I'm going to be in Branson for a few days. Sis wants me to wait for the heater service repairman. I'm not sure if something is wrong or just for the usual winter check up for the unit. It was very windy on the way down today.
Still sick, mainly coughing. It's mainly in my throat.
I had a phone call yesterday stating that they were from a well known software company telling me that they needed to reassign me a new IP address and that I had viruses and trojans on it. I have a very good virus protection on the computer. I'm going to do a deep scan in a few minutes but when I checked while ago there were no viruses.

Laura
It's not supposed to get as cold in Branson as it is in Battlefield. I'm a bit more north. I'm a wimp when the weather gets this cold. especially when I dona't feel good. I don't envy your snow or driving in it.

Hello's to the rest

Shad
Stay cool.

Hello girls.

Colder than h&llo here. School has been called off tomorrow. -35-40 below zero with wind chills. Not my cup of coffee.

Had a positive phone interview with HR of a company yesterday. I have a phone interview tomorrow with the hiring manager. Fingers crossed.

Visited my bro last week in St. Louis. He is still so sad about the loss of his wife Fe. To be expected. It has only been 3 months. We made a very minute dent in the kitchen cabinets. Shuwee she was a hoarder. Who knew? 14 bags of trash from only 4 single cabinets. Plus the back end of my SUV is full. Giving it all to a friend for her son that is just starting out in an apartment.

Omgosh HAPPY. It made me nauseous to read about your teeth repair and cost. Holy moly.

Always comes down to the almighty buck that we go or don’t have.

SHAD. Fall is a nice time of year if you make it before about mid October.

Hello to all. On my phone and I dislike posting from here.

Love you ladies.

Morning all.

Ceejay - That phone call sounds like a scammer... == Too bad you couldn't just stay home during this cold and while you're sick. At least it's not as cold in Branson.

Annie - Fingers :crossed: re the job opportunity. Also sending :goodvibes === Nice you visited your brother. Super nice you helped him do some cleanup. == Stay warm! == Yep, don't like doing a lot of typing on my phone. Short texts are more than enough typing on the cell for me.

Happy - Check in please! Hope you're keeping warm up there!

==
Nothing much to report. Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon we received an email for an early dismissal so we could get home before it got too cold for transportation to become an issue. Glad they did that because I've gotten a ton of alerts from Metra - switching problems, mechanical issue, etc. On Monday, we were also told to work from home today and tomorrow. So I'm at home. I have my old monitor, docking station, keyboard & mouse set up in our home office and everything is going well. I miss my old keyboard and mouse!!! So much better than my new one at the office. Oh well...

Stretching class was cancelled on Monday. I got a very late cancellation phone call, but I'd already decided not to attend, so it was no biggie. I would have been ticked if I still intended to go because the call was so late that I would have been en route.

The house is warm and cozy, but with the humidifier turned off because of the issue we're having, it's quite dry. I'm drinking a lot of water.

No evening plans except to stay indoors. We had to move all our canned sodas and seltzers inside from the 3-season room. It's so cold in there that the cans can freeze and explode. Good thing bf bought soda yesterday at the grocery. Otherwise the stuff that was already out there would have been forgotten (out of sight, out of mind) - until we heard a pop and seen frozen liquid on the floor. (That happened last year.)

Okay, back to work. TTYL.

Afternoon
It's only 17 degree's right now and I shouldn't be complaining, cause it is much colder else where.
The repairman came yesterday and serviced the heater. He replaced one thing in side and one thing outside. I was running okay till sis turned it down during the night and I haven't gotten warm since. She likes it cooler than I do.
I'm still coughing but I do feel lots better.

Anne
Keeping fingers crossed with and about the job interviews. Stay warm. That's too cold.

Laura
I have the Roku. They are very easy to set up. However, I did go back to my cable for certain shows.

2nd phone interview went very well. Face to face tomorrow Friday the 1st. Please keep the good vibes. Prayers. And good thoughts coming. Thank you. They sent me an email of their benefits. They are awesome. Oh yeah!!

Annie
Sending you good vibes on the face to face.

------
My heater will be fixed tomorrow. Yipee.

Annie - Sending more good vibes and prayers that your face to face tomorrow goes well. :goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes

Ceejay - Glad your heater will be fixed soon!

Susie - Has it been cold in your area too? Hope you've been working at home staying warm and safe. Will you be going to your TOPS meeting tonight?

==
Nothing much to report. Working from home again today. Getting a bit of cabin fever... Looking forward to warmer temps tomorrow and even warmer temps this weekend!! :cp: I had to look this up - only 48 days until spring!! :flow1:

I scheduled a couple of Mondays in February for vacation as I still have carry over days to use up before the end of March.

That's about it for me. Toodles!

On my phone and getting ready for my first French class. Will be back to tell you all about my inadequacies later.

Shad
You can teach us French now.

--------
Came home yesterday to just a little bit of snow on the driveway.
The repairman just arrived and is busy getting things done.
I'm still congested and am thinking about going to the doctor.
Laura, I'm looking forward to the warmer temperatures also.

Dear ladies,

I am SO SORRY I have not been keeping up with things. I seem to get so easily distracted lately. More like constantly interrupted. Can't post long right now - I am gulping coffee and then we need to run into town. DH is doing some tech things for the Shelter, I need to swap out a book at the library (regular print for large print) and pick up a mailing list that I need to update. I seem to be picking up more volunteer tasks than letting go of things. We did survive the polar vortex - I have never experienced such cold as this. I am starting to dig into the dreaded insurance research for the upcoming Medicare switchover. I have my Medicare card now. Can't believe I'm an old bat. :lol:

I am so thrilled to hear that you have something to hang on to Annie. Fingers, toes and even the 3FC boob cross happening for you girl. ;) :crossed: :crossed: :angel: Still sending the good vibes your way. It's encouraging if they sent you benefits info.

I have to get dressed now or the Uber taxi will leave without me. Will come back and post later today. Stay warm chicks and I hope you get a good soaking rain your way Shad.

Will be going to a baby shower for my nephew's wife this afternoon.
Still not feeling 100% and decided that I'm going to the doctor Monday. Luckily they had an opening at 11. I can tell I'm some better but still congested and coughing
The repairman came yesterday and fixed my heater. I can tell a difference.
I'm disappointed in myself in that I've misplaced some important pieces of mail. But I'm about to get to the bottom the ordeal. I will not be making any more payments.
Need to make an appointment to get my taxes done and get the oil changed.

Hi Ladies,

What a week! I worked 9 hour days (could have worked 10 or 11 if I had gotten back online when I got home but I decided 9 was enough), I was thankful for my meds that I use to help me with the flare; also for Thermacare, they helped me get through the days. I am feeling much better now but still watching my food and such. Back to basics...really backing off acidic food and using the Prelief tablets when I'm not sure what is in something I am eating that could be acidic.


I didn't work out once; I plan to gently walk tomorrow for 30 min and do every day this coming week. We didn't have TOPS on Thursday as school was closed (again) due to the cold temps.....it sure was cold! Wednesday was the worst with the -30 F wind-chill and the snow we got Tuesday night. I am grateful for the warm up today.


I cleaned house today; still need to get the living room finished tomorrow. I also hade my hair done (monthly routine of cut and color, and waxing). I also got a pedicure...I feel human again.


Annie: I wish I hadn't missed the news about your interview, but I am praying fervently that they will offer you the position. I'm asking the Lord to keep putting you in their minds.


Laura: I was wondering about you with the weather last week as our local news kept talking about Chicago and how cold it was and showing the ice chunks in the river.


Ceejay: Is it this Monday you are going to to the doctor? I hope you are feeling better. How was the baby shower?


Happy: I hope navigating the Medicare isn't too much of a hassle. Only a few more years and I'll be in that place, helping my husband with it. It's nice to know that I will have a good source like you to guide me.


Shad: I see you are getting rain; I imagine it is welcome relief with the temps you have been having?


It is time to head to bed. We are going to church in the morning. We haven't been for 3 weeks...2 because of weather and last week me not feeling well.

Damn, just lost what I had done, but now I find that Susie has been typing over my head as it was. Internet connection sure is flaky just now - although the complete loss of post was my fault. Should look at which key I am putting my finger on. Now what was I saying...….. oh yeah

It's actually raining! :rain: :rain: :rain: Doing a rain :dance: here. Not a pretty sight - me doing a rain :dance: It's nice to have these lovely showers but I sure hope it doesn't get as bad as they are getting it in Townsville who, up till yesterday had got 39 inches of rain dumped on them from a static monsoon trough. There is still two or three more days of rain to come up there too. Some of it is spreading to the drought stricken areas of the north of our State but it won't fix the drought which stretches from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Broken Hill (about 2000Km) more or less and out to the east coast . So we have record producing floods in the north, fires in the south, and in Tasmania, drought in between and water shortages most places. There's no climate change, bah humbug. Of course we aren't the only ones getting this - you've had your polar vortex, The Reno river in Italy has broken it's banks and is flooding the surrounding towns and farms. Life just goes on getting worse and worse.

Annie - Have all fingers crossed for you. Was thinking of you on Friday and hoping that the face to face would bring you some joy. Loved the photo of the grandkids and C playing on the floor. It was nice of you to go to your brothers place to help with the clean out. It seems that Asians always have a lot of stuff - although I know an Italian or two who have everything available as well. Would hate to clean out those houses.
Happy Friendversary to you and me as well. Not sure you would want to be in a rowboat with me tho'

Happy - Hope you have recovered from the cold now. Can't imagine anything that cold, although I did live in NZ long enough to know what snowed in actually meant. Yes it does snow there, mostly in the South and nothing like what you get. Hope the insurance works out for the teeth. Seems that the minute you let a tooth go, the whole lot goes out in sympathy as well. And what a cost. Hope you can get away from some of this volunteering soon.

Ceejay - Glad the heating got fixed and I hope you are over the flu now. Hope you enjoyed the baby shower. That was definitely a scammer on the phone. Take no notice of them. It wouldn't be just the email that got the trojans and virus'. It's their way of scaring you. Tell them you are an IT person and you know how things work, or just hang up on them. I do not answer a phone which displays either a 'private' number or a number I do not know. If they want to say something to me, then they can leave a message. Such a pity that the DNC register can't block overseas calls which come through an Australian number.

Laura - Have you planned anything for your vacation days? Must be hard trying to work when you are restricted to the house. When I was working from home I used to take the computer outside and work in the garden where I could get up and go do a bit of weeding or watering every so often.

Susie - We are getting a little rain, nothing like up north thank goodness - see above. Just on the news that 1000 more people have been evacuated from their homes in Townsville and there is another 200ml (8 inches) been dropped this morning. They are in big trouble up north. Our rain is a gentle shower. Good for gardens and paddocks since it will soak in better than heavy rain which would just run off.
Hope you are feeling better now and gentle walks are as good as going all out on the treadmill when you are not feeling the best. At least you are exercising.

So, I went to French class on Friday. It's fairly full on and you are expected to know a fair amount of the language. The first two minutes was the teacher introducing the class and then it was mostly French verbs etc. and we had to introduce ourselves and say a couple of sentences about our selves. Bon jour, je m'appelle est Joy. Ma maison est a la Crestmead (okay so I couldn't remember how to say I live in Crestmead) J'ai un chat noir. Il s'appelle Romeo. Of course then I got asked if I had another cat called Juliet.

I'm also removing the last of the old fence and have ordered some new materials for the new fence. I have to talk to the neighbours again about the repairs we need to make to our mutual fence but it will have to wait until I see them - they might be next door, but I don't see a lot of them so there is a lot of peering over the fence to see if they are home. I could be a stalker!!!! :rofl:
Anyway, well past time I got off here and got some work done - there's no shortage of that. Cya

Not much going on here. It's a lot warmer today. Doctor in the morning. Had a lot of fun at the baby shower. She got lots of gifts.

Grrr, lost my very short post when IE stopped "responding". My weekend was alright. I was glad for the warmup in the temps, since it melted all the ice and snow on the sidewalk and driveway. Scale said I stayed the same this morning. I've been staying the same, within 1-2 pounds since October. I need to get back on track with the exercise and tracking. Broken record here. Tonight's the stretching class.

Okay, I'll get this posted before IE crashes again. TTYL.

Not much going on in my neck of the woods Still not 100% but the doctor gave me antibiotics to take yesterday so I will be on the road to healing . Today I'm going to get my taxes filed.
Still am not in the mood to get back on the diet wagon again but need to.

Geez. Have not heard one word on the interview. I am feeling discouraged as they stated many times they wanted the new person on board in two weeks. Batshit. I decided today was my whoa is me day and have cried for the most part of the day.

Good morning.

Hope all are doing well. Me. Drinking coffee and watching GMA. Sassy has a mani pedi this afternoon. Anything I can do for anyone? Over staying home.

My bro Chuck who lost his wife is going to the Philippines. Left this morning. Praying for travel grace. He will be gone 21 days. He said he needed to go for closure with Fe’s family. Kind of gives me a little break as he won’t be calling me 4-5 times a day for support. I mean I am definitely here for him but some days I have trouble keeping my own stuff together.

Love you ladies. Sorry no personals.

Annie
Don't give up the ship yet. Something will turn around.
Laura
I am staying the same too but I haven't made that new commitment yet to get back on track. I need a very simple meal plan. I'm thinking Atkins or South Beach. South beach is expensive to buy prepackaged and I can get some prepackaged food at the grocery store with Atkins.
-----------------------------
We had rain with thunder and lightening last night. Tonight the temperature is falling to 12 degrees. I'm so ready for Spring.
Had my taxes done yesterday. Will get a refund.
I'm feeling better. Thinking about going to the gym this afte.rnoon.

Hello's to Susie, Shad and Happy

Morning all. I'll try for a quick post.

Happy - Wow, Medicare! I kept ignoring the AARP offers, but much to my dismay, my mother actually purchased a membership for me ("they have a nice newspaper and magazine..."). Sigh. Anyway, good luck with the research. Your dh is already on Medicare, correct? Did you at least get a bit familiar with it through his experience? Giving you the :frypan: because you're taking on more volunteer responsibilities instead of less!!

Ceejay - Hope the meds help get you to 100%. Sounds like you're keeping busy. Taxes!! Need to get going on mine.

Susie - Glad you're keeping the IB flare-up at bay. Wow, long days for you. Hope that's over for a bit?? I was grateful to work at home on the coldest days last week. The ice chunks are gone from the river and around the lake shore I see from the office. Glad for this little break in which we're having above normal temps. I can bear the lower temps if they're of short duration interspersed with milder temps.

Shad - I'm glad you're getting rain and not extremes where you are. Yes, this climate change is doing strange things. The atmosphere damage causes the boundary of the Arctic air to release and go down over areas that don't usually see that - like the Midwest US. And warming causes ice to melt and the sun isn't reflected off it, so the oceans warm up and cause a whole host of chain reactions...more involved than I thought, though I confess to actually not giving it much thought... So did you have French classes/lessons previous to this class you're taking now? I don't have special plans for my February vacation days (yet), but I might have something specific in March with friends that will use up another vacation day.

Annie - Don't give up hope re the job hunt. And I think employers are flakey when filling positions. Patience! :hug: I hope your brother has a safe trip and helps him through the grieving process. I totally get you needing a break from all the support he's been needing. Time for you to focus on yourself, and I hope you're seeking your own support - and know that we're here for you!!! :grouphug:

Hello to Dee if you're lurking...
==
Glad the ice storm didn't turn out to be anything severe. I had to scrape a bit last night before I drove home from the train station parking lot, but not this morning. It's above freezing here today and that makes me happy.

Stretch class the other day was fine. I didn't go to the fc last night because of the ice storm warning. It was raining pretty good - that concerns me because the ground is frozen and can't absorb it.... Always something. I didn't work out at home...shame on me. :o

That's about it for me, so I'm off to post. TTFN. :)

They issued tornado warnings for my area last night. Sirens were going off for about 30 minutes. I heard the rain/hail hitting the office window but I don't think I've gotten any damage. I took refuge in my hall bathroom and closed the door.
Will be getting out this afternoon to go have the oil changed in the RAV4. I dread getting out in this cold.
Went to the grocery store yesterday and bought some Atkins dinners and some other things. I'm going to try to eat healthier and exercise but I'm not sure if I will lose any more weight. My main problem is portion control. Need to find something to do to curb my boredom eating too.

Laura
My area didn't get the ice either which I'm grateful. But it's cold.

Good morning ladies,


Sat down yesterday first thing to write a post as I have many times over the last week and a half. Wrote a few sentences and the phone started ringing. I was on my cellphone with one call and another call came through on my landline. Can you help with a problem on Facebook? We don't understand why the software isn't working properly (garbage in, garbage out). At one point I got so frustrated. By 4pm I was 2 days behind where I was first thing in the morning. About had enough with the volunteering thing. This is turning into more than a full time job and the more I try to cut back, the more demands are made of us. I just have to ignore the nagging guilt I feel about helping people out and let them just flounder or pay someone else to do it. People do not respect our time (DH and me). We are often made to wait around - it's just not a good time or they ignore what we tell them to do or they are just PITA to deal with personality issues. Grrr. DH just came storming in, he has been helping the shelter all week trying to install the Cloud version of Microsoft. It's kludgy, the internet at the shelter is soooo slow it takes 6 hours to do an install and he left one laptop doing the install with a big note "Do Not Touch". He told them not to do anything with the laptop while the install was running overnight. Went there today, someone shut the cover of the laptop that put it in sleep mode and cancelled the install AND whomever was messing with the computer had gone on it and opened up a couple of applications which also disrupted the process. He was working on 3 computers one by one. Got one done, they messed up the second install and one has yet to be done. He walked out and said he's done. I don't blame him. They can go pay someone thousands of dollars to finish this. Like the guys down the road who messed up the machines the last time. I was hesitant when he offered to help them because they don't listen, do things on their own and have no clue what to do with technology stuff. They went and bought low end crappy machines that are the equivalent of having a V3 engine (comparison to a car that has a v6 or v8 powerful engine). Which makes the computers even harder to work with. People don't respect the time we put into stuff and the fact that we are working for free. It's their loss. I am also getting tired myself of a growing demand on my time. I didn't get to anything around the house yesterday except for making dinner.


We got about 10 inches of snow so they wisely decided to cancel bingo which was great because the roads were treacherous. I did get to make DH his belated birthday dinner - lobster tails, pasta salad and his favorite cheesy rice. Not my favorite but it was his birthday and he enjoyed it. :lol: In 2 weeks we are having a world class ski race here - the American Birkebeiner - and I'm sure the people who run it have been praying fervently that we get some snow (we were in a deficit). Now we have plenty and it came soon enough so that they can get all the trails groomed nicely in time for the race on the 21st. We are about to hit the deep freeze again and stay there so everything will stay nice and chilled and people can get out and practice if they want. The snow will also bring welcome revenue to the town from those outdoor snowmobiler and skier folks.


Ceejay - I always got worried about the tornado warnings when we lived down south. Seemed to happen more frequently than Illinois which I thought was the tornado belt. I suppose if portion control is your issue then eating the Atkins pre packed meals make it easier all the way around. I bought some 3 partition glass containers from Amazon for the same reason - to portion things out and do a balanced meal. Glad you are feeling a bit better, I think with this crazy weather respiratory things are going to hang around a lot longer.


Annie - still sending good thoughts your way that something happens SOON. I know the depression, it always seems like things hit the darkest point before they finally turn around. Keep your faith. Sometimes it's a matter of timing with the right thing opening up, we just don't know that. :hug: Try to enjoy what extra time you have at home because before you know it, things will get crazy busy again. I hope your brother has a safe trip too. Have Sissy give you a mani pedi - and a nice hair wash and head massage. You deserve it.


Laura - did everything freeze up by you? My sister said the temps were dropping like a rock with horrible winds kicking in. Can't imagine walking around your building with cold and winds like that. We had the same problem a few weeks back - a warm front from the south came up, we were on the rain line and like you said, everything was frozen so the rain we got froze 2 days later into slick sheet ice. Awful. And it hasn't warmed up since. :eek: Ugh winter!


Shad - how fun that you are learning French! Do you have someone to practice with? That is good for the brain power. Maybe as we forget things (and English) you can pick up in French :rofl: I was shocked when I looked at the weather page last week and saw all the flooding in Townsville. I know that is south of you - are you getting any of the precious rain? Nothing worse than a drought because that also brings fire risk as well as the water problems. Do you think the neighbors will be amenable to sharing the cost of repairing the fence? Hope so.


Susie - good for you for not extending your workday beyond 9 hours - that's enough. And good for trying to manage your situation with the acid. Sometimes I wonder if it's not enough acid instead of too much. When I do eat something that bothers me, my whole system goes wonky for a several days until it settles down - at that point everything - including water - bothers me. Frustrating. I hope you get some relief. Glad you are managing things. I take it DH has recovered well from surgery and things are back to "normal" as much as normal can be. ;)


Well girls, I am going to post this before I get interrupted again. DH has calmed down so I don't have talk him off the ledge - at least for the time being. Have a good weekend. Stay warm!

Morning all. Happy Friday. The temps dropped yesterday and it's been very very windy yesterday and today. Last night bf and I were hearing something banging against something outside. I looked out a window onto the side of the house where we have stuff stored - bags of much, the wheelbarrow, tomato cages...but I didn't see anything shifting around. Actually, most of the stuff is sort of frozen to the ground after all the rain we had the past couple days. I still heard it this morning, so after I was dressed for work, bf and I got outside for a better look. Still nothing, but we shifted stuff around stuff - hammock stand, etc. - that might be making the noise when the wind hit it...but I heard the sound again once we were back in the house. So maybe it's something on the neighbor's property. At least there weren't any large branches on the rooftop.

Anyway, the wind was so fierce today, and of course I walk through a wind tunnel from the train to the office - all the tall buildings create that - and it was a relief to get inside the building. I'm staying inside for lunch today.

We had an all-employee meeting yesterday, as well as the kick-off for our major business segment. Nothing much else going on. I'm happy it's Friday. And I have a vacation day on Monday, so that's nice.

==
Ceejay - The tornado warnings must have been scary. We're getting flood warnings now because all the snow melted, and then we got a lot of rain.

Happy - Sounds like you and dh are at a breaking point with all the volunteer stuff. Terrible that they don't value your time. Just one more straw to break the camel's back...== Yeh, things get icy. I'm glad our village is good about salting the streets.

Hellos to the rest of you! Hope you're all having a good day, whatever the time. :)

Afternoon
I was going to take out the trash this morning but the garage door was frozen. I just said poo on it and will take it out next Friday. The temperature high was supposed to be 29. The thermostat is doing wonky again but it is now on 70. I'm getting out tomorrow if the garage door will let me and get a new air filter. The guy told me that if the filter was dirty it could make the thermostat do things like this.
Weighed this morning for the first time in a couple of months. I guess with being sick I've lost a little bit of weight. I'm going to try to get back on the band wagon by doing a daily challenge for myself. I am ready to get back to the gym.

Happy
I can feel your disgust on the volunteering aspect. I think that is why I haven't started any of this. I have some plastic containers but I would like the glass ones better for measuring and storage. I will check those out on Amazon.

Laura
I can only imagine walking in that wind and cold. I'm thankful that I do not have to do that any more.

Aaargh. My sister phoned me, upset about my mom not answering her phone. She either can't hear it or doesn't end a phone call properly so our calls go straight to voicemail - which she doesnt check. My sister is a huge worrywart and this time drove all the way over to her place to make sure she was okay. I hate that she gets so worried. My mom acts likes it's no big deal. Frustrating. My sister is hesistant to phone someone at the community when this happens because they might decide she needs to move to assisted living. Mom's forgetful, non-techy and hard of hearing, but otherwise i think she's okay living by herself...sigh. i dug up a couple of our old school corded land line phones thinking they might be easier for her to deal with. No need to hit a button to end a call, and maybe the ringer is louder? I'm taking her shopping tomorrow, so I'll bring over the phones. I'll also try to find out if she knows how to dial in for voicemail because i don't think any of us have old school answering machines anymore to give to her. It would be nice to not have voicemail activated and still used her old phone with built-in answering machine, but i think bf dumped it??....And now I'm thinking she needs to keep at least one cordless electric type of phone because her phone is also used to buzz people into the building...i wish I'd been around to learn about this stuff because my sister is also non-techy so it's the blind leading the blind with them. Not that I'm great with tech stuff...Sigh.

Another thing bugging me today is that our sedan's electrical system is weirding out - door locks not working right and this morning the alarm went off for no reason. I want to believe this is just because the battery is weak from the cold...fingers crossed. Maybe i need to get out and drive it a bit today to get the battery charged more fully - bf had to jump start it after the polar vortex last week, but it's been cold again the past couple days and it might have drained some more from lack of use - not going anywhere lately but the few blocks to/from the train station parking lot.

Sorry for all the venting. Gonna get back to the laundry and housecleaning. Everyone have a good weekend.

Evening
A little bit board at the moment. I'm so ready for this cold to be done.
I had sis to stop by the house today to see if there was anything majorly wrong with the garage door. It would not open but it was as I expected frozen to the ground. She used a hair dryer to thaw things so I got to go to the grocery store and get some more supplies. I was having a caffene fit. I bought plenty of cokes.
My day 1 back on plan hasn't gone well but I can start again tomorrow. I'm a bit depressed also.
Changed the filter to the heater today and it was nasty. I told sis I would start changing this once per month. The person who came and serviced the heater said that if they were dirty they could cause the thermostat to do weird things.
The weather has been predicted for freezing rain over night so I told sis and bil that I would not be leaving the house tomorrow. I'm tired of staying inside but for me it's not safe for me to be out driving 30 minutes down the road. I'm not sure if my friends from Springfield will be going tomorrow. Guess I could hitch a ride with them


Laura
I can understand about your mom. My sis gets the same way when I don't answer the phone.

hello's to every one else.

Hi ladies,


So done with snow already. I think everyone has been praying extra hard for snow for the ski race on the 21st. DH said we have about 15 inches and we are due for another 5 inches tonight through tomorrow. ENOUGH ALREADY - no place to put it. DH is going to have to cart it off so he can make more room to toss more off the deck! We are both also buried with this volunteer stuff. We are full time I.T. people now and I don't know how to get away from it. DH had a big blow up at the shelter Friday, I had to talk him off the ledge. There is just so much that has to be done - people who need to share stuff like the shelter and Senior Center really need a regular on staff I.T. person and we (DH and I ) are suffering for the lack of one up till now. I am trying desperately to allocate my time to other things. Yesterday I was working on my hot tub. I did not use it or sanitize it for 2-1/2 weeks when we had sub zero weather because it's so cold in there that the cover actually froze to itself the last time I used it when it was so cold. As as result even though no one used the tub, the water still got out of whack. It was cloudy and the potential for bacteria growth because the water is kept at 102 degrees (F) and is covered so you have to stay on top of it. I worked for 3 days to get the water clean again and FINALLY it happened today with cleaning, chemicals, watching it, running the tub. I also spent most of yesterday cleaning out my laundry room. I had a lot of stuff on the floor that I cleared away and I started cleaning out the storage closet. I am going through closets and cabinets and taking a hard look at what I have in there. Rather than cramming all sorts of stuff - sometimes so much I don't know what's in there - I have decided that I will ONLY keep things that I use daily or weekly at the longest. If I don't use it more frequently than that, I will either toss it or store it in the basement. It is causing me to think about pitching a lot of stuff which is WONDERFUL. It is also VERY time consuming. After I got the storage closet rearranged, DH was helping me with the hot tub. I had the chemicals stored in a tub in the 3 season room and of course the liquid chemicals froze. So I had to make a space in the closet to store 6 bottles of chemicals. :rolleyes: I just feel soooo behind in things. DH is asking me when I am going to use the pricey art supplies I just bought. Well before I can use it I have to set up a studio upstairs which means DH and I will swap physical spaces. I need to clean out all the stuff I have in the hobby room in the basement so he can take that over and then I can have his current room on the second floor. That's about a week of moving and cleaning and organizing. Time I don't have. And I have about 6 intense I.T. projects that I am supposed to be working on for the Shelter and the Senior Center. The only thing I am successful at is I am throwing off any new requests for help at the Thrift Shop. I still however do the books for the Thrift Shop and order supplies and I have to add enter January's sales data in. :faint: Lord Help Me...


And there is bingo tonight. And we have a busy week - cat has to go to the vet, car to Ford for yet ANOTHER recall fix, I have book club, doctors appointments, etc. No room to schedule anything else in. The only thing I am looking forward to is dinner Thursday night with DH at our friend the chef's new restaurant. Oh and I was featured in an article in the newspaper this week in the Meet Your Neighbor section. Now everyone knows my secrets! ;) Oh and the last thing is that I really needed a new laptop so that's coming tomorrow (IF the Fed Ex guy decides to deliver in a snowstorm) so I have to clean up my laptop, prepare to copy everything over to the new PC, set it up AND learn the dreaded Windows 10 that I have been avoiding. It's going to be a cussful week :rofl:


Ceejay - I guess if you have water pooling by the garage door you either have to leave some salt along the door line (which isn't good for the cement) or blow dry your door open 30 minutes before you need the car! Neither a good option! Are you using your light for the SAD? Did you get one of those lights that helps with seasonal depression? It's good to stay on top of the filters for the heater. That really hurts the efficiency of the heater / furnace. I think everyone else is getting cabin fever except me. I am glad to be able to stay home a few days. LOL


Poor Laura - your Mom is going the same route as mine! I agree to put in a plug in regular phone someone in an open jack in her apartment. This way not only can she hear it ring but if the power ever goes out, she still has a phone. My Mom has a large display phone she keeps in the spare bedroom for the same reason. That should help with her not ending a call properly. Your sister is ABSOLUTELY correct about too many calls to the center and they will flag your Mom for assisted living. That happened to my BIL's aunt. She kept calling because she was in pain (she also refused to take her pain meds because she didn't like how they made her feel :rolleyes: ) but when it started to show a regular pattern of calls they had to move her to another facility or the one she was at was going to convert her to assisted living status. So best to deal with it if you can on your own. I feel for you. You do want to make sure she is ok but Mom's got to work with you too! Good luck with that.


Gads my cell phone is dinging which means I'm getting email and I have to flip the laundry so I'm going to post this.


Hellos to everyone. :wave:

Hello Ladies,

It seems I get one post in a week. I'm not working overtime to often but during the day I am so glued to the computer for all my work, that once I am done with work; I don't want to get back on the computer (or my phone) to post or look at anything. But then I miss all you ladies. I will find a balance soon, some way.


My TOPS weigh-in was awful. We hadn't had a weigh-in for 3 weeks due to the weather;;;and I have a 3 lb gain. I can't seem to get myself back into a workout routine. I will do a couple of days and then come home tired and I just don't get up and do it. BUT I will not give up.


Ceejay: I hope changing the filter will take care of your furnace issues. Have you made your daily goal list for the week?


Happy: You do have a lot of commitments from volunteering and then your own things to do at home. When I have to much to do and to many commitments I get anxious and very annoyed and it is hard for me to focus on anything.


Annie: How you doing girl? I am still praying for that job offer. Also praying for your brother as he travels.


Shad: It sounds like you are getting some nice rain, it is raining here a lot and it is so cold and feels colder with the rain. Our ground is saturated from the snow and ice and rain so we keep getting flooding.


Have you spoke French before or is this first time you have learned it.


Time for bed.....I plan to read and post every day this week.

Late afternoon
I've had a half way decent day. Made two important phone calls, one for my mammogram appointment and the other was to talk to my retirement people. I also made it back to the gym and it felt good even though I wore myself out first day back. I will keep going and get my momentum back.
I've made cheesy chicken and rice for dinner tonight. Hope it's good. It's my first time to make it. And yes it is a bit caloric but I've got things in portion sizes.

Happy
Things will hopefully settled down while the weather is back and you can get caught up. Did you get your new laptop/computer.

Susie
Can't blame you for not wanting to get back on the computer once you've closed down the office computer. I felt that way too when I was working.

Afternoon all. Happy Valentine's Day . :val1:

Ceejay - Good to get on a schedule for changing out the furnace filters. And I imagine having Miley around for a bit probably added to the filter issue (by the way how are your niece and Miley doing in FL??) We have some kind of permanent filter that the HVAC guys come in to change out twice a year, along with another filter for the whole-house humidifier. I agree with Happy, if you can't get out and get a good dose of sunshine, one of those special SAD lights is a good idea. I hate being in the office all day and like to get out at lunchtime. Yum, just the name - cheesy chicken - sounds tasty to me.

Happy - Sounds like you've been keeping really busy. What a lot of work to keep that hot tub safe to run. This volunteer work...such a heavy load for you two. I think having volunteers is so necessary, but even in my tiny experience through the volunteer projects at work, I see where they sometimes don't manage the volunteer resources as effectively as they could. We have an employee in our office whose FT job is community affairs, including our fundraising and volunteer efforts. I'll bet that some of the organizations you volunteer for don't have that type of role, or it's only a small part of their job and should be bigger!! I'm also finding that with 19 years in our home (today's our move-in anniversary!), we've built up a lot of junk in our basement and we need to get serious about purging it and organizing the rest. Many years ago I bought bf a gift card for a hot shave at a place in the mall. He never used it, and a month or so ago we passed a local place that also does hot shaves and that got him thinking about his gift card and where it might be. BF is very bad about having homes for stuff. It just gets stacked, and when the stack is too big, he shoves it in a bag and the bag goes somewhere. So when I was looking for the phones for my mother, I came across a bag of his with a bunch of old receipts, business cards and - lo and behold - a few gift cards. One was for the shave place, another for Best Buy and another for Lands' End. The LE card only had a few bucks left on it, but the other two were unused. Sigh. Who knows what else might be in his bags of stuff? Anyway...I think maybe the process of purging all the "stuff" could make you have more time for what you want to do, or at least the list of what's waiting to be done at home - while you volunteer - doesn't seem so long. Oh, I googled that article about you and it was very interesting! Now I know all your secrets! We already knew more anyway, LOL. I hope your new laptop transition is going well!!

Susie - I know what you mean about not getting on the computer after you've been looking at it all day. That's why I usually try to post from work... I know you'll get busy addressing that TOPS gain. Make the workouts a top priority! And now I need to take my own advice!!!

Hellos to the rest of you!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. :val1:

==
Nothing much to report. Scale is staying the same. Not getting much exercise beyond hacking away at the icy windshield and car windows. Need to get back on track. After a while of getting to the fc 2-3 times per week, I've really fallen off the past 2-3 months. It's that lack of self-discipline coming back to the fore. Wondering if I should stop paying for the fc (I pay for a couple months at a time) and try to work out in the basement with all my videos and other equipment. Thinking it over.

We got word on our annual raise the other day - better than the last couple years, so yay for that. Also got the % payout on our annual bonus, also good. It gets paid next Friday.

Tomorrow we have our early closing for the business day before a company holiday - which is Presidents Day on Monday. And the boss has been out since Wednesday, so this week has been pretty good for a work week. ;)

Okay, off to grab some lunch and get outside while it's still in the 40's!! TTFN

Laura
Miley and niece are doing great in Florida. Miley and Walter, the other cat, have made friends. I sure do miss her though. Yeah on getting the raise. Love those 3-4 day week ends.

Not much is going on. We are under a winter weather advisory today. I got out just in time to get a few groceries. By the time I was through there was ice already on the windshield. Luckily the wipers took care of it. It seems to be getting lighter but the radar shows blue/pink which represent snow and ice.
I am going to do a challenge in the chicks up for a challenge. Thought this would help keep me more on track. .

Hi Ladies,

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day. DH had his annual physical that morning and I worked from home so we went to the doughnut shop afterword and enjoyed a couple of doughnuts & chocolate milk for me. We exchanged cards and then he went on to work and I went back home and worked. Pretty low key this year. We are trying to save some major money for the next two years for a 3 week trip to Denmark. I want to go see my friend Charlotte and her family and of course the country...before we are to old to do so. We want to stay 3 weeks for the trip. Flights are very expensive.

Laura: How nice you are getting a good raise and bonus! Any plans for it? I had to laugh when reading about your BF and putting receipts and gift cards in bags and then not being able to find them. My DH is like that too and it drives me crazy.

Happy: I saw Laura mentioned she googled an article about you. I must have missed this information. Tell me more.

Ceejay: Good for you for joining a challenge and making your important healthy appointments.

Hello to Annie , Shad and Dee.

I'm finally heading to bed.

My nephew stopped by on Valentines day to see how things were going and to tell me that he and his wife are pregnant. I was so excited that I jumped around the room. This will make baby #2 this year. His brother and wife are expecting a girl in March.
It is icy this morning at 27 degrees with sunshine but I'm staying inside. My street doesn't look to bad but not sure about the other roads but cars are moving around. I may get out later
I took some over the counter sinus medication and slept till almost noon but my sinus seem better. I had fluid in my ears yesterday.

Susie
Good for you in planning a trip to see your friend in Denmark. That will be beautiful country. Are you still getting in your exercise.

It is icy this morning so no church for me. Everyone have a good day.

Good morning ladies,


Sun is shining. Town is starting to prepare and block off roads for Birkie ski week this week. To me, it's a big disruption and while I generally try and avoid town on Monday I have to go to the Thrift Shop and Shelter to install new credit card machines, I have to go into the Senior Center to do some interviews because we are putting the next issue of the newspaper together this week. I have bingo on Monday and Thursday which will be a hassle as the main street in town is blocked off with snow for the ski races Thursday - Saturday. Ugh. We went to the shelter yesterday and fortunately the software installations went well without incident. Microsoft is moving away from load it on your pc to cloud based computing and they have not worked all the kinks out. DH is a pioneer in his field. We have such a nice dinner on Valentine's Day. We have been to this place before as the chef we did cooking classes with is the head chef there. I expected a special nice dinner but was shocked when we walked into what was empty retail space and it had been transformed - by some prom decorating Moms in town no doubt - into this beautiful, intimately romantic event space. They are trying to book more events so this was their first go at it. There were a few glitches in the kitchen - the red pepper soup I had was spicy red pepper instead of the red bell pepper I expected so I had to send that back and DH's chicken roulade was rather dry. But over all I thought it was really, really nice. It actually felt lovey for Valentine's Day. Of course we were in the Northwoods so you'd see girls dressed to the nines and the guys they were with were made to put on a clean, plaid shirt! :rofl: Jeans all around guys. One lady was there nicely dressed and you could see she made her husband put on a dress shirt (red of course) AND a tie. Ok, so DH was also in a no collar but dressier maroon pullover and jeans. One young girl was trying to emulate Stevie Nicks and had a bustier and sort of wickan flowing over coat. She did not look at all like Stevie Nicks who is the only person who can pull off that look. So the girl looked silly and I noticed each time she left the table, she tried to pull her coat closed over her obviously showing wayyyy too much skin for public outfit. And she was a big girl too. There is lots of ice and snow out there - I hung on to DH's arm as we walked from the car to the restaurant and a girl walked in after us with red satin "hooker shoes" - 6 inch stilletos with overly large crystal heart buckle closures. They looked painful to walk in and for the life of me I can't see how she got to the restaurant door without slipping or staining those shoes. She did not fit the Northwoods motiff either :lol: They had a lot going on in town at various places for Valentine's this year - I think mostly because the businesses are hurting - it's been a really slow winter so they are welcoming the snow and the return of drinking snowmobilers. Not sure they are making much off the influx in town of the skiers. I hear many of them are used to hostels and are super cheap. I've heard stories of them ordering hot water and making "tomato soup" from the ketchup on the table. Or taking the condiments and plastic cutlery. Some businesses actually close for this week because they make no money. But it was a fun night out. Yesterday we picked up a deli pizza from Walmart - I gave DH all my meat and chopped up green peppers for him, mushrooms and red bell peppers for my side, added a bit more cheese to hold it down and baked it up. We ate it while we watched Bohemian Rhapsody - the story of the band Queen. It was a good movie - DH is not a fan of gays so I was surprised when he said he was interested in watching the movie. He enjoyed it too. We are going to an afternoon showing of The Upside. I had wanted to see Green Book but the weather was so lousy last week we didn't get to see it in time.


Ceejay - how nice that you will have some little ones in the family and close enough to enjoy visits with them! Yep, that sinus medicine sure can make you groggy and sleepy. But when you aren't feeling well, rest is good for you. AND if it's icy out, what better way to enjoy an inside day but nap. Get yourself rested and healthy before your next challenge kicks in! I'm feeling badly too - meant to get my arse in gear in January and here it's mid February and I have not made good on my commitment to myself.


Susie - what an awesome idea to go to Denmark! You are VERY WISE to plan it now. I tell you that because with my knee and the general arthritis kicking in, I also think I should have done more 10 years ago. I am willing, I have the time and with careful planning the money but the physical part is difficult. So kudos to you - you work hard, enjoy it before other things stop you. THere was once a show on cable about some friends who were both American and British. One of their friends was also Danish and on one show she had the ladies come up to her family castle. It was truly beautiful countryside as well as the cities too. As for the newspaper, I was featured in our local paper last week on their regular "Meet Your Neighbor" column - where they interview someone each week. Apparently if you Google my name, the article comes up as the first thing in the search box. I never thought about that - so much my my anonymity!! This week DH is in the On the Town Section - our friend who owns an art store does an art show each year at this time. They select a color to work into your piece and the newspaper was there and took pictures of several of the artists along with their submitted art pieces. DH was not thrilled to have his picture taken :lol: We were laughing too trying to take a selfie at the Valentines Dinner. We were trying to look into each other's eyes while he held the camera out. You want this dreamy picture and then what you get is double chins, are your nostrils really that big and age spots! :lol3: We were laughing while we did it. I need to lose weight AND get younger - that Confidence in a Jar cream is not doing it's job! :rofl: Glad you and DH had a nice evening together.


Laura - glad to hear that you got a good raise and decent bonus. Take advantage of it. I hear you on going out after work and exercising. Your winter weather is really crazy this year with rain, ice and high winds. Last year was above average warm it seemed - almost like a southern winter. Enjoy your long weekend!


I called the dentist office last week and asked when we can start treatment. Still waiting for them to call back. On Valentine's Day we talked to the owner about reserving the chef's table space for our anniversary March 5 in 2 weeks. She was supposed to call us to discuss further and no call yet. And I bought a Dell laptop as I needed to replace mine. When it came neither of us was impressed with it so I returned it and ordered an HP. I did the return online at Dell and they said watch your email for a pick up notice from the shipping service. We came home one day to a note on the door from UPS - sorry we missed you, came to pick up a package. DOES NO ONE COMMUNICATE ANYMORE???? :mad: And they wonder why I'm angry and frustrated alot. Urgh.


Oh and I did attend book club this week for the first time in about 5 months. And I was reminded about why I stopped attending book club. Twice when I went to go make a comment, they all started talking over me as if I wasn't talking at all. And then we spent about 17 minutes talking about the actual book. They keep hijacking the conversation to other things, not pertinent to the book. There was no true leader to lead the discussion and ask questions. One of the people who is a big book aficionado kept trying to rally the conversation back around to the book but they didn't have much to say about it and wanted to jabber instead. I am not a big book lover myself and I'd rather browse the computer than sit and struggle to read (I have issues with my eyes and focusing). So when the person who wanted to start this returns, I will tactfully tell her it's just not for me. I am reading bits and pieces of the art books I got on watercolor painting and am looking forward to starting that up. I am planning my space at this moment.


And with that, I will post this before something distracts me. Have a good weekend everyone. Hello to all.

Hello Everyone,


This is a long weekend for me as I took Friday off to go with Genny to her 6 month cancer check -up. All clear! Praising the Lord for that! We had a very nice time as we went to dinner after the appointment at a local place called Cap City Dinner; we each enjoyed a margarita (mine was Raspberry) and it was really good.


I am off work today for the President's Day holiday. I am finishing cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen and then doing some more decluttering in the home office. That room just won't stay uncluttered!


This afternoon I need to run to the Verizon Store. I have done something to my screen on my phone. It is like it is split and no matter what I do can't merge it back into one screen and with it split I can't maneuver around. I am sure it is a simple fix; but for the life of me I can't figure it out.


I got my treadmill workouts in yesterday and today...I am on a roll...good thing to as I noticed a roll about my waist line that must go!!


Happy: I saw your Valentine pictures on Facebook. The venue looked really nice and I thought you and DH did as well. I was laughing so hard when reading about all the outfits at the dinner. I used to work at a quarry and we had a very nice Christmas party every year that I planned at a State Lodge where everyone could stay overnight if they wanted to. We had a cocktail hour. a sit down dinner and then a band. The company paid for everything and if you stayed the night we paid half of the room.


When I planned the first one, I sent a flyer home in paychecks 6 weeks out with the date of the party and I stated that I planned to be dressy and I hoped everyone would look spiffy too as we were planning a very special evening for everyone and wanted to take a lot of pictures; I assured everyone we wanted to have a lot of fun and it wouldn't be stuffy.


I wore a long black velvet dress and my husband wore dark slacks and a white shirt and tie with a jacket---the tie came off pretty quickly after dinner but I was ok with that. We like to dress up, and we had some that followed suit and some did not, but most work slacks and dress shirts and most ladies wore nice pantsuits or a dresses..there were some that wore their "club attire" and as the evening went on, some went back to their rooms and changed into jeans and their flannel shirts but all in all, it worked out and we had so much fun. I planned the event for the next 7 years and each year, more and more people dressed up.


I can tell you I was wondering what we would get with those quarry guys! Sending the note home so their wife's knew what was going on was genuis on my part...Always get the wife's involved is my motto!


I am going to google you and DH so I can read your articles.


Ceejay: That is exciting news that there will be a new baby coming for your family. I just love babies! I hope you are feeling better and the meds took care of the sinus issues. Remember to drink plenty of water so you can get that stuff moving out of the sinus.


Laura: I hope you are enjoying your President's day holiday too!


Hi Annie: I really miss you! Hugs!!!! Pop in when you can. I am still praying for that job that I know is out there for you.


Hi Shad: I love seeing your flower pictures on Facebook.


Hi Dee; I hope you are doing well. I do see you on Fitbit and I joined the Work Week challenge with you this week!

Nothing exciting today except for the sunshine
The sinus med did well so I'm only going to take a half of one tonight to see if it will push this on out of my system.
Need to get busy doing the laundry.

Afternoon all. Nothing exciting going on. My weekend was alright. Saturday we planned for going out to lunch and then to two stores. Of course that turned into 4 stores. We both had shopping to do at our last store - Kohl's. I finally bought some new bras. I do hate shopping for bras! I purchased all underwires. I still want to buy a few wire-free, however, because they're just more comfortable.

Sunday was just some housework, about 10 min. on the stationary bike and a Margaret Richard workout. When I woke up Sunday morning, there was enough snow that I couldn't see my newspaper in the driveway. Also I'm at the end of the subscription, so I wasn't even sure it had been delivered. So I didn't bother to go out front and take a better look for it. Well, turns out it was delivered because bf went out to use the snowblower and the paper - and the plastic bag it was wrapped in - got eaten up by the snowblower and the shredded paper was all over the place, LOL. Bf wasn't very happy and he called me out to help clean it up....

Monday was a holiday and I was a sloth all day because I was sore from my workout.


Susie - How exciting you're saving to travel to Denmark!! There are so many places I'd love to travel to. My bf is one of those people that thinks a trip overseas would need to be a month or longer, so essentially it would need to be after retirement. I disagree...but haven't done anything about resolving that difference of opinions. Re the bonus - no specific plans. A lot of things to do around the house, so I suppose I should sock it away for one of the bigger projects, which is a top to bottom remodel of our full bath. Good job with the workouts!!

Happy - Your Valentine's dinner sounded really special. And the people-watching is a big bonus!! Hope all goes well with the ski race and isn't too much of a hassle for you. Didn't find your dh's newspaper story...

Ceejay - Glad the meds are helping with the sinuses. Loved our sunshine yesterday - with the snow it was so bright outside! :sunny:

Hellos to the rest of you!

Okay, time to post and get out of the office! TTYL.

Morning
I'm still feeling groggy from the sinus med but it sure is helping. Told sis that this is the first time in awhile that I've been this clear.
Went to the gym yesterday and rode the bike for 20 minutes and treadmill for 20 minutes. and did 2 weight machines.
We had more sleet yesterday but the streets look good this morning. I bought groceries yesterday so I'm going to try and stay on my food plan. Grabbing things on the run is getting old and I'm getting to much sodium this way. I'm up a pound each day that I do this. Yesterday I had cashew chicken and I only had breakfast. So I'm pretty sure it was the sodium.

Laura
I say it is okay to enjoy your day off by not doing any thing. You deserve that.

Hello's to the rest.:wave:

Morning all,

Gads we are getting MORE snow. I am so tired of snow and cold. Monday after bingo I was walking to the car and there was black ice on the sidewalk - sheer ice from dripping from the awning of an unoccupied store. I felt my feet slip out from under me and it was sheer thin ice so I went flying down hard on the cement. Banged my hands, wrists and knees up. I am sore but I don't believe I broke anything. It happened so fast I could not get my footing. I have to go out today - they are installing new credit card machines at the thrift shop and shelter - I'm not sure how I got to be recruited into this. Oh yeah, the person who would do this is sitting in warm Arizona in their winter home enjoying life at the moment. I am headed out into a storm. I am at the breaking point of this whole volunteer business and am about to chuck everything besides bingo.

DH looked out the window and was very happy to see a pileated woodpecker on the feeder. A pileated is a huge bird - black and white with a big red plume on it's head - looks like the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker. The bird is about as large as your arm - elbow to fingertip so quite big in the bird world. It was munching away on the suet feeder he has out there. But then the turkey boys came and 9 of them made the woodpecker too fearful even tho she was high in the sky on the feeder pole well away from the turkeys. DH was beside himself with joy.

I have cut back on what I'm eating and I seem to still be gaining a bit of weight - about a pound every other week. I can't do this, guess I have to rethink everything and come up with a new plan and sink this ship. I am very frustrated at the moment. Frustrated that I called the dentist last week to start treatments and they promised but never called me back with appointments. This is the second time they dropped the ball and I am questioning whether I picked the wrong dental group. I returned the Dell laptop I ordered and can't track whether they got it online so I had to call customer service. Got bounced around but finally got a helpful person. They charge your credit card immediately when you place an order but then they take 2 weeks to receive the order back and another 10 to 15 days to credit your account back. Meanwhile I have a $2,000 charge sitting on my credit card I'm not paying nor am I paying interest on. I called the credit card company and got a foreign person on the phone with a heavy accent. He said to dispute it and sent me to another department where I waited a long time on hold only to find that first guy was wrong. Call back if the credit doesn't show up before my next billing statement. :rolleyes: They NEED people like Anne out there to run things properly - yet here she sits waiting to hear about a job. This world is topsy turvy.

I'm sorry - I am in a bad mood.

Ceejay - if your nose is stuffy I suggest you give Afrin nasal spray a try. You use it twice a day and it really does clear the congestion without the coma like effects of sinus medicine. That is of course only if you don't have a sinus infection - just regular run of the mill stuffiness. Hope you feel better.

Laura - oh no with the newspaper mess. Good thing it didn't bind up the blades! You probably could not find DH because it wasn't a feature article like mine was. He was in photos related to an art show in town. You sure have been getting some crappy weather this year!

Susie - I am so glad that Genny has a clean bill of health! The power of prayer for sure. Did you get your phone fixed? That would drive me nuts. I have to find a kid to get things fixed on my phone :lol:

Hate to be short but I have to get ready to go out. It's snowing hard. This is NOT the day to have to go through town and travel. Extra hassles because they blocked off main street getting ready for the ski races starting tomorrow. Maybe I should take a tranquilizer :rofl:

Hope you all have a good day!