Morning all,

We are in the middle of another hot spell and today will hit 36C with no rain in sight again. *sigh*. Yesterday the dog and I planted corn. Today we have some tomatoes to plant, some capsicum and some lettuce. Then I will have to fence off the garden so he does not dig it all up again. He sure has his moments, but he is learning that there are things he just can not have. German Shepherds are big and take a while to 'grow up' but they learn fast and have an extremely dominant streak and will - which is why they make magnificent guard dogs and K-9s.

Today I am having lunch with an old friend. We don't see each other often and now that she has retired she has taken up with a group called Ageless Grace which she thoroughly enjoys and is usually off somewhere with them. Anyway our schedules seem to have meshed this week and we are meeting up to have lunch in one of the bigger garden centres about halfway between her place and mine.

Happy - It's not such a bad thing to have a treat every so often. It's sounds like you Valentines day was really nice and you made good choices. Haven't had lobster for ages. They are somewhat pricey round here and only for anniversaries and birthdays etc. Pity because I love them.
The Gold Coast to the south of us is pretty pricey. However it has, like most cities, good areas and areas to stay away from. Parts of it (close to the beaches) are tall buildings, high prices, lots of tourists, and it's known as the party place. Other parts are just like anywhere else. Australia is a vast country with a smallish population, but just about everyone lives on the coastal fringes. The rest is practically all desert. Brisbane is the third largest city. Along with the satellite cities, such as Logan where I live, there are approximately 3 million living here. Sydney has 6 million. Melbourne is somewhere in the middle of these two and we have a complete population of around 28 million. There is good and bad areas everywhere. Doesn't matter where you go. So yeah, we have urban sprawl in the cities. Use up all the good land which used to be market gardens and build the biggest houses on the smallest blocks and then have to import food from China or Indonesia or somewhere equally unsavoury for growing food. Okay off the :soap:
Taking your pet on holiday with you is big here. There are many places which are dog or cat or canary friendly. There are some fairly strict rules about what they are allowed to do and where they can go, but on the whole they keep the campers with pets in an area away from the other parts of the camp. This particular one, they had a cabin with only a few facilities and the washing/ cleansing facilities were communal, but there are others a little more glamorous than that. Anyway, they enjoyed it and the hound came home absolutely worn out. Such joy.
I have decided not to 'help' friends out and post their things on facebook. Just gets me into hot water with other friends.
Hope the pt goes well this week and you end up feeling somewhat better.

Annie - I spent the weekend doing things that I can't get around to when the others are here. For example, tidying up the linen cupboard and sorting out which towels are only fit for the ODDU and which are ours. Otherwise I can see my nice white towels taking a trip to the beach or being used for muddy feet. The house is almost back to where it needs to be, but there is still cr*p lying about outside and in the shed.
I'm pleased to hear that C is improving and doing the right things, however it is not good that he has to go back to the butt doctor for further treatment.
I saw that picture of the car graveyard in the snow that you put up on facebook - what a mess. How long does it take for people to learn that speed does not mix with ice on roads - or off them for that matter.
How lovely for you that you had dinner with your brothers - it's nice to get them all together once in a while. Regardless of health, with age comes the risk that we won't be together for all that much longer. Take lots of photos and keep lots of memories.

Michelle - glad to see that you had a great time with your friend over the weekend. Nice that you can share and exchange shifts with co-workers. 85lbs is a large weight loss. Good going girl. Hopefully you can shift the extra 35 before too long.

Ceejay - falling asleep on the sofa is the way to travel :rofl: I do it frequently.

Susie - fixing the dishwasher wasn't all that big of a deal. I only took the top part of it apart. Pretty simple. I don't touch electricity and am very wary around the plumbing - although I have done a bit of that in my time. It was a simple matter of taking apart the first thing, then when that didn't work, the next thing, then when that didn't work , the next layer.
Nice that you got the day off.
Get back on that treadmill and the bike. Only going to lose it if you move it.

Laura - that seafood dinner sounded divine. I just love fish and shell fish and crustaceans etc. Yum Yum

With that, I am off to feed the cats. ODDU has gone with his folks to drop DS2 off at work. They will be looking forward to when he gets his truck fixed and/or the ute back in working order. The court hearing about the purchase of the truck is this Friday. I have little hope of justice being served, and I have little hope of compensation for his costs since having the truck. The law is about power and money and not justice.

Oh and before I go, I appear to have another job! I have not interviewed, just expressed an interest and now I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out. And the training manager had no idea either. We have been in touch fairly frequently about this job. Anyway, I got an e-mail yesterday and got in touch with her to see if this was spam or not. Apparently not. You have to fill in this stuff in order to get clearance for work. It will take up to 5 weeks for clearance, so once that goes in I can start to look for accommodation and stuff. This job is in Sydney - or at least just south of Sydney. First time ever I have got a job without doing an interview.

Anyway, I am off to feed the cats, and finish off in the salad patch in the garden (lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum and possibly peas).

Cya

THree things...

Good Morning/night to all.

HAPPY...I have a fitbit HR, I like it a lot and I think it is pretty accurate. I have watched the steps accumulate and they seem to be right on for the most part.

I fell in the parking garage on the way in this morning and will soon be off to get my KNEES at look at. Can barely walk on the left bad knee. I am a mess. Mind is in the right place tho. haha.

Have a good day. No personals today.

Annie
Ouch on the fall. Hope your knees are okay. I always have the fear of falling..

Shad
The jobs come looking for you. I've heard that German Shepard's are good guard dogs.

Laura
I forgot to mention this but I've been sleeping on a rolled up towel. It has really helped my neck pain.

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Nothing new for me.

Good morning ladies,

Quick check in for me today - I have to be off to the shop early and I wanted to make a quick on plan veggie soup to take with me for lunch so not much time to be on the computer.

Annie - I am so sorry to hear about your fall. I hope you didn't crack anything. Please my dear, I do not feel the need for you to do a show of support with those of us with gimpy knees at the moment. Please update us on the outcome. :hug:

Ceejay - many people have recommended the rolled up towel technique. I have to use one for me knee exercises. Good reason to keep large, fluffy towels :D

Shad - hope you enjoyed lunch with your friend. It seems like you are planting some things that at least up this way - like it much cooler than your summers - lettuces and peas to be exact. No rocket or do you find it bolts too quickly like corriander? How nice that a new job found you. I'd say you have a good reputation and that's why no interview. Either that or they are desperate :rofl: I was surprised at how populated Brisbane is - you had commented in the past (at least I thought so) about Sydney being too busy for you but it appears that Brisbane is pretty bustling itself.

Therapy went fine yesterday. I said I did everything she told me and I hurt more than ever - she said to ease up on some of the things I was doing. It's unbelievable how tight some of those muscles are. I was also glad she had a cancellation for tomorrow's session - 8:30 instead of 7am :yay: 90 minutes makes a big difference.

Wish I could stay longer but the clock is ticking at double time. Hello to the rest of the chicks - will catch up tonight. Have a good one - again, hope you will be ok Annie.

Afternoon all. Been an annoying day so far. Some days are like that. :shrug:

Happy - You and Ceejay talking about making veggie soup makes me want to join the club.--- In the past, I've also faithfully done the PT exercises as assigned and ended up with more pain (and was told to ease up). How nice you don't have to be to your next PT quite as early!!:carrot: ---- The new griddle - a cuisinart griddler has grill plates that reverse to griddle plates and can be used for cooking all sorts of things. We will use it for foods that we would normally grill outdoors during warmer weather - burgers, steaks, chicken. And also good for panini, grilled cheese, etc. ---Oh, meant to tell you that the dvr unit we have hooked up to our tv in the basement is a standalone unit we bought at an electronics store. It is not a cable company box. It is a dvd player, and has a hard drive to which programs can be recorded. And recorded programs can be copied onto blank dvds. Ours is a Sony. It is many years old by now. I don't know how common they are, but you'd think they'd still be available because of their ability to copy onto a dvd.

Ceejay - I've been using a neck roll pillow at the base of my usual pillow and it helps.

Annie - Oh girl, so sorry you fell. :( Hope you didn't seriously injure either of your knees. Your weekend sounded nice. Nice fb pic of you and the sibs.

Shad - I read a while back about some sort of indoor vertical farm here in the Chicago area, as well as a sprawling greenhouse out in the boondocks for year-round growing so purveyors can source food locally year 'round. Re seafood - yeh, love it!! But in our part of the country, I won't go to just any old restaurant to have seafood. The restaurant we went to is always very busy and to me that ensures we get very fresh seafood. Bf would like to go there every month. Ah, if money were no object....

Michelle - I'm glad you enjoyed the weekend with your friend.

Susie - Hope you enjoyed your day off and your hair appointment.

==
Well, let's see. My day off yesterday was so-so. The dentist adjusted my nightguard. I wore it last night and still have pain, though it is now equal on both sides of my jaw. Guess I will just wear the thing and see if my jaw muscles will eventually get accustomed to this.

I watched half the season of Fargo over the past couple days and then had to return the dvd to the library. I put it on hold again and am in queue position #7. I'm all caught up now with the Downton Abbey shows I had on the dvr.

I did go to Pilates class last night. I wore my yoga socks (fine), but forgot to wear my new headband. Sigh. Three more Pilates classes to go.

The park district's spring brochure came out last week. I don't see another "special registration" class I want to try out in the next session, but I guess I can buy a punchcard and choose from those others. I'm less than enthusiastic at the moment...I'd rather work out at home, but that might be because I want to go easy on myself, hahaha. Oh, and bf will also have his next set of classes on Tues/Thurs so I prefer not to leave the dog all alone those nights. Well, classes are only an hour.... Anyway, that leaves only Wednesday since I have Monday-itis and prefer not to do classes on the weekend. Oh, there's a class on Friday evening but it's a toughie...

I'm current on my plank challenge.

What else.

Bf bought a wi-fi extender so we get a better wi-fi signal in certain areas of the house where it was weak. It seems to work. He also ordered an external hard drive for our desktop computer. I'll have to get my photos on there.

We ordered the cushy kitchen runner off Amazon. Should be here soon. Bf got a free trial of Amazon Prime through school. Nice.

Bf's uncle in FL passed away late last week (age 87). Bf's sister went ahead and invited the family to what I'll call a "public open house" memorial service this coming Saturday that is open to anyone. Bf took issue with it and he and his sister are now at loggerheads. First off, it's very short notice, and second it's not private, third, it's not geographically close to anyone in the family, and fourth, she should have consulted with her mom and aunt before shooting out an invite. I agree that it would be preferable to just set a date in a few weeks to have a dinner to just sit around and share memories.

I think that's about it, so I'll post now.

Happy - Like that avatar! :D

Sending healing energy and prayers to those of you hurting and feeling gimpy and all that. I hope that stuff's not catching! I'm already behind on my 1/2 marathon training....no time to be gimpy.

Had a session with my personal trainer this am, but I got there too late to get any real running in....just a few minutes of cardio warmup before we dove into strength training. It doesn't make financial sense for me to do cardio during the personal training session...Cardio is something I can do on my own and don't need to worry about having a professional keep an eye on my form. Anyway, I'm planning to hit the gym after work to run at least a couple miles on the treadmill. Santa is in day care today (and tomorrow) due to lengthy work meetings and the fact that he can be barky when I'm away from my desk too long.

Annie - I saw your request on FB for prayers...are those for your knee, for C, for your brother, for your son, or all of the above. You and your fam are always in my prayers.

Happy - I have a FitBit Charge HR and I like it. It's pretty accurate. I don't pay as close attention to the HR function as I thought I would, and I don't wear it while sleeping. Bottom line is I don't use all the bells and whistles, but I like the features and functionality that I do use.

Sorry no time for other personals....I've only got 1/2 hour left in the workday and I've got a few things to tie up before I leave.

Love and hugs,

Morning all. Nothing much to report. I’d woken at about 4 am yesterday and didn’t get back to sleep quickly, so I was short on sleep yesterday. I lost steam later in the afternoon. I didn’t do much at home after work other than get the dog fed and do my plank challenge. Otherwise, I watched some telly, including a bit of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Slept well last night though. :)

Michelle – I agree that it doesn’t make sense to pay a trainer to oversee a treadmill session.

Quiet here. I’ll check back later on. Toodles. (BTW, that was one of the dog’s names from the WKC show last night, LOL.)

Afternoon
I will try again. I must have hit the wrong button and the screen went else where.
I'm taking a planned vacation day as I'm trying to use all of them before my retirement date of August. Don't want to tell the boss before June that I'm retiring. And I'm panning a trip to Missouri Easter week end.

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Happy
I don't think we realize how much we use our muscles. Is your PT having you to stretch?

Laura
I like veggie soup and could eat it year round. It's a very easy way to get in those required veggies per day.

Michelle
Don't blame you for not hiring some one for cardio. I really need to up my cardio. How much weight are you lifting now?

Morning all,

Looks like they have changed the look and feel of this site. I see I am getting an advert in with Ceejays post. That's not normal and the Stickys are now in with support groups. Probably makes sense but I will have to keep looking to see where. And the screen appears to be wider without all those adverts down the side line. Anyway....
Nothing much to report over here, it's bloody hot and bloody dry and I am quite frankly over summer. Bring back the glorious autumn days with reasonable temperatures. I can see the sun moving across the horizon and the days are getting shorter but the temperatures are not budging despite the meteorologists telling us that there will be rain and thunder storms today and cooler temps to follow. That's been coming for 5 days now and nothing has got here yet.

Annie - hope the knee is coming right. I had a spell of falls like that a few years back. Anything that looked like a shiny floor and over I went and landed on my knees. However whatever caused it passed - hallelujah.

Ceejay - it's not that the jobs come looking for me. It's just that I have a lot of friends in the business. They all know me from past jobs and they know that I am on LinkedIn and they go there to see where I am working at the time. If I put up something like 'Occupation - gainfully unemployed', they tend to get in touch and see if I want work. I'm pretty blunt so they know that if I don't want to work, I will tell them so and why. If I do want to work, I will do what they require me to do to get the job.

Happy - hope the vege soup hit the mark, I am looking forward to soups shortly.
I haven't planted rocket yet since:
a: I haven't found any seedlings at the store
b: I haven't got enough room in the beds I have prepared yet
It will happen soon. When the corn comes up, I will plant in between the rows with things like carrots, rocket and more lettuces. Water is the problem since we pay dearly for it and it hasn't rained to fill up the tank.
Hope the PT is going okay. It really is hard to relax stubborn spasmed muscles, and it hurts so you just have to hang in there.
I think the company must be desperate and disorganised, but the job is only for 3-4 months - or so they say.
The news last night said that the infrastructure mob were going to have to build 700,000 more houses here in the greater Brisbane area to cater for 1.4million new residents. Excuse me? The roads are not coping, the water situation is not coping, the power is not coping despite the fact that many houses are solar powered and when you build a house today, you have to install solar - and the power companies are reacting by putting up power prices and putting surcharges per solar panel on those who now have it installed.

Excuse me, just have to wander out and see where the ODDU is and what he is up to now. It's okay, he is sleeping in the bathroom on the cool tiles because his mean grandmother won't let him play in the water spraying the garden.

Laura - green walls (vertical gardens) are all the fashion here at the moment. However depending on the medium you pot them up with, and the 'pot' itself, they can use an awful lot of water so a lot of them are planted with succulents that don't use much water. To me, that defeats the purpose, I'd love to grow herbs in them.
Condolences on the passing of the b/f's uncle. It is always very sad when the family becomes involved in arguments after the passing of a loved one. It happens, but won't improve after all is done and the person is buried much of the time.
Hope you can get used to that nightguard. They are too expensive to not be able to wear.
Downton Abbey started here last Monday. However I saw it in NZ last November so am not to worried about missing some episodes here.

Michelle - a couple of miles per day on the treadie is fine, hope you get there to get fit for the marathon.

Okay, think I am caught up on personals at the moment. Just saw a thing on tv about they (the government presumably) are trying to figure out ways to stop the obesity crisis. They seem to think that they should tax fast food or that the fast food joints should pay more tax to the government. It is not likely that the extra tax will go to the hospitals or the medical people who have to deal with it - after all our road taxes don't seem to fix the roads! Since we live with a 'free' health care system, perhaps user pays might be the way to go. Besides the medicare tax, you pay a little extra to go to the doctor and when you have to go to the hospital with a problem, you pay a little extra for that too. There would of course always be exceptions to that rule. We do have medical insurance companies, and we are 'encouraged' to have them, but they are horribly expensive and their fees go up every year regardless of whether or not you use it - and there is the gap as well.

Okay, out of here to plant those extra tomato plants and then to get on with cleaning up in the kitchen and cleaning/ clearing both the fridges.

Good Morning All...Quick post as I am so far behind in all my work...You know being off on Wednesday sure messes up things (report day)... My knee is the size of a watermelon. Nothing broke or torn. Just out of place and huge. Altho something snapped yesterday in my knee and that has reduce the swelling and pain. Amen. Getting better I hope. Ice, a brace and crutches are my friends...oh and pain meds. I did make it to work. Yeah!

What the heck is the Jenny Craig add on my post, did I miss something?

Knee
 

Ouchie

Morning all. We’re getting a weather warm-up the next several days. Should be nice…except for the wind that’s bringing in this nice warm air. Can’t do anything about that, so I’ll just enjoy the mild temps.

Ceejay – I hope you enjoyed your day off. How nice you have a trip to look forward to! Re veggie soup – someone brought a package of celery sticks and baby carrots to our Super Bowl gathering to go with the chicken wings they brought. No one touched them, so I think I will be using those for soup this weekend.

Shad – Yes, now I see some adverts within the body of some of our posts. I guess the site doesn’t maintain itself. People and money needed. ---Sorry the hot and dry weather will not let up in your part of the world. At least ODDU is a smart beast and knows where to find a cool spot. I’m sure if the water supply gets too strained, residents will be forced to give up their lawns and change the type of gardens they grow. It’s been done here in Las Vegas and it’s starting to happen in California. ---Re the vertical gardens, I’ve seen those at the flower/garden show – really pretty and clever, but like any pot, they dry out much more quickly than plants in the ground. Vertical farms are those set up inside multi-story buildings using artificial lighting, etc. Check out farmedhere.com. ---Oh, “sin taxes” they are sometimes called over here. Cigarettes, soda. Wonder how much they help.

Annie – Glad to hear (read) nothing is torn or broken with your knees. But the swelling sounds awful. Glad it’s going down, though the word “snapped” sounds alarming. Feel better soon sister.

Hellos to the rest of you. :wave:
==
Another uneventful day yesterday. I went to bed a bit early and slept well. I’m getting accustomed to this nightguard and bf reports I’m as quiet as a church mouse.

We received our “Griddler”. Maybe I’ll thaw some of the marinated chicken breasts and we’ll break in this new appliance tomorrow for dinner.

Speaking of appliances…did I mention that our dryer seems to be leaving dark marks on our towels? I’m pretty sure it’s the dryer and not the washer. Nothing on my clothes because most of them are just fluffed in the dryer for a few minutes and then hung to dry. BF reports some marks on his t-shirts. Hmmm. This dryer came with the house and was already old, so now it’s 16 years older. We will not put out money for a service visit. May do some googling to see what the problem might be, but we will probably see a new dryer in our future…

Once again I have gotten caught up in this work stuff and not posted. Oh Annie, ugh, that knee looks awful. Thank goodness for pain meds!!

Good morning chicks,

As Shad very succinctly pointed out - they have changed the site around. Ads that formerly appeared at the side now look like they are imbedded in your posts. I'm not a fan of this and I take it from growing comments, neither are many of the chicks on this site. We'll have to see what comes of it. Guess we can't complain much since we aren't paying for anything. :^: But we are still allowed to say that is off putting. :mad:

Annie - oh you poor girl :hug: That knee looks SO PAINFUL. You must have hit cement really hard. And to have to go to work on top of it all. I think you need a padded bumper around your desk or that already swollen knee. Be careful moving your chair from side to side - those desk drawers catch everything. :headache: How long will this take to recover? I think you need to scoot around the office in your office chair on wheels. Be careful and I hope you get to feeling better soon. :hug:

Shad - it's funny to hear you say that you are "done with summer". The warm season is so short for us, we never really feel that way although many of us are happy to see the tourists clear town when the chilly season returns. Summer for us is fleeting - although ours is much more pleasant than yours is. I can hear the birds starting to sing their pre-spring songs - they get more vocal as spring approaches and we are all anticipating the return of warm weather even though it has not really been a bad winter - just very gray with little sun. I imagine it must be difficult to deal with hot and dry and water conservation. I will always be boggled that you used gray water for your plants one particularly hard year. You are right about the rocket needing alot of area to spread out. And it gets spindly too so not alot of output for the space used. Wish it could grow in those wall packets / vertical gardens. DH loves the fresh over the bagged and it's one of the things he asks me to devote space to but even here we have a short season before it flowers and bolts out. I must remember to sew seeds in April. See that's the other thing too - and I think we have discussed it - at least on this side of the pond they recommend carrots for cool weather - the cooler the weather, the sweeter the carrots they say.

Oh shoot - just remembered the small farmers market that they have at the hospital is today and I need some eggs and herbs. Only an hour left for the sale - I will be back later to post more.

Hi Everyone
Work has been off the chain this week. I have come home each night and worked at least another 3 hours or more.

Next week my Director is traveling for two weeks. I will have my AD to contend with for next week and then she is traveling for 2 weeks. I am looking forward to working and not having constant interruptions.

I went to TOPS tonight and was was up .25 lbs. Not to bad as I missed my weigh-in last week.

I saw Shad's advice to get moving...she is so right. I will heed it Shad!

I am posting using my phone so short post this time. Will do personals this weekend.

Annie, your knee! You poor thing. I hope it is feeling better each day.

That is all for now.

Good Morning/Night All....

First day at work yesterday, made it till 2:15, but that is ok, as I was here at 6:45. Got my reports from Wednesday done and out, even got a few other "important" things done, such as my compliance training for the quarter. Even got a few of the compliance training done for the remainder of the year. Joyous!

Funny the knee is hurting a little more today than yesterday. I did frozen pea ice bag is down when I got home yesterday and then again before I went to bed. Sassy is loving that I lay around with this knee thing, such a snuggle bug. I threw a piece of frozen roast, potatos, onions and carrots in the the pressure cooker with beef broth (low sodium) just a hint of garlic olive oil and pepper, let it sizzle away for an hour and poof, dinner was ready. Sis dropped the kidlets off and C babysat mostly. Well he played with the kids all evening except while we all ate, while Sis went to yoga. Royce came the bedroom later while I was icing knee and said, Nanna I get on bed with you. Melt my heart you little turkey. Wonderful evening. Enough leftover food to throw it in a pot to make veggie soup. Yeah! C informed me he is eating leftover pizza tonight so "don't worry about making dinner". Now that can be taken two ways, I will take it the loving way instead of, who said I was even making dinner in the first place. hahaha.

Personals will be short or non-existent.

HAPPY...recovery and how long this knee thing will go on is really up to me and when I can take walking without crutches and only a brace. Time is my friend and I am not rushing it as too many things already hurt.

Make it a great day all, Love and Hugs and Hello to all.

Morning all. Happy Friday, TGIF! The annual bonuses got paid out today, so that makes it even better. AND it’s currently 56 degrees and sunny here. :sunny: It was so nice to wear my shorter, lighter jacket and sneakers to work today. :) I’ll be sure to get out at lunchtime. Along with everyone else, I’m sure. :D

==

Happy – Did you make it to the farmers market yesterday? What did you pick up?

Susie – Oh how crummy you’ve been working so much overtime. It’s good that you’ll have a period with fewer disruptions. That .25 could be anything, no worries. You’ll see what next week brings.

Annie – I’m sorry your knee is hurting more today. Hope the icing and pain meds help. Sounds like a tasty dinner last night. C’s lucky you didn’t put him on dinner duty!! Awww, nice of little R. to keep his grammy company. :)

Dee posted on the Fitbit users thread this morning. She had an injury to her hand in January and said to say hi. She’ll be back posting when it’s healed.

Hope everyone else has/had a lovely Friday.

==

I did a BE workout last night, and did my plank challenge. Had to do two days of the plank challenge because I totally forgot about it the night before. :doh: I’m all caught up now, and have gotten through 10 days.

No plans for the weekend. I cancelled my dentist appointment for tomorrow – I’m still getting soreness, but nothing too bad, and I think I just need to see how this nightguard thing goes for another week.

The big project will be to work on the paper clutter this weekend.

Off to post. TTFN.

Hi kids,

Seems to be alot of grumbling about changes on the forum. People are most upset it seems about them changing the ad placement. I wonder if they are doing this to facilitate viewing on smartphones and tablets? Don't know, don't care as I have neither of them.

A friend sent me a cookbook of light recipes from Food Network. It's a new book called "The Best and Lightest". There are so really yummy recipes in there. Here's an example that is also on their website available to anyone who wants a look. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f...urry-soup.html I have been plugging a few good looking recipes into WW to determine the points and so far I am getting annoyed. I'm not sure what is so awful about this recipe - probably the LF coconut milk and starchy lentils but it comes out being half my points for the day! :tantrum: Yes, I know if I ate a fast food meal of cheeseburger, fries and soda it would be ALL my points for the day and totally unhealthy but this is really getting frustrating to eat healthier and find things so pointy. All because they want to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables so they upped the points on non fruit & vegs to make up for it. Seems one must eat sugar free options, fruit salad and veg salad to stay within points. No cheese, bread or dressings either - thank you. I don't know how people who are at goal weight manage to survive. I did lose another pound at weigh in. I told DH as long as it keeps coming off I will be happy even if it is agonizingly slow.

My whole body has been hurting the last few days. Probably part of the physical therapy - I am forgetting to drink lots of water. We have rain moving in also which I'm sure affects things. It almost seems the more I work it, the worse I feel. Am trying to push through it.

This weekend - starting yesterday is the big cross country ski race up here. World class - people from all over the world descending into town. Our weather is not cooperating. We are above freezing, some rain yesterday, more today. They say that the snow is fairly deep out in the woodland trail so the rain won't affect that much but as they head into town to the finish line, there is a wooden bridge they have built so that the skiers can go over the main road (in prior years they closed it down completely and it was a traffic mess). They gatherered/made/dumped a snow cover over the bridge, not sure how well the snow will stay packed. I'm sure the trail groomers have their work cut out for them this year. Yesterday they had a fun run - the Barkie Berkie - where people can ski a race with their dogs tethered in front of them. I think about 150 dogs were in that run. They also do a race with 6 "man" teams on a set of of giant skis they are all attached to. Talk about teamwork! Must be more difficult than it looks judging from how people are doing it. All these people - 13,000 in the main race alone - makes for me to stay put for the next several days. I won't go back to town until Monday. I plan on doing some housework, some decluttering and planning out some recipes for the week.

I did get to the farmer's market yesterday. Picked up potatoes, baby bok choy, kolrabi, kale, celery tops (for soup), 2 dozen chicken eggs (they have duck eggs too but somehow I can't get my head around that), a bag of apples, frozen raspberries and some small onions. They did not have any carrots yesterday. I passed on the lettuces - I find many of them a bit bitter for my tastes - I prefer romaine or arugula.

I also bought an electric pressure cooker - Instant Pot. It is not quite as "instant" as one would think as it takes time to saute - slower than doing it in a pan on the stove I think and it also takes time to build enough heat/steam to come to pressure. And depending on how you have to cook things - some items cook additionally as the pot releases pressure naturally as opposed to a steam release - it can take about 45 minutes to actually cook a dish that only takes 12 minutes of pressured cooking time. I made a Mexican chicken dish for tortillas which came out really tender. Used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and Rotel brand tomatoes and spices and shredded the chicken with forks. DH really liked it - was a bit spicier than I would have liked it. But we also realized this would probably make a really good chicken pot pie base. Going to try that this week. Today is meatless Fridays for me until Easter. This is a challenge dieting because the non meat proteins - eggs, cheese - tend to be more points. I made a chicken vegetable cheese tortellini soup on Tuesday that was quite good also. It does have a chicken stock as a base so that's out for today. My standard grilled cheese and tomato soup would probably cost most of my allotment today unless I ate half a serving - DH would be happy to eat my extra portion.

Laura - payday and bonuses and 60 degree weather - how can it get much better? Any plan for the bonus? My mom was commenting on the weather yesterday - said it was "warmer" but still felt damp and chilly and she said it's been too warm out there - a great breeding ground for cold and flu viruses. Thanks for the update on Dee - she's had her share of medical woes these past few months. Do you see a difference with abs definition / core strength after finishing your plank challenge? If you have gotten 16 years from the dryer and it was old when you got it, I'd say you have lucked out quite well. I have to admit I have never had the dryer go out - our first laundry pair from JC Penney (hard to believe they once sold appliances like Montgomery Wards and Sears) lasted us probably about 16 years also. I replaced the dryer not because it needed it, but just because of it's age when the washer finally died. I still have the Maytag dryer we bought in 2004 and it's going strong while the washer that is about 7 years old is going to need replacing probably next year. The dryer has an upper drying cabinet as well as the bottom dryer, I hate to replace it - probably could sell it as they only made it for 2 years. I don't use the upper cabinet anywhere near as much as I used to, certainly not enough to justify keeping it. You will be blown away by the large capacity of washers and dryers now a days. Boy that night guard sure is taking it's time settling into your mouth. :(

Annie - you are a trouper trudging around work. It's good that you don't have snow right now. Don't need the chance to slip. Use the crutches as long as you need support. I really laughed at your comment about C and dinner. Sometimes I get a bit testy about that when DH casually asks "what's for dinner" - like I've been thinking about it ALL DAY LONG. But then I have to put myself in check - he's not doing it to be demanding, he knows I usually plan meals ahead of time so he's asking out of curiosity and I'm sure a bit of a nudge if he's hungry and I'm not in the process of cooking something soon. How cute that Royce came to bed to keep you company :D Wish they could stay little longer. :^: Are the pain meds helping at all?

Susie - yikes that's crazy working an extra 3 hours each night - considering you have at best about 5 hours tops once you get home and you have to make dinner, do chores and clean up and get to bed at a reasonable hour. You don't get any of that extra time back either. :( Bummer on the weigh up but it was just a smidge and sometimes that happens. Was it because you were really busy and didn't have alot of time to prepare things? Just keep doing the best you can.

Shad - that's an awful lot more people to add to an already large city? Population boom of babies or are people flocking to the city because of the area or jobs? Seems like that would put an incredible strain on an already delicate water situation. Sounds like universal health care is not without it's problems. I am in favor of paying a bit as you go with rebates and discounts
(incentives) for living a more healthful lifestyle. Spread the costs a bit.

Ceejay - yes, plan out your vacations and enjoy them while vacations still mean much to you. Being retired - Friday is just another day now unless you consider it Fish Fry Friday. I said holidays and the joy of time off is not quite the same when you are not working regularly. Still it's fun to plan for the next phase of your life. Buy those expensive things you need while you still have a paycheck. ;)

Michelle - hope you can squeeze in some extra training time during your busy schedule. How did the website updates go or are you still working on them?

Time to go find something for lunch. Have a good weekend everyone.

Happy – I understand your points frustration. I think one of my “resentments” of WW was that the points were “biased”, and at the time I was a member, I believe fiber was one of the favored nutrients. As I’ve said before, many times I just wanted a calorie to be a calorie and not worry about a points value. Congrats on another pound lost. May it never be found again. :D ---So does your PT person also have you doing at-home exercises, beside rolling your problem areas? ---The Mexican chicken recipe sounds tasty – similar to the one I made, but mine had corn and black beans as well.---I’d not considered the additional time for the pressure cooker to de-pressurize itself.---No plans for the bonus yet, but it will be set aside and hopefully some of it will eventually be used for a vacation. Otherwise, I think it will also be used for household projects…and possibly a new dryer. I’m sure the newer dryers have all kinds of great features, but I just can’t get too excited over a dryer. I actually hang dry quite a bit of my own clothing. ---I absolutely saw a difference after doing the plank challenge, but I have to say that at the time, I might have also been doing a kettlebell class, which had a ton of core work and would have contributed more than the planks alone. But once you get to the longer length planks, it’s definitely more challenging, and your whole core is working hard. --- Hope you have everything you need to stay in the house all weekend!

It didn't let me post the first time. Said I didn't have permission.
So I' will make this brief and go call my aunt to see how she is doing. Then try again

Good morning chicks,

DH decided he wants to try and take pictures of the skiers at the finish line today so I'm going with him so he has a place to park. I will help out my buddy at the shop while DH stands out in the cold with hundreds of bell ringers. It's a tradition for the onlookers to ring cow bells as the skiers race to the finish. Will catch up later.

Morning all,
Not much to report here. We did get some good rain on Friday night, but there needs to be more. The corn is up and growing and we have put up a temporary fence to stop ODDU from trampling the garden. Tomatoes are getting a move on and the lettuce is sitting up looking perky. Can't ask for much more. This is what the rain here does. Everything just grows frantically after rain, then has to adjust to tap water which contains chemicals.

I won't do personals at the moment - just hope you all have a happy, profitable and moving (physically Saturday/ Sunday) and that Annies knee is coming along.

I'm going to try to post one more time. It keeps saying that I don't have permission to post. hmmm!
But it will let me post one sentence. another hmm.

Maybe they will get things straight one day.

I'm going to try this one more time. I actually had to register for my account!
I'm in Paragould. Had lunch with the uncles and a good visit. Then went to visit with my aunt. She looked really good, but she was ready for a nap when I was getting ready to leave. She had to stop her treatment due to the fact that her sodium level had bottomed out. They are hoping that she can start back next week. My uncle scolded me for not coming out to there house on the week ends. I told them that I felt like I would be in the way. He said no you are not. It would probably be a comfort for them if I were there at night.
I'm tucked away in a hotel room which faces the parking lot again. ugh. However, I don't think it is a light as the first time here.
My trip to the dermatology office showed that I lot another 1.2 pounds. keep on keeping on.
No personals. Just to see if this will post.
Yeah it posted.
-----
Annie
Take care of the knee. A question since you fell on the parking lot will that be considered a workman's comp claim? Sending you good vibes for recovery and for each family member.

Afternoon all.

Ceejay - Glad your aunt seems to be hanging in there. Hope she can get back to her treatments soon.--- Weird you're having trouble with the site.

Shad- Good the garden is coming along. Just a touch of springy weather makes my thoughts turn to gardening and spending time outdoors.

Happy - I hope your dh got some good shots of the skiers.

Hellos to the rest of you. *Annie*, hope your knee is healing and feeling better.

++++
Friday I came across a metal rack for organizing baking pans on one of my FB garage sale sites - third thing I've bought from this seller. Nice she lives less than a half mile away from me.

I picked up the rack yesterday morning. Nice to get that baking pan cabinet organized.

Earlier in the morning I got going on the mail basket (again). I'm about half done with that. I did a couple errands after that, including a thrift store trip. Bought only one thing from there - a 13×9 Pyrex baking dish for $5. I had one of those on my shopping list because I'm tired of the finish on my metal pans getting ruined from using knives with them and scrubbing them.

I did a load of towels in the wash yesterday. Just when I was almost certain the straight line black marks being left on towels and some of bf's tees was caused by the dryer, I removed the towels from the washer to find horrible large dark blotches on them! Aaaargh! Some sort of seal broke in there.

Bf did some research last night and pretty much picked out a replacement washer & dryer and worked out pricing over the phone with the appliance place we like. Our washer is at least 12-13 years old and the dryer is 80's era based on the user manual/ sales literature the previous homeowner left with us, so we'll replace both at once, especially since I'm not convinced that the dryer wasn't having issues as well. We'll go to the store this afternoon to make the purchase. Not happy with the cash outlay (of which pedestals make up a ridiculously large chunk...but we want them), but I'm grateful we can afford this.

Other than that, yesterday was a lovely, sunny mild day. I had doggy out in the yard for a bit and I brushed him. It was nice being outside, even for the errands. Doggy and I enjoyed our afternoon walk as well.

Okay, gonna post this & get down in the basement for a workout, but not laundry.

Have a great day everyone.

Morning all,
I'm filling in forms for this new job - after all this effort, I hope it works out. Stat Declarations, police checks, Intellectual property obligations. Yuk. Can't I just say I am a good person and I can do the job?? Lucky there is a tame solicitor on hand to witness and sign all the forms.
So this will be shortish because I really need to get back into them and get them signed, scan them back to the computer and attach them to the forms.

So the garden is getting along. The corn is about 3 inches tall and the majority of the seeds have sprouted. I will have to check the rows for those that haven't and replant. The tomatoes are growing and the capsicums are growing, but the lettuce is somewhat worrying as it is apparently too hot for it and it lies there all wilted in the evening, but is sitting up again at morning light. I might have to find shade for them and plant something else in that spot. Haven't seen the peas and beans up yet, but I only planted them late last week so that would be hoping for miracles.

Dog is sitting at the door a bit miffed, but I can't let him in when the cats are feeding. He frightens one and then eats his breakfast, then he moves the other out of the way and eats her breakfast too. Monster. I will get him out the front and play some games with him soon. He needs a bit of a run every day. Unlike the other GSD that we had, this one definitely needs exercise to keep his naughty times in check.

Annie - hope that knee is coming along okay. Hate it when they hurt.

Ceejay - stick with your own decisions as to where you stay while visiting. Sometimes it is better to be independent although you sound like you are close to the uncles.

Happy - I sometimes wonder if these people who dream up these recipes want us to eat food that they like to eat. Seems that you are limited to a very narrow scope of food items. Maybe they don't think about lentils and dahl and stuff that to a lot of people in this world are staple items - and many of them are not fat. It would be hard to eat a meal which has half of your points for the day knowing that you can not eat much more for the rest of the day.

Laura - new washer AND dryer. Ugh. $$$ out of the bank right there.

Hello's :waves: to the rest of the mob. I'm off to wrassle the forms once more and then to send them off.

Good Morning All....

Good News...I got to put the crutches down. Still wearing the brace tho as there is pain and swelling in that knee. My bad ankle on the other leg is says WTH is going on with you lady. Yes, it is a little more achy than normal.

Well Crud, got a go, will come back later.

Back...

I don't know which is harder, getting someone set up to work for us from the outside or someone from the inside. What a mess. Plus they are working at our Chicago office, nothing hands on here. All I.T. stuff is done in Minnesota. WHAT A PIA. Rant over.

SHADDIE...I have come to the conclusion that you are having way too much fun with ODDU. Good for you? Him? lol. The garden sounds yummy.

HAPPY...I agree with LAURA on the point thing, it sucks when you just want a calorie to be just that..a calorie and eat a banana split. lol. Great job on the loss of poundage. Yeah! I made veggie soup, finally, with the leftover roast and veggies. Quite yummy and brought it for lunch.

LAURA...even tho you bought new washer and dryer, it sounds as tho you got the use out of your old ones. Did you get top or front load?

CEEG...glad your aunt is doing well.

Hello to the rest of you.

Hugs.

Morning all. Nothing much to report. I did two BE workouts yesterday. We bought our new washer and dryer yesterday and they will be delivered and installed on Thursday. Tonight's Pilates class.

Annie - Glad you can get around without the crutches now.

Shad - Ugh on all that paperwork! Haha, you definitely have to exercise the brattiness out of that ODDU.

Hellos to the rest of you! Everyone have a good day.

Annie - Washer is a front loader. Our last one was a front loader too.

Laura
What color is your new washer and dryer?

Annie
Wow, I don't believe that you are already giving up the crutches! especially with the foot giving you problems too.

Shad
If I remember correctly there is a good sized back yard in Missouri. And I know that my niece had a spot for a small garden. However I like flowers so I'm thinking about planting those. I might add a couple of tomato plants.

Happy
Did your DH get some good pictures of the skiers? That's one thing I would like to watch in person but I'm not sure if I could stand the cold. I love to watch them on tv.

Not much to report. Went to church Sunday and afterwards, my cousin cornered me and asked if I stayed in a hotel Saturday night. She must have called my aunt. Cause I didn't tell anyone. I will probably stay with them on my next visit to Paragould. My uncle has asked me to do some things around my cousin's mother's house who lives in Texas. It shouldn't be to hard of a job. Mainly tidy up some flower beds. and trim a bush by the front door. I can do this.

I had the same issue that Ceejay did when I tried to post my post for the day.

It was long too!

I'll have to come back tomorrow and try it again. This time I'm going to type it in Word and then paste it.

:hug: to all of you.

Off to the dentist in about 15 minutes to get tooth filled that broke off back in November. Bleh. Good thing my dentist is next door, but doesn't make me want to go any. I will be back later today when things settle. I.e. Back from dentist and boss leaves for Chicago in a bit. Yeah!

Morning
Nothing going on here. Rain, storms and snow in the forecast. I'm not looking forward to the wind. Snow is supposed to be flurries but with the weather people predicting things and then not coming about I'm not sure what to expect.
Watched the final show of the Biggest Loser last night. I wasn't surprised about the contestant who won. He looked amazing. They all did.

Annie
I hate going to the dentist but really need to. I don't know how this temporary crown has stayed as long as it has and it's just now starting to bother me. Going to try to wait for my move before I find a new dentist. How is your knee and ankle doing?

Susie
I don't know what happened but since I registered things are good.

Michelle
Have you gotten back to training for the marathon?

Morning all,

I guess they worked on the imbedded ads with this site - now it appears the ad appears only on the last post for the thread. Not a good day yesterday for me - lots of pain and now I am getting "spots" where if I move (randomly) I get a sharp pain and my leg/knee/ankle want to go out. I don't know too if the weather is changing but yesterday and today also there isn't a part on my that is not intensively hurting. waaa, waaah, waaah. Therapist said my hips were out of alignment and after she did a correction, the spot that was really painful was just annoying - a marked difference. She said being out of alignment could also be causing that pinchy, sharp pain. Ugh - will just try to power through it.

I am supposed to go into the shop today but I think I will skip cashiering and just visit with a few friends, take some pictures, do the data entry I need to and skip out of there. I am debating about seeing the movie "How to be Single" - I like Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann. I'm sure it's a dumb movie but today is $5 movie day so that's not a bad price.

Annie - I hope things go well as the dentist - quick and painless. It's NEVER fun to go to the dentist. I can't imagine why people would want to take that up as a career :dizzy: (general dentistry) unless you are like my BIL's high priced "mazerati" oral surgeon who charged him $10,000 for a one tooth implant. :faint: I'm glad you knee is feeling a bit better but be really careful. One goofy stumble while it's still weak and you are back on the floor again. I know what you mean about having to deal with getting people set up - we have the same problem trying to get anything done with DH's former employer - have to call this place and that and people who do related things are in 2 offices across the country. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right one is doing. :dizzy::mad::dizzy: But people like you and Susie make things happen in spite of it so things continue in a stupid manner.

Ceejay - DH got a couple of pictures on Saturday of the skiers but only about 3. He did not want to stand out too long mostly because there were lots of onlookers and they kept jostling and he really had to "hang over" the barricade to focus the shot which was rather awkward. All things considered we had a "warm" day for the race considering it was above freezing and 2 years ago it was something like 20 below on race morning. But the end of the course is all along our town's main street so you can duck into a coffee or retail shop if you get chilly - you just lose your place at the front of the line and it gets really crowded as the early finishers start to come in. Everyone wants to see the winners - I'd rather cheer those people who straggle in at the end of the race looking pretty raggety. I think anyone who skis 30 miles deserves a bit of some clapping! I think a small flower garden would be lovely in the yard. And with the extended growing season you have, perhaps a few vegetables would be nice too. Up here we barely have enough time to get a decent return on tomatoes so after a couple of disappointing seasons, I'm thinking I might be done with tomatoes. However DH did build me a nice fenced in plot so I'll have to do something with it. I planted strawberry plants last year - they should fruit this year - will see how that goes and if they wind up taking over the tomato bed which I think they might. I'm glad to hear your aunt is recovering - even if it's slow going. It's good that you are able to keep an eye on the relatives.

Laura - boy you aren't kidding about the pedestal parts being so pricey! But as we get older, bending over and stuffing yourself inside the washer/dryer to get at the clothes gets harder. I like the ones at the laundromat - no bending at all! I hope you like the new set. Do yours have that steam option? I was looking at a organizational article on the internet that talked about using curtain spring tension rods to divide a cabinet to store baking sheets. Looked like a great idea but I don't have enough precious cabinet space to devote to that. I have a narrow cabinet for the sheets but I took the rest of the baking pans and put them on shelves in the basement so that I'd have the cabinet space in the kitchen for stuff I use more frequently. Glad you were able to score some stuff at the thrift store though.

Shad - no wonder they had you skip the interview considering you have a mountain of paperwork to fill out. Probably figured if you had to do an interview also, you'd run screaming out of the place. :rofl: Seems like you have to fill out this giant packet for every contract you take. I was going to suggest you plant something tall like beans to shade the delicate lettuces but then again, if things start from seeds nothing is quite tall enough to shade other things when first starting out, is it? Guess you will have to built a shade screen of sorts. DH put a nice tier over my tomatoes so I can tie and support them from above but the sun moves rather quickly so I guess one would have to come up with a temporary structure that could be moved about more easily. Sounds like your garden will get going just in time for you to move off to another job and your neighbor will reap the benefits again. Although DS and partner are staying at your place, no?

DH is excited to be taking a 3 day class in mid April up north of here. Waterfalls. It involves a bit of hiking and he is wisely thinking of getting the old legs back in shape again. He is eager to start walking outside but it looks like we are still quite a ways from doing that too easily. The temps are shifting a tiny bit but still bobbling between freezing, above and a bit below. Although pavement is starting to show, we still have quite the bit of a very packed down ice and snow layer. The bits that melt a bit refreeze at night to dangerous "black ice" - the easiest to slide on and really do a twist on the old back or knee. So he is cautiously careful and I am glad of that. He is not a treadmill walker so he will just have to wait until it warms a bit further and then contend with the waking bears :yikes:

I'd better get off the computer, find some breakfast and get out of here. Have a good one chicks.

Hi ladies,

I've had a busy 3 day weekend. I had yesterday off because I work Tuesday through Saturday this week. Then I have just one day off (Sunday) and am back to work on Monday.

This weekend I was juggling migraines - hit me really hard on Saturday morning. I almost asked my bf to drive me to the ER, and I did have to wake him up to walk Santa because I literally felt like I was going to pass out. After some migraine meds and 3 hours more sleep, I was ok....but I still took it easy on Saturday. By Saturday evening, I was doing better so my bf and I went out to dinner and then saw the movie "DeadPool". If you like action hero movies like The Avengers or the X-Men, you'll probably like it. I do and I really, really liked it. Word of caution....it's rated R for a reason. It's not a kid's comic book hero movie. The language is very coarse, lots of violence (almost Quentin Tarentino level of violence). Lots of sexual innuendo. But on the plus side, it had a lot of humor and it never for one millisecond did the movie take itself too seriously.

Another migraine hit me yesterday morning. Thankfully it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Saturday's. I am running out of my prescription migraine meds, so hopefully the pharmacy can refill the prescription soon.

I got back to training this weekend. On Sunday, I went for a run outdoors....and was able to complete about 2.5 miles doing run/walk intervals. Yesterday before working out with my trainer, I did 2 miles of intervals on the treadmill. I'm going to have to start increasing my distances this week, even if it means walking more than running.

I spent yesterday evening with my late friend Bob's sister and brother. Bob passed away in the wee hours of February 23, 2015...one year ago. I miss my dear friend every single day. :(

=================
Ceejay - I had forgotten about the BL finale last night.

Annie - Your knee looks awful. Are the swelling and pain easing up?


I'll try and get back for more personals later. Santa has to go outside and then I've got lots of work to catch up on so I'd better get to it.

Much love and big hugs,

Morning all.

Michelle – Awful that you’re getting these migraines. :hug: DeadPool doesn’t sound like my kind of movie.

Happy – Sorry you’ve been in pain. Good that the PT is actually helping. I also think you should trade in your ATV for a hot tub that you can use to soak away your aches. :) Yes, the new set will have a steam option. I hope. Something came up with that…more later. Re the baking sheets – We keep them in the storage drawer of our stove. It would be nice to have a vertical cabinet for those, but we have a 1950’s era kitchen - ‘nuff said. But the tension rods are a good idea…

Ceejay – We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow/Thursday too. Boo. I liked deluding myself into thinking we’re closer to spring than we really are (in my area). :shrug: Re the temporary crown – do you have dental insurance through your employer? If so, wouldn’t it be better to take care of all your dental stuff now, because medicare doesn’t cover dental right? The new washer/dryer are some sort of gray or a newfangled dark stainless steel (different color than stainless kitchen appliances). I don’t really care about the color – they’re in the basement. But they were on sale at the same price as white, so why not? Sounds like the family wants you nice and close and not at some hotel – maybe you can switch off between the two.

Annie – Hope the dentist appointment was short and painless and inexpensive!! Yay for the boss being out of the office!! :D

Susie – Bummer you lost your post. Hate that.

Hellos to the rest of you.
==
Went to Pilates last night. So anxious for this session to be over – 2 more classes. I wore my new headband – it was “just okay”. Didn’t have my yoga socks due to the laundry situation, and my feet were cold and tried to cramp up on me. I suppose once we get into the mat portion of the class I could slip on a pair of regular socks because traction isn’t as important then.

Back home after class, I set the timer on my cell phone for my plank (75 seconds) and thought I’d started it. Then I switched to FB to entertain myself. After a bit of time, I went back to the timer, but it hadn’t started! Sigh. I decided to give up and take my shower. I did yesterday’s plank this morning. After work I’ll do today’s plank, which is 90 seconds.

Re our washer/dryer purchase: We had originally picked out a Samsung pair that had good ratings from Consumer Reports. Then at the store we changed our mind and chose an LG pair. Last night bf tells me he saw that the LG washer model we ordered had a rating of 13 out of 100 from CR! Aaaargh. And this is in spite of good ratings at other sites. Well, the lousy CR website (we have the online subscription) doesn’t show the date of the testing/ratings anymore. But they did explain their low rating, and also said when LG did a software fix, they would check it out again. But no dates. This is the 2nd item in which I wish I knew the date of the testing, and the 2nd time to email them asking for it. Why do I pay for the convenience of an online subscription if I can’t readily know this information? I included this question in the email I sent them. I don’t know if we should just switch back to the Samsung machines. If we do, we need to do it today or tomorrow.

The other PITA thing to come up is with my mail order prescription company. I’ve already ranted enough in this post, so I won’t go into details here. You’re welcome. :D

I watched the latest dvr'd Downton Abbey episode last night. Last/final episode is March 6th. I first thought, “oh, they’re making us wait for it”, but it’s only two weeks away! How this month has flown!

Packed some baby carrots for lunch with my sandwich. Now I remember why I haven’t been taking carrots the past couple weeks – jaws can’t handle them very well right now.

Okay, gonna get this posted. Cya.

Good morning ladies,

Got an early morning physical therapy appt today so a quick hi yah :wave: and I will be in later to catch up. Be careful those of you in the snow path.

Good Wednesday..night...hump day...trash is out...Sass and C are still in bed (Cs day off but has to go to BMV to get plates for his work box truck) that is 260.00 we won't get back...bleh. Can claim it on taxes, but money out now is money out now.

Still have not received the bills from the hospitals, doctors, etc etc for Cs arse issues or my knee injury. I do know that our portion of the hospital bill for C is $2850.00, does not include ambulance ride or doctors. Only $2150 more to go to hit deductible out of pocket. I am sure we will get there soon. I still have $1400 left to pay on last year's deductible. When does it stop, never I am afraid, the older we get the more expensive we get. bleh. I will never be able to retire. How depressing.<---which all causes more meds. lol

Last night was peaceful. C ate leftovers before I even got home from work. So I fixed me a salad. It was quite tasty with kale and mixed lettuces. Poppyseed dressing. Also had hummus with sweet red and orange mini peppers. It was a mixture of hummus. 3 Layered. Garlic roasted on top, middle was avocado, and bottom layer was roasted tomato basil. Came that way in tub, marked down to 2.99. Yum.

HAPPY...sounds like you are getting some relief from the therapy but making other things ache. Just blame it on the BC pill. lol. Yep we are having a messmaker of snow crud today. Mostly north of Indy. We are to get 1-3 inches tonight, meanwhile it is already snowing north of Indy. The rain (to make icy conditions for sure) is to change to snow in our area this evening accumulating 1-3", just great for a terrific ride into work tomorrow. My boss elected to stay one more night in Chicago tonight rather than drive through the blizzard conditions between Chicago and Indy. Accumulation there 6-12", which is broad however does cover the weatherman's forecast. You and I could do that. Take it easy at the shop today. If you are like me, your entire body just feels achy like you are getting the flu. Imagine that without ibuprofen.

SHADDIE...OMGoodness ODDU is so stinking cute. Furry too, make a lot of hair around the place? He is gorgeous and would love to snuggle in his fluff. Is he a snuggler or uppety?

LAURA...You are the first person I have heard that likes their front loader. Something about mold and smelly clothes. Should of had BF build pedestals. Or is he not so inclined in doing that? How is your admin these days? The filling on my tooth went smoothly. Dentist numbed me all up real good, didn't feel a thing. It did take until about 4 pm for all the numbness to wear off. Such a weird feeling.

CHELLE...hmmm, you have had a lot of migraines lately. Wonder what is causing them? Too much splenda or sweetner? Which can also cause the poops. A friend of mine got that ear pierce that is supposed to keep migraines away. She got it about 2 mos ago and has not had one migraine since. You might google it. Worth a shot.

CEEG...I will trade your rain for our snow. I so do not like snow. Our rain is supposed to change to snow around 5 or 6 tonight. Thank God I leave work around 4. Might just miss getting into all the mess. Fingers crossed.

SUSIE...did you get your posting fixed? CEEG had to re-register to fix it. Email 3FC see if they can help.

Hello to the rest of you!!

Hugs