Off with LBs in October for the Worldlies (OCT Thread)
 

Happy October!!!!! :witch::sklol::spid:

GREAT title Annie - thanks for the suggestion :hug:

Got a meeting at the shelter this morning and then need to wrap up / close out some September business. Will be back later this afternoon.

Bumping this to the top.

Back again to the new October Thread...

HAPPY....thank you very much for starting the new thread! You rock sister.

LAURA...I would think the college kids at the conference would be somewhat of brainiacs or mayby not. Ohhh, 35 cent wings. Are they boneless and skinless? I am not a fan of bones in chicken or skin on them, guess I am not a good candidate for wings. lol. I love steel cut oats, but never get the instant steel cut oats they are just awful. bleh.

SUSIE...Our medical plan offers $$ towards our HSA for physicals, mammos, paps and blood work. If you do all that you can earn up to 800 $$. Aunties and Nannas can spoil the wee ones as much as we want, yes indeed.

CHELLE...aw your poor nephew. Grown or not that obstruction can be very painful and miserable. Bless his heart. Good on you for going back to the bariatric way of eating. When will you find out about your MRI...Be careful on the jerky, it has a lot of sodium, could raise your BP. Hugs

Took C to Applebees for dinner, his choice. I had Thai Shrimp Salad, it had only 330+ calories in it. Water to drink. I did have one of Cs mozzarella sticks with marinarer sauce on it. I did pretty well with it.

We came home, he went out to the pond to fish with our neighbor and I did laundry and leftover dishes from C yesterday. Put some chicken, onions, potatos and mushroom in the crocker with teriyaki sauce to brew up today. DS and Michael are coming over for dinner tonight. What a treat.

Thats about it for me, make it a great day/evening.

Hugs

Afternoon all. So annoyed. I’m running my quarterly reports and the same issue that’s been an issue for a while has arisen yet again, but with a couple new twists. Aaaargh. I’ll have to adjust my schedules manually to get to the right figures. Sigh. Just sent off an e-mail to our software folks. The data is fed from a vendor in a certain way and it’s not mapping into our system correctly. Whatever they are trying to do is making the issue worse.

End of rant.

Nothing much else to report. I wish that the conference had been at the end of the week because that’s what I was accustomed to in the past. The rest of this week has been dragging. And I have one of those boring and slow online compliance sessions to complete by tomorrow. Ugh.

Sorry I’m being such a whiner today. On to personals.

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Happy – Thanks for setting us up with our new thread.

Annie – No, the wings weren’t boneless/skinless. I like them either way, but the ones with bone and skin sure are a mess to eat and of course are not healthy. Thankfully that’s not something we eat very often. Re steel cut oats – I love the texture of them and if I have to cook them a long time, so be it. I’ve never tried a quick-cooking version of steel cut oats. I’ve had the quick cooking rolled oats and don’t care for them. But I have them in the cabinet and should bake some oatmeal cookies so I use them up. What else can you use oats for besides oatmeal and cookies?

Terra – Thanks for posting the enchilada recipe. :chef: It’s different from other enchilada recipes - a lot of them have tomato-based sauces. This recipe looks like it would be creamy and yummy. I’m going to print it out and give it a go. I might use leftover shredded chicken from a Costco rotisserie chicken for the filling.

Hellos to the rest of you! Hope you’re having a good week.

quick post....update on my nephew....

This morning they gave him some medicine to "flush him out" and if it didn't work, they were going to have to consider surgery. So far, he's had three BM's. :dancer:

The doctor has ordered a bunch of tests for today, and though my nephew didn't say this, I would guess they'll do another cat scan or x-ray to see if EVERYTHING is moving through.

My nephew said that the next step if the obstruction is completely cleared out is to start him on a liquid diet. He's really thirsty, which makes sense as I don't think he's had anything to drink since Sunday (just IV fluids). But they haven't allowed him to have water or anything to eat/drink yet.

I'm still hoping and praying that his condition and functions will improve and that surgery won't be necessary.

Morning all,
Will get this done before my day goes west as yesterdays did. Spent a load of time getting the car serviced - nuisance since I am never home to drive the poor wee thing and it takes a huge amount of time and they had problems updating the software. Guess that is what happens when you buy an expensive, upmarket car. Anyway it is done now.

What else. Oh yes

My cold has got worse instead of better. I spend the night hours trying to turn myself inside out with coughing. I should have the best set of abdominal muscles in town when this is through. My chest hurts, my head hurts and now my back aches. Sure sign that that something is going down. I don't usually have back ache with a normal cold. Anyway I am off to the doctor this morning. I'll be asking for something to make me better or kill me off - anything to put me out of this misery.

Don't know whether I mentioned it or not, but DS2's car blew up (on the freeway) and caused him a lot of embarrassment (tv, police, etc) and misery since he doesn't have the money to replace the ute or the tools that he kept in the back. ( his words - Hey mum. I'm angry, depressed but worst of all, broke and embarrassed.) Mum to the rescue for a short term loan. In the long term, they may have to sell a house to get cash flow back on the straight and narrow. However I have persuaded them to keep the house and rent it out. Shift into my place and just pay off the utilities bills. So they have agreed to that until the Tennyson place is renovated enough for them to live in. So the house will be full - those two, two cats, the dog and me when I get back. With rules and tolerance we should cope - and at least I will get some jobs done around the house!!! Always a silver lining - right???

Meantime:

Annie - so sorry to hear of your personal trials. There has been so much go on in your life and you are such a loving but emotional person, that I am not surprised. However, you have faced up to it. You are a goddess! I am proud of you and you can beat this. It too will pass, but not without a fight.
I'm probably the least demonstrative and least addictive and least likely to form emotional attachments than probably anyone on this thread. I'm told I am stand offish and coolly detached. Most likely. But I can see things that many folk don't, understand a lot more than I give out, and can reach out when a friend needs a helping hand. My hand is out there for you to hold when you need it!

Laura - why is it that when the IT section try to solve the problem, they always seem to cause more? Good luck with the reports.

Michelle - Hope the nephew comes out of this just fine. It is so hard to sit back and watch people in pain. Hopefully this blockage/ obstruction will move shortly.

Susie - I hope the DH is doing well after his procedure. Such a shame that that afib didn't work for long enough for the heart to heal. Get you to the treadmill and walk off those worries and stresses girl. Exercise is a great way to move the body and the mind at the same time.

Dee - sure hope the immune system improves somewhat for you. Is there nothing they can give you to take to get it started in the right direction? As for your DH, think I might be up to some physical violence there. :frypan: :rollpin:. No one should speak to you - or the dog - for that matter like that when none of it was your fault, unless of course, you consider requiring a blood transfusion your fault. And the hospital should be ashamed of themselves for not screening things properly. My blood got refused a while back because I had been to the dentist within a week of giving blood - or rather attempting to give blood. Here they test for everything including traces of drugs and booze before they release the stuff for use. I hear that more gets destroyed than actually used.

Happy - don't let those odd bods get to you at the shop. It annoys me that so many people start something good, then decided to play god and heaven help anyone who doesn't agree with them. One reason why I try not to get involved with 'good' causes. Enjoy these days of Autumn. Lovely time of the year. Get out and about as much as humanly and monetarily possible. You only live once and never really know when your 'passport' will expire.

Ceejay - only you can make the decisions to decide on your future. Only you will be living your future. Only you know when the time to stop and turn the retirement corner has come. Do nothing that will force you to go in one direction when you really want to go in another.

Terra - that chicken dish sounds nice if not exactly diet friendly. Maybe you could experiment at home with some low fat ingredients and see what difference that makes to the taste. No point in making it diet friendly if it doesn't taste good but if you can - for example - make half the cheese low fat and half ordinary cheese, you can generally get the flavour without the fat. Same goes for most things like that. Good luck with it anyway, and good luck with the weight loss journey. You know you can do it. Just have to do it more consistently.

Anyway - might be time to go get showered and ready for the doctor. Then it is a case of getting DS to where his new vehicle is ready and waiting apparently and coming back here to try to make some room for DS2 and his partner J. They have stuff coming out of their ears. I'm not sure I can fit it all into my small house and yard. Still something must be done to get them out of the whole they have dug themselves. I might have to do their books for them to get them back into the black. More work.

Back to Auckland tomorrow. Go-live starts on Monday. Meantime there is a full dress rehearsal on Sunday - god knows why.

Oh lordy, now I am out of tissues. See you.

Laura & Annie ~ Your welcome for the recipe, I hope you like it. It also calls for green chilies but I dont like chilies so we dont add them when we make ours.

Shad ~ Yeah I dont think its diet friendly, 1st time mom made it I wasnt on a weight loss journey/dieting. I will use your suggestions though the next time we make it. Yes your totally right I need to stick to my 1200 calories and exercise, I need to do both more consistently.

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Hi Everybody,

Happy Oct. Sept went by so fast, The months have been flying by lately. It will be Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Years before we know it. Does everyone have plans for Halloween yet? Scott and I are just gonna take turns handing out the candy to the kids and we will watch a few horror movies on Halloween night. I hope I havent been repeating myself with each new post. I dont mean too, Sorry if I have been.

TGIF fo sho!!

Holy bat crap batman, I am freezing my McNuggets off in here today. Got the space heater running and all. It was a very cool morning outside, barely 50. Tomorrow's high is 60s with rain. bleh...

Last nights dinner was wonderful. Great time with brother, DS and hubby. Lots of laughs. Brother checked my sugar and DSs sugar and both were good. I go for the AC1 plus other blood work for my yearly in mid-October then November physical. I also have my re-check pap in November. If it comes back no change to the pre-cancerous cells again then I must decide to do the procedure over again in hopes of getting it all or just have a hysterectomy. Decisions, decisions.

Did 3 loads of laundry, dishes, stayed up way too late with DS talking (he stayed over) and chewing the fat about all sorts of things. He had his nut check up yesterday, all his numbers were good except the sperm count was still a little low. He is, so far, loving his new job that he started on Monday. Give it time. lol

SHADDIE...welcome back to the herd. Thank you for your support. Might say I am too soft and weepy and you are not so soft and straight faced. lol. We kind of even out the herd. That job should be coming to an end soon, shouldn't it? Oh my, DS and SO are coming to live with you, yikes that may take some adjusting, thank God you work takes you out of the home for periods of time. Hugs

TERRA...I usually turn my light off on Halloween and go over to Sissy's house and go trick or treating with the g-babes. It is always fun as the entire neighborhood goes together. Kids walk the sidewalk, adults walk in the street.

CHELLE...good news on the shoulder and repair for it. A lot easier than major surgery. Hoorah! Very glad to hear you nephew has had a "break through" so to speak. Keep us posted on the interview status.

LAURA...IT probs suck. Rarely can they figure it out in one shot. Our IT help is in Minnesota so everything is over the phone or give them control of our computer. Annoying!! No worries about whining, we all do it!! Sometimes it is fun to listen to others whine, makes us forget our troubles.

Hello to the rest of you lovely ladies.

Hugs and make it a great weekend.

Morning all. TGIF!!! :carrot:

I finished my quarterly schedules yesterday, but I still have to get through the compliance session. Today our department is going to lunch to celebrate my 20-year service anniversary.

Better get going on the compliance. Be back later.

Happy anniversary Beautiful Laura!

Happy Anniversary, Laura!! I love your profile photo. You are really lovely!

I overslept today. I woke up about 5 minutes before 7, and I usually start work at 7. I got to work about 8:15 (not bad since the commute took about 45 minutes). I had to call into our daily conference call meeting that starts at 8....not a big deal since most people call in from home as the morning commute traffic is so bad. Anyway, I made it into work.

I don't have any set plans for this evening. I hope to go to the dog park and/or go walking with a friend.

At around noon yesterday, my nephew told me the "flush him out" liquid worked. He still wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything though and they were going to probably run some more tests.

I called him yesterday on my way home from work, but he wasn't up to talking. He probably wasn't feeling very good. I hope to be able to talk with him today...and/or hear that he's being released from the hospital. Obviously they won't send him home until he can at least tolerate a clear liquid diet.

To continue with medical updates...I got some great news late yesterday afternoon. The orthopedic doctor just emailed me. She got the MRI results (less than 24 hours after my MRI). My rotator cuff is a little bit frayed...but not torn. I just have the calcium deposit. She's recommending arthroscopic surgery to remove the calcium deposit. The next step is to talk with the surgeon about the surgery, and I have a consult appointment with the surgeon for Tuesday morning.

Gotta go for now.

Much love to all,

Howdie all...

Just about to leave for my dentist appointment. Oh boy, getting the permanent crown put in. Hope they numb my fact up real good. lol. I am sure she will as she is all about comfort of the patient.

Getting my hair colored tonight (Sissy). DS is stopping by also. Mostly because he left all his stuff at my house from last night. Tomorrow morning is AA meeting and then picking Sissy up to go to BedBathandBeyond, she needs to exchange duplicates for other necessary items and I need to get bags for my kitchen trash. I think I will put chili in the crock pot tomorrow. With all this cool weather and rain, it just sounds delish. Sunday is church and a meeting, that is about it.

CHELLE...good news about nephew and your shoulder. Amen.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs

I’m back…

Shad – Thank goodness your son wasn’t injured! What happened, did he lose all the engine oil??!! Anyway – WOW - what a change to come for all of you. How do all the furries get along at the moment, assuming Sunday has been with DS2 in your absence? But you’re right – there’s a silver lining to it. Get a list of all the projects going, lol. :D I’m sorry you’re not over your cold yet. The non-stop coughing phase seems to linger on forever. Bleh.

Terra – Yes, the end of the year snuck up on me too! Halloween is right around the corner. We have no specific plans yet, but a friend was hinting around about a party. I know my bf and I aren’t interested in hosting one…maybe we’ll just be at home to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. We’ve talked about watching some of the classic horror movies I’ve never seen.

Annie- Sounds like you had a wonderful family dinner last night. And chili sounds so good to me now that we’ve had very fall-like weather. I might go to BBB this weekend as well. One of the gift cards I chose with my service anniversary gift was for BBB. I want to get one of those squishy anti-fatigue runners for the kitchen. Hope the dentist appointment is painless.

Michelle – I’m glad your nephew is on the mend. Good news about your shoulder – no invasive surgery. :)

Hey Ceej –Where’ve you been? Hope everything’s good with you and that you’re having a good weekend.

Hellos to the rest of you! :wave:
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Nothing much to report. Yesterday we had rotisserie chicken and grilled corn. The corn I bought from a different farmers market booth was less chewy than the other booth I've bought it from the past two times. Maybe it had less sugar? :dunno: We have another two ears from a third booth, so we’ll see how that compares.

This morning I had a nectarine at home, and decided I’d pick up a bagel on the way to work. So then I decided to get a chai tea as well. Well, dunkin donuts sells vanilla chai. Okay, fine. Then I figured I’d made a bad choice – someone after me in line got dusted with some powdered gunk accidentally by a dd employee. When she asked what it was they’d tagged her with, they said it was vanilla chai powder. Oh great - powdered drink mix. So I didn’t have great expectations. And when I finally took a couple sips, it was lukewarm and way too sweet.

Since that was undrinkable, I decided to make tea with my own teabag as I usually do most days and just add a little bit of the chai to the my tea to flavor/sweeten it. Meh. Oh well.

Lunch with my department was fine - until I had to visit the restroom halfway into lunch….and again right after we got back to the office. Then I realized it was that !@#$% vanilla chai that was the cause. Yup, ordering that dd vanilla chai was a bad decision all around, from the poor woman who got doused with the powder to my unpleasant experience. Live and learn.

Nothing going on this weekend. In the yard, I hope to cut back the rest of the phlox, and I may as well take out the veg garden while I’m at it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to dig out any hydrangeas – I dunno if the bees will be gone after the cooler weather we’ve had…it’s not like we’ve had frost yet. They could still be around.

There’s a craft beer festival bf thought we might go to with friends tonight but he decided the weather would be a bit too chilly for his liking. I’m fine with that. I’m not a beer fan, let alone drinking cold beer outside in the cold. Hot spiced cider by an indoor or outdoor fire is another matter...

Okay, I’ll get this posted and back to work. TTFN.

Annie ~ Thats cool that you guys go to your sister's house go trick or treating with the kids and the whole neighborhood.

Laura ~ Yeah I wouldnt want to host the party either. What decade of classic horror movies are you guys gonna watch? I dont know which horror movies we're gonna watch. My favorite is Nightmare On Elm St. but I like also Friday The 13th, The Halloween movies are okay but they arent a fav.

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Good Morning Guys and Gals,

Its almost 8 a.m. here, I've been up since 4:00 a.m. I'm gonna work out for a hour at 9. I have to get ready to go to lunch with my friend at 10 a.m. and then I gonna start watching for my bus at 10:30. I'll be back home between 2:30 and 3 p.m. today. We might go to Dillions today when I get back home. If we dont go today we'll go tomorrow. We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow. I'm gonna clean the bathroom before I work out this morning. Take Care Everybody.

Hi Girls :smug: It's difficult to fathom our temps dropping 20* from last Friday when I was swimming in our pool @ 78* I hope that you'all aren't in the 50's like we have had since Monday.

Annie, What r U & Dh & S & C dressing up as while standing in the street watching the kids trick or treating :witch: :bunny: :cheer2: :mouse: :corn: I make little surprise bags w a whistle or toy flute to drive the parents crazy & a Mc.D's gift coupon & Hershey candy. Last year a local parent told me her Dh took the whistles away from the kiddos & use it to call their doggy & kids to come indoors instead of yelling @ them, so I stopped by & gave the kids a big bag of M&M's & taffy not to share w daddy :m: :m: C goes fishing in your back yard pond, I thought U were a city girl :o & that U were driving to go fishing. I just Luv to ice skate & play hockey, Dh would rather ice fish, U r so lucky.

Laura, I Luv your new pic ;) Happy Anniversary :celebrate: Laura!! Kelly Ripa on TV said she was having her half-way to 90 yrs old b-day on Thursday & I liked when Annie said she was double nickels :D It was awesome that your company celebrated your anniversary. W my Dh's 25th, they just gave him a mantle clock inscribed & $100 bonus check & 2 days more pd. vacation. Your company was wonderful to give U the gift certificates & I have the anti-fatigue mats in my home office @ my design tables & also in my kitchen & I love them. Out in the garage workshop area, we have the gym mats for a cushion & r easy to vacuum the wood shavings up.

Shad, Thank You for caring about me :hug: I'm a Lover, not a fighter, a romantic @ heart & I know Dh Luvs me because he shows me daily in many ways. I hope everything works out for your son, I'm sure his pride & self confidence was hurting. Jesus made many wonderful parents like 'you' are for our young & adult kids during their difficult times. I hope U r feeling better today. Your summer is coming, so U can lay outside soon :beach: no more colds or stress, your family can b your gardeners & U can harvest it & enjoy it :T

Happy, I have a question for U. Last month Amazon had the balance ball chair w Gaiam ball as their deal & I bought it & I do like using it @ my desk & my sewing table. Did U also buy the balance ball chair cover for it? I think my tush will get cold sitting on it during the winter. And did U get your cover from Amazon or @ a Sports store? Our mean Michigan business owners were PO @ the internet stores that don't have MI locations not charging sales tax & forced our Governor to change that law, so when I placed a Amazon order on Oct.1 I had to pay my 6% state tax :( but then I read that Amazon is having a location in Detroit & hiring ppl, so I'm fine about the tax law now... The universe is back into balance, like 'when a door closes, a window opens' I think that's what it was, or vice versa :dizzy:

This morning I had a early apt @ 8:30, some sewing alterations to pick up; I put zippers in the bottom 6" of 4 college girls 'skinny' jeans (15 prs of jeans), that they couldn't get their feet into to put on their shoes/boots. Has anyone ever gotten a Whooping Cough shot as a adult? I have a friend almost 40 yr old that got it & it cracked her rib she coughed so badly, her doc then gave her entire family a booster shot including her. Oh I just saw the time, I gotta go now.

Everyone I didn't say Hi to :wave: I hope you'all r doing well & that the hurricane didn't affect anybody's plans this weekend.

Afternoon all. Thanks ladies for the kind comments re my avatar pic. I'll probably pull it off there in the next week or so...

Dee - I had a DPT vaccine booster within the past year. My doc said that there was a resurgence of whooping cough in the US that was a concern, and that's why she advised it. It's nice of my employer to celebrate service anniversaries. I can't recall - I think they do that in 5 years increments. I bet the kiddies love trick-or-treating at your house!!

Terra - There are some horror movies from the 70's & 80's I've never seen because I'm generally not into them, but I'd like to finally see the classic/iconic ones - The Exorcist, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, and yes, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, & Friday the 13th like you mentioned. I'll have to see what my library and/or Netflix has. Enjoy the birthday party tomorrow.

Hellos to the rest of you!

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Bf left the house early-ish for some work stuff. I got out in the yard around 10-ish. It's overcast and windy, but the air temp wasn't bad and I was fine in a long sleeve t-shirt, jeans and an old flannel shirt.

I dug out a couple clumps of phlox growing in with the hydrangea and transplanted them into the flower border. I also dug up some tulip bulbs from that area and replanted them because I love the color of them. I also had some bulbs that I'd dug up from where our new front parkway tree was planted and I replanted those. I hope all the relocated stuff does okay come spring. I also cut back the rest of the phlox foliage.

I saw a few bees buzzing in the hydrangea, so no digging there.

I picked a few cherry tomatoes, but they are pretty much done. By that time, I didn't feel like dismantling the veg garden though. Maybe tomorrow.

Our backyard is a mess of overgrown grass and a ton of twigs and small branches from our oak tree. All the wind we've had this week has brought all that down. I suppose this is a sign that this tree needs trimming. I've been trying to pick up all this stuff and put it in the brush pile in the back of the yard, but there's just so much right now, it would be a pretty big job. And all the bending to pick them up would be tiring on the back. And then there's all those clumps of green leaves the squirrels chewed off in there attempts to get at the acorns - sigh. What a messy yard. It's really like it needs raking, but that would be a bear because the grass got so long thanks to bf putting off the mowing. Aaargh.

Well, I have all kinds of mulch in bags in the garage that I never spread during the summer. It seems like a waste to spread it now - it's not like I'm worried about smothering weed growth right now. But we will need the space in the garage for parking the car, so I'm thinking I will move the mulch bags to the area alongside the house. I will lay down a tarp and put the bags on that, and maybe cover it with a tarp too. What a PITA. But we never did get around to re-doing our garden bed border edging. There's always next year...

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Last night bf learned of the death of a long-time friend of his. He'd had a kidney & pancreas transplant about five years ago. Very sad, as he'd finally decided to relocate out of state for a fresh start. We will go to the wake tomorrow, and bf will go to the funeral on Monday.

That's about it for me. Gonna make myself some lunch now.

Laura ~ I hope you are able to find some of the classic horror movies you mentioned. Scott and I talked about watching Tales From The Crypt but I dont know how much horror that series is but we talked about watching that series on Halloween night.

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Good Morning Everyone,

I got up for the day at 6:00 a.m. Its now almost 9 a.m. We are gonna go to Dillions to do some shopping here soon. I'm not sure what else we are gonna do today. I do know I need to work out sometime today and fold and put away my clean clothes and get my dirty clothes ready to be washed. I sure wish our laundry room was upstairs I feel sorry for Scott and my mom when they always have to go take my clothes down stairs and bring them back up. I wish our laundry room was up stairs to I could do my own laundry. Well anyway I hope everyone has an awesome On Plan day today. Take Care All.

Happy Monday Everyone!!

Another week in front of us and let's make it rock!

TERRA...why can you not take your own clothes downstairs for laundry day? Just curious. Did you make it to Dillions? Buy anything exciting? Actually when I refer to Sis or Sissy, it is my daughter, Samantha, and the grandbabes.

LAURA...it was mighty chilly and rainy in Indy on Saturday. Didn't stay outside any at all for me. Sounds like you need to have a huge bon fire with all the crap from the yard, of course that would mean Smores. lol Sorry to hear of your BFs friend. To go through all the transplant stuff and then only live another 5 years. Sad. Hugs to you and BF

DEE... C and I do drive to the fishing spots. The pond out back is just when C needs a fishing fix. He and a neighbor go out and fish for a couple of hours. C and his brother are going to Lake Lemon southwest of Indy on Wednesday for some real he man fishing. lol. These silly girls and their skinny jeans. Why not just paint the dang things on?

SHADDIE...hope you on on the mends. Sounds like you have coughed a lung up. Hugs.

Saturday was errands, left the house at 8:15 and didn't get home till 3:30. Put a pot of chili on, we ate at 6:30. My son was at drill, called and asked if he and a couple of buddies could come up and eat, thank God I had the pot of chili. I made fresh cornbread for them, they ate 3 bowls each, all the cornbread and an entire box of oyster crackers. Son got news that the army is not extending him due to his health issues. He will get out in January. Secretly, I am very happy he is getting out. He made it 6 years without getting deployed.

Yesterday was church, lunch and more errands. We watched a Star Trek dvd that we had not seen and went to bed. Here we are on Monday morning! That is about it for me.

HELLO to everyone.

Gotta get busy. Make it a great day/night. Hugs

HAPPY oh HAPPY...come out, come out wherever you are!!!

Morning all. :sunny: :sunny: :sunny: Need some sun around here!!

Awfully quiet around here. Hope everyone's doing alright.

Annie - Seems like whenever I think of trying to light a fire in our fire pit, it's really windy. So I'll have to bundle the larger stuff for curbside pickup. The smaller twigs are suitable for spreading around as mulch (especially after I step around on the pile to crunch them up). I prefer to do that, but there's so much more than usual that most will be left in the grass. BF says the small twigs can be mowed without a problem. I think the mower blades will need sharpening after that...good thing the end of the mowing season isn't too far off.---After I got back inside from doing the yard work on Saturday, I finally decided I needed to turn the furnace on!! Of course it's gonna get back to the upper 60's & maybe even 70 this week, so the furnace won't be kicking in much this week.---Wow, you had several hungry men! Good you had that chili going. What a relief for you that DS's army time will come to an end. I bet he'll miss some of the benefits he qualifies for, but thank goodness he won't be in harm's way.

Terra - I don't have issues getting down to our basement to do laundry, but it sure would be nice to have a laundry chute instead of hauling the dirty laundry down there in a hamper.

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Nothing super exciting to report. I watched the dvd "Unbroken" on Saturday night. I'd read the book and wanted to see how the movie compared. It was alright, but the book was so much better. As usual.

On Sunday, bf and I went out to breakfast. Afterwards I went to the farmers market, but all I bought was a half gallon of apple cider. We went to the wake for our friend M. in late afternoon. In the evening, we watched the dvd "Beginners" with Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor. It was a good movie - there's a cute little Jack Russell dog in it that stole the show at times.

I had typical Monday-itis this morning - moving slow, forgot a couple things I wanted to bring to work, etc. Bleh.

I have Pilates class tonight. I'm not in the mood for it, but I'll drag my butt there anyway.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a work buddy.

I cancelled an all-day training session on Wednesday. I started doing the pre-work on Friday and realized I'd already taken the course. Doh! :doh:

Thursday I'm getting a flu shot here at work. Friday is a "lunch and learn" session concerning volunteer opportunities for an organization my company supports.

The sr. manager in our group told us last Friday at lunch that she's having surgery and will be out for a month starting this Thursday. I'm sure the boss knew about it before that, but I thought it was odd she didn't say anything to us any sooner. But good or bad, my activities don't really depend on hers, and I've said before that she's the type we work "around" in stead of working "with", so it probably won't have an impact on me or the admin. The boss will probably have to pick up most of her slack. As if he's not busy enough.

I have vacation days to use up - I think I'll take Friday or next Monday off.

That's it for me. Have a good day everyone.

Hello everyone,

OMG - what a horrible week. So glad it's past. The worst part is that I was so busy and lost track of time that I forgot it was my sister's birthday on Saturday and her cards are sitting here on the counter waiting to get mailed. I felt just awful. :( She said it was ok, had they arrived early (I am ALWAYS notoriously late) she said she would have taken it as a sign of the impending apocalypse to come. :rofl:

I did get the software evaluated for the shelter. We had a meeting and in between the lady who kept constantly interrupting my presentation - she kept interjecting useless information because she talked to someone at the conference so I guess that made her an expert. ;) I was able to make my recommendations so I just need to tidy up a few things today and we are good to go. There is the usual drama at the thrift shop, I am trying hard to stay out of it completely. Deep breath - this does not concern me, deep breath, I can't fix everything, deep breath - take care of your own house first. ;)

I was so overwhelmed at all that needed to be done. I have gotten backed up at the house and things needed to be done like cleaning out the refrigerator, I have a stack of things that needed to be returned back to Amazon, too many books that I picked up from the thrift shop which looked interesting but quite frankly if I did nothing but sit and read for the next 2 years, I'd still not finish the books. My sister is coming up here for a week to stay at a cabin to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary with her hubby. While they are staying at the cabin (not sure how long she can stay in my house with her allergies and my cats, I still want to do a deep clean and get things tidy). I was also beating myself up because once again, I did not start my diet like I was supposed to and wound up tossing into the garbage a lot of food that went bad or soft and felt guilty about the waste and the deferral. With the cool weather coming in I am also in alot of pain from what I'm sure is inflammation as well as the colder weather - more reason to get on this diet. I was just suffocating under all this stuff and sometimes the more I have to do the more I "cope" by ignoring it and doing something else. :dizzy: I kept saying to myself, if I can just get in front of it I'll be ok. My buddy the prez of the Humane Society asked if we could maybe cover the graffiti on the alley side of the thrift shop and DH wanted to do that this past weekend because it's getting too cold outside to do painting much longer and he had some plans for the next few days. I felt I had to go because it was wrong to expect him to do it all himself even though looking at the job the others did, we will have to give it a second coat to go over all the spots others missed being in too much of a hurry or maybe they didn't know better. Turns out he could not do as much as thought he would and was getting frustrated so I told him to just quickly cover the graffiti and leave it at that. I worked inside. Turns out someone donated the containers and the exercise dvd for the diet plan I am considering - the containers are color coded for portion control. I did legally buy the diet plan and containers on my own but I did not invest in the dvd because so many people complained about the poor quality of it (and they are correct). It's handy to have an extra set of containers for making and measuring your food out so I took this as a sign that I REALLY need to get off my duff and on with the plan. Then last night I was watching some recorded shows as our DVR is about to fill up with movies I recorded and didn't watch :o I had about 6 episodes of Extreme Weightloss and one caught my eye. I was about a 52 year old woman who was dealing with not only excess weight but she was a hoarder to boot. It was really interesting. I am not one of those people whose home is just a narrow path of open space with walls filled to the brink of all sorts of garbage, but I do tend to hang on to things much longer than I need to. I could relate to what she said about having an emotional attachment to "stuff" and unable to part with it. For example, for years DH bought me beautiful jewelry for Christmas and my birthday because I asked him to stop buying me clothes I didn't like and anything else I wanted, I just got as I needed it. I have some really pretty pieces that I never wear anymore - a couple of diamond necklaces, some bracelets and the worst is several pairs of gemstone earrings. I have always hated pierced ears and since I moved up here, I let the holes close up so I can't even possibly wear those. Yet... I can't seem to part with them. DH sold his gold jewelry 2 years ago and split the take with me so we went on a getaway weekend. I keep saying I should do the same. It's just that I look at the sapphire earrings and think - he gave me these for our 10th wedding anniversary :cry: Same with keeping my music CDs - I put most of my music on my iPOD or my computer, why keep the CDs? Except for a few to play in the car (the new one has an iPOD interface, the old car does not so we still play music the old fashioned way since we only literally get about 4 radio stations up this way). The show was one of those brick in the head moments - was really helpful to me. I also just picked up the book - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up which is supposed to be a best seller and everyone who read it said it was wonderful. Anyway, the last couple of weeks I have been crazy busy and struggling for time and the desire to just "take care of stuff". I know I was putting too much effort into the shop and shelter and now we are done with fundraisers, events, tasks and assignments. I am looking at my calendar for October and it is blessedly clean! I am quite motivated to do things that make me happy.

So, I have made a big list of to do's to stay focused and have inventoried my freezer and made meal plans for the week that incorporate the diet for me and healthy meals for DH. I picked up fresh food but instead of 8 apples, I got 2, 2 bananas, small portions that won't go bad before they get used up. I am ready for a fresh start! :D

Right now I need to get ready and go drop a check off in town, pay my dentist what I owe and drop the cards for my sister off at the post office. I will be back this evening for personals. Sorry to have been away for so long. Ready to reclaim a more peaceful life!

Annie ~ I have C.P (Cerebral Palsy) so I dont have good balance so I have to hold on to the railing to go up and down the stairs and I cant hold on to the railing and hold on to my basket of clothes at the same time so thats why I cant take my laundry downstairs for laundry day.

Laura ~ Thats good that you dont have a problem getting your laundry downstairs.

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

Woke up at 3:25 a.m. Its now 11:30 a.m. I went to bed at 6:30 last night cause I was so tired yesterday and I dont know why I was so tired cause I wore my c-pap mask the night before last. Oh well though. I hope everyone have a great Monday. Take Care Everyone.

not sure what i'm doing.
 

Hi ladies, no Internet at work today. Im on my phone. I've been depressed and don't feel like doing anything. Not sure why I am depressed. I will come back later tonight when I have access to my tablet.

Hi All--quick post as work is consuming me. On Thursday at 4:30 p.m. my Director handed me a binder that had 8 sections with about each section having 40 pages each, front and back and asked me to make 70 binders and he needed them for the meeting on Monday.

I about fainted! He gave it to me too late to send it out to document services. I couldn't take it to a kinkos because it is all confidential and highly restricted info.

So, at 7 a.m. on Friday, me and 3 other Admins started coping it, breaking it down into sections.

I also got 4 other people who would start putting it in binders as we copied.

We copied until 3 p.m. and had 3 more sections to copy when all three copiers we were using shut down. Out of ink, belts needing replaced...it was crazy.

So we finished where we could. I left at 9 p.m. other left me at 6 p.m. and we started again today. I was able to get service to come at 7 a.m today and they had us going by 8 a.m.


I was told when we got 40 copies complete to bring them to the offsite meeting. I took off with them at 11:30, delivered them and went back. We were finally finished with all of them at 4 p.m. today. I worked until 7:30 on other things I hadn't touched in 2 days.

I work tomorrow and then have a all day offsite on Wed and then on vacation Thursday and Friday for my anniversary and I am walking out of there and not thinking about any of it until Monday morning.

I will come back over the weekend and check on everyone . I did some reading of posts tonight.

Sorry I can't do personals right now.

I do want to ask if anyone else is struggling to find the thread now that they went to this new format?

I sure am!

Morning
We have internet at work today. So maybe I can get some things done that I need to. I'm to tired to get on after work.
Text with my bff last night.
------
Susie
I'm proud of you for taking your days off and not worrying about your work.

Terra
Didn't realize you had CP. I'm proud of you for all the exercising you do. Stairs are getting hard for me because of my knees, especially when they are stiff or swollen. I'm going to try your recipe this week end. Sound simple and good.

Happy
Will you slow down some. You are making me tired. Is your mom coing with your sister when she comes for her visit?

Hello's to the rest. I'll need to go back and read some of the post.

Good morning boys and girls,

DH took a road trip this weekend for a couple of days wayyyy up north. He was only about 90 minutes from the Canadian border. I told him to be careful where he crossed - Canada would let him in with open arms but his own country would not let him back without the proper papers. Keep meaning to get a passport... He said it was pretty up there but the colors were dull - sort of like here. There's a pretty tree or two but for the most part, it looks like it will be more brown and yellowish. Plus his brand new, one year old camera decided to stop working on the second day of the trip. He had to pay for a 2 night stay at the hotel so decided just to ride it out and look for picturesque spots for the next time.

I was looking forward to being alone, figured I would get SO much stuff done. Ha! I swear I moved in slow motion and the clock sped up to double time. Yes, I did get some things done, but not as much as I'd hoped. Today I have to head off for my shift at the shop soon. Ever onward.

Susie - I can't believe the audacity of the director to give you such a humongous print job, tie your hands by not allowing you to outsource it and then expecting such ridiculous turn around time! I don't care what they pay you - there comes a point when it's over the top and that's it. And they will continue to ask for such ridiculousness because you always come through. Sorry... having been through that before, it just peeves me. I'm glad you will be having some much needed get away time shortly. Don't you DARE stay late or answer your phone! :mad: And yes, I agree with you - the new format on the home page did throw me for a loop when I saw it. I'm sure it did for a lot of people too. But at least you found your way back to us :hug:

Hi Ceejay - are you depressed or just not motivated? Sometimes it's hard to plug away when your get up and go leaves. You've had a lot on your mind lately - maybe your head just wants a rest. Feel better.

Terra - I'm not a big horror fan - too much of a scared chicken I guess :o but I did like Tales from Crypt when it was a TV series. I think they made a movie named like that too. Have you ever watched American Horror Story on cable tv? I saw that once and it gave me the creeps for weeks!

Laura - thanks for the tip on the movie Unbroken. I recorded it also having read the book but if it's not that great, I won't waste my time. Congratulations on your 20 year service anniversary. That's a pretty important milestone that with all the mergers and acquisitions and downsizing that not many people get to make. And then there's that lovely vacation time that comes with longer service :love: I liked your avatar shot - very pretty. Bummer that you didn't get around to laying out all that mulch. You could cover it on the patio - less to shovel this winter :lol: BTW - I had the same experience with the corn - 2 ears were fantastic, the next 2 were what I call "starchy" or tough. I wound up tossing out the last 6 ears I bought (usually I buy a dozen from the farm truck) as it was end of season I guess and they were not as good as the summer corn. Not even for making a chowder. :(

Annie - "he man" fishing. :lol: I can relate to that with the people up this way. Hope they get enough for a good dinner or two. Sorry to hear about your son getting a medical discharge but like you, I was glad to hear he did not get deployed. I know you were always so worried about it. Did everything work out ok with the dentist - I really lay it on about giving me numbing stuff because they never give enough! Are you kind of relaxing a bit now that the wedding is all behind you? Time to start building up the wallet a bit before Christmas comes and empties it again :lol:

DH just called - figured out what happened to his camera. He has a remote control cable on it (for night shots because sometimes just the tiny movement of hitting the button to take a shot moves the camera enough to blur the picture). Anyway he hit some setting on the cable that froze the camera so all is well now. He will be able to hit 2 spots on his way back home to get a few more pictures so he is happy. He was going to bring me back some donuts but the shop seems to be closed. I said that's God's way of saying I don't need no donuts! :rofl:

Dee - the doctor talked me into getting a whooping cough booster last year. Sometimes my seasonal allergy cough is enough to pop the eyeballs out of my head. I figured I didn't need whooping cough on top of that so I got the vaccine. I opted out of getting the ball cover for the chair - many reviews said it made it uncomfortably warm to sit on. I figured I could put a towel over the chair if I needed it. Amazon started charging us tax on our orders also because they built a distribution center somewhere in Wisconsin. :sad: The tax man always gets their money. We have to charge sales tax at the Thrift Store too - sometimes people complain about that also, can't help that we have to follow the rules :shrug:

Michelle - good to hear that your rotator was not as bad as your feared it could be. Whew!

Shad - are you still sick and feeling poorly? Working 16 hours a day doesn't do much for getting your stamina and strength back!

Well coffee cup is empty - I need to find something for a mid morning snack. This 21 Day Fit diet sure does take some planning - I must have spent 3 hours on it yesterday. I know what my choices are - just have to figure out something that sounds appealing to me and first thing in the morning, no food ever sounds good :lol: Have a good day everyone.

Ceejay- no my Mom is not coming up. At a few weeks shy of 89, the long drive is getting to be too much for her so I will fly/hitch a ride down when I can to visit her instead. She is staying with my nephew at my sister's when they come up. My sister has recruited a bunch of neighbors, friends and family to keep an eye on them. Mom is telling everyone J (nephew) is going to babysit Mom :lol:

Sorry to hear you are still a bit on the down side. Maybe it's the gloomy cooler weather moving in. :hug: I hear you on the sore knees. I am seriously considering cutting out the sugar to help with the aches and pains myself.

Hello Everyone!

HAPPY...Glad DH got his camera figured out. What a bummer if it was defunct. Guess it was just OE...Operator Error. lol. He sure does get a lot of gorgeous shots. I am waiting on your combined book with DH, you and Shaddie. Get one it. I look forward to being alone sometimes too. Don't seem to get many "me" days. Altho C is going to his parents house next Tuesday and will stay over coming back on Wednesday. Looking forward to that. Off to the thrift shop. Hey I did find a thrift shop when I took a detour home to avoid a train and saw it, unfortunately it is in a bad area and don't have the nerve to stop. Too many random shootings in that area. Company is a sure motivator to cleaning the house. It sure motivates me. Congrats to Sis on her 25 yr anniversary.

CEEG...perk up girl. Get out of your funk. Sending happy vibes your way.

SUSIE...geez, you are such a miracle worker at your job they expect the impossible from you. Write that down for amo when it comes review time. Blow it right back at them. Hope you have a wonderful time off for your anniversary. Congrats to you and yours.

TERRA...sounds like a great reason not to take your laundry downstairs. Yikes didn't realize you had CP.

LAURA...Thanks for the movie reviews. I wrote them down for a future rental. Yeah for the boss to be out of the office. My manager is out the week of the 19th, looking forward to it very much. Enjoy your day off whichever you chose.

Last night's AA meeting was very good. I am now secretary of that meeting on Monday nights. I am really enjoying the meetings and some of the information applies to other areas of my life. Weightloss for one, getting grounded, and the quilt with some things.

Got on the scales and since working with this Fitbit for one week, I am down another 1.7 lbs. If nothing else it helps me with tracking calories. The rest of the things, steps, miles, heart rate, etc are just a bonus feature for me. I am also sleeping better than I expected. Between C getting his pap and me changing my life, I have slept through the night more often than not. What a difference.

We are having a surprise birthday gathering for Michael as he will be 64 on October 11. The gathering will be on the 17th so he won't expect a thing. I am baking him a carrot cake as that is his favorite. He is still hanging in there. Last week's check up came back extra good. Keep praying please.

That is about it for me. Have a marvelous day/night.

Hugs to all.

Morning all. Still no sun here. Bleh. Maybe tomorrow.

Happy – I’m glad you’ve got a more sane week lined up for yourself. You were really busy last week! ---Yeh, I guess when I start thinking of all the stuff around the house that needs to be done, I get a bit overwhelmed. ----Re the organizing/de-cluttering – I’ve heard of that book you mentioned. One of main concepts is that if an object doesn’t bring you joy, you shouldn’t keep it around you. I have to say that all the !@#$% paperwork I have hanging around certainly doesn’t bring me joy, but I know I can’t just get rid of it all. So I’m sure the book must address stuff like that too – the necessary evils, LOL. Maybe I’ll get myself on the hold list for that book at the library. --- How nice that your sister will be visiting for a week. ---Cool that you now have a 2nd set of the food plan containers. I browse the FB virtual garage sale sites and saw someone selling those items. ---Good that dh’s camera isn’t broken!! LOL re the nephew babysitting his grandma. :D

Terra – I didn’t realize you have CP. The wife of one of my bf’s friends has CP and she too has balance issues. You had a really early wakeup the other day – I hope you’re back to a more normal sleep schedule.

Ceejay – I’m sorry you’re feeling depressed. Maybe it’s the time of year – getting darker earlier, etc. You've got to plan something fun for your weekend!

Susie – Your Director had a lot of nerve with a request like that on such short notice!! Don’t let them forget that when you meet to discuss your workload in November!! I bet you’re really looking forward to your time off on Thursday & Friday. I wasn’t aware that 3fc had a new format, but then again I either view the mobile site format on my android phone, or on my work computer. And at work, our IT group has not updated the version of Internet Explorer that we use (we're still on version 9, and there are a lot of sites that don't work right with it), so maybe that's a factor with me not seeing the new 3fc site format.

Annie – I’m so glad you’re sleeping better now. Yes, a lot of changes for you! And positive one! :carrot: I’m glad AA is working for you. Great job on the weight loss. Are you using the fitbit to track your eating? I honestly haven’t been utilizing mine to its fullest benefit or even learned all the features. In fact, the app didn’t carry over with my phone’s operating system update whenever that was and just this morning was when I finally reinstalled it, hahaha. Now that it’s been cooler outside, I should get out for some walks at lunchtime - in the short window before it’s too cold for me to want to do that. Yay for M’s good checkup. You’ve got a nice b-day gathering planned for him.

Hellos to the rest of you.
--
I dragged myself to the Pilates class last night and was glad I did. I have to get myself to work out a couple more times per week…

Dunno if I’ll go to movie night tonight. Just not up for it lately.

Nothing much to report, so I’ll post.

Hi girls :smug:
This week our warm temps r back hitting 60*-70*, so we have time to caulk any windows & weatherize for the icy winter. I'm supposed to b filling in some concrete cracks in the garage floor right now, but I'm a short break to say "hello" to you'all. I enjoy Fall temps so nice & cozy to snuggle into soft warm blankets & sweaters. But my favorite temps r 50*-80* :cool: I'd love it if our northern winters had just 1 month of below 50* & 1 month of snow & No ice pLease ;)

Dh picked cucumbers, tomatoes & bell peppers on Sunday & I made 2 huge salads dicing them into 2, 2 qt. bowls & I ate 1 bowl yesterday topping w fresh shredded Wisconsin cheese (I froze a block for myself that has dill & mushrooms in it :p) that we bought when we helped move Ds1 back to MI. Then I made a homemade veggie pot pies for supper, I fried bacon in a glass pie plate in my microwave for pie topping :T Dh said the cool Fall temps r giving him cravings :D & wants something Sweet daily now. I made caramel apples drizzled w hot fudge & dipped into a combo of chopped nuts (pistachio, cashew, walnut) for him & his friends @ work last week; some said they r paying $4 for similar apples that r not as good as mine r.

Our meatless days r Monday & then on Wednesday's for Jesus's sacrifice when we eat a fruit for breakfast, Fast during lunch & no snacks, & on Wednesdays I like to make a delish breakfast for supper, or a soup w dumplings, cornbread or southern buttermilk biscuits. I think tomorrow w b veggie omelets & w baked scalloped potatoes w half sweet potatoes & half russets & for dessert our neighbors maple tree syrup drizzled over fresh fruit on my homemade buttermilk biscuits. If we were in the same state I'd invite you'all over for supper w us tomorrow. I'm sure that you'all would leave our table w a smile on your face. Then relax near the fire-pit & play cribbage or a board game or sit in the hot tub, so you'd feel great to start a new work day on Thursday.

If anyone is doing Taco Tuesday, pLease try to offset your salt intake today, or offset your no-no food choices.

I hear a truck coming up our drive & the doggies r barking. Everyone have a great week. I'll b back to chime in w personals tomorrow :wave:

Good Morning Sweet Ladies...

LAURA...once you drag yourself to pilates, you feel so much better once it is over about yourself. That is what I have to tell myself as I do the 5 flights up and back down at work. I would be so easy to take the elevator each time as I have to pass the elevator to get to the stairs. What was the movie for last night? Did you go? Thanks for the support with my life changing issues. Yes I am using my Fitbit to track my food, sleep, WL, etc. As with anything new, it is fun for the moment. Walking to meetings at lunch adds 4 blocks easy.

DEE...not doing Taco Tuesdays anymore since I started my tracking of everything. All your food porn makes me jealous of the fresh picked veggies you got. Yum I would gladly come by for dinner if we lived closer.

Took Miss Sass to the vet for her yearly shots. The vet was very pleased with her. Staying fit, very clean ears, very nice skin, and very loveable. Also got her nails clipped. Came home, C had already pigged out on a couple of sandwiches and did not want dinner. Yea. I had a salad and some mini-rice cakes. Did a load of laundry, work clothes so had to be on top of it. Only dry them for about 7 minutes to get the wrinkles out, then hang them. In bed by 9:00, watched The Voice, it was a recap show so didn't finish watching it and went to bed.

Hello to everyone. Hugs and love.

Morning all.

Annie - Good job on the 5 flights up and down each day. I bet they are getting easier for you. It’s great when the body responds to your efforts! Yay for Sassy’s good checkup. I do most of my laundry the same way you do – fluff in the dryer for 5-10 minutes and then hang to dry. The clothes last longer that way, IMO. Oh, the movie selected last night was “Everest”. I skipped it. Not my thing – those types of movies terrify me, and with winter in the offing, I sure don’t need to watch something with cold, snow and ice.

Dee – I hope you have all your winterizing done by now. We don’t do much of that – just drain the garden hoses, close the valves to the outdoor spigots, cover the patio furniture. Oh, and this year we have to move the mulch bags out of the garage so one of the cars can be parked there when it gets cold/snowy. Your food sounds yummy. Is the veggie pie like a quiche? :love:

--
Nothing much to report. We went out for a half-price pizza last night. We have a freezer full of food - I need to just say “no” to suggestions like that. :rolleyes:

Everyone have a great day!!

Good morning fine ladies,

DH got home safe and sound if not more than a little tired from all that stair climbing he did. Kitties were very happy to see him, little brats were no where around when I went to bed alone but once DH crawled into bed - Nina was by his feet and Meadow was stretched across my bed. Go sleep on the porch Happy! :rofl:

It's a beautiful sunny day out - we have a few more before the chills and gray days move in although I am hoping and praying that the weather holds up nicely - UNUSUALLY nicely - for Sis and BIL's visit in 2 and a half weeks. They both need a break and while I can't do anything about the chilly nights, I can hope for warm, sunny days for them.

I have yoga today and need to pull the kinks out. Going to do some housework later and I am toying around the idea of making some soup, just can't decide on what right now. I also want to see that movie - The Martian about an astronaut that gets abandoned on a Mars mission - looks like it's good and got good reviews.

In our local paper today "Blind Hunter Shoots First Bear". Yep, a guy who is a big game hunter and is TOTALLY BLIND shot his first bear (with assistance from a sighted partner) just down the road from me. Seriously - whutdahheck ???? SMH

Annie - good for you for going pedal to the metal about exercising and living the clean life. You can do it girl! One good thing about being claustrophobic about elevators is that it's preferred to take the stairs :lol: Except when you work on the 10th floor. :faint: I am also glad to hear that you are sleeping better. Yay for the clean bill of health on Sassy - comes from good luvin' from her Mama ! We have a Serenity Center up here in town - I sure do wish they offered a program for OO. I think I could benefit from some of the positives of the program also as you point out. Keep up the good work and please share anything you may find beneficial. :hug:

Laura - I have mixed feelings about Everest. The part that turns me off about it is that people do it for selfish reasons THEN when they get stuck on a treacherous mountain, others risk (and lose) their lives to rescue them. I can understand setting a goal but when you have a family who depends on you or others who have to save your keester, maybe you need to reconsider putting your life at risk to do something simply because only a handful of people have accomplished it. And winter is bad enough without willfully trekking up a frigid mountain :lol: Good for you for getting to Pilates. Now that you have sampled a bunch of different exercise styles, what do you like best?

Dee - that's a novel idea with the pie plates for a bacon crust. Sounds like you have lots of great veggies to cook up. Yum yum. I love vegetables and would enjoy your meals. How are you feeling?

Susie - Happy Anniversary - I hope your offsite day is quiet and calm and that you have a most enjoyable long weekend with DH celebrating in whatever makes you happiest.

Ceejay - did your funk go away? The weather should be cooling down a bit and getting quite lovely. Get out before the storms move up from the Gulf :lol:

Terra - did you decide on which movies you want to watch and what snacks you will have on Halloween?

Michelle - how's the arm doing?

Hey Shaddie- what's happening on your side of the pond?

I need to decide on some lunch for me - wavering between 2 options. I should get my cards ready so I can drop them in the mail before yoga so they get out today.

Have a good day everyone.

Laura - I totally am with you on the comment about passing up convenient outside food when you have lots of stuff at home. Starting to notice that the restaurant food doesn't taste that good or make me feel that great any more. Yesterday I got home late and DH had been asking about some Famous Dave's pulled pork so I picked up a bunch of stuff. Turns out with the smoke flavoring and his spicy BBQ sauce, I couldn't eat much more than the mac and cheese (which I should not have eaten anyway) and a corn muffin top. Hope DH enjoys the rest ;)

LAURA...yep I work on the 16th floor and just caught wind there is going to be a fire drill sometime this week. I am NOT doing that again. I will just have to burn up. Not a team player on this one. Thanks for the support on my life's clean journey. Eating healthier and LESS is harder than the drink, believe it or not. Of course exercising is a real b*tch for me. lol. Glad DH got home safely. Your kitties loving DH, like my Sassy being all about C. Just sucks. I feed her, bathe her, clean out her house, let her in and out more than C, what gives? Little stinkers, they are. We are having beautiful days here also. Warm days, cool nights. We had a lot of fog this morning. C went fishing and called to say they did really well until it warmed up and got too hot for the fishies. They are heading back as I type. It is an hour and 45 minute drive. Probably be home before I get home from work. :( haha. Oh well I have a hair appointment tonight at 5, that will give me some relaxation and "me" time. Pumpkin or squash soup sounds delish, and I would probably drive up if you made some!

LAURA...we have a freezer full of food also. I got some boneless/skinless chickie breasties for 1.89 lb this week also thighs for the same price, so I have about 6-2 lb packages in the freezer. We go through a lot of chicken in our house. Neither of us eat red meat very often, except maybe hamburger in recipes like meatloaf, chili, or casseroles. I know what you mean on quick food, we eat pizza out or we pick up about once a week. I found a new place called Pizza Doughmain that is next door to my hair salon and my nail salon on the other side. YIKES for me! It is a family owned place and they make all their dough their and all fresh ingredients. I watched the lady chop up tomatos, lettuce, and shred cheese the last time I was there picking up a pizza. YUM. Sadly, this place is like 3 miles from the house.

Chat in the morning all....hugs.

Happy
I'm beginning to feel better. Still not completely over this depression. I envy all the fun things you are doing. BTW, don't feel bad about buying 2 bananas, I do that all the time. I'm learning the hard way to buy only what I am going to use. Bulk grocery shopping for me is not the best thing, except to have a few items on hand in case for something not seen. I only have a small freezer in the top on the fridge. My cousin's wife was going to make potato soup. So that's what I'm making this week end except mine will have ham.

Annie
Yea, another Fitbit user. I know one thing this little thing keeps me motivated. Still haven't gotten a handle on the calories yet. I do post my food in Fitbit which is over my 1500 calorie limit. Yea, for Sassy in having a good check up. She has a good mommy.

Dee
Wow hemming 16 pair of jeans. I need to hem some of mine too. The only thing I winterize is the out side faucet.

Laura
Did you make it to Pilates class? Wish there was something like that in our area. It's nice sometime to have a different option food wise.
I love my pizza but the take out pizza here is not good at all. Think my taste buds are changing cause all the fast food is tasting bad to me.

Hello's to the rest.

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Still not completely out of this depression or whatever you call it. Ugh. just got to shake it off some how.
At my uncles get together at lunch on Saturday my cousin had pictures of a cougar that he had killed in his yard. He lives out in the country. This is kind of spooky to me that their would be something like this this close to a persons home. The EPA has been letting wild life like this out in the wooded areas. Don't blame him for shooting it. He has grand children that live across the road. Their has been wild life around my uncles that I go visit at times to. One day we were setting on the deck and a funny looking cat came out of the woods. My uncle said it was a bob cat, but it was small. I'd much rater see the deer.

Hi Everyone--I just read through the posts and caught up on all of you.

Thank you to all of you for sympathizing with me over that notebook project. He did formally recognize the effort and the leadership that I showed in leading the effort to get it done and having others in the department help when they could.

That will be something I mention when we do our "results" at the end of the fiscal year in June.

Happy: I totally understand having so much to do and feeling overwhelmed. I work so much that it doesn't take very long for things to get behind at home and I can't stand that. So then I put off work and get caught up at home and the cycle starts again

I am glad to hear that DH's camera is ok. He takes such beautiful pictures.

Laura: Pizza is my favorite food. I don't think I could pass on a 1/2 price pizza.

Annie: I'm glad that you are finding the AA meetings helpful and not just in the area of drinking but with other addictive areas in your life. I'm not surprised you are the secretary now. It's just sort of a natural thing isn't it? ;)

Dee: Our fall temps disappeared this week but I heard they are coming back on Friday.

Ceejay: Remember that song that Karen Carpenter sang "what I got they used to call the blues..nothing is really wrong...feeling like I don't belong..hanging around, nothing to do but frown...." I think your blues are a combination of weather, and it wasn't that long ago you had the wonderful trip and now you are home...it's just a let down. Give it time, be kind to yourself and it will all balance out soon.

Laura: I meant to tell you that I really liked your picture that you had up. Very pretty!

Terra: I didn't know you had CP. I am even more impressed that you are doing Zumba and all that walking you do. You should be very proud of how hard you push yourself. Good for you!

Shad: How are you feeling? Your FB posts sound like you are really sick and I'm concerned.

Michelle: I think I saw something on FB that the recovery time for your shoulder is going to be longer than you thought?

My offsite was very nice today. The theme was "refresh, refocus, revive". I came away with a few actionable items I would like to make a part of my life in those areas. Also, I have to tell you that they gave away fun prizes during that day and at the end of the day they gave away the major prize..which was the beautiful huge basket that had beautiful chimes to use for meditation, two meditation CD's, this book that has 'Mindful moves" for bringing energy into your body, essential oils and one of those adult coloring books with all sort of beautiful markers....and I won it!!! I never win anything. I am so excited!!

Ok. I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow DH and I are sleeping in, going to brunch at our favorite breakfast place in Dayton, getting the oil changed in the early afternoon at the dealer. Then just browsing in the mall and I think the Cheesecake factory for dinner.

Friday, we are taking a day trip to Canton OH to go to the Pro-football hall of fame. DH wanted to go and take his dad as well. I am looking forward to watching the two of them on this trip.

I'll be back over the weekend.

Stupid me left my computer charger in Brisbane so have to conserve the battery left.

Still battling along, but the cough, cold and other nasties are slowly leaving. I'm starting to get a better nights sleep. That always helps.

Good Morning TGIT the day before TGIF....

SHADDIE...good to hear the nasties are easing up a bit. WOW what a heck of a cold you had.

SUSIE...Your time off sounds fun, happy you get to spend so quality time with DH and celebrate you anniversary.

CEEG...maybe you need a little pampering like a pedicure or massage. Kick this blah feeling to the curb and enjoy something you like!

Got my hair cut last night. The salon's hot water heater had gone out and I had the choice to either get a cold wash or dry cut. I picked the cold wash and actually enjoyed it. Invigorating!

C wasn't home when I got home they stopped and fished a little longer. He didn't actually get home until 7pm. I fixed me a small dinner and he wasn't hungry. Laundry, dishes and bed. Woke up at 2:30 and went to the couch, but actually fell right back to sleep once I hit the couch. I had been awake for about 30 minutes prior to that. Weird.

Hello to all...Hugs