Morning
No freezing stuff yet, but it sure is cold. with that north wind blowing.
Had some mechanical problems happen this morning at work but that has been resolved. Thanks to our maintenance man.
Last night we had some very heavy rain that was pounding the windows and roof very hard with some fierce wind. All at once I heard a loud pop, with the power going out then another loud pop. I thought might as well go to bed but then the power came back on.
I have been busy this morning so I haven't been down stairs to do my rounds.
----
Laura
Medicare doesn't pay for dental and yes I do have the dental/vision insurance at work. But I'm going to keep this insurance when I retire.

Happy
I still see the ads embedded in the post but it's not causing problems now for me.

More later

Morning all. Happy Hump Day.

Happy - Hope the PT session went well.

Annie – Glad your appointment was painless. Smart of your boss to not try to drive through the blizzard. A lot of snow is bad enough, but the snow blowing around makes it very dangerous. You be extra careful driving today!!--- Yes, we like the front loader and we’ve never had any problems with it (until now). No mold issues. Our laundry equipment is in the basement, so it's out of the way and I like to keep the washer door open between uses.--- So now I can relate to people like you with high deductible health plans because I am one of them now. Not thrilled with the possibility of having to keep paying-paying-paying until hitting the out of pocket max. Especially if it starts hitting all at once!! :yikes:

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

==

Feeling draggy today. My body's still sore from Monday's Pilates class. And last night my plank challenge was really difficult – 90 seconds. Glad bf wasn’t there to hear me struggling to get through it, lol. I could barely finish it, so I might have to stay at this length for longer than I scheduled.

Well, the storm is coming. I live NW of the city and that area isn’t forecast for a lot of snow, but we’ll see. And depending on when it hits the downtown area, we might get to go home early before it gets too bad.

I think that’s about it for me, unless I get started ranting about the mail order rx company. Nope, not gonna do that today.

So, off to cut, paste, & post. :wave:

Hi Ceejay - I'm glad you're getting rain and not snow!! And you're probably feeling lucky that your power came back on right away. :) The wind is blowing here today too as this blizzard moves in. Last week it was blowing really hard and I was in the hallway of our office at the drinking fountain filling up my water bottle and I heard this creaking sound - the tall buildings here actually sway when it's very windy. Scary to think about, but they are designed and built to do that so they can withstand heavy winds. Oh it's good you'll still have dental insurance after you retire!!

Super quick post. So much to get done at work today. After work, I'm taking Santa to the dog park and then working out with my trainer. Yesterday I went for a short interval run with my friend Mark. My right hamstring and glute have been very sore since working out with my trainer on Monday.

I hope all of you in the path of the snow/blizzard stay safe and warm. I sure don't miss that stuff one bit. This week the highs will be in the mid-70s....of course it does cool down as the sun is setting...making a light jacket and light gloves necessary for a late afternoon run.

I'm taking Friday off since I had to work on President's Day. I have to get D to the San Francisco airport by 4 am (an hour's drive away). After that, I'm working out with my trainer, followed by coming home and back to bed. I need to get my nails done and get a few things done around the house too, including Santa-proofing a few more rooms in the house so that I can trust Santa to be home alone while I'm at the gym or out for a run.

===========
A quick shout out to Ceeg and Susie - I also tried posting the other day and was told I didn't have permissions. I had to log in again. I'll bet they did some sort of upgrade which lost some of the cookies or whatever that tell the system we're already logged in and therefore can post. Luckily, I create my posts in Notepad and then copy/paste to the site so I didn't lose anything.

In fact, the whole permission thing just happened again. Crazy. Save your posts by copying/pasting them outside the website.

Gotta go for now. TTYL

Love and hugs,

Morning all,
Have to be short and sweet this morning since I am going to the dentist at 9.15 and will need to be showered and dressed shortly. Then I have to get in touch with NZ about getting a full birth certificate. I know I have one somewhere, but I have turned the place upside down and still can't find it. Then I have to persuade them to email a copy instead of putting it in the snail mail. It's a pain. I only have to look in the mirror to know I was born!!!

Then Miss Sunday goes to the vet. She is constantly harping on about food and yet seems to be getting a bit thinner - there wasn't much of her in the first place. After that I might have time to bag up all the green waste from the hedge cut last weekend. Had to get the bagman to come out with more bags yesterday. DS2 trimmed the hedge down hard and there is a lot of leaves and branches to clean up. Hence the mid month pick up and new bags to hold more waste. Oh and it is shopping day as well. Not much fruit and veges in the house for dinner tonight.

Then I need to clean up the mess I have made looking through the various boxes for family papers. It seems there is a folder missing with the birth certificates in it since the boys certificates are also missing, but I did find one of the certificates of one of my ancestors that I had been looking for for a while. This is what happens when you have two households combined into one and there are packing boxes in a dozen places. Grrrr

Okay, shower, dressed, to the Dentist I go. Replace missing filling - not what I needed on the budget we have in place.

Hello! I didn't make it back yesterday. Trying this again today.

Shad & Annie: I hope both of you have good dentist appointments today.

Annie & Laura: Our deductibles are high as well (but compared to some not that bad). Our out of pocket is very high. Last year DH and I hit both. Along with those and then adding in the health & dental premiums along with the prescriptions we were over some sort of percentage and we were able to take it all off our taxes...it helped in a very nice refund.

We have one of those accounts where we can put in up to $2,500 a year and then use it for out of pocket items and I use that on our big ticket items. It's like a Health Savings account but my employer doesn't contribute to any of it.

Laura: We have a front loading washer and we keep the door open when not in use to keep it from getting mildew and smelling bad.

I wanted to ask you about the baking pan rack that you picked up. Is it a free standing item or something you use in your cabinets?

Michelle: :hug: I know how special Bob was to you. I'm sure you still miss him a lot.

Ceejay: We had a lot of rain here today. I suspect that we will see some snow since I'm smack dab in the middle between Annie and Laura.

Did you have any issues at the plant today with all the rain?

Happy: Sorry to hear you are having some pain issues. Keep up with the therapy and you will start feeling better...I promise. What is good about it is they help you to strengthen the injured area and also help you with that pain by making sure the other parts of your body are cared for while the injured part starts to recover as well. The pain comes from overcompensating in some areas due to the weak area and your body is used to that so it tries to pull you pack in that "protective" over compensated area (Usually pulls away from the pain).

It sounds like you have a good PT.

Nice to be pack posting and spend some time with you all! I hope to be back tomorrow.

Good Morning All....

We did not get all the snow in Indy as predicted. We did get about 1 1/2 inches but it only stuck to the grassy areas, which Sass was not happy with at all, just rubbed her underside perfectly. Squat, jump up, squat, jump up. Took her forever to go potty cause she didn't like the cold snow on her belly. North of Indy is a mess with up to 8" of snow and blizzard conditions. Thank Goodness my boss stayed over in CHI town last night. LAURA I am sure you can agree with that. How much snow/crap did you get?

Have decided there is no **** when we die. We are living in **** on earth. Even when I am being oh so careful with myself not to injure me any more than I do, I do it any way. I stopped at the post office yesterday and on the way out, stepping down the curb, somehow I re-injured my knee. WTH...not as bad as the first time, I am still wearing the brace so I guess it is better than it would of been had I not had the brace on. Looks like I will be wearing the brace even longer. Not to mention my bad ankle on the other leg screaming it's bloody head off about WTH I am putting it through. OK enough on that.

Last night was frozen pea bag on the knee, frozen cheese pizza (baked) for dinner, and a load of dress clothes washed and hung. We watched one episode of 24, then a bit of TV and off to bed. Woke up about midnight and moved to the couch. Sleep is getting worse rather than better, but maybe due to my knee pain waking me.

CHELLE....did you read my post to you about ear piercing for migraines? You might google it or even try it.

LAURA...How is your weather? Did you get a lot of snow? or did it bypass you as it did me? Looks like on the map you got swamped. If I got front loader washing machine I would not be able to leave it open as it is in the path to the garage and would leave no walking room to get there. Top loader it is for me. I couldn't do 9 seconds of planks so you are my hero with 90 minutes.

SUSIE....on a good note, it is February and C has met his deductible and we are on our way to the out of pocket deductible of 4800. He hit 3200. on the last bill that went through, of course, we will have to make payments on that as well as the rest of last years. Such stress.

SHADDIE...hope you dental appt went as smoothly as mine did on the refill filling. I had it done the day before you did. Only took 45 minutes total to drill out the remainder of the filling and replace where the tooth broke off.

CEEG...glad the storm bypassed you and the power came back on right away.

Hello to all gotta get busy...boss due back tomorrow. Need to wrap up some work before his return.

Hugs

Morning all. In for a quick hello. I have a lunch at noon that I'm not thrilled about, but I have to go.

Right before I leave for lunch, I'm having my laptop picked up by IT so it can be imaged and replaced with a new one. Hopefully by doing it during lunchtime (which is scheduled for 2 hours), I won't have too much time without a computer. I spent some time taking some personal stuff off the hard drive and saving it onto a thumb drive. And earlier this week IT finally upgraded us to internet explorer 11, so I also uninstalled firefox (not a company authorized app).

Have a great day everyone.

Hi Everyone. It's lunch time and today all the girls I work with are out. They decided to work from home because of the snow.

I live the furthest away and we had about 2 inches this morning when I left, all on the grassy areas. Here at work nothing is even coating the grass. Oh well, it's quiet in the office.

Annie: your poor knee! how is it feeling this morning?

Laura: I hope the computer upgrade is done when you get back from the meeting. When we have that I always try to drop mine off during lunch as well. I always hate when IT has my computer. I get it back and things just don't look the same and I have to figure it out.

Tonight is TOPS. From my weigh-in this morning it looks like I will show about a 1 lb loss. I have my fingers crossed.

I'll see you all tomorrow.

Getting ready to go to Jonesboro to get my b12 injection. I need to stop by Lowe's for some new vacuum cleaner bags. And may stop by the BCBS office since it's across the street.
Found a shingle in the front yard last night so I need to check the roof to see if I need to call the land lord. It sounded like the roof was coming off the other night.

---
Michelle
Have you thought about getting a baby gate for Santa? Hope the migraines have stopped.

Susie
I have always thought you should have an "expense" account for medical at work. However, my job does not offer that. Glad to see you get back on line.

Annie
Bless you. I now that had to hurt with your knee already being sore. Hang in there, things will get better.

Hello's to the rest.

I need to answer a text that is not mine. Sent to the wrong number.

Good Afternoon....

C just texted me that he had two poo's with no blood today. Miracle. He is so romantic. lololol. Baby steps. He is taking a week off starting March 7 to get some rest. Hopefully it will help. I am taking Thursday and Friday that week to spend time with him. hmmm, maybe we will look at cars then. bleh.

CEEG...what is your B12 level now? Are the shots helping. I like when you post you are getting a B12 shot or getting it checked, it reminds me to give myself a shot. What are you going to the BCBS office for? Just me being nosy, you don't have to answer that.

LAURA...seems like when we get reimaged computers back, nothing works right and half of our stuff is missing. Life I guess. How was your lunch thingy.

SUSIE...goodluck on your WI tonight. A pound is a pound. Fingers crossed. Knee feels like it may be reinjured but not as bad as last week. Yeee.

Thats about it for me at this time....hugs.

Hi all,

Haven't felt like posting. I am grumpy. I did get a cute Disney jacket at the shop last week with a large applique of Grumpy (the 7 dwarfs) along with his picture. I should be wearing it today.

I am Grumpy because I am struggling with WW foods. Everything is so darn pointy!!!! :mad: I had Lean Cuisine's for lunch yesterday and today and it's about 4 spoons of actual food and I'm hungry although I had a supplemental veg and fruit with it. Not enough to fill me for 11 points.

I am Grumpy because I will probably show a gain at weigh in tonight even though I have been pretty good but not perfect with food.

I am Grumpy because I am in alot of pain. I am all twisted on the inside - my spine is twisted, my hips are out of line and because of this I am having the pains that I do. It's hard to tell the difference between "workable pain" and arthritis. Workable as in if I strengthen things, I will feel better. Right now everything pulls and pops when I try to do my therapy exercises and she tells me to back off on them. I am so over hurting to the degree that I am. Obviously it also limits my ability to get in exercise points.

And for some odd reason I am getting pimples in my eyebrows - do you know how bad those suckers hurt and what's the point of that???

Ok, stop being a baby, things will work out. One of the reasons I am so twisted is the way I walk outside - like Quasimodo. Right now we are getting wetness on top of packed down ice and snow. That makes for some dangerously slippery conditions. I have good winter boots but nothing short of spikes will help with that kind of surface. So I walk tensed up and clenched sort of shuffling - afraid like Annie to slip and hurt things even more. Which that tense clench is also messing things up in the body. :rolleyes: I am also fighting with the insurance company. I pay $600 a year for dental insurance and all they are doing lately is denying my claims. A crown broke off in January at the gumline. Rather than making an entirely new crown (at great expense) my doctor rebuilt the crown - $290 of which the insurance company paid $23. I guess it would have been better to just charge $900 for a new crown. :dizzy: They totally denied another pre-treatment claim also. I knew I should not have renewed the dental this year - I can't cancel it and am stuck paying them for nothing until December. I hate HATE HATE insurance companies. :tantrum:

Annie - I am sorry that you have reinjured your leg. That's the worst part about this time of year - so very easy to slip - even if just a little bit. That's why I said be extra cautious walking. I'm glad you didn't get hit with alot of snow but better to warn people ahead of time than catch them off guard. Sassy doesn't know how lucky she is. Glad C found religion and decided to heed you and the doctors and get on the program. Never fun or easy but a necessity as we get older.

Yes, I agree with you ladies that reimaged computers NEVER work correctly. 2 weeks ago DH was using my computer to get a fix when he changed his old computer and could not remember the password. He used mine to download some program to fix his and in the process decided to "help me out" by upgrading and installing some stuff that now gives me problems. :rolleyes: Ack. Even my own IT guy screws up :shrug: :lol:

Ceejay - I hope it's not part of your roof blowing around. I guess you got the bad winds too.

Susie - hope you have a good weigh in tonight.

Shad - hope the dental visit is not too hard on the pocketbook. That's unfortunate you are missing the birth certificate, hope you get a replacement in time for your paperwork. We keep copies here at home because it seems you need them on a regular basis. I should keep them in something more safe than a desk drawer tho.

Michelle - can you train Santa to stay in a kennel when you are out? I know it seems cruel but if they tend to get into trouble when they are bored... I know several of the folks at the shelter do this.

Laura - very frustrating when you can't find reviews for the appliances you need - I have found CR to often have old data so we scrapped our subscription. I have given more creedence to recent reviews over old ones - sometimes they make improvements. We have a top loader high efficiency - has similar issues to front loaders so we were extra cautious after our Maytag molded out and we had to junk an expensive machine after 18 months. So far we are happy with the Sears replacement although it's looking like it might need a replacement by next year. They don't make them as sturdy as they once did. I am anxiously waiting to hear what you think of the steam option if you use it. I have a wrinkle release 18 minute setting which heats on high for about 5 minutes and then cools down and for the most part, that and an occasional slightly damp cloth will refresh something wrinkly. Is the steam for cleaning too? I ask in advance for purchasing the next machine.

Yikes, it's 4pm already. I was going to make Zuppa Toscano for DH for supper tonight so I'd better get a move on since I have to leave for WW at 5:30. I don't eat until I come home. Will have to find some extra lightweight clothes for weigh in tonight also ;)

Talk to you tomorrow.

Afternoon all. The lunch turned out to be fun. All ladies (6 of us), and the talk turned to dating, which I have not done for 28 years, lol. But it was still fun. Of course wine was involved, so that probably helped things along. :D I had Salmon on top of an arugula salad – tasty. We also had a cheese plate and some brussels sprouts for starters. I won’t say I totally love brussels sprouts now, but the way they were prepared was tasty and sure beats the crummy boiled ones we were served as a kid. Not that we ate them, lol.

So I came back to a new laptop and of course things don’t look quite the same. I copied and saved my bookmarks to a private network drive and I guess now I have to copy them back to the folder they were in before. Otherwise, I think I just need to get some of my most used apps back on the taskbar.

Annie – How sucky you hurt your knee - I hope you didn’t bring yourself back to square one in the healing process. You don’t need to go back to the crutches again, do you? Nice you’ll have some time off coming up in the near future. I’m so sorry I forgot about you doing research to buy a new car. I’ll PM or text you with bf’s phone number and you can pick his brain about it. Awww, poor Sassy getting a cold belly in the snow. We just got enough to cover the grass. Yup, it was our southern suburbs and northern Indiana that got a lot of snow. Indiana always gets a lot of lake effect snow. Re planks – I’m sure you could work up to longer times if you gave it a chance. I do them on my forearms, not on my hands in the pushup position. I actually think doing them in the pushup position takes the focus away from the core a bit and makes it needlessly harder because it works (i.e., TIRES) your arms, and it could strain your wrists and elbows. Just my opinion. Anyway, just get on the floor and try for 15 seconds. I bet you can do it. :)

Ceejay – Hope you have a good trip to Jonesboro. My new hsa account is used to pay medical expenses for my new high deductible health plan. It’s not optional and it has a monthly service fee of $2.25 per month. But my employer contributes money to it, and it allows me to direct deposit contributions to it and it has a debit card associated with it, so it makes it easy to make payments. It’s still too early to tell, but I hope it’s less of a PITA to deal with than my fsa was.

Susie – Good luck at your TOPS meeting tonight. One pound is great. Unless that’s the total amount lost since January 1st, which is the case for me…. :halfempty As for snow, we didn’t get much at all up where I live. Enough to cover the grass, but the sidewalks were almost totally clear today. And we’re heading for 50 degrees this weekend, so yay for that!! Re the baking rack – it looks like it might have come with some screws and could be affixed inside the cabinet, but the seller told me she didn’t have the screws. I didn’t care one way or another because it works just fine as a freestanding rack.

Shad – I hope your dental appointment went well. Oh what a PITA to obtain a copy of a birth certificate. I think mine is in my safety deposit box…

Michelle – No doubt you are overjoyed to not be in the Midwest when these storms go through! Enjoy your Friday off work!!

Out of here!

Morning all
Well the certificate is not found. Now I have to get a new one. I will need to ring them to courier it over. They do have a dedicated overseas phone number so that might help with the queue. There are large numbers of Kiwis living abroad, many of them seem to find their way to Happy's place in the woods it seems so that is probably why the dedicated phone line. Kiwis tend to 'get up' (terrorise) public servants if it takes to long to answer the phone. We are not fussy, we do it to the Prime Ministers office staff as well as the janitor at the local school or cleansing facility. So I will let you know how it turns out.

I have beans, corn, lettuces, tomatoes, beetroot all growing in the garden - although not fast enough. For some reason neither the peas or the butter beans seem to be doing well. I will give them another couple of days and then replant if necessary. Some of the corn and green beans didn't sprout but that's okay, I planted plenty of them and I can resow if I want to. The corn is about 4 inches high now or 10 centimetres. I may need to fertilise again soon. They are all gross feeders.

What else! ODDU continues on his 'winning' ways. I get woken with a Ruger kiss daily, then a toy gets shoved under my nose and I am expected to be ready to play in 2.4 seconds. Such energy. He can be very naughty as well. Hopefully he will calm down soon :crossed: :crossed: He graduated from grade 2 to grade 3 at the dog school last week, however I wonder if the trainer just wanted rid of him :rofl: out of his class.

Dental bill - 243.95. Tooth cleared of several old fillings on top of each other and One filling rebuilt. Good to go for a while again. Fortunately this was the tooth that the Dentist told me needed working on sometime back and I haven't been home long enough to fit into his schedule. So at least that is off the list now. I used to have dental insurance but gave that away when it was costing me more than I got back when I claimed and the insurance company told me that they pay on the average listed price of whatever, and I should find a cheaper dentist.

Happy - so sorry to hear that you are in such pain. It can't be easy to get anything done. I hope you can stick with it until the PT rights the wrong bits. I totally understand the clenched body when the world is slippery and dangerous out there. Can't be too long to the spring thaw for you. Apparently the BOM is declaring the end of cyclone season here. Hope Mother Nature gets that note - although whether she will take any notice or not is debatable.

Annie - Good news that the expected snow did not appear. Sassy needs legs as long as Ruger. He just bounces through the water and the grass and anything else he can run around. We timed him the other day. He can get from the back of the section, through the back gate and out to the front gate in 2.2 seconds. Admittedly we don't have a large hunk of land, but that is pretty fast.
Good on C. I'm sure you were very excited about his 'movements' but at least things are improving in that direction.
Sorry to hear that you have hurt the knee again. Maybe we need to put you in a straight jacket and tie up the feet as well.

Laura - lunch sounded really nice. It's always fun to hear how the dating game is going these days. Like you, I haven't had one in years.
Have fun with the 'new' laptop. I am currently trying to sort out the printer one DS's partners machine. I have finally got the document to spool, but it is erroring out, so the next thing is to work out why. Don't you just love things that don't work first time.

Ceejay - sounds like you had some really interesting weather recently. Get that roof looked at before the spring rains come.

Susie - good luck with the weigh in.

Michelle - funnily enough I never had any trouble with permissions etc. when the website changed. Seems a lot of people did though.

Okay, enough procrastinating, to the NZIA site to download this thing again and then ring them. They are probably all out to lunch now. Such fun I have.

Annie
Went to BCBS to find out some things for retirement. And they are having a fitness challenge starting March first, but one can sign up on line. How is your knee doing? Believe me it takes some time for those diverticulum places to heal once they are injured.(that's how I think of it). Maybe this will be the last time for C. to sin with the wrong food. I really have to talk to myself before I eat something now if it's one of my triggers.

Laura
Glad you had a good lunch. I miss my girl's day out at times. Maybe I can get with one of my friends when I go to my sissy's in Missouri.

Happy
Or should I say miss Grumpy. I understand with the pain. Picture Mr Sanford from Sanford and Sons as myself when my arthritis hits like it did last Wednesday.

----
My trip to Jonesboro was good. Got my b12 and was told I could now come once a month. Whew I'm happy about that. I'm getting my mojo back.

Wonderful evening of babysitting the gbabes. Both are croupy coughing and I told DD to take them to the doc today before it gets any worse. She just looked at me like I had poo on my face or something. Royce sat on my lap most of the night, which tells me he doesn't feel well cause he is one rowdy child. The breathing treatments I had to give both, well Jacob's went smoothly, Royce however, through a fit and yelled for Papaw. Bout broke my heart so I could only give him half the treatment. Yes I am a softy. We had fried rice for dinner from the local Chinese shop. It was tasty.

SHADDIE...fortunately for us, if you live in the state you were born in, we can go locally and get a copy of our birth certificate, and sometimes just order it on line. Pretty simple. ODDU is a beauty. Love his coloring, how can grandma say no to that face. lol.

HAPPY...so wonder you are grumpy. I feel your pain, literally. Heck getting old and trying to survive with these aches and pains. Old arthur is not helping either. Hugs and hope things get better for you. (us).

LAURA...your lunch sounded like fun. Hmmm, dating, YUCK, don't want to go back to that. Too many weirdo's out there and many men just want one thing after one date, and you are not getting it here, brother.

CEEG...Are you going to do the challenge at the BSBC site? I only do once a month B12 shots. Once I got my B12 to where it needed to be, the shots keep it right in range. Good luck.

Hello to the rest of you, make it a great day/night/weekend. Stay out of trouble. Hugs.

Good morning all,

New day, new start. Stayed steady at weigh in yesterday. No loss but no gain either. I guess there is something to be said for that. I had a good talk with myself last night. Need to just work harder at it. Also they have an exercise bike at the thrift shop - a good, sturdy one. I did a lot of research last night and it seems they overwhelmingly recommend a bike over a treadmill for strengthening the knees - and particularly this one. It is also rated very highly for a cardio workout because in addition to legs, it also has the arms that move back and forth like an elliptical. I just talked to DH and (somewhat surprisingly to me) he said he was ok with it. We just needed to go and take a better look at it. It was purchased new by the donor for rehab for her hubby and only used for a short time.

DH just said let's go look at it so I will be back to finish this later.

Morning all. So happy that it’s Friday today.

Happy – Yeh, those “diet” frozen entrees never fill me up, but I’m a snacker so I like still having room for a snack when I’ve eaten one of those. Can’t suggest anything productive or helpful concerning your issues with the WW points. Resorting to calorie counting and ignoring the points sort of defeats the purpose of fully participating in the WW program. Yay for no gain! Sorry you’ve been in such pain. I hope the PT starts to help. I don’t know if you already have the spikes, but if you’re regularly dealing with such slippery situations, I highly recommend them. Why chance a fall? They can be a PITA – having to remove the spikes or the shoes as soon as you get in the house and certainly before walking on hardwood floors – but they do the job. How infuriating about the dental insurance that covers practically nil. Boo on that.---I definitely think a stationary bike would be a good thing for you vs. a treadmill – less stress on the joints. I hope the one at the shop works out for you.

Shad – Congrats to ODDU on moving to the next grade. I don’t know about GSD’s, but some dogs stay in the puppy phase for a long time… Well, as soon as you get the new birth certificate ordered, the one you had in the house will turn up, you know that right? :D Oh well, that’s the way things go. Good luck with troubleshooting the printer problems.

Ceejay – I’m glad the B12 is helping you feel better! I’m sure sticking with a food plan to avoid the diverticulosis problems requires a lot of willpower and self-discipline but it’s well worth it!!!

Annie – Poor babies with the coughs. :( Re the dating talk – sure glad I don’t deal with that. What I heard yesterday and from my friend D makes it sound like you have to be a detective or CIA agent to ferret out a decent guy amongst all the creeps, losers, and jerks.

Hellos to the rest of you. Everyone have a great weekend.
==
So happy for Friday this week. Well, every week, but this week in particular. I'm keeping up on my plank challenge, but something caused my right upper hamstring (glute) to be sore. It's like I can't get it stretched out. Oh well, always something.

We were all set for delivery of our washer/dryer on Thursday until we decided to switch colors – cherry red. I didn’t really care, but bf wanted it, so okay. Didn’t switch brands after all. All of that is well and good, but we will wait for the new machines, so that means we will be using the laundromat for a bit. Oh boy, can’t wait. I think I trust our old dryer enough to just use the laundromat washers and haul the wet laundry home to use the dryer. Besides, I hang dry the majority of my clothes anyway.

We were supposed to go see a band tonight, but my friend bowed out and now I think bf will probably not want to bother either. I’m okay with it because the band wouldn’t come on until 10 pm (or later) anyway. My friend suggested dinner tomorrow night and bf is good with that, so that’ll break things up.

It’s supposed to be mild this weekend – glad for that.

That’s about it for me. My new laptop seems fine, knock on wood. :D

:wave:

My friend Nellie who gave me the beautiful quilt a few years back is not in hospice and time is short. Cancer once again. I am so sad.

Afternoon all,

Annie - so sorry to hear about your friend. It is so sad. My thoughts go out to her friends and family

Laura - the ODDU will not fully mature until age 2 or thereabouts. So we can expect antics until then. A cherry red washer and dryer. Wonder if that makes any difference to the workings :rofl: I hope you have much fun and long service from the red rocket. Send your wet washing over. It's baked dry and crisp within minutes over here.

Happy - it may take a while but it will happen if you just stick with the plan and do some exercise. It's never going to be easy and at our age we have to factor in the brittle bones, the need for fibre and all those things that we took for granted earlier. That's part of the reason why I don't like structured diet plans - they are usually aimed at the young and the restless instead of us whose mobility is not what it used to be and there is no consideration for age or infirmity.

Annie - yep, in NZ I can go into the Hatched, Matched and Dispatched (Births, marriages and deaths) office and get a copy. You can do it here as well. However I'm in a different country and although we pretend to be friendly, there is no interaction between them and us. Hence the tale below

Ceejay - wise words to Annies C. Fortunately I have an asbestos lined mouth and a cast iron gut. I eat anything and everything and it only catches up with me every so often and usually because of overeating. No wonder I have problems losing weight.

Okay - the saga of paperwork on this job. Well I never found my birth certificate although I am waiting for it to mysteriously appear from behind the washing machine at some stage. I rung NZ and spent time waiting for the queue to clear and my turn come up. Got a very pleasant young lady who said she would take all details while I was on the phone provided I agreed with a couple of caveats she read out. I did and she did. Apparently you can now get pretty birth certificates - they have pictures of parts of NZ on them - either a forest scene or one of the beautiful beaches or the Waitangi 150year anniversary. So I got a plain one and a pretty one. Nothing like having a room full of birth certificates. So she said it would take about 8 working days and I asked to have it couriered over here - yes no problem. Can it be done any quicker for a higher fee of course - nope, but most of them go out within 4 working days but we say 8 just in case. So that was that. Done.
Then the Spanish Inquisition tell me that the paperwork I attached to their onboarding form did not attach. We need this, that, the other, marriage certificate, divorce papers. And have I put in my maiden name - no, I just sent you a note about that. So you say your maiden name is Coleman. No I didn't say that at all. My maiden name was COLMAN. Okay, we want the divorce papers - no divorce just a property settlement and separation. So you are still married. Well some may thing so. We don't. We want a marriage certificate. Don't have one of those and won't be applying for something I don't want to know any more about. Ring NZ if you want something that happened 42 years ago - the Statute of Limitation is less than that. Turns house upside down again for birth certificate and comes up with a copy of the marriage certificate. Thought I had burned all that stuff. Send it down - get a now we wait for the birth certificate. Don't you think they could start on the police check and the other stuff while they wait?

Today has been hot as heck. Everything is beginning to look like crispy critturs. Back to the constant watering. The vege patch looks good but is not growing thick and fast. I may need to fertilise and seaweed feed to get them moving. Wish it would cool down a bit.

Apparently J took the dog through his class last night and he headbutted her. She is throwing a tantrum. DS2 took him through another class without any problems at all. So apparently it is his fault for making her buy this dog. :chin: and she doesn't want anything to do with him at the moment. Poor dog. He has been wandering around today trying to work out what is wrong. Sh*t I say. Why can't people listen!!! He is a big dog. You don't have to bend over him to pat him and he understands power, not hugs and kisses.

Anyway I am off, pile of washing to fold and put away. Let's hope someone sees sense tomorrow or I may have to deliver a speech.

Anyway, that's about my day

Morning,
Forgot to post yesterday. I didn't feel up to par for some unknown reason. This morning it feels as though some one kicked me in the stomach.
I ordered a new fitbit last week. I noticed that this one has a huge crack on the face of it. I'm not sure if this is why the battery keeps running down. or not. but that's my excuse for the new one.
Filling in for L today which will give me some over time this pay period.
Forgot the bag I packed for my food allotment today. I guess it will not hurt to fast for 12 hours. I used to fast one day a week.

Happy
I have one of those bikes you described and I love it. I get a very good work out. In my opinion it would be a good investment. I bought my bike because of my feet but it also is gentle on the knees. How is your knee? Do you wear a brace like Annie?


Annie
My b12 level didn't come up a whole lot but the doctor is following protocol. Think I'm going to start taking a tablet every day to see if that will help like it did before. Sorry to hear about your friend. I would like to know why my body loses this. How are your knee?

Shad
Is the paper work saga going to be an indication of the upcoming job? I had to get a new birth certificate when I filed for Medicare. I don't know what happened to the original one but I do remember that it was falling apart. The paper crumbled when I touched it. Poor puppy.

I will have to go back and read some of the other posts. Be back later.

Hi ladies,

No rest for the weary....or the wicked. My day off yesterday was nice...but I was exhausted all day. I had to wake up at 2:30am to take my boyfriend to San Francisco airport (he had to be there by 3:30 am). Then by the time I got back home, I was able to catch 45 minutes of sleep before I had to work out with my personal trainer. I could've gone straight to the gym to get some cardio in...but I was so tired after driving nearly an hour each way to and from the airport. I could've canceled my personal training appointment...and probably should've...but I didn't. I figured I could shower and take a nap after my workout. I did the shower, but couldn't fall asleep. :faint: The rest of my day off was spent watching movies on DVD - the original Star Wars trilogy, and taking Santa on a doggie play date at a friend's house and then to the dog park. We were home and asleep by 7:30 pm. I'm such a late night party animal - NOT!! :rofl:

I'm at work today...and have a ton to get done. Then I'm off tomorrow and going to the Bow Wow Film Festival, which is a film festival featuring short movies about dogs. Proceeds from the ticket sales benefit the Humane Society where I work and another shelter.

I had two calls from recruiters yesterday....for permanent positions I applied for 4-5 months ago and the companies are finally coming off of a hiring freeze. Both would pay more than I am currently making....but I had to politely decline. I really do love my job. I am enjoying what I do. I'm so glad I'm helping make a difference in the lives of animals and the people who adopt them. And I love having Santa with me at work. He likes it too.

I almost forgot to mention....with my boyfriend being out of town and his brother being out of town, Santa and I (and my bf's cat) have the house to ourselves for over a week!! :dance: I love my bf and I like his brother.....but sometimes I just need a little time by myself, which is why I like house/dog sitting so much. I will use this time to check a few things off my to do lists (need to do's and want to do's).

I'm upping my half-marathon training schedule to running 4 days per week and working out with a trainer 3-4 days per week --- most of the personal training sessions are in a group setting, so a little bit less individualized training, but a lot cheaper. Tomorrow, I'll be doing run/walk intervals and increasing my distance. My goal is 6-7 miles.

I'm sorry that my personals have to be short and sweet....kinda like me. :lol:

======================

Annie - I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. Is C feeling any better?

Happy - I hope the pain eases up for you soon.

Shad - I feel bad for the ODDU. Perhaps J should establish herself in the "pack" hierarchy in a firm but loving way. As you said, the poor dog doesn't understand what he did wrong. I confess, I would be giving the ODDU hugs and kisses too...I do that with Santa and my friends' dogs and other dogs at the dog park....but I also make it very clear to all with my tone of voice when they do something wrong. Sorry to hear about the Spanish Inquisition. I had a similar experience recently with some finances that were in my married name. I got the bank where the funds were held to give me a check made out to my married name, then when I deposited into my checking account, I endorsed the check with my married name and my current name as that "worked" for a deposit made a couple months ago. My checking account bank had a hissy fit! Telling me that they can't accept this...I said you did just a couple months ago. They wanted my marriage certificate and divorce certificate (I brought them a copy of the divorce cert showing that my name WAS my married name and now is legally changed to my maiden name - judge's signature and all). I explained that I didn't have a copy of my marriage certificate....but I have had my account with this bank for so long that I opened it before I was married, had it during my marriage and now have it back in my maiden name. They have ALL the records of both names being valid. They said they'd deposit the check, but it might get "kicked out" as invalid since it's in my married name. After a stressful 2 weeks waiting to see if the funds of this large check would actually get deposited or would be returned....thankfully finally the funds are available. :faint:

Ceejay - I hope you can get the b12 level up.

Laura - Cherry red washer and dryer. Nice. I've seen those and they are really good looking. I wonder if you use bleach on the clothes would the washer ad dryer become a light pink? :rofl: I hope they arrive soon....laundromats are a PITA.

Lots to get done...I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

I'm back and it dawned on me as to why my stomach was hurting this morning. My abs are sore due to the 60 chair sit ups I did the other day. That makes me feel better.
Talked to my sister who lives in the Dallas area this morning. I told her about my change of plans and she's excited for me. Neither of them didn't want me to move in with my bff.
My new Fitbit should be at the house when I get home tonight according to the text this morning.

Michelle
I'm happy that you love your job. Makes it all worth while. Sorry you didn't get in much sleep. I know about the me/alone time. I'm envious of that. Even though I live alone I still have that hum drum feeling of work and want and need that time for myself.


Laura
I think you will like the cherry red color for your new washer. Hope they are delivered soon. I hat the trips to the laundry mat.

Last one out, the first one in.
My new Fitbit was in the mail box when I got home last night. I'm glad cause the other one died. I had put another new battery in it Friday night and it was gone last night when I got home.
Nothing new from yesterday till now.

Yikes,

Seems when I do get back here a week has passed!

So we did get the exercise bike. My friend who works at the shop on Saturday has a big pick up truck and he was all too happy to load it in the truck with DH and bring it to the house as long as I tended the cash register at the shop! It was a really busy day. Yesterday was just freakingly amazingly gorgeous - a RARE day in the 50's temperatures. It just makes you feel so alive!!! I went out and chopped some ice off the driveway. Felt good to be outside. Today we dodged an ice storm - thank goodness - just flurries in the air and if we can get to next weekend, temps will warm again above freezing.

I am seeing so many good things about this Airdyne bike, I'm glad we got it. DH said he will use it too. He and I got it into the basement - I'm not sure how because I am in so much pain I am practically crippled up. I did switch and sleep upstairs on the sleep number bed for a couple of nights and was starting to feel better - then came back to my temperpedic memory foam bed and I am feeling wretched again. I'm thinking it's too soft for me even if it does cushion you with support. I am soooo over feeling this badly.

I am trying to attack WW with a renewed vigilance and selected a few recipes to make. I struggle at night wanting a savory, protein snack. Found recipes for hummus and raita - hoping with some baked tortilla chips or vegetable "coins" that will do the trick. I also found an old list with 10 foods t help fight arthritis pain - salmon, green tea, dark chocolate (pointy though :( ) berries, apples, olive oil, ginger, tumeric, nuts (pointy too) quinoa (pointy) and salsa. I'm just going to work with it.

Ceejay - do you think the Fitbit has helped you incorporate more movement into your day? I didn't realize you had an Airdyne bike too but that makes perfect sense when you call it a "stamina bike". And to your question, no - I don't wear a knee brace although I'm sure it would help at times.

Michelle - we are doing the Bow Wow Wow film festival here in town too! Enjoy your alone time.

Laura - when my aunt ordered a new laundry pair of front loaders - she got the cherry red also and they are gorgeous! I hope you will be happy with them. I'm glad you suggested planks with the forearms - I might try that. Doing the hands puts too much pressure on my arthritic wrists. Thanks for explaining that! Roasted Brussels sprouts are totally yummy - especially with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I have redeveloped my taste for cauliflower lately too - much to DH's disgust as he thinks it smells to high heaven :lol: I see it is 63 degrees by you today. I am jealous. You guys are having an easy winter this year. Hope it doesn't get crazy in April and make up for what you're missing. Just waiting for everyone to get excited and plant an early garden ;)

Annie - how are you doing with your knee? Sorry to hear your friend is in hospice. :hug: Too many people too soon but I guess God needs them for other things. Doesn't make it any easier for us. That's the hardest thing about getting old when you think of it - losing people we love and care deeply about. Did you spend time with the kids over the weekend? I'm glad the winter storm tracked away from you.

Shad - your advice sounded much like what a trainer said on a show I watched last week - "choose your hard". Either you keep eating what you want (the easy part) and then life is hard - hard to move, hard in pain, hard that you have no energy and are tired all the time. Or you can do the hard - eat cleaner, track calories, push yourself to work out regularly - and then enjoy the "easy" with feeling better (eventually), ease in movement and feeling stronger and hopefully reshaping the body. Words to live by. Good heavenly days - WHY all the rigmarole about a birth certificate (you are alive and not violating child labor laws), marriage and divorce. Do they think you are being employed under secret names????? Send them a mustard tin and tell them you are THAT Colman and they had better not mess with you or then can stuff that job. :rolleyes: And I thought WE had complications. :faint: Poor confused pup - perhaps J does not understand dog behaviors. I admit I do not. And sometimes it is a bit frustrating to me that the cats - and practically every animal we have ever had - treat DH like he is the Pied Piper and me as the scullery maid with nary a look. I daresay if I disappeared they would probably be all prancing about. DH says I should not be jealous of an animal and he is not doing anything to encourage this and all I say is fine - if they love you so much then YOU can clean their litter boxes, feed them and water them INCLUDING cleaning the water bowl- ALL the time. DH does not really understand bio-slime. Yes, just because it's only water in there - it does get funky after a while. :rolleyes:

I have a blue washer, Laura has a red one and I'm sure many of you have white ones. So we can decorate the laundry room at the commune in "Americana" :lol: Or just use my big, white dryer cabinet. See, I'm thinking ahead. ;)

Susie - hope you are getting a bit of time to yourself to enjoy your weekend and not spending it catching up on work. How is DH's afib doing?

Ok, let me get off the computer before the whole day is shot again. Later chicks.

Happy
Yes, I love my Zip Fitbit simply because it does make me more active. I don't get 10,000 steps per day but I do have a limit of 6000 to 7000 steps per day. And beware, don't go gung ho the first time you try this bike. It will work you. I'm still pacing myself at 10 to 15 minutes per ride to total 20 to 30 minutes. but I love it. I'm also walking more at work.

Annie: Sorry the grandbabies are feeling poorly. One of my nieces stayed home from school on Thursday and Friday due to a cough, and a low grade fever. She wasn't feeling well on Saturday and we were helping out with some of the Saturday activities (mom and Dad had something at church for a few hours) for the other 3 girls. I kept Bryn home on the couch and DH took the other 3 to Aidyne's basket-ball game. The other two wanted to stay with me and I said, no, go support your sister at her game....and Bryn and I took a nap.

I'm sorry to hear that your friend with Nellie. May her days here be easy and may her coming days be in Glory. :hug:

I had to chuckle about C text you with updates. When DH had blood in his urine 2 years ago, he would do the same. Our big ole men are really little boys who need reassurance all the time.

Happy: How exciting about your new bike! It sounds like CeeJay gave you good advice for starting out on it. Don't overdo...you want to be able to "do" a bit each day.

In your "grumpy text" ;) you mentioned that it is hard to tell if the pain is because the area needs strengthen or because you are twisted. I had this issue too when I sent to PT and the answer it is due to both. Don't give up, you will get there. In PT after you do your exercises do they ice some areas (like your knee) and do heat on other areas, like you back/hips? They did that to me, after my PT exercises and the massage they gave to me on those t-band areas. All that really helped. Also, they told me to take Aleve (it as ok with all my meds and other medical issues) when I got home from PT.

So, on the days that I did my PT exercises at home I would do the ice, and the heat ( with rice bags that I can heat up in the microwave) and did the Aleve. I didn't get the massage thing with the T band, but I did use a tennis ball in this one muscle around the hip area that always got tight on me.

Do your PT exercises include stretches as well?

Good job for staying the same at WW. That is a win in my book.

Shad: That sure is a lot to endure to get a copy birth certificate. It sounds like you know how to train the dog better than those you are taking the dog too.

Ceejay: How's the new fitbit working? I have my steps set to 7,000 a day and I really need to start hitting that number. Glad to hear you can now go once a month to get the B12 shot.

Laura: Your new washer and dryer sound so pretty. I just have boring white. But they were a gift from my brother when we moved into this house 9 years ago, so I wasn't going to complain! ;)

Planks are a part of my PT exercises and they had me start them on my knees and my forearms. I was getting pretty strong back in January but I have slacked off and I need to get back to them.

Michelle: I smiled when I read that while recruiters called and offered positions that would pay more, you decided to stay where you are as you love it. Pay is important but so is loving what you do and getting paid for it.

Keep up the good training for the upcoming Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon.


So at TOPS I was done 1/2 a pound. I had on a very heavy sweater and I had 4 people tell me even before I weighed that I should have brought something lighter to change into to weigh. At least it was a loss but still.

So, I closed out Feb with a 2.75 lb loss. I have really slacked off on so many of my practices that I must do to get to where I want to with losing this weight.

I had a "come to Jesus" meeting with myself over the weekend and I'm setting a goal for end of March weigh-in to have lost no less than 5 lbs. I also am setting a goal to reach my 7000 steps daily by the last two weeks of March. I need to get back on my bike, 3 days a week and back on that tread desk at least two days a week. I also am setting a goal for myself to log my food, all of it, and my exercise each day and all this starts tomorrow.

I did not work over the weekend. I should have as tomorrow I'm with the VP's Admin for some job shadowing. Then on Tuesday we have an all day offsite for the site Admin group. I'm co-leader for that group and we have a great speaker coming in for the offsite.

I'll be working at home some tomorrow night for sure. I'm going to try not to on Tuesday night.

Tonight I ordered some "transitional" clothes for work. With spring right around the corner, one needs some of those. I ordered two new pairs of black pants (what working woman doesn't always need those!) and then three bright colored 3/4 inch sleeve tops It will be nice to have a few new things after all the turtleneck sweaters and winter colors. I have other lighter V-neck sweaters that I can wear the next 6 weeks or so while the weather is transitioning.

I did pretty well with my purchases. Lane Bryant have by one get the other 50% off and two of the tops were half off and then I was able to take $50 off my purchase and ship to the store for free (I go by the exit for this store everyday on my to and from work) for $172.00. I thought that wasn't too bad for 2 pair of pants, and 3 tops.

I plan to be back tomorrow--see you all then.

Good Morning Chicklets...

Let's see. Can't even remember Friday night. bleh. Saturday morning was meeting, then C called and wanted me to meet him for lunch. It was very nice as we had not done that for at least 6 months. We went to Murphy's Pub which is directly on his route to make it easier for him. I had THEE best blacken salmon steak a top a ginormous spinach salad with blue cheese crumbles and hot bacon dressing, not creamy, but clear dressing. That part was not diet friendly but OMGoodness was it ever so delish. Then off to Dress Barn and shopped the sale rack. I got two very nice work blouses and a pair of earrings to match also a pair of leggings that are more sweat type leggings than the plain stretchy type. With the pricing, all marked down, then 25% off the marked down price and I had a 30% off coupon off one item....are you ready for this all for the low low price of 32 bucks. I have the sweater/blouse and earrings on today and feel oh so half not bad looking today.

My knee is mending very slowly. Between the aches and pains of the knee and bad ankle, I tend to be a little short and crabby with C. He is noticing and starting to act the same way. Monkey see, monkey do. Guess I need to grin and bare it for a bit. I just wish I could take ibuprofen, dang heart issues. I am getting a little distraught as I see myself becoming my mom. Don't want to do anything but sit and watch TV and be lazy and in pain. Then we die. Bleh. Speaking of watching TV, I binged watched season 6 of Downton Abbey on Saturday afternoon. I was a little put out by the first episode but really ended up liking the rest of the season much better and the ending was sweet. I won't spoil it for you all who are still trying to catch it, all and all it was good. Kind of sad it has ended, but really kind of glad cause that is the only program that I have binged watched and really don't like wasting that much time at once. 8 1/2 hours, started watching at 3pm and was not done til 10:30 pm. C was working then went fishing after, didn't get home until 8 pm, so wasn't like I was neglecting him. lol..

We went to church on Sunday morning then lunch at a little diner. Great food, even better prices. C had scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, pancakes coffee and I had grilled sirloin burger with grilled onions, green beans and a salad, water, our bill was less than 20 bucks, including tip. It was quite tasty and I rarely get beef but for some reason was craving a burger. Also got to visit with our waitress who is a friend of mine. Then off to Jared jewelry to get my jewelry inspected to keep the warranty/insurance valid. This has to be done every 6 months, sometimes a pain but really worth it as I have lost a stone out of my wedding ring and a stone out of one of my necklaces over the few years, but were replaced at no cost. All jewelry was intact and so only cleaned. All sparkly shiny now. The great thing is they also cleaned my momma's ruby diamond ring for me at no cost.

C left at 3 pm to go fishing with a buddy across the pond from us at another place down the way from us. They didn't get back until 7:30 pm. I must say I was bored so I went to the redbox and rented The Intern. I really liked the movie. If you have not seen it yet, it is a very cute movie that actually kept me entertained. Of course I folded a load of towels, did a load of clothes and emptied the dishwasher while watching it. Good thing I have the open floor plan and can see the TV from the kitchen and standing just outside the open laundry room door.

My boss leaves for National Sales meeting in Colorado tomorrow morning and will not be back until next Monday. Weeehaaaa. Man will I get a lot accomplished here in the office at MY LEISURE...lol. I kind of forgot about it over the weekend and the boss reminded me this morning when he stopped by my office to "catch up", which mostly involves him telling me all the exercising and walking he got done over the weekend. lol.

I am posting this before I lose it and will do personals in a few.

Ok, let's see...

First, thank you for all your sweet comments about my friend NELLIE.

SUSIE...congrats on the loss. WTGG!! 5 lbs for the month of March is doable. Go gettem woman, you can do this! Have fun at your offsite workshop/meeting.

CEEG...is your new Fitbit an HR or a regular FB? I have the HR, but rarely use the HR part. Cause we all know ANNIE does not exercise much.

HAPPY...knee is coming along very slowly. Doesn't help that is gets mistreated..lol, not on purpose. Didn't get time with the kiddos this weekend, they were all busy with other stuff over the weekend that didn't involve me. I will see the boys tonight when Sam colors my hair. Man was that a fast 4 weeks. My hair grows extra fast now that I have been taking the 10000 mg of biotin for the past 8 mos or so. Amazing. I eat many of the foods that fight arthritis pain regularly but will try to incorporate more of those you posted into my diet. See if that helps the arthritis in my knee and ankle. We had freakishly amazing weather yesterday also. Almost 70 degrees and sunny, way to windy tho, 50 mph winds, but warm.

ChELLE...have a wonderful in-house vacation while both the men are away. Isn't it nice. I like it except on Sunday afternoons. For some reason Sunday afternoons are depressing and sad for me. Good for you to stick with a job that makes you happy and Santa happy. Sometimes money isn't everything, and thank goodness cause I don't have any of it. lol

SHADDIE...Samantha made it through the first year of her doggie the size of a small horse and is now a few months into heading for the second. Boxer/Great Dane/Blue Healer. He is like a huge floppy stuffed animal and just loves being loved. He lays his head on my leg when I am over there and looks at me this his huge brown/black eyes so sadly. Can't take it. He is a lover and wants to be loved. Good grief on the birth certificate. Seems like everything we need is always a struggle. Curtis is fighting with his employer to get a copy of the lease for his box truck. Of course I have taken over that battle.

Hello's to the rest of ya's.

Hugs

Morning all. Happy Monday. :dz:

My weekend was alright, pretty uneventful. I finished what I wanted to with the mail basket, though I still have some magazines in there to deal with. Saturday evening we met a friend for dinner. Afterwards, bf made it to the laundromat with his laundry in time to do his stuff. Sunday morning I hauled my stuff there. We both brought home our clean but wet laundry to dry in our own dryer. Wow, the dry laundry is heavy enough to lug from basement to car to laundromat, but the wet stuff – yikes, it’s heavy!! But at least we now have clean laundry. :D Not yet sure when our new equipment will be scheduled for delivery. Our color isn’t kept in stock…

The weather was nice but windy this weekend, so the dog walks were nice. Besides that, I’m up to date on my plank challenge. I’m done through day 20 and am up to 1 min 55 seconds. Aside from that, I didn’t do any formal exercise at all. I keep waking up around 4-5 am and am not really able to get back to a sound sleep after that. It’s not the nightguard. The past week, I feel like my nasal passages are slightly swollen when I wake up and that could be the problem. This could be caused by one of two things. One, my sample of my daily inhaler is gone now and so I haven’t used that in about a week. Two, I wonder if something changed with the formulation of the generic Flonase rx I get - I just started a new bottle of that last week. Bf suggested I try to get the rx supplier to give me the brand name. Not a bad thought, but I have a bigger battle with my rx company than this...

The story with my rx company is that when my doctor submitted the rx for the daily inhaler, I got an email not very long after from the rx company with a cryptic message saying they needed to discuss payment options. I kind of ignored it for a couple days.

In the meantime, I accessed my hsa account and saw a HUGE transaction amount and realized it must be the payment for the inhaler rx. No way was I going to pay that amount for it - I would cancel the rx and get my doc to find a cheaper alternative. That’s when I checked the rx site. It showed it hadn’t even shipped yet, yet I’d been charged?? And get this - I couldn’t see the pricing. The site said pricing would be "available upon shipment". New rx or old, how ludicrous is that?? Who pays for something before they know how much it’ll cost?

So the next day I phoned the rx co to tell them to not to ship the rx, but they said it was already too late in the process. So I asked for a manager and she said she’d gotten it to not be shipped. LIAR. The rx was delivered on Friday. I just sent them a nasty email through their site telling them that they shipped this rx even though the amount exceeded the payment authorization $$$ limit they themselves set on their own site, that they need to approve return of the rx (it’s still sealed in the shipping package), provide a return address to do so, and credit my account immediately. I’m sure they will promptly ignore me and I will end up on the phone with them. :mad:

Okay, gonna post this and come back later for personals. Cya.

Susie
I would take the 1/2 pound loss for the week. Those are good goals also. I need to set a weight loss goal for March.

Laura
That would have upset me about the rx. Hope they get things resolved. I know you will be glad to have the new washer and dryer delivered soon. I can't imagine handling dirty or wet clothes up and down stairs.

Annie
I may have to try biotin. Is it good for nails also? Woohoo a free week from the boss. I don't deal directly with my bosses and sometimes I don't even see them. I got the same Fitbit I had previously. It's the Zip and it's bright green. I didn't want a fancy one. It wasn't holding a battery charge. I think because at one time I had cracked the face of it.

-----
Nothing new. It sure has bee beautiful this week but will change Tuesday with rain and thunderstorms.
Don't know how many of you have heard mockingbirds. We have them in the neighborhood. I heard one this morning mocking the other birds. When I used the key to unlock all 4 doors the mocking bird starting mocking that. I had to smile. I've even heard them mocking a dog before.

Happy Tuesday/Wednesday!

Quite a nice evening. Stopped at Samantha's house on the way home from work to get my hair colored. As always she did a lovely job. The babes are still croupy and coughy, both had a breathing treatment while I was there. Royce is doing better with his treatments and Jacob is a champ. Unfortunately now, Samantha has caught what they have. Bleh. I told her to take the boys back to the doc. Last week's visit the doc told her they both had upper res infection and to continue breathing treatments but prescribed NO antibiotics. Funny, she told him when she brings them back this week, she was going to have is arse. Her mother's child. Stopped at Subway and got a chopped veggie salad, C didn't want anything as he had already fixed himself a banana and mayonnaise sandwich<---gross!. Watched the Voice, my favorite and that, folks, concludes my evening. Sleep. Strange dreams all night long.

CEEG...Yes, biotin is wonderful for the nails. To get any good out of taking biotin you really need to take 10000 mg a day. Excellent you got another fitbit, just a little more boost in trying to be healthy. Good for you!

LAURA...You know Laura, no more than it costs and as quickly as it gets done, I think I would also dry my clothes at the laundry mat. Save time once you get home and also gets done quicker. I used to also take my hangers for the items that I don't put in the dryer and hang them wet to take home. I would never survive hiking wet clothes up and down the stairs, heck I can barely survive getting myself up and down the stairs these day. lol. Wow on the RX. These companies are just making millions, off of me alone, I think. lol.

Hello to the rest of you lovely ladies....Hugs

Morning
Annie
I started out watching the Voice but soon got distracted and played on the computer. Still exploring the new laptop. I will try the biotin. My nails are horrendous.

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Not much to report. The battery on this Fitbit started to go down again so I went to the web sight and found my answer. It needed to be updated. We shall see how long it last this time. It said that batteries should last up to 6 months. That's a lot better than one week.
Met my step goal yesterday 8000 out of 7000's steps. Actually walked 14 minutes at work. I'm going to increase my walking to 15 minutes and bike riding to 15 minutes. Little bit at a time. I'm not trying to win 500k dollars. Just want to be a healthy old lady :lol:

Morning all. Happy March 1st. I’m pleased we didn’t get much snow out of the storm that came through here last night/overnight. This week will be chilly, but nothing extreme, and then it sounds like we’re headed for another mild weekend. :yay: :sunny:

Annie – I’m so sorry to hear about your friend Nellie. Very sad. :( Sounds like you had a nice weekend. Glad you liked the final season of Downton Abbey. I will see the final episode this coming Sunday! Yay for a bossless week!!! Two members of the department are going to a conference in April for a few days and I’m already looking forward to it, LOL. Ewww, banana and mayo sandwich! Now, peanut butter and banana – that’s deeelish!

Shad – Yes, I hope the red washer/dryer set has a lot of spirit and does well for us for a good long time, LOL. “Hatched, matched and dispatched” - too funny. Oh the drama going on with gathering all the stuff for the background check – what kind of company is this? Top secret government stuff? When it’s all done you’ll probably have top level super-secret security clearance. Shad, I think I’m like you – I like spicy stuff, and my gut doesn’t usually give me any problems with anything I put in it. Nothing there to discourage overindulging in too much and/or the wrong thing. Oh gosh, I hope J has gotten over the tantrum of the headbutt. How do you hold a grudge against a dog?? She probably just realizes she's not number one or even number two in that house and is jealous, LOL. I've gotten use to it by now. ;)

Ceejay – I’m glad you got your replacement fitbit. No, I’ve never heard a mockingbird. I’ll have to see if I can listen to one online. Good job on the walking/steps!

Michelle – How was the Bow Wow movie festival? Sounds fun. How satisfying for you to turn away the recruiter because you’re in a job you love. I’m so happy for you to have found that for yourself. :)

Happy – Congrats on the new exercise bike. There are Schwinn Airdynes in the fitness center at the recplex and I’ve used them during the circuit classes. I like that you get a breeze while pedaling. :D I hope the PT, the cycling, and the anti-arthritis foods help to get you feeling better.

Susie – Any loss is a good loss, so yay on the loss last week! And if you choose your clothes wisely, you’ll probably have a loss this week too, LOL! Keep up the good work. You sound like you’re back in the work-work-work mode – does the fact that you’re job shadowing mean that you’re going to have to cover for the VP’s admin at some point? More work! Make sure you allot yourself some “me time” – you need that. Nice to think of transitioning out of winter to spring – in clothes and temps! :flow1:

Hello to Dee!! Get back here sister! Hope you didn’t get any bad weather with this last storm system.
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Well, I got through my plank challenge after work, and then I dragged myself to Pilates class. I was glad to not have the tough substitute instructor and will try not to worry that she will be there next week… Our regular instructor took it easier on us than she did last week. Last week she had us doing exercises in downward dog position and it was too much for my upper body, and it strained my wrists. Thankfully, none of that this week. But I was not doing well with the balance moves yesterday. Sigh. It’s always something.

Anyway – next week is the last week of this session and therefore the final Pilates class. I will be glad to see it end. Seems I’ve burnt myself out on this class by taking it two long sessions in a row, so it will be a long time before I take it again. Spring session starts soon and I can actually buy a group fitness class punchcard now and start using it right away…but I won’t.... I confess, I’m not all that excited about it, but I haven’t found any attractive class alternatives at other facilities. If I’m being truthful about it, I’m feeling heavy and out of shape and not enthused about struggling through classes. Maybe this is the right time to really commit to doing my struggling in the privacy of my own basement.

That’s about it for me. Everyone have a good day. TTFN.

Worldlies...No Munching in March

Wow, I even wrote "Happy March 1st" and didn't even think about a new thread. :doh:

Morning all,

We had rain, glorious rain yesterday and everything (including the laundry on the line) is nice and wet. It should get the vegetables moving today. Yesterday I went for a skin check. Still no lesions or melanoma or anything so I think I am pretty lucky with the skin I have even if it isn't the smoothest or the youngest or the most unlined.

Today, I am off to the optician to get my new contact lenses or rather get the pair of testers I have been wearing sorted out and then I can get new ones. And tomorrow is haircut day - you can see that I am off on the appointment round again. I still have to get a Pap smear done and the usual boob squish must be due and a trip to my doctor is probably on the cards to get things looked at and tutted over. Ever told you I am not in love with the medical profession.

I can't do personals at the moment, but when I get some time away from the family and the ODDU then I will come back.

Don't post here any more. Click : http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/supp...ml#post5243787 to go to the new thread.