G'day all,

trudy sorry to hear you have not been feeling well, this digestion problem of yours sounds awful, I get a bit of indesgestion from time to time which is bad enough.

Once you are used to fast internet access, it is very hard to use dial up again. Slavika would have been very frustrated.

Watched a little of the Olympics and out token Australian (former Canadian) won gold for the Mogul ski-ing.
He is now receiving lots of unwanted publicity for how he made his millions at such a young age and his calculated move to Australia because the Canadian coaches were too demanding.

The baby sitting is a bit of a tonic and your grandchildren sound so cute. Fancy eating more pancakes then Grandpa!!

We looked after Matilda last night, (she is asleep now) and this morning I discovered she has finally cut her first tooth.

It was nice to 'see' you Karen. Is your mother still staying with you?
Perhaps you could plant some cheerful, colourful plants in place of the dead one you pulled out.

Glenda I am glad you and Trudy agree with 'plan B', I really hope we will not be bypassing you, we really want to 'say hello' to all of you on this trip and we will try to gear our trip around that.
The only place we are a bit doubtful about is Florida, it would require quite a detour but besides Ann and Karen living there, dh also has ex work colleagues living in Florida who we would like to catch up with, so who knows.

Ann that sounds awful not being able to rub your eyes and it feeling all gritty. I hope your eyesight has improved after this treatment.

Hi to Lily, Peggy, Gloria and our holiday person Slavika!

Cheers
Maria

Hi all: today is the first day that I have not had the least bit of gritty feeling in the eye. I spent a couple of days keeping that eye closed as much as possible just so I wouldn't have to blink. So far the treatment is working. I don't have the grey film over the temple side of my right eye in the morning. It was very frustrating to want to read. I am also very thankful that I don't have any sign of Macular Degeneration. That is not good.

Grandbabies are so much fun. A new tooth for Matilda. How time flies.

Trudy: So sorry that you are still having digestive difficulties. Do you take Nexium? I have heard that is very good for esophogal difficulties caused by GERD. I have a friend here in the park that started taking it, and she feels like a new person.

Last night we had a great show in our clubhouse. An Irish entertainer, Cahal Dunne. He put on a great show. He brings his own little electronic white grand piano. And he plays, and sings, and tells all sort of Irish jokes and is just generally a wonderful entertainer.

Dh is battling a cold and allergies. This is his time of year, when all the oak trees start to bloom. I keep drinking Airborn to help ward off any cold for me
since I have our Chorus show on the 13th. I can't afford to get sick.

Do any of you have a problem with pop-ups whenever you come to 3FC. It seems everytime I get here I have to deal with several of the darn things.

Hope you are all having a nice weekend.

Ann

Morning,

It has been forever since I was here. I have to go back and read what you all have been doing. I have dial up and it takes forever for 3FC's to load on my computer. I am not patiend. And yes, Ann, those darn pop ups drive me nuts sometimes. Haven't been doing anything special. Can't wait for winter to be over even though it hasn't been that cold. I have been having some surgery on my forehead. I have a squamous cell carcinoma and had a second carving out of it last week. It is under my bangs and I didn't really pay much attention to it. My hairdresser pointed out that it was getting bigger so I went to the dr. Thought it was just another basal cell. Funny how that sun damage comes back to haunt you 40 or so years later.

Grandson is getting so big. He is walking all over and starting to talk. They are teaching him sign language and it is amazing how quickly he is picking it up.

Trudy sorry to hear that you are not feeling well. Hope you find something to help.

Maria I have to go back and read about your trip.

Going to go read what I have been missing.

Just skimmed through the last thread. I taped Dancing with the Stars and skimmed through all the repeated stuff and the commercials. [ I told you I was impatient.] I was routing for Drew since he is a hometown westsider guy.

G'day all,

Nice to see you Peggy, glad your hairdresser pointed out the 'squamous cell carcinoma'. My ds and dil still do a bit of sunbaking, I am always telling them off and warning them about skin cancer. They do smother little Matilda in sunscreen block out.
I am also very impatient and it would drive me crazy to have dial up now, is it much more expensive to have a broadband connection?

Ann and Peggy I don't have many problems with pop-ups at all when I come here, I wonder why that would be.
I do use 'adaware' (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) and I also have 'spybot' (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Searc...-10122137.html) both programs are highly rated and are free to download. I run both programs at least once a month but try to run it more frequent then that. It is amazing how much stuff a computer somehow collects whilst surfing the net.

It is 5.30am, I couldn't get back to sleep thinking about dh's 60th.
We are having a celebration on March 18, there will be 20 of us. I was going to have platters made by a catering firm but dd and dil say they are happy to help me do the platters ourselves. I intend to buy a lot of prawns (shrimps to you guys) have them on a platter with lettuce leaves etc., then a platter of cut up roast chicken with sliced leg ham etc., for afters we thought of doing a fresh fruit platter and a cheese and nut platter. I will buy a carrot cake from the cheesecake shop to go with the coffee for afters.
Most of it we can prepare on the day before so perhaps it will not be too arduous on the day.
Next Saturday the forecast is for 38 degrees , I hope that the following Saturday which will be the 18th, the weather will be much milder.
DD and son in law are flying in on Friday and leaving again Sunday lunch time. It is going to be a very hectic time.

Have a great day all,

Cheers
Maria

Maria, your big birthday celebration sounds like a lot of fun. I am probably the one person on the board who would opt for bought platters, just because it sounds like "work". But you will make some delicious food, I am sure. Glad your DD can come too.

Ann and Trudy, it is just the pits when we don't feel 100%. Last week a lady in my office was out sick for 3 days. She just did not know how to react to really being sick. I kept kidding her that after age 45 we can really get sick. She has always thought anybody who takes off a day is stiffing the University. Boy, is she ever wrong and now I think she has much more compassion. Trudy, your GERD is just a chonic thing that just flares up at times, right?

All, I am trying something I have been playing with for years. I have decided to go vegetarian. I have never been much of a meat eater and the older I get the less I like eating something that was once alive. Kind of silly to you all, I bet. I will still eat dairy products. I sent off and got some literature and think that the vegan people are more than I can do. They are making a statement and will not eat eggs, milk or cheese. I am just thinking I don't like to eat flesh. Well, I am not getting silly about it, but I am trying it and so far (1 week) I like the veggie burgers, etc. I notice most of you in the survey love meats so you might thing I am a little weird.

Ann, I think I would have liked your entertainment. What did you all think about the Oscars? I loved the movie "Crash." It had everybody talking in this office for over a week. Of course, and I do mean "Of course", we will not be partaking of "Brokeback Mountain" anytime soon. That was probably pretty unpolitically correct of me to say.

Are you all having a good day?
Glenda

I use firefox so I dont get pop ups here either.

My day is good. I took the day off

G'day all,

Glenda I don't think you are weird at all. It is funny as one gets older different things bother you. My sister is a bit like you, she just doesn't particularly like meat so why would you then eat it?
Then when you stop and think what this meat once was, it would definitly put you off. I do eat meat but no longer eat sausages because I know all sorts of c--p goes into those! I cannot bring myself to eat kangaroo eventhough it is supposed to be the best meat, very little fat etc.
As a child I can remember once in a while my mother would get meat from the horse butcher, dh is absolutely horrified at that and cannot understand that in some european countries (at least it was when I was a child) they eat horse meat!!!!
It will be interesting to hear from you in time to come if you feel any different.
Also you NEVER told us the end result of your face peel, are you happy with it, was it worth it? I would love to know.

I gota fly, Matilda is here for the day.....

See ya,

Cheers
Maria

Glenda I eat mostly chicken. I will probably start clucking soon. I eat very little beef or pork. I used to belong a volunteer group at the zoo. One of the members was vegan. We would go to lunch and she would only eat oatmeal with nothing on it. Can't say that was appetizing looking. I watched the Oscar preshow and about an hour of it. I haven't seen any of the movies so I don't know much about them. I like to see the dresses. Looked like a lot of black this year with an occasional color thrown in. I wish they would just go up and say a simple thank you.

Maria you food sounds so good. I will have a piece of that carrot cake.

I went to the mall today looking for a few birthday presents and didn't find anything. I was hoping to get that finished.

now that Matilda is asleep......I saw very little of the Oscars. I agree with Peggy, why cannot they just say 'thank you'!
As you know I am not a movie person but the movie 'Crash' sounds interesting. I have never been into cowboy movies let alone one with a couple of gay cowboys
I guess you have all been receiving a few more emails from Slavika, is she getting into training for when she is back home and will have a fast internet connection again?!

I'll get some things done whilst Matilda is asleep.......

By the way Ann and Peggy I also use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. I wasn't aware that by using Firefox it also stops pop-ups like Lily mentioned. I use it because it is supposedly safer than Internet Explorer.

If you are interested you can download it here http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Have a great day all,

Cheers
Maria

Glenda: I dont think you are weird at all. I mostly eat Chicken and Fish. But I do eat the other. Just twice a week if that. My sister In law wont eat Red meat at all. She really likes it. So do what is best for you. And dont worry about others.

Maria: your Party sounds wonderful! Im sure it will go well. Just take them heads off the shrimp Thats one thing I had a hard time with when we went to Australia. Dont like those eyes looking at me.

Slavika! So good to see you back. Sounds like you had a good time except for getting sick right off. I loved cooking in the Condo or the BBQ. It was so nice to sit and relax on the lanai. I loved it! And food tasted so much better
Cant wait to hear more!

Welcome Home Slavika. You have been missed. Glad you had a great time except for getting the flu bug.

Good Morning!

Welcome Back Slavika!!!!!! Glad to hear you had such a good time, especially after you and DH got over being sick. I think I could stand sitting on the lanai and watching Mama and Baby whales!

Maria: You party sounds like it will be a great time. With help you will be able to handle everything. I think the worst part of a party is the clean up after so if you can get a couple of people to stay late you should be all set.

Lily: I agree, Chicken and Fish, sometimes I don't know if I am growing gills or I will cackle!

Trudy: Sorry you are having digestion problems hope things are settling down by now.

Can't stay long today. I am up early as we are headed out to the Air Base for a Commissary run and what is worse is the 'renew the id run'. I have heard the lines for renewal some times are enormous so we are heading out early to see if we can get a break. Thank goodness I don't have to renew but once every 5 years.

Gloria

Welcome home Slavika...good to see you back!

Will post a bit later, busy now.

Cheers
Maria

Welcome back Slavika: So nice to hear from you and glad that you were able to enjoy a wonderful vacation, even tho' you had a bout with the flu. Ann