GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

Went out for a nice top down ride and had Mexican food in a nearby town. Yum Yum and the points were worth it. Almost have all the things gathered up to make my glass village so next week for sure I can get at it.

BUBBLES do you use kitty litter on your sidewalks for the ice? That is what we used to use in Minnesota and Montana and Wyoming and South Dakota and Tennessee and our cabin in the Sequoias in California when we had snow to deal with. The most snow we had to deal with was in South Dakota and the coldest weather we had to deal with was in Minnesota. I miss the snow.

DONNA my cat's name is Turn which is short for Turn About's Fur Play. I trained him to play fetch and he loves to bring me things to toss. When we lived in a house he would get on the upper most top of the cupboards and had no trouble getting down at all but did keep it dusted up there for me. In this travel trailer he just goes where he wants.

JEAN were you able to locate that book?

Have a wonderful afternoon and stay warm and safe.

Good Evening, Flowers!
It's warming up in Iowa! The snow was melting this afternoon and it was super sloppy driving home. The driveway is clear once again -- yippeee~

It was a very long day at school today. I don't know if it was because of the 4 day weekend or the fact that it seemed like Monday, but students and teachers alike were dragging. We started off by spending almost 2 hours on ITEDs and that's enough to put anyone to sleep! The rest of the day dragged by too.

Donna -- I play in a ladies' 500 group and I've played with them since '82....we're all about the same age but some got married right out of high school and had their kids when they were really young. My kids are the youngest even though I am not the youngest in the group. We used to play in a couples' 500 and pinochle group but the groups broke apart when one couple moved away and another man died. We have played Euchre but I need refresher lessons every time because we don't play it often enough. I'll take a mouse over a snake any day! We had so much trouble with snakes but since we've had the stray cats, we haven't seen a snake . . . nor a mouse either!

Maggie -- I did find the book on Amazon.com and there are several people trying to sell privately as well as the new ones. I'm going to have to go back and study the pros and cons of buying from someone I don't know. We used to use the old kind of kitty litter on ice but now we use clumping kitty litter. I wonder how that would work? Glad you had another top down day!

Bubbles -- WOW! I can't imagine 8" of ice! We still have some ice coating the trees but the sun was pretty warm this afternoon so alot melted away. The quilt program sounds interesting! My stepsister is a quilter and I love to go with her when she shops for fabric. I always think the combinations look so ugly but when she shows me the finished product, they are really attractive.

I don't know much else that is newsy. Since I was up late last night and up early this morning, I am ready for a nap! I'd like to at least stay awake until 9:30 or preferably 10 before I call it a night.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! I could go for a 4 day work week!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning ladies

Jean: What kind of game is 500? Jack and I used to play doubledeck pinochle years and years and years ago, when we were first married. It is the game of choice among naval families. My husband's family is from west Texas and plays a game called Pitch. Ever heard of it? It is similar to Euchre. I love to play cards but am not skilled at it. My husband can play all sorts incuding bridge, canasta and pretty much any betting card game. He tried to teach me bridge and I am just not with it enough I guess.

Maggie: What an adorable name for a cat. We named him Butterscotch because of his color. Our dog's name is Fortune. His AKC name is Sir Fortune Shines On Us, but Jack named him fortune because he said that is what he would cost us, so for the papers, I made up the long name. Actually, the AKC would turn their back on him because he has been neutered, but at the time since he was a purebred Yorkie, I had papers on him.

Bubble: Hope some of that ice is melting so you can get around. I absolutely cannot go out in ice at all.

Well, dear dh hit a pothole last night and messed up our car, which is less than a year old. We limped down to Firestone and after waiting 2 1/2 hours found out the rims front and back on right side are bent. The back one, barely, but the front has to be replaced and on our car they are $300 + labor apiece. On top of all that, they charged us $8 just to put the spare on (even though they already had the tire off to inspect it) so we could get home because they can't get a rim until this am. Brother, no one does a good turn for anyone anymore without getting paid for it. I am so stressed out about this and mad at dh I can't see straight. He drives too fast and does not ever pay attention to anything on the road. I yelled about the pot hole when I saw it last night. Oh well, I can't do anything but get it fixed.

You ladies have a good day!
Donna

Good Morning Magnolias

The sun is shining, if only temporarily, and ds was able to dig out his car he got mine hung up as he was coming in the driveway last night where the city boys had plowed up the street and covered the driveway entrance which we had cleared earlier......guess we shouldn't complain, at least they're trying.

Jean, what in the world are ITEDs? Don't you just love the Ed Biz acronyms? And they keep changing them! Especially for us SPEDs! Around here they change the IEP forms, which as you know are voluminous, practically on a yearly basis...........I shudder to think how many trees are used to make those 4 copies of each sheet! How I miss that The year before I retired, they changed them twice in one year! Let's hear it for the feds and their mandates! By the way, I've ordered several used books from Amazon and been very pleased.

Donna, I love your Yorkie's name. My beagle came with the name Jimmy, so we kept it, since he was already 6............not that he comes when he hears it, you understand. If you're lucky, he might raise his head to let you know he heard you, but then puts the nose back to the ground and keeps on trucking. After having been dogless for 30 years, he's a challenge My last two dogs had been Standard Poodles, which I was given as adults, and they were wonderful.......smart as whips with the disposition of a Lab or a Golden. I'd take one again in a minute.

Off to take my neighbor to the hospital for xrays on her broken elbow..........hope they don't have to recast it.

Maggie, your glass village wears me out! Are you talking like stained glass kind of glass? WOW!

Happy hump day.
Bubs

GOOD HUMPDAY MORNING MAGNOLIAS

What a glorious sunny day this day is becoming. My valentines flowers on the table are still screaming color and Turn has actually left them alone. He must be getting old.

BUBBLES yes I make things out of stained glass ~ have been doing it for years but never did a whole little village and am looking forward to getting to it. BTW do you know what the trees look like that they make paper out of? Not good for anything else for sure but to make pulp out of. Poplar and Birch trees grow 3 feet high and 8 inches around very quickly and then die. They dedicate their short life to making paper. This is from one - me - who has lived in a town where they made paper ~ saw the truck loads of wood going into the plant and believe me ~ that wood was not fit for anything but to be made into paper.

JEAN some times those used books on A.com are really new books that are being sold as used because the shrink wrap has been removed. I got a used book and it came from a book store out East and was in excellent condition.

DONNA it is so fun to name animals. I used to have a couple of manx cats, one was gray stripe and his sister had beautiful orange stripes. He was named Guido Sprocket Spimini and she was named April Axel Sarduchi. Sprocket and Axel is what they answered to. Our horse is Cattle Kate and answers to Katie. That is too bad about your pot hole experience. Things cost so much these days ~ seems like in the "good ole days" they were much easier on the pocket.

Everyone have a wonderful Humpday. I meet with the Iron Monster tomorrow morning and I am going to step on that rascal if I don't lose weight. Well, even if I do because I have to step on him anyway to find out ~ so he won't mind that a bit.

Good afternoon ladies, I was just lurking around in some threads to see if maybe one seemed right for me, I was looking in the buddy section when I came upon a reply from jacklady telling the person who started the thread to check out steel magnolias, here I am. A little about myself, I am 48, married, 3 grown children, a dog pnut and a cat whiskers. I live in Minnesota and I sure wish we could have got some of the snow they got elsewhere. I play 500 and canasta. They are fun games, it is just so hard to get people together anymore. I may not be able to check in everyday but I will try.
deb

Hey Deb it is nice to meet you! This is a really nice smaller group of ladies and you are very welcome here.

I am 49, have 2 grown children, one grandson,have been married 30 years and have a yorkie and a cat. Please make sure you come back and visit us and tell us more about yourself.

Maggie: Hope you are doing well today. I agree it can be fun to name your animals. Almost like naming your kids. I have a friend that cannot have children and she has three miniature schnauzers. They are named Ashley, Lucy, Kayla. She said it was the names she would have given her girls if she had been able to have them. Stained glass how fun and dramatic!

Bubs: Hope your neighbor is feeling better and doesn't have to go back through casting again. Well, did you guys get your cars out today?

We got the car taken care of thank goodness. It is not what I want, but it will have to wait. It at least can be driven now. We opted for the moment to have a refurbished and much less expensive rim put on for a couple weeks anyway. We want to put new tires on the car and don't want to put them on this rim because we are going to use it as a spare since we have one of those lousy donut things.

Well, dh is panting for the computer and since our router went belly up, I can't use the internet on mine until we buy a new one.

Have a nice evening. Donna

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

We were actually able to get out of our driveway today. The plow didn't come by til after 2PM yesterday but the roads were in such terrible condition we didn't even try. We got a whopping 27.5" in Boston and the plow made a 5 ft. wall of snow at the garage end of our driveway...thankfully not blocking us in. Driving is a challange because of snow banks on the corners. You have to inch out to see what is coming.
With all the snow problems dgs made it back from Fl. without too many delays. DD and other gs are due back on Monday right between a storm due on Sunday and another one on Tuesday.....what did I ever do to deserve this!

When the kids were small we had St. Bernards and they, too, had interesting names....Skipper was Skipper de la Voges (sp?) after the Voges Mt. in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France where DH was stationed. The other was Otto.....because he was an ottomatic pee-er. Our cat was Sydney Fitzgerald named by DD#2 who many years later married a man named Fitzgerald....hows that for de je vu. Over the years we have also had 3 ducks, 1 male and 2 females and that Summer I cooked duck eggs for DH's breakfast almost every day.

DEB: Welcome! This is a great group of ladies. I am 70, been retired 5 yrs., married for 45 yrs with 4 children and 9 grandkids.

BUBS: Hope your neighbor made out OK...no recasting. Glad to hear your son got his car out. Isn't snow fun?

MAGGIE: Your glass village sounds delightful. Definitly need a photo when you get it done.

DONNA: Oh, the pot holes have spread all the way to your neck of the woods. I won't feel so alone the next time we bounce through one here. That isn't so much fun if it results in such a large expense as replacing rims and tires.

JEAN: No thank you! I can do without snakes and mice. Once we had mice come into the cellar and set traps. Hated hearing the snap. Wouldn't go down cellar for 1 year.

Gloria in MA.......waiting for Spring

Good Evening, Flowers!
I had just typed out a long post and poof, it was gone! Oh well, here goes again!

Donna -- My inlaws tried to teach us how to play Bridge and we were hopeless dropouts . . . I like to visit and it was much too serious! We have played Pitch but it's been a long time. In 500, you take out the 2s and 3s, deal 10 cards to four players and 5 cards in the kitty. The object is to bid or indicate to your partner and take the number of tricks you bid. Joker is high, J of suit, off J, A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4. Each suit and # of tricks bid have a different point value and whichever couple reaches the score of 500 first, wins. We have been known to have -500 pts.! We play guys against the gals when playing with friends. Pinochle was my most favorite game but now we don't have anyone to play with. I was sorry to hear about your tire and rim. I didn't realize that rims were that expensive. Iowa has wonderful soil for farming but it is not good for building roads! We will have huge potholes when the ground thaws in the springtime.

Bubbles -- ITEDs are Iowa Tests of Educational Development -- the grown up version of Iowa Basic Skills tests given in the elementary grades. Every test is timed except for our special ed. and the ESL classes. We have tapes for some of the tests, we read some of them out loud, and they are on their own on the reading comprehension test. Even our severe and profoundly handicapped students are evaluated -- dumb because they have no clue what is going on! The same people must change our IEPs yearly too! I would love to know how many parents actually read them. So far we don't have to translate them into Spanish and Lao but it wouldn't surprise me if it comes to that. The majority of these parents can't read nor speak English. As you said, lots of wasted paper and time in preparing them! We have a committee of teachers who meet in Des Moines, every summer, and supposedly read through the reports to make sure they are legal and proper! Let us know how your neighbor came out; I hope all is well with her elbow!

Maggie -- Good luck at WI tomorrow! I'm sure you will be on your way down again. I'm going back to order the book tonight.

Deb -- WELCOME! It is always nice to have new flowers stop by! Come back and join us down this road to thin! Where in MN do you live? We live about two hours south of Windom, straight down #71! My parents used to have a cabin near Bemidji and I still have relatives there and in Kerkhoven. We have been going to Richmond (St. Cloud area) the past few summers, for a week at a fishing resort. The guys fish and the gals shop! Years ago we lived in Mpls. for a year while DH was in management training with Sears. I am the resident cat collector here. DH and I have 3 inside with several outside strays that I feed and water, then find homes for the kittens. Our son and daughter are grown and live on their own about an hour away from us. We have a beautiful grandson born in Nov.; our son and DIL did good work! I work with special ed. students at the high school level.

Gloria -- I've been watching the snow reports on TV! You should have your share for the next few years! Back in the '60s, people were putting bright colored styrofoam (?) balls on their car antennas in order to be seen above the snow drifts. The cars have gotten so little I'm not sure that would work anymore. You probably don't have any place to haul it off to either, right? I guess you just have to wait for Mother Nature to take care of the weather! I'm glad you were safe in your home!

I need to decide what I am wearing tomorrow and then catch the news. Have a terrific Thursday, Flowers!

Jean -- in Iowa!

Good Morning Magnolias,

My plumber just left. He'd come by yesterday to fix my commode, which wouldn't fill. When I got home from the hospital, it was filling, all right, but wouldn't shut off! Bless his heart. I think he helps every widow or single woman in the county. He never charges enough, and for years wouldn't charge me anything for something like this. I finally told him if he didn't start charging me, I was going to use someone else. Today I paid him $20 for two trips and a trip to the hardware store to pick up a part. See, I told you he was a saint. Donna, don't you wish he lived in Memphis? Ah, the joys of living in a small town.

The sun's shining, and it's warming up, so hopefully we'll have some melting again today. Just not too fast, please. Everyone is taking precautions for a flood at this point.......We've had two of the Hundred Year variety since 1986.

Maggie, we have a big pulp and paper mill near here too, but they use pine trees, which we have in abundance. Did not know that about birches and poplars, as around here the poplars grow tall and straight, and the birches reach a fairly good height as well. Besides, I thought birches were only used for canoes I can remember floating birch bark in a brook in New Jersey as a kid.......that's when we weren't climbing trees. Life was so simple then. Good luck with your WI tonight.

Welcome Deb,
I'm a 63 year old widow who retired 3 years ago from teaching Jr. High Special Ed. I have a 37 yr. old son who moved back here two years ago to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. It's nice having him here, most of the time I would have thought Minnesota was covered with snow from October until May, but what do I know?! This is a great group..........I've never been in a chat group before, so this has been a great introduction. I clerk at WW mtgs. twice a week, volunteer at our local theatre, and when weather permits, spend alot of time out of doors either walking in the woods, riding my mountain bike, or kayaking......old lady style.

Jean, the kids finally got back to school today with a 2 hour delay. If the weather channel is correct, they may well be out most of next week too. What a mess. The state is hellbent on giving those Achievement tests in April, so the teachers are to "teach to the test" between now and then. Why don't they just put them in a vault and bag it for one year? The kids' achievement shouldn't vary all that much from one year to the next. IEP meetings have to be held before the results from the tests are in, and there's another couple of weeks shot because of the parent meetings for the parents who are usually noshows at the secondary level.........it just goes on and on.

Gladys, I'll trade your snow for our ice anyday! They had dumptrucks downtown with frontend loaders cleaning off the main street so people would have somewhere to park......of course, it's only 4 blocks long, so it's not as bad as it sounds.
Our roads in town are basically clear now, as is the interstate, so now all we can do is wait to see how quickly it melts when the rain hits tonight and tomorrow. So far, the river hasn't gone up any. I have the USGS site bookmarked, so can check it frequently.

Best get a move on, as I have a hair appt. this morning.
Have a good one, youall.

Bubs

PS

My neighbor's trip to the Orthopod was a good one. The cast is off and they've given her exercises to do for rehab. She's a happy camper. She's to use a sling at school, basically to keep someone from knocking into her.

Later

Oooh, pretty much the whole group posted, so I can go ahead and answer each one about something or the other.

Jean: Sounds like a fun game. I will have to investigate though we don't have anyone here to play with and you know those Baptists. Most of them think cards are from the devil so we won't be having church members for partners. DARN! My dh is seriously competitive and used to blow up in his early years when he wasn't winning. He loves the computer version of RISK and nowadays just starts it over if he is not winning!
I tell him that is cheating, but he doesn't see it that way. When we were first married, Jack was in advanced electronic school here at the Naval Base in Memphis. A bunch of the couples that were all in the same class would rotate their home each Sat, bring a dish and we would play pinochle. I remember what fun that was because almost all of us had tiny ones at that time. They had just taught me how to play and I was Jack's partner and bid without a marriage. WHOOOEEEEE! I thought he was gonna kill me! After 30 years, now all I get if I do something really dumb is a shake of his head and a "let's change partners when the game ends and we start another!" I am kind of the Lucy Ricardo of the millenium

Bubs: Oh, I am so glad she is going to be able to get back to normal with her arm. Gracious yes, I wish we had someone like that around here. I would kiss his feet. My dh is a wiz at electronics and electrical stuff, and gives it an ole college try at other things, but stinks big time at plumbing!

Gloria: Ooh I would love to go to Boston. Jack used to travel there for his company and always brought back such lovely stories. The one that I thought was funny was that everyone no matter what their occupation wore running shoes. He said you would see executives with $2000 suits in running shoes going to work. We just keep on having fun. Jack came to the office last night and said our luck was holding, the vertical on the upstairs tv just went out! At least we have a car, it is ugly now with its nasty black rim, but we can drive it!

Here is a clue to what we had had the last two days:



We are going to wash away for sure and walking can be slippery for me, because they use some kind of a stone mixture in the sidewalks here and the stones get slippery when they get wet, especially going downhill!

Well, gotta go and get some cleaning downstairs done. It is my scheduled day for it. POOP!

Donna

Heloo everyone,
it is nice to hear about you all, My oldest daughter 25 lives in St. Cloud with a signifacant other, I think they will marry someday, he is in the guards and is in Colorado now waiting to be sent out. My daughter is having a hard time with it. I just try to talk to her everyday. My son, 22, lives about fifteen miles from me, he has been married two years, no kids, very busy, we try to get time when we can. My youngest spoiled daughter, 20, lives in South Dakota, married last July, no kids, talk to her almost everyother day. I can't wait to be a grandma, but I can wait till they are ready. I was married to my first husband for 19 years, the father of my children, he passed away at 38. I have since met a great guy, we will be married 5 years in Apr. April fools day to be exact,( my husbands sense of humor ). I have been a bartender most of my life, had my own resteruant for a few years, now I am a working kitchen manager, part time. I am going to try to find something else this summer. The money won't be as great but the hours and the not being on the feet all day will help.
So hello Jackslady, I see you have a granson, awsome. Also congrats on 30 years of marraige, you don't see that much anymore.
Hi nanacus, wow 27 inches of snow, we haven't had that here in Minn. altogether for a few years. It is really hurting alot of the businesses, this is are 3rd year in a row. We are a big snowmobiling country here.
Jean, another minnesotan. I live north of McGregor, I don't know where Windom is I'll have to ask dh, he knows where everything is. He works road constrution in the summer, mainly out of the cities but he still knows everywhere. Not me I'm just a country gal.
graybubs, wow that is young for your son to have that, but then again my first husband died at 38 of a heart attack, you're fortunate they found out in time. Do you miss teaching?
Well this is long enough for now.
Take care
Deb

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It was a wonderful, beautiful, sunny top down day today! We ran errands and had a geat time having folks wave and yell "great car." Sure puts a smile on my face. The ole Iron Monster smiled up at me and said I lost 1.8 POUNDS which brings my total loss for this year to 6.4 and I only have two pounds left to lose to reach my second 10% gone so you can see I am at a milestone here that I am about to get through. Point 2 brings me to 60 gone. I can then start working toward my next charm to put on my bracelet. LIfe is good. I will probably be taking a picture of each little house when it is finished and then as a group when they are all done so I will send them to those of you that want to see them through e-mail.

DEB welcome to the group! We used to live in Nisswa on Interlocken where all the folks came to take that beautiful drive to gaze at the trees when they had changed into their fall colors. We are currently living out here on the Left Coast in Sunny South California where I am enjoying retirement and Cowboy is a preacher. Our kids are grown and gone and don't ask for money so they must be doing well.

GLORIA our Mallard ducks were named Maco, Huskavarna and Bultaco. My dad knew a man who did filming for Disney and was making a series on ducks and he was using three babies and the babies would get to big before "Babies" they would come running. When they got to be adults we took them out the lake and said "flap, be free" and they happily flew away. Stay safe and warm.

JEAN Cowboy and I play UNO.

BUBBLES that is good news about your friend! What a nice plumber you have. Cherish him.

DONNA are you planning on new rims all around or just replacing to match? I want new rims for my ride because I am not thrilled with the ones that came with the car but that is not on our priority list, it will have to work it's way up.

Have a wonderful OP evening my friends.

Good Evening, Flowers!
I just got home from bell practice and am ready to head off to bed. I have to work with a dingy sub tomorrow and Monday as my coworker's daughter had a baby and the new Grandma is going there to help out for a few days. I am not looking forward to it and am so glad that tomorrow is Friday!

Bubbles -- You definitely have a found a treasure in your plumber! When our hot water heater sprung a leak (on Saturday, of course) none of the local guys would answer their phones. So DH went and bought a new one and put it in himself. It's hard to teach for the ITEDs because they are above our students' level. Even though we have the tapes to use, most of the students go ahead and fill in the dots willy-nilly. Glad to hear your neighbor got a good report on her elbow!

Donna -- We learned to play pinochle when we lived in Ohio. The couple that we played with the most moved to Illinois shortly after we moved back to Iowa. The other gal and I found out that our DHs had been cheating; they had specific signals they would give each other. We were always going to meet and have a play-off but we never did. The guys thought it was hilarious but we sure didn't.

Deb -- Being a grandma is the absolute best thing! I now understand why people say they enjoy their grandchildren more than their own children. Of course, I only have 3 months experience in being a grandma. Windom is on the western side of MN and about 45 minutes to an hour north of the Iowa border, right on Highway #71. You can't miss it!

Maggie -- CONGRATULATIONS on losing 1.8 #s that are gone forever. I just knew you would have a loss this week! We played UNO when the kids were little. We still have our cards too!

I think this is post #14 so whoever visits next gets to start #313. I am going to read the paper, watch the news, and head for bed. Have a fantastic Friday, Flowers!

Jean -- in Iowa!