2022 - got to be better for the Worldly Chicks.
 

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.oH891...5&pid=3.1&rm=2
Happy New Year.
It's not quite that time yet in the great South East, however I can't keep awake any longer. See you all when you check in.

Stay safe, stay well, look after yourselves.

Joy
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Morning all. Thanks for setting us up with a new thread Shad!

Once again I look at the date of my last post and realize it's been a while. :doh:

I haven't been up to much. Working and also taking vacation days. Though I'm not doing anything exciting, the time off has been nice. I've gotten my booster covid shot and my flu shot - both on the same day. No ill effects, just some muscle soreness. I did minimal holiday decorations inside and I only put up the 4 foot Christmas tree this year. For a twist, this year I decided I would decorate it only with gold, silver and white ornaments and clear lights. I had just the right amount of ornaments to cover the tree nicely. I also found an idea for a tree topper - a starburst made out of long white and silver dollar store pipe cleaners. That was fun and it really sparkled in the lights.

Christmas was pleasant. I saw my mom on Christmas Eve and brought her a gift I made and hung it on the wall of her room. She used to collect crocheted pot holders because she thought they were so pretty. At some point she gave them all to me and I just had them sitting around with my sewing stuff for years. I strung them across several lines on a bulletin board and it's a pretty, colorful display. The management at her facility has recently reported a covid case and are going through testing. They initially reported that visiting would be suspended, but another email sent yesterday said they can't do that per the CDC rules, so they recommend masks and shields and visiting in resident rooms only. I've decided to wait a few days before my next visit.

On Christmas morning, bf and I went to a friend's house for brunch. There were only six of us and it was nice. She has two young cats and they were very entertaining!

I purged a few bins of Christmas decorations and have a couple boxes for donation. I'll find a spot and hold onto them until the holiday season comes around again - I'd hate to burden them with items they certainly won't sell right now. In fact, the thrift shop I usually bring things to is closed until January 5th.

I had a hair appointment yesterday. My appointment next month will be my last with my current stylist. She's quitting the business completely. She's been doing it almost all of her adult life and it's been hard on her body. I've been with her for many years and I'll miss her. I'm staying in the same salon, just moving to a new person. I've decided to start transitioning to whatever my natural hair color is - which has a good amount of gray in it, from the looks of my root outgrowth! It'll be very gradual. Right now we just moved to a weaker blend of the demi-permanent color we've been using for a while now. We'll see how my new person suggests blending in the gray with the color. I definitely don't want to go "cold turkey" and stop touch-ups completely and have that horrible growing-out period, skunk stripe and all. Another suggestion was mixing lowlights in with my natural color. So we'll see.

So with the omicron variant kicking up the covid cases, our company has postponed our return to the office (originally scheduled for the week of Jan. 10th). They've even stopped the voluntary in-office work they've allowed since July. We'll see how long this postponement goes, but I'm not unhappy about it for the most part. Commuting in Chicago in January wasn't very appealing, after all. ;) But I was getting mentally geared up for it and almost looking forward to being in the office and seeing my co-workers again. Not sure how long this will go, but unlike when we first started remote work, I won't be surprised if it drags on. Still...I'd already purchased several 10-ride train tickets in preparation for commuting. They're good for a year, and potentially longer if they allow extensions. We'll see.

I'm going to post this before I lose it and then come back for personals.

Back for personals...

Shad - Happy New Year to you! Did you stay up to ring it in and watch the fireworks? Glad to hear Ruger is doing well in Cairns. == Hope you can keep cool waiting out the end of the hot/humid summer weather, just as the rest of us are hoping we can get through our winter without too many extremes in the cold & snow departments. We finally got snow in my area a couple days ago (alas, too late for a white Christmas so many were hoping for), but it won't hang around very long since the temps are kind of wavering around between seasonal and warmer than normal. While I appreciate a warmer than normal winter, it is worrying when added to all the other crazy weather we get now - climate change for sure.

Susie - Sounds like you had a nice long vacation! Are you still scheduled to be back in the office? I thought that might change due to the covid uptick. == I do hope we "see" more of each other here in 2022 - I missed everyone! == Good job purging the clothes. As I've said often, I need to do that - so very many things I don't wear anymore and which I'm truthfully not fond of anyway. I keep them just so I have something in the event I do need them. But why keep them and waste the space when I could just let someone else get some use out of them?

Happy - I'm so sorry to hear about the break with your sister. I hope that you'll mend fences with each other sometime in the future. I know the phrase "Life's too short" can be taken a couple ways - too short to be miserable in a troubled relationship, or too short to let differences, mistrust, mistreatment keep friends/family apart. I hope things can be turned around for you and your sister. == Sorry to hear that your knee is really hurting. Hopefully the exercise classes and chair yoga will move forward in spite of the covid stuff and the movement will help you. == I have to sympathize with your DH re the neck surgery - sounds scary, and whenever I occasionally have neck pain it just reminds you how much you move that part of your body! == Let us know what you're learning from the diabetes nutrition class and the writing class! == We finally broke in our air fryer last night, but not with any special recipe. Just some onion tater tots (which I made a special trip to a grocery store we never shop at, because the onion tots aren't all that easy to find!). The tots, which accompanied grilled burgers, cooked up quickly and were nicely crispy. Convenient, because the unit apparently doesn't call for preheating, so there's a time savings there as well as the quicker cooking time vs. the traditional oven. BF is looking forward to trying chicken wings in the air fryer. == I do want to get away for some sort of trip this year, but I agree that I'm not interested in traveling by air. Watch out all of you - I might just take to the road in the car and end up in your driveways!! :scooter: (No car emoji, lol.)

Hellos to Annie & Ceejay! Come back and visit with us! Miss you!

Okay, going to get off the laptop and do some reading and tv and generally be slothful until I'm disgusted with myself, and then find something useful to do. I was trying to organize the home office a bit yesterday and finally pulled out the cartridges and user manual for our fax machine, which has been sitting disconnected and unused for years now. It will be listed online for sale. Don't laugh - there are many for sale on craigslist!

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and happy New Year! Cheers - here's to a better 2022!
:celebrate::newyear:

Greeting and :newyear:to all.


It's bright and sunny but frightfully cold in the woods here. Won't even get to zero even with the sun shining. I am typing at the kitchen counter with an umbrella propped next to me. We have trapezoid windows at the top of the wall facing south. This time of year the sun is low and shines intensely right into the kitchen area. I do appreciate the sun - it does warm the main part of the house up but it's a bear for a few hours with too much sunshine. Given the triangular shape of the roof line and the upper expansive windows, it would be frightfully expensive for any sort of shades and you can't really do anything on an angular pitch. This cabin style wall of windows looks pretty from the inside and out but it NOT PRACTICAL when you live in a place with winter 5 months out of the year. Lots of cold seeps in. But at least it's sunny. All the deer and turkeys are puffed up trying to keep warm. We got a foot of snow - DH plowed the area by the garages and we have a wall of snow on the grass. The deer have taken to sitting on the plowed part with the wall as a wind break and they sit there and wait for him to come out and feed them. It's cute. Except he does not like going out 3 times a day in this cold!! The birds are also flocking to the feeders. We have to actively play with the 2 younger cats as they are cooped up and like a toddler, have to burn off energy.


My New Year's Eve was quiet. We went grocery shopping to pick up a few things earlier in the day and had some fried chicken for lunch so come supper I wasn't really hungry for the lobster tails we planned - and they were still thawing. I had ordered fresh Maryland Crab Cakes which were AMAZING so decided to have one for myself and DH who does not like crab had some fresh Ahi tuna. DH is having a problem with a tinny taste in the back of his throat. We don't know what's causing it exactly - he has been having all sorts of mystery ailments including the swelling and redness in his foot. So food is not tasting good for him which is sad and he has been eating smaller portions. Consequently we did not have the cheese, sausage and cracker appetizers I had planned. We watched a "year in review" type recap show until 11pm and then did the usual Happy New Year when the ball dropped in New York City. We finished watching the tv show and it was 11:45 - he was about to head to bed when I said he had 15 minutes left for the real new year's so we hugged and kissed and wished each other well for the 49th year. This year will mark 50 years since we met in September of 1972. Hard to believe we are old people :lol: I debated about having a glass of wine but I am allergic to the sulphates in liquor which always make me somewhat wheezy. I hate being wheezy and thanks to shots and masks, I have not had as much as a cold for the last 2 years. Sometimes acid indigestion makes me wheezy (which was news to me) but I will take a pass on it if I can so opted to ring in a dry new year. I am hurt by my sister's actions and we have not talked. Probably won't. She has used up her passes from me on overlooking things - I have tread lightly, tried to be the peacemaker enough times. Maybe things will cool off or warm back - remains to be seen. The funny thing is that the pendant light over my kitchen counter keeps blinking at random times. If the lightbulb was going to blow, it should have by now. I joke that's my Mom talking to me. I know she would not like us at odds with each other. But sometimes these things happen.


DH is cooking dinner today. Lobster tails. Yesterday I went to put the upper oven on in my range and it would not heat. So now my STOVE is not working. We got the refrigerator and the stove at the same time. DH took a look at it - seems like a part stopped working. Even though Sears is coming on Jan 12 - I really don't want to call them for the stove. I KNOW they won't combine 2 service calls on the same day and it will probably take another 6 weeks if not longer to get parts. DH did some research and found what he thinks is the replacement part although it's not very clear. He ordered it from another place - Sears parts has it out of stock so who knows how long that would take. And he's going to try and replace the part himself.


The big news is about Betty White the actress passing away. She was a beloved fiesty woman. I always thought of my Mom, Betty White and Queen Elizabeth as a threesome. Not to wish any ill on the Queen at the moment. Seems like a passing of the guard. I was sitting and thinking to myself last night, reflecting on the year passed and what could be done differently. It occurred to me that we ring in the new year and never really know if it will be our last year on this earth. I was pretty angry and disappointed last year and I'm sure it made me crabby and not pleasant to be around. And I thought - if this is my last year on earth (you never really know) - did I want to spend it angry and frustrated? Not really. So I am reflecting on some things I can change and need to change for peace of mind and setting a different course for this year.


Laura - I'm glad you got to see your Mom. What a great idea about the potholders as a unique and cheerful decoration! Thank you for holding on to those after Christmas donations to the thrift shop. I know in our case we have limited storage and people tend to donate after the seasons end - with holiday stuff and summer stuff and the like. All it does is go on sale and no one really shops for that stuff after the fact so it takes up unneeded space. I tend to do the same - purge at the end of the season and then kick myself about no place to donate! I know what you mean about losing the hairdresser. It's a physically hard job - being around those chemicals constantly and on your feet all the time. My hairdresser is complaining of really bad back pain but she owns the salon and I think they count on her income so she can't close anytime soon. She tried changing things around once and it did not work out. It's good if you can stay at the salon if you like their products. I would suggest to you that you consider lowlights blended into your gray. It's gradual and grows out easier than the pronounced line at the roots. My gray hair is actually platinum white so I get blond cut into the top to soften the color. Also I find that gray hair is unruly so using some color helps me to tame it down and manage it. I was talking to a few of my buddies - they were part of my team when I worked at 150 N Michigan (the Ivory tower with the diamond shaped window up top). I asked them what working was like now. They talked about the new office set up where people don't have assigned seats / cubicles anymore. You sit at a bar top / bingo hall table structure where you sanitize before and after working because who knows who sat there before you. No more communal coffee machines. Memos of someone testing Covid positive but because of privacy they can't tell you who so everyone guesses. Returning back to an office you abandoned for over a year - frozen in time which was wierd. And one of my friends went to work at City Hall after our company got sold. She said with the active shootings and muggings during the day she no longer takes a walk at lunchtime. Just hurries to get to and from the office - no time wasted dawdling around. Said many of the downtown stores and restaurants closed either due to Covid or closed completely due to lack of people as folks worked from home. Only the places that could stay alive with the tourists. I can't imagine that - kind of apocalyptical -- how different from what I left. I would not enjoy it but then again, I guess the change was gradual so just like the neighborhood changing, you get used to it and may not even notice it.


I guess I have blathered on for far too long. There are so many things I want to accomplish today. Starting with getting back into a routine again. One of which was coming here. I hope the New Year brings us a refreshing change of things to look forward to and a return to a place we are more comfortable with and perhaps took for granted. Peace to you all. ♥

01/03/22
 

Haven't been around in awhile but thought I would try to pop in more frequently this year.
I was diagnosed with asthma and a mild COPD this year. It hasn't been fun adjusting to a new life style but I am doing it.
My nephew is doing much better, 8 months sober. He's been getting his children on the weekends. I love getting to see them on week ends.
I will be back for personals later..

Happy new year. Typing from phone so please excuse typos. Cannot access from work anymore with all the new upgrades and protocols.

Still fighting the IRS on the 2017 audit. All paid in full 11K yet they can’t seem to get all their ducks in a row to mark a clean slate. What a freakin mess. The next thing we are now threatened with is being turned in to a collection agency. Holy crap wonder I don’t have ulcers.

my son and dil are still trying to get thru this pregnancy. She has hypermenses not sure of spelling like 24/7 morning sickness. So far 6 hospital stays. She lost her job due to absences. At will state so really can’t fight it. She is home now but with a port for feeding a port for meds and a zofran pump for nausea. The ultrasounds of baby show rebel pelvis. Fluid back up in kidneys. Baby cannot pee correctly so amniotic fluid gets too low doc will have to do an emergency C section then surgery on baby. She is 28 weeks along. Pray all goes well.

Can’t anything be normal in my life? must of been bad in my past life.

on a good note the flooring thruout the house is awesome and the new French door is in. No more sliding door.

weight. Well. Working on that again. Two weeks back keto. Down 6. 35 more to go. I tell you if I am not constantly dieting I am gaining.

New Years was ok. Appetizers cards with my bro. Sil. And nephew. They left at 9. I was in bed at 11. The new year came any way. So happy 2022.

gotta get business Miss you ladies.

Greeting fellow chicks,


Today was a bad day and a good day at the same time. Got a phone call from my sister this morning. My aunt - my Mom's last living sibling and my Godmother passed away yesterday. She had horrible health issues and lifelong depression. She had taken a fall at home and they took her to the hospital - she has spinal fractures from osteoporosis among stage 4 heart and kidney failure. My cousin - her son - who was her caretaker struggled to find her a rehab place - they are packed with Covid patients. He found a decent one with an opening and they had to give her a Covid test before transferring her and she tested positive for the Delta variant (she was fully vaxxed and boosted as was he). Give her age and co-morbidities she was gone in just over 24 hours. It was a blessing as she was tired of her suffering and had no quality of life. My cousin took care of her and his childhood girlfriend who had early onset dementia. W passed this spring and now his Mom. He was a devoted caretaker even though he himself has bad rheumatoid arthritis. Lugging dead weight took a bad toll on his body. His brother died 2 years ago and his dad passed away about 10 years ago. All he did was care give. Now at 65 he is alone but free to pursue what he wants to do within his limitations of severe pain. I talked to him for about an hour - we are of a similar mindset - we both have cats instead of kids and have an equally dry sense of humor. I haven't been in touch much over the years since we moved away from Chicago but I did get to see my aunt and him when I came in this summer to see my Mom. It was good to talk to him and we promised to keep in touch. I also got the opportunity to have a heart to heart with my sister. It worked out well and I am glad. I did not want to give up on the relationship. So I hope this will be a better year for all of us.


I started the Senior Exercise class. It's a set of 10 exercises, each at stations along the wall about 8 feet apart. We do each exercise for a minute and then move to the next station. I am the youngest person in class (as usual). But some of them can beat the pants off me because my knees are really compromised. We did 2 circuits on Wednesday and I about fell over :lol: Of course we are will some really elderly people so there is the lady who is kinda losing it and the instructor has to keep following her because she goes to the wrong station or does the exercise wrong. And we have one token man in class - he's nice but he snorts really loud - the kind of noise you make to suck the goo out of your throat. He was sitting next to me on Monday's after class lifestyle lecture and the first time he snorted he scared the beejeezus out of me so I jumped. Then I started laughing and I got the teacher laughing. He didn't have his hearing aids in so she had to keep hollering over to him.


Other than that it's freezing cold here - sub zero. I hate winter. Actually I don't hate winter, I just hate being cold all the time and worry about falling. The guy is coming tomorrow to finish my laundry room remodel. FINALLY I can put stuff away, I'll be glad of that.


Good to hear from the rest of you...


Sorry to hear of the COPD Ceejay - as a former smoker I was always worried about that. I hope it won't be a lot of trouble for you. How wonderful to hear the nephew is doing well on his sobriety.


Annie - I can understand how you might be feeling what did I do to deserve this? You are one of 2 of my friends who never seem to catch a break in life. Good people too. I know they say God never gives us a bigger cross than we can bear but holy smokers - how much do you have to bear? GF has a long road ahead on the pregnancy - hope things settle down for her and the baby. Is your job doing well? Thanks for checking in...


Hope the rest of you are doing well. I just checked the time and I better get to bed - the contractor won't show up early but I still have to get up earlier and make sure I have coffee and are dressed before he comes. Also we need to shovel a path for him to get into the house on the deck tomorrow. At minus 20 degrees overnight that snow might just freeze right up.


Take care ladies :wave:

Great info

Hello Ladies!

It was such a surprise to get on the thread and see all of you had posted! It gives me hope that we (as the world) will go back to some kind of normal again.

I will admit that I have seen some good things out of the pandemic. We realize how important it is to have true friends and to enjoy simple things. I can remember when we could go back and get your hair cut, colored...whatever your hair needed...I was flipping out when I couldn't get to my hair dresser. I go every 4 weeks.

My three weeks of vacation was AMAZING. I now see why people look forward to retirement. The last seek of December was packed full. My best friend, Genny and I went to see Rick Springfield...he was at a newly built conference center in Cincinnati. We paid the "big money" and got seats in the 3rd row. They were amazing sets and Rick never disappoints. The man is 72 years old! Still looks good to me and he played and sang for 2.5 hours!

My DH's birthday is on New Years Ever and us and 18 of our friends and family met for dinner at Montgomery Inn to celebrate his birthday. He turned 66. Last year we were not able to celebrate due to all the Covid rules, so this year we did it up right! I paid for one of the private rooms there so we wouldn't be in general population. After we ate, we all went back to our house (it was crowded), and watched the Times Square televised show, we had a champagne or sparkling apple juice toast at midnight....we did it from the front porch and kept the door open when we went outside to let 2021 leave!

Everyone was gone by 12:30 and we went to bed.

I started my new role (and still doing a lot of my old role) on January 4th. and went into the office. DH had been dealing with a sinus drainage and a clearing his throat a lot so I asked him to go to his doctor that day as he has chronic
bronchitis and when that sort of drainage starts the bronchitis flares up quickly.

His doctor said he did have a lot of drainage and since she usually sees him sometime in January she said she would give him a prescription but because of Corvid being so prevalent in our town right now, she wanted to do a Covid test....they did and he tested positive. We don't know which one...I guess that is another test but she thinks it is the omicron variant.

And because of his bronchitis and he has afib and he is 66, she decided to send him to the hospital to get an antibody infusion. He said he didn't realize he was tired until he got the infusion because now he feels great.

He will go back Monday to his doctor to get another test. Because he was positive, I did a test at Urgent care, mine came back negative.....I had to leave work (and work from home) though and quarantine until Monday and then get another test , and it has to be the one they take and send to the lab. If it comes back negative, then I can go back into work.

I love being home but it is more helpful to be in person while I am learning my Executive and all the things he is responsible for.

That is enough about me. I'm going to stop here and go to another message to comment on your posts.

Happy, I saw on Facebook that your husband fixed the oven....thank goodness you didn't have to depend on Sears to do it!


I am sorry to hear that your Aunt passed away. It seems though it gave you and your sister a chance to have a talk and things over and you also got to reunite with your cousin.


Your story of the Senior Class yo are doing for exercise had me chuckling! Have you started the journaling class yet?


Ceejay: It is good to hear from you. I'm sorry to hear that you have COD but it sounds like you are going to do the things that will help keep it in check; I am proud of you for that.


I'm also happy to hear that your nephew is doing well stay sober. It's a day by day thing ; much like weight loss for us. Food is our "alcohol ",,when we are using it to dull our senses,


I look forward to seeing you here!


Laura: I hear you about the commute in the winter....that is why I have loved working from home so much.

What a thoughtful gift you made for you mon. I know she will enjoy look at them.


Keep us updated on your hair transition. I agree with Happy about doing lowlights blended into your gray to help with the transition.


Shad: It was good to hear that the Dog and DS are doing pretty well and that hopefully things will continue to work out more smoothly between DS and his Ex. I never understood why people, who don't want to be together with the person they are currently with, want to draw things out so much and fuss and fight. I saw, do it quick and take your losses and move on.

Annie: I am sorry that you are having to continue with the IRS because they can't get their records straight.
I am still praying for the baby and her mon and you Adam. Please keep us updated.

Ladies, I love you all!

from my phone
 

My doctor and I think that my copd is from the chemicals used at work. but it is a very mild case.
I'm still struggling with the weight. but trying new lifestyle changes.

Happy
I'm very glad that you and your sister have worked things out.
Susie
Wow, a 3 week vacation. and a new position.
Annie
Thats a bummer that you are still dealing with the IRS.
Laura
Hello.

Hello ladies,


Today would have been my Dad's 95th birthday. He died at 64 so it's very hard for me to imagine him being that old. Just can't do it. We buried my Mom 30 years to the day he passed away. Kind of melancholy for me to realize most of my relatives are gone. Just cousins who are more strangers to me as the years have passed and one Aunt left. Hard to believe that I got old too.


Week 2 of Senior exercise class. The one old guy came in late, oblivious to the lady who had her stuff at the end of the table - he just plopped his junk all over her stuff and took her seat! And he snorted his way all through our lifestyle class today. Today's class was about setting goals. What goal do we want to set over the 10 week program. My goal is to ATTEND and complete the program. Why do I have to be more specific than that or do I need to choose another goal??? Last week I could barely make 2 rounds of the circuit - I think I actually stopped at one point. Today I completed 3 circuits except for the 2 knee / step exercises. My knee said nope, not having that a 3rd time. But I can see progress, that is good. It was negative 15 degrees (F) air temp this morning. None of us wanted to go outside. I was lucky, DH was available to drive me and he warmed up the car before we left so that was nice. Wednesday Sears is showing up (I think) to FINALLY fix my refrigerator after 2 months so I will have to drive myself in a cold car. The heater on my poor almost 20 year old Avalon isn't working so well, especially on the driver's side. DH hates the Highlander - I told him he just has to deal with it and should have listened to me and got the 4Runner but he wanted the better gas mileage. I think he is looking for things to be frustrated with. Yep, they sure don't make cars like they used to. Just 2 to 3 times what they used to cost.


The cats are all staring at me. I took their favorite toy and played with all of them for a good 45 minutes. I had to play individually with them because they jump all over each other and I wanted to make sure they all got equal time. Apparently that wasn't enough for them - they want more but Mom has other things to do. I should not have taken 5 online classes. I am having a hard time keeping up with them. Yes Susie, I did start the journaling class. Some days I write for 5 minutes, some day's an hour. I am trying very hard to keep consistent with better habits for the new year. I start a diabetes and nutrition class next week. Did not realize this is a year long program. It starts out intense for the first 4 months and then tapers off as time goes on. Today we talked in the Senior exercise class about what we might do after this 10 week session is done with. It's good to be in a routine. Typically this time of year I'd be trying to go do my therapy exercises in the pool but the gym locker rooms are chilly, the shower head is small and high up so you don't get the warmth of the shower afterwards and as cold as it is right now, it's just not the right thing for me. So I'm glad for this class, by the time it's done, I can incorporate some time back to the pool. Just as well for DH also - he walks the track when I'm in the water and he is having a hard time with his foot / heel and toe right now. He has gout like symptoms but it seems more that it's stemming from his back. He will be 72 in a couple of weeks. I think he finally hit one of those age "speed bumps" that happen to us along the way. I sometimes worry about him hiding pain and possibly depressive thoughts. I know I get bummed out too but I keep a close eye on him. I am glad he has his photography so that he has something he enjoys and takes his mind off pain. The cold is rough on both of our old bones.


He fixed my stove - the ignitor broke. He ordered the part and it was a relatively easy fix. We pulled the stove out and I told him we really need to do this about every 3 months or so. I didn't realize there were some crannies that needed more cleaning than just the good surface cleaning it gets all the time. Tomorrow we have to steam the ice out of the back of the refrigerator. The part we are waiting 6 weeks on them to install is the part that keeps the refrigerator from icing up. Now the fan is making lots of noise again. We have the parts - DH said he is debating about doing it himself. BUT there are 2 more things not working so I want to make sure if other parts need ordering, they pay for them on the warranty and not us. And did I mention that they came to install the counter tops and finish the laundry room and they cut the counter too short and finished it on the WRONG SIDE!!! Other than that - it looks very nice. I want DH to install the floating shelves and add another electrical outlet so I don't have to dangle an electrical cord over my laundry tub. We started to look at some new furniture - that's one thing I'd like to do with some of the money I inherited from my Mom. I know she would be happy - when her Mom sold her farm, she gave each of the kids $1,000 - which was huge at the time. My Mom used it to buy living room furniture and she always talked about how proud she was of that set. I'm still trying to figure out how I can get the carpet and wood floor completely replaced on the first floor of our house and the stairs going to the basement and up to the 2nd level. You almost have to have an empty house to do that and things take so much longer now because there are not enough workmen on the job. For the money we sunk into this house, we probably should have had a house built but I never thought we could afford that.


Ceejay - I guess you never think about it when you are working that the chemicals can have an adverse affect on you later on. Same with coal mines, hair dressers - anything you are breathing in. At least you are in a milder climate and hopefully not a lot of pollution to bother you. Does the pollen bother you at all?


Susie - I'm so glad you enjoyed your extended vacation. You are always on the go, on call at work so how nice that you actually got to do fun things with your family. The concert sounded like so much fun! We did 3rd row center for the Eagles when we saw the **** Freezes Over Concert in Memphis. TOTALLY WORTH the money. A most wonderful time. I hope you get cleared to go back to work. I think everyone is going to eventually wind up with some variation of Covid. People are tired of it, don't want to wear masks. I'm pretty sure that all the ladies in my class have been vaccinated but today I asked the teacher if we could push using hand sanitizer in class because although we are separated at stations on the circuit, we are all touching everything one right after the other. Of course no one is wearing masks which would make it sort of difficult because the room is warm and we are all huffing by the end of the first circuit. I had hoped she would have us sanitize as we walked in but she sprayed everyone afterwards. I told her I all of a sudden got stuffy and feeling sick Friday afternoon. Played the old game - is it a cold, allergies, the flu or Covid???? It only lasted through the night. I took some Nyquil and went to bed early and felt better the next morning. Had it continued over the weekend I would have skipped class today. The instructor said one lady who was really perky called her and said her family has Covid fears for her so they won't let her continue with the classes. Sad because she looked in good health, said she really NEEDED some exercise and was so excited about the class. I think we can't let our guard down - at least not over the winter.


Hope you are all doing well. Will trade you some chill Shad for a bit of your heat. I blame the Canadians - while good people, they like to send that "Canadian air mass" that freezes us solid. :rofl:


I guess I will clock out and head to bed. Goodnight all.

1/11/21
 

From my phone again. It is much easier.to sit in my favorite chair.and type.
Saw a post on FB that one of the members of my church has tested positive for covid. we have a mask mandate inside the sanctuary and an empty pew between us but I sat behind him. It bothers me so I'm going to go buy an at home test today. my niece has also had covid.

Happy
Good for you on going to your exercise class. Yes, pollon dust etc does bother me. Mowing the yard is out of the running this year. I like to do it, but the grass bothers my air ways.

Hello everyone. Good to see you all here!

Not a lot going on with me. I skipped a week of visiting my mother because they had a case of covid in her facility, but not in her wing I found out. I visited this past Saturday. On my way home, there was a freezing drizzle coming down. The car’s “BRAKE” warning light came on at the bottom of an exit ramp with no car in front of me and when I was already at a full stop. When I stopped to pick up dinner on the way home, I checked the sensors on the front end of the car and found them coated with ice. Once I scraped it off, everything was fine.

We’ve been using our new air fryer for snacky kinds of foods – chicken wings, cheese sticks, mini tacos. I’ll have to look up some recipes for “real food”, or see how some of my existing recipes convert to the air fryer. It’s a small unit, so it might not accommodate all that much. BF bought a Nutri Bullet for himself and has been making fruit smoothies with oat milk and chia seeds. I definitely think the design makes it easier to clean than a traditional blender, so that’s a real plus. Our regular blender will probably continue to sit on the shelf since we don’t use it much at all.

Work is work. The return to the office has been postponed indefinitely due to omicron. I’ll appreciate this extra time to work remotely.

I took down the Christmas tree over the past couple days. The outdoor decorations will have to wait until it warms up and the snow melts. All the extension cords are buried.

My yogalaties class starts tonight and goes for 10 weeks. I’m leery about how many people there will be and how large the room will be. I took the class several years ago and it was a large class, but it was held in a full-size gymnasium. Hopefully it’s still in the gym and we have plenty of room to spread out.

I’m taking a half day of vacation Friday morning, and the office closes at 1 pm (pre-holiday), so I have all day off on Friday. I’m getting together for an early dinner with a friend. Monday is the MLK holiday, which is now a company holiday for us. So I have a 4-day weekend. Woohoo! I’ll probably venture back into the gym over the weekend. It’s always very quiet these days – me and a few others, no more than a half dozen people, if that. I’m sure omicron did away with the New Year’s surge in exercisers, so it might be okay to return now.

On to personals:

Happy – I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your aunt, but it’s good she’s no longer suffering from her medical problems. I hope your cousin can enjoy all the time he’ll now have to himself. It’s good you reconnected with him last summer. ==I’m really happy you’re talking with your sister again! ==Your senior exercise class sounds like there’s never a dull moment, LOL. Hang in there – it’ll get easier for you!! I sure wish my park district still offered the circuit class – all the exercise stations, three full circuits. It always went by quickly and I always felt like I’d had a really good workout. == Is your renovation project finally done now? You must really be looking forward to setting everything back to rights now. And it’ll be fun to buy some new furniture!== Sounds like you’ll be extremely busy with all those classes you have coming up!! Good luck. == All those windows you have sound great for all the natural light, but I agree, when you don’t want the sun and there’s no coverings, it’s a problem. We installed a new front door a few years back and selected one with a really pretty window, but we didn’t anticipate that the beveled design would reflect light all over the place…at a certain time of day at a certain time of year, it reflects a spot of sun onto our tv. Sometimes I’ll use painters tape to cover the window with a piece of paper, but most of the time we just patiently wait for the spot to move elsewhere. == We’ve had some cold weather here too, but it’s moderating a bit the past couple days. As long as the teens/single digits don’t hang around for weeks on end, it’s bearable. == Nice that your DH was able to fix the stove! It’s so awful that you’re having these appliance issues and having trouble getting prompt repairs. I hope your fridge finally gets repaired!! == Yes, I’d feel guilty donating a bunch of seasonal items *after* the season ended – leaving the thrift shop to store them until next year, or sell them for clearance prices just to be rid of them. So I’m okay with storing a couple boxes until the holiday season comes up again. == Lowlights were one of the suggestions my hairdresser made. I hope I won’t get impatient with the transition process. Or get fed up possibly paying more just to go gray, LOL. ==I do like my salon. Not because of their products though – they are an Aveda salon and the scents are generally too strong and “earthy” for me, so it’s just the coloring products and that’s it. The main reason I like them is that they have good employees there, very experienced and professional, and they’ve been around a while – very low turnover. After my person leaves (later this month is my last appointment with her), I’m going to use the person she suggested and see how this one thinks I should deal with my gray. You know what, if I’d stopped coloring my hair at the beginning of all this pandemic stuff, I’d be through this whole transition by now!!! Oh well, maybe I can be well on my way by the time I finally do return to the office. == Yes, office space is definitely different these days. We’ve been in our latest space since 2018. There are fewer offices, and they’re smaller. The cubes are smaller too, and they’re closer together and have lower walls. Sound carries more easily. For that reason, in addition to the usual conference room spaces, there are other spaces for temporary use that allow for quiet or phone calls. Thankfully our office isn’t a “hoteling” arrangement – our business doesn’t lend itself to that. But with the onset of remote and hybrid employees, our office has kept assigned offices and cubes for hybrid employees, but remote employees who periodically work in the office will have to find an open spot. I haven’t been downtown in so long, I’m sure it’ll feel much different to me when I do finally start commuting again. Even though I hate staying inside the office all day long, I doubt I’ll venture outside at lunch as frequently as I used to.

Ceejay – Look forward to seeing you here more this year! I hope the asthma and COPD haven’t been giving you problems. You have to be especially careful with this covid virus. == Good news about your nephew’s sobriety.

Annie – Sorry to hear you’re dealing with an IRS audit. What a mess that you’ve paid and their records don’t reflect it!! I hope you have the cancelled check!!== What a lot of stress your son and DIL are under – financial, medical, emotional. I hope everyone can hang in there for the next few months and all goes well. == Good for getting back on the WL train. My weight has hovered around the same spot the past several years now, just fluctuating up and down a few pounds. Now why couldn’t that be the case for the 25-30 years before that?! Instead I just kept going up a couple pounds a year – and not down…and that’s why I’ve got about 40+ pounds to lose today. Bleh.

Susie – Good of you to at least see some positives that came out of the pandemic. Other than appreciating being able to see friends again after periods of not, the next thing for me is having the opportunity to work remotely. And the fact that the pandemic forced corporations to address the remote work issue. When companies finally return to their offices, some will continue to work remotely on a permanent basis and many, like me, will not have to commute 5 days a week as in the past. Our schedules can now be more flexible. == Your 3 weeks of vacation sounded wonderful. How fun you went to see Rick Springfield. I didn’t know he was in his 70’s!! I had such a crush on him when he was on General Hospital! == Nice you were able to celebrate your DH’s birthday this year, especially since you couldn’t do that with his last birthday and it was kind of a big one. Sorry he ended up with covid, but this omicron variant is so very contagious, it seems unavoidable unless you’re living like a hermit. == I hope you can get back to the office now so you can better learn your new role.

Hello Shad!! Hope all is well down under. Do you hate that phrase? :D

That’s it for now. Everyone take care! TTFN.

Hello All You Fine Ladies....

We got to get the baby shower in this past Saturday. Morgan was feeling well enough to attend. Altho she was hooked up to all her IVs. They got a lot of really nice stuff. Things they needed. Car seat stroller combo that I got them. Diaper genie, bouncy seat, wash tub thing, lots of little outfits and diapers galore. All and all it was nice. Morgan goes back to the specialist on February 1st. The ultrasound will determine Jaxtyn comes early. His numbers last week were higher than the week before so it is not looking good. I just keep praying.

Still working on the IRS thing. Hoping to get it resolved soon. Geez I just don't have any faith in them.

Work is going well. I still love it here. My boss is the best. May work till I am 80. haha Shoot may have to.

Not a lot going on here. Just cold and cloudy.. Thank God the snow storms have fallen south of Indy and the next one is falling north of Indy. I will take it cause I do not care for snow.

Hope you are stay healthy and well.

Morning everyone. Bf's mom was supposed to come over today to spend part of the day with us, but that was called off a short bit ago.. She had covid a couple weeks ago. Not going into the drama about all that because I may have already ranted to you about it.. but now bf is paranoid about various and sundry symptoms he has and decided not to risk it since it hasn't been too long since her recovery. He's going to get a test through his sister today (she has some tests). I might too.

Anyway, now I'm back to visiting my mom this afternoon. It's been an automatic for me to visit her early afternoon each Saturday. Now that the schedule changed and then it changed back - I have to gear myself up for it because, frankly, it's not easy to see her in her current stage of dementia. Last week, she just wanted to sleep (very common) and became agitated and wanted me to leave. That was hard. Hopefully she's feeling better today.

I started my Yogalaties class two weeks ago.. I like the instructor a lot. She says we're doing a challenge and I believe it'll be a 5 minute plank, alternating every 30 seconds between the traditional plank and a knee version. I guess we'll be working towards it during each class. I'm going to also try to work on this at home so I don't fail miserably.

Nothing much else to report.

Annie - I'll keep your son, his gf & their baby in my thoughts, and i hope the rest of the pregnancy goes well. == I'm happy you're happy with your boss and your work. I'd like to be able to say that. It's strange, but I was relieved that my office postponed our return, but in a way I'd been looking forward to some sort of normal - back to some of the old routine. I guess I'll just try to focus on the positive - no commuting in this cold weather.

Hope the rest of you ladies are doing well and staying healthy.

I'm going to get this posted and take care of some stuff around the house before I visit mom. TTFN!

Morning all,
Been trying to get back here for some days, but like everything else I plan, life has a way of doing something else, somewhere else. If you get the drift.
We've been having a bit of cooler weather. You lot must be blowing it in from the north and also a lot of rain on our side of the continent. The other side is on fire. Always something to test us with.
Omicron has become rampant over here. From having no infections, we are now up to 10-16000 per day with a lot of deaths here in Queensland. Yesterday there was 10, the day before 16. That may not seem a lot to a country whose infection rates are 800000 per day and hundreds of deaths, but putting it in perspective, you have 230,000,000 odd people and we have 23,000,000 odd (extra odd in many cases) and about 7,000,000 here in Queensland then 10 a day is a lot to us. Most of those dying have had at least 2 shots of vaccination, some have had 3 and some none. They are still dying anyway. Mind you we are now getting some deaths of younger people but on the whole its grabbing 60's, 70's and upwards. Given that us oldies have the most spending power, this is not good for the economy.
Enough of Covid. Tired of it all.
Just took a look back to see who has posted since I last posted and I find that I haven't posted since I started the thread - naughty Shad. Life hasn't been that busy.
It wasn't a new year resolution - I suck at those - but I started back to eating well and drinking more. Water and tea and coffee not alcohol. It seems to be paying off. I've lost about 4 kilos - that's around 9lbs in the 2 1/2 weeks since I started. I'm also doing weights and walking again so that no doubt helps. Mind you it isn't hard to drink lots in this heat and humidity. I seem to be in a constant sweat. But it won't be too long before we are into February and it starts to cool down at the end of that month.

Laura - glad to hear that the company has seen sense and allowed you to work at home for the next period of variants. Probably a good idea on the whole given it is winter over there.
Your hair will look good, I think you are wise to take it slowly. I didn't get a choice, my hair fell out after chemo and when it grew back it was au natural.
That's a bit scary about the brake light coming on, but I can understand that ice will distort the view and the sensor. The rear cameras in my car get a bit foggy from time to time and seem to think there is something to back into - but it is only the humidity fogging it up after one of our rain storms we have been having.
I've been thinking about an air-fryer for a while. But I haven't done anything about it. Too much else to spend my money on at the moment.
It's so hard to see your parents with dementia. You can do so little to help them and they get stroppy for no reason. Probably all the moving she has been doing over the past year or so is not helping her to process the changes.

Happy - Interesting you thought about the threesome of the Queen, Betty White, and your mom. A great trio to look up to. Our Queen will hang about for a bit longer although not if her grandson keeps hitting the family with his bombshells - not doubt encouraged by his eccentric wife, but he is undoubtedly hurting the Queen.
I was sad to hear about your cousin and his emotional pain, not to mention the physical pain. He has borne a lot of responsibilities in his life. May he find some peace and healing for himself now.
I'm also glad to hear that you and your sister have smoked the peace pipe. There isn't a lot of family left, and you don't have a long lifetime left either. No point in holding grudges. Think it, say it, be done with it.
Well done on the exercise class and sticking out the circuit three times. There are days when I just can't be bothered and then I do the exercise weights anyway. I'm procrastinating about the yoga cd tho'. :lol:
We've been seeing some of the snow and ice up your way on our TV news. Not a good time for driving.

Ceejay - Bad luck on the COPD - I have a 2 friends with that. It's not nice. Good to hear that the nephew is sober. He is doing well.
Good luck with the at home tests. Some of them work better than others. Not that I've tried any. Can't get them here for love nor money.

Annie - I hope you have the bank statements and receipts for that tax paid. Ridiculous what governments are doing to collect money these days.
My sister had the 24/7 9 months of morning sickness with her babies. It wasn't pretty. I hope your son and daughter get through this okay. She doesn't have much longer to go. Hopefully it will all go well at the delivery. Glad the baby shower went well and that the baby is okay. Early will probably be good for both of them.
Glad to know that you are happy with the floors and doors in your house. Nice to have renovations working well and looking good.
It seems to me, that we all have the problem of when not strictly watching our food and water intake, we are gaining weight. It's such a pain.
And you love your job. That is great!! :wink:

Susie - Glad to hear you had a good time on holiday and it sounds like it was a nice dinner for DH's birthday. Happy birthday to him - late and all.
Springfield sounds like a good night out. The oldies are the real goodies aren't they. To think they are still touring and singing at 70 and 80. It will be hard when they are all gone.
Hope DH is better now with the bronchitis. Not something you want to keep hanging about.

Well that is about it I think. Lovely day out there, and it will be cooler today - around 29C I think they said last night (88F more or less) so I might be able to do a bit in the yard. Lawn needs mowing again darn it. So I'll buzz off and get some breakfast and then organise the day before it gets away from me and I end up doing nothing (except hunt for my glasses or keys or whatever) Stay safe, stay well, stay home.

Hi
 

FROM MY PHONE
I've had a stomach virus which is what my niece had when she tested positive for covid. Thankfully I don't have it. Had to go to urgent care to be tested because i couldnt find any test kits snd all ythe testing places were booked. Just dont have any energy
Was supposed to keep A and the kiddos tonight but his sister is doing that for me while I gain my strength back

Annie
Hope you have all the receipts where you paid the IRS. And hope the the baby and mother are doing better

Hellos to the rest.

Hello! I can't believe how fast time has gone already this month. Going back in the office is NOT my favorite thing at all. I can tell you that I leave on time every day.


The work is ok. My boss is really hard to understand. He has a very thick French accent. Those who have worked with him for 5 years say they still have a hard time understanding most of what he is saying.

I just tell myself, it is what it is and it will all work out.


My DH is all clear from the Covid and didn't really feel too badly. I believe it went so well as he is vaccinated and boosted and also that his doctor gave him the antibodies right away. I am so glad that I didn't get it.

I really am just over it all.


About a year ago, my dentist retired I have a new dentist team. I call them a team because it is a husband and wife who bought the practice.


I haven't been too impressed with them. I was seeing the husband and kept having issues with a tooth the he filled.


Finally we got it settled down. So, I decided to see if I like his wife. I saw her last week for a cleaning. She was pretty rough and my gums are very irritated. She also found 4 small cavities that I need fillings for.


I asked was it normal that even though I come and get my teeth cleaned & checked twice do I all of a sudden have 4 small cavities. She said she didn't really know but maybe it is because we are all wearing masks so often and for long periods of the day that our mouth dries out and that could be contributing to it. I'm not sure what I think about that.


I am looking forward to warmer weather as soon as it will come. My friend Genny and I already have concert tickets for July when the band Night Ranger will be at "Rock the Block" in my home town of Wilmington. It was a new event last year and and they are bringing it back this year. A lot of bands coming. You know I love my music.


I was surprised to hear from Dee last week. She private messaged me. Her husband has had some health issues and they are preparing to sell their current home and land and move closer his kids. She asked about each of you.


Annie: I continue to pray for the situation with the IRS and for Morgan and the baby. I'm glad to hear that everything with your job is going well.


Ceejay: Sorry to hear that you are dealing with a stomach virus but glad to hear it was Covid.


Shad: It is good to hear that you have started back to eating well and drinking more and you are seeing results! Last year, my total weight loss was 13 lbs. Of course I wanted to loose twice that, but then I thought, at least I didn't gain 13 (or more) like I did the previous year. So, I decided to be happy with that and continue to keep working on it this year.


Happy: I love your goal! (My goal is to ATTEND and complete the program.) I believe it is enough and that you will be achieve it and get a lot out of it because you can focus, which I believe will bring good results.


Laura: I really feel for you with all that you are dealing with your mom's current stage of dementia. It really is heart breaking. Big hugs to you.


The Yogalaties class sounds like a big challenge but a good one. Planks are hard!


I need to get off here and get a shower and get my day going. We are not going to church this morning. We will watch it on the live stream and plan to go this evening. Less people there at the evening service.

Afternoon all and Happy February 1st! Didn't January go by fast?!

It’s wet out – mild and rainy, and then sometime tonight it'll turn to snow and it’s forecast to continue throughout the day tomorrow. Of course the weather folks are making a big deal about it because some of the areas to the south of us may get 10-12 inches. My area may get 4-5 inches. But nothing as bad as Boston, NY and that area of the East coast got last week.


Last week was my first 5-day workweek in quite a while, and this week is another. Thank goodness the next two weeks will be shorter!


Last Friday bf and I went to a friend’s house and had a nice time with her and her husband and her sister and her bf. I haven’t socialized much at all lately and I miss it!


My visit with my mom this past Sunday was good – she was awake and responsive for most of my visit. Fingers crossed I can get another good visit in this coming weekend.


Bf had some a couple friends over to watch playoff football on Sunday. He’s really been enjoying the playoffs this season. Otherwise he’s been really cranky lately and it’s been hard to take.

Actually, last Wednesday he went out to the library shortly before I left for my exercise class. He was still gone when I got home and I saw he'd texted me while I was in the shower that he’d had a blood pressure spike that freaked him out and so he went to the hospital. Thank goodness it wasn’t a heart attack, but I’m not surprised something like this came up because he stopped going to the gym a while ago due to the Omicron spike, he’s been very stressed about his mother’s move to his sister’s place, and lastly - he has refused to take the BP rx he was prescribed at his last physical exam. He intended to try to do what he could to avoid the med by exercising and losing weight, but it hasn’t happened. He’s finally started taking the med, and he has his doctor appointment next week. In the meantime, he’s made comments a few times in response to something that gets him annoyed/angry “no wonder my BP is high”. One of the comments was directed at me and I shut that down right away and he apologized. I just don’t know if I can deal with the grumpy old man he’s turned into these past few years, especially with this latest situation with his health. Not the situation itself, but how he’s not doing what he should to take care of himself!

Enough ranting and on to personals:

Shad – I hope Omicron is starting to ease up in your area like it has in the US. I’ve really gotten away from the news these days. (Even stopped my Sunday newspaper subscription!) I’m really only hearing the occasional blurb on the radio and haven’t heard much in the way of the latest virus stats. My nurse friend says the pandemic will turn to endemic – which I take to mean the case rates will stabilize, but it will not go away completely but that most people will have some sort of immunity from the vaccinations and/or having had it. I’ve enjoyed my bonus weeks of working remotely. I would have liked to finished out the winter working remotely, but I have a feeling that the rapid drop in covid cases will have us back to the office before too long. == Good job on eating well, drinking more water, etc. and the resultant WL. I’m slacking on my water because it’s been so cold lately. I guess I need to drink my water at room temp. == We’re still enjoying our little air fryer, especially bf, who loves using it for chicken wings. Just yesterday he talked about getting a full-sized one so it could hold larger batches. I agree that would be more practical, but at least our little one keeps us at reasonable portion sizes, LOL. We have quite the collection of small kitchen appliances, including a few I’m ashamed to report I’ve never used, LOL. This year I will commit to using each of them! Famous last words. :D

Ceejay – I hope your stomach virus is gone now and you’re back to feeling well again.


Susie – I’m glad you don’t linger in the office! Sorry you seem disappointed in your new position/boss. I can empathize with the difficulty of deciphering your boss’s accent – I have that trouble with some of my mother’s caregivers. I hope it’s something you adjust to after hearing it a while. Face masks must make it even worse, right? == I’m glad your DH is done with covid and didn’t get any severe symptoms. == Sorry you're not happy with your new dentist. I do think it’s odd to suddenly have 4 cavities pop up if you’ve had regular exams…I don’t think I agree with her mask theory contributing to them. == It’s great you’re already planning your warm weather outings. I need to do that! == I periodically exchange brief PM’s with Dee on the fitbit app. My ancient fitbit conked out years ago, and I’ve only kept the app because I still have the occasional contact with her. I don’t know why she doesn’t just post on our thread here….

Hellos to Happy and Annie!! :wave:


I’ll get this posted and then get some food prep done – steam some eggs (I don’t boil them anymore!), make some ditalini pasta to eat with the chili bf made over the weekend, and make a batch of granola bars. TTFN!

Hello Chickee Friends,

We survived the ice/snow storm that started Wednesday in Friday. I worked from home on Thursday and Friday and will work from home this Monday as we have the Board meeting in our space at work. I am happy to be able to work at home these last few of days and Monday too.

Other than going out yesterday with DH to clean off the cars and then the driveway and shovel he front porch so we could open our front door. I haven't been out of the house. We will go to Church tomorrow. The city has only plowed our street once yesterday.

Laura, I'm glad to hear that your BF has a doctor's appointment. I'm sure he is grumpy because he doesn't feel "right" and is scared. Men are awful when it comes to their health....

I am glad your visit with your mom was a good one.

Not much going on with me...really tired of winter already. Come on April! In Ohio, March can be really wintery and messy.

Looking forward to the Super Bowel a week from tomorrow. So excited for my Bengals. I have always been a Bengal fan. For 30 years, they did summer training in Wilmington, OH at our College and I went to many practices.

Hello to everyone...hope to see you posting soon.

Time to check in again - it's been a busy week and next week isn't looking much better. I am getting this done before I shower and go to the shops to get some bits and pieces. Life always seems to think otherwise when I make plans to do things.
This site is doing some strange things to me. First it doesn't give me any notifications that anyone of you has posted. Then when I start my post and get though the first sentence, it deletes the post. Very annoying but life can be very annoying often these days too.

Ceejay - hope you are all over the stomach virus by now. Sounds like you need magnesium tablets to get the get up and go going again. I take them daily along with curcumin which is for sore joints and general bones health. Seems to work okay for me

Susie - some of the problem with different nationalities speaking English is that they don't speak it enough. They talk in their own language at home and with friends and a lot of nationalities for one reason or another don't mix with other nationalities and people - which would improve the accent no end. My neighbour has been here 45 years from Czechoslavakia and I still can't understand her particularly on the phone. She has to repeat things time and again. She also can't read English well so I have to sort out some of her mail. It's all because she will not speak English within the family or friends.
I hear you on the dentist. My lovely dentist can no longer work at the local practice because he is not vaccinated. So sad when wonderful, educated people can't work. Bloody covid - and the politicians who thought that mandate up are no better. We are losing teachers, doctors, shopkeepers, hospital workers and particularly aged care workers because of this stupid mandate. Whatever happened to freedom of choice?
My weight loss journey is up and down. I know deep down that these sudden gains are due to fluid retention but that doesn't make it easy to get on the scales and see that I have put on 1.5lbs over night.
Hope yours goes better than mine.
Over here we are tired of summer - the humidity, the bugs, the heat, the wind, the rain etc. Still, the nights are cooling down somewhat and unless we get another bout of an extreme heatwave then we have passed the worst. The days are becoming a little bit shorter and it is quite cool when I get up in the morning.

Laura - good to read in your last post that your mum was somewhat more with it last time you posted. I hope it lasts for her and for you.
Men are strange creatures at times. Hope your B/F now has his blood pressure under control and you are getting on better together. I remember my Dad when his blood pressure wasn't good. Not nice to know. His love of chicken wings from the air fryer - while better than the deep fryer - still contains a lot of fat and cholesterol. But if you tell him that you will probably get yelled at.
Omicron and covid is easing here, and they aren't frightening us with a new variant at this point. The vaccinations and booster will not stop anyone from getting the lurgy but will 'apparently' give the patient milder results. Which is why I ask the question about why our old folk are dying off in droves from the disease even if they have been fully vaccinated.

Okay, well I have weeded, fertilised and mulched the garden beds and pots out the back and soon it will be time to start planting the garden out. There are pumpkins growing everywhere and I will take some to Probus on Tuesday and sell them off for a couple of dollars each and then I can pull out the dying vines - including the one growing through my shed. The day of the Triffids has arrived in there.
I'm off to have a shower and go do some of the shopping so I can eat next week. I have the meal plan all ready and now just have to shop for the stuff I don't have in the fridge, pantry or freezer. Pumpkin will probably feature quite highly on the menu.

I'll be back

Morning
 

Shad
I'm over the stomach and I agree I think taking some supplements would help.
__
Have 2 appointments today, one with insurance and the other one with tax consultant.
Fell last night coming in the back door. My toe caught the threshold just right and down I went
Nothing hurt but my pride. Nephew was here so he helped me get up.
Super bowl was good. I was for the Rams.
Everyone have a great week. Going to start my own thing here in 3 fc but any one would be wcomed to jointoive been doing IzmFz and it seems to help.

Hello. Once again it’s been a while since I posted and we’re already more than halfway through February!

Hi Ceejay, nice to see you posting! I’m glad you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell. Let us know if you start another thread on 3fc. I think you said you’ve been doing IF - intermittent fasting? How many days per week do you do that?

Shad – Saw the photo of the plant growing through your shed, too funny. Is your climate considered tropical? So different that summer is our only growing season in the area I live in, but the summer’s are too hot in your area for (veg) gardening. I’ve yet to re-start any herbs indoors. My “gardening” efforts are basically limited to keeping my few houseplants alive. I also planted an amaryllis bulb that I’d forgotten buying during the holidays. I thought I might gift it to my mom, but I forgot all about it until I came across it a couple weeks ago. . I also managed to get a poinsettia from the previous Christmas to turn red again this past Christmas, so maybe I’ll try for a third Christmas with it. Down in the basement in my mini greenhouse, I have a couple big pots I brought in last fall before a frost hit – they are begonias interplanted with some bright green contrasting foliage . I’m trying to see if I can get them to survive over the winter so I can bring them out again in the spring.

Susie – I think you must have gotten hit by the same winter storm we did. Nice to be working from home and not have to battle the elements. We’re totally on the same page as far as being tired of winter. I’m not happy that it’s been snowing all afternoon today, just after most of the old snow had finally melted! I’m happy to be working from home, but now that the covid cases have been easing up, I expect a date to be set for our RTO pretty soon. I was kind of hoping to get through March before that happened…we’ll see. How are your workouts going?

Hellos to Annie & Happy. :wave:

Not a whole lot going on with me. I still have to do my taxes. I’ve been spending my free time reading and watching TV. A bit of sewing and baking now and then. I have a few items for sale on FB/Craigslist, but there is no activity with them. The yogalaties class is going alright. Did I mention the instructor set a challenge for the last class? It’s a five minute plank. Total of five minutes, but the time is spent alternating every thirty seconds between a traditional plank and a modified (knee) plank. It’s been several weeks since I’ve been to the gym. I’ll get there this weekend.

BF had a couple people over for the Super Bowl last Sunday. He bought a larger size air fryer (and made some chicken wings, of course). I guess it’ll be more practical than the mini one. We’ll have to find or adapt some recipes to the fryer. I hope it doesn’t become one more appliance we don’t use. Speaking of unused appliances…I’ve decided I’ll use our deep fryer to make some apple fritters. Many years ago now, a little donut shop near the house – which had excellent apple fritters – closed down. None of the bakeries in our area have decent fritters. It finally occurred to me to try making some myself. I’ll try that this weekend. The batter isn’t hard to make, it’s just the frying that’s a PITA. And that's probably a good thing. Sure don't need to eat more fried foods.

I finally got my prescription coverage to approve my inhaler rx for another year after trying and failing with FOUR other inhalers, a process I’ve been going through since last fall. I must admit to getting impatient with both the insurance company and my doctor’s office as far as the prior authorization process. I saw my doctor last Friday for an appointment and he made a point of saying how much time and effort his staff put into getting my rx approved. He was definitely not happy with me, so I’m sure his staff had told them I was being a pest and not being nice. He also said that if the insurance doesn’t approve it after this year, I might just have to either pay for my preferred rx on my own or use a different inhaler. On the one hand, I’m ashamed and sorry that I got impatient with the doctor’s office staff, but on the other, I don’t think it’s right that he essentially said they won’t go to bat for me again next time. I’m also convinced that they didn’t actually follow through with the insurance company’s prior authorization procedure (one ins co person I spoke to admitted the process had a lot of back and forth to it) and maybe if they followed it, they wouldn’t have had to spend 45 minutes on the phone with them to finally get it done! I guess I’ll see what happens the next time and if it’s an issue, I will make it known that I do not appreciate them giving up on me. I might not have the most severe asthma problem they’ve seen, but I deserve to use an inhaler that works for me.

Today’s my Friday. Our office closes at 1 pm tomorrow in advance of the Presidents Day holiday on Monday. I’m taking vacation tomorrow morning so I can have the whole day off, and then I’ll have a 4-day weekend. No big plans. As usual, I’ll visit my mom. I’m supposed to meet my friend D. for breakfast on Sunday, but I’m not exactly sure it’ll happen now. We had a phone conversation last week and towards the end when we were talking about where we’d meet for breakfast, D asked if our usual place was asking for vaccine cards (proof of vaccine). She is fully vaccinated, has her card and everything but just feels it isn’t right for them to do this. If I thought this was her own opinion, I might feel differently, but I’m almost 100% sure this is her sh*thead bf filling her brain with his opinions. He’s not vaccinated and has all sorts of opinions about how the government has handled the pandemic, yada, yada, yada. This is the same AH who wouldn’t take a flight out to a family funeral, and so he drove all the way to AZ and therefore couldn’t be with D for her breast cancer surgery. Furthermore, D had to phone the police once because his behavior got out of hand when he came home drunk one night. Anyway…we ended the call with me telling D to choose a place – assuming she’ll choose one that doesn’t ask for proof of vaccine. I haven’t heard from her yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she made an excuse to postpone until after the mask and proof of vax mandates have ended.

Sorry this post has been on the rant-y side. On the positive side, bf is now taking his BP med after his doctor told him it was better than having a heart attack or stroke. At work, our annual incentive payout has been approved and it was better than expected. Our annual salary increase was also announced and it was better than last year, (but unfortunately it’s not as high as inflation is right now).

Okay, I’m going to get this posted. Everyone have a wonderful evening/weekend!

Laura
I started a thread called intermittent fastingnin the weight loss support area. It's just me but wld love some extra support.

Hello Friends,
I have been dealing with sickness for over a week now.
Started a week ago Monday and by Thursday. .i was dealing with coughing, drainage with sinus. Took.a rapid test, it.was negative. Went to see my doctor, she wondered if it was Covid but since it had been 4 days since I started cold like symptoms and I had a negative test she would give me a antibiotic and some other things to help.

i got a little better until Tuesday. I work up feeling horrible. I did another rapid test and it was positive.

i had to alert my work and they asked me to.come to our Health Center and get a PCR test on Wednesday. I did and Thursday test came back as positive for Covid. So I have been home and no.where else 10 days now. I have worked from home the whole time

We are closed for Presidents day on Monday. My work protocol has me doing a at home rapid test on Monday ( they provided the tests when I went in to do the PCR test). I have to do that test where I log on to a site.and they watch me do.the test.and they verify the result. If it is negative and I feel ok, I go back to the office on Tuesday. If not I stay home and test again on Thursday.

So very tired of Covid.
I need to get some house work done so I will come back again later today and do personals.

Feel better Susie!

Susie
Wow, sorry thar you have covid. Hope you feel better soon

Time to get back here again
Susie - so sorry to hear that you have the dreaded Covid. I hope you feel better soon. Seems you have had quite a nasty dose of it.
Laura - we are in the Sub Tropics. South of the Tropic of Capricorn but not in the Temperate Zone. Similar to the tropics, we get hot, humid summers with periods of rain, tornadoes and cyclones, and warm, gentle breezes in the winter. Rather than the four seasons, the Aboriginal people believe we have six seasons - I forget the names but spring and autumn aren't two of them.
Sounds like your potting is going along okay. Well done on two red Christmas' with the Poinsettias.
I've been toying with the idea of an air fryer - my old oven is on its last legs. But I don't know whether it will be a help or a hindrance since most of my meals these days are salad based and I only eat meat, chicken or fish three or four days a week now.
We have the same sort of problems with people not willing to hand over the correct forms to enter a pub, club or restaurant, however the mask mandate finishes next week (YEEHAA) and hopefully they (being those in power) will get rid of the vaccination mandate soon and stop discriminating against people who for one reason or another do not wish to be vaccinated.

Ceejay - hope you are okay after the fall. I go for a walk 3 times a week and with all this rain the wooden bridges are actually quite slippery and down I went a couple of times. Hurt pride, sore butt and landed heavily on an arm and a shoulder. Feeling okay now though.

Hello :wave: to Happy and Annie,

We are in the grip of yet another rainbelt. I can't believe how much rain we have had this summer. The early warning alerts are advertising we are in for heavy, torrential rain, storms, wind and then when that moves on, another cyclone (hurricane up there) is forming in the Coral Sea. Parts of the inland are underwater and parts are on fire. Can't win some years.

The Probus Club are off to the Outback Spectacular show next Sunday. We are going to the lunchtime session. Here's the website Outback Spectacular . Should be fun and it will be good to get out again for a meal and a show.

The pumpkins are still growing strong and yesterday I dashed out in the rain and heaved them back from the neighbours place - one of the vines didn't want to come back so when I climbed up the fence to see what was going on, I found a big pumpkin growing between his shed and my fence. I've cut off the one growing in the shed before it actually strangled me. Talk about the Day of the Tryffids! :dizzy:

And that's about it for the time being. I can't think of anything more. A parcel arrived this morning from an online purchase and I may have to brave the rain to go out and get some tools to put it together. But first there is a few things on the list left to do. I should like to be like the cat sometimes and just curl up to sleep somewhere and wake up when someone tells me lunch or tea is ready. Who am I kidding - there is only me and he here and he owns the place or so he thinks.
Catch up soon. Be good and stay well.

Joy

After a week of heavy, heavy rain and flooding which has devastated a large part of south-east Queensland and now moved down to New South Wales, we had 2 days of sunshine to help dry us out, but today we are back in the grip of heavy, torrential rain, thunder, lightning and wind. No doubt more misery will be heaped on those who have lost their homes and have had to evacuate and those who have been trying to clean up and mop up and get rid of the ruined furniture and appliances. We're also threatened with large hailstones which won't do much to help morale and judging by that last clap of thunder we may also lose power shortly. So I guess I better stop here until we get over this lot as well.

Keep well, keep safe and look after yourselves.

Hello All...

Susie...hope you are feeling better by now. Covid is not joke. I had it before all the vaccines and such when it first started. Yikes it was awful.

SHADDIE...I see you are dealing with covid, rain, floods and what not. Holy cow hunker down woman.

HAPPY...thank you for not adding me to the post a picture thing on FB. I don't do them and it seems to disappoint those that do.

CEEG...my dad lived with COPD for years. It got awful at the end of life for him. Of course he was 86 when he passed, so there is that.

LAURA...just have to be patience with momma. I know it is hard but you will be glad you did later on down the road. Hugs sis.

Morgan has made it to week 37. I think they are going to get their C section date today at the docs office. They have made it clear they are not telling anyone anything until after the baby gets here. Whatever. I tell you, kids sure treat their parents differently then they did when I was a kid. Some times I just want to wring both my kid's necks. His name will be Jaxtyn Lee. He seems to be doing ok and producing amniotic fluid like he should and the swelling in the kidneys seem to be getting better. The numbers are better but not where they should be.

Work is great. I am fatter than ever. Still fighting with IRS, but MAYBE making headway...a little. We have to claim capital gains on 2021 taxes due to the sell of Cs house and it not being his primary place of residence. So yeah, taxes on 100,000. dollars. Makes my stomach hurt thinking of what we will have to pay in taxes this time. Like 30K in taxes. Prayers welcome.

Best get back to work, my 15 minute lunch is almost over, by choice so I can get off at 4 every day.

Miss you all,

Hello!
Last Saturday, I wrote a lovely and informative post, I did it all from my phone and hit send and nothing posted. I wanted to yell and scream but instead, I just shut the phone off and didn't pick up any electronics until Monday.

Let me do personals first.

Annie: It is lovely to see a post from you. You and your family are in my prayers, especially that little boy. I'm praying for a miracle for him. Yikes about the taxes ! But what can you do.....maybe the IRS will give you some leniency with the amount...you know like hospitals do. Prayers up for this one girl!

I am glad you like your job; and I am with you on the short lunch break, I take 30 min so that I can leave at 4:30. That gets me home around 5:10 and (do to my commute) but I have so much more time at home to relax.

Ceejay: I hope you didn't get to sore and bruised up from your fall.

Shad: I haven't checked your weather forecast in a few days, hopefully the rains have subsided. Our forecast for next week shows multiple days of rain. I hate driving in it and also having to get from the parking lots into the building. It's a trek and in the rain, no fun and a bit tricky...because I have my computer bag, my purse, my lunch bag, carrying my umbrella.

Happy: It is fun seeing your pictures you post on Facebook. When I look at old pictures, I always think...why did I think my hair was so cute and why did I think I was fat? 80's hair was a force to be reckoned with and I weighed 150 lbs in the 80's! lol

Laura: How are you doing with the planking? I was very happy to hear that your work incentive was a good one.

I went back to the office this week on Monday and worked all week. I still test positive when I take a Covid test but since I did the 10 days quarantine and I have no new symptoms, I am clear as far as Covid protocol standards. I was told I could be positive for 100 days!

Other than the sinus issues I had at the beginning, and that was better after I stared the meds my doctor prescribed, my Covid symptoms were nausea and just feeling tired. I did lose 17 lbs! I am now logging my food again and getting a 30 work out in Saturday-Wednesday in. During the week, since I leave on time and I'm not working when I get home (I made a personal decision that I was not going to work every night when for an hour or so anymore, unless some big meeting was taking place) . So I come home, change my clothes when I get home, get in the workout room, get it done and enjoy the rest of my evening with my DH.

I believe being vaccinated and that it was most likely the Omnicom version help me to not be so sick. This time last year, my friend Molly was in the worst of it and that was such a scary time.

We got good news at work yesterday about 3 p.m. that starting Monday, we will not have to wear masks all day in the office or have temperature checks coming into the building. They will leave the social distancing in place and they are not mandating everyone back in the office yet. It will be decided by your Manager and your own personal case.

They did tell us that all that can change if there is a surge in cases and this will be the way it it is for a while. You are welcome to wear a mask if you feel that you need to.

We are going to have a beautiful day here in Ohio today. Our temperature with be in the 70's with sunshine. My niece Layna, is a Senior this year and this is her final theatre performance. She has the lead in "Newsies" and is so very excited. I am looking forward to watching her perform tonight.

I am looking forward to end of May beginning of June when we will be in Las Vegas with my friend from Denmark and he husband. We booked everything last week and it is nice to have something to look forward to.

I have a little bit of housework to do today; DH does most of it now but he won't dust.

Afternoon everyone,
We are slowly drying out down here, however it doesn't help that we are getting large, loud and damaging thunderstorms complete with more rain and hail and apparently even a tornado up north. This does hamper the cleanup operations. The Federal Government have finally relented and let the armed forces do some work and clean up all along the Eastern Seaboard. Sydney is still underwater with no relief from the rain in sight yet, but at least the rest of the State and here in Queensland we can breathe easy again, although we are not home and dry yet.

It's nearly time to plant out the garden again. I might wait until we are sure the rain has gone, but if I leave it too long, the soil will dry out and I'll have to water again. Never happy, us gardeners.

Susie - I well remember what it is like to be laden down like a pack mule and have to carry an umbrella as well. I don't miss those days.
I'm so pleased for you that the time of Covid infection helped you to lose weight. Has to be some silver linings somewhere doesn't there? It's great not to have to wear masks isn't it? We had that restriction lifted last week, what a relief. What a lovely thing to look forward to - friends from abroad and a trip away from home.

Annie - congratulations on becoming a granny again. It must be a welcome thing to have that pregnancy over and done with. Hope the little one is fit and well. Maybe they will think about vaccination now to protect both them and the little one. However don't suggest it, since we don't know anything about having kids - or so we are told from time to time.
Great that you like your job, but I don't envy you on the tax thing. What a holy mess.

Humidity is rising as I sit here on the computer. Guess we will get some more rain tonight. One just hopes it isn't the violent variety like we have had recently.

Not much more to add, better go out and check the laundry and see what's dry and what isn't. Then I might go out and repot a few more plants and I see that even though I mowed the lawn last Friday, it is ready to be mowed once more. So that sorts out most of the afternoon. But first comes afternoon tea. Then I will go out. The cat refuses to go out the front since there is a butcher bird out there that attacks him. He is not a fighter.

Hi everyone,


I am so so sorry for not posting. Can't tell you how many times I started a post and didn't get to finish it. This site is wonky acting too. Life has been very busy since the beginning of the year for me. We had to have part of the tile taken out from the bathroom remodel and done over because he did a very bad job with that and the caulking. He fixed it - looks much better but the project extended into February (from it's November start that was supposed to take 2 weeks - hahahahaha). I have taken 3 classes so far - one of them on Chronic pain just ended last week. Did not really learn anything to help me. The nutrition one continues for a year - sigh - again, nothing I don't already know and honestly, it's a pain doing a Zoom class with elderly people. The exercise one was good - it ends next week so I will probably pick up another senior class she is doing. I am limited with intensity because of my knee. The shot I got a couple of weeks ago helped just a tiny bit but I know now and this is also true with cortisone - that nothing will help the bone on bone situation and pain and mobility issues other than knee replacement. I'n going to have to find a surgeon who will operate on me at this weight. I am still committed to losing weight and will be but no way with I get to the weight most of them want me at in the condition I am in now. It was good getting into the habit of regular exercise again. I can see an improvement over the last 10 weeks so that's encouraging. We are trying to get through winter here - DH is antsy to get out but we still have at least another 2 months of winter ahead. I continue to have issues with my refrigerator. It's not the refrigerator as much as the repair guy doesn't know what he's doing and it takes so long to get things fixed. He breaks something else each time he comes to do a repair. I need to start the fight to get them to replace it totally.


I am getting new furniture in 2 weeks which means I need to buckle down and get ready for that - clearing some things out, shampooing the rugs, etc. Looking forward to the new furniture. Need to get booties for the cats' claws LOL.


Time just seems to be racing by far too quickly. The day is over before I know it. I have been trying to get more sleep - been going to bed at 2am and the cats wake me at 5:30am. That's not good. I think it affects the weight loss too.


Anne - congratulations on the new grandbaby. Seems to have been a very complicated pregnancy and delivery and possible issues afterwards. Hope all goes well for them going forward - I do hear you on the kids not listening thing. Makes me glad I didn't have any, especially if they'd be as stubborn as DH and I are. I'm really glad you are liking your job, but I'm so sorry that life always seems to challenge you when it comes to taxes and things. You are too good a person to deserve so many woes.


Shad, it's good to hear that things are finally drying out. Those floods were devastating. The weather sure is topsy turvy. Just hope the rain washed the bugs away also. DH bought me a lovely orchid for Valentine's Day but it is definitely not happy with me as a caretaker. I am not overwatering it. The few blooms we got were very pretty but I think it's a one and done plant. Too fussy for someone who is not a gardener! Are you getting the itch to travel? You've been home for a long time. Although travelling is not only risky but about to become far more expensive. DH wants to go places, I want to stay home LOL


Susie - I'm so sorry to hear you had Covid. I hope you are all recovered now. I had to smile at your 80's comment. By then I was accepting I didn't have the hair (or products) for 80's big hair. Just accepted what I had but my sister's wedding picture was a testament to the styles of the time. LOL it is fun to look back on things. Funny thing is, I don't see that much change although the face is rounder, the arm has more bat wing and the hair is grayer! I wish I had not shied away from pictures - like you said - thinking we were too fat - oh boy if we only knew!! Where are you staying in Las Vegas? I don't think I'd recognize the place any longer. We used to go 2 - 3 times a year in the 90's. It's nice to have something to look forward to.


Laura - how did the plank challenge and the apple fritters work out? I agree with you - fritters now a days have no apple in them. I've been disappointed in all of them I've tried over the last 2 years. Not motivated enough to make them myself and I don't need more than one a month anyway LOL. How is your Mom doing? Good news that BF is taking his meds like he should - so hard dealing with them.


Ceejay - how is the intermittant fasting working for you? I tried that and I think it helps but you have to be a good planner to make it work and I was not as committed as I needed to be. Also just knowing I could not eat after a certain time automatically made me hungry.


I'm sorry to make this so short but I wanted to get something down and I have a class in 45 minutes so I need to prepare. Then we have to go to the shelter and pick up our bingo things in storage. We are doing a 4 session bingo fundraiser in March and April - twice a month starting this week. I don't know if I'm excited about it or not.


Anyway - take care everyone.

Happy
I like the IF. I'm a night time snacker. Sometime u can make a 14 hour fast but only once have I completed a 16 hour fast. If I make the 14 hour fast I'm doing good right now. I like the idea, ut will probably try for my realm of a window of 12's.

Annie
Congratulations on the new grandson.

Susie
hope you are feeling better from the bout with covid.. I didn't realize that vovid would last that long on your system.

Shad
hi : wave:

Not much going on in my neck of the woods.

Man this site is WONKY!!!! :mad:

I just typed a bunch into the Quick Reply and the screen suddenly changed and I lost it all. grrrrrr

Ceejay - I did try IF and it really was helpful to break the nighttime snacking habit. But I was unable to manage anything more than a 14 hour fast. It makes it a bit difficult also when there are 2 people in the house and you're doing the cooking. DH would make something himself to eat if I asked but that would only work for a day or two.

I'm glad you are having success with it.

Yes, Donna, I have been having this problem for a while now. The reply/ post screen is smaller than usual, and as you type into it, it just changes to the normal and you lose the lot. Very annoying.
It seems that the screen has difficulty loading and then it just adjusts and gives you the proper screen. It's a pain.

Hello all. Once again a few weeks since posting. This is probably the right interval for me to post since I don’t have all that much going on.

Shad – Six seasons, huh. In my area, the old joke is that we have two seasons – winter and construction (the latter in reference to the never-ending roadwork). When we had our dog, I always said we had mud season – the very wet time at the beginning of spring when the ground was so wet with melted snow and/or rain. ==As for the air fryer…it’s yet to be seen if it yields any healthy foods for us. I’d like to try making fish in it. So far though, it’s been used for chicken wings and tater tots and little else. BF talked about purchasing an air fryer cookbook and I told him there’s a lot of recipes online. I’ve also put three air fryer cookbooks on hold at the library. I have way more cookbooks on my bookshelves than I need/use, even after doing a purge a few years ago. I’d rather just take a photocopy of a page from a library book than invest in a book that’ll mostly gather dust on the shelf. Logistically speaking, the full-size air fryers take up a good bit of counter space. That might be a deal-breaker for you. ==Sorry to hear about all the rain and flooding going on over there at the moment. The weather gets stranger and stranger, and more and more severe. !@#$% climate change. Horrible to hear about all the damage caused by the harsh weather. ==Did you enjoy the Probus Club outing to the Outback Spectacular? If nothing else, it’s a change of pace. ==I had to look up Day of the Triffids, LOL. I might have that species of plant in my backyard, lol. == Yes, I agree with your comment to Susie - sometimes carrying all the stuff during my commute makes me feel like a pack mule! I often visualized my vertebrae compressing with every step I took, especially when the powers that be at work required to take our laptops home every night just in case something happened to cause us to work remotely the next day. Even though it has its own hassles, I’ll be using a wheeled backpack for my commute on a permanent basis.

Annie – Congrats on the birth of the grandbaby! I hope the complications will subside as the baby develops/gains weight. ==Glad to hear that work is great. Ugh, the IRS thing is still not resolved??!! What an ordeal. And always something new depending on what you’ve done to trigger some tax event. The tax code in this country is ridiculous. == I need my full lunch hour these days to get away from the computer screen. Maybe being back in the office and having face to face meetings and other interactions that don’t involve zoom meetings will be a good thing for me. That and getting out of the house, even if it’s for the commute. As the weather gets nicer, I’ll get out for walks and that’ll be good too, but right now I have cabin fever.

Susie – You’re so right – it’s a real hassle hauling all our stuff around to/from work…on a normal day. It becomes a gigantic hassle when the need for an umbrella is added to the mix. In preparation for my return to the office next month I’m trying to see if I can go with a much smaller purse that I can jam into my backpack with all the other stuff…== Planking isn’t going good since I fail to practice them outside of the weekly yogalaties class. I suppose another calendar reminder is in order. Or I can plank on the kitchen floor while I wait for my morning tea to brew, lol. ==I’m glad you’re over the covid. I had no idea you could test positive for 100 days afterwards! == Good for you leaving work on time and not working at night after you get home. I know sometimes it’s called for, but it shouldn’t have to be a regular thing. I think it’s interesting and not a bad thing at all that this pandemic that forced remote work has kind of tipped the scales in favor of more work-life balance for employees. I may whine about the mandatory 3 day in-office policy when I’d have preferred two days, but it’s a BIG improvement over the 5 days in-office that I had pre-pandemic. ==I agree, it’ll be nice to not have to wear masks inside the office unless I choose. I believe masks will still be required on public transit, which is a good thing IMO. ==Oh, how awesome to have a trip to Las Vegas to look forward to!

Happy – Good to be keeping busy. All those classes! Too bad two didn’t really help much. I’m glad you like the exercise class and that you’ve seen improvements. I hope you find a doctor to replace your knee so you don’t have to be limited in your daily activities. ==So is the remodeling project done now? BF has gone completely anti-project these days. After our repiping project didn’t miraculously make our bathroom hot water faucet get to temp more quickly, he decided he wanted a recirculating pump installed. He bought the pump and it’s just been sitting there for months now because he (wisely) decided that the plumbing and electrical aspects were beyond his skill level…but he hasn’t hired anyone to install it! And that’s just one of the many projects. ==Nice you have new furniture coming! We just had our sofa and easy chair steam cleaned last fall, and then this past Sunday I managed to break a spring on my end of the sofa. Aaargh! We turned the sofa over on its back yesterday to see if it’s something we could fix ourselves. Of course we disagree on how to go about it. A bracket that holds one end of the spring in place is on a part of the frame that’s hard to access. I say we could install a new bracket on a more accessible part of the frame just a few inches away and it would be an effective fix. BF disagrees – it’s perfection or nothing with him! And digging up the paperwork on this sofa (which has dual recliners) shows that we bought it in 2006 and that it’s totally out of warranty. We’re waiting for a quote from a furniture repair company now. Even if I’m jonesing for a new LR sofa (I am), I’d like to try and fix this one so we could at least give it away or maybe use it in our basement – it’s in pretty good condition – fabrics, cushions, recliner mechanism, etc.. I don’t want to have someone haul it away to a land fill while it still has some use. Anyway, we’ll see what the quote is. If it’s too high, I’m going to go ahead and order the repair kit online and go forward with a DIY repair. If it’s not satisfactory, then I’ll give up and shop for a new sofa. == Wow, 2 am is a late night! And 5:30 am is an early morning after that! The lack of sleep must catch up with you at some point, doesn’t it? I hope you can change your routine so you get a good night’s sleep or a good long nap during the day! == My apple fritters turned out pretty good. I think the next time I’d deep-fry them longer to get them crispier. When I think about the ones I’ve tried from the bakery, the crust is very dark underneath the glaze. And I watched a you tube video in which the guy making them commented that he really likes them dark. But I doubt I’ll be making them again any time soon. It’s not worth the hassle with the fryer/oil. I had leftover fritters and froze them. I’ve since reheated one in the toaster oven on the convection setting, but it didn’t crisp up. But they’re still very tasty because they have so many more apples in them than the others I’ve tried. The next one I reheat will go in the air fryer to see if I get a better result. ==Back to the bingo huh? I’d be uncomfortable at the prospect of crowds who’ve missed their bingo during the pandemic.

Hi Ceejay! :wave:

As for me…not much going on. My employer set our RTO date in mid-April. It’s again that time to develop our departmental and individual goals, bleh. Our department admin – the one who has so many medical issues - has been diagnosed with uterine cancer. My mom’s hanging in. I still haven’t filed my taxes. I still haven’t returned to the gym. We’ve had a few mild days, so I’ve gotten out for some short walks. I have two more yogalaties classes – tonight and next Wednesday. I haven’t registered for any other exercise class yet. This Sunday is when DST begins. Yay!! Maybe I’ll suddenly want to do more in the evenings than just sloth around on the sofa.



Okay, I’ll get this posted. Some of you have issues with the site. Do you try to post from your phone or from the computer? I type my post in a Word doc and then copy & paste it into 3fc. Other than having to remove extra spaces between paragraphs and weird symbols instead of apostrophes, I don’t have many issues with it. Lucky me! Everyone have a good rest of the week. TTFN!

Hello all,

Daylight savings time. Everyone is complaining that we should not change time any longer. I like the longer light in the evenings so I don't mind. It's only a hassle when you are dealing with someone on a different time line and you want to call them. This time change I always feel like I'm behind (because we move the clocks an hour ahead) but I do love the autumn when we push the clocks back and I think it's later than it is and then find I have that extra precious hour. Of course I do not have kids whose rhythms don't change to contend with.

Bingo went well this week. I was not looking forward to it and was quite nervous about being rusty since I hadn't done it in over a year. The person who helps and calls bingo is not very good at it but I have to let him help and I admit I was a bit relieved when he said he could not make it this time around. It was unfortunate to hear he had a medical issue to deal with but I was glad to have the chance to be the bingo caller. Several people stopped and complimented me afterwards about how clear and well paced I was. We made $750 for the night so a good take. The place filled up completely 30 minutes before we started which was a pleasant surprise for the restaurant owner and the staff - they had a good night in sales and tips also. Everyone was in a good mood which was really nice compared to all the fussing and nastiness of the last 2 years. We all went home really tired that night. DH had a good time jabbering with the crowd - he collects money.

I kept telling myself I had plenty of time and now I am down to the wire about clearing things out for the new furniture to arrive. DH cleared away the old sleep number bed upstairs - we are moving the mattresses only upstairs to that frame. Which leaves us the heavy adjustable frames to deal with and sell or dispose of. The adjust the head and feet - I never cared for them - the head part was at an awkward angle and always gave me too much pressure on my back. The only time I ever really made use of it was when I had my knee surgery. The Puffy mattresses we have now are way too high on those bedframes. I can't get into the bed easily so we are using the lower stationery frame upstairs and will get rid of these. I hope we can sell them - it cost us $7,000 for the mattresses and bedframes when we bought them when we moved here. They still work fine, just need two flexible memory foam type twin mattresses to go along with them. DH thinks he will be able to haul them to the garage to store, I think that's going to be hard - they are very heavy and don't come apart and I am of no help at all for something like that. I have not slept in a bed for the last 5 years since knee surgery. It is super uncomfortable for me now and DH realized last year the very same thing. So we bought recliners which we will put into the master bedroom. This way he can watch TV until he goes to sleep and we can accomodate all the cats that like to sleep with us. Yes, we are the goofy old couple now. We will junk the worn out recliners we currently have. Bought a new couch with power recliners on the end pieces. I will offer our current leather couch for free if anyone wants it. It does have puncture marks from the cats but is otherwise still in good shape. If no one wants it for free, then DH will haul it to the dump when he can get the trailer unburied from the snow. I have always wanted to replace the carpet and wood flooring in the house but after our last remodelling project, I don't know how we could get this done without moving out of the house. Having furniture in the house is a hassle. If you could move things to the deck and tarp them that would work but giving the current employee / worker situation and everything taking months, that's just not viable. I also don't know how much more money I want to sock into this house. If we were to remodel the kitchen and do the floors, it would have been more cost effective to just build a new house altogether. Housing up here is crazy. Everyone wants to move back up here again to get away from the city. Rents are ridiculous because of the market and the fact that we have a severe shortage of housing. Apparently many who would have rented their smaller homes have instead decided to go the Air BnB or VBO route with short term rentals. Even if the places stood vacant for a few slow months, the bonanza they'd make during summer and the prime winter months would be lucrative. The bad part is that it affects the worker shortage. People who work the restaurant / hotel / seasonal jobs get stiffed. They work like mad during the busy time, get their hours cut or let go during the slow months and the rentals if they can find one are often out of their reach. People have multimillion dollar homes crowded on the lakes and the workers are practically living in their cars. It's a problem. But as far as building new homes - the contractors are booked out for 3 years at this point. So we'll just have to make do with what we have. Gets tougher when you are older and can't do things for yourself any longer. Even DH has had to admit that.

I laughed about you talking about hauling a pack load to the office. When I was working downtown in Chicago I had my heavy purse, a big bag of my "stuff" - lunch. paperwork, dress shoes, etc and my laptop that I took home every night. And today's laptops are FAR LIGHTER than what I had to lug. The train station was a clear 1 mile from the other side of town where my office was on Michigan Avenue. I bought one of those heavy wire carts with the bungee cords to lug things twice a day on my commute. I had to take my laptop home because I supported the senior executives, managed a help desk and was always on call and had to spend at least 2 hours a night catching up on emails that I didn't have time to because I was in meetings most of the day. I dug that old hand cart out of the back of the closet this week and we used it to cart the 2 big totes of bingo cards and supplies as well as the giant bingo cage we use. It came in handy! I don't miss that commute though. Towards the end of my stint downtown I got lazy and started taking a cab across town more and more.

Laura - the air fryer is a convection oven. And I have to admit although I have a convection oven in my stove, the only time I ever use it is once a year at Thanksgiving when I make my turkey. I just never took the time to learn how to use it. My stove has a small oven on top and the bigger one on bottom and I use the small one all the time. I got my fryer a couple of years ago when they first came out. I guess as you say there are now a lot more online and cook book references on how to use them. DH wanted it and it lays in a box in the basement. I can't think of anything I make where I'd use it. I agree with you on the apple fritters. It's nice that you found a recipe more flavorful than the bakery offerings BUT when it comes to having to use that much oil to deep fry - that's just too much of a hassle for me. DH wanted to make homemade fried chicken once. After it splattered all over the kitchen, wasn't as good as the store bought / restaurant stuff and there was the dilemma of where to store that extra oil I said no way.

I hope you can get your sofa fixed. The mechanism on my current recliner is failing on the foot part. It's a Lazy Boy so we can probably get it fixed but I don't know if I will bother. The fabric is a nubby kind and I didn't realize how badly the cats shredded it (we have 5 scratching posts in the house). I did realize that my new recliner is not the rocking kind so I might either bring down the rocker from upstairs or move the recliner upstairs because I like to read and rock sometimes.

I type right on the computer once I get the site stabilized to a page. It just seems to be a hassle to type it into a Word doc because I go back and forth looking at your posts. I would not even attempt to post on my phone - too hard to read the screen and type. I think having to accomodate websites to use phones and tablets besides computers has complicated the whole mess. Think about developing a screen that is used by a 15 - 17inch screen, an 8 inch tablet OR a 3 - 4 inch smart phone. Kind of tough. And there is IOS technology vs Android for smart phones and tablets, Windows 10 and 11 for computers. I'm glad I'm not in that business any longer! Of course the trend would be to accomodate the most current stuff and leave the old things in the dust.

Thank you for backing me up on that Shad. ;)

Hope you are feeling better Susie

Hope the new grandbaby is getting stronger every day Anne and the IRS gets off your back

Hello Ceejay :wave: I see you got some ice and snow also recently.

We are FINALLY getting out of the freezing temperatures next week after long last. Which means the dreaded spring thaw is coming. Our sump pump will start up in the basement and run for weeks on end which always makes me soooo nervous. After the power blipped off during our recent ice storm last week, I told DH I would like to consider a whole house generator. We have 2 sump pumps down there so if one died, the other could probably handle the extra load while DH replaced the pump but if the power cuts out we are in trouble. That room has the furnace, hot water heater, big freezer, extra refrigerator and my pantry with all my extra food and paper goods. Would not take long for the water to seep in and ruin the floor and furniture in the next room too. Anyway it's good to see the spring birds returning.

Hoping for better weather for you Shad and some drying of all that rainfall.

I am finding that the more I sit around the less I want to move so I keep telling myself "a body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest". :lol: I'm thinking as the weather improves, with it will come more energy, especially if it warms up and you don't have to worry about slipping on ice or freezing outside.

And with that, it's already noon so I'd better get off the computer and get some things done. DH has attended an online photography conference this past weekend. It was far less expensive than flying out and getting a hotel room and it's put on by a group out of Chicago that attracts some of the best photographers world wide. It was like a regular conference with concurrent sessions but on Zoom instead of in person. You could submit some of your photos for critique. He said he really enjoyed it. Now he is all fired up to go out and get pictures. Which brings up a problem in that I am not in the shape to get out on uneven ground and lots of walking with my knee in the condition it is. I do have to find a surgeon who will operate on me. But that's another story for another time.

Hope you are all doing well.

So I had to post this twice. Good thing I copy it before I post. First I got the timed out message where I had to log in again. Then when I tried to post it hung for an inordinate amount of time "establishing secure connection..." And when it returned, it dropped my post so I had to yet again, repaste my post and try again. Third time was the charm apparently.

It does seem to hang for long periods both in posting or even responding to navigation.