Morning all,

Annie - how are you classes going?

Laura - Trying to get a live person on any business these days is just about impossible and then if you do, you can't always understand them. Hope you manage to get some new ear pieces that work and are comfortable to wear.

Ceejay - I will only exercise (when I do) in the morning because otherwise I have the rest of the day to talk myself out of it. Sorry to hear that you need a D&C but I guess it has to be. Hope you get a spot soon. It's not good having to hang about and wait.

Susie - sounds like an interesting place you went to for the movie/ dinner. We have a place down on the Gold Coast which combines dinner with live shows (Great Australian Drovers - lots of horses and bangs and thuds). It's nice to go to a place like that once in a while.

Happy - glad you got in safe and I hope you are now enjoying time with the sister and the mother. And doing some interesting shopping along the way.

Okay, so what's up over here. Well it is finally starting to move into autumn. Chilly mornings but beautiful days. Haven't had to put a doona on the bed yet. The daytime temps are still higher than normal so the seasons are definitely changing.
I had the mobile BP thing on until yesterday morning. Definitely glad to get that off. What a pain in the *** that is. It errored out two or three times (that I know of) and some of the readings seemed to be extreme, but before the practitioner put the thing on, she took BP readings in both arms. They were slightly different 135/91 and 133/95. She looked at me strangely when she asked why I was there getting one of these! However I wait for the results because only in bed did I see it as less than 140.

I'm almost definitely not going to Sydney now. There was a misunderstanding over pay rates and I would end up in the negative pay if I took those rates. So I decided to can it. They came back last night saying they were looking at the rate but there wasn't much room for movement. Even if it comes back with the necessary, I won't do the job. It will cause dissension among the ranks particularly since they are probably not going to give the same rate to others doing the same job. Anyway, I will take some time. Maybe go away somewhere for a week or so, come back and regroup. It's not been a pretty fight.

ODDU is in disgrace at the moment. The cat did what cats do (sorry TMI) in my garden and he went along and dug it up. Got a stern talking to, a couple of smacks and then got his teeth cleaned. He does not like having his teeth cleaned. He was a sorry dog for a while. The cat does not bury it well anymore - it becomes very annoying. At 18 years of age, she seems to be regressing to early kitten hood again, although she was very clean back then. Sorry if I just put you off your lunch. I'm glad no one took a photo of me cleaning the dogs teeth. It was probably a funny sight.

Right, it is time for kitchen clean up again. I should also do a load of washing. DS2 is snoring as he is on night shift this week. I can't make too much noise and I should take the ODDU out for a walk. Maybe soon for that. He needs to run.
With that I am off. See ya

Shad
It's probably a wise decision to not go to Sydney for the job if it has been this big of a hassle. Got a laugh out of the ODDU story.

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Still waiting for the call for a time for the surgery. I wish that it was settled so I could tell my sis. She can't just drop every thing at the last moment. My bff will take me if needed.
They put the other filter back on line yesterday about 3.30. I had to fill up the tanks before I could purge the air out of it. It didn't have much air in it.
Will be signing up for Social Security today either by phone or online. I would like to have a face to face so I may take a chance and go to Blytheville to the SS office.

Good Morning/Evening Chicklets...

Let's see the CE class was BORING, but needed to maintain my producer's license. (Producer's license = Insurance license to sell/talk about Life, Accident and Heath insurance). Now I only have 17 more hours to complete. This will be on-going thru the first part of June. The wonderful thing about the classes I chose (pay a bit more in fees to take) as compared to other classes is NO TESTING. Class, get your credits and go! Got to love that.

Sissy invited me over for dinner last night. All the babes were there, Ainsley, Jacob and Royce. Now let me say this...of all the kiddos...A is 10 yrs old, J is 4 and R is 2, R is the only one that said, "May I be agused (excused)" from the table. I about fell out. The other two came back and sat down and then asked to be "agused". R is such the character and so ornery, but sweet when he needs to be. Scary to even think about that. Enoyable evening with the kids as C was off fishing with his brother yesterday, after he got up at 3:30 to go finish is bread route, and was not home yet.

Visited with M before going over to Sam's for dinner. He is getting a little weak, lost a little weight but looks good still, and taking his meds regularly. We had a nice visit and he brought me a very lovely shell from Florida. And C a fish with a hook on it to hang a coat or something. Pretty nice.

SHADDIE...poor kitty, probably too old and arthritic to cover up the doo, can't blame the poor thing. Yuck on the job situation, is this the same one that you hand to go on line and fill out all that nonsense?

CEEG...glad the doc is getting you straightened around. It is all such a process. bleh.

LAURA...I would probably have to crawl to the train depot with this dang ankle. Kudos to you.

HAPPY...hope you are enjoying your stay with sis and momma. May the force be with you.

CHELLE...good luck on the tinkerbell run this weekend. Have fun in S CA with your friends and family.

SUSIE...hey chickie, hope all is well with you.

Love and hugs

Afternoon all. Happy Cinco de Mayo! It’s a bit chilly, but the sun is shining, so all is good.

Shad – I’m not unfamiliar with the ODDU situation you shared. Dogs – that’s just the way they are. Wow, all that screening you went through and the chasing around for documents and it comes to that???!!! I think this is going to be a blessing. But I was wondering about the fact that this position was in Sydney, a large city – could they not find a local person to do the job and not have to have deal with getting a distant person to do the work and attempt to pay them enough to make up for their travel and lodging and other on-the-road expenses? Re the BP - I didn’t understand what you meant by the mobile BP machine in your previous post, but now it sounds like it was measuring your BP on a continuous basis - do you get to see a summary of your results?

Ceejay – I hope you can get your surgery scheduled and out of the way soon. Is it an outpatient procedure?

Annie – Too funny that it was the youngest kid who remembered/knew to “mind his manners”. He’s going to be a handful…already is I’m sure, lol. So nice you see your family so frequently. Bleh re the boring CE class.

Michelle – You’re off to the Disney run today, that’s a cute outfit I saw on FB. Safe travels, have a wonderful time, and be sure to listen to your body and slow down or stop when it tells you to!

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Nothing much to report. Had my hair touched up last night. I was so tired, didn’t even bother drying my hair even a little bit after I was all rinsed. Went home and put on my turbie twist towel and blow-dried it a bit later on.

Worked out this morning. Walked to the train.

Tonight I need to do some laundry. Ho hum.

Hi all,

My sister's PC is having problems. She'd rather I did not use it so I haven't been posting. I sort of feel lost without it. Posting on her hubby's tablet but I am not used to it so it's a pain. Just wanted to send a quick hi. Will catch up when I get back on Monday. Have a good weekend.

Good Morning All.....

I think someone asked me what the AA workshop was about. It is the study and discussion of each chapter of the AA Big Book. Very interesting everyone's input on how the big book has influenced their lives.

Cheated on dinner last night. Browned hamburger and onion, made mac n cheese, mixed them together and there you go C, dinner. LOL. He is such a grateful person, bragged on how good it tasted and could he just have leftovers today. UM, yes why certainly. haha.

Tomorrow is Js baseball game at 9 am, have to miss my AA meeting which I hate cause this is my favorite meeting. Then Samantha and I are going for pedicures, HER TREAT, for mother's day gift. I am loving that. Probably do lunch. I will go to church on Saturday evening cause both kids and spouses are coming over at 11 am to fix mother's day brunch. C will have to miss that as he has to work. I told him he could make up for it later...lol. Not likely.

HAPPY...can't wait till you get home to tell us all about your trip. Safe travels sister friend.

LAURA...I get going home with a wet head, I do that sometimes when I leave sis's after getting my hair colored. I mean really I am just going to bed, why style it. Save time and trouble.

Hello to all, CHELLE goodluck on the run and have fun visiting family.

Hugs

Morning all. TGIF. Gonna be a warm one today!

Happy – Bummer about the computer problems. Enjoy the rest of your visit in town, and have a safe trip home. Look forward to hearing about it.
Annie – Your dinner sounded tasty – your own version of hamburger helper. Enjoy your pampering tomorrow and Sunday – sounds nice! Re skipping the blow-dry & styling – if I go on a weeknight, I never pay extra to have that done because I’m just gonna go home and go
to bed. If it’s on a Saturday, it depends on what I have going on afterwards or that evening.

Hope everybody enjoys their weekend. Michelle have a great time this weekend.

==

Did a load of laundry last night and that was about it. I worked out this morning.

I’ve decided I won’t ever get myself to the doc for my annual physical unless/until I drop some of the weight I’ve gained since my last visit, so I’m doing what I did last year – chart my daily calories, water, and also steps and exercise, as well as spots for weekly weigh-ins. But this time I’m giving myself two months (last year it was one month) and will shoot for an appointment the first week of July.

Today I’ll leave the office about an hour early. I was doing “The Firm” workout video the other day and they were using what they called a “body stick”, which is really their own version of a long weighted bar like the ones I’ve used during rec plex classes. Yes, for most of the moves, you can just substitute hand weights, but I decided it would be nice to own a body bar (that’s a brand), and so I did a quick check on craigslist and there’s someone about a mile from here selling one. For less than a third the price of a new one, it’ll be worth it to haul this thing home on the train. Well, we’ll see if I still think so after I get it home, LOL.

No fun plans tomorrow, but I have another craigslist find to pick up – a garden tool storage rack. Usually for the garage, but I plan to use it in the basement for the mops and other long-handled tools we keep down there – paint roller extension poles, etc.

On Sunday, bf and I are meeting the rest of his family at a restaurant for lunch with his mom for Mother’s Day. Hope it’s not too crazy/crowded.

That’s it for me. TTFN!

Morning all,

Up early because for some reason I needed to get up during the night 3 times. Think it might be a bit of stress. But more about that later. So I have brushed the dog and put his fur into the hedge for the birdies to find for their nests and now I am enjoying a cuppa and a look around the email and net.

Yesterday ODDU escaped while I was putting out the rubbish bins and chased a cat up the next street with me (in my pyjamas and slippers) hotfoot in pursuit. The cat went one way, the dog (doesn't have a long attention span) heard a dog bark from across the road and veered that way. My lovely neighbour was coming down the street with her dog and ODDU thought that might be better - then changed his mind when S went to grab his collar. So I had to apologise to the lady in the house for my wayward dog. (At least DS2's wayward puppy that should be). Later, I was bringing the bins back in, when ODDU went flying past again, squeezing into a very small gap and across the road he went to greet the neighbours dogs. A scrap ensued before I finally got him under control again and back in the house. Such is life in the suburbs

Got a call from the medical centre to make an appointment follow up from my mobile BP thing last week. I just knew that would happen. And as per normal it will be nothing much I expect. Yes I would expect my BP to be up. I'm trying to find work, I'm living with my children, the old cat is not at her best, and I am trying to finish up a new garden. What's not to have some stress about in that.

As for the job. As you know I turned down the job with the nuclear thingy. Just too much BS going on in that. And the minute I get off that email responding to the decline, I get a phone call for another Sydney job. Sometimes I wonder if big brother is monitoring my emails. Anyway this man (he is a training manager friend of a friend of mine) wanted me to work for him for a month. Pay is not much better than before but I don't have to think about taking the car down and driving any great distances and I can come home some weekends. So I said I would think about it. Then the business partner HR person rang and the upshot is that I will be in Sydney on Tuesday. Meantime there is a stack of things to do here and the stress levels will keep rising. So the doctor will have something to tut about on Monday when I go see him. Today I have a stack of online forms to fill and send back and also work to do in the garden, laundry, packing, finding a flight to Sydney for Monday afternoon and generally tidying up after untidy people and giving them a list of tasks to be done while I am away. I refuse to come home to a grubby house and demolished garden.

Annie - Sad that you have to miss the AA meeting that you enjoy. However watching the kid play will give you a good belly laugh I am sure.
Sure is good that S is instilling manners in the children. Have to respect that. The late Queen Mother once said that "Manners- without them it doesn't matter who you are or what you do - you will never leave a good impression". There was more to it than that but I can't find the full quote. I think it was about having manners or education.

Laura - Good idea to drop the weight before the Doctor. They get anal about weight these days. I tried to do some exercise this morning but ODDU got in the way and it ended up in a play session. Still haven't got the crunches finished. Will try for it later.

Ceejay - good luck with signing up for SS. Hope they don't make you wait in line for too long.

Happy - have a good time with Mum and the family. See you back next Monday.

Okay - promised myself I wouldn't sit on here forever today. Time to get cracking if I don't want to get digging in the heat of the day.



Laura

Rode my bike for 15 minutes this morning. Once I can get into this habit I will like it. But not at 4.30 every morning.
Was going to go to Jonesboro for a church function tonight and spend the night with bff but she called almost as I was walking out the door to leave and told me she was sick. This is why I'm moving to Missouri. I can't depend on her to help me when I'm sick. I don't think she liked it when I told her that my sis wanted to come down either. Think their might be some jealousy here. My "cougar" friend may be available to take me. She said that she was not going to go with her hubby to his next job which will be in Kansas City Mo. She's tired of hotel room living.
I have had an episode of diverticulosis, my diagnosis, but all the symptoms are here. I text my doctor and told him and he told me no popcorn, potato chips, or nuts. He forgot the sugar but I will tell him about that at my next appointment on 5-20. It was a combo of popcorn and brownies. I'm expecting some feed back from Annie.

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Laura
You sure are having good luck in finding things on Craig's list. A doctor's visit is a good motivator for losing the weight. I had gained 10 pounds my last office visit and feel like I've gained 10 more. I'm really trying to do things the right way.

Happy
Sigh on the computer problems at your sisters. My new laptop is still giving me fits. I hate to take it to the computer doctor but I may have to. I think it's still under warranty though. I'm still happy with my tablet.

Shad
Have you decided not to take the job in Sydney? What kind of mischief is ODDU up to this week. I like hearing those stories.

Michelle
Wishing you luck at the race today.

Hello's to Susie

Annie
Please don't shout to bad. After you said that you had been going to AA meetings I decided to look on overeaters dot com for some information and they have podcasts. They use the big book for AA. It sure does help.

Hello! This week was pure He**at work! One of our Section Heads, who is working our biggest launch in JFM'17 gave his resignation as he is taking a job with a competitor and will now be a Director at the new company. If our company that is a two level jump.

I thought my Director and Associate Director were going to pass out. So, there is extra work as they scramble to split the work, start looking for his replacement not to mention all the legal things that happen since he is going to a competitor. Guess who gets to send out all the new meeting requests, redo calendars and deal with paper work, cleaning out his office and such...I bet you will guess right!

I worked almost every night in the office until 7:30 p.m. so 11.50 hours for T-Friday this week and on Monday night, I logged back on at 9 and worked until 11 as the Director called me to give me a heads up what went down and I needed to pull information for him as to what he needed to do.

It is all under the Manager information on our intranet but he didn't know. He has been a mess all week. Our Group President/Vice President paid him a in-person visit on Wednesday as the information had reached her and all I know that happened was he said "she asked me how I let this happen". He had a really rough week and he shared a lot of the pressure with my AD as well, it was her fault too that they let it happen.

So, not the most easiest or comfortable week at work.

That is the down side, the upside is I drop a total of 4 lbs in April and at TOPS on Monday night I dropped another lb last night. I've been getting up on Monday, Wed and Friday morning at 4:45 to do the tread mill or bike for 30 min or using a combo of both to total 30 min. It does make me feel better once I get out of bed. Hard to do some mornings, but I just do it and I do give myself 2 days during the work week to get an extra 45 min in.

I didn't make my two PT exercise and planks workout during my lunch on Tuesday/Thursday this week but will get it done next week.

I went shopping last Friday on my lunch hour and found some great deals on workout gear at JC Penny that was on sale and I also fond a couple of cute shirts.

I want to go through the closet in the home office; it is were I keep workout gear (spring/summer & fall winter). year round. Some things need pitched and I want to get that done this weekend.

I came home from work tonight and told DH I wanted to have him pick up food for dinner and we eat in. I took a nap, got up at 7:30, at and then organized the flatware drawer. We bought some new last weekend and I wanted to wash it all up and get it put away. I saved what was left of our old stuff; we take it in lunches (my attempt to try and not put so much waste into our landfills). I organized that drawer and 3 others and now I'm hear posting. I need to pay bills but I think that will wait until morning.

Tomorrow night, DH and I are going to see Vice Gill. We are both really looking forward to it.

Oh, also need to share that DH told me he wanted to do a 5k run/walk before his surgery. We are signed up for one on Sept 24. I will walk, he will do both or maybe run the whole thing.

Shad: You sure had a lot going on with that one contract! and the dog and the kitty! No wonder your blood pressure is up a bit.

Ceejay: Good for you for getting on that exercise bike and trying to form a habit...a good one at that! I hope you hear back soon on the D&C date and get it over with.

I will have to check for the OA podcast. I know Laura talked about podcasts once. I really don't know much about them or how to find them, but it looks like I can go to OA site and find them there.

Laura: Good for you for getting back to charting your daily calories, water, and also steps and exercise, as well as spots for weekly weigh-ins. And for putting time line to it. It will really help to stay on track and work toward that goal.

Happy: I hope your visit is doing pretty well.

Michelle: On Saturday (well it is Saturday here now!) when you run that race, listen with your heart and you will hear all of us Wordlies cheering for you! You can do this!! and you look darling in your costume.

Annie: I think it is worth to pay that extra for the training and not have to take the tests! How nice for your and your daughter to have pedicures together. That is so fun to do.

I won't go to church at all on Sunday, in fact I won't leave my house. Mother's Day is a hard day for me. Always has been since I didn't have a mom around when I was growing up and then not being able to have my own babies. I do ok with it all now. Did a lot of counseling in my late 30's & 40's about it. But on Mother's day Sunday, it is best I hide out in the house.

However, I am happy for all those mothers and those fathers who are both a mother/father and for grandparents raising their grandbabies and I think God for all of them.

Dee: Are you out there reading? Sure would love to hear from you.

Ok..time for bed. I'll most likely be back on Sunday

Morning all,

Mothers Day. Happy Mothers Day to all worldly chicks whether they be mothers to human or the animal kind of babies. My lot are taking me out to breakfast then going on to do their own thing and ending up at someone else's place in the evening.

I've just spent an 2 hours filling in forms for this job. It's getting old and very boring. I do wish I could just afford to retire. Now I have to scan all these docs, send them back and wait for another number or id thingy to watch yet another safety video and answer the questions. Could say I am bored.
Then there will be packing and finding a place to stay. Bah humbug.

Susie - your company seems to be lacking somewhat in organisation, and I see the finger pointing is starting (how did you let this happen) - perhaps no one felt that she was interested enough in the staff that they couldn't go and visit her with the information and ask for guidance?

Ceejay - what were you thinking with popcorn and stuff. Get with it girl.

Okay, time to approach the scanning and get some of this stuff out of the way. Happy Mothers Day.

Shad
I knew what would more than likely happen when I ate those things but good grief. lol I was hormonal too, which didn't help the cause. I'm bracing myself for the yell from the doctor on the 20th. I hope I've learned my lesson. This was a frightening experience.
Wow, I didn't realize that you had to do all that now a days to get a job. Good luck.

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Happy Mother's day to one and all.

Rode my bike again yesterday for 15 minutes. I did wear my fitbit but not actually counting my steps. Feel lost with out it. I do have 8 minutes of exercise minutes on there but I'm still going to ride my bike again for 15 more minutes tonight.
I've put myself back on the MRC schedule of eating and I'm going to see how this goes for a week. I need some structure.
Emailed my uncle about the upcoming week end. And told him about my upcoming surgery. He's getting a bit hard of hearing so email is the best way to do this.

Morning all,
Quick in and out.
Off to Sydney tonight. Found some very expensive accommodation for a couple of weeks, will be checking into more stuff through the week. If it comes to the crunch, I will just stay the Monday to Thursday nights and come home weekends. It will probably be cheaper that way.

Not much else to report. I've got the doctor this morning for the results on the mobile BP machine. Bet they won't be good. Stress is a tough cookie. Now I have to list out some jobs for the kids while I am away.

Okay - time to go out to the doctors. I'll try to get in evenings this week, but don't guarantee anything at the moment. Can't even think straight.

Hello! We had a great time last night at the concert. It was nice to go do something different with just my DH.

I just paid all the bills, and balanced the checkbook. Also, got documents together to turn into my Flex Spending account so I can get $$ back from the co-pays and such that we have paid so far this year. I try to do this quarterly so that I don't have that rush at the end of the year. I have yet to take out the max allowable. I'm always afraid we won't spend that much to get it back. So I take out to cover our out of pocket expenses before insurance kicks in.

Shad: I am wondering how the check on the blood pressure went.

Ceejay: When you are on the bike do you put your fitbit on your shoe laces? that is what I do and so it counts my steps.

I saw that Michelle posted she finished the 1/2 Marathon!! Isn't that great?!!!!!

I need to go get something done for work (about an hour of work) while DH is cooking dinner. Most of it is on the grill tonight.

I'll see you all tomorrow.