Ha, I typed my post in Evernote & now I have a bunch of *'s. Oh well...

ok, so I am trying to get this page to load and the bottom part that would allow you to post does not show up. I had to refresh the screen 3 times.

Laura - found this ...

You can put up to $2,550 into an FSA each year. You generally must use that money within the plan year. But your employer may offer one of 2 options:

•It can provide a "grace period" of up to 2 ½ extra months to use the money in your FSA.


•It can allow you to carry over up to $500 per year to use in the following year.


Your employer can offer either one of these options but not both. It’s not required to offer either one.

Might be worth asking about. I got caught one year and had to lose almost $500 in money. I had underestimated that come November that everyone is trying to use up those health care dollars and I was not able to get into the dentist in time to get a crown replaced in that calendar year. You are on about the contacts BUT there are rules against stockpiling so it looks like there are limitation of 3 items for certain things. You can also consider lens solution as an FSA item. Prescription Glasses - maybe new sun glasses if you are desperate. If you get your doctor to officially declare you as obese (oh what fun THAT is) you can sometimes claim your gym membership or dues to Weight Watchers. You can create a first aid kit for home and expense those items against FSA. Reading glasses, wrist supports, birth control, heating pads, vaccinations. Did you go through your prescription claims for this year and get reimbursed? Good luck - sometimes this is really tedious.

Another cold one at 34 degrees this morning.
Waiting for the chemical truck to arrive.
Talked to my sister in Missouri last night. She was wanting to know the treatment for my blood pressure.
Yesterday was a boring day at work. Had one small power outage and another person called about the cover on her water meter being off and if her German Shepard stepped in it and hurt it's legs the city would pay for the Vet bill. We do have a lot of customer complaints.
Turned my space heater on this morning to take out the chill and can't remember whether or not I turn it off. There's no way they will let me off for this.
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Happy
I've been having trouble seeing the post after I choose the post quick reply button. I'm almost glad that I don't have the HSA now. That's to complicated for me.

Morning all. Sunny out there and soon to be above freezing. All we need is for the snow to start melting.

Happy – Thanks for all the suggestions! I will definitely ask my company benefits group about the FSA options. I always thought we had a “grace period” to get the documents submitted to the FSA people, but the spending would have to be done by 12/31. Maybe I’m wrong and the spending can happen during the grace period. Best to get that clarified for myself. The idea of prescription sunglasses crossed my mind, especially since I’ve been wearing my eyeglasses more and contacts less lately. LOL re the stockpiling – dang, that spoils my plan of buying a bunch of blood pressure monitors to sell at the flea market, hahaha. The admin and I were joking about that last week. My prescription meds are up to date and have all gone through the FSA account. I have one payment that I recall - for contact lenses - that I didn’t pay through the FSA, but that’s about it. But I really need to go through my receipts to see what else there might be. There was probably never a benefits year in the recent past where at some point the FSA got goofed up and the card would get suspended, or they’d threaten suspension, because a receipt wasn’t submitted, or whatever. So there’d be a time when we couldn’t use the FSA debit card to pay for something and we'd pay out of pocket and the expense would have to be manually submitted to the FSA later on for reimbursement. I’m happy to not have to deal with that kind of stuff when the 2016 benefit year starts!

Ceejay – Gosh, I hope you turned off the space heater! Otherwise, I hope there’s nothing too close to it that’s flammable. It’s too bad you couldn’t just run back home to check. Do you work close to home? You’d think if it was less than an hour, they could spare you for that.

Hellos to the rest of you. Oh, Annie , great photo of you and the grandkids!
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Well, it seems I lost my fitbit sometime this morning. I know I took it off this morning to shower, and then I put it back on. After that…dunno. I noticed it wasn’t on my wrist when I was putting my coat on before getting off the train downtown. I looked around my seat, but didn’t see it. According to my fitbit app, it said it last synced at 7:08, while I was still at home. I think it would certainly have synced after that if it was still on my wrist during my commute (i.e., close to my smartphone). I’ll have to phone bf and have him take a look around.

Nothing much else to report. Bf made a couple batches of jerky this weekend. Along with the food dehydrator, he’d bought a kit with a calk-gun type thingy for forming strips or sticks, some flavoring spices, and some curing powder, which he said was like salt. He used ground beef and made jerky strips, one was plain (?) and one was cracked pepper and garlic flavor. They turned out good, but are salty, like jerky can be. I thought he’d be using whole cuts of meat, not ground, so I suppose I learned something… I’ll have to read through the user manual and maybe do some online research to learn more. I think I’m going to make doggy some plain old dried sweet potato slices for treats. We have a mandolin, so I can slice the potato thinly and evenly.

That’s about it for me. Have a great day everyone.

Good afternoon-eve-night-morning....lol all

Had a wonderful TG on Saturday with the fam. It was peaceful and pleasant. All the food turned out great, except I cut my thumb rather badly while pealing potatos and forgot about the rolls in the oven and they were burnt. Thankfully I am married to the bread man and had spare rolls. lol

Sunday was a lazy day, no church, didn't even get dressed until noon. Ran to the bank machine to deposit some $$, stopped at the store to get a lighter to light my new candle and home again. Made turkey manhattens for dinner, Michael stopped and ate with us.

Now here we are at work. Only a 3 day week so today is my Wednesday. Yeah. Sis is going to color my hair after work today. That will be relaxing plus I will get to visit with the babes. Thanks for the complements on the pix with the g-babes. I like it a lot. THat was taken about two weeks after my heart attack. Rallied pretty well I think.

LAURA...hope you get the health insurance figured out. It is all such a farce anyway. I heard United Health is pulling out of the Obamacare plan. That in itself is scary, especially for those that chose to go with United. Hope you find your fitbit, those things are not cheap. I am over it now and could care less when I forget to wear it. I only use it for my steps at the moment, but tomorrow I go to my first cardiac rehab so that might be interesting to wear it then. Altho tomorrow is orientation only.

CEEG...it is mighty cold here too! I think we all got hit with the cold weather one way or another. BOring at work makes for very long days. bleh.

HAPPY...poor deer don't have a chance here. Seems everyone is posting pix of deer heads over the weekend here. Everyone but my son, he hasn't got one yet. lol. He is too soft hearted. He keeps telling me he has spotted several, but thought they were too young to shoot, or skinny or this or that. Too funny that boy. Glasses are just a plain pain to get right. I just finally gave up on mine. I did do the turkey like you suggested, it was VERY tasty and juicy and had many compliments on it. Thanks for the recipe.

SUSIE...your job is too stressful for me. I think I would lose my cool and just quit trying so hard. Speaking of Debbie MaComber books, do you watch the series on TV with Andie McDowell that is based on one of her books? Cedar Cove I believe it is called. I used to watch it religiously but now just catch it every now and then. I forget it is on. CONGRATS on the WL. Good job!! Sorry we missed each other when you were through here. I just cannot stay up late anymore. I get so tired so easily. I am beginning to think it is more the meds than anything. I have a list of questions going for the doc on Dec 4th check up.

DEE....the work on the dining room sounds so lovely. I have one piece of stained glass a friend of mine made me. Used to fit my window of my old house, now I just have it displayed. It was a peep window in the front door shaped like a stop sign, about 8" across, point to point.

Hello to the rest of you. TERRA must of dropped off as she has not posted since 11/5. Hope she is ok.

Hello to CHELLE, hope you are feeling better with that shoulder and gaining strength rapidly.

Hi SHADDIE, Only 4 weeks till Christmas.

Love and hugs all.

Hi Annie. Happy "Wednesday" to you, I'm taking a vacation day on Wed., so today is my Thursday. Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Now you have a lovely stress-free 4-day weekend coming up. --- Wow, must be a really nice candle to warrant its own lighter, hehe.

Bf phoned me a short time ago to tell me he hadn't found the fitbit. I had him check the sleeve of the jacket I wore out in the yard with doggy this morning and 'lo and behold - there it was. That's nice because it was a Christmas gift and I'd hate to be asked about it and have to say I lost it. I've finally gotten into the habit of wearing it all the time now, so it helps a bit with motivation to get my steps. If it wasn't found, I'd have just gone back to my pedometer.

BTW, I've gone back to tracking my eating on my fitness pal and I see Terra tracking on there (we became buddies on there a while back).

Hi Everyone. I was so glad to get off work today. I'm covering for 3 other Admin's plus my work and of course EVERYONE had a issue or two or 3 today.

DH has a meeting tonight at 7-8 and so I'm going to work for that hour and get 2 things that I really wanted to get done today but that is as long as I am working.

I am here to check in and keep my mind on my weight loss efforts..it's not easy for me when I am alone in the house with food. I am a "sneak eater".

Annie: what do they say to do in AA when you are alone and think "I can have one and no one will know?"

I'm curious about your appointment tomorrow and what they tell you exercise wise what they want you to do.

I don't watch that series but I have read all the books. Did you watch the New Hallmark movie last night at 9 p.m? I did and I really enjoyed it. DH watched it with me and when they showed all the new ones coming on in the next few Sunday's, I heard him sigh!

Laura: What a PITA with the FSA! I hope you come up with a way to spend that money, you sure don't want to lose it. You were talking about chiropractic massages. I know that some chiropractors have someone in their office that does them right there, so maybe call and see about that.

I also think a pair of prescription sunglasses sounds like a good way to spend some of that money. I never thought about that. Happy--you have a handle on this FSA stuff!

I am glad that you found your fit bit. I lost mine once and it drove me crazy!

I'm wondering if Terra is having a hard time getting to the forum and finding the page? I know when I sign on to the site, the 3FC comes up and I click on Support Forums but it doesn't take me to anything unless I click on one of the ones they have off to the side and then it takes me to that one but I can maneuver backwards to find our thread.

Ceejay: Was your heater off? I sure hope so. I'm a bit ticked off that they wouldn't let you leave for that. I mean, you work long shifts for them when needed and come in when you should be off. I would have told them I had an emergency at home and needed to check on it and I would take it off my lunch time.

Time to get to work so I can be done when DH gets home and relax with him a bit.

See you all tomorrow!

My heater was off last night when I got home. I need to start unplugging it to make sure.
I'm taking tomorrow off and I've scheduled a doctor's appointment for a wellness check and rx's. I'm switching back to my doctor in Jonesboro.
The boss called me yesterday to call the other operators and tell them we are having steak and potato's tomorrow for lunch. He said last year he ate turkey and dressing for 5 days so he wanted something different.
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Susie
I could have sent one of the guys to the house to check on it for me, but once I'm here I'm here for the 12 hours. Good for you in taking off work.

Laura
Glad the Fitbit was found. I'm so used to wearing mine that I feel lost without it. I have the Zip. I need to start tracking my food again too. I use the Fitbit app to do that. You have snow!

Annie
Glad you had a good thanksgiving meal together with family. Something to be thankful for.

morning all,

I have to go to the shelter shortly for another training session and then over to the thrift shop for my afternoon shift so I'll have to try and get back here later to post. Hope all is well with everyone.

Well Bullship I lost my post.

Cardiac Rehab was orientation only. Short class about nutrition, how the heart works, exercise, paper work, a tour of the facility-which was very nice and clean, then an EKG, blood pressure taken 6 times, lying down in both arms, standing in both arms, sitting in both arms, highest was 130/74 lowest was 112/70, all was good. No exercise today. Next Monday is getting familiar with the equipment and exercising then my appts are M-W-F at 4pm. Each session cost $250.00, thank the good Lord I have met my deductible. She said since there was no damage to my heart and I am doing so well, that likely I will be on maintenance by the new year and it is only $35.00 a month. The 250. a session is because you are hooked up and monitored every time, maintenance you are not monitored. It is just considered like a fitness facility. They do have a men/women's locker rooms with showers. My goal is to lose 20 more lbs. Even tho I weigh less than I have in a few years, I would like to lose another 20 to go with this 30 I have already lost. My waist measured 39 inches, yikes....

I will come back for personals, I need to get busy, didn't get into work till 11:00. Yeee, and lots to do, tomorrow yucky Wednesday.

Hugs

Morning all. The admin is out this week and I'm doing something she usually does, only much less quickly and efficiently than she does it because I rarely do it. And of course there's a complication to deal with. Bleh.

Susie - I hope things are calmer for you at work today!! I know what you mean about "sneak eating". I'm also not to be trusted when I go grocery shopping by myself - I come home with all kinds of junk! Yeh, the FSA is a PITA. I checked our benefits site for the deadlines and any grace periods, and of course there's nothing there about it. So now I have an e-mail in to HR about this.

Ceejay - I'm glad the heater was off when you got home, and I'm sure your electric bill will thank you too, haha. I agree about unplugging the heater - that's the sure way to know. Re the fitbit - I've been wearing it 24/7 lately, even to bed, which is silly because I don't track my sleep. It's just easier to keep it on. Wow, enjoy the steak and potato lunch!

Happy - Have a good day with the shelter/shop stuff

Annie - Wow, that's a lot of monitoring - and every time!!! Well, at least they'll know if something's not what it should be. And thank goodness you met your deductible!!!

Hellos to the rest of you!!

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Nothing much to report. Went to the last Pilates class of the session last night. The new park district catalog still hasn't been delivered in the mail - this week they say. Someone new is doing this job and the timing is different as well....Anyway, I learned I can go online to register for classes now if I want. As usual, the punchcard/passports are purchased in person. I'm gonna take a look at the catalog online during lunch.

Today's my last day in the office, and I don't return until next Tuesday. We still need some stuff for Thanksgiving dinner, so we'll probably go shopping tonight. Tomorrow will be cleaning and food prep.

That's it for me.

Morning all,
Figured I might come in early today and say hello to you all while no-one else (apart from the cleaning lady and her noisy vacuum cleaner) around. Things get hectic here during the day. People coming for miles asking questions that I have to figure out and then there is the daily running battle of stock adjustments. Some get it that they have to keep an eye on the stock, many don't and some just don't care. If I leave a lasting legacy, it will be that they feel guilty if they haven't cleared their supermarket stocks and/or checked the W.I.P. stocks. Such is the power of my broomstick.

Last weekend I flew to Wellington. My brother, niece and her painful other half, plus my great nieces were over for a holiday and they were due to be in Wellington for a couple of days before flying back to Brisbane. We all went out to dinner on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I stayed with Chris (from Japan days) and she is holding up okay despite all the varying ailments that plague her. She still manages to work both teaching in the classroom and doing lessons for Correspondence school. Then I flew home Sunday night and back here on Monday. According to the roster, I should only be working 8.00 to 4.30 but if that happened - apart from the skies falling in - there would again be a huge backlog of work and I would get stressed out as I was on Friday. Boy was I pleased to get out of here on Friday.

I don't think I can do personals right now. Pleased to see that most of you are doing okay and in varying stages of wellness. I'd better get on and have a look at the e-mails - which if recent weeks are anything to go by I will have another inbox full from the afternoon and night shifts.

Catch you all later

Good Morning all.

Happy Wednesday and day before Thanksgiving. Wow do I have plenty of thing which to be thankful. Amen!! Especially you sweet ladies.

Today will be a very busy day here at work. Then off for 4 days. Yeah! I worked until 6 last night in hopes that I could get out of here at a decent time today. For some reason I could not go to sleep last night, it was after 12 before I slept. Weird. First time in two months. We had Taco Bell for dinner as that is what I picked up on the way home. Probably too much salt however I didn't finish what I ordered, didn't taste right to me.

SHADDIE...I will be glad when you are finally home cause woman, you are wearing me out.

LAURA...Wow you get 5 days off of work, lucky dog, enjoy your time off even if you only just laz around.

SUSIE...when you are struggling with something, the biggest suggestion I have received from AA is to say the serenity prayer, over and over if that is what it takes to get past whatever is bothering you. It works for me. Also, AA says to get out of yourself. In other words, think of other people, help other people, pray for other people. Steer yourself away from you. I didn't get to watch the 9pm Sunday Hallmark movie as I go to bed by then on work nights. I am an old codger now. lol.

HAPPY...did you survive the training yesterday. Anyone participate, more than that, did they grasp how to do it?

HAPPY TURKEY DAY TOMORROW TO ALL...make it a great day/night!

Love and Hugs.

Morning all,
Another early start, to get the important things done before the hoardes arrive. Night shift is always quiet and they aren't about to bother me (as they haven't worked out that I am here yet).

Annie - you are listening to your body which is a good sign. I'm sorry if I wear you out, but you ought to be glad you aren't on the inside of my brain when I go home at night. It's a terrible place to be that is for sure.

I am so ready for home. I've sorted and paid for the kids airfares to Brisbane. They arrive 20th December. I now have to sort mine home for the 18th December and after that it will be all go, getting the incumbent kids out for their cruise and the change of beds, get the cot mattress for little Missy to sleep on, clean the house, try to get the gardens under control and get into the cat's good books again.
And the weather will be HOT. Not like here where for some reason rain in the North is almost continuous. You get starry nights and mild temps and then the rain comes at dawn. No wonder everything looks green and luscious.

The accountant sent me a message the other day. She is working on my tax stuff. Sometimes I wonder if she is working for me or the ATO. But anyway, she's gone to Thailand to see her son married off. He is not marrying a Thai, just that they liked the place so everyone had to payout to get there if they wanted to go to the wedding. Not sure of this fashion - let's get married on the beach in Hawaii or Thailand, or the Caribbean or on the wharf at Sydney with the opera house in the background. Not that I am bound to a church wedding. Just seems to me that there is a big expense for the loved ones to get to the wedding and accommodate themselves. Still I am old - what do I know.

Okay, better go check out the unlovely inbox and see what horrors await the rest of the day.

Hi girls
I finished picking up the last of our Thanksgiving feast foods @ noon. It's scary to think about the calories I'll eat tomorrow. Thank you for your kind words about my recent Interior Design job.

to everyone that has the week off. This is Dh's last work day & he's very happy too. I remember when I was in my 20's & 30's & I had retail jobs that I worked all except on Christmas day, it's a nice reminder to me to give gifts to the ppl that work retail w small gifts when I shop @ their stores. When I see the purse size Avon hand lotions on sale during the fall, I buy those & put them inside the mini organza bags from Amazon that are about 100/$5 & have them inside my purse to give just before Christmas. The ppl that regularly help us I give gift cards w a food gift also; some ppl that compliment what I do, I'll give their gift from my handcrafted products they've admired or a discount on my services. Do you give gift cards, cash, gifts to ppl that are helpful to you, or donate to charities?

I just finished peeling my russet potatoes & sweet potatoes to alternate the layers for my scalloped potatoes, they're a big hit w everyone especially the g-babes; also my broccoli/cauliflower/cheese/crouton casserole that I let the g-babes make themselves Oh, I cheat when I peel my taters because I put them on a spindle peeler & crank the skins off & then remove the eyes & drop them in my food processor to slice, Bam they're done.

I have desserts to go start making for tomorrow now, no time for personals right now.

With Hugs & Blessings for a Wonderful Thanksgiving week for You & Your Family Dee