[diyana]

Good morning ladies,

For all of you that get this President's Day off, enjoy!! I am at work because I'm covering the IT department. The other guy covered for me on Saturday so that I could spend more time with my friend. The work conference she was speaking at was about personal empowerment...so I went to that with her. Lots of good workshops and also fun crafty type sessions. The days were long but very fun and it's always great to spend time with my friend. Of course now I feel like I could sleep for a week.

I haven't run since Friday....and I really need to up my game. According to my training schedule, I should be running 4-5 miles 3 days per week. I'm running closer to 1-2 miles. I thought my nephew and his GF were going to do run/walk "intervals" with me, but now they've told me that they are hoping and planning to run the whole thing. Ah....to be young again. I'm just going to up my training and do what I can do.

I'll read what y'all are up to later. Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Much love and big hugs,

[diyana]

Annie - Congrats on the bari anniversary (or surgi-versary as we call it here in CA). I am 15 months out, I lost 85 and have gained back 5....and want to lose roughly 35 more. I hope the meds help C feel better soon. Bronchitis sucks.

Ceejay - So nice of your sister to offer you her rental!! I can imagine how excited you are!

[annie175]

HAPPY...great job on the loss, hey much better than gaining it. Sweet pats on your back sister. Did you all find out who the thief is at the Thrift store? For such small amount, is it worth getting caught? Sorry you were not all that happy with your hair color. I have a good turn out on hair, but then again, my daughter does the coloring and we stick with the same color every time. Boring! lol. Great you like your PT person that is half the battle. I don't really have saggy skin as much as baggy underarms and belly..I can live with it. Just don't wear sleeveless dresses or bikinis...hahahhaha, like I would anyway...or pierce my belly button for showing! Wouldn't of done any of those things if I didn't have the sag, oh and my girls are a bit saggy, but I believe that is age more than weightloss.

CHELLE...glad you had a good time with your friend from WI. Makes or a change of pace. I am proud of you that you signed up for the race, who cares how you get to the end of it. You are doing it.

SHADDIE...a weekend to yourself, no ODDU or people. Did you spoil yourself?

LAURA...just an FYI...water filters on Amazon are cheaper than appliance stores, at least for my fridge they are. Might want to check them out. Love massages, even if they are not the greatest, still feel great.

Posting, will come back to finish, gotta go to meeting!

[annie175]

SUSIE...good for you to have a long weekend! How was your hair appt? Didn't make it to TOPS, well gives you another week to make sure you have a loss this week. Keep on hustling. C is feeling a bit better, thank you for asking. He is still having bloody stools however. Told him to call his butt doc today.

Hello to everyone! Hugs

[happy2bme]

Morning all,

New week, new start. I have indulged a bit over the weekend. Back to getting up on that wagon again. Yesterday we went to the steak house for Valentine's Day dinner. It was better than I expected. Had a lobster tail - it was good and sweet so I did not have to use the drawn butter. Had a salad instead of creamy soup and in place of the potato I had the steamed brocolli/cauliflower/carrot combo and was fine with that. I had 1 glass of wine and skipped dessert in favor of a measure scoop of vanilla ice cream at home. We had french toast with fresh berries and a small drizzle of agave syrup for "brunch". Still it was an over the points kind of day. But I was mindful of everything I ate and made better choices than I otherwise would have. I am doing all of the things I was supposed to with physical therapy and I feel worse for it instead of better. I guess it will take time for those tight, angry muscles to loosen up. It does restrict my exercise and movement so that's a bummer at the moment. I am also making a note of all those little niggling things I was supposed to be working on that I sort of forgot about so I can get them out of the way and be done with them. I also tend to get overwhelmed when there is too much nagging at me. I see that Hannah the cat we tried to take in got adopted on Saturday. I hope she will be happy in her new home - she is a curious one - I hope the new owners will not mind she is a table and counter climber and is rather stubborn about checking things out no matter how much you tell her no.

Thank you Annie for your congrats. I will leave my hair for now and decide what to do next appointment. It is a better color in the sun and natural light than in artificial light. I get bored easy with my hair and like to change it. Since my hair is fine and thin, I can't do much with styling changes so I play with color. When I get the same thing over and over, seems I pay alot of money to look the same all the time Goofy I guess. Thanks for the input on the skin. I suppose it's not much different than things sagging a bit as we age and lose the collagen anyway. As long as you can spanx it or hide it, yay. Like you said - the bikini model days are over - not that I would have ever done that - even in my prime. That was a really nice picture of you and your brothers. I'm glad you try and get a picture whenever you can - often time passes and we realize we don't have much for memories other than in our heads and that doesn't do much good as the memories fade. I'm glad you will like the change over in your church with the new pastor. I know how much you like it - glad to hear the change in guard will not adversely affect things.

Michelle - don't let the marathon sneak up on you as things tend to do. It's nice that you can combine running and walking - guess you will be doing it yourself if the nephew changed plans.

Ceejay - sounds like you haven't had much of a winter. That's a good thing. Putting a bit of ham in soup sounds quite yummy. Good for you for getting more vegetables into your day! I'm not a huge meat eater but 4 oz a day is rather slim. Guess it encourages you to add volume with leafy greens and vegetables.

Susie - thanks for the knee advice. I tend to go down good leg first anyway just because I'm afraid the bad knee leading will tend to wonk out. I did get a foam roller the last time I did therapy (last year). Sad to say it's still in the paper sleeve. It was awkward to use for where I had to use it. A tennis ball and massage work better for now. I should have DH "roll me" just so I'm not wasting the money on the roller. Still hurts like I am severely bruised so I hate someone else doing that for me. That's a really smart idea to talk to the handy man as he's fixing things. So much of the skill in repair is doing things the right way. And it's good to know how to make basic repairs so that you don't get ripped off by people trying to take advantage of you. Have a good afternoon today!

Laura - thanks for the info on the Fitbit. Now that you mention it, clocking "steps" via arm movements would make a difference. What's the point of measuring stride if it's counting arm swings??? The reason I bring up accuracy is related to burning calories - I think most of the counters like those on a tread mill or the calorie burners on the WW site are more generous in their allotted points/calories burned anyway. There is a Fit app from WW that apparently gives short bursts of movement ideas - like calf raises while you are standing in line at the store waiting. It's a good concept to get all sorts of movement in but I don't know how you calculate it into your day. No consequence anyway - I don't have a smart phone and my iTOUCH is too old to work with this too. I agree with you that having a holiday break in between New Year's and Memorial Day is a welcome thing. Vacation and time off were precious things - never really had enough. I think in addition to floating holidays you should get 2 or 3 "I'm not in the mood to go to work days" as we all get those. Oooooh - Bob Chin's - you are one lucky girl!!! 90 percent of the time when we lived in AH we would eat at seafood restaurants and Bob's was one of the best. Of course we move away and they build one nearby. Not that I would be enticed to live in Chicago ever again, but if I did, it would be back to AH. The convenience of so many things in that area! Too bad the pillow did not work for you. I know it supports the neck in a proper way for side sleepers but like you, it was totally uncomfortable for me. DH seems to be ok with it. I throw my arm up and around the pillow. He sleeps on his side with arms folded across his chest which is a more natural way to keep the spine in alignment. I just can't sleep that way - I'd rather crunch my neck vertebrae and put my arm to sleep I guess you will have to keep trying to find something comfortable for you. Whatcha going to make on the new griddle?

Shad - I have had more than one friend comment that they are annoyed they are made to feel "hostage" to posts on Facebook that insists they comment or share. I ignore things alot I hope you got a bit of rain you way. I'm wondering if the man from New Castle was thinking "Gold Coast" rather than Brissy. Isn't there a fancy area to the south of you? I did not realize that you live in one of the more densely populated areas in the states. Australia is more like Canada - large tracks of land like states with a few key cities rather than the urban sprawl we have out this way. What a fun thing to take your dog camping with you. Hope the pup gets a good run or two to burn up some energy. I did enjoy camping - long past the point of being able to sleep on the ground any more and while I love the smell of a campfire - it often seems to aggrivate the asthma which mostly lies dormant. Hope they had a nice time together and you got a bit of quiet to yourself. Hard to think of Miss Sunday becoming a senior cat but I guess many a year has passed when we are not looking, eh? Good on yah for getting that dishwasher fixed. You can be the resident gardener (with Annie) and our fix up woman at the commune!

I have just enough time to grab a bit to eat and clean up before therapy. Wednesday is going to kill me - I have a 7am appointment and it's a 30 minute drive to the town they are in. I will have to drug myself tonight and go to bed around 11pm instead of my usual 3am to get my sleep shifted a bit. I can go to bed earlier, just can't fall asleep.

Anyway - have a good start to your week ladies.

[Shad]

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
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 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

[annie175]

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.

[ceejay52]

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.

-------
Nothing new for me.

[happy2bme]

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.

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

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 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 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.

[Laura705]

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

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!! ---- 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.

[Laura705]

Happy - Like that avatar!

[diyana]

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,

[Laura705]

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.)

[ceejay52]

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.

-----
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?

[Shad]

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.