Howdy all,

Monday rolls around the corner again. Sure does come fast. I have a quiet week ahead which is nice. Think I'm going to skip yoga today. I had a very bad night - pain in the bones again, I must have woke up every hour - I'd lay on my side and wake up to intense pain in the hip. Not sure if it's weather or food related, probably a bit of both. Today's yoga session is rather intensive, sometimes that's a bit much and makes the pain worse so I think I'll stay in and do one of the Peggy Cappy Yoga for Pain DVDs for an hour. I did get the 3 boxes of books off the living room floor that have been sitting there for over a year :o Sorted through them, organized them into the bookcase. I am going to set a goal and try and read 2 books a week. More than half of the books in the case are one time reads and donates back to the thrift shop. Have to empty my bookcase to make room for all the good books that will be coming in May when people come back up north here and donate their winter's reading to the shop - that's when we get the best stuff.

Are any of you still watching Downton Abbey? What do you think of the current season? I'm not as fascinated as I was at first. I don't like it when they do a period piece and then put modern situations in it. For example - Lady Mary "sampling" lovers for a new husband? While I know that since time began people have been sexually active, I just think the prim and proper Brits of nobility would not be following the same urges as the peasants. The men of course always had mistresses but it just doesn't fit to me with Lady Mary doing the same. Too much opportunity for scandal. Same with Lady Edith chasing her child. Downright scandalous for a woman to have a child out of wedlock, I somehow don't think that would have been handled in that way. And then there is Thomas the servant - why is it now a days there must be a gay role in every show on TV? I'm sure in those times there might have been a "funny uncle" everyone whispered about but I don't think homosexuality would have been tolerated amongst the servants as portrayed on the show. I still enjoy the show but it seems as if the story lines are a bit stretched. :shrug:

I am up 2 pounds this weigh in. Mostly salt I'm sure. Need to get back in gear with the meal planning and up the water intake.

Annie - glad you had a good time with the family this weekend. Yikes on the big medical bills. I hope you can spread out the deductible payments. Hope nothing is serious with the bleeding. Keep us posted :hug:

Shad - how about if you send a bit of your heat over this way and I'll send you a cool breeze or two? :lol: Dinner looks nice and refreshing. Is that parsley on the top - don't you cut it a bit finer? Would think it's a bit on the strong side that way. I misread one of your posts quickly when you were talking about offering food, taking it up and setting it back to be eaten later - thought you were talking about DS and his partner, not the cats! :rofl:

Ceejay - yes, there can be all sorts of noise outside in the woods. Branches snapping as critters walk, winds through the tree branches. That and an overactive imagination (like mine) make for some "what was that :yikes: " moments :lol: What do you use your tablet for outside of the house? I was thinking the opposite when considering the all in one - we rarely take a laptop because we hardly travel any more although now so many places have Wi-Fi hot spots.

Terra - happy shoe shopping!

Susie - thanks for the tip on the sale for laptops in April. That may come in handy and we certainly can wait until then. I'm glad you got a nap in and are tempering some of your at home work. How was your group discussion at work? I wish they would talk about some of the things that really mattered instead some of this rah rah Gartner stuff that is mostly lip service :^: Ok don't mind me, my jadedness is coming out...

Hello to the rest of the chicks - will catch up with you later. Kitty is giving me "the look" because I keep bouncing her head while resting on my hand as I type. Can't you see I'm trying to nap...

Morning all. Happy Monday.

Shad - So much to consider now when deciding to buy a new computer given all the options available today. Good luck making your decision. Your food looks yummy. It would be nice if bf & I were better planners and could turn out meals that were healthier (and prettier to look at, lol). Did you get a good amount done on your Australia Day holiday?

Dee – Yummm, those no-bake cookies sound so tasty. What’s not to love – they have butter, sugar & cocoa in them! Re the book club – if you host the book club gathering, you’re the one who gets to choose the book, but other members provide input. Our book club was formed as “book club lite” – nothing too long or “heavy”. I’m pretty much the odd person out – they’re all moms with kids in about the same age group. I’ve been easing myself out of the club very slowly – I frequently don’t enjoy the gatherings because of all the time spent talking about kids and school and extracurricular activity and not so much on the book. Very informal in that way – maybe too informal for me. One of my work buddies is in a book club at the other extreme – one woman hosts the club all the time and “runs” the club – leads discussion, etc. I don’t know how the books are chosen in her club, but it just sounds a bit too formal to me. I wouldn’t mind finding one that suits me more. Yeh, the Piloxing is very heavy on the cardio – I’d rather focus on the strength. But I’m glad I tried it. Did you get out for a snowshoe session over the weekend??

Happy – Of course your shutterbug dh is considering how important the photo quality is in selling his guitars – good for him. I have to say, it’s entertaining to see how some sellers in the virtual garage sale FB groups and even Craigslist display their items for sale. So many poorly lit photos, and then there’s the people putting an article on a tablecloth or bedspread with a really busy print – too funny. Not to mention the way they write the ad – some have almost nothing except a dollar amount and the item in the photo is a mystery due to the poor photo quality. You mean you can’t turn on a light and lay the item on a plain towel or bedsheet in a contrasting color? Too funny.---Sounds like you’re in the same techy he!! Shad’s in with the computer shopping. I hope you can troubleshoot your issues and get your computers to last a bit longer until the other big $$ projects are done. Re restaurants & cold weather – even if I’m bundled up, I still have an issue with a cold space and my food getting cold quickly - just not pleasant. Glad your lard turned out good. I think you need to plan a nice fried egg breakfast or dinner (why not?) to see how they taste cooked in lard. Interesting that jewelry is a big seller at your shop. The little shop I go to doesn’t have all that much jewelry that I like. They do have a lot of pins though! Not surprised about the books and I imagine household items would sell well anywhere. What do you do with donated items that are unsaleable – such as clothes in poor condition?

Ceejay – Glad you had a good visit with the uncles.

Susie – Great loss at TOPS! :cp: Keep it up. I think I agree with you re the elephant book – just more work on top of your already heavy workload. It sounds like you’ve got some great exercises going in your PT regimen. Those ball exercises can really be intense – even when you’re doing what would be the simplest thing if you were doing them while standing or sitting on a bench. Re the treadmill – I would never have thought the surface was worse than running out doors on pavement, but I do think it changes the way people walk or run – i.e., stride - just by the nature of the length and width of the belt and, of course, the speed and incline that are set.

Terra – I’m glad you’re feeling better and that you can get back to your activities this week. I hope your shoe consultation goes well. I have a couple pairs of custom orthotics that have helped provide me with good arch support and make my shoes more comfortable to walk in.

Annie – Your weekend sounds nice. Yikes, bleeding – hope it’s nothing serious!! Don’t let anything get in the way of yoga class this week. You and sissy just need to make sure your calendars are clear for that each week going forward. :yes:

Hi Michelle! Hope you had a good weekend.

Hey Claygirl – Hope all is well with you. Don't be a stranger!

==

On Friday night, I made the easy Korean beef bbq recipe Happy posted here a while back. Bf and I liked it a lot. Bf and I decided we’d increase more of the flavorings – red pepper, ginger especially. Bf always likes more sauce, so next time we’ll probably double the sauce ingredients too. We added mushrooms to the recipe, and next time we’d probably also add some broccoli and carrots.

Saturday morning I went to Jazzercise class. Afterwards, I got some laundry going. I drove up to Costco and bought some gas, and then headed over to the thrift shop. I bought a shower curtain for $3. After that I went to the bakery next door to buy a loaf of rye bread. Yum. I also had a sample of coffee cake – delish. So tempted to buy one, especially since they were $2 off that day, but I resisted. Yay me.

While still in the strip mall’s parking lot, I heard from a seller in one of the FB garage sale groups. She was selling a few exercise dvd’s and I wanted the Pilates dvd. I went straight there to pick it up. Turns out she lives less than a mile from me. The dvd is “The Method – Pilates Target Specifics – abs, arms hips, thighs”. I paid $5, selling new on Amazon for $38.99. Good ratings on Amazon, so I hope I like it.

Just the usual the rest of the weekend. Lunch out at the taqueria (I had a torta.) Dog walk. TV, reading. Sunday was tea, newspaper, more laundry, puttering. I’d washed the bedskirt and shower curtain so I ironed those, and while I was at it, a couple blouses. It was the most time I spent ironing in a long time. I had the ironing board set up in front of the tv, so it wasn't too bad.

The shower curtain is nice enough. It’s cream-colored, a silky material that has satiny stripes that alternate with more nubby/matte stripes. It’s lighter than our other shower curtain and really brightens up the bathroom, and lets the light into the tub area better than the other curtain. (We don't have a window or light in our tub area.) I have to say I never took note of how high our shower curtain rod is mounted – this “new” curtain is a little bit short, and I think it’s because the rod is higher than the norm. Not that we’d change anything right now (this is the rod that was in place when we moved in), but I wouldn’t mind knowing. Just to confirm yet again that the previous owners were idiots. If the rod were at the proper height, more light would come in from the bathroom window and the lights...in the meantime, a lighter shower curtain helps.

I’m behind on my pushup challenge. I hadn’t done any since Thursday…but I started up again yesterday. I will probably run through the challenge again after I finish this one.

Two of my library books are coming due and I haven't finished them, including the overeating book. I've already renewed them once, so I have to bring them back. I should be able to re-check them but I think the library has a rule that they do have to be reshelved before I could re-check them. Sigh. This makes me want to forget about the overeating book...

Okay, I'll stop rambling and get this posted. TTFN.
That’s about it for me.

Happy, you're always typing over my head! Sorry you had a bad night. Good to skip the rigorous class, but still do something that will hopefully help stretch you out and relieve the aches.

I'm still watching DA. I haven't watched last night's episode yet...but in general, I guess I understand that viewers want romance and/or sex in the storylines. Anything to widen the viewing audience, right?? :D Same thing with having a homosexual character - more viewers. As with modern day tv programs - always more drama than in real life, lol. (Thank goodness, right?)

Haha, I misread Shad's comment too re the leftovers!! :rofl:

HAPPY....I agree with you on DA. It is just not as interesting as it once was, hopefully it will get better. I loved your Lady Mary "sampling" men, I think she has become a HOH. Pun intended. I went ahead and pre-ordered the 5th season as I have missed at least 2 episodes from the this year. I keep forgetting it is on Sunday nites. I have a ton of books I need to read also, I just cannot get into anything these days. I think I have just recently developed ADHD or whatever it is when you cannot focus. lol.

LAURA...you, like HAPPY are a great scavenger on thrift buying. I don't have the patience to do that. Probably why I am not a garage saler either. Is the shower curtain for your bathroom or the remodeled half bath? Curtis installed new rods in both of our bathrooms. The newer kind that bow outward to give more room in the tub. The rod allows more light to get in as it is closer to the lights around the mirror. We bought the paint for our bathroom almost a year ago and still have not painted it. I HATE painting and cannot get C motivated enough to do it. I guess I just need to set a Saturday for painting, get up and do it. Bleh

Later chickies

Oh and I misread SHADs comment on the food also. LOL.

Happy Monday ladies,

Another busy weekend for me, and not enough time to do everything I wanted to do. I didn't even get my mammogram on Friday because one of their machines stopped working and there were 7 women ahead of me and it was at least an hour delay. I rescheduled for this coming Friday.

I saw Bob on Thursday night, Friday afternoon, Saturday evening and yesterday afternoon. The nurses finally have his pain meds balanced so he's a bit more awake and coherent. I knew that he'd have good days and not so good days.

I went over to my step-mom's on Friday night and last night for dinner, and I was there on Saturday to play some Scrabble.

Santa vomited Thursday and Friday evenings, so I took him to the vet on Saturday morning. He has pancreatitis again, and is back on a prescription diet. Since he seems to be prone to pancreatitis, it might be best for him to be on the prescription diet...whatever it takes to get him healthy and keep him that way. Santa is doing much better on the prescription food. I'd been thinking he was getting too thin. He weighs 18 lbs. I asked the vet if I should feed him more and she said no, he's perfect at precisely the weight he's at. Santa still has his energy and loves to run and trot around the dog park when we went there on Saturday afternoon. One of the women at the dog park invited some of us "regulars" to go to her house to watch the Super Bowl, and we can bring out dogs and all the dogs will play in their backyard. It's so nice to be invited to a dog-friendly party. :D

I'm sorry I've been so bad with personals. I hope you all know I love and appreciate you more than words can say!

Love and hugs,

Happy
I gave up on DA last year. I like the era and the setting but the story content just wasn't interesting to me. Sounds like you got a lot of errands out of the way with the trip up north. I don't use a computer except for getting online. I have a portable wi-fi thing also. So now after the alarm system is turned on at the uncles I have something to do. i also have a portable DVD player that I can take with me.

Annie
Thanks for not spoiling Gone Girl. I bought the DVD last week. I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it. I understand about the insurance problem. I have a three thousand dollar deductible. This is definitely going to make me work harder at being healthy. And the one reason I didn't retire is because of the no insurance. dah. I might as well not have any if I'm going to have to pay for my visit's anyway.

Michelle
Poor Santa. It's probably a good idea to keep him on the prescription food.

Terra
Are you going to a podiatrist for the consult for your new shoes?

Susie
Congrats on the pounds lost.

Laura
I've not been keeping up with my push ups as well as I should have. But I can tell a difference.

-----
When I got home last night I did a couple of small loads of laundry, ate dinner and got things ready for this work week. I'm a little better organized. Depending on my stamina tonight when I get home, I will do either a DVD or ride my bike.

Evening all,
I've just finished work for the day - first day of working from home. It didn't go too badly but I will do better tomorrow. Seems like it is a good idea to start early, have a break in the middle of the day because it gets quite slow and finish later. All things one must remember.

Seems I confused everyone with the cats leftovers. Aaah well. You don't see me leaving much on my plate.

Susie - congrats on the pounds lost. I guess I didn't see it until Ceejay pointed it out.

Michelle - hope you get Santa back on track. As always, it is what we eat that keeps us healthy. Even dogs. Glad to hear Bob is more comfortable. Hope he gets a bit of quality of life for the time he has left.

Annie - has CRAFT and ADHD. Powerful combination there. Hope it settles down okay. Sorry to hear that you had blood today. Hope there is nothing serious in that. Yikes Annie on that medical bill. Why do you have insurance if you have to pay so much. Don't answer that, I already know and think that insurance companies have too much control.

Laura - glad that the Korean beef turned out well. That Happy finds some good recipes. I forgot all about my pushup challenge or rather plank challenge - I really should get back into it. Print off the instructions and leave them in an 'in ya face place' so I won't forget.

Happy - Beg to differ, the gentry of everywhere mucked up big time in the 'good old days'. Especially the men. The women did too, just a little less often since it wasn't the done thing to bear children that were not your husbands. However it did happen and I saw one of the 'Who do you think you are' episodes where the person thought he was descended from nobility but in actual fact he was the product of the lady of the house and the under footman. Were they under foot or were they just lowly gofers? The child had been placed in a 'school' and given an education but was not part of the family. I guess the under footman got given his marching orders too.
It wasn't often though that the 'lady' kept the baby.

I guess that is about it. I am having Spag Bol tonight. The cat is having left overs and as usual is reluctant to eat it. It goes away shortly and this time I will have to throw it out. Guess she will be hungry come morning.

Gotta go. Hello to all the others. Have we lost Claygirl already? or is she disappointed that she isn't pregnant.

See ya later. I'll be back to post dinner pics soon. Oh and while I think of it, when I came back from NZ in July, I weighed in at 86.6 Kilos :yikes: Last week weighin I was at 82.6 which I was happy about until I saw 82.0 later in the week, however probably due to all the fluids I have been drinking to beat the thirst and heat, I weighed in this morning at 83.4. That's 3.2kg gone. About 6.8lbs near enough 7. So although I would rather lose the water I am still reasonably happy. According to the scales, my BMI has gone from 38.9 to 31.7 and I am apparently no longer obese. Yeah??? Well tell that to the doctor.

Here's my food for tonight. Couldn't eat it all. Not the biggest pasta fan in the world but it was okay. Really not the best pasta cook either

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ps394751f5.jpg

Blasted cat! I was just finishing up 15 minutes of typing and about to post when Queenie here HAD to jump up on me and settle down on the keyboard when she somehow hit a key that wiped out everything I was just typing :mad: :mad: :mad: Now she is looking up at me with this look of adoration. Perhaps it is victory. I'm not sure. :s:

Anyway, I have to dash off to the shower to get ready for my thrift shop shift so I have no time to retype. Have a good day today. I'll be back tonight.

Good morning ladies,

A quick check in for me...at least for now. I've got to create an appointment scheduling form by end of day today and I just learned about it near the end of day yesterday.

I'll try and get back later.

Love and hugs,

Good Morning...

Dinner last night a Jockamo's pizza, so yummy. Sissy and I had a spinach/mushroom small pizza and the boys had slaughterhouse five medium. (beef, pork, ham, bacon, and some special sausage), sounds yucky to me.

Today we woke to icy side streets however the main streets were fine. Feel sorry for the east coast at they are getting slammed hard today. I am glad is bypassed us as I am in no mood for that crappy white stuff.

Started wearing my pedometer today. Co-worker and I did 5 laps around the floor before 7:30 even rolled around. Added about 1200 steps. Today is taco Tuesday so we will be walking 3 blocks there and back. Not much but everything counts. It is 10:10 am and I am already at 3340 steps.

C is not feeling well at all today and having a hard time with weak legs, watery eyes, and runny nose, plus the colon stuff. He won't let me take him to the ER and insists to wait till his Feb 11 appt with the internist. I mean heck, we have met our deductible and all but 500 bucks of our out of pocket expense, why not go. He is so stubborn when it comes to going to the doc, but I think most men are that way.

SHADDIE...you dinner looks yummy again. I am not much of a pasta eater either but can cook it. Sounds like working from home is going ok for you. That is a plus. Congrats on the WL. Yahooo!! I saw on another thread that CLAYGIRL was not preggers and having TOM. Maybe why she is not posting.

HAPPY...sounds like you need to get a CATswatter, similar to a FLYswatter. Or maybe a spray bottle and squirt the little dickens a couple of times when she tries to overtake your keyboard. It might detour her the next time. haha. I doubt it, cats do what they like regardless. Hope your day at the shop was smooth and you had many customers.

CEEG...good job on getting organized for the week. A little exercise is better than none at all. Good for you. Laundry..seems like I can do a load or two on a daily basis. Cannot figure out where it all comes from.

CHELLE...busy beaver as usual. Take care of you first and get your rest otherwise you will be no good to anyone else.

Going to hop off of here and get to ordering Verizon upgrades for all the sales people. What a PIA.

Hello to all ya'll!! Make it a terrific Tuesday/night all.

Hugs

Afternoon all.

Annie – Re DA, I agree the storyline have not been as interesting as in the past, and some similarity/repetition of the plot lines with the same characters! I do, however, find the passage of time interesting from the historical aspect. The shower curtain was for the full bath. The half bath doesn’t have a tub/shower. I think those curved shower rods are a great idea and if we ever get around to remodeling our full bath, we’d be using one of those. This is the one room of the house in which we’ve done almost nothing since we moved in 15 years ago – all we did was paint the walls and hang a couple framed prints. I know how you feel about painting – bleh. Yikes, that’s a lot of medical expense! If the high-deductible plans had been around when I was in my 20’s I would have given it a go, but not now - we’ve got a few prescriptions, we see specialists from time to time, and last year bf had that appendix removal surgery, etc….I’d hate to be on the hook for such steep amounts. HR tries to tell you we make up for the covered items with the hefty PPO premiums - okay, but not when something significant comes up. I recently saw in the coupon supplements that my allergy med, Flonase, is going to be over the counter now. With my mail-order prescription coverage, I pay $20 for a 90-day rx. Now a 30-day supply will be sold for about $23 as per the Walmart advert. It’s not horrific, but still... I have to see if the mail order pharm will still sell it and if I can get it cheaper from them. Anyone familiar with this situation? Yum to pizza, but yuck for the guy’s pie with all those meats!!! I don’t even like sub sandwiches with all the different lunchmeats on them. Your veg pizza sounds much better. Gosh, did C eat any of that meat-laden pizza?? No wonder he’s not feeling well! Seriously, I hope he feels better soon – I wonder if he’s got the flu?

Michelle – I’m glad Bob’s pain meds have been dialed in now. I hope he’s more comfortable at home than he was. Poor Santa, I hope the rx diet gets him back to his usual self quickly. How fun that you will be going to a SB party and that you can bring Santa with you. :)

Ceejay – You’ve got a high deductible too huh. Oy. It would be wonderful to be able to retire at 62, but I should think most people can’t afford the medical insurance and really need to work until 65 just to stay insured until Medicare coverage kicks in. I hope you enjoy Gone Girl.

Shad – Yeh, even with the sheet printed out for the pushups, it can get buried on my end table and I manage to forget. Yay for the weight loss and the drop in the BMI!!! :cp:

Happy – Sorry you lost your post. Very frustrating!!

Hi Dee! I saw your post and now I don’t! :?:

Hellos to Susie & Terra. :wave:
--
Nothing much to report. We got a bit more snow here and some spots were slippery on area roads. But nothing like what the East coast is getting. Whew.

Last night I did my pushup challenge. Then it was on to the new Pilates DVD. I did the abs part only. Very quick – less than 15 minutes, but challenging. Then I did one Body Electric workout.

I have to find some new snow boots. My current ones are several years old now and don’t have the support they once did, even with an orthotic in them. My timing is probably not too good, and I would also need to get a wide width – it’ll probably be a challenge to find something. I'll give it a go though.

I think that’s about it, so I’ll get this posted. TTFN.

Laura, I did a Edit & reposted OOPS

Hello Girls :bubbles:
What's r your meal plans for today: Lunch - Supper :hun:

Breakfast: a spinach & fruit Smoothie & a c. of hot tea.
Snack: a glass of almond-coconut milk.
Lunch: black bean soup.
Snack: walnuts & almonds, w a pear, to keep my energy Up :trampo:
Supper: turkey meatballs w scalloped potatoes (russet slices, alternating w sweet potato slices) :eating2:

A fun weekend w our nice weather. Saturday we hiked/snow-shoed exploring our woods. Sunday we splurged $$ renting skis/lift ticket & went down-hill skiing. Ron's skied since elementary school & can do all the slopes, tall & fast/scary hills. Not me, I ski for fun & I know my speed-limit ability. He plays w me for awhile on the slopes & then he does his hills. We sold our skis' after he got his abdominal cancer 11 yr. ago, his oncologist said 'twisting your lower torso/gut after 40 yr. is a no-no' after a abdominal or back surgery. So we just ski 1 or 2 x a winter now, that's fine. Our ski bindings needed replaced & the newer skis & boots r much nicer now.

Susie, :yay: for the -3 pound loss. 'Boo' on the 'unnecessary meeting poo-poo' that somebody wrote to sell to corporations & for employees wasting time on :faint: Is your balance ball @ PT sitting on a chair like Hap got @ Amazon or does it sit on a floor stabilizer disk? My ball rolled a few times & I fell off :lol: Did u do body measurements to see where your 2015 losses r, fun to see what body part is responding to the activity u r currently doing.

Ceej, If u slept @ my house I'm sure u would hear our owls in the winter & rabbits munching on my evergreen shrubs surrounding my home & in the summer frogs croaking, deer in the woods/brush & wake-up to birds & whooping Cranes, etc. Our guests don't really mind... Mother Nature's talking :thanks2: But 1 of my homes was on a busy town street & with very annoying noises daytime & nighttime even w a enclosed backyard. We'd b willing to have a home in town, but only if it was on 1 or 2 acres to have our own small paradise. Do u have any special plans for the week-weekend? I hope your migraines/sinus prob don't return for a few months.

Annie, 1200 steps :) your tacos r gonna taste better now. Your weather has been lots worse than mine Re: 'icy side streets', we've only gotten 6"-7" of snow all winter & No ice so far :tape: :tape: Just enough snow to play on & then melt away. I hope :hug: that 2015 will start treating u & your Loved ones Awesomely, No more bad news for u... :angel: Sending u healing vibes :goodvibes & hoping your doctor appt. went well, that the bleeding was only a minor prob. R u a loan officer, I thought u said something about that once working w finances. Yumm, :p spinach/mushroom pizza. Ewe on the Slaughterhouse five pizza, sounds kinda greasy & where's the veggie on that pizza?

Shad, It's awesome that u r able to work @ home for awhile. I agree about the water weight & weather. At least we can wear a dress to slip over a bloated tummy & many clothes have elastic for those days we get. In the summer my pasta carbs r spaghetti salad & a few pasta-veggie salads w crab or shrimp :T. (I lie to myself saying I 'need the carbs to increase my energy for being outdoors half' of my day) :lol: Pasta is only good if it's cooked right & the ingredients r quality veggies, otherwise I won't eat much.

Michelle, Poor :( Santa being sick, I hope he feels much better before the weekend. I Love playing Scrabble, mine is on a turntable. I think your step-mom would also enjoy playing: Cribbage, 1 of the many Monopoly theme games, Uno Attack, that shoots the cards out & the Rummy game w tiles. Dh & I have more fun playing these w ppl, the g-babes & together, more than electronic games. A card game that's fun for everyone & for our almost 4 yr. g-babe that we play, 'Spoons' we do our matches slowly so he gets time for his 'match'. We got tired of 'Go Fish', etc. w him. Your friend had a Fun idea to b @ her house to watch the Super Bowl & let the doggies have a 'playdate' for themselves since they r all buddies :D too.

Laura, Thanks for the Book Club info. it's obvious I've never been in one. We have so many things going on, I don't have time to commit to reading a specific book for somebody. I think it's wonderful that u go to the movies w friends, I haven't had a best friend since I divorced my x-h 19 yr. ago. I married Ron 18 yr. ago moving 2 hours north from my home to his world; & my life changed socially, my friendships r just casual chatting here, w nobody I'd phone in a emergency (possibly his friends, the guys r nice). I never put myself out-there to make friendships in the 2 area's, Ron & I have lived together, life is so busy. During my x-h divorce, my best friend from high school dumped me after she saw her dh frequently chatting w me & she found a pic of me, that her dh took, that I was unaware he had it. So in my circle of close friends I became a outcast after my divorce, they worried that their hubby would become closer to me than just a friend. :dizzy: Female emotions...

Happ, I still watch D.Abbey & was so surprised about the 'birth control-herbs'? Also surprised to see Mary's sexual compatibility test. DA isn't as good as the prior seasons. I do watch a few other PBS shows, Doc Martin, Saving Appearances, Mr. Selfridge, the British shows r good. My 12 yr. granddaughter asked me questions from school class project, If I was a 'Hippie' in the 1970's. Did I: wear flowers/Flower Power, do bra burning, go to school drunk, sit-downs strike against The-Man, get arrested, skinny-dip, take drugs, streak naked, "No" to those questions.. And "Yes" to, I wore bell bottom jeans, mini-dresses/skirts, mood rings, disco danced, on the Pom-Pom squad, skipped class, went to a drive-in movie & kissed my date, dances did have funny names, how old was I when I stopped being a virgin (age 20 yr./my honeymoon) (just 3 guys, both my dh's & 1 guy I thought I Loved, before grandpa Ron) Loved dancing, roller-skated @ a roller-rink, got my drivers license @ 16 yr., Yes hamburgers/French fries & potato chips were invented & I ate them, I wore hair-curlers @ night, a Girl Scout until 14 yrs., went to school dances every Friday night, I did Chinese 'fire drills' around cars, went to pajama parties-played w Ouija board. Her teacher had a list to ask all the grandparents their experiences & told the kids to ask their own questions but not write down our answers; we don't know which of these questions r the teachers or the kids, so the kids wouldn't b embarrassed. The purpose was for the kids to 'open the door' about life & learn & communicate w adults & to talk to their parents about life, good & bad w/o feeling embarrassed. Life has certainly changed since we were 12 yr. old. I told her in the summer when she didn't have to go to sleep @ 8pm for school, to watch the 'Goldberg's' on TV & she'd get a good idea about what I was talking about in the 1970's-early 1980's.

Hi Terra, I hope u r having a happy week. Is that sweet puppy your holding in your avatar your Clyde, or did u get another baby to Luv?

From The Doctors TV show January 27, 2015
Cauliflower Chicken Nuggets
For a healthy alternative to the home favorite, try this delicious vegetarian recipe for cauliflower "chicken" nuggets!

Ingredients:
•1 head cauliflower, broken into pieces
•1cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
•1 egg
•Salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder, to taste
•Dipping sauce of your choice

Instructions:

•Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
•In a small bowl, mix together bread crumbs and seasonings. Taste the mix to make sure you like the flavor.
•Crack an egg into a large, sealable freezer bag, then add the cauliflower pieces to the bag. Close seal and mix well until the cauliflower is fully covered in egg.
•Open the bag and pour the bread crumb mix inside. Seal the bag again and mix the cauliflower with the bread crumbs until the pieces are coated.
•Pour the coated cauliflower onto a baking sheet and place it in the oven for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
•When the edges of the cauliflower start to crisp, use a spatula to turn the cauliflower for even cooking.
•Continue cooking until the outside is modestly crisp and the inside is cooked through.
•Serve with dipping sauce of choice.

Have a Wonderful :cheer: Week Everyone

Hi all, back from the coal mine.

Kitty is behind my screen hanging her face over the top thinking I have started her mouse game but instead I am furiously typing hoping she stays there away from my keyboard. It was a sort of quiet day at the shop, we had moderate sales for the day. I picked up a book and a counted cross stitch embroidery thing for a couple of dollars. I also took some pictures of things we had on display and updated the Facebook page.

Talking about balance balls ... I did not know until I looked at the exercises on the gym wall that they have different sized balls depending on how tall you are. I was of course using the amazon sized ball (figured it was sturdier) but that was actually a totally inappropriate size for me. The one I have in my chair is the correct size. So far I have just used it for stretching as illustrated in the accompanying book but I do like it. I have not used it as a chair yet - have it in the living room so I will work out on it.

Dee - glad you got out for a nice ski run. Bah that you can't do it regularly - but I guess that makes the occasional run all the more fun. Boy what a reminiscence over your granddaughter's questions of the 70's. That would make for some fun and interesting conversations. Boy - no kidding how life has changed since then. :rolleyes: Uno Attack is lots of fun and I recently played Mexican Train for the first time and loved it! Today we were discussing a Parcheesi game that someone donated. I remember playing it as a kid but not much about how it is played anymore.

Annie - sounds like the meat pizza is one for the boys. I would need to down a bottle of Pepcid after all that salt, grease and fat. I'll share the veggie one with you any day. We got one of those round shower curtain bars in the old house and I replaced the ones here with the same. It does let in more light and definitely keeps you from sticking to the shower curtain :lol: I do have a cat swatter/spray bottle but that would be a disaster if I got water mist on the computer :yikes: I usually use the sprayer when she chases her sister around the house and now I don't even have to get the water out - she runs at the sound of the sprayer pumping, even if it's dry. Yay for you for getting lots of steps in today!!!!

A general comment about health insurance savings - if your company allows you to put money in for a future health account, by all means - do so. It was the ONLY way were were able to make the move up here after both our jobs were outsourced. I am upset that we had to use money we probably could have used for medical expenses in the future but we could not afford to pay the premiums (more than a mortgage payment) if it had to come out of our savings on hand. Hopefully our medical premiums will be less now that DH is eligible for medicare. It's horrendous what we pay and what little we get out of it. If I could, I'd join one of those exchanges that are popping up where you join, pay them a monthly premium and they have set prices for services. No insurance overhead that saves them and as long as the members don't all have catastrophic illnesses, the costs are spread among all and hopefully are less than what we are currently getting for our money.

Hello Michelle on the Run :wave: ;)

Shad - I think I like the looks of the salad better than the bolognaise - it looks rather thick for me and I do like some sauce on my pasta. Actually I am more fond of marinara than meat sauces. It is a pretty picture though. And a big yay for you for getting the BMI down nicely!!! Good work!

Ceejay - do your uncles' have Wi-Fi so you can use your tablet when you visit? My mom does not so that's why I don't consider travelling with a device and when I'm at my sister's, I just use her computer. But I'm glad it is working out for you - certainly much less to carry and a full on laptop!

Laura - I did cook up 2 eggs the other day with just a teeny bit of the lard in the pan. I used just a smidge - far less than butter and I think it really gave some nice flavor to the eggs. Thanks for asking. To your other question about things we can't sell at the shop - like clothes that aren't fit for the boutique - we send them off to the Salvation army. If things are moldy, dirty, unsellable even with clean up - then they toss them out in the trash. In fact our coordinator called up the garbage company and complained they didn't pick up the trash last week (he was thinking we got skipped due to the MLK holiday). In fact trash did get picked up Monday but they filled up both cans to the brim again on Tuesday. I don't always agree with what they toss or re-donate but I find it easier just to avoid going in the back pricing area altogether. I'm glad you enjoyed the Korean BBQ recipe. All those vegetable additions can only improve it more. Yum. Did you make it with beef? What kind? Oh you reminded me of tortas - there was a small Mexican place in the strip mall near work in Memphis. We often went there for lunch and they had the best tortas! I miss that.

Just found an interesting article which may explain what was in the secret "brown bag" Anna purchased for Lady Mary at the chemist. I'm so glad we live in modern times.

Hi Susie and Terra. :wave: I guess we have lost Claygirl.

Time to get off the computer. I have set a goal for myself to read 1 book and 1 magazine a week to whittle down the piles here. Probably better for sleeping to read a book than take in the bad light from the computer. Good night everyone.

Tonights offering

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ps3ecbff1e.jpg

Hard day at work today. Everything that could go wrong did. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Happy, that look. signifies that she has had a win. She is laughing at you

Annie - Your pizza sounded better than the blokes pizza.

Laura - don't know if you have Homy ped over there, but I got a pair of boots from them a while back and they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I have in my wardrobe. I have a pair of possum fur liners in there as well and that keeps me really warm and toasty.

Dee - your supper sounds nice. Well done on all the exercise you are getting. I really will have to get out and about and do some more stuff. Back into the garden again, shovelling soil and stones will do it. I enjoy working from home - except when things don't work as they should.

Okay, better get cracking and do some more work. I've about another hour to go.

Good Morning Everyone!

GOOD NEWS X 2...

1..Samantha and Chris FINALLY set a date. September 12, 2015. Hopefully we can find a venue to accomodate. I am a member of the Moose, so I hope the local Moose is available.

2..My brother, Michael's cancer is slowed down with this next step of meds. His PSA (testerone) went from 49.9 to 5.1. Fabulous! Hopefully this regimine with last a very long time.

I could scream at the top of my lungs right now. Elated.

Sissy colored my hair last night. The kids were just too funny. Royce goes to get into something and when you tell him no, he smiles and shakes is head slowly, back and forth. Just gotta laugh.

Wasn't hungrey last night so I didn't eat anything. C had a seafood salad in the fridge, while I was gone getting my hair done. That was actually for my lunch today, but I didn't say anything. Guess I will just get some soup from downstairs.

Found out that 5 laps around the floor is 1/3 of a mile. So if I did that 3x a day, which my be impossible with all the workload, I would have a mile.

Going to post and come back, this computer or the 3fc site is acting silly.

Good morning ladies,

A very quick check in...I overslept. :tantrum: I haven't been late to work in YEARS! And since I'm a perfectionist about never being late anywhere...it was super embarassing and frustrating. When I got to work an hour later than normal, the first person I saw was my VP. And since my cube is right in front of his office, I couldn't play it off like I'd been here the whole time, so I just sheepishly said, "I overslept". He just laughed it off...so I guess no worries there.

Anyway, I've got to crank out a lot of work today.

Much love and many hugs,

SHADDIE...is the white thing on your plate chicken breast? Your meals always look so yummy. So how do you like working from home? Saves on rent, flights etc.

HAPPY...kitty sounds like she is trying to out smart you. RE: the ball, I am not coordinated enough to sit on it at my desk and work. I would be focusing on balancing rather than the work. Curtis has one he rolls around on for his back. RE Health insurance, I do have the HSA account for unpaid medical bills, etc, but I do not put enough in to cover everything. I use it mostly for my meds every month..they add up. Arthritis pill, arthritis cream, two blood pressure pills, aniexty pill, anti-depressant pill and thyroid pill. I am a mess. Even with prescription ins. I still pay 95.00 a month for meds.

DEE...the recipe sounds yummy. I like cauliflower anything. I may have to try it. Not a loan officer, just a loan processor and administrator. Also go to closings as the notary.

LAURA...we don't have a choice on the high deductible insurance. It is the only thing offered. Most companies are going to that type, don't be surprised if your ins changes in the next few years. The only thing you can choose is how high you want your deductible to be which then determines your premium. Higher deductible/lower premium and vice versa. We do have the mail in prescription offer, but I just don't want to mess with it. Curtis doesn't have the flu, he is just messed up all the time with his gut/colon issues. Partly to do with his diet.

Hello's all the way around and back.

Hugs

CHELLE...typing over my head. Over sleeping?? That is a sign you need to slow down and rest more. Pay attention to your body. I don't have a chance to over sleep. Between C and Sass in the mornings, I might as well forget it. Hope your day goes better than your morning. Hugs

Morning all,

:yay: Great news times two Annie. :D I take it some of the recent issues Sissy was having had to do with Chris buckling down? Guess she had to give him the old "marry me or hit the road" like I did to DH :rofl: I'm glad they set a date. Although I have to say as I was talking to a friend's daughter - our society tends to penalize married people with kids. You qualify for a lot more if you don't get married and don't qualify for a lot of things if you are married. Sad but true. Same thing like me qualifying for a paid grant job up this way - one person said I'd / we'd be better off if divorced. :( Anyway I am glad to hear that they have resolved their issues. I hope you get the Moose Lodge - I have attended functions there and it makes for a nice, intimate and fun ceremony which is what I think weddings should be about - not the expensive 3 ring circus people have made them into. Super glad to hear about your brother stabilizing. I do throw good wishes out your way and his every time I think about it. As for the walking - one of the things I was doing when in the office was walking to a farther rest room - of course this requires a bit more planning than our usual put if off until we are ready to burst :yikes: but it gets more steps in. And if you make a 10 or 15 minute walk after lunch a regular part of your routine, that helps too. How is your ankle holding up - better now that you have different shoes? I hope so. As for C eating your food :( sometimes I find I have to hide things from DH - but then again, probably like the seafood salad - you didn't expect him to eat that in the first place, did you?

Shad - nice looking roasted vegetables there - is this take away or do you have a small oven under your desk? I LOVE roasted vegetables. I am surprised you are not eating more salads - or salad sandwiches - now that it's rather warm outside. Sorry that you had a rough day yesterday - sounds like you can count on a few of them each contract just like clockwork.

Why is it always when you are running late you run into one of the big muckety mucks Michelle? I'm sure they don't mind as long as it's not habitual - but I totally get the thing about wanting to be on time.

Today is yoga. The gentler one. My hips are tight which is making my knees tight. I have gotten myself into a bad cycle of not totally clean eating - ie. not enough fresh stuff going down the mouth, not enough exercise and bad sleep habits. DH has been taking an afternoon nap and so have I or I tend to fall asleep for an hour while watching tv or reading at night and then come bed time although I am tired, I can't fall asleep for a long time. I have my exercise planned for the day, will head downstairs and figure out dinner - I have some nice asparagus to roast up and I am going to take a sleep aid tonight and get to bed by midnight and try and reboot my cycle again. In the meantime let me go find something for lunch.

Happy hump day Worldlies.

Annie - if you take regular meds all the time, you might want to look into the mail order option. Generally you can save money on those refills rather than the pharmacy and most insurance companies push you to mail order after 2 fills anyway.

I smiled at your comment about paying attention to balancing on the ball - me, I'm a fidgeter - I'd be bouncing instead of foot tapping :lol: However as you mention balance, that's something I've noticed has diminished along with my strength. I used to be able to stand on one leg and cross my foot on the other shin, no problem. Not now - I am working on rebuilding that again. We don't need Worldlies falling all over the commune - none of us are strong enough to pick each other up and it will increase our overall health and liability insurance :rofl:

Annie - I'm so very happy for Samantha and Chris' good news! And also for your brother's good news!! :woohoo:

Morning all.

Annie – Great news about your brother. :) I always understood prostate cancer to be one of the more treatable ones out there. I hope his situation remains stable. Congrats to your daughter and future SIL! I hope they find a nice space to have their celebration. Even though C ate your lunch, at least he was eating something healthy! ;) Sounds like you’re getting motivated for the walking – YGG! :running: My company offers both a BC/BS PPO option and a high deductible option, with an HSA. You’re right, it’s a trade-off of paying higher premiums vs. paying expenses out of pocket. With drug costs what they are, paying out of pocket can be a scary thing.

Shad – Sorry you had a bad workday yesterday. Hope today is better for you. Doesn’t look like Homy ped sells in the US. I switched out the orthotics I had in my boots for another pair of orthotics and they feel a little better. I think I’ll try to spend a bit of time shopping at bricks and mortar stores this weekend to see what’s still out there. (Sunday might be a good day – I have no intention of watching any of the SuperBowl coverage or the game itself and the stores will be quiet.) Otherwise, I will end up letting it go with the intention to shop early next fall to be able to get what I want in my size. Yum on the meal - though I couldn't figure out if the white part was fish, or perhaps hummus or something. :dunno:

Happy – As incentive to use the high deductible plan, our company does ante up an amount in the health savings account to get the savings started, and I imagine once the savings got going in there, it wouldn’t be quite so scary to be facing the prospect of a large medical expense. And having that base carry over and keep growing would provide some peace of mind. Just wasn't for me. Maybe at some point we won't have another option... I hope your insurance costs decrease when your dh gets onto Medicare. Glad you enjoyed the eggs fried in lard! Re unsaleable items received by the thrift shop – I do recall learning that clothing that can’t be sold would be purchased by a recycler who shreds the clothing and the cloth is used for carpet padding, etc. But it would be a bad thing to get a lot of donations that turn out to be pure junk – just the disposal ends up being added work and perhaps added cost for them. For my local thrift shop, I try to donate only the better items I think will sell with no problem, and the rest goes to Goodwill, who I feel believe deals with a broader range of items. Enjoy your yoga.

Dee – Ah, there you are. Your weekend of outdoor snow activities sounds fun. Too bad you haven’t gotten that much snow so you can’t do as much of those activities as you'd like, but maybe that’s a blessing since your dh shouldn’t be doing all that much skiing…What a conversation you must have had with your granddaughter! What a lot of memories for you. :) Re
Book club – sometimes I do resent having spent the time on a book I truly didn’t enjoy. Other times, however, I was glad to have read- and enjoyed - something that I would never have picked out on my own. The club I belong to is pretty loosey-goosey and a lot of people go to the gathering not having even read or finished reading the book. That’s why non-book discussion takes hold and can dominate sometimes. Oh, btw, I don’t consider any of these women close friends. Some are just acquaintances, some are casual friends, but none are close friends. When we moved to this house, my neighbor invited me along to the weekly movie nights, and the book club was started by the woman who organizes the movie nights…I like reading, so I thought it would be fun. This group really isn’t right for me though, so I'm trying to ease my way out of it. It’s not that easy, though, since I do still go to the movie nights once or twice a month.

Michelle – Oversleeping…what a bad feeling when you wake up and realize it’s later than it should be!! :yikes: If it’s a very rare thing, I think a boss has got to be understanding. As long as there wasn’t something important scheduled first thing!!

Hellos to the rest of the gang! :wave:

--
Nothing much to report. Yesterday’s steps were 6359 per the pedometer, 6749 per fitbit. I did my pushup challenge and that was it.

The movie night this week was changed to tonight – I saw on fb that our movie group leader was on vacay in FL and didn’t expect any move at all this week. The chosen movie (no vote) was
“The Wedding Ringer”, but my interest is very limited for that, so it’s more like a dvd rental for me, if that.

Tonight I’ll probably do a workout at home. There’s only one group fitness class at the recplex that’s in my ideal time slot, so I’ll go tomorrow instead, when there’s three options.

Okay, back to it. Have a good day everyone.
:coffee2:

HAPPY...our insurance doesn't "push" us to get mail in. THere is not a huge savings for me as all of my meds are generic with the exception to the arthritis gel rub. I just pay the generic price. For instance, one script is .40 cents, one is 3 bucks the only two higher ones I have is the gel and anti-depressant. Plus, if I leave, quit or get booted from my job, my insurance stops and I cannot get my meds without a doc appt and new scripts. They get you coming and going. Not that I intend on leaving anytime soon. :) Samantha and Cs probs were him letting the x make all the decisions and choices about the kiddo, meaning here you take her I have better things to do, etc. Then they wouldn't get her on their days and weekends. Chris finally started putting his foot down and saying no this is my weekend and I am getting her. Stuff like that. Ainsley being a brat and Chris babying her. Two sets of rules one for Ainsley and one for the boys. BS-everyone gets treated the same and Sam was fighting for that. I can see the changes Chris has made and continues to do them-SO FAR. On the other hand Samantha has things to work on too! She can be a witch sometimes, gets it from her dad. Of course, not from me. She really has to work on that and control that part of her personality. When she is on anti-depressants she is better at controlling her anger. She is not depressed just angry. Anyway, there house is much better the past two weeks. Don't worry about balancing on one foot/leg like a flamingo, pretty sure the one-legged thing is not a requirement for life, unless you work at I-HOP, get it, I-HOP...one leg. Exactly on qualifying for help when you are divorced. My bro, w/cancer, was having issues. Finally a doctor, off the record told him to get divorced so he would have better benefits. Too young for medicare, no job for insurance and couldn't afford Obamacare. Thank God he checked into his VA bennies and so far it has worked out great.

LAURA...Michael's prostrate cancer is a rare, very aggressive, smart cancer. Not many get this kind and all die from it within a few years. No stopping it really. Most get the slow growing, prostate removed all better kind. Of course he wasn't that lucky. Humana offered a $ to $ match on HSA up to 1000. Wells F does not. Booo.

CHELLE...thank you for the good cheer!!

Annie
Congrats to Sam and Chris. and yes for Sam putting her foot down.
And good for your brother's cancer to be under control for now.

Laura
Yes, I also have have a high deductible for my insurance. And we don't have the savings program for health. I've started one of my own just in case.

Happy
No my uncle doesn't have wi-fi.

Dee
I like to watch down hill skiing. Glad you enjoyed your time on the slopes.
-----------

At work this week I've done a bit of cleaning and some light maintenance along with my regular routine. I'm ready to go home and start my 3 day week end.
Last night I only rode the bike for 10 minutes. Going to start my exercise routine in set's of 10 especially if I have had a busy week like this week. I can't fit every thing in.

Dinner tonight

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psd56f7f32.jpg

Yes, last night was a chicken breast or half of one anyway. I poached it in stock and white wine and that's why it looked so pale. Today I had chicken - other half of the breast panfried in lemon myrtle infused olive oil and then give it a bit of verjuice to finish it off. Put it with salad, some chat potatoes and a salsa I made out of mango, avocado, salad onion and dressed with some of the same oil. It was pretty good if I do say so myself.

Annie - congratulations to S & C. I'm glad they had the nerve to stand and sort it out. Always hard when others try to interfere and run lives that have nothing to do with them. I guess it might be time for some discipline for miss A. as well. Yes I do like to work from home, however sometimes I find that I am doing too many other things as well. It is certainly easier on the pocket with no flights and no rent. Not to mention going out to dinner frequently. Good news about your brother too.

Michelle - ha ha late to work. Sprung by the boss.

Happy - I do eat salads a lot. However some days I look at the lettuce and say Nah, nah, nah. am I a rabbit? The roasted vege is because I am working from home this week. The motel couldn't fit me in due to a church convention.

Laura - shame about Homyped not being there. They have the widest fittings of any shoes. Although apparently they make one style in one width (well that is what I was told anyway) so sometimes you have to buy a size bigger to get the style you want.

That's about it for tonight. I'll watch a bit of tennis - it is getting to the finals now so should be fairly interesting. Off to bed only to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.

Hello Everyone! I have come up for air. Work and my own personal life has been very busy this week. I am working from home today as it is one of my physical therapy days.

Yesterday, I spent half of the work day in a training on OneNote--a Microsoft Program. Our company is utilizing this tool to share files and information as it works like an electronic notebook and you can have so many things all in one place. It interfaces very well with email, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and there is a lot you can do with it. If you have Office 2010 or 2013 it comes with OneNote. There is also an app for phones, and tablets, for Apple, Mac and Kindle Fire's.

I have thought of two ways I will start using it. One is to replace the paper note book that I use when I meet with my managers, the other is for our Community Team at work. We currently use a tab on the Sharepoint where we type the notes in a word document. We can now do that in OneNote and then share the notebook on Sharepoint. It is a pretty niffty application. The more I use it, I'm sure I will find many other uses for it.

I am a member of our Admin communities Core Team and responsible for the content at one of our qrtly meetings. In one of our surverys many were asking about One Note training. The training I went to yesterday was at my work (I did have to go downtown for it) and it was free and it was put on by 3 people in our company who are heavy users of it. They developed the training. We have a lot of that in our company.

P&G does allow people to bring their passions to life at work. One of these guys is a Program Manager but loves computer applications and programing, one used to be a teacher, one is an Engineer and also has a Education degree...they love to train and develop peoples skills...so they get to do this as a part of their jobs. Anyway, I secured them to come do a shorter verison (1.5 hours instead of the 3.5 hours I did) to our March qrtly meeting! I'm pretty pumped about that. It will look good on my performance review.:D

With the offsite meeting about the "Mindset" program the whole company is doing and then this trainging yesterday and you know my work load, I have been working about 4 hours each evening after work. I did that Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday evening one of our friends (we vacation with them every year) retired from her job at the Library on Tuesday and they had a reception for her that evening that me and DH went to that so that took up Tuesday night.

Shad: Are you going to be working from home all the time now? I must say, I rather enjoy it myself. I'm one that would need to be in the office enviroment a few days of week as I need the social interaction but I also need quiet days so I think I would like to work from home a couple days a week if I could. That might be a possibility in the future..many in my company work from home one day a week. It is somehting we just need to work out with our management.


Happy: Did you make it to yoga and did it make you feel better?

Michelle: Of course on the day you overslept you would run into the VP...that is always the way! It is nice to hear that you have been able to see Bob and that they are getting his meds straightened out to help his pain so he can hopefully have more good days than bad.

I hope that Santa continues to do well on the special food and I'm glad to hear that he is still very entergetic. It sounds like you and Santa will have a nice Super Bowl party with the people from the dog park.

Ceejay: I like your plan for exercise. It seems very doable even when life gets busy. I might try it as well. Enjoy yourr upcoming 3 day weekend.

Laura: I never thought about going shopping during the Super Bowel but you are right, the stores won't be very busy so it would be a good time to go and look for good bargins and things.

Annie: Awesome news about your brother and for S&C! Good job on getting your steps in. It is hard to keep the exercise up when we are busy at work..we just got to find a way to do something.

Hi Dee--my exercise ball is just one of the regular ones..it doesn't have a stabilizer. The one in PT is the same as that. In PT they sit behind me on a chair to make sure I don't roll off it. When using is at home they told me to put it against the wall.

Hi Terra!

Claygirl: Did we lose you? Come back when you can..we will be here.

I need to get in the shower and then start working at 8 a.m. This is why I love working from home...more time for me in the morning!

I have TOPS tonight. I don't think I will have a 3 lb loss but I'm hoping for a 1 lb. It looks like that will be it for this week. I'll let you know. I have thought that before and had a small gain. Whenever I have more than a 2 lb loss in a week my body isn't good at letting it go the next week.

Susie ~ Yeah the consultation was for new walking shoes and I got them for $125 which is a heck of alot cheaper then what I thought I was gonna have to spend which was $300 or $500 dollars for a pair.

Ceejay ~ Yes that is Clyde with me in my display picture, Yes I went to a podiatrist for my new shoes.

Annie ~ Thanks, I'm glad I feel better too

Happy ~ Thanks

Laura ~ Yes I'm glad I'm better too and that I'm back in the swing of things. Yes my shoe consultation went well.

Dee ~ Yes thats Clyde with me in my profile picture, I havent got a new dog to love yet.

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Today I am at school, Got here at 8:20 a.m. and its now 9:00 a.m. Cooking class doesnt start until 11:00 a.m. so I have a few hours to kill. I also have Peer Support group at 1 p.m. today. Mom and I might go to walmart and do our weekly shopping after I get home. Its too cold to walk outside today but I'll be sure to do my 2 miles before I go to bed tonight. After mom and I get home I also need to do last night's dishes, I was too tired to do them last night. Well I hope every is having a great Last Thursday of Jan.

Had a long post and poof it was gone. Will try to come back later. So frustrating.

Morning all.

Terra - Great you were able to get the shoes you need for much less cost than you thought. Will you use these for walking? I hope they are comfortable and work out great for you. If you have time to kill, maybe you can do some walking around at school... ;)

Susie - I now have Office 2013 and it has OneNote, but we haven't done anything with it. How is OneNote different than taking notes in Word and saving them to SharePoint? Can it somehow consolidate the notes of everyone into one document? Since this is a tool many people you work with will use, it's great you arranged a training session for your quarterly meeting. Wow, long workdays for you this week! Hope it eases up a bit today/tomorrow. Or you can at least catch up today working at home. Congrats to your friend on her retirement. I got another AARP membership offer in the mail yesterday - very annoying. I'm not a Retired Person and won't be for a long, long time! Hope PT goes well and same for your weigh-in!

Shad - That mango/avocado salsa on your chicken looks delish! Had to look up verjuice though...

Ceejay - Happy weekend to you! I'm talking Monday off, just because I want a day off - and I do have carryover vacation days from last year that I need to use up. I should plan something so I won't just have it fly by in the blink of an eye with nothing to show for it.

Annie - Your brother had rotten luck having the aggressive form of cancer instead of the easily treatable one. Thankfully it's in control right now. Boo on WF not kicking in to the HSA. Your balance is important, better work on it girlie! Good S &C are getting on the same page with the parenting - they need to be a united front for A. and her mom.

Hellos to the rest of you Worldlies!!

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So glad the weekend is coming. I'm in a slump this week for some reason.

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I'm back. Always interesting dealing with our attorneys.

I don't think I had anything else to report. Last night was a rest day for the pushup challenge. All I did was the arms section of my new Pilates dvd. Once again very short, and moved very quick. I have two more sections to try out - hips and legs I think. I might also do those separately the first time around, but in the future I can see doing 2 or more of these sections together, or adding them onto another workout.

Tonight I'm going to a class at the recplex. It'll either be Tighter Assets or Circuit.

Okay, back to the fun!

We got our W2 forms this week and I am going this afternoon to get my taxes done. I looked online yesterday for an insurance with lesser deductible. To many unwanted phone calls. Felt like I was being stalked.
Found out earlier this week that my niece is pregnant and due around my birthday. I'm really happy for her as this is her first and she is 35+ but she is a planner. just don't say anything about it on FB
Need to mail a package to my sister.

Susie
I've got one note on my tablet. Think I might get in there and look around. After I get home at night I'm ready to settle down, but almost feel guilty for not doing my exercise.

Terra
Going to look around on you tube for some new exercise video's.

Back later.

Laura
You were typing above my head. I forgot about the push ups but will be doing those in sets of 10 also. Don't want to completely stop them cause I am beginning to see some definition.

Shad
I'm glad your chicken was poached. I was beginning to think that it was raw. I saw some mangos last week at the grocery store. Think I'll get some this week. I want something different.

Morning all,

Well there are a few minutes left to call it morning. :o

Yoga class was good yesterday. She did a class that was more about "pulling out the kinks", stretching and such. I liked it because in the morning I have taken to spending the first 15 minutes or so upon awakening doing stretches and moves that "lubricate" the joints. I think it is helping. I was thinking yesterday about the whole exercise and weight loss thing - we have to get it in our heads right before we can make progress. For example - my new mantra of "do something hard today" has really carried me a lot in the last several weeks when I've been doing something that I would rather give up on. I just say those words to myself and it gives me that little bit extra ommph to power through the task. I was thinking yesterday that weight loss is a bit like snow shoveling. It snows outside - just a few inches - one or two. Not much so you say to yourself, I'll get to it later. And you don't deal with it. Then it snows again a few days later. Maybe 3 inches this time. You're busy and you don't deal with it. Next thing you know you've got 12 inches to shovel, the snow has been packed down and frozen and cleaning up in an incredibly hard and tedious task. If you had dealt with it each time it snowed, it would not be easy but certainly not as difficult as it was when you finally decided to tackle the job. This made sense in my head - the scale goes up a little bit, get frustrated but deal with it later and then by the time you decide to do something about it - it's a really labor intensive effort and easy to give up on. So the result is that now you're going to have to work all that much harder to get things rolling. It will eventually get better but it's going to be mighty tough for a while. This applies to food as well as exercise. I have to work really hard and be really strict with the food. Things that worked in the past simply don't work any more. Those pounds are stuck with super glue. :mad: And the exercise is hard because I have gotten weak. I see the folly of my ways and I am determined to turn things around this year. I also finally got my Passion Planner organizer and calendar. This young girl in California developed this as a Kickstarter project. It went viral thanks to Facebook and she got thousands and thousands of orders. Went from shipping about 6 a day to 1500 to 3,000 a day. It's a large 8 x 10 calendar such that you might use for work with squares for each of the 7 days a week. The added benefit is that you outline some specific goals for yourself and how you will incorporate meeting them and work those into the calendar as reminders of daily and weekly tasks. As the month wraps up, you review your progress and either make tweaks or kick yourself in the butt. Looks very interesting, I will work on my roadmap today. I ordered the calendar back on November 15 - took until yesterday to get it.

Susie - thank you for the information on One Note - I do indeed have it and never noticed it before. It looks like a very interesting program. I'm sure it would be beneficial in the team / office environment. How nice that you got the team of 3 guys in to teach the class. I think training is wayyyyy more effective when you have power users who know the ins and outs of the products and how to use them in your own environment teach the classes. P&G is lucky to have you!!! Good luck at your weigh in tonight. People at WW said the same thing about having a big loss one week and a meh weigh in the next week. They said the most important thing was not to let it mess with your head and if after reviewing the week, if you were on track, just keep doing the stuff that keeps you on track.

Ceejay - I think it's great that you are setting some do-able goals for your exercise. Even better that you see results because that is very motivating. As for the mangos if I might mention - if you are not familiar with dealing with them - they can be hard to work with - if not ripe enough they will be impossible to cut away from the center seed and if too ripe they tend to be mushy. It's an art like cutting an avocado. I much prefer the mango slices in the glass jars (forgot what brand) but they are over in the cold packaged greens case at the grocery by the salad dressings and chilled fruits. I have come to love the pop of sweetness the mangos give to salsas and salads. They keep well in the jars (shaped like long pickle spears) - you only need a few to add to your dishes and the jar will last for 3 to 4 dishes. I think they are also packed in a light liquid so it saves on calories.

Laura :rofl: part of the AARP name is retired persons but they target anyone 50 and over. There are some discounts if you travel and I really like their newspaper - it gives good advice about finances, nutrition and does interviews with people of our generation. I think their biggest push however has to do with gathering people together to insure there is legislation that protects the baby boomers. Hope you find your way out of the slump. February is right around the corner and I always hated that month - by then I was tired of being cold, continuous grey days and dirty snow. I missed fresh air and sunshine. It's too bad you and BF can't take a long weekend to someplace warmer just to recharge the batteries.

Annie - sorry you lost your post. :mad: So frustrating!!! I'm glad S&C mended their differences. It used to be that it was the ex-wife that caused all the troubles - now adding that to the new blended families today and it makes for some tense moments. I see it a lot up here - even with people whose kids are adults now. Yikes :dizzy: I also have heard about a lot of people who had problems with kids when they visited the ex - discipline issues either due to parenting styles or guilt maybe? Life is so complicated now.

Terra - yay on scoring a good price with the shoes! Nice picture of you and Clyde.

Shad - another good looking dinner plate. I'm sure in part because it is so colorful. What are you doing when you are working from home - putting together new training materials?

Hello to the rest of the Worldies - I need to get a move on here. Thinking of working on that basement pantry that is calling my name.

Don't know if any of you came to know Jiffypop from the weight loss surgery forums but I saw a note today that she passed away quietly in her sleep.

Happy - Thanks for passing along the news about Jiffypop. I didn't know her well, but she was kind enough to answer several questions I had before my surgery. She seemed like a very sweet and caring woman.

Evening all,

Happy, I remember the name jiffypop. She must have been around since the early days I think. So sorry to hear that she has passed away.

My food for the day. Better get that done first while I think of other things to talk about.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ps8b27706a.jpg

I've been hanging out for a bit of steak. While I enjoyed it, I think I over cooked it a bit. Guess that is what happens when you try to do too many things at once. The rest is lettuce with the corn from the garden that I froze and a saffron and honey dressing. The spud has Greek yoghurt on it and the salsa tonight was avocado, red onion and cherries. Not quite as good as with mango, but it was tasty enough. Nearly done with all the fruit I bought during the week now.

Last day of working from home. It's been good, but it will be good to get back to the office since every so often the computer decides to have a hissy fit. Goes so slow you forget where you are up to and it can't seem to open some things - or close others. The secret I discovered is to shut down every so often so it doesn't get confused.

Susie = I have Onenote on my computer. Guess I ought to go have a look at it. Might have to be late at night tho'. Too much else tyo do at the moment.
No I am not working from home all the time. Occasionally perhaps - even maybe one day a week. But it's not feasible all the time. I need to be able to go and annoy the SME's (Subject Matter Experts) from time to time. And then I also need to harass my co-worker who needs a good clip upside the head.
Good luck with TOPS tonight.

Terra - always good to get a bit of a bargain. Sure could have been expensive shoes.

Laura - hope you get out of the slump quickly. Not like you to be down. Maybe it's all the white stuff. Hope you got tighter assets out of your class.

Ceejay - good luck with the taxes. Bloody things. Mango are easy to deal with, just make sure you cut down the side of the pit (seed) parallel to the line you can see from the stem. Look it up on google. Shows picture. Best way to eat the juicy ones is when one is naked in the bath.

Happy - some philosophical thinking there. But the analogy works.
Yep I am writing training materials. And trying to deal with a fellow trainer who is doing some of the simulations for me. he can not take directions. Arrrgggghh. I may end up swinging either at him or for him yet.

And that is about it. Still haven't gotten to look for my new computer yet. Might do an early shop tomorrow. Right after I have annoyed the neighbours by mowing the lawn early.

Hi Girls, I'm here :smug: I'll b back to post tomorrow, lots going on since yesterday. Umm we also got some ice from our snow melting & then freezing temps & fresh 2" of snow covering it up yesterday. I found it when I slipped & fell down :stress: hurting my elbow, hand & neck.

Love to ALL, Stay safe & warm everyone :hug: & Shaddie, keep Cool :cool:

Thanks for the news on Jiffy, she and I chatted a lot in the past on WLS. OMG...

TGIF FO SHO!!

Well Sis and I made it to yoga. Love, love, love the instructor, so good and was very helpful for me with the ankle not bending the way it should and modifying the moves for me. It was a gentle class as she called it. Thank God because I thought some of the moves were rather hard cause my body was not all that flexible. I did manage to do some form of what she was teaching. lol. Sis thought some of it was tough for her also. I am a little achy in the neck and shoulder area, but not enough to take meds for it. All in all it was a good time and we are definitely going back next week. My hands were a little swollen this morning but they are going down somewhat now. I guess from the yoga??

Sad news about Jiffypop. She struggled with heart issues and also with weight issues. I didn't realize she was in that bad of shape to pass away. We chatted a few times in the past and I even attended one of her studies she set up on line with some university about WLS support. She will definitely be missed with her wisdom.

My weight has stayed the same however we have managed to walk 4 out of 5 days this week around the office doing laps. 3 out of 4 days I actually made it to 10000 steps +. Today is my walk to both banks and walk to lunch day so that will be added steps, maybe 10 blocks total.

SHADDIE...if your food tastes as good as it looks, I want some. It is really colorful and enticing. I only do meals that look like that when I have company. Never for myself and C. Back to the grind of office, flights and hotels, working from home was a nice break, but now back to reality.

DEE....Yeee, Dee on falling on the ice. Nothing like being slammed into the concrete. Hope you feel better soon.

Posting this and will come back to finish.