Good Morning to Everyone I pray that you & your loved ones made it Safely through the 3 day storm with no more than minor weather damage.
We had only a short electric outage & crazy periods of freezing sleet beginning Friday, then freezing rain & snow Friday night till Sunday afternoon. Storm warnings for us & the rest of Michigan ended at 10p.m. last night. We drove to the city to refill our emergency storm supplies after Dh came home from work Friday & then we stayed home all weekend, our lawn & roads & streets were completely covered with ice & snow. We were surprised to see mail in our mailbox Saturday, the only set of car tracks all weekend. Over 200 city schools are reported closed today in Michigan. A area in northern Michigan is forecast to get 6-12' of snow today, 1 area in the north received 14" during the storm

Susie... WoW great job on your TOPS loss. Being active weekly will Keep your pounds falling off & the applause at TOPS after saying your loss is really supportive, You outsmarted the fat monster in all of us. I hope that you got this week's biggest loser award

Shaddie... Thanks for the big smile you gave me I felt like I was there seeing you jumping on-off the soil bag & then being frustrated, of course the other bag will reappear & probably filled with wonderful soft soil We all understand the Love you have with your doggy, we've all shared that unconditional Love with a doggy or kitty, He will remember you making those special meals for him forever & look forward to more & more.

Ceejay... I'm happy for you that you enjoyed being in your own home again, even with the lawn mowing. Maybe with seeing your health & energy increase & weight loss from walking & taking care of the doggy, you'll consider becoming a doggy mommy. I haven't been without a doggy for my entire life, I can't imagine not having that Unconditional Love in my life. GOD gives us solutions for every situation that can happen with our 4-legged children, including doggy obedience classes to show us how to communicate & give a pet a forever home

Happy, Annie & Laura... I'm very sleepy again, so I'll finish personals later.

Have a wonderful week you'all

Howdie...

I get my permanent crown this morning at 9 am. So this will be a quick post. Yahoooooooooo the mammo came back negative. Nothing but saggy fat cells in there. lol.

Went to a wood sign painting party yesterday. Very nice time. 3 hours of all women laughing and jabbering. I will try to post a pic of my sign.

Saturday was not feeling up to par. Stomach hurting Fri, Sat and Sun. Don't know what that was about. Of course I feel fine today to come to work. bleh.

My salesman here in Indiana turned in his resignation on Friday and is going to a competitor. This makes me very sad as I really like him. Decent prayerful person in my little world. He will be missed very much. He is also one of the biggest producers of loans for my region. It is really going to hurt our goals. This week will be chaotic with all that has/is transpiring. Work life will be very stressful.

Tomorrow is my 5 year wedding anniversary. Sadly I really could care less about it this time. Actually I forgot that it was even coming up til yesterday. Not a big deal I guess. bleh.

I will TRY to get back later for personals. Off to give my teeth one more brushing before the dentist. The least I can do for him. hahahaha

Make it a great day/night. "Take time to be Kind!"

Hugs

Morning all.

Ceejay – So great you’ve noticed an increase in your fitness! All that activity - dog walks, gym, etc.- is paying off.

Shad – LOL, yet another retiree just as busy or more busy than they were pre-retirement. And just on this thread alone!! == How did it go keeping the two littles and doggy occupied and out of trouble and harm’s way? == Yeh, those adhesives and similar don’t last forever. You’d think someone would try to design better packaging so it doesn’t become unusable…but why do that when they want you to just go out and buy a new tube of it??

Susie – Big congrats on an excellent loss last week! Keep up the good work! == I hope your dh’s cold is going away and you can both sleep well again and in your own bed.

Dee – Looks like a lot of us here had very ugly weather all weekend long, and it’s not over yet… Good you stocked up on the emergency supplies, just in case.

Annie – So glad the mammo came out all clear. Hope the crown goes in nicely. == Looking forward to see the sign you painted – like a decorative one for your house? == Glad your stomach is feeling better today. It sounds like work will be bad enough, you sure don’t need to feel lousy to boot. == I’m sorry your anniversary isn’t a celebratory one this year. Still, I hope you feel that having C come into your life has been more good than bad.

Happy – How’s it going in the great snowy north? I hope you’re all snug in your house and don’t/didn’t need to leave the house for anything.

==
With all the snow some areas have gotten over the weekend, I won’t complain too much about our weather… but it was a miserable, chilly, gusty weekend with a constant drizzle throughout. Big waves on the lakefront too. Today I woke to see we had a wee bit of snow. Guess we’ll just have to keep the winter clothes out for longer...

On Saturday my Amazon order was delivered. For a change, both items I ordered were shipped in one box. My new earbuds seem to be fine. Fingers I also bought a new heavy duty clear shower curtain liner.

In order to keep my airline miles from expiring next month (American), I shopped through their “shopping mall” and hopefully whatever miles I earned will post to my mileage account in time. Ebags is one of the “stores” in the “mall”, and I did need a new bag, so I shopped there. I ended up with the usual – a travel type bag made of a lightweight nylon kind of fabric with lots of pockets to help keep me organized. We’ll see how I like it.

Nothing much else to report for this weekend. Quiet here today with two of our group out of the office all week. I have a bunch of reading I need to do for one of our projects, not enthused about that, but I'll push through it.

Time's a-wastin', so I'll get this posted!

Hi Shad... I just popped online to pay a bill & read what Laura posted & then I reread your post. Because of my sleepy eyes & my brain wanting to start my outdoor garden now, I misread your post about jumping on your tube, but your story is still funny

Big oops for me & a lesson for me, to stop reading when I'm sleepy & do Not post until I'm actually awake. I gotta get my bill paid now.

Good morning ladies,

Between Saturday and yesterday we got about 16 inches of snow. Everything got cancelled for today. This is really a pain because all my Friday through Sunday activities got moved to other dates which really crams things in before I leave for Chicago. THAT IS IF I leave. The person I am supposed to ride with caught the bubonic plague from her hubby and she has been dead sick the last 2 weeks - a really awful case of the flu. If she isn't better I am not riding in a car with her - can't afford to get my Mom sick even if my Mom is just jonesing for some sympathy illness.

Today I was supposed to have an all day "Drawing Trees" class. There is not much teaching going on as this lady has a bunch of "groupies" that attend all her classes and many of them are quite skilled having done this for years. But D makes that best raspberry tea and usually brings tea cakes to her class so it's generally a fun gathering of friends - just don't plan on learning much,more of a chatty sewing circle kind of thing. Everyone pulls out their supplies and pretty much just draws or paints. It did give me an excuse to go through my photos of trees - I have always been fascinated by them as drawing subjects so I do have lots of photos to pick from. I am not working my Monday shift at the thrift shop but will go in Friday afternoon to work with my friend Grete to try and make up for it.

I was going to go in the the Senior Center Wednesday as I am already committed to cover the phones at 2pm. I want to finish up this one project I am working on and put it to bed. Figured I'd come in early and work a few extra hours. But then she moved the art class to Wednesday and I had to shift things. So I might go in on Tuesday for a half day.

Susie - congrats on the pounds down! I think your body likes it when you are in balance and I'm glad you saw rewards for putting yourself first and making sure you got back on track with the food and exercise. I agree with you - eating out is one of the fastest ways to fall off the wagon but sometimes it can't be helped when you have an on the go schedule. In that case I just order the most healthy thing I can and just eat half of it. Hope DH gets over his cold quickly. Because our weather is below average in temps, I think the colds and bugs are hanging around. I am a bit concerned because the person I am supposed to be driving in with to Chicago for Mother's Day has gotten a bad virus from her husband - really sick and after 2 weeks she is no better so I hope she can get herself back to feeling good again as I don't want to ride in a car with the bubonic plague She would still drive in but I can't risk catching anything that could get my Mom sick. Nor do I want it either. So kick DH to the sick room, make him soup and tea and stay well yourself!

Oh the training class I went to is Microsoft Office 365 which is the cloud based version. Microsoft is getting to be like the Weight Watchers program - every release they tweak things a bit and not always in a good way. I haven't used Outlook for email since I stopped working 7 years ago. I do like that there is a greater ability to sort and find your mail. But now I have my own email address for the senior center which means another email to periodically check. We have a reduced rate non profit version so that means just basic functionality for Word and Excel. I will have to do my "power user" development on my own personal copy and just upload it to the others if need be. They however, cannot make any changes to features I embed in my docs if they don't have the functionality on their copy. It has enough for basic office work though. I'm glad I got a chance to see it. Being on the cloud, it can at times be really slow to access. I would not like this as my personal regular software. Also this is groupware - meant to share in today's climate which means instead of emailing things back and forth, you share documents, calendars, folders and such. I don't like the part that means you have to grant access to people and worse than that I live in fear that I will share something accidently or forget people have shared access and someone will see something I did not intend for them to see. No more emails to your trusted buddy dancing in joy because the boss is out of the office or complaining to a sympathetic ear. At the beginning of class the trainer asked us to go around the room, introduce ourselves and tell us how much experience we had with MS Office / Computers. Several of the attendees were the site managers who handle the menu planning, cooking, Meals on Wheels program and only use the computers for what they are forced to do.

Annie - I hope everything went well with the permanent crown. It's good to have the real thing in. I always hated the temp caps - they never stayed glued in. Happy Anniversary. I'm sorry things are not all Cinderella and the Prince - sometimes life is stinky like that. Are you still working on things? Sorry too that you will lose a good guy from the office. Not enough fun people to make work not so horrible. Loved your sign - glad you had a fun time in art class!!!

Dee - I heard that Michigan got whallopped. I will take all our snow any day over the ice. Glad you were able to stay in and warm and safe. I always worry about the power going out and the house getting cold and if you have a well like us no power means no water either which also means no toilet

Laura - as for all of us "busy" in retirement, it just opens the possibilities to what one could do IF they didn't have the Labor Monster breathing down their throat. Of course you DO have the benefit of a steady paycheck that we don't so there's something to ease the drudgery of work. Ugh - good luck with the work reading - not fun stuff, eh? Too bad you couldn't put a mystery spin on it - maybe read every other page to make it go more quickly and then try and figure it out

Shad - I really don't want to be on the payroll. I could push the idea but I would get minimal pay - about $10 an hour and frankly it's just not worth it to me. Once they start paying you, they own you and can tell you what to do and not and you have no say so. I like being able to say no not doing that and calling my own time and hours. We had a possum living under our step in our first house. Scared the bejeezus out of me one day when I went to answer the door for the pizza man and he popped his head out from under the stoop. They are VERY HARD to relocate as I understand. Even worse when you are providing a nice garden buffet for them as you do. Ants and possums - see there is a benefit to living up the cold white lands that I do. Of course we have hungry deer that will match your possums any day when it comes to eating greenery so I should not brag here. Why is it that the tube of caulk will not stay wet for more than one use? Just like super glue. Did you get some nice meat bits for R?

Ceejay - I hope you can enjoy some time at home. Are your allergies going bonkers with all the spring flowers?

And now I'm going to post.

Good Golly Miss Molly....

Yet another cold day here in Indy. Then supposed to be 70 tomorrow. Geez, today I have on winter garb tomorrow will be spingish garb. What the heck is up with this weather. I am NOT liking it AT ALL.

Happy anniversary to C. You are one very lucky, blessed man, that is all I can say about that. We are going to try a new restaurant down the road from us. Romanza on the Vine or something like that. Italian. It wasn't open the first time we tried to go.

Sam texted me with wonderful news. The dryer is not putting out heat. Can't catch a break. Last week a new garage door opener. The week before a new motor for the furnace. The week before that it was something I can't remember. Also had 4 screens rescreened due to tears and holes. I know that is not a tough job and I have done it before, however I am over fixing things. At 10 bucks a screen it was worth it to me.

Will come back in a minute for personals. Want to post this and also pics.

My new gold crown. Now I am worth something. Also my sign from wood art class.

HAPPY...I think all that snow and cancellations to various volunteer gigs is God's way of MAKING you have down time. I think I would steer clear of the sickies and riding to CHI. That stuff lingers and hides and their things are germy, being couped up in a car can make for an easy prey. This is coming from someone who just went through pneumonia for 3 months. All that stuff scares me and I am very leary and cautious these days. Look at the bright side of not making art class, if you did not, the cake the teacher brings is not a healthy choice of food. Permanent crown went in perfectly. He was done in 20 minutes. See pic above. Yes, C and I are still working on things but some days just exhaust me. Tired of thinking. I do believe in what Michael always told me. "One day you will wake up and just KNOW exactly what you need/want to do." I am banking on that.

LAURA...wow free parts for your bike you are going to sell. Awesome!! Yes the sign is for the house. I am putting it in my bathroom. It is sorta scripture themed. The colors will go nicely with the rest of the decor. Bah on work reading and compliance training courses. Stomach is feeling much better, thank you for asking.

DEE...bummer on the cold weather, snow, power outages etc. We are having much of the same here too. Seems like most of the states are having some kind of weird weather these days.

SUSIE...Great job on WL at TOPS! You are back on track and starting your roll on WLoss. I am so proud and amazed of you. Sure inspiration. Hope DH is feeling better and you don't get that craziness. Hope your week is going great as far as working on yourself and goals. Hugs

CEEG...so glad you fitness from walking dogs etc is helping you get in shape. Kudos.

SHADDIE...critters in the wrong places are the worst. Fortunately we have only had a few mice in the attic a couple of years ago that I took care of and a stray kitty that came to the back porch one summer. It would get close enough to catch but did eat the food we left out there. Cute little thing. Do not jump on hard tubed things. You could slip and twist or break a leg. Silly goose.

Make it a lovely day all. Hugs

Good morning ladies,

I have a painting class shortly, covering phones this afternoon at Sr. Center and camera club tonight. Internet is SUPER SLOW. So hello and have a good day!

Morning all.

Happy – Wow, that’s a lot of snow!! == I hope that your ride to Chicago gets better fast, but it seems like these illnesses linger…and in a confined area like a car…no place for the germs to go but on the passenger. Ick. This trip needs careful consideration. == I don’t know much about MS office 365, but I do know I get nervous putting my work out on a network drive. Even though only our department has access to our part of the network, there’s one person in our department who’s not computer savvy (the one that saves everything on her hard drive). I sometimes worry she’ll somehow manage to delete something I’ve put out there! Enjoy your drawing class.

Annie – Ugh, sorry your dryer is on the fritz. So many things that can and DO go wrong around the house. I hope it’s repairable. I hope you don’t have clothes lines running across the living room… == Ooh, fancy crown made out of gold. I had no idea they still did that, but then again I’m not up on my dental technology. As long as it does what it’s supposed to – for a LONG time. == I like the message on your sign.

Hellos to the rest of you, hope you’re all having a great day!!
==

Bleh, not really enjoying my “in-house vacation” with the reading I have to do this week. We put some services out to bid and I’m reading the proposals we’ve received. The kind that try to impress with a bound slick document (more paper the better - except for the poor tree). The kind filled with business jargon, claims of greatness, indecipherable graphs and charts, and groan-worthy names, titles and acronyms for proprietary tools, systems and methods that promise to work miracles for us. Bleh. Eyes glazing over.

The plan last night was to pull all the meat off of some leftover rotisserie chicken. It was in the basement fridge and was practically frozen when I took it out. I adjusted the fridge temp and put the chicken in the upstairs fridge. I’ll take care of that tonight.

The bike parts and my new purse are supposed to be delivered today.

So that’s my exciting day. Posting this, then back to the reading. :

Good Morning/Evening All.....

The restaurant we went to last night for dinner was fabulous. I had stuffed salmon, grilled asparagus and salad with basalmic vinegarette. Delish!! Very tasty. Since we went so early, right at 5 pm, we were the only ones in there. Quite nice! Watched the new Lost in Space on Netflix. Surprising it was very good and entertaining. SyFi for sure LAURA.

Sassy is doing so much better. By the time she finishes her meds the end of next week I can see her being all back to normal. Whatever that is. I have made an appointment to get her teeth cleans on May 8. Trying to spread it out a little to recoup from other things. Yeeee.

Believe the dryer thing is the heating elements. Ordered the parts on Amazon for 25$. My neighbor is going to install the parts for us. Hope this fixes the prob. The darn thing is only about 4 years old.

HAPPY...hope your day goes smoothly. Hugs

LAURA...mmmm rotisserie chicken salad. The best kind. That would be worth the drive to CHI for me. lol. Yes work reading, just get to the point please. How boring. skip skip skip...

Hello to all. Hope you day/night is a good one! Hugs

Just a brief note to say hello. Nothing going on at the moment except the same ole stuff.
Still going and coming. Will be glad when niece has every thing completed to get back her license.

Hello All....

Got the kitchen ceiling fan installed last night. Thanks to a neighbor. Will get the dryer elements installed probably tomorrow. Life, sheesh. This type of crazy can just skip right over my house.

Bought a cheese pizza at Kroger on the way home from work. It is the ones that Kroger makes, huge and on sale for $5.99. I added mushroom and sausage when I got home. VERY good! That was dinner.

THe boys had baseball practice so other than the fan getting installed it was a very quiet evening.

CEEG...How much longer on the niece to complete everything? WIll you be home in time for summer, if summer ever arrives.

Hello to everyone.

Hugs

Annie
I've purchase those kind of pizza's before and added some different toppings. They were good. Your anniversary dinner sounded great.
Still not sure how long it will take the niece to finish. She mentioned last night that she was dreading going to court because of the time line. She's more than half through with her classes.