Morning all,

Sorry I can't post right now. Very busy day today from morning until night. Had a bad night's sleep on top of it - kept waking up all night long afraid I'd over sleep. Too much in the head. Might not be back until tomorrow but if I can, I'll stop back and catch up. Carry on soldiers :D

Annie ~ Yeah your probably right I shouldnt wear the shoes again, I'll call this morning and see if its too late to return them. I wear a size 8 but I bought a size 9.

Dee ~ I'm glad to hear your gonna do my challenge with lifting hand weights. I hope Santa brings you a stationary bike for Christmas. I am still trying to get the hang of Portion Control too. Congrats on getting below your goal weight. Yeah I'm gonna try to get my money back on the shoes, Especially since they were $50.00 dollars which to me is alot of money.

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I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning and I went to sleep at 6 p.m. last night so at 2 a.m. I had slept for 8 hours so I went ahead and got up. Its now 6:19 right now. I have to start watching for my bus at 10:40 so in 4 hours + 40 mins. I'm going to a Christmas party today at school, Its from noon until 4 pm today. Before I go to school today though I'm gonna make sure I do my morning chair exercises and then I'll my evening chair exercises tonight. I think I'm gonna do morning chair exercises and then at noon I'll do my walking dvd and then at night I'll go back to my chair exercises. I hope everyone has a great day. Take Care Everyone.

Hump day has arrive, boss is in Chi-town today with our BDOs (salesmen). Also trash day and Cs day off, of course I left him a honey do list. He is really great about finishing the chores I leave him. Of course they are really easy ones...put washer towels in dryer, fold and put away. Put trash bags in cans that need them and scour toities. I hate doing toities so I usually leave that for him. I think he rather misses his Wednesday fishing days with his brother...lol

Tonight we are going to meet his youngest daughter and her beau for dinner at Hitachi Grill. Yum. Of course we will pay for it. That is ok as we rarely meet them for dinner, maybe every other month or so and it is usually for pizza and Pizza Hut.

Last night Sissy colored my hair. Poor Royce is sick with a sinus infection and ear infection. Off to the doc he went yesterday. Zithromax for kiddies and ear drops. His temp was 101.9 yesterday. I just held him and loved on him last night as he was more than willing to let me, he is such a cuddler anyway. Then I read Jacob two books, sounds, noises, grunts and whistles supplied by me. lol. One book was about dinosaurs and other trains, so you can imagine how much racket I was making while reading them.

SHADDIE...wow you have your work cut out for you on this job. Hope you get extra pay for OT that is may involve. Fresh tomatos sound wonderful about now. I have been putting salsa in my cottage cheese in the mornings rather than fresh tomatos, just not the same.

SUSIE...so happy for DH and the great report of yesterday. Lot of worry off both of your minds. Amen, prayers answered.

CEEJ...I hear you on the two day work week, same pay AND benefits would work great for me too! Let me know as soon as you find a job like that, it would be worth the move. lol. No more leaves, yahoo!!

LAURA...hope you get some relief from all the meetings. Meetings are so boring, unless you are the one putting it on or have lots of input. Otherwise it just seems like people just droan on to hear themselves talk.

Hey to CHELLE, HAPPY, DEE and TERRA.

Hugs

Afternoon all.

Annie – Hope Royce gets well soon now that he has all the drugs. There’s still a good amount to do on the half bath. Yes, it’s the one in the hall just off the entry. It’s really just a powder room – no tub or shower, so it’s probably not even right to call it a half bath…Anyway, bf is being the perfectionist with all the wall-patching he’s doing, so it’s not going as quickly as you’d think. I’m going to start pushing him though by telling him I plan to paint it this weekend. With all the other stuff there is to do for the holidays, we don’t have time to be leisurely about this. I’m so glad you enjoyed the church tea last week and your church service this past Sunday. Our building does nice tenant lobby events like that – a summer ice cream social, a winter celebration, a breakfast buffet. It’s so nice your co-worker grabbed you to come along with her to attend. I bet your Christmas tree smells so good! Re meetings – none today, yahoo. :yay:

Dee – How’s your foot doing? Hoping it’s feeling better. I had a problem with plantar fasciitis a couple years ago and it was tough trying to stay off my feet, and I didn’t like having to ice it as was recommended. Honestly, your “friend” was being really pushy and obnoxious about trying to get you to sign on for a mission trip. What’s wrong with her??!! :dunno: I hope you found a way around having to sit at the same table with her and her dh at the company Christmas shindig. Re our hosting the Christmas Eve meal – I’d like to “shake up” tradition with something NON-traditional, but I think I’ve decided to go with a roast of some sort because it’s easy – season the outside and throw it in the oven or electric roaster, make gravy and possibly put together a sauce, voila. I might make lasagna also. That’s a bit more labor intensive, but it can be done ahead. Re the holiday parties I’ve got on the calendar – none are formal, so yay for that. BTW, my doc gave me a med for my asthma at my appt 10 days ago and it’s helped tremendously. I go back for a follow-up next week on Monday. I don’t know if this was intended to just get me past this bad spell, or if I’ll need to use this on a daily basis from now on. We’ll see.

Michelle – Sounds like all is going well post-surgery. How nice you’ll only have three days of work before your office shuts down for two weeks!! I’m sure you’ll have recovered enough by the time you return to work next week to get through those three days. :yes:

Terra – More strange sleep hours for you! What’s up with that??!! :dz: I hope you enjoy the Christmas party today! Re the shoes – I’ve read that shoes that fit properly, especially athletic shoes, shouldn’t require “breaking in”. And you’ve already bought a size larger than your usual size. I think those just aren’t the shoes for you. Hope you can still return them. When I’m not sure if a shoe is going to work for me, I’ll try to only where it around inside the house for a short time over a few days to see how it feels.

Happy – Hope the bad night’s sleep doesn’t catch up with you during your very busy day today! I’m sure you’ll catch up on your sleep tonight. :dz:

Susie – Glad to hear your hubby’s procedure went well and he’s good for five years. :) I sort of weaseled on getting that done…my annual physical was in April of this year, before I hit the big 5-0, so I didn’t schedule the procedure then, or even after my b-day in July. Looks like I’ll be scheduling it for April or May of next year… The suggestion you made about volunteering some time for an organization that interests me is a good one. I’ll have to do some thinking on that.

Ceejay – Yay for the leaves being picked up and gone! Tomorrow’s our last pickup, but we didn’t get out to rake (my doc didn’t want me raking due to the asthma) this past weekend, so we’ll be stuck with the leaves. My thought is to use a leaf blower to blow them all to the back of our yard by the fence. This area of our yard has arborvitae evergreen-type trees all across the back and there isn’t any grass under them, so nothing will be harmed with the leaves sitting there. If you have leaves on top of the grass and then it snows on top of that, the leaf mold that grows can kill the grass underneath. I don’t want that to happen. Re your saying about going to bed with the chickens to get up at 4 am (i.e., EARLY!), that reminds of a women at the office who when I see her at the end of the workday will say “Time to go home and feed the chickens.” She’s a city dweller and I’m sure doesn’t do that LITERALLY. So now I wonder where that phrase comes from… :chicken: :chicken: :chicken: Yeh, wouldn’t 2-day work weeks be heavenly?? :cloud9:

Shad – You sound crazy busy at the moment, so you certainly won’t be bored!! :crazy: You mentioned Yorkshire pudding – I’ve been to a popular prime rib restaurant here in town, only a couple times many years ago, but I still recall them serving it with that. Hmmm. I’ll have to look into that.
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Busy again this morning, so this entire week has been rather busy. Glad that I finished my performance self-appraisal Monday (the due date!), and today I completed my input for our department’s monthly report. Those are both icky tasks.

Let’s see, what else? Bf phoned two mechanics re the car on Monday. One made a better impression, and also gave a suggestion about starting the car that worked (woohoo!), so that one got our business. Even though bf got the car going, he took it to the shop and had them check a couple things to see if a real problem existed. Nothing found. But we already planned to have our brakes done, so we had that done as well. Yay.

I saw the movie “Birdman” last night. The cast and acting are great – Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts. It’s got 4 SAG award nominations. The story’s sort of wild, but I enjoyed it.

The calendar is so full of holiday stuff – this Saturday evening is our block’s holiday party, hosted by a couple across the street from us. Next Thursday is my employer’s holiday party – employees only, at a nearby restaurant from 3-7pm. We have a party at a friend’s house the following night. Bf’s family is gathering at his sister’s on Sunday, the 21st. My family’s gathering is the 24th at my house. We have another friend’s party on the 27th, which will also be a celebration for of the friend’s son’s b-day (bf is friend with both father and son). Supposedly bf and I are hosting a NYE gathering at our place… it’ll be a small gathering, since many people we know don’t want to be out on the roads on NYE. We can accommodate two guests in our spare bedroom and 2-3 others if they want to crash on our sofa or recliner. We’ll see… Gonna be a busy 3 weeks! :faint:

Tonight I have a hair appointment. I’d rather be at home…oh well.

Okay, I have to finally get this posted before another interruption comes along!! Buh bye.

:brr: It's getting cold outside.
My lower abs have been very painful the past couple of days and last night was even worse. Maybe 2 hours sleep at most. Thinks it's due to diverticulitis. From now on I have to be very particular what I put in my mouth. I don't like this feeling at all.
Don't know who's been into my computer account at work but more than half of my reports for fluoride and alum were gone. Thank goodness I have the back usb flash drive. I have them with password and don't think anyone knows the code. There's only one that would even try this.
The mystery water leak was solved last night. Heard a weird noise and went on the hunt. My goodness what a mess! The pressure release valve had blown. Thank goodness it was a tiny heater.

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Laura
I'm not sure about a time limit on the leaves. But from now on I will be putting them in a garbage bag and putting them to the curb. There's a few more out there but nothing like last week.
Wow you are going to be busy with the parties this month. And it's very nice that you will/can accommodate those who can't drive responsibly.
I have heard "getting up with the chickens and going to bed with the chickens" all my life. Mainly because my grandpa did just that.

Terra
At least you are getting your 8 hours sleep in. Enjoy the Christmas party.

Happy
Know the feeling. I didn't sit down this morning before work because of the lack of sleep.

Annie
Hope the baby get better. Good for grandma to hold and snuggle with him. I can hear you reading to the kiddo's. Makes me smile.

Michelle, Dee, Susie, and Shad :wave:

Good Thursday Morning....just got a message from my boss saying he has an 8:30 appt and will be in later this morning....so now I can post in peace. lol

We met Cs "good" daughter and her boyfriend at Hibachi Grill last night for dinner. I had shrimp, mushroom and onions stir fried on the grill and then a couple of wontons. That was it. Couldn't finish shrimp, so C ate it, as he does EVERYTHING. No wonder he has intestine and bowel issues. All and all it was really good. His daughter brought C his birthday present, how nice, cosidering his BD was Sept 30th. Hmmm, strange math these days.

Royce is not much better yet when I stopped on my way home to check on him. Still lethargic and crabby, but I can't blame him a bit. He had only had two doses of his meds at that point, so maybe today will be better. Poor lil guy, still manages to drink plenty of fluids and give his Nanna big smiles.

LAURA...I still think you should serve Christmas Tacos for your family. lol. Yes your bathroom can be considered a half bath, most half baths do not have a tub or shower.

CEEG..what is your holiday schedule like this year? Are you actually working on the holiday itself?

Hello to all you missing beauties.

Hugs

Annie
I will be working Christmas eve, but not Christmas day. I may make plans to go to my aunt and uncles but I may also make plans with bff. I'm going to Jonesboro tomorrow so we will talk. Seeing the pictures of my sister grand babies make me want to be in Missouri this year for Christmas. I haven't been to Hibachi grill in a long time.

Dee
How is your foot?
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It's been a quiet morning. Only completed one load of laundry but going to put in another load in a few minutes. If it's not to cold I'm getting up the rest of those leaves. Don't know why they'll just blow into the yard from the neighbors. :lol:

Afternoon all.

Ceejay – Sorry your diverticulitis is acting up and causing you pain. That’ll sure get you back to avoiding those foods that make it act up…until you feel good for a while and ease up on the restrictions. I love popcorn, so that would be a tough one for me. :corn: Re the missing computer files - good thing you have them backed up to a flash drive. I'm glad you have Christmas day off!!

Annie- Sounds like dinner was tasty. We have a Hibachi grill in our area - I like the stir fry part of it, but I'm not crazy about the buffet, except for the fruit/dessert part, LOL. Little bit late for the birthday gift, but oh well, who am I to talk? I had my hair appointment last night and didn’t give my girl her Christmas gift yet. She’ll get her gift (usually a Target gift card) a little bit late – my next appointment is January 7th. Oh how fun a taco buffet would be :D – choice of beef or chicken, maybe chorizo, crispy taco shells, soft tortillas, all the toppings (including the Christmas green lettuce and guacamole and red tomatoes), and yummy sides – black beans, refried beans, rice…yum. :drool: :eating2: Oops, sorry for the food porn Michelle!

Where’s the rest of ya?

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I don’t think I mentioned this, but because the fundraiser went so well this year, we’ve been granted jeans days through August of next year!! I’m not sure if it’s started yet or if it officially begins in 2015…not sure if it really matters. Jeans days are “sold” as one of the fundraiser items, so people can buy a day, a week, ‘til end of year, so a lot of people around here are wearing jeans right now. Some of whom may not have even made a donation…lame. Anyway, it’ll be fun.

Even after I deduct vacation days I’ll take on the 15th, 23rd & 24th, January 2nd AND 3 carryover days for 2015 (max allowed), I STILL have 1 day left to schedule. I might take it on Friday the 19th. I have year-end work to do, so I don’t plan to take any days the 29th-the 31st until I get that done.

Not much else to report, so I’ll get this posted. :comp:

Happy Thursday ladies,

I had no idea I haven't posted in days! Sorry about that. I'll try and catch up on personals today.

I finally got to ONEDERLAND this week!! I've dropped 18 lbs in the 3 weeks since surgery. I know people who have lost faster post-op, but I'm doing just fine.

In less than a week (next week Wednesday), I go back to work, but it will only be for 3 days and then I get two weeks off (unpaid) because my company closes down for the weeks of Christmas and New Years. It's unpaid leave because I used all my vacation time with the vacation to Washington and Oregon and being out for surgery (since disability doesn't pay the first 7 days). But I'm grateful to "ease into work slowly" and then have two weeks more to rest. Plus, the past few months I've put money aside to get me through Christmas (especially since I didn't know how much I'd get on disability).

I'm not going to get to the hospital today since California is having it's worst storm in 5 years. Only 2-4" of rain in 24 hours where I live, but some areas will receive up to 8" which might bring mudslides (in the mountains). And we're all experiencing really strong winds! Hopefully the property damage, flooding and traffic accidents will be minimal. Nevertheless, I'm staying home. I was thinking about having Santa in daycare for the day so he and I wouldn't have to get wet when he does his business....but I don't even want to drive over there. Plus, he was vomiting a lot last night. I think a new person at the dog park gave him treats. I think it was a new person because nearly everyone at the dog park knows that Santa has a pretty sensitive tummy lately. Anyway, right now, he's curled up and cozy on the bed.

I've gone to the gym the past two days, and rode the recumbent bike. I'll do Wii Fit later so I don't have to go out in the storm.

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Ceejay - I'm so sorry you're having such abdominal pain. I hope the pain eases up soon. Definitely be careful what you eat. Good for you for finding the water leak. Glad they finally came for the leaves. Thanks for the suggestion to rest. I really do need to do that more. And that's my plan for today due to the weather. I am glad to be back to exercising. Whenever I want to skip the gym or shorten a walk, I just remember what my surgeon said that now I can burn a lot of calories through exercise and it's physically impossible for me to eat more to "eat up" the calories burned. Good that you are able to have Christmas Day off.

Annie - Thanks for the STRONG reminder to take care of me first. You're so sweet. And you're right I DO NOT want to end up back in the hospital. Christmas tacos actually sound good. I haven't gotten brave enough to try ground beef or even ground turkey yet (mostly I'm eating canned tuna, canned chicken and thinly sliced deli meat). Glad that you're still enjoying your job and co-workers! Wow, you got a great price on that tree! Sounds like a lovely time at church with C rededicating himself. Saying prayers and sending love for your upcoming surgery. :hug: I am sorry that your friends are battling alcohol addiction. I have heard that's very common among bariatric patients, as is shopping addiction. So sorry to hear that Royce has a sinus and ear infection...so painful for the little ones. I hope he feels better soon. Sounds like you had a nice evening reading to Jacob...I'm not at all surprised that you provide the sound effects too! So glad you had a nice dinner with C's "good" daughter and her bf.

Dee - Bummer you had to deal with your friend guilting you in to doing a mission trip over Christmas. You are definitely not selfish. As Shad said, I think she'd be an ex-friend of mine...or at least be demoted from good friend to acquaintance. Wow, with the money wheel and all those bonuses...that's a very generous company! Your dress sounds beautiful...will we get to see a photo of you in it? Congrats for not taking any Rx meds. That's excellent! I'm off my diabetes meds since surgery but still take a lot of other meds (hopefully most will drop off as the weight does). I don't drink much alcohol either. In my 20s I got drunk a few times, but since I hit my mid 30s getting drunk just doesn't appeal to me. So I would always stop after 2 beers, and then switch to soda. I'm so inspired by your dh's brother's active lifestyle. Bob has at least one and possibly 3 more surgeries to his "stump". They had to take half of Bob's pelvis with his amputation...but his sister and I have found prosthetics for the type of amputation he has. They strap over the shoulder and around the hip. I've seen the NutriNinja. Thanks for the tip. I have a few Blender Bottles, with the slotted metal ball, and I really like them. When I get back to work, I will keep one there and also a bag of protein shake mix. I don't have any Christmas parties or Galas to go to. I'm just trying to estimate what size I'll be in for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my bf's family and my family, respectively.

Susie - I'm glad that your dh got a good report from his colonoscopy!

Shad - I got a big laugh out of your Scrabble comments. I do pretty good. My step-mother and I are so evenly matched that we usually end up within 5-10 points of each other. You're right...what we speak (and spell) here is definitely not English! :rofl:

Laura - Your Christmas meal sounds delicious...roast and lasagna...two of my faves! I'm glad your new asthma med has helped a lot. Is it Singulair or an inhaler? Glad the mechanic's suggestion worked and that no additional issues were found! You and your bf certainly have a busy holiday season!! Sounds like a lot of fun times. There are two movies I want to see..."The Theory of Everything" about Stephen Hawking and "Wild" starring Reese Witherspoon. I haven't heard of "Birdman", but the cast sounds great. Like Ceejay, I've heard of "getting up with the chickens" probably because my grandfathers were farmers. Thanks a lot for the food porn! :rofl: Just kidding. Actually, most of the time I'm doing okay with hearing about food. In most cases, I'll be able to eat that stuff eventually. And in the case of sweets...it just reinforces that I'll have to find sugar free options to my favorites. Congrats on the jeans days through August!! Awesome! And the vacation days you'll get! :woohoo:


Happy - Like Dee, I would appreciate it if you posted (again) the recipe for the dog biscuits. I know you've posted it a couple times, but I can't seem to find it. So sorry you didn't sleep well the other night. I hope everything is ok. Sending you :hug:

Terra - How was the Christmas party at school? Glad to hear you're getting back to walking. I hope you're able to return those shoes.


Ok. Time for this chick to get Christmas presents wrapped and ready for shipping to Southern Cal, and Christmas cards (and letter) ready to send.


Much Love and big hugs to all!

Morning all,
Home finally after a hair raising ride in the plane. We took off from Melbourne in calm but cloudy weather and had a smooth flight up through Victoria and NSW, but as soon as we hit the Queensland border we hit some bad weather. Storms, lightning, bumps, dips, soaring up and down, hail. You name it we got it. Very exciting ride. Funny how the conversation dies down in a plane where the going gets somewhat rough.
Anyway I am home. It doesn't appear that the gutter man got here yesterday so I might need to ring for an explanation. Looks like there might be 3 or so inches of rain in the bucket so maybe it rained all day,

So I will need to rethink my work for today since it is still raining. Something inside and maybe some thoughts on Christmas presents for the family. Most are easy. They want money. I have a gold chain to go with the locket for little miss S but I need to get her something else that she can use now. Clothes are out since nothing I buy is ever right. I refuse to get toys since she has so many, so I will have to find something else. Maybe a new pair of gumboots???? Aarrggh.

This computer is playing up today. I've already had to reboot twice. So I am going to keep this short. I'll be back later with personals as I think of them

Hi everyone,

Sorry I didn't get in here yesterday. I had the thrift shop meeting at 9 yesterday - half the people didn't show up, we had nothing really to talk about - should have cancelled the meeting. Then I rushed home to catch our local radio auction. Scored a 3 month membership to the gym I am going to join at 50 percent off. Also got a few small coupons for restaurants DH and I frequent. But I had to stay glued to the radio for 2 hours listening in case someone outbid me. Then I started to make appetizers for the party we were going to that night. I debated about skipping yoga but felt guilty as I had not gotten to the gym this week yet. DH said he would drive me and would go and pick up the auction certificates for me so I could stay the entire session. That helped a lot. Got home - finished cooking - I made a delightful relish/dip with frozen corn, black beans, red bell pepper, chopped mangos, red onion, cilantro and Good Seasons Packaged (Dry) Italian Dressing seasoning and fresh lime juice. You just chop, dump everything into a bowl and let it marinate and develop flavors. Serve with tortilla chips - I like the Tostitos brand Scoops cups. I wish I had saved a cup to keep at home - it makes a big bowlful - too big to make for just one person. I also made fried bacon strips sliced in half, brush with Balsamic Vinegar, top with a basil leaf (I substituted arugula since basil can be rather strong tasting), add some shaved parmesan - I used a salsa flavored asiago cheese slice and top that with a halved cherry tomato. Something you can serve room temperature and not worry about. After I got that done I wrapped the 2 presents for the grab bag exchange, got cleaned up and was ready to leave at 6 when I planned. I wasn't really that crazy about going to be honest and wasn't sure how many people would show up as most of the people I asked said they weren't going. Turns out she had a good crowd there - maybe 50 people. Oh this was the president of the Humane Society. Good thing she has a big house with an open floor plan! She was serving champagne but I brought a bottle of wine and a couple of sodas for us. Many of the people brought appetizers - always yummy to taste things and she served a spicy chicken chili and a mild beef chili with toppings - both yummy. She also made a divine salad - she is very good with salads - greens with olives, mandarin orange wedges, artichoke hearts, sunflower seeds, croutons and I think some other chopped vegetables. It had a light vinaigrette and was just fabulous. She gave DH extra artichokes when she served him and he passed them along to me. Yummo! We had a very nice time actually - glad we went. It was just that we all kicked our shoes off when we came in and after standing several hours on wood floors in stocking feet, my feet were killing me. There was not enough chairs for everyone to sit on so I stood most of the evening. She had DH dress up as Santa for the gift exchange. He said he could have said no - I said no you can't - it's IMPOSSIBLE to say no to D - that is her gift and why she is go good at charity work! :lol: He was a good sport - as people were "sitting" on his knee I reminded them that Santa had 3 back surgeries and be gentle :rofl: DH said he is getting more open to things - mellowing out - in his old age :santa:

Today I was trying desperately to get some things done. I made notes of what I wanted to accomplish as I am getting very flitty lately. One of the top items was to finish my Christmas cards. I wrote a quick letter on Tuesday, addressed the envelopes today and went searching for my address labels. I must have over 100 holiday themed ones I had sitting on the shelf waiting until I did cards. Of course 2 weeks ago I started to clean up and declutter. And I moved those darn labels and seals. Life Lesson - A PILE person should NEVER get ORGANIZED! I spent at least 3 hours today on and off looking for those stupid labels. Finally tonight about an hour ago I went down to clean the kitty boxes for the night and decide to take one last look on my Christmas storage shelf. I decided to look in a storage bin with ornaments and THERE were my labels! See, I put them in storage where they belonged and could not find them - I was about to give up on them totally. Then I could not find the postage stamps DH picked up for me yesterday. Again I looked all over. Panicked a bit too as it was $30 I reimbursed him for out of my mad money fund. I finally found them in a library book I had just picked up. Put them in the book so I would not drop them in the driveway when I got out of the car with my arms full. :mad: And while I was looking through some piles of paper for those address labels, I found a few more things I need to attend to shortly. I also found a print out for an 8 week organized walking program and also one for biking so not all was lost. I would like to be able to walk a 5k next year (we have several all summer long) as well as build my leg muscles enough to enjoy the bikes we bought before we moved to Memphis and never used more than once or twice. So today was pretty much a big waste. I did try a new garlic chicken recipe for supper - it was pretty good. Sorry for all the food porn Michelle. :o

Going to post this before the cat jumps here and wrecks my post.

So ... let's see... personals.

Shad - I found out that our bartender friend went back to Mum's in Victoria. A long way from you but maybe not so much now that you are in Melbourne. So you had a white knuckle flight back home? Ugh - that would unnerve me too. I smiled about your comment about gifts for Miss S. We have the same problem with the wee ones in our family who seem to have an abundance of everything. I would say put money aside for when they want an iPhone when she is 6 year old ( :lol: ) but she's at the age where they know what presents are and it's fun to open them and you don't want to take that away from her. Get her some books and turn her into a reader instead of a texter and fashionista ;) I find the whole gift thing very stressful - ruins the season for me. It also doesn't sound like you have much time to shop or pick up things for people. I'm sorry your card will be late - I forget I have to mail it at least a month ahead of time to get it there when it needs to be.

Michelle - I was thinking about you when I heard about that storm rolling through. Good thing you don't have to be out driving in it. I know you guys really need some rain but that's too much on dry land. Be careful. :yay: Congrats for hitting onederland. What a delight! I'm glad to hear you are doing well - slow and steady is good - gives the body a chance to adjust to things. You should have been picking up clothes in smaller sizes on clearance racks to prepare :lol: Actually I'd recommend the thrift shops also since you won't stay in a few of the large sizes for very long. And we have some really cute stuff for 3 to 6 bucks - I've even seen several new things with tags. Just a thought. Do you have any interest in food right now or are you just eating to take care of business? I admire you for doing it now - probably the season of the worst temptations and people tend to push a lot of food and drinks on you at gatherings. Does sugar - like alcohol make you sick quickly? Hope Santa gets over his tummy ache quickly. Yes, I will post the dog treat recipe tomorrow.

Laura - they figured out pretty quickly at my last corporate job that selling "jeans day" passes was a really money maker for their various and numerous charity endeavors. It did get a bit out of hand and we knew there were more than a few who wore jeans but did not contribute to the effort - the company was too afraid of overstepping the politically correct line so they opted to say nothing. Kind of a bummer when you have so much vacation time at the end of the year. I understand about the year end duties - many people liked coming in between Christmas and New Years - it was quiet, things were relaxed (including the dress code ;) ) and they said they got more done. Thank you for the tip on the athletic shoes - I just ordered a pair of Brooks to try out. As for Christmas dinner - what about chateaubriand? Seared and roasted beef tenderloin served with a simple red wine or béarnaise sauce. It will be pricy - a beef tenderloin will run you upwards of $100 but you might get a good deal at Sam's Club or Costco. DH and I got a small one from Omaha steaks - it was delicious but now I'd make my own. In fact I think we watched a YouTube video of how to carve up a whole tenderloin (much cheaper that way) and it really wasn't that difficult - we had the laptop on the counter and the one with the clean hands (me) paused the video and showed the carver (him) what to do. The worst part was being concerned about ruining a hundred dollar piece of meat but the video was spot on. Also though if you have big eaters, this might be even more pricey. But it's fancy and simple. What about a crown pork roast with those little "kings" hats you put on the bone ends? Again, roast it and then cut it into chops when you go to serve it. I don't think you are fish eaters so won't suggest anything along those lines. We do a standing beef rib (prime rib) roast usually. Just salt and pepper the meat and slow roast it in a rack over a bath of beer. Something about beer just makes roast beef amazing. (Again, sorry Michelle)

Terra - how was your Christmas party? Fun I hope.

Susie - glad to hear that DH got a clean bill of health.

Ceejay - do you have the day after Christmas off? Would be nice to have an extended weekend. Maybe you could get the rest of those leaves done and over with :rofl: Oh how we cursed the leaves down that way - it's a long season down there with different trees losing them at different times. Ouch on the tummy troubles - guess it's time to get watchful again. Easy to forget until it wacks us in the gut again!

Annie - yum - Hibachi Grill - I miss that and the other bowl restaurant. You're lucky! Glad you had a good time with C's daughter and while her present was late I hope that she at least sent him a card on his actual birthday. I hope he cut off the money train with the ingrate. How fun it is to read to the kids and add enhancements like giggles, sound effects and singing! I think it also enhances their imaginations too. Sorry the baby is sick - poor guy - give him extra nana germ protection :D

Dee - glad you didn't get roped into a guilt trip from your missionary friend. I think it's rather selfish to expect someone to give up family time this time of year or perhaps they had other commitments. Sometimes people can get too gung ho for the cause. You're holiday outfit sounds quite lovely. Too bad you don't have time to sew for yourself :( Thank you for the music suggestions - I am always looking for something with good beats to it. I don't read or watch tv - I'd rather listen to music. I just found out the iPOD classic I bought for $299 this year to replace my dying original I could probably sell for $500 now. But no, that's mine ;) Lots of work getting all that music on there. And to your question - no I am not making chocolate dipped bacon. It sounds yukky to me - what a waste of bacon :lol: This stuff is too good to fuss with. I should be getting my pork in about 2 weeks - furiously trying to clean out the freezer. Guess we will be having a Christmas ham - I'm not that big on ham myself. I would donate it to the needy but DH would have a fit - only because of the expense.

Oh my - it's after 2am again. I really need to make more of an effort to get to bed earlier. Not tonight I guess. Anyway sleep well ladies - accomplish what you need to Shad before you have to turn around and head back. G'night all.

TGIF FO SHO...only it is pass over Friday, and not Good Friday....meaning it is not a pay Friday. Boo. Next month is a 3 pay month and oh so looking forward to it as we will have medical bills out the ying yang due to the surgery plus the doc visits from this year, we have already racked bills up to 600 bucks, deductible 4500. not even close to that. So it didn't really matter to wait on surgery til next year. Bleh. The surgery can go towards the 4500 deductible for next year. Enough of that.

LAURA...yes, I am having chicken and beef for tacos but not the chorizo. I no likie it, so I am not making it. But all the other items mentioned will be served. Yummo Yes, many people ride the boat on in on others good intentions...RE: the jeans. We get to wear jeans every Friday so it is not a big deal around here. You can also tell when we are not having clients or the bosses are out, jeans again. Not me as I only have one pair that fits me at the moment and if I wear them one day, I am sure not to wear them again to work, however I do wear my jeans twice before washing. We are only allowed to carry over 5 days also, but have to take those five before March 15. No worries for me as I only had 3 for this year since I didn't start until September. I felt lucky to have those. I am taking my last of the 3 Christmas week. Then come the new year I will have 18, 16 hours of volunteer time, plus all the holidays. Yeah me!!

SHADDIE...wow on the plane ride home. I must be crazy but when a plane is having trouble, it doesn't really affect me. I just say God wrap your arms around me and take it away. Kind of like my Great Aunt Rita's words...if she dies, she dies. Never really made sense to me until here of late. My momma's name was Rita and my first name is Rita. I didn't have the heart to name Samantha that. haha. Thank God Sam is not picky on what I buy the kiddos and is VERY thankful for everything I get them. This year since Royce is so small, I got him one retro toy that Sam had as a baby, gonna fill his stocking with whatnots like socks, binkies, mittens and then his big gift will be the huge box of Pamper diapers, heck those are like 30-35 bucks a box. I had to quit buying for Jacob as he is so easy. Ainsley is getting a couple of board games, clothes, and stocking stuffers. She is pretty easy. Being 9 going on 15, some of the preteen stuff will suit her.

HAPPY...Glad you had a good time at the party and even DH sounded like he had fun. Funny how we mellow out with age. I just think we learn to let things roll off our backs rather than get upset over nonsense. I truly try not to sweat the small stuff, and amazingly the bigger stuff has become smaller stuff in my eyes. Just be happy. I can say this now, but a few months ago I was a wreck when trying to get a job...lol. Frame of mind I suppose. The dip you made sounds quite good altho I would leave the corn out as I do not like corn in my dips, salads and such. I agree with you on the scoops but sometimes makes me "dip" more than necessary. lol Funny when we put things where they SHOULD go, we can never find them, let them be somewhere they don't need to be and we know EXACTLY where they are. I do that all the time. Like filing papers that have laid there for a month and then cannot remember where I filed them. Dang

CHELLE...welcome to onderland. I have about 5 lbs to go before I am in onderland. I am really gonna make a huge effort to get there before Christmas. I am still 10 lbs down and seem to be stuck there. I am ready to moooooooove on. Don't rush on trying to eat more that required, because YOU CAN STRETCH OUT THAT SMALLER TUMMY by eating too much and that is the last thing you want to do is to be able to eat more food. FYI...I am still puking when I eat too much or something doesn't agree. I find it easier when I feel it coming on to lay on the bed with my shoulders and head hanging off the bed over a bucket, it just tends to roll out. Sounds gross but works better, try if you need to.

CEEG...are you off after Christmas so you can make a trip to the Uncles? That would be nice. Sorry the ole tummy is giving you troubles. You and Curtis are in the same boat. Eat the wrong things and wham, to the loo he goes and the issue lasts around 3-5 days for him. He, like you, knows what causes his issues, but I understand and have sympathy for you both on not eating the good stuff. It is hard or harder than dieting. Hugs

Hello to TERRA, DEE and SUSIE...

We finished the lights and decorating the tree and house, put the stockings up and all is pretty. I must say the tree looks better with the added lights. I think I need more hanging decorations for the tree. I threw out all the old crappy ones I didn't like or were not homemade, wooden or special, so it didn't leave much. Will have to make a trip to Cracker Barrel Restaurant as they have great ornaments in their store. Probably do that tomorrow on errand day.

I fixed chopped pork with mushroom gravy last night and made a rice cooker full of wild rice to pour the pork gravy over. It was very tasty and C said, you have never made this before have you. Nope. There is enough for him tonight for dinner. I am not a big dinner eater so I will probably just pass.

I have been taking black seed oil, teaspoon in the am and one in the pm, it is supposed to help so many ailments. So far, I have noticed my joints don't hurt nearly as bad as they did and that is only taking it for 3 weeks now. Google black seed oil and all it cures, helps. The oil works better than the tabs.

Royce is feeling better. I dropped Sassy off for Sissy doggy care this morning and R was already up (6:30) He was so cute and smiley and crawling about 50 miles an hour to see me. I whisked him up and planted a huge kiss on him, he just giggled. If that doesn't get your day going nothing will. Jacob was still asleep and Ainsley was eating her breakfest getting ready for work. She gave me a hug and kiss also. Such a sweet child to have such a bi-polar, physcotic mother. lol.

Bout it for me, have a great Friday/nite.

Hugs.

Drats just lost a long post. I definitely know that this is diverticulosis/diverticulitis. I'm now on a strict liquid diet and antibiotics until this heals. No more gourmet cookies for me. I'd bought the cookie dough from my bff's nieces. and the were loaded in macadamia nuts. I baked 6 last week and 6 yesterday. I'm paying for it. SO no more for me. I am feeling better.
Need to get ready to go to bff's. Told her I would be there by one p.m.

Happy
Sounds like you had a good time at the party. And congratulations on winning the bid to the gym membership.

Shad
Wow you did have a bad flight home. But glad you are safe. I don't do much shopping for Christmas any more. That's left up to the mom's and dad's and grand parents. I do buy my aunt and uncle a gift or give them money.

Michelle
I thought about you and my niece yesterday during all that rain. They showed on huge tree that was uprooted by the wind that was on top of a car that was in San Jose. I'd hate to have been on the Golden Gate bridge.

Hello's to the rest. I'll try to post more later on tonight

Morning all. TGIF!!

Michelle – Big congrats on reaching onederland!! :congrat: :goodscale So has that storm passed through your area now? We have an office in San Francisco and they closed it yesterday due to a power outage. Did you have any issues in your area? I hope Santa is feeling better today! Speaking of your Santa and Santa Claus – did you get your Santa photos yet? Looking forward to seeing them. Re the asthma – I’m on an inhaler (“maintenance inhaler” as opposed to a “rescue inhaler”), the brand is Dulera.

Shad – Yikes, the flight home sounded scary! Has the weather let you do any outside work this weekend? Re gifts for Miss S., I like the idea of books that someone else suggested.

Happy – Congrats for getting the 3 month gym membership in the auction. That relish dip sounds tasty! I’ve never had anything like the bacon appetizer – but it’s bacon, so I bet it went over well. You put me to shame – for our block’s holiday party this Saturday, bf suggested the crock pot meatballs (with chili sauce and either grape jam, cranberry sauce, or pineapple), and lazy me, I agreed to it because it’s easy. The party isn’t a formal thing, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about anyone turning up their nose at that. And I’ve got plenty to keep me busy this weekend without worrying about what to bring to this thing. Anyway, that party you went to sounded really nice – but did your hostess really serve 50 people their food, or was DH just special, LOL. Especially because he agreed to be Santa, hahaha, or should I say hohoho. :hohoho: Gosh, what a hunt you conducted for the labels and then the stamps! Re the vacay time – I don’t mind working those few days between Christmas and New Year’s – like you said, it’s quiet and relaxed, so it’s a nice change. Not saying I’m not capable of preparing Chateaubriand, but I’m sure not about to try it out for the first time for this event. I much prefer to have a high quality roast that can be simply seasoned, seared and roasted and not require a lot of fussing. I like meat a lot, but in terms of cooking, I find the sauces and sides more fun to do. I think I’ll let bf give our butcher a call, get over the sticker shock, and then see what kind of prices Costco has. Thanks for the tip of roasting a prime rib over a bath of beer – we have several beer lovers in our family who would like that. An iPod classic goes for that much??!! Wow. I still have an old iPod hanging around and I was thinking of just loading it up with music for around the house – getting a reasonably priced docking station of some sort for it. Huh.

Annie – Bf is the chorizo fan, and so’s my friend D, but not me. Depending on the quality, it can be greasy, and it can be very salty…just not for me. So what am I doing working where I do when you get 18 vacation days, 16 volunteer hours PLUS all the holidays????!!!! Yay for you girl!!! :yay: I’ll have to look up black seed oil – never heard of that. Glad to hear little R is feeling better. He Is so darn cute, loves his grammy!!

Ceejay – Sorry the macadamia nuts seem to have flared up your diverticulosis. :( That would be another thing that would be tough for me to give up – nuts. I guess I’d start to feel differently if it caused problems like you’re experiencing. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Enjoy your time w/ your bff.
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Nothing much to report. The boss is out today, and I won’t be as busy as I was the rest of this week.

Steps the past two days have been alright - about 7100 yesterday and 9300 the day before. I forgot to report that the scale was down a pound yesterday, but it also showed "Lo" in the display as I stepped off (and bf just replaced the battery recently). Hope the scale isn't on its way out, but I can't tell you how old that scale is, so it wouldn't be a surprise. Today the scale was up 2 pounds, darn it!

Bf had gotten our family gift exchange started with the elfster site last weekend, but no draw has been done because we haven’t gotten responses as to what “restrictions” should be in the rules as far as my SIL, her sister and my nephews are concerned. For instance, for my draw, bf wouldn’t be included in the “hat” because I will be giving him a gift regardless of the exchange. So we’re waiting for responses.

Busy weekend ahead with the half bath and getting our decorating done. And I have to get the shopping done for my mom – her gift has to be shipped. And there's the party on Saturday night.

That’s about it for me. Everyone have a great weekend!!

Well Curtis just called and said his honey buns dripped down on the rest of his cake. Now I just laughed at that statement and thought if he said that to anyone else but me he might get smacked. Translated: His honey buns are on the stop rack and his other cakes are on the racks on down the stack, so in other words the honey buns dripped down the stack of the rack and got honey all over his other cakes. Just thought I would give you a little funny for the day! :)

top rack not stop rack

:lol3:

:lol3:

:rofl: :tape:

Annie
:rofl:

Ceejay ~ Thanks for answering my question about what you meant by having one last day of freedom, I'm sorry you had to go to bed early because of the headache you had caused probably by the mold on the leaves.

Laura ~ Yeah I should of only wore the shoes in house, You live and learn I guess. I thought you had to break in all shoes? Why do you think I am having more strange sleeping hours? Just wondering.

Michelle ~ The Christmas party was fun. Yeah I'm glad I'm able to get back to my walking dvd. Nope I wore my new shoes too much to return them at least thats what mom said.

Happy ~ Yes like I told Michelle the Christmas party was fun.

Annie ~ Hi Annie, How are you doing this morning? I hope your doing well.

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Woke up at 5:30 this morning, Clyde has went outside twice this morning already. I gave him fresh food, He already had fresh water. I also gave Clyde a bath this morning. Its now 10:05 a.m. My plans for today are to do my 40 min. Chair Exercise at 11 a.m. and then do my 30 min walk dvd on 1 p.m. and then 40 min Chair Exercise again at 7 p.m. tonight. I'm also gonna do my laundry in between of doing my chair exercises and walking dvd.

Howdy all,

Good one Annie :rofl: But I imagine, what a mess for poor C to clean up. Good thing it's winter and no flies around otherwise his truck might look like something that rose from middle earth :yikes:

Terra - I usually wear my shoes in the house for a few days on carpet to see if they fit ok and are comfortable. I just got a new pair of Brooks shoes and am doing that now before I hit the treadmill. Bummer that you can't return the other ones. How did Clyde like his bath?

Laura - the hostess did serve up the salad putting in on plates and her friend served up the chili in bowls. Made it neater that way and the line moved faster too. Less mess too I imagine. As for the appetizers, I had a bit of a dilemma. I needed something I could make up ahead of time and didn't want to make something warm because I didn't know if I could keep it warm to both transport and serve. Also didn't want to make the usual cheeseball or seafood dip - we had several. So I searched the Kraft Foods site - they have some good recipes. I did feel like a caterer making up those bacon things. Another tribute to the fact that although I like to cook, I would NEVER be happy being a caterer. I have a nice Bose docking station for the iPOD - sounds great. We also have a cheap clock radio with a plug in port - used it when we first moved in the house - it's ok but the speakers are tinny. I'm sure you can find something to fit your speaker needs - wide range of prices. I like the iPOD too for the holiday music - I can play it for hours and not have to change the CDs although now I admit I listen to Pandora on cable tv or one of the cable holiday streaming music channels. Wow - sounds as if you've gone techno with the gift grab bag this year. I guess that beats a thousand phone calls if everyone does what they should.

Ceejay - sorry to hear that your cookies let to inflammation and antibiotics. I guess that's enough to keep one on the straight and narrow. :yikes: I hope you feel better quickly.

Annie - thank you for the tip on the black seed oil. I do find if I eat extra sugar, I feel the pains more in the body. And I think yoga is definitely helping keep things limber - many of the moves she does are to lubricate the joints. Glad you got your house decorated - now come do mine please? I think that's such a cool idea to get Royce a retro toy each year. Really neat. Or are we the only ones who get nostalgic?

I got my Christmas cards finished today - now to get them off and mailed. It's really foggy out there and a bit slippery as the snow has melted, packed down and turned to ice with things rolling over it. DH is doing some painting for the excavator we used and he took the good car so I am homebound. I am thinking of decorating - it's getting near the do or die deadline - but honestly, I just don't feel like it any more. Not in the mood. Not even to listen to Christmas music. I know I'll feel badly if I skip it altogether and I do have some lovely stuff to display. It's also a good reason to do deep cleaning. For Christmas I would like my spa deep soaker tub but that will require a lot of work. I'd also like a nice reading chair and an overhead lamp. I have tons of books and magazines to be read and I find that I would like some better light to read by. A chair that fits me better than the deep plush recliner DH favors would also be nice. DH wants to take a run up to a wildlife area about 2 and a half hours north of here. That's a long day trip. We might do it later in the week so I need to get hustling around the house. Often I hate taking trips like this (although I know he wants me to come along) because I feel I have so much to do here.

Anyway, just stopped in to say hi to the chicks - have a good weekend and I'll touch base later.

Happy
I was thinking the same thing about the flies. Do like I do if I don't feel like decorating for Christmas. I buy a poinsettia. It makes me feel festive enough.
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Spent the night with bff in Jonesboro and I'm back home again. I'm trying to warm up. She had the thermostat on 60. Anyway I did do one good thing while there. Together we got drapes up in her bedroom. However, I did most of the work. She still expects me to be able to do most anything and I'm refusing to bow to her every want. She wanted to move her furniture around but when we got home this morning after breakfast out and a trip to Best Buy, Bed Bath, and Beyond and Target she went to bed. I laid down and took a nap. Waited for her to get up to help me move the furniture but she was still in bed supposedly asleep so I sent her a text stating that I was going home because I don't like to drive in the dark. It was three o'clock. Think she turned her phone off cause I didn't hear the text go through. She may still be asleep. I refuse to bow to her and be her nurse maid which is why I can't live with her. I keep telling her I can't do this or that and that I'm 64. She's two years younger than myself, but she doesn't want to believe that. Oh well enough venting for the day.

Sorry to be MIA so often but I need to get things done before I get on the computer and enjoy myself.

Not much to report over here. The recent wet weather and tropical heat +humidity has meant that the garden becomes overgrown and the grass needs a trim every couple of days. Since I am not here much of the week, it's all there in my face when I get in. However there is 2 weeks off over Christmas so I should get a fair bit done then.

Today I have pulled the weeds, packed my bags, paid the bills, ordered my car for the week and cleaned the kitchen and lounge and it is only just after midday. Plenty to do this afternoon as well. Yesterday I pruned off the tryffid tomatoes and picked another kilo of the gems and then weeded and pruned the roses and mowed the lawn. Had a chat with the neighbour yesterday afternoon as well. Friday I went up to Garden City and saw my niece and got the chain for little miss S's locket that I bought so she will be able to wear that next year. Hopefully I will get a photo of her with it when I go over there in the New Year. I'm not going for Christmas this year.

This darn computer or the internet or the site is still jumping all over the place. So I might finish here and come back later tonight - when I have run out of list to do.

Happy ~ Yeah thats probably what I should of done, Clyde doesnt like bath's anymore, He didnt mind them so much when he was younger though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up at 2:30 this morning cause I had to go to the bathroom and then I tried to go back to sleep but I couldnt fall back to sleep so I went ahead and got up for the day. Its now 4:20 a.m. I already ate breakfast and I gave Clyde another bath. As always my plans for today are to do my 40 min. chair exercises at 9 a.m. and then at noon I'll do my 30 min. walk dvd and then at 7 p.m. tonight I'll do my 40 min. char exercise again. Today's the day we clean the house too so we'll also be doing that too. Have a great day everyone.

I have been busy with work, and shopping for Christmas (it is all bought and all delivered and now I need to wrap). I got the presents I needed to ship, to the post office yesterday.

I'm about to clean the kitchen and get a load of laundry out of the dryer. Then the house and laundry are all done and I can warp presents. My plan is everything wrapped by Tuesday. Then do cards Tuesday and Wednesday and in the mail on Thursday.

I don't do a lot of cards but do send to about 15-20 people that I don't see or talk to very often. A lot of them are older people who were friends with my dad and send me a card every year and then I have some people who I used to work with in two previous jobs and I don't connect with them except Christmas time.

I write a short Christmas letter and include it with the cards for those people. They seem to do the same..that way we keep caught up on each other.

I woke up this morning about 2 with the worst upset stomach. I took an acid reducers and chewed gum and sipped gingerale and read a magazie until 3:30 and then went back to bed. We didn't go to church this morning since I didn't have a lot of sleep.

We went to dinner with friends last night and I had cheescake with DH at the resturant and it was late, so I think that is what upset my tummy.

Terra: I see from your post you were up in the night for a little bit too. I feel like I could use a nap!

Annie: Thanks for the laugh about the oven and the drippings.

Happy: I find myself making a lot of lists these days too. I think we are all trying to do to much!

Ceejay: You idea about buying a poinsettia to feel festive when you don't feel like decorating is a good one.

Laura: So, with the jeans fund raiser, can you wear jeans every day? Are you planning on getting in on it?

I will be working 2 days between Christmas and New Years. They told me to work from home if I want to. I know that I will go in one day for sure. I can get a lot of work done when no one is there. The work I am looking to do is purging some files and things..just getting organizaed for next year.

Shad: That plan ride sounds wild! I have never had anything happen like that when I have flown. My DH was on a plan once where a man had a heart attack. They made an emergency landing in Atlanta. There was a nurse and a doctor on the plane and that man survived the heart attack.

My husband said that plane was very, very quiet..he was sure the whole plane was praying...they most likely were on the plane you were on.

What did you find out about the gutters?

Michelle: How are you feeling? Is the energy coming back? I think it is a good thing that you will ease back into work.

Hi Dee!

I hope t be able to keep up with the posts this week and stay in touch more.

I have to be honest with you all..I'm not getting in much exercise. I'm doing what I can and that is usually a 20 min walk at work each day.

Susie
Glad you are feeling better today.

Terra
I hate sleepless nights. Are you going to try and take a nap today? Good for you in making times to exercise.

-------
I got sick last night around 8 p.m. Don't know if it was related to the diverticulitis or if it was a virus but all the symptoms of diverticulitis is gone today. I'm a little weak from the ordeal but I'll soon recover from that.
Last night I was doing a chair exercise program that I found on you tube which was supposed to be 30 minutes. Got half way through that one before I got sick. This morning I've completed that one again. Saved it to my favorites on the computer. I probably need to find something a bit more strenuous as I don't really feel like I've worked out or maybe I need to add some weights.
I need to make a run to Walmart to get my food for the up coming week, but first a menu is to be made.

Susie ~ Yeah I woke up at 2:30 a.m. Were you able to take a nap today?

Ceejay ~ Yeah I was able to take a nap at noon until 2 p.m today, I'll probably go to sleep for the night at 9 or 10 tonight its almost 8 p.m. right now. Yeah I'm glad I was able to make time for my exercises too.

Morning all,
Short note since I am back at work again. Quiet flight down this morning. I don't have a problem with a bit of bounce in a flight but I'd prefer it not to be everytime I fly. So Thursday night was exciting. This mornings flight I was able to sleep for much of the time. Breakfast certainly wasn't very exciting on board.

So over the weekend, I managed to get some Christmas presents out of the way. I'm not sending out cards so tonight I had better get to and write the Christmas letter. I've escaped it for the past couple of years but I will be losing friends if I don't do it this year.

There is apparently a siege going on in Sydney today. Some crazy jihadist has decided to take over a coffee shop in the middle of Sydneys main commercial area. There are about 20 people being held hostage.

Susie - hope you are now feeling much better
Ceejay - you too. Hope you are better
Terra - what time do you go to bed if you are awake in the early hours of the morning?

Forgot to mention that when I went up to buy the chain, I also bought some clothing for little miss S and the 2 great nieces. Will probably never see her wearing it but I liked it anyway. The 2 great neices will get plenty of use out of them and I will see photos.

Better go sort out my cr*p and get some work done.

Hi all,

Quick post for me now as I have to get up early to get to the gym and get registered and take in my training session.

I got some things done around here but it sure does seem like things are slow going. Too many things to distract me from what I should be doing :lol: I am working on an exercise routine - got a good book the other day that explains the machines and what to expect at the gym. I can't possibly remember all that I am supposed to do on the machines and I don't want to keep paying for individual training, especially if I'm not going to get one on one time.

Shad - I saw that scuffle at Sydney - always a nutter about, no? I actually am happy to be in the woods up here - getting more uncomfortable being in crowds in the city. Paranoid? I hear you about the clothes for Miss S and if they will ever get used. The youngest of the great nieces and nephews mum was like that. Fancy stuff all around - too bad my budget can't support that. It's frustrating, isn't it? Don't worry about posting - you have so much to cram into a weekend I'm surprised you post at all but don't stay away too long lest we start worrying. Right now I cannot afford the plane ticket to come looking for you!

Ceejay - sorry you aren't feeling well. If I may suggest, don't worry about feeling that you are not getting a good enough workout from the video, rather concentrate on making it a habit first and after two weeks or so, then look at adding more intensity to it. I am doing the same. I am starting a walking and biking program - at first it looks too easy but I know if I push too hard I'll get tired and give it up. Better to stick with something and work off of it. Brrr on the BFF keeping her place so cold. One of my coworkers is like that - she complains it's too warm at the shop at 72 degrees but she is the only one like that - take off the sweater and come in with a t-shirt then - all the rest of us are cold in winter. :lol: I could not stay at someone's house if it was that chilly - it's one thing to sleep when you have warm covers but to sit around... brr.

Susie - I'm glad that you are still sending out a few cards. If I might say, there are people like my Mom who REALLY look forward to getting a card in the mail. It's the highlight of a sometimes very boring day. I sent my Mom some "footies" foot socks and she was so thrilled to get a package. I forget that lonely people need a little stimulation. So good for you for keeping in touch with folks. And keep up with that 20 minute walk - even if that's the only thing you do. I say better 20 minutes of something than 20 minutes of nothing. ;)

Hello to the rest of the chicks. I am off to bed. Will check back in tomorrow.

Hello Lovely Ladies...

HAPPY...had to laugh and you made me think of happy thoughts of my momma about decorating for Christmas. In her latter years she would bring out this ceramic lighted Christmas tree that she made in ceramics class. Put in on the kitchen table and say "there, it's Christmas" I so remember her voice say that. So if you don't feel like it, don't do it. One less mess to clean up after the holidays. Did you get all signed up and get your first training session in, how did it go, how was the trainer but mostly how is your body doing? Heck, I would need a numbered check list on how to run the machines and also on what I was supposed to do. I blame it on the younger years and all that second hand smoke growing up. lol

SHADDIE...I don't know how you can keep sane and keep track if you are coiming or going. Then the work you have to do around the homestead to keep it in order. I do think you need to hire me to keep things running smoothly while you travel.

TERRA...most places take anything back if you still have the receipt. It is at least worth a try on the shoes.

CEEG...hope you are feeling better and your strength has come back. Bleh on getting sick during the night, then not only do you feel crummy but you are also tired from not sleeping. Hugs and feel better. Poo on your friend expecting you to do all the work. A friend or using you??

SUSIE...I have gotten all my cards out and most all of my shopping done. I have to buy something for my great nephew who is 2 and that is about it. I have put back the money for the my kids and Cs kids, and spouses for the envelopes. That is 6 adult kiddos. All the stockings are hung, 14 in all. Have most of the stuffers ready to go in, I mean Santa called and said he has all the stuffers. lol. I still have wrapping to do that I will probably do this next weekend. I have to be in the mood for that. Bleh.

CHELLE...how was your weekend, are you still recovering ok?

LAURA...how was your weekend?

Hi DEE!

Saturday was spend running around and doing errands. Left the house at 8:30, stopped in around noon to let Sassy out to potty, left again and didn't get home until 4:30. Got most of the gift cards and presents bought. Relaxed in the evening with C watching Hallmark/MELLIE channel.

Sunday was church, lunch at Olive Garden, and oh man had the best baked Tilpia and shrimp ever, broccoli and salad. No bread stix for me. Yeah me! THen home. Sis, Chris and kids came over for cookie making. We made peanut butter with chocolate kisses on top, orange flavored rock candy, peppermint bard, white covered pretzels, and cut out sugar cookies with all the decor. Also had the Colts game on so C and Chris watched that and corralled Royce. What a great day. Fun was had by all. I took the plastic table cloth out and shook it then left it on the table. I forgot to bring it in last night, it blew down onto the porch. Needless to say when C got up to let Sassy out potty during the night, she was out there like 10 minutes so C opens the door and yells for Sassy, no Sassy. Yells again, no Sassy. Just as he is about to go a b*tching thinking she got out, she pops her head out from under the tablecloth on the porch. Of course when C stomps back into the bedroom and tells me, of course wakes me up to tell me, I just laughed at him. He didn't think it was funny. Made my night. I love it that Sassy ALWAYS gets him up to go potty. Not sure why, but I like that idea.

Best get this posted, have a new employee starting under my manager at the Milwaukee site on the 22nd. I need to get all her on-boarding started. What an ordeal.

Make it a great Monday/evening!

Hugs.

Afternoon all,
Getting this done now since I am going out to dinner with an old friend tonight and I have no idea when I will get home or if even. I might get lost in Melbourne and have no idea how to find myself again. Relying on maps here.

Annie - depends on whether I am pointing south or north as to whether I am coming or going. That bit doesn't worry me too much. Its the whether or not I remember all the thinks I have to do when I get there that is the concern. Some days, like today, I wonder where I have left my brain. If you want to look after my house, come on down. Next job is roofing the pergola and laying some blocks in the garden. Take you pick as to which one you want to do first! :rofl: I remember offering Mellie the same deal and she said that she would think it over and probably do neither.

Happy - how did the gym go. Did you have fun on all the machines??? I keep thinking I must go back, but I never do. I'm doing a plank challenge at the moment. I'm up to 45secs and have to get to 300sec by the end of the month. 5 mins of plank!!!! :yikes:

Not much going on here except for meetings, meetings and more meetings. How the heck they expect me to work as well is not apparent. Guess I will have to clone myself and use my toes as well. Rough calculation yesterday, I have 10 weeks of work in front of me creating simulations on a program which does not seem to work well yet. No doubt I will have to bash that into shape as well.
Thats something in the region of 400 simulations taking 2.5 hours. Should be fun NOT.

Okay, better get on with it. See you later.

Hi all,

Quick check in for me - have my stint at the thrift shop tomorrow morning. Afterwards we might go looking at the 2 furniture stores in town. I would like to get a nice reading chair, stand up reading lamp - for better light, a bookcase and perhaps a nice side table. Our weather for the last 5 days or so has been just above freezing - we have had the most horrible fog. We did not have any sun so we have the worst scenario - water on top of packed down ice. As we were pulling in today one of the turkeys slipped on the ice - just like a human - didn't fall down but went skidding along. The temperatures have dropped, snow is in the area - it will be rather slippery no doubt tomorrow.

I went and officially joined the gym for 3 months today. They were less than keen on seeing my discounted certificate and the lady was more concerned about me paying for the 3 extra training sessions as I agreed to earlier. We had a bit of a push-me pull-you as I said that I was not happy with the last training session given his time over mine with run over clients and the phone call. Today was going to be my free orientation session. Then I had to show her how to run my credit card through the machine to pay for the extra sessions. It took her a while and I said that I would pick up my access card when I was done. She said my trainer was teaching a class and they'd have to pull him out. My immediate reaction was oh no, here we go again - why would you book a 9am training session when you are teaching a class at 9am? So I went to warm up on the treadmill. At first I tried the bike but I could not figure out how to adjust it so I gave up. In rummaging through some stored documents on my computer earlier I found 2 documents for an 8 week training course for biking and walking. My goals are to get strong enough to be able to ride my bike outside again and to do a 5k walk in the late spring here. So I had the beginning of my workout already set. I was just finishing up on the treadmill when M walked in. He showed me how to set the bike up and gave me a few tips. Then we set to work on the machines. I was VERY happy with my session. He took the time to explain things, we made some modifications and I felt I had a very good session. We went for an hour. At one point he was fretting about fitting it all in but I said that I had another session booked for next Monday and let's do lower body today and upper body next week. He looked relieved and said that would work out much better. It was a good workout and I will no doubt be sore tomorrow. Trying to drink more water today and stretching. There was one machine that was a killer for abs. It's awkward to sit on because I am so short but you sit on a bench and there is a padded board in front of you. You press your chest against the weighted board and lean forward to work your abs. I did it the first time and my darn boobs (which sadly are way more droopy than perky) got severely pinched. The second motion I really pinched them and I almost yelled out. I did suffer through the pain for the entire set and he asked how it was. I said it was really painful on the boobs and he got all red and said he will show me a chair variation as many women often have problems with that machine. This is one of those things where the machines are made for someone around 5 foot 8 and not all of them universally can be fitted even with levers and such. But that one was a BIG SURPRISE. I guess I need nipple cups.

When I was ready to leave I called DH to come get me and went to go pick up my access card at the front. The lady who took my money was gone and didn't bother to enter me into the computer or make me up a card. The lady who was there now could not find the certificate I turned in which showed I PAID MONEY for this membership certificate. At one point she asked me if I knew where the other lady put it? Seriously??? I filled papers out yet again (had filled them out when I was there last week) and then she disappeared for almost 10 minutes. I couldn't find her and DH was waiting for me. I almost walked out when she came back and said she was looking for that certificate. Oh well - call the other lady. Then she asked if I could wait for my card and I figured this would be another 30 minutes so I said I'll just pick it up when I come for yoga on Wednesday. Felt like I was in a 3 Stooges show.

Came home and did some stuff for the thrift shop, DH and I took naps because neither of us slept well the night before. I made pork chops for dinner, the farm lady called me - the half pig I ordered will be going to slaughter this week and she had me call the butcher and make arrangements for how things were to be cut up. I wish I didn't feel so badly about causing this animal's death. I also can't bring myself to kill one of the trees out back by cutting it down for Christmas either. Called and talked to my Mom until she blew me off when the neighbor showed up and that was about my evening. Oh and I did give some thought to Christmas decorations but did a load of laundry instead.

Will catch up with you when I get back in the afternoon.

WOW DEE...of course you can come back and post. Just because xdh did that doesn't mean everyone else is like that. We all have a past, we try not to dwell on that and live for today and move on. No more nonsense talk. So glad you had a great time at the party. Sounds like your friend is very miserable with her life and tries to drag others into it. Good for you for changing the subject and having some fun.

SHADDIE...um, me like our MELLIE, I will pass on that type of manual work. I was thinking more of cleaning and house/Sunday sitting. Beside C would just crap if I left to put a roof on someone else's house when both mine and his need roofs.

HAPPY....yes, it sounds like that gym is run by the 3 stooges and the Mickey Mouse club cubbettes. Gotta think that any exercising or movement is better than none, even if it is hit and miss. Just sound extremely unorganized. They could use some of you volunteer time to get it straightened out. Turkey sliding on ice sounds funny as I picture it in my head.

Hi's to LAURA, CHELLE, TERRA, CEEG, SUSIE....

Last evening was pretty uneventful. C had leftovers from Olive Garden and I had broccoli. Did some laundry and went to bed. The end.

Make it a great Tuesday/nite!

I'm babysitting the light office phone so they can have their Christmas lunch. When the customers call I tell them to call back in about an hour. ugh. It hasn't been to bad.
I'm feeling a lot better but still having to take the purple pill.
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Dee
We all have our rants so don't feel like we don't want you around. We do.

Happy
Glad you had a better time with the trainer today.

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My co-worker is back from lunch. I'll finish this later.

Afternoon all.

Still trying to catch up on your posts, but I can at least fill you in on my weekend before my lunchtime is over.

Saturday was my morning Jazzercise class. We had a sub instructor, but I got a good sweaty workout and that’s what counts. I was sore starting in the evening and into Sunday. During the day we put out our outdoor Christmas decorations. It looks nice. I took photos, so maybe I’ll post one when I get a chance. After that was lunch, errands, and our block’s holiday party. It was nice. The hosts had re-done their kitchen and it’s beautiful. Bf and I both enjoyed ourselves. No one ate much, so we gave our hosts a bunch of the meatballs and brought some home. I did come to the decision that the two scarves I bought last month – same scarf in different colors – aren’t working for me. Saturday night was about the third time I’d worn one of them and because they’re 100% polyester, my neck gets too warm wearing them. In the donation pile they go. Glad I’d bought them on sale and didn’t spend a lot on them.

Sunday was lazy, and I did a load of laundry and can’t remember what else.

Yesterday I had some lazy time before my appointments. Nice. Before I left home, the village’s contractors came by to grind the stump of the tree they removed a few months ago from the parkway in front of our house. They really tore up the lawn in the immediate surrounding area in order to also grind up the big surface roots of the tree. By the time I got home, all that was left was a nice, neat, level patch of soil. Hopefully we get a new tree planted there in the spring.

Both appointments went well. I’ll ease off the Dulera inhaler with what’s left of the sample I’d been given, and I go back in 6 months. It’s been 10 years since I had a skin test for my allergies, so I’ll do that then. Oh fun. At the dentist, he said since there was no decay to remove, he only had a tiny bit of drilling to do and not in the nerve area so I let him do it without any numbing. He was right – it was minimal and no pain. The filling is done and I’m good for another 6 months at the dentist as well.

Between appointments I had a little bit of time and stopped at a produce store enroute. It’s a fabulous place, but what a crowd! I thought Monday morning wouldn’t be as bad, and surely it wasn’t as bad as a weekend, but it was still busy as heck in there. I got some good stuff, including a few boxes of tea bags they had on sale.

On the way home, I stopped and shopped and bought one gift and something I needed for decorating.

After lunch was shopping for our new Christmas tree. By the time we add up the tree itself, the new stand (it revolves), a storage bag for the tree, and a couple strings of tiny battery-operated lights for our wreath, the credit card was smoking. What I don’t like is that there’s only a 5-year warranty on the tree and only 2 years on the lights. Heck, if the one tree I found on Craigslist had multi-colored lights instead of clear, I would’ve bought that one for a fraction of the cost. Oh well. At least we have the means, though it would be nice if our old tree were to sell – bf’s got an ad out on Craigslist. We were also right near a Williams-Sonoma store and used part of a gift card (from last Christmas) to buy a couple things for the kitchen.

Back at home I took doggy for his walk – in the rain. It was easier for me to do it than to listen to bf whine about doing it.

In the evening, I baked a batch of cookies with dried cranberries, chocolate chips and pecans. The recipe was from an Ocean Spray Craisins ad and I was disappointed – they’re not very flavorful. I should have been more careful choosing the recipe. On the positive side, they’re not overly sweet.

One of the things I bought at the produce store was two bags of fresh cranberries. In putting them in the freezer, I found I had at least two other bags in there! I found a recipe for cranberry muffins that I will make to use some of them up, but I also plan to use them for some other holiday baking I’m doing.

Okay, I was expecting someone for a 1:00 meeting, but I guess he’s going to be late. Let me get this posted while I can.

Good Tuesday/Wednesday ladies.

Sorry I went AWOL again. Between getting packages sent out and Christmas cards done and mailed and visiting Bob in the hospital...I've been running. But it's all good, it's all enjoyable, and tomorrow I go back to work for 2-3 days before two more weeks off.

I met with my trainer today and she kicked my butt working legs (squats) and triceps. And she had me do three 45 second planks...which didn't hurt my tummy. I could feel it in my core muscles, but not in the stomach pouch area if that makes sense.

Got to stop at the grocery store on the way to work tomorrow to get some Greek yogurt and a couple other things to eat for breakfast/lunch this week.

I'm logging into my work email since I have over 1,400 emails to go through. I'm sure most are spam, thank goodness.

Shad, I was so saddened to hear about the hostage situation and resulting deaths in Sydney. And of course further saddened to hear of the school children in Pakistan killed today. :cry:

Dee - We wouldn't ever kick you out...so keep right on posting.

After I do my work email, I'll get back here with personals.

Much love and many hugs,

I didn't think we had a kick out policy here. If so I should have been gone years ago.

Michelle - every country has its kooks. The thing I wonder about is how he got the firearm. That's the thing that worries me. No gun shop (and we don't have too many of those) would have sold him any considering he is in the database as being an accessory to the murder of his wife and being up on charges of rape with violence, gbh, inciting riots etc. If you stop and think about it, he must have got this thing from an underground source. Now that bothers me. Where do they find another kook to strike next? It won't be hard I shouldn't think.

I've read all the posts, but I'm sorry I don't have time for personals today. I need to get on with some work. Back to back meetings most of the day mean that I haven't achieved a single thing.

Shad ~ I got to bed anywhere between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. most nights. I very rarely go to bed at 11 p.m. or midnight or any later then mid night.

Annie ~ Thats good to know that most places will take back the item or items you bought but sadly I cant find the receipt, Oh well I guess, Next time I will do a better job at saving my receipt.

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Today I went to my weekly therapy appt and thats it. I lost two bus passes on Monday at a doctor's appt. Next time I will take one bus pass with me and I'll leave my other one at home so I'm not completing out of them. I hope everyone had a nice day today.