Morning all,
Another lovely Autumn day here although no doubt it will get too hot again later. Just doesn't seem to want to cool down any although the nights are getting quite cool. Had to put a blanket on the bed yesterday and no doubt will need the doona soon.

To answer the questions about the DS2's partner. I actually quite like the girl, however she is chronically untidy and the DS2 is not a lot better. She did do a real clean up in the bedroom over the weekend - that's the only room I won't touch except to sweep once a week. She did the bake sale because the company she works for does this occasionally in aid of a charity the company supports. It seems that the other ladies make American style cupcakes where the icing (frosting) is as tall as the cupcake itself so our red velvet cupcakes didn't really stand a chance and the Lamingtons we made must be out of fashion since they didn't go either. However her sausage rolls were a hit - no one else made anything savoury. So she knows that for the next time I guess.

The ODDU is sitting looking out the door with his toy in his hand so I guess he wants out to go play - but that means I must go out to be the slave who wrestles with him and throws his toys around. He is calming down somewhat but gets over excited when his folks come home and he just won't leave the cats alone either. Eventually I guess he will. Oh and he has worked out how to open the gate so he needs constant supervision out in the front yard. Over the weekend, the DS2 took him with him to a friends place in the country. They were fencing a big paddock. The friend has dogs so they all played together. And they got into the dam and swam and ran around like lunatics all day. The ODDU was completely worn out when he got home. Apparently he got into the ute and put his head on the console and was snoring before they left the driveway. He slept well that night and was somewhat lethargic the next day as well. Yesterday my neighbour who is big on craft stuff came over with an Easter bonnet which we put on the dog and took his photo. DS2 was not overly pleased but hey what...... S (my neighbour) also put the hat on her dog (Annie) who is a tiny little thing and we took her photo. We stitched the two pictures together on the computer and called them the Easter twins and she is going to enter them in the competition at her craft club. It's called The Twins.

I've cleared out another patch in my front garden and I will get some more soil this weekend if the DS2 is okay with that and will plant the butterfly garden plants in there. There is a patch of Golden Spider lily bulbs in there but only one of them flowers for some reason. Glorious flower but it would look better with more than one.

Not been a good year for health around the family. My younger niece had to go to hospital urgently to have her gall bladder removed. She was in a lot of pain and was taken to the A & E from where they admitted her. All done on the national health so it hasn't cost her a thing. But she can't pick up her two little girls and can't have the cat sitting on her because it aggravates things. Can't pick up boxes and heavy stuff is right out. So her folks and friends are going around to help her out from time to time. Her partner is worse than useless. Then my younger brother had a hernia operation. He has had it for years and then came up on the waiting list so off he went - he's doing okay but will be off work for a week or more and then on light duties for six weeks or so. And my elder brother has had some skin cancers removed and is having problems with polyps in the gut again so he is not feeling too bright. Lucky he is retired. I keep saying that at last my high taxes have come in useful for the family. Anyway today I had better go look in on the invalids and see if there is anything they need or needs be done.

Might be an idea to mow the lawns today as well, they should have stopped growing by now, but they are as lush and green as ever so a mowing I will go - after I have finished this.

I'll leave the personals until I get todays stuff done. I'm off to clean the laundry, loo and bath. Sweep the place. The dog hair is everywhere again, not to mention the cats are going in their winter coats as well so there is cat fur everywhere as well. And Sunday the cat appears to be developing dementia and forgets to go outside occasionally so one's nose is not pleased and the place gets a good wash out and clean again.

I'll be back

Hi chicks,

Let's see if we can make this happen again. The site makes me log in and then when I go and do my post, it says I'm not logged in and I lose it. So I am copying before I go and post!

It's been a busy couple of days. We are going to add a 3 season room to the outside of the house and use it as a mud room and also put a hot tub in there. So we went looking at hot tubs - as can be expected, not much in the way of stuff in our area. Fortunately I did some research on the internet and the top selling & most reliable brand is what we have in our area. Then there is the back and forth - the guy in town people are not crazy about but he seemed fine to us. We took a trip an hour away to another place but the guy there did not know very much at all about the hot tubs. (It's a sauna, stove and hot tub place so I guess he took care of the other stuff). We narrowed it down to a certain model and I noticed that there is a 15 percent off sale until the 11th of April. So we spent alot of time discussing the details. Then we talked with the 3 season enclosure guy. I wasn't sure we wanted to put a 4400 pound tub on just a deck so DH did some research over the weekend and came up with a better design. The enclosure guy said yep, no problem would just be a bit extra. So we are doing the deck, siding, 3 season room, hot tub and we are trying to get them to straighten out (literally) the frame on the new entry door. It is really crooked, I cannot open the skylights on the side of the door anymore and we get a fair cool breeze leaking in. I have to pad up the door with a blanket at night. DH said it may take 4 weeks to get a new frame in. He said if they don't get it right this time, they will be sued.. but - who do we get to put a new door in since we had such a hard time in the first place???? It really is a sign of the shoddy workmanship that is so prevalent all over now. Even the business people complain they cannot get decent workers on the payroll. Today I went to therapy and then we ran useless errands - went to drop off papers at the lawyers for the estate plan, she keeps erratic hours so you can never get in touch with her , I went to return some cut up fresh fruit I bought yesterday only to find the honeydew melon was spoiled after I ate a piece but when I got to the store I could not find my receipt, we went to pick up DH's picture from the art store and forgot they are closed on Mondays. So that was a waste of time but we did stop at the local credit union and the bank to inquire about financing the home renovations. That was at least good stuff. Tomorrow I am skipping the Thrift Shop so that we can order the hot tub. Everything has to be coordinated - get the money, sign a contract for the enclosure and platform, order the hot tub. We will have to have them put the base down and then put the hot tub in before they put the walls of the enclosure in. It would be less scuffing that way. We'll just put a tarp over the tub while they are working. We can actually get the tub in through the door - made sure of that before we proceeded but it will be easier to just build around it and since we have the opportunity... It's going to look like a whole different house especially with the addition, changing the siding from light gray to medium blue and putting on a new entry door. We will probably replace the 2 existing exterior doors from the laundry room and back entrance off the deck but those are standard doors and will not be as much trouble. That's another project. And the windows will need to be replaced one day too but not now. I guess we'll have to stay here for a while. Still cheaper than selling and rebuilding or buying someone else's troubles.

We went to the casino on Saturday - did not get our names called for the big drawings but I walked out with a few bucks to pad my mad money jar and DH held his own at blackjack and the craps table. We had a nice evening.

I went to therapy - only one more session left on Wednesday. I could but opted not to schedule more sessions until I talk to the doctor on Thursday. I am thinking like Anne said - the pain is just something that I am going to have to live with. My knee almost gave out in therapy today - that was disappointing because she said that's more the bone on bone issue and therapy will help to support the muscles but will not take that way. I cannot put all my weight on my left knee nor can I do squats or bending. But I will still plug away at the exercises because they help.

I am doing fairly well on Weight Watchers. Today I had a nibble of a pasta and pea salad that was not very good and it keeps "talking back to me all night". I stopped at the chocolate shop to get my Mom some Easter candies and picked up a few chocolate covered cherries for DH. I tried one and it was horridly sweet to me. I much more enjoyed the fresh strawberries I bought yesterday. They are red and fragrant and hold the promise of luscious tasting fruits and spring vegetables to come. I can tell my tastes are changing. I was down 11 pounds so far this morning but after today's random samples, I have to drink more water and really get moving and watch the food to hold a loss for Thursday's weigh in.

My sister is hinting it is time for a visit again - it's been about 6 months. I am kind of tied up with things but I could maybe squeeze a quick week's trip in the first week of May. Air fares are on the low side right now. I just would only have about 7 days - not enough to get around to see people as I would like but a friend said she is driving down in June and invited me along. She might stay a week and go visit a friend for a week which would give me 2 weeks in Chicago. We'll see. I told DH I might go in early May since he's "trying to get rid of me" and he looked at me funny. Hey, he's been asking alot - are you going to Chicago? Have you made plans to see your mum? But enough about me. Oh my... I just applied a Lemon lip balm from Bath and Body Works from the CO Bigelow Apothecary line - how yummy!!!
And with that enough about me.

Shad - sounds like J and DS2 are birds of a feather. Hard when they are living in someone's else's place though. Didn't they have a place of their own or did they flip and sell that? Yikes, I do not care for the current cupcake style of half cake, half frosting no matter how good it is. Nor do I care to pay $6 for a gourmet cup of frosting and sprinkles. So I would have gladly eaten J's red velvets. Pity that she went through that work for nothing. It's sad when no one buys / eats your stuff. My cousin had a labrador retriever who was just as "perky" as ODDU. When I talked to her at the casino on Saturday she said Clyde had finally grown out of puppyhood and had not eaten a blanket or sock or random inedible object in a while. So there is hope. Like ODDU he rather did enjoy romping with other puppy pals. Is there a nearby dog park you can take him to which will burn off all that excess energy? Laughed that he passed out on the way home.

Sorry to hear of the family health woes. Did the niece have laproscopic surgery or the full open the abdomen? Either way that is a pain not being able to bend or lift, especially if you have wee ones to chase after. It's good that you are blessed with the good health. Then again, you are on the go all the time and germs would not dare park themselves in your body. Is it dementia or could Sunday be turning diabetic with the accidents? It happens alot to older cats I hear. We are flooded with cat hair also as they are losing the winter coats. Hair everywhere.

Laura - that was a good scrubbing you gave the laundry room. Good to clean up a spot that might not get much attention. I know what you mean about the flooring - we had ugly flooring in our AH basement too - but like you decided it was just the basement so who cares? Sorry the corned beef was not as tasty as you would have liked. I too preferred the canned kind - not that I'd eat it much. We have a local breakfast place that makes Irish Eggs Benedict with corned beef hash instead of Canadian bacon. I get my corned beef fix once a year that way. Corned beef hash is so tasty with eggs. To your questions - we still have some snow - in fact much to my disgust we are supposed to get 1 to 3 more inches Wednesday into Thursday. I am so ready for spring and warmer temperatures. The guy doing the deck thinks he can save our gazebo - it is a nice cedar one, it's currently set on a platform off to the back side of the deck - in a shady area that DH likes and I don't use much. We haven't decided if we are going to keep it - is kind of overkill with the 3 season room although today when we went to ask the man some questions, I took a better look and with the hot tub in there, there won't really be much room for patio furniture so maybe we do keep the gazebo after all. The roof needs some work but DH said it's certainly something he can do.

Ceejay - I hope you are feeling better. I forgot that allergy meds don't agree with blood pressure meds. Hope you can get stable again. There's no way you can live where you do without an occasional allergy / sinus pill. That was smart of you to break the lawn mowing into manageable chunks. It's not a marathon after all - even if you are eager to get it done with.

Annie - congrats on your weight loss efforts so far. That is fantastic! I'm sorry that is not giving you more energy and making you feel a bit better. When I lug groceries down the basement stairs to the pantry and refrigerator, I am reminded of how the extra weight stresses the body. But I am sure your efforts to get healthier really did help you when it came to your heart attack recovery. Let's just hope some sunshine and warmer weather to come will re-energize you. I wish I could show you some of the therapy gentle movements she is showing me with the ankle and foot. Have you tried soaking your tootsies in an epsom salt bath with warm water? The magnesium is supposed to be soothing. DH does that sometimes when his feet hurt and I soak in a bath if I am particularly achey. I'd like to think it helped a bit. You could do it watching tv for 30 - 45 minutes. No special foot spa needed, just a warm tub of salts in water. Or eucalyptus works too. Feel better Are you still getting your B-12 shots like you should be? That's a bummer that C had to miss church services for a bread delivery.

We still have an eye out for the bears. No signs yet. With the upcoming snow and cooler temps, they may have rolled over in their dens and decided to sleep in a bit longer.

Hello to the rest of the chicks. Happy birthday to Dee I think I'm going to head off to bed - I'm sure DH will be up early and even if I go down now it's another 30 minutes to finish nightly chores before I'm in bed.

Goodnight all. Sweet dreams.

Site is acting very wonky again. I did get the message that I was not logged in when I was trying to post but this time I copied before I posted so was able to save what would have otherwise been lost. Then it said I had to wait 60 seconds to post. Then it posted twice.

Happy
I agree that this site is a bit wonky. Yes, on the decision of the three seasons sun room. I think you will like it better. Congratulations on the 11 pound loss so far. I agree that since I've been eating better that sweets are not what I want any more. The occasional cookie but a slice of cake no way, just to sweet.

Shad
I had to look up ODDU but now it all fits. What a cute idea for ODDU's Easter bonnet! Now all he needs is a pair of sun glasses.

More later

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Rode my bike last nite for 15 minutes and also walked for 15 minutes. I'm trying to increase my exercise minutes. If Michelle can do this so can I.

Hi Everyone, Things got busy at the end of the work week last week and then just kept going.

I took a vacation day on Friday last week. Our local High School basketball team made it to the State finals and played on Friday. DH wanted to go so since we were already off, we decided to go to the game. It was a close game the whole time and they lost by 3.

DH and I did some shopping on Friday as well. I got 4 pairs of sandals and a couple of casual dresses and 2 pair of ankle pants and shirts for work.

We bought 3 new fry pans from Williams and Sonoma and got the $$$ AL clad, stainless steel ones.

DH has wanted them for a long time and we needed new ones; our previous ones were the non-stick and over time that had changed.

DH does love to cook and really wanted to go with stainless steel ones so we went ahead with them.

The lady in the store was very helpful explaining how they are different from non-stick and the way you have to cook in them. She also sold us on some new spatulas, tongs, to use with them.

Saturday was cleaning, laundry watching basketball on TV, (I worked while he did that) and then Sunday was church. I worked again some on Sunday.

Yesterday I met a friend after work and we went and had pedicures together and dinner at Olive Garden.

I won't do many personals but I did want to say:

Ceejay: with the allergies, some of the meds can make the BP go up. My DH had that problem and felt he needed to take them when mowing the grass. What he has tried and works for him, is that before he goes to mow, he uses a saline only nose spray. It seems to help.

Laura, I hope you are enjoying the new washer and dryer. I like the idea of using the rubber, puzzle mats in front of the washer and dryer. It will be kind to your knees to stand on them too.

Shad, I saw the picture of the dog in the Easter bonnet and I love it.

Happy: I can't do squats/lunges with my knee issues as well. Riding the bike is what has really helped me to feel better. Keep trying to use your bike daily for at least 10-15 min...longer if you feel like it...build up slowly.

Annie: Praise the Lord for the good medical reports! and congrats on the weight loss!

Lunch is over and I must say goodbye. I hope to be back tomorrow.

Hey ladies, the day has almost gotten away from me. Busy with meetings and marketing today. Our pipeline staff cc is in an hour and must prepare. Hope your day is going great. Hugs.

Afternoon all. I had an all-morning meeting and am just eating lunch. So just a quick hello right now and I'll try to get back here later.

Good Morning!

Good news!! I got a raise. The highest raise this year was 4%, and that is what I received. Only 4 of our main staff of 12 received 4%. The rest either got 2%, less or nothing. I feel very blessed. I also got a great review. I wanted to say well that is because all you fine ladies here keep me sane and in check, plus you have my back. lol. Plus HAPPY will release the bears on you. ba hahah. Anyway, my day/week is made. With the extra I am having taken out of my check toward taxes and the raise, my net actually came out 20 bucks ahead. Go figure! So I will actually see some of the raise on my check.

My nail tech lady that does my nails was not in on Monday for my scheduled appt so I rescheduled with another lady I like for last night. Come to find out she caught her husband with a gal he works with and beat the crap out of her (I would of beaten him) anyway she got thrown in jail. OMGoodness, what has this crazy world come to? I scheduled my next appt with the other lady, not taking chances on several levels.

Since I have been eating less, my pouch tummy has shrunk down, I ate 1 1/2 pieces of this crust ham, black olive and onion pizza last night for dinner and returned some of it to the commode. Good and bad. Eat less Annie, cause it won't go down. Glad my tummy pouch is getting back to size. That helps to lose weight. Come on, let's get this 22.8 lbs off. First night in a while that I couldn't sleep and was off to the couch at midnight. Sassy joined me around 1 am. She is a couch hog, as little as she is, she is a couch hog. Sleeps on her side with her legs out and feet in my back. Just like a kid.

LAURA...sounds like our days were crazy as ever yesterday. Of course it is report Wednesday, but not so bad anymore, now that I have put my foot down. Yes, I am left car-less when C has the car. We gave his SUV to my daughter. It is ok tho, he only uses the SUV a couple of times a MONTH. He works so much, he is either sleeping, eating or working. We will probably get him a little beater small truck for his fishing days, that will be a little down the pike however.

SUSIE...oh new cookware. Don't you just love it. Curtis got me a complete set of wonderful cookware for Christmas a few years back that I just love. So far they are holding up great. Just be sure to use wooden spoons or rubber spatulas and flippers. NO METAL!! Nice nab on the summer clothes. Yeah!

CEEG...good job on bike riding. Moving for any number of minutes is better than nothing. Hope your allergies have settled down. C is going back to the doc this morning as he is not completely over all this bronchitis stuff. I also told him to ask the doc about allergies and allergy testing. Hope he listens and does so.

HAPPY...so glad you are getting "our commune" 3 seasons room ready for my retirement. LOL. I am sure I could benefit from the hot tub. No worries on the gazebo, don't think much sitting would be going on out there with all the bear scares, plus I was married to a bear once, NOT fun. Hope the front door turns out perfect. Yikes as much as it cost you would think the company would have better installers. You and I need to be bubble wrapped and put on roller skates with a pull string. I told my daughter to live and love her 30s and 40s cause 50s are sucking for me and she is a product of this ailing body. (She turned 30 this past November).

SHADDIE...poor ODDU, needs a playmate, should probably get you another doggie friend for him. Two pups to play with. Baaaah, bout spewed my coffee typing that one. Sorry to hear of all the family health issues, praise the Lord they are not life threatening.

HELLO CHELLE...hope you are OP, resting and getting ready for that run. Hugs.

HELLO DEE! Hope you are doing ok. Check in sister.

Make it a great Wednesday/night. HUGS!!

Morning all. I started this late in the day yesterday and didn’t have time to finish, so back to it.

Shad – I’m glad you like DS2’s partner, it sure has to help in your current living situation. Too bad some of her baked goods didn’t go over well at the sale. It’s a lot of effort. Good idea for her to include a savory item! LOL re ODDU getting so tired out after the visit to the friend’s country house. When we used to take Coal to the dog park, he’d be very tired after all the swimming and running around. Now that’s what you need – a dog park where ODDU can go running around with other dogs. As the saying goes “a tired dog is a good dog”. Saw the FB pic of ODDU in the bonnet – so cute. I’m sure he didn’t mind one bit, LOL. The year isn’t nearly close to being done yet, so I hope there’s no more health issues with the family!!

Happy – Sounds like there’s a lot going on with this 3-season room project. Best of luck getting everything to work out to your satisfaction. I’m sorry the PT can’t take away all the pain you’re having. My friend D had a bone-on-bone situation in the knee she had replaced last September – very painful for her. Keep up the good work with WW – it will certainly help your joints to take some of the weight off them. Re the corned beef hash – we haven’t bought any of the canned stuff in forever, but when I go out for a restaurant breakfast, I like to order hash. Every once in a while we’ll be at a place that offers their homemade version of hash and guess what? – I’m usually not thrilled with it. Yup, I’ll stick with the canned, LOL.

Susie – Your day off on Friday sounded fun. Ooh, I love Williams-Sonoma! Sounds like you bought some nice cookware! Bf and I have some old stainless cookware that’s still doing just fine, but we’re also about due to replace our non-stick frypan.

Annie – Yay for the good raise!! You deserve it sister!! Enjoy the extra $$. Wow, that’s quite a story re your (former) nail tech. Yes, best to not use her anymore – her availability might be limited, hahaha. And she sounds kind of dangerous, even if she had provocation for her actions… LOL that little Sassy is a couch hog. I’m glad having a single vehicle won’t be too much of a problem for you and C. After only having a single vehicle for so many years, I’m glad bf and I kept our old sedan as a 2nd car. We keep it parked on our driveway apron, and due to my laziness, I actually choose to drive that car more than the SUV because I don’t have to take the time to get in & out of the garage. Besides, I figure I’m saving some wear and tear on the newer vehicle... I just wish there was a convenient way to share this old car with bf’s mom – she doesn’t drive at night, so she could have it during the day and we’d have it at night. Not sure how we could do that without always shuttling back and forth between her place and ours. It’s only 7 miles each way, but still…

Ceejay - Wishing you safe and happy travels to MO!!

Hi Michelle!!

~~~~~~~

The saga of the laundry equipment continues. I didn’t mention it previously, but the pedestals were not available for Tuesday’s delivery/install. Before they take the machines in the house, the boxes are removed from the machines (otherwise they won’t fit through the doorways). Bf watched the unloading and un-boxing and noted a couple dents in the dryer, so he didn’t accept delivery of it. He got some pushback from one of the delivery guys, who indicated his bonus would be affected. Bf couldn’t care less about this guy’s bonus and refused to accept the dryer, even on a temporary basis. So we just have the washer. The color is nice – a deeper red, so not as bright as I thought it might be, and I’m happy for that. Neither of us have used it yet. We might need training first, hahaha.

Bf is very upset with his siblings concerning the financial assistance for their mother and I don’t blame him. One brother hasn’t paid since February for reasons unknown. Another is paying less than the agreed amount, probably because his wife controls the finances and decided the lesser amount would do. The holier-than-thou sister never committed to it with bf, but told her mom that she would help - but has only paid her something once. As for us, we’ve paid as agreed, but haven’t exactly been timely about it due to forgetfulness. Yesterday we set up a recurring automatic transfer from our bank to bf’s mom’s so we won’t have that issue again. I don’t know how the sibling issues will be addressed. Sigh.

On a more positive note, bf’s mom has decided to sell her car. She just can’t afford it, she doesn’t drive it much anymore, and at 82 years old, she feels it’s time for her to stop driving. I’m happy for that, because we all know vehicle ownership is a big financial burden – payments, gas, insurance, plates/registration, etc. This might not be possible/palatable if she didn’t have alternate transportation available, but luckily there’s a suburban bus service in her area and stops right at her building. She also lives close to shopping, and of course, bf will continue to help out with shopping/errands.

That’s about it for me, so let me get this posted. Have a great day/evening ladies.

Good morning

Laura & Happy, Thanks for my birthday wishes & you remembering my birthday on the 21st.

Laura, Thanks for the pm to me with the March Worldlie's thread link so I can say hello to everybody.

I've missed so much from being MIA here the past 2 months, that I'll never have enough time to catch up with you'all. So I'll read the last 2 pages today to get current with you.

About me, as soon as March begins my cravings kick-in for St. Patrick's/Irish foods, my Irish heritage wakes up again & I'm cooking Gaelic foods & at restaurants eating them. Arby's has the BEST mint shake with Andes chocolate-peppermint patties in it & also delish Reuben sandwiches with your choice of a cornbeef or turkey for fast-food & at all the different restaurants we ate at, none of them had caraway seeds on their rye bread

Because of trying to heal my hand injury on my own wearing a ace wrap the last 2 months, I've only been online about 2x a week & mainly doing what's necessary like e-mails & pay bills to save the strength in my hand.

Last Friday I finally saw the orthopaedic doctor & he said I have a small tear in my thumb pad & 2 extensive finger sprains that's why I'm still having in pain in my hand. No surgery, instead I need a specific brace & Occupational therapy for a month then go back to him for xrays & get my hand rechecked. Then the nightmare that I worried about became reality again for us; my Dh new health insurance doesn't include the O.T. Hand doctor I was referred to, he's out-of the Network & we don't have anyone else within a hour's drive. So the last 2 days I've been trying to find a in-Network O.T. to get healed. We hate this new insurance & we miss our BCBS insurance so much; but because Dh's corporation is self-funded we are stuck with what they offer to the employees because healthcare is so expensive

I typed all of this with my middle finger on my injured hand & it's screaming at me to rest now. Talk to you'all again within a week.

With my Luv to you'all Dee

Hello Everyone,

Samantha colored my hair last night and also had us stay for dinner. Quite delish and great I didn't have to cook. The kids and C played together nicely. Even Bruno the dog was a good boy. Came home and went to bed as we didn't get home until 8:30.

DEE...so good to hear from you. Sorry your hand is a mess and giving you fits. Health insurance it also a mess and it doesn't look like it will get better anytime soon. Hugs

LAURA...it is awful to get older, like you MIL and giving up things (driving) is like a part of your life going away. I don't want to get old like that. I don't want to be a burden on anyone. Well crud on the dryer having dents. Now another 3 weeks for the dryer. Time to put up a clothes line.

Hello to the rest of you lovely ladies. Make it a great day/night. Hugs

Good morning ladies,

Going to be a fast hello. I have to get to my hair appointment shortly. Then the doctor this afternoon and then Weight Watchers weigh in. There are some issues about the hot tub that developed yesterday - why is everything so complicated???? So we were busy with that and I had yoga and therapy on top of it so didn't get a chance to get in here.

Anne - congrats on the raise!!!! You earned every penny and nowadays - 4 percent is fantastic. I'm sure you will have plenty of uses for the extra money.

Dee - thanks for checking in - good to hear from you. Sorry your hand is in such need of medical attention that you cannot get. I hate insurance companies too. I think their job is to say NO but take your money.

Laura - oh BUMMER big time on the dented dryer but good for BF for refusing it. That's really hard when the kids have to kick in to care for Mom - my sister and I are hoping it does not come to pass for us. Taking her in would be a much better option for us.

Susie - thank you for the advice on the knee! It's good to know that works - keeps me a pumpin' away Yay on the new pans. I got tri-ply a couple of years ago and they are my go to pans now once I learned to cook with deglazing so the bits don't stick on them. I rarely use my non stick now - only if I really need a pot that size and I never sear or use a high heat in the non stick. You will love the new cookware.

Ceejay - hope you have alot of fun this weekend.

Hi's to Michelle and Shad.

Gotta run girls. Have a great day.

Morning all. What a rainy dreary day. It was like that when I left work yesterday, and I don’t think it’s stopped since. Oh well, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, ( ) so that’ll be nice – even if it’s chilly.

Dee – Good to have you stop in. What a mess with the occupational therapy not being covered and the hand doc being out of network and hence more expensive. This is my first year on a high deductible health plan and it is eye-opening how much things cost…before that I didn’t bother looking at my explanation of benefits statements most of the time, or I just scanned them. I just paid my co-pay and went on my merry way. Not anymore. Anyway…I hope you find the care you need to get that hand healed!!! Well, I’m not much into Irish food, and for the most part around here it seems to start and end with corned beef. Not crazy about it. So what’s wrong with caraway seeds in rye bread?? Bf and I have to have our rye bread with with seeds!

Annie – Yeh, there isn’t much to recommend for this aging stuff. Which means we need to enjoy the here and now!!! I need to keep that in mind when all I seem to want to do lately is sloth out on the sofa. Yes, I turned sloth into a verb!! Re the dryer, more are expected to be delivered to the store next week. We still have our old one (took the ad off craigslist), and it’s still hooked up, so we’re okay for now. *knock on wood*

Happy – Hello Ms. Busy! Yes, everything is complicated now. I don’t know why, but it is. Have you tried an Easy Button??

Hellos to the rest of the Worldlies! Hope you have/had a great Thursday.

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Nothing much to report. I freaked out yesterday thinking I had several bills I hadn’t scheduled for online payment. But once I looked at something other than the due date I’d written on the envelope, I saw that I’d noted the date I’d scheduled it for online payment. Duh. No problems after all except momentary idiocy on my part. My approach for the past couple months has been to set up an online payment as soon as I get the bill and that helps. And there are several bills already set up on automatic payment directly out of the bank account. There might be a couple more bills that are the same dollar amount every month that I can set up as recurring online payments, so maybe I’ll do that. Also been thinking of changes to my routines to reduce the paper shuffling, and will make some changes soon.

Tonight bf and friends were planning to go to a movie, but one guy already saw the only good movie out right now (Cloverfield Lane), so they might just watch something from Red Box instead. I will do a workout and finish one of the books I’m reading. Or do some grocery shopping.

That’s it for me. Toodles!

Hello All....

TGIF...Good Friday, Pay day, Easter!!

Babysat last night while Sam went to yoga. The boys were great. Jacob fell asleep on my lap, while Royce played and tried to annoy Jacob (wake him). Folded towels and went to bed after they left.

LAURA...we had a dreary day here yesterday also. Rainy, cloudy and gray. Supposed to be a better Easter weekend. I swear I have never heard of some of these movies you all go see. Cloverleaf Lane? Sounds like a horror flick. No thank you. I am with you on bills...always a bill in the mail for me. I have our bills set up for on-line payment, however I have to go in and add the amount (as it differs monthly) and shoot it off for payment. Still much better than snail mail.

HAPPY...why am I not surprised that you were off and running yesterday? You are getting much like CHELLE...too much on your plate at times. Me time is in store for you sister. Hugs.

Everyone have a wonderful Easter weekend. Peace and Prayers. Hugs

Morning all. TGIF!! No rain today, yay! And it’s even sunny right now!
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Annie – Actually, I think the movie is called “10 Cloverfield Lane”. Stars John Goodman. Yes, online payment is soooo much easier than snail mail. Though I did just buy some pretty botanical postage stamps the other day. It’ll take a while to use them up, only mail out birthday cards these days.

Hellos to the rest of you. Quiet here on the thread this morning.

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Pretty quiet here in the office too. We don’t have a holiday for Good Friday, but we did get an email this morning from the head of HR announcing an early office closing today – 3:00 pm. That’s nice, since it wasn’t expected.

Last night I decided to do a workout in the basement. But then I remembered that I’d moved a bunch of stuff into the workout area from the laundry area when I was cleaning up last weekend. So I decided I’d skip exercise. Then I changed my mind. So I moved the laundry and cleaning items back in place and was ready to exercise.

I had another one of my old vhs tapes cued up for a BE workout and started recording it to the dvr hard drive as I worked out to it. Partway into the 2nd routine, the tape abruptly changed to a tv show! I shut off the dvr recorder and fast-forwarded the VCR through the vhs tape to see if there were anymore BE shows on it. Nope. The entire remainder of the tape was recordings of the show “NYPD Blue”. So that was it for exercise last night. And it's also nice to have that VHS tape done with as far as converting any BE shows to the dvr. Someday this project will be complete!

Weekend plans: Tomorrow morning I’m meeting a friend for breakfast. Bf and him mom are meeting a prospective buyer for his mom's car at the house of a friend of hers. Sunday we’re having bf’s mom over for Easter dinner. We’re getting more ham “cutlets” from the breakfast place and we’ll probably have homemade potatoes au gratin and roasted veggies with it. For dessert, I think I’ll finally bake some lemon squares. Bf has been almost completely “off” sugary sweets since getting his braces, but I think he’ll make an exception for a lemon square.

Otherwise, I guess I’ll force myself to go through the user manual for the new washer and do some laundry.

That’s it for me. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Easter holiday. We have a lot of daffodils in the backyard looking ready to bloom, but after the chilly weather last night (sleet/snow included), I’m wondering if they'll bloom.