV we were looking at. I asked bf why he isn’t interested in the Ford Escape, a smaller SUV. He thinks it’s too small. Huh. I guess since I don’t drive all that much, I’m sort of indifferent to what we get as long as it has a sunroof , heated seats and enough engine power. Oh, and a backup camera would be nice too. Obviously I don’t want it to be one big money suck.
I suppose I should be concerned about how I like driving it. The last big vehicle we owned was a minivan. I don't recall too much trouble maneuvering it, but it's been a while since I drove a large vehicle. I believe we'll try to do a test drive sometime this week.
I'm caught up on my challenges. I missed Saturday, so I did a double challenge yesterday. I'm happy to say I can do more standard pushups - one day last week, I managed to eke out 8 of them with bf's encouragement. The last few days of the plank have been 90 seconds in length and today is 120 - which is the longest length I've done (when I did the ab challenge). From here forward it's really going to be tough going. Wish me luck.
Nothing much else to report. Going to post this before yet another interruption. TTFN!
Hi Everyone, I am gloomy today. I think it is the weather. I was contemplatng skipping my lunch time workout..but I really didn't want to..I NEED to get into this habit again.
So I came here to get some motivation. Laura: Your post was helpful. I don't want to go , but I'm going to go, because I don't want to gain any more weight. I'm tired....all the time and it is because I am so overweight. And only I can change that. So I'm off to the gym. Will do the bike today...30 min.
Another quick post just to share that I haven't been this happy in a long time. My relationship with D is going great...and as much as I wish our schedules allowed us to spend more time together, it's actually nice because I can use the times when he's working or out of town to really focus on what I need and want to do (exercising, writing, workshops, etc.).
To answer Laura's question, the whale watching tour was 4 hours.
I'm going to try and catch up on personals. D called me awhile ago and said that our TV, Internet and house phone were all out (he called me using his cell phone). So I contacted Comcast since the account is in my name...and I got instructions on how to reset the modem. I walked D through that and then he still couldn't connect to the internet. So, me being the techie, I walked him through that too. It was nice to be able to do something nice for him for a change after all the wonderful things he does for me and Santa.
Happy - Wow, that really sounds like a sad task to price out the inventory that was lost. :-( Is the big melt happening and is your basement staying dry?
Ceejay - Glad to hear your uncle is doing well after his knee surgery. So nice that in less than a month you'll get to see your sister! I plan to get to Southern CA in August to see my family down there.
Shad - I hope you're feeling better than you were over the weekend and not having any more internal plumbing issues. That must be some serious rain if it's keeping folks at home.
Laura - Sounds like you had a nice relaxing time with your friend. As for going to yoga class yesterday...I almost didn't. D was getting back into town and getting together with a friend who was just in town for a day or two. D asked if I wanted to go. I really wanted to..but it would've meant missing yoga. And my back was bothering me from the rocking and rolling boat ride, so I really felt like I had to go to yoga. I'm glad I did. I felt much better afterwards, and D totally understood. I'm at the point too where all I want is junk. I just feel compelled to eat sweets. And then I feel bad afterwards because it's certainly not helping my diabetes. I've commmitted myself to eating fruit or yogurt whenever I feel the need for something sweet...and to REALLY limit my carbs. How fun that you and bf are going car shopping. The Edge SUV is nice. I've been thinking about my next car as well, even though the purchase won't happen for several months. I'd like to get either a Toyota Prius or a Toyota Rav 4...but after comparing the costs and how much my car insurance will go up, I'll probably end up with either a Corolla or a Yaris. I've had great luck with my current car which is a 1999 Toyota Corolla that I bought brand new. It's got nearly 200K miles and is still going strong. Good for you for doing standard pushups!! That's wonderful! I asked my PT if we are going to start doing planks, and they said that's in the advanced class. Then they were surprised to learn that I preferred planks on my toes rather than on my knees because I find it harder to have correct back form when I do planks on my knees...my butt always sticks up.
Annie - I'm glad to hear the interview went well. Even if you don't want a particular job or don't get a particular job, interviewing (even phone interviews) is great practice. After the interview, try and replay the interview in your head and figure out how you might answer a particular question better next time it comes up. As for feeling like a bump on a log...you know you're not...you needed the time to help Sissy through stuff. The right job will come along soon, the thing you have to remember is that things happen according to His plan. Keep the faith, sista. The whale watching trip was wonderful, even if I did get a little queasy with seasickness and had to stay seated and focus on the horizon for about 1/2 hour. The book 60 Seconds and You're Hired is FABULOUS!! I especially liked the audio book and would listen to it in my car on the way to interviews.
Susie - What a great idea to have the extra incentive of people pledging for you to to lose each week! You're absolutely right about there being nothing wrong with modifying exercises. My physical therapists and yoga instructor are focusing on how the moves we want to do can be modified so that we get stronger with less chance for injury. I logged on MFP today, and plan to stick with it for the week. Sorry to hear you're gloomy. I hope you find something to brighten your mood. You and Laura are definitely motivating me to get more exercise in. Thank you!
Caught up with the week's paper work. Mr. know it all has been busy today. And I told myself if he's going to be around in my way he's doing part of the work. Think the bosses have caught him on camera. He's mentioned the fact that some one must have told on him.
Called the land lord this morning about a couple of other issues, one the running faucet outside and the toilet was running when I got home yesterday. I told them I couldn't cut off the water supply to the toilet. I couldn't turn it. Hopefully things will be fixed when I get home. The other two things were mentioned when I paid my rent.
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Susie
Are you a TOP'S leader?
Happy
Wow that's a lot of deer in the yard. And I do believe that spread the word.
Michelle
I can see from your posts that you are very happy, and more involved. That's what life is about.
Will be a busy day. So IN unemployment has loaded 3 weeks of unemployment on my "debit card" that they issue. HOWEVER I have not received the said debit card. Today will be tromping off to the unemployment line to see about said debit card. Would be nice to have it and pay some bills. Not in trouble yet with bills but would like to at least have the debit card.
I have another interview on Thursday with another company. American Life Ins. Not sure how I feel about working for another insurance company but at least going to interview and see what it is about. Benefits Coordinator. They searched me out with my resume being posted on Career Builders.
A couple of friends of mine had their babies in the past couple of days. Both girls....one named Paisley Rose the other Celaire Olivia. Sometimes I wonder where these names come from or how they dream them up. Oh well to each their own. lol.
CHELLE...why do they ask, What task did you not like about your last job. In my mind I think, working period. haha. I really couldn't answer that one right off the top of my head, I just said that any negative attitudes in the office were really not acceptable in my mind. What a boof I am.
HAPPY...how are you feeling? Still working the Thrift Store? I don't see how you can with hip and feet pain...Poor kiddo. How are the lil meows doing?
LAURA...You are one busy person. I think when you do not have kids life is more free to do the things you want to do. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't live without my kiddos and grand kiddos, but sometimes....
SUSIE...ahhhh, color and cut, nice. That always makes me feel glamorous. Sissy colors then I go to my cutter a couple of days later. Sis could cut my hair, but I like how this lady does my hair and has cut my hair since before Sissy ever had her license.
CEEG...wonderful a 4 day vacay with sis and going to Branson. Jealous. I called BF in St. Louis about a visit but she said her mom is their for two more weeks. Don't want to interfere with their visit. Maybe in May I will go.
SHADDIE....hope they are not working you to hard and that you are feeling much better by now. You might need some R&R to get your health and strength back, my sister.
TERRA...yes, walking is the best exercise and looking forward to better weather. Good for you on walking.
Could everyone please PM me your birthdays, I kind of know the months but not the days. It was on my calendar at work and seem to not have that info now.
You are doing GREAT with keeping your walking going.
Re the shop – what a shame about the damage to the building and inventory. I hope that a nice in-town location is found to help with the success of re-starting the shop. How long had the shop been open, and was it always in the same location? I did end up using my wheelie backpack when I went out to D’s. But I didn’t end up using the laptop at all – I had all my photos on cd’s, and some on my phone. And we never did get to the point of exchanging photos –we just looked at them. 
You and Laura are definitely motivating me to get more exercise in. Thank you! 
