Happy Birthday Happy!!

I hope you have a very special day today and that this coming year is a good one.

Afternoon all. Not much to report. The past couple days have been nice, but today it’s chilly and cloudy. Typical weather here – all over the place.

Susie – Great to see you back here! I hope you get back into a groove with exercise and see some progress with your goals. I’ve been so sedentary for months now – just can’t get back into a groove. As a result I’m just up and down the same 3-4 pounds over the past year. I need to start a regular check-in here too! Let’s do it!! === I’m sure you’ll miss the WFH – I know I will. Is there any possibility of WFH on a more frequent basis even after everyone returns to the office? I remember you would work one day a week at home in the past. Our office hasn’t even discussed any firm plans yet, but it does sound like they are starting to make preparations. You mentioned returning on a rotating schedule at first. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Sounds like the timing of your vacation and surgery is just right – get all the kinks out of the return to the office before you return.

Shad – Sounds like you’re keeping very busy. I hope the hearing aids are doing their job without too much fuss. == Re the bathroom reno – we only have the one full bathroom (and the 2nd is a powder room), so we’ll have to figure out the shower logistics when it finally happens. But you are right – if I’m getting it done, it should all be done at once.

Happy – Hope you had a nice birthday. I understand you as far as this aging thing goes. Not just myself. My mother and the dementia. BF’s mom, who has kidney and heart issues, as well as hip pain from her fall so many years ago. Sigh. == Yikes, the bears are back! ==I hope you’ve got your crystals reset now. BF also had some issues a week or two ago, but thankfully, it passed.

Hellos to Ceejay and Annie.

~~
In a bit of a lull at work. Still plenty to do, but no projects with looming deadlines at the moment. So I try to keep my head down and work on the lower priority stuff, but I definitely feel distracted and less productive during these times. But I am dreading the busy period that will start in the next few weeks and keep me busy through year end. In past years, the busy time would drop off around November, but a change in responsibilities will keep me busy now. This is probably a good thing – I do better with a fuller plate. I just kind of resent having such a busy work schedule during the summer…Boohoo, poor me. I need to remember how fortunate I am to have this job.

Not much happening with the home projects. The quote from the company that specializes in repiping came in with a favorable quote (vs the other company), so that’s the one we’d use. However, as far as the bathroom reno, I’m pretty much on my own. I’ve been to a couple tile stores, kind of know the route I want to go. I have to dig into the other materials, but the biggest thing is finding a contractor!! The neighbor to our south sold his house – well, the listing shows “pending”, and we know the inspectors have been there. Bummer they had to see our fence with fallen sections – not a great first impression. Oh well, maybe they’ll offer to help repair it. :wink:

Took mom out for lunch on Monday (took a vacation day). The place was a dump, but the food was good. Next time we go out to eat won’t be a Monday, so I should be able to find a Chinese restaurant open for lunch.

Bf is going on a short vacation next week to visit with his brother. Would have been nice to take a day or two off work while he’s gone to get some stuff done in peace around the house, but the work calendar has filled up, so it’s probably not going to happen.

That’s about it for me, so I’ll get this posted and grab some lunch before I run out of time. TTFN!

Hello Ladies, man I think of all of you all of the time. Getting in here to post is not as easy as it used to be.

HAPPY Birthdays to SHADDIE and HAPPY. I suck this year. I mailed no cards. I didn't forget, I just am being stretched a million ways. Cs house sold in the first few hours on the market. For a ridiculous amount of money. We just don;t want to worry about a rental and the furnace and air are about 30 years old. That would be the next thing to go out I am sure. We did put new carpet in the living room/hall and one of the bedrooms. We close, or I should say C closes next week on May 7. We are going to invest some of the money, pay bills, save for the capital gain taxes on sale, and get new flooring in my house. That pretty much eats up all of it.

Royce has had 7 games and the lil turd is undefeated. We play the other undefeated team last week, tied the game, played an extra inning to win 7 to 6. I think I may have to take my nitro pills with me from now on as it was a nail biter and nerve wracker. Jacob is still not interested in any kink of sports but hey that is ok. He is really a smarty pants in that he was nominated by his teacher to go to a special some kind of smart conference in Ohio. Cost is 2K so me thinks he probably will not be attending. Plus you have to stay there all week and spend the night. That is not happening. He would not do that. Momma's boy.

Our vacation is just weeks away and I cannot wait. I need to get away from all this responsibililty of home and C. ugh. I had my 6 month review today. It was wonderful and my boss is very happy with me. I got all exceeds and outstanding on all the parts of the review. My second bonus will be on next weeks check. I am not longer a branch office administrator TRAINEE. I am a branch office administrator, full fledged. I made it. Liberating. haha

Glad everyone is doing well. SUSIE...may the force be with you getting back at it. SHADDIE hope your hearing aids get fixed. HAPPY..stay out of trouble lol.. LAURA..hows all the remodeling coming along? CEEG..enjoying spending time with your sis.

Love you sisters...

Good morning ladies,

I seem to keep forgetting to check in. The days seem a rush lately. Not sleeping well. I go to bed and fall asleep rather quickly and then wake up and have to do a potty run around 3am. I have limited how much I drink at night but it doesn't make a difference. And we are so horribly dry this year weather wise that it also affects your body. I wake up and my mouth is like cotton and sometimes it's hard to open my eyes. Climate change is upon us. Anyway, I fall asleep after 3 only to be wakened by the cats as it starts to get light out. I doze and about an hour later I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AGAIN. Where did that come from as the most I took was a sip or two of water after my last run only to rehydrate my mouth. And I spend the next 2 hours fitfully dozing between cat noises and not wanting to make another potty run. Been this way for about 3 months now and I am not getting enough restful sleep. The cats are really becoming a pain - Bimmy picks on Shiloh and Tarzan is constantly pestering old Nina. I have 2 good kitties and 2 devils. Weather is warming up. Things are popping through the ground and DH is getting the garden ready for the spring planting. He said he wants to plant vegetables in HIS way (he says I plant way too much too close together). I am not interested in the garden so ok, do your thing. Except who is going to take care of things when you have your photography trips in June and July? We are also looking for some options to take care of the cats so we can maybe take even a mini getaway sometime. I have pretty much talked myself out of home renovations this year - it's been 3 weeks since the lady came and measured for our 2 rooms and haven't heard doodle squat. I told DH with the rising astronomical costs of materials and labor, I don't want to pay 2 or 3 times what the project should cost just because the timing is wrong. My only concern is that I think we really need to pull out the jet tub because I get a hint of a moldy smell and I think water is sitting in the pipes that I can't flush out. We disconnected the tub motor because I never used it and we needed the extra electrical service for the hot tub. I'm going to fill the tub with some bleach water and it let soak a day to see if that helps but I hate to put that much bleach water into the septic system - bleach kills good bacteria too. And I have to fill the tub all the way to ensure all the jets are covered with water. DH's neck has really been giving him troubles and we finally got it calmed down so doing the bathroom himself is not an option anymore. I certainly would not want him to compromise his trip in June either. After much arguing he finally is accepting that he is losing his hearing (and it's not me MUMBLING). He said it sounds as if he's cupped his hands over his ears - things are muffled except for the tinnitus which is loud, clear and constant. And he said he is NOT paying $4,000 for hearing aids. So after years of him telling me I talk too loudly, now I will have to spend the rest of my life either hollering to speak to him, repeating words he can't catch or like this morning, pointedly telling him "please pay attention I have something to say" so that he actually actively listens. Sigh. He does want to modify our main wall in the house with planks from bottom to top. The wall has 10 large windows so he said it won't be that much wall to cover although it does go all the way up to the second floor and roof of the house. We have scaffolding but it's a bear to put up and take down although he said he will only need it to do the top 25% of the wall up to the ceiling. We have a fireplace and all oak trim around the windows so have to find a wood with variations that will have a warm complimentary color to it. Most of the reclaimed barn wood we have seen is in cool tones which I don't think goes well. So that's another project to find the right materials. The vaccine clinic is wrapping up this week. There was high interest among the elderly and now that it's open to all, more than half the people in town refuse to get it and some are taking a pass on their second dose. There is so much country ignorance here, it's amazing. They would rather listen to an egotistical fool who knows nothing and doesn't give a hoot about them than to care about the people they live and work with. So we are in the red with Covid cases, the hospitals are near capacity and I think we will stay that way for a while. The locals who won't wear masks and get a shot will blame the returning seasonal people and the tourists for the high numbers IF they acknowledge them at all. It's really unfortunate. I think Friday will be my last time volunteering for this, then they will direct people to the local pharmacies or their doctors. I'm sure doses will be wasted as they get something like 6 shots from a vial and they won't be able to work the numbers which is why the mass clinics are more efficient and effective. We are well on our way to killing ourselves and our planet.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. My birthday was on a Tuesday and pretty much everything around here is closed on Monday and Tuesday during this time of year so we just went to one of our usual places. Thursday my friend made a lovely dinner for me and I brought a big dish of that good cherry jello - once she tasted it, she said she was skipping the beef and noodles and instead eating that for supper We had a nice evening except I was really tired - bad night before with only 3 hours of sleep so we begged off early promising to get together again soon.

I'm sorry Shad that I didn't get in her to wish you a happy birthday. Sounds like you had a nice gathering and decided to spend a good chunk of your retirement on new ears. I understand you on the bluetooth. My Apple watch often randomly answers questions on her own when I ask Eric something. Not always, just often enough to startle me. And we have bluetooth light switches that control one inside and all of the outside lighting. DH had to switch out the router and it took us 2 weeks to get things recognizing each other and working properly. With your medical history I can't blame you for being hesitant about the vaccine. We have Moderna and Pfizer here for the most part and other than a bit less protection from the variants on Pfizer and the new findings on J&J - thank goodness no ill effects on the Moderna most of us got. I do realize for some people this is an issue - my complaints are about those who can that don't. As for the weight loss, don't despair. I don't know what it is but I belong to 2 groups - intermittent fasting and Noom and outside of the typical people sniping at each other and making dodgy comments, the one thread of consistency seems that none of us are losing weight. Myself included. I have never had this much trouble. Not giving up but still it's depressing and not very motivating as you say.

Annie - good to hear from you. I realize you can't post as much at work so happy to hear from you when we can. I'm so happy you love your job and they recognize your value. It's so important. Glad C's house sold - one less worry. It's a booming market - good time to sell. Spend the extra cash well. And have the very best vacation - you totally deserve it. Have fun with your family and forget all of regular life for a few days. I hope the weather is great for you. Sounds like the grandsons are keeping you busy. It's great that they are active.

Laura - maybe you can flex your work so that you have have a little extra free time around the time BF takes off and enjoy some me time. This whole work from home thing sure is opening a can of worms. Like anything there are 2 sides to a story. On one hand, yes it's nice to have the extra time you don't commute but then think about all the other surrounding industries that depend on a normal workforce - like the commuter system, the downtown restaurants that depend on the lunch crowd and the people who work to support those industries. I'm sure it's impacted a lot. The thing that gets to me is today's parents. Used to be you had kids and YOU had to figure out how to raise them. Now they expect the schools to feed them and they want to work from home because they don't have the childcare expense and can spend time during the day with their kids. Well are you getting paid to play with and teach your kids or are you getting paid to do your job? Real simple. And if you can get your job done in half the time, maybe your job should be part time. It's a different world for sure, glad I'm out of it. Anyway - so your Mom is settled in and happy at her new place? It's good to know she is being looked after properly.

Susie - I'm sorry about the weight gain. It appears we get to some point and we have to keep a strict routine or it comes creeping back. You will do it again, I'm positive of it. So good to hear Molly is finally on the good side of her recovery. Find out as much as you can ahead of time for your shoulder surgery and plan your recovery well. It's time consuming but in the end will be worth it. I had some clothes hanging in my 3 season room on a rack I MEANT to deal with and time passed. Now I find several favorite shirts are ruined. The sun streaming in has bleached a line where the hanger met the shoulder. DH first noticed it. I never thought the sun was that strong in the winter but apparently it is. I guess that's one way of culling the closet except these were some of my favorite summer wear. I hope you get everything packed away and the spring things pulled out.

Hi Ceejay

Well I'd better get this posted and back to entering the numbers for the Thrift Shop sales. It's starting to get boring and I avoid it and then it gets time consuming when I don't have the time. Take care everyone.

Hello all. Not a whole lot going on with me. BF is visiting his brother and SIL for a few days. It’s nice and quiet around here.

Annie – Congrats on the quick sale of C’s house. Hope the closing goes smoothly. Sounds like you have smart plans for the money. Money never goes as far as you think it would. Bleh. == Good job Royce - must be fun watching him play, and now the games are real games now, not like t-ball, huh? == Too bad Jacob won’t go away to the "smart camp", but he’s pretty young, and if he hasn’t been away from family like that (like summer sleep away camp), I can understand why he wouldn’t want to do it. And $2K!!! Put the money away for his college education or something. It’s not like the smart camp could go on his resume or something, hahaha. == Vacation countdown coming soon. == Good job on the performance review and the BONUS!!! That’ll come in handy on vacay.

Happy – Sorry you’re having sleep issues. That takes a toll really quickly. I always get up at least once for a potty run overnight, and sometimes it’s not easy to get back to sleep again. I haven’t tried to limit my water intake before bed though…=== Oh those cats! Trouble for sure, but entertaining, right?? I really miss having a dog. I don’t know why I haven’t pushed back at bf’s adamant opposition to getting a dog. I kind of wish I’d jumped at the opportunity that presented itself when my WFH started. Would have been a good time to adopt a dog since I could take on more of the care. Not that I knew early on or even a few months into it that it would go as long as it had. Anyway…with bf, it wasn’t really the care aspect of pets, it was losing a beloved family member and that's hard to argue against, even if it's to know that you have more room in your heart for another pet. == I hope you figure out the cat sitter option so you can get away for a bit. Maybe you need to do a solo getaway, or one with a friend or something so that your DH can stay home with the cats?? == Re the remodeling – now you’ve got me concerned about the projects we want to do as to the cost and availability of materials. Next week I guess we’ll talk to 2-3 contractors about our bathroom reno and see what’s what. Bf and I had a dumb discussion about that – what’s possible and what’s not. Dumb because neither of us know anything about that, so it should have just been cut short to let the contactors tell us. Whatever. == Sorry to hear about DH’s hearing loss. BF had that ear surgery a couple years ago and has suffered some loss in that ear, and it’s somewhat noticeable to me. I hope he won't be resistant to getting a hearing aid if he thinks it would help him. == Wow, the plank wall sounds like a big job, especially if you have soaring ceilings. Good luck with that. I empathize re finding the right colors of the planks to work with your existing wood trim. I really want to paint/replace all of our pine trim and doors that are a golden oak stained finish with white as I think it would make it easier to bring other colors into the decor. Oh well, that’s low on the priority list since it’s just a cosmetic thing that I want. == I think we’re at the point of vaccines being readily available (and are now going to waste), but people are not wanting them, or like you said – they are administering them inefficiently. This came up at a work meeting this morning – the low take-up rate in a couple states we have operations in…Sigh. I love those memes that essentially say people are willing to eat all kinds of foods and don’t know what’s really in them, but they won’t get a vaccine for that very reason. == LOL re your friend replacing her dinner with the cherry jello dessert. Something I'd like to do every so often. === As for people thinking they could forego outside childcare by working from home…I wonder if people have now realized that’s not possible. As for WFH upsetting the whole office space/commuter-based/downtown economy…this pandemic and the resulting WFH has certainly turned that on its ear. But I’m not going to feel bad about that if I have the opportunity to WFH on a regular basis for a few days a week. With all the technology available to allow this, it was going to happen anyway, albeit at a much slower pace.

Hellos to the rest of you! I hope you're all having a good week.

Not much to report on my end, so TTFN. Take care of yourselves and stay out of trouble!

Hello all...

Well the sale of Cs house profits finally hit the bank account. Already contributed to the Roth accounts. Did that first thing before anything came up to take away the money. 23 days til vacation. We are getting excited. Of course the gas shortage, If there is really one, has to pass. I am sure it will be fine.

Sam and the boys and I are considering King's Island maybe in June. Not sure as there is already so much on my plate with limited number of vacation days. Limited number of vacation days is really cutting into my play time. lol

HAPPY...I feel for you on the sleep issues. I have them also. I fall asleep just fine but then wake up between 1 and 3 and can't get back to sleep. I guess teh bright side for you is that you don't have to get up to go into work. Must be this age thing going on. Bleh. Too bad we don't live closer we could be up together.

LAURA...hope your momma is doin well. Its a tough row to hoe when our parents are having troubles.

SUSIE...How is eating on program going? Glad to hear Molly is doing so much better. I pray for her daily.

Hey CEEG.

SHADDIE...how are the hearing aids holding up. Too much noise for you? lol

Best get this posted and get busy.

Hi to everyone,
Not much going on at my end. I do come and read the post.
I'm back home in Battlefield since November of last year.
Lost my brother in law due to pancreatic cancer in February a year ago. Sis has found a new man friend on e harmony from Abliene, TX. He came up here this week end and she is on cloud nine. Kinda cute watching a 68 year old woman swoon like a 16 year old girl!!
Sis has been staying with me while he condo is being renovated. Could be through by the end of June. Let's hope
My sissy's 5 month old grandson is already up on all fours and trying to crawl. and he's raising his head a shoulders like he is wanting to sit up.
I've been having shortness of breath when I'm doing the most common shores so the doctor has ordered a eco stress test which is scheduled for next Thursday. He did tell me that I have asthma so that could be the problem but he is checking all points.

Happy and Shad
Happy belated birthday's. Hope this year is a great one for both of you.

Happy
I'm thinking that the sleep issue may be age related. I have them too I'm trying to turn off the tv and my phone at a certain time and trying to declutter my brain before going to bed.

Laura
I need to get with a plan of diet and exercise and stick to it. I'm losing and gaining the same two pounds for the past month, but think that part of it is emotional and stress eating.

Annie
Housing is selling here like hotcakes. So glad that you didn't have to wait that long for it to sell. Vacation sounds like fun. I'm sort of suspicous about the gas shortage also.

Susie and Shad
Hello

Hello Friends!
I have been up and down on the scales but have landed at a 7 lbs loss since I last logged in.

On Saturday I spent all most 6 hours going through 7 large tubs of my clothes. That were spring/ summer.

I did hold back some Jean's that I want to fit me in the fall, about 5 pairs and the rest went to the homeless shelter. I kept what fits me now and is in season
and that is it.

I figure that when I need smaller sizes, I will buy what I need. It felt good to get through those tubs
I am posting from the recumbent bike and will need to come back later. I wanted to let you all know I think about you every day.

Hellos to everyone. How are you all doing? I don’t have much to report. My weekend was ho hum. Nearly two weeks ago now I pulled some heavy boxes off of a high closet shelf. I pulled a muscle (or something) behind my right shoulder blade and it’s still sore, though it’s not painful like it was after it happened. So I’ve been trying to be careful with what I do. (My excuse for not exercising, haha, shame on me!) I'm thinking this should be healing nicely, except I think the way I sleep is part of the problem. I really need to try and sleep on my left side the whole night.

We’ve made a deposit on our repiping project, which also includes replacement of our water heater and our sump pump. That’s in the first week of June. We also supposedly are on the schedule for tuckpointing work sometime in June, but no written contract or anything. Just a business card with the price written on it. We’ll see if/when that actually happens.

Annie – Glad the house sale is done with. == Yay for vacation. I’m sure you won’t have an issue with a gas shortage. Just the prices getting hiked up during the summer as usual…== Thanks for your comment about my mom. I think she’s settled in to the memory care unit now that it’s been however long it’s been, and I feel like she’s well taken care of there. It’s just not easy seeing what the dementia is doing to her.

Ceejay – Glad you popped in to visit! I’m sorry for the loss of your BIL. Are they the ones in Tx? === Glad your sister is having fun with her new guy. How exciting about her condo being renovated, but it's got to be sort of difficult having her stay with you when you're so accustomed to living alone. === I hope your stress test goes well. Asthma symptoms definitely worsen during allergy season, so that could very well be your issue. == I sure know what you mean by emotional eating…but I also don’t do myself any favors when I bring home junky food from a shopping trip!

Susie – Congrats on that 7 pounds lost!! Good job. === And good job going through all those clothes and getting rid of them. I have whole sections of the closets that go untouched, especially since working remotely. Even when I worked out of the office downtown, I didn’t have many dress-up occasions. No need for a half dozen pairs of black dress pants when a couple will do.

Hellos to Happy and Shad!

That’s about it for me so I’ll get this posted. I have to run to the store to pick up my multivitamins and calcium supplements. My exciting evening, LOL. TTFN!

Hi kids,
Time to check in. Geez the days are flying by and it's not like I'm actually busy or anything...

Laura - ouch on the arm. I find it's so easy to stress the rotator cuff / shoulder / arm when reaching for something. I hear you on the sleeping issue also. Hard not to sleep on the side or flip when sleeping and put more stress on the arm. Hope you feel better soon. Just ice / heat or an Icy Hot patch and keep it flexible but not over extended. How nice to get at least one project scheduled for the house. We got a call this week from the home improvement store - she had questions for the laundry room re-do. I still don't understand how they can price stuff out when we haven't picked out materials unless she makes the base calculations and then just plugs in the price when we pick something out. I'm still on the fence about doing this right now so I'm not pushing it. But if you can get hold of anyone to do anything around your place, grab them. Labor is in high demand this year. Are you pushing yourself through your projects at work? You said you were less than enthusiastic. LOL.

Annie - vacation is 3 weeks closer now. Not quite close enough to see what the weather will look like yet. Did you make any special plans for activities? It's just you and the brothers right? No spouses? Who's gonna tell you guys to STOP teasing / fighting with each other? I hope you have a great time. I always said one either has time or money and rarely ever both. If you are out of work or retired you have to watch your money even tho you have all the time in the world to spend it and if you are working, you don't ever have much time to enjoy yourself. Sigh. I laughed out loud about your comment that we could stay up together at night LOL. Fortunately that settled back down and I'm at 1 potty stop per 5 - 6 hours of sleep. I think it also has something to do with how incredibly dry it still is up here. I wake up in the morning and my eyes are stuck shut and my tongue is like sandpaper. And I really have to go to the toilet. So maybe it all drifts downwards! LOL And kudos to you girlfriend for taking some of the proceeds from C's house and putting them into the bank for you guys. Take care of yourself first.

Susie - 7 tubs of clothes and it sounds like you got rid of a bunch of them. Good on yah girl!!!! And nice job getting the scale back down again. How is work going? Are you able to squeeze exercise time back into your routine. How's the shoulder doing? Maintaining??

Ceejay - Sorry to hear about the passing of your brother in law. But sounds like the missus found a new guy. Good for her, maybe she won't be so crabby. I guess there are some people who need a partner in life. I'm not sure after all this time I'd pursue another relationship. I always said I'm in the "one and done club" But everyone should do what makes them happy. When I lived down there I had sinus and asthma issues. Especially now that everything is blooming. Hope you find something to feel better. You sure have fun with the little ones. Maybe you could be a nanny?

As for me I have a growing sense of restlessness. I need a change and motivation. Stuck in a rut. It's also time to do the big purge around here. I have so much stuff I don't need. And now that the weather has gotten nice again, it's time to get out in the garage and go through things, I should just get a dumpster. I think all this "stuff" is weighing me down physically and just adds to the mental stuff going on in my head right now. It's usually this restless period that spawns a new path for me. The last time was the whole humane society thing and all the over the top volunteering. I am done with that stuff.

It's still a struggle to lose weight but I have been working on exercises for the knee and started taking more supplements including calcium (my bone density is getting low), tumeric for inflammation and collagens for the stuff that holds us together. Added to my other stuff I'm taking, I have to say it's helping me feel a bit better. No dancing up and down the street but able to move with less pain and that's been a big downer these past few months. I am still committed to losing weight some way / some how. Not much else going on. Finished my vaccine volunteer work. Got conned into working one day at the thrift shop this week and was reminded why I don't want to work there any more - at least not in the store part of it. Time to move on from that. Everyone is fine. So I guess I will post this and go clean the hot tub. Have a good one! Hi Shad!!!

Just came in here and saw that I had a whole raft of posts I hadn't read. Not getting notifications of posts at the moment. Bah humbug.

Been keeping busy now that the weather has cooled off and we've had a reasonable amount of rain. In the garden, the peas are ready to pick and I've been eating the beetroot. A couple of cherry tomatoes ripened so they went in the mouth. The blasted cabbage butterflies have got at the cauliflower and the broccoli but I'm hopeful I may still get some meals off them. The butter beans will be starting soon, plenty of flowers there. Carrots nearly ready as well. I also put in some rocket, spinach and this week the potatoes will go in. So all is well in the vege patch.
Now that the weather has cooled off, with lovely warm day time temps (24C mostly) and cool night time temps, the roses have come back to life and are flowering well. The rest of garden is looking quite good.

I'm off to the football tonight. My niece has snared some tickets in the corporate box so it should be an interesting night. Of course my team will win. The NZ Rugby and the Aust Rugby have got together to put on a few rounds between the two unions. Last week was the first round, and the NZ teams won every match. Australian Rugby is not very strong at the moment. They can only improve.
So anyway, I am due to go to the brothers house to pick up the others shortly, but I thought I would just let you know I am not dead and have not forgotten you all. I'll be back with personals asap.

Shad, I did get an email notification with your post but I have always found that they are wonky and not always reliable. So I try to periodically check in although not coming daily as I once used to, I find that weeks pass by before I think to swing by. Glad you are doing well. Reading your garden plantings I figured the cooler weather has set in. Sounds like you have a nice crop of stuff. I hope you enjoy the game - maybe some perks too sitting in the corporate box? If they are playing games with crowds in attendance that must mean that Covid restrictions are loosening up. Will be nice to get back to normal again. Although I am so used to wearing a mask that it feels odd to be without one. Certain places we are still wearing masks and I'm glad of that.

DH is having multiple issues with his back and neck. I think his pain shot caused some of the problems in his neck. Part muscular in the upper part and shoulders and the pain is improving. He still has issues with his hand and arm which are probably nerve related from the herniated disc in his neck. He was thinking of cancelling his photography trip coming up soon. We are working on some alternate therapies for pain management. It's the wrong time of year to be taking it easy which is exactly what he needs to do. He wants to put a garden in and doesn't need all that bending. I will do my herb garden but that's a grow box up on the deck with just a few plants. I don't mind just a few pots of flowers on the deck but with him, everything is about his photography so he wants more. I don't need a bunch of vegetables, we have a farmers market with an Asian family who grows the most incredible vegetables - it's a big family affair so they have enough produce for 2 stands. And there is another young family who has a hobby farm and they grow the best greens I have every tasted as well as some wonderful onions and other produce. And we have a mushroom guy at our local market in town. So I am good with produce - maybe just 2 tomato plants. We have an abundance of sun in the yard now so things should grow nicely.

Not much else going on so I'm going to post this. Hello to the rest of you

Hello Everyone,
I am having so many issues with the site. Well, just one. When I try to get on from my phone, I try to go to the last post and it won't show me anything. I have been dealing with it for over a few weeks and I can't figure it out.

So annoying as I like to log in on my phone and read and respond from there.

Happy: I hear you on keeping plants and such at a lower volume than we used to. I feel my time for that has come and gone. I am happy to have a few flowers in pots or handing baskets and I buy in season produce at the Farmer's market or even just the grocery. I also have two tomato plants that my father-in-law just planted and I am content with them.

Hello all.

Hope you’re all well. Looked back and saw my last post was 5/17. I had a rough week last week. I believe I mentioned hurting the center of my upper back right near my right shoulder blade (not the shoulder joint) the week before that post. It started feeling better within a few days, but then last week I started getting really intense stabbing pains in the back of my skull! This started on last Tuesday afternoon, and I took a sick day Wednesday because I couldn’t focus on anything because of the pain. It was awful. I made the mistake of looking online... I do believe it was correct in stating it was probably a pinched or irritated nerve, but of course I was freaked out about permanent nerve damage, etc. I had pain through Friday and finally made a doctor appointment because it wasn’t really feeling better. Thankfully, it did ease up, and I’ve been pain-free since this past Saturday. I kept the doctor appointment (this past Tuesday) and got some reassurances that I can get back to normal activities without worrying about making anything worse. Guess I just need to not look online for diagnoses!! The doc gave me an order for PT to use if I felt I needed it, but since I still feel fine, I won’t do that. The nerves have calmed down and all’s well. As long as I don’t lift heavy boxes from high shelves… Oh, one positive out of this is that I like the doctor I saw (more than my current doctor) and I think I might switch to her.

Nothing much else to report. The lawn guy came and mowed today. The tuck pointing guy was here from mid-morning until around 3 pm when it started raining. Thank goodness the temperatures dropped and it was cool enough to close the windows because that work generated a lot of dust. The repiping project is scheduled to begin June 7.

Some delivery service left two boxes full of groceries on our stoop last night which wasn’t discovered by us until nearly 11 pm when bf came home from being out (watched a friend’s softball game & went out for drinks afterwards). The problem is that we didn’t order them! It was too late to do anything about it last night except put the boxes in the garage to keep the critters from tearing into it. It had a Costco receipt in it and this morning I found a Costco/Instacart phone number online – they don’t take back groceries delivered to the wrong address. Just about all of it was stuff we wouldn’t eat because it’s either foods we don’t like (kale, veggie crisps) and/or way too much (“Costco-sized” quantities). I phoned our village to see if their food pantry took perishables (most of the stuff was fresh produce – kale, brussels sprouts, pears, avocados, mandarin oranges, bananas). They referred us to a neighboring village’s food pantry who said they’d take it. Bf is dropping it off with them right now.

I’ve done short walks a couple times last week and a couple this week. This week I finally set an alarm on my phone to remind me to do a few quick exercises in the afternoon, so I’ve done that this week. I might add another alarm for the morning.

On to personals.

Happy – We’ve worked through how we can get our shower plumbing/pipe replacement done without starting a whole bathroom renovation, so I’ve elected to shelve the project until next year. We visited two contractors that told us everything is taking longer due to materials and permitting delays and labor problems – one place told us October was the earliest. I’m fine to put that off, but I can’t wait to have the repiping and water heater & sump pump replacement done. == As for the drought conditions – we’ve had it here too until the past few days – thankfully, we had rain on Sunday and again on Tuesday and now this afternoon. Whew, I’m glad for that. If we didn’t get more rain soon, I was going to have to dig out our lawn sprinkler and start watering on a regular basis. == I’m with you on the big purge, so much stuff sitting around. It would have been good for us to have tackled the basement well before this. Between now and the plumbing work starting, we’ll probably be running around the basement like nuts cramming stuff into the parts of the basement that don’t have any pipes running through them with time to purge unwanted stuff. Sigh. == I’m glad the exercises and supplements are helping you feel a bit better. Have you been using the hot tub now that it’s warm enough to do so? That sounds good to me since last week with that bad nerve pain - a nice hot shower brought some relief. A long soak in a hot tub would have been even better! == I hope your DH finds some relief for his back and neck pain so that he can take his upcoming photography trip. As for the garden…it definitely sounds easier to seek out other local gardens to photograph…he needs to join a garden club or horticultural society, lol. It’s great you have several sources of fresh produce in your area!

Shad – Glad the weather is cooperating and the garden is producing. I feel bad that I never got around to buying any veggie plants or flowers so far this season. I guess I’ll be trying to get some good tomatoes from the farmers market along with the fruit I buy there. I can still plant some flowers, and the herbs that I like can be started any time…famous last words. === Did you enjoy the football in the fancy corporate box? Our baseball stadiums here are increasing their capacity, from some % up to full capacity. I’m sure at some point I’ll check out a game on TV and enjoy seeing *real* people in the seats making *real* sounds instead of cardboard cutouts and fake cheering broadcast over the PA system.

Susie – Sorry you’re having issue with this site on your phone. I do read posts on my phone, but don’t like typing replies on my phone. == I feel like I’m in the same position as you with the plantings…not happening in any volume. At least not this year. Probably just have a few planters with flowers. Good thing we have some nice perennials to give us some prettiness in the back yard. Right now I’ve got peonies and irises in bloom. I do, however, enjoy seeing beautiful landscaping when I’m walking around the neighborhood. I’ll have to remember to take some photos and maybe little by little add some nice groundcovers and shrubs – but just the kind that come back every year!! With all the weeding that needs to be done, I don’t have time to plant annuals all over the place!! == How's your hubbie enjoying retirement??

Annie – Vacation’s close now!! Hope you enjoy every minute of it.

Hi Ceejay!

It’s been pretty quiet with work today, but I’ve kept busy this week, including a quarterly check-in with my boss and a semi-annual check-in with the boss’s boss. Both went well. Next week I’ll be kicking off a lot of projects that will keep me busy for much of the summer, so this is kind of the lull before the storm.

Today’s my Friday – taking a half day of vacation tomorrow morning and then the office is closed in the afternoon. Monday’s the Memorial Day holiday, so it’ll be nice to have a 4-day weekend. Rain tomorrow, but oh well. Should stay in and work on the basement. After a long break during the pandemic, I’m finally having breakfast on Saturday with a former co-worker. I’ll visit my mom (she wants to go out for pizza, lol), and hopefully one of the days will be nice enough to go for a bike ride.

Okay, I’ll get this posted. Everyone have a good weekend, holiday or not! TTFN!

Having some problems A: with the computer and B: with this site. Keeps logging me out and Microsoft is saying I have logged in too many times and now I can't get there at all. Best take this off to the tech doctor and see what he has to say.

Anyway, nothing new here. Cold nights are here - well we think it is cold when it gets down to 7C overnight (42F more or less) and the weather is weird everywhere in the country. The peas are going crazy and I have shared them with friends and neighbours as I can't eat them all. Time to find some more friends to 'share' with I guess. Carrots are sort of ready - well some of them are and some are not. The rocket is going crazy and the baby spinach is growing up, soon be adult if I don't eat it soon.
Hope everyone is well over there and that the pandemic is lessening in your areas. I still haven't had the vaccination, but I think that they may open some borders soon and we can travel again. However Victoria and Melbourne in particular are in lockdown again after the discovery of a particularly vicious strain of covid so I guess I wont be travelling anytime soon.

Okay time for a drink and a sit and then more work in the garden. I get sick of looking at my list of things to do so I am getting some of them out of the way now that it is a bit cooler. I'll try and get back tonight instead of sitting in front of the tv and sleeping through the program I wanted to see.