Afternoon all,
I've meant to come back and do personals for some days. It just all seems to get away on me, so I really should add it to the list of things to do per day. Much better if I can cross it off as done at the end of the day.
We're in the grip of a drought here, and it is really bad out in the bush. Animals are dying in the fields and the farmers have no feed for them, and there are many of them committing suicide. So hard, so sad. There are many appeals going around to donate to these poor people. Only trouble is that there is little feed around to give to them anymore. This has been going on for 6 years more or less and is getting worse and worse. Bloody government isn't helping too much either. We can give billions away in aid to countries that hate us, but we can't give to our farmers and their families. Finally the ruling idiots have decided that they won't get re-elected next year if they don't give some, so have come up with a piddling amount for each farmer and his/ her family. And they have the cheek to give themselves pay rises when the rest of the country gets little to nothing.

Enough rant.
I'll have to go back thru the posts to figure out some of the comments made. Seems mothers are not co-operating and cats are doing their own thing and Laura is exercising, and Annie is off to a concert and Susie is back on the treadmill but not the work treadmill, and Dee has a husband who makes decisions for her. Sorry Dee but I could not put up with that - which is probably why I am divorced.
I sorted out a fencing man to replace some fences around the place, but he is proving somewhat elusive. I have spoken to the neighbours and got them okay with my doing this. One was even generous enough to offer to help pay for his section. Love the man. I guess the fencing man will be getting a bit of a serve if I don't hear from him in the next day or so. Watch out for fireworks from downunder.
I'm all tomato'ed out now. Looking for ways to get rid of them now. I've given a lot away and have some more green tomatoes to give to a friend this afternoon to make green tomato chutney or relish or sauce or whatever. I'll take them over to her shortly. I've made passata (for soup and sauce) and Pizza sauce until I look like one. Enough is enough. The plants will be coming out in a week or so. I will replace with some leafy veges that will be ready before the end of October when I put the garden to bed for the summer.

Better go get started on the bathroom because tomorrow I will be painting in the spare room and the hall. I'm going to get this finished if it's the last thing I do this year.

I'm in Branson the next couple of nights.
not much else to report.

Lost my post. My fault. I hit a back button or something. Anyway the concert was magnificent. Both Cyndi and Rod did a tribute to Aretha Franklin. Rod still has the moves. He is in his 70s. WOW. Will try to come back later to finish. Hugs

Oh SUSIE...he did NOT do Hot Legs.

Good morning ladies,


I must be doing too much at the senior center - woke up twice last night and both times I was thinking of things going on there - ie. board meeting minutes one time and email questions from the FB fans another. DH wants to go out to the agricultural gardens at the university later today to take photos - he is trying to rebuilt his portfolio he lost. It's right after lunch. Myself I'd rather be closer to a "toitee" after I eat. Maybe he will forget about it. I have to go in this morning to help him set up a class. Nothing of real interest going on on this side of the land. I look at the calendar fly by and morn the loss of summer that went by in a flash. And remind myself it's high time to tackle the boxes in the garage before it gets too cold to work in there which will probably be true in 8 to 10 weeks.


Shad - my heart goes out to the animals suffering from the drought. Is the problem with the lack of feed due in part that the feed itself cannot grow because of lack of rain? The farmers certainly have a difficult life. We really need to educate people more on where their food actually comes from - and it's NOT the grocery store. I agree with your comment about giving foreign aid and forgetting your own people. We had the same issue here - our infamous "leader" imposed tariffs which adversely affected farmers and small businesses. Helped one group and hurt many others - so they spend 11 billion dollars to help bail out the farmers. Which is not a bad thing but if one had thought about what they were doing in the first place... One of the things I did with extra red tomatoes was to blanch, skin, de-core and slice them up. Put them in a rimmed baking sheet with a bit of olive oil, chopped garlic, salt, pepper and onion and roasted them for about 30 minutes in the oven. I then took that mixture and put it into freezer safe bags. I used that as a base for many Italian dishes, chili, curries and soups. Don't know what to tell you about the green ones though. That was always a problem for me - by the time our tomatoes grow to proper size the end of August, the weather takes a dip of coolness at night which substantially slows the growth. We get far more green ones than red ones. I don't care for the crunch of green tomatoes myself. Tried a green salsa -


Ceejay - you weren't home long before you were travelling again


Annie - glad the concert was a good one. Rod has changed his music style over the years - I'm glad he did more rock than big band / 40's music.


Hello to the rest for now. I need to get dressed and ready. DH wants to leave in less than an hour and my coffee still has not kicked in so I am turtle slow.

Happy
This is a very short stent. I will be back home tomorrow, and then come back next week for 9 days while her friend is on vacation. That should be it. I'm taking her to court in Battlefield today. It is the last thing she has to do towards getting her license back. Praying the judge isn't to harsh with her. They are making plans to move to Florida in December. Her bf is in Florida.

Annie
Sounds like you had a good time at the concert.

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Still nothing new to report.

Good morning ladies,

Going to be 2 very loooooong days today and tomorrow. I have to fill in all day at the Senior Center reception desk. Then I have to head to another town and run bingo there for the evening for a fundraiser. And I didn't get enough sleep last night of course. Tomorrow's another jam packed day. Friday we are going to a blues band performance - will be a good one - we like that band. Saturday I have to work a Shelter Fundraiser. I will get a little downtime Thursday and Friday so that's not so bad but today and tomorrow - Lord give me strength!

Yesterday we went to the University Agricultural Extension to pick up some free produce (tomatoes, cucumbers and kale) for the Senior Center kitchens. They have flower and vegetable gardens. DH was in his happy place taking pictures. He took a sunflower cut out picture of me. Gads, when did I turn into my Grandma???? The gardens were so interesting. You can see what will and WON'T do well growing up here. I was fascinated. So many interesting things to see in life...

This has to be a quick hi yah because I have to pop in the shower, wake up a bit more and head over to the Center. Sorry for no personals today. Next week will be more calm.

Safe travels Ceejay!

Hidee Ho!!!

It has been one crazy week on the job. We had our sales guy quit in Iowa. Of course that brings on a fire at my end getting all the I.T. stuff shut down. We are also having an all floor clean up on Friday. I have been working on it this morning and tomorrow as I may have to work from home on Friday. My part will be done prior to Friday. Oh yeah!!!

My son's 30th birthday was last Sunday however we are celebrating this Sunday the 26th. For his BD dinner he wants my homemade spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and better than s*x cake. Pretty easy. The toughest part is thinking of something to get him for his BD.

HAPPY...I love DHs pix on FB. I hate he lost his entire collection. See he should of published before now and all would have been good. Doesn't sound like you are slowing down much to me. Just saying. You pix on FB was really cute of the head shot sunflower. What a doll!!

CEEG...please text me your address. I sent you a text asking for your address.

That is all I can remember for now.

Soooo busy at work. bleh. Hugs all.

Good Morning/Evening.

We had another reunion meeting last night. It went well. Found about 10 more classmates. Time is running out. Reunion is in 6 weeks. We have about 50 confirmed/paid so far. Not bad since we just sent out the invites on August 8. We are hoping to get at least 150 out of the 525 classmates confirmed. Staying up til 11 on a work night just about wears me out. Goodness.

Fixed jalapeno poppers before the meeting for our dinner. C ate leftover burgers. Mmmm, cream cheese and bacon stuffing then mozzarella cheese on top. I ate the equivalent to 8 jalapenos. Whew hope they help me...you know...cause eating keto has me stopped up. CHEESE, PLEASE...

Nothing much going on today. Tomorrow I am working from home.

Hugs all the way around...

Annie
I sent you a text with address. Glad you enjoyed the concert. From the FB photo you look great.

Happy
You are still as busy as ever.

Shad
You are still busy doing things at home. I have several things I'm going to do once I'm home for good.

Hello's to Dee and Susie.

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Tuesday I took my niece to court in my home town. He was stern but was happy to see that she had completed the process. He did ask her why she took so long in getting things done. She said I'm in a better place mentally and want my drivers license back. She has grown in leaps and bounds this past year. And I count it a privilege to have been able to do this for her. I told my sis that if I had stayed in Arkansas I would not have gotten to know her children and grandchildren. To be honest I don't miss Arkansas at all. I love the topography of this area.
Monday I'm taking my niece to get her passport picture made. and maybe to take her drivers test. She is so excited.
Talked to my neighbor yesterday across the fence. He mows the right of way behind the fence and was asking about the orange cord in the back that looks like an extension cord. I told him it was the ISP but they are supposed to come back and attach it to the pole in the back yard. He watches out for me while I'm gone. Also gave him my phone number in case he sees some thing strange going on over here.
Have a question. I'm in the state of mind as to whether or not I want to keep Miley. I think I would be lost with out her. Do you all think I should keep her? I do need to take her to the vet and will need to get my niece to send her paper work from the vet from Branson. She is really no trouble at all.

Hello Everyone: Busy week at work as the VP is here. It is so nice to work away from my Director this week. I needed the break from him. The VP is busy and she likes me to be here when she comes into the office and her days have been starting at 7:30 a.m. So I am here by 7 and she likes me to be here until she leaves. Tonight she isn't done until 6.


Yes, I am getting OT. My Director told me that this week is an exception. Surprise, surprise, surprise. I was on the VP calendar so that we could have a 1;1 but it got cancelled because of other business meetings; she asked me to set up a call with her as she feels she needs to talk with me to get some perspective on my Director. She said "I believe you know that I am not aligned with some of the input he put in about your work plan and I want to be sure that we are setting you up for success and not overworking you and I also want to talk to you about how to coach him to use you as Executives should so that you can have the Exec Assistant experience to support other VP's when I retire, (which is most likely at the end of our Fiscal Yr next June." She is a very nice lady and has always so very complimentary to me when she is here.


I don't know if I posted that we had a issue with the washer leaking A LOT of water on Sunday? I got the repair guy out Tuesday (VP was at an offsite so I could work from home) and he had to order a new cold and hot valve.). I saw some water under the washer during a wash cycle on Sunday afternoon and when I looked behind the machine there was a LOT of water and it looked like it might have been doing that for all the loads I washed that day.


I thought a hose busted because of the water but that was not the case. Hoses are all ok. My wall has some water damage and most likely some of the dry wall will need redone. I'm trying to get my contractor out...he hopes to be able to come next week. Everything is dried out now; thanks goodness the floor was ok. Repair guy said he ran it yesterday to check everything. I'm going to do a small load tonight and see what happens.


Happy: I wake up in the night like that too with so much on my mind--2 a.m. seems to be my time to wake up. I am sorry to hear that the TOPS group isn't growing or losing. Have you looked on the TOPS site for ideas for meeting and how to grow the chapter and how to support each other and all the other TOPS tools that are out there to help you be successful in your weight loss journey? I am on a TOPS Facebook page and it is very inspirational . I can add you to it, it you would like.


Laura: I haven't seen you positng much but I do see that you are exercising routinely now. Do you feel a big difference in your agility and in your energy?


Anne: There is always a lot of scramble when some one leaves the company--it can make for a lot of extra work for the one who has to shut everything off and get everyting together for HR and things.


It is good to hear that Rod can still move! But I'm said he didn't do "Hot Legs"...that is the song that gets me to running every time on the treadmill. How was Cindi?


Have the jalapeno poppers been helpful to you? fingers crossed! Enjoy working from home tomorrrow. I love to work from home. I get so much more done.


Shad: I wish you were here to paint my kitchen once we get the dry wall fixed. I will most likely pay my contractor to do it. He will get it all done in one day.

That is very sad about the animals dying.


Ceejay: I think your niece has done very well and worked very hard to get her life back on track. I hope the judge will reinstate her driver licenes. I do believe you have been a very good influence on her.


I'm not sure what to say about the kitten; except that when you have an animal I believe that you owe it to that animal to give it your full attention and commitment. A kitten can take a lot of work but they don't stay little like that for long. If you feel joyful to have her around, I think she would make a very nice campanion for you.


Hi to Dee: I can't remember when you job will be ending? It seems that you enjoyed it and that is a very good thing.

Good morning from my home office.....kitchen table. lol

Cs route is on plan for sale. Hopefully all will be done in the next couple of weeks. We did bite the bullet a bought a 2015 Chevy SIlverado, 4 door 4x4. Burnt orange. We got a heck of a price on it as it was a repo by the credit union. They are not out to make a bunch of $$ on it so we got it at an amazing price. C had been eyeing it on the CU lot for weeks. We even test drove it last week. The plan is to pay off my Highlander once his route is sold. Then his truck payment will be less a month, better interest rate, and less years.

Funny story...Sam went in to check on Royce(4 yrs) in the tub last night. He was laying on his back in the water and had a dinosaur clipped to his winkie, making dino sounds. She had to go out and laugh before telling him we do not clip stuff to ourselves. I about died.

SUSIE...sounds lilke your director is on board with your thoughts on how you should be working. Yeah!

CEEG...glad to hear your niece is going for her driver's test. You are one amazing AUNTIE. Come be my aunt.

Hello to the rest of you. Make it a great weekend.

Hugs

Morning all TGIF. Nothing much to report. I had a nice day off last Friday. Just chilled out and had a pedicure. The rest of the weekend was uneventful too. I went to breakfast with a friend I haven’t seen all summer, so that was great. I bought a pair of shoes for work from Kohl’s. I planned to wear them to a meeting on Tuesday and I ended up not bothering as I’d decided they were just too ugly and cheap-looking. I rarely buy shoes from Kohl’s – they’re best for sneakers and casual shoes, though I need to make sure I have good supportive shoes so I don’t usually buy them from Kohl’s. I’ll be returning them.

I’ve been busy this week with not only my busy-time projects but also the annual budget. Everything got compressed this year, so it sucks. I don’t have any vacation plans and haven’t all summer, but still - being too busy to even take any time off is getting me ticked off. No days in July and only one in August. But this will ease up by the end of next week, so I’ll hang in there. And yes, I’ll stop whining now.

On Saturday I did a short workout from one of the Margaret Richards dvd’s I bought. It was short and much like the BE shows. I went to the FC on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

And that’s about it for me. I’ll post this and get to personals at some point, but it might not be today. TTFN.

Anne!!! I can't stop giggling about the dinosaur!!! That has just made my day.....LOL!!!!

Laura: I have bought some flats from Kohls that I like; I usually by my flats at Payless...online. It is a certain brand I look for. I'll have to look up the name.

Annie
Little boys will be little boys, what a cute story.
Susie
Yeah on getting the overtime approved.
Laura
My sis likes to shop at Kohl's but I don't. Styles are not flattering for my body type. I did get some active wear there last Spring.

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I'm not happy with Miley today. In the mornings she sits on my head to awake me. I kept pushing her to the side. Then she starts to play bite again and again I push her back telling her to stop. I finally got up out of the bed just so she would leave me alone. This afternoon I'd laid across the bed to rest my lower back. It has muscle tightness when I do things for more than 15 minutes. Miley jumps on the bed and lays on my head again so I push her off. Then she starts to bite me again. I pushed her aside again. Then she jumps on my head and swats me hard knocking my glasses off my face. I said no more. She will not be allowed in my room tonight. The corner of my eye is sore. And she will be staying in Branson after I leave next week. Sis is not to happy about me bringing the cat back to the condo. If sis or BIL ask me I will might an exception.

Thursday my nephew called and asks if I could keeps his son on Friday as he is sick. Told him I would. The son started out good. He wanted to use my phone to watch a movie. He got cold so I turned off the fan and covered him up. at that time he didn't feel warm. He finally went to sleep but when he woke up,He was screaming, it hurts. I could not console him. I had to call my nephew. He called the doctor and came home about 2. He had gotten an appointment for 2.30. The nurse swabbed his throat for strep but it was negative. The doctor did tell my nephew that if he wasn't better by Monday to bring him back and he would draw blood to check for mono. The doctor said it would not do any good to check for that then. It takes awhile to incubate. He's still sick today. Hope i do not get what ever it is.

Heard it thunder this morning and it rained again so I couldn't get out to finish the back yard. I've been trying to clean house. I did complete 3 loads of clothes today.