Thursday - the last day in January

[BookSaver]

Emptynester ~ Go ahead and post those warm temps -- I'm sitting here pretending that I'm having your weather!

I have a few bonus hours today by not driving around. Seems like a good day to declutter my office closet.

[Nancy]

Seems like some one was asking about cruise info. I put a few things dd had said in the card file thread.

[Ivy]

I wasn't feeling well at midnight, from my digestion, so got up last night and took a pill for that. I started to crochet on a beret, which I've already made once, for DD, in off-white. I tried it on my head and it looks like a slouch hat, although the pattern calls it a "beret". I decided to make it for me, to have a red hat on Go Red for Women Day tomorrow, Feb. 1, for the heart health symbol color for women.

I have a DF who had open heart surgery, my 36-year-old DB died from a heart attack and my 58-year-old natural father died suddenly of a heart attack. My heart's very healthy, as I've had an angiogram and everything's normal. I'll try to finish my beret by bedtime.

I slept through the night, after going back to bed at 12:30 a.m. I woke up at 8 a.m. and feel good this morning. My coffee tastes SO GOOD! Some days it seems like it tastes better! Does that ever happen to anyone else?

Our weather's supposed to be showers and rain up North of us, we're warming up, too, to like 50* tomorrow. I doubt that we'll see any sunshine, but it'll be dry. I really "feel" for the rest of the country with the frigid temps, the tornadoes, and ice and snow!

Stay safe and warm, Everyone!

[Dove]

Windy here today. It started last night & I was really tense & couldn't understand why. Then I realized that I was associating the strong winds with the night Hurricane Sandy hit, & how fearful we were of losing the roof or having trees fall on our house.

Dh & I were out & about without even a jacket yesterday. It was so nice after a week in the 20s!

I ended up away from home most of every day this week, so today I'm catching up on cleaning & doing laundry. Dh is going away for a few days & dfriend is coming to visit , so I need to do some spiffing in the guest room as well.

Hi Lynlee, I like the quotes you posted.

Hi Scattered, sending you some cyber-caffeine to help you get through your busy day.

Hi Lucylee -- sending you some energy, too.

Hi Helia, I hope your dd can attend her meet tonight. Sounds like there needs to be some exceptions to that rule.

Hi Dee, ((hugs)) for a difficult night & morning with your dgd. Hope the antifreeze fixes what ails the car.

Hi Bookie, very smart of you to reschedule your appointment. Wind chill of minus 20?!? I got cold just reading that !

Hi MT, so excited for you getting a new kitchen! Can't wait to see pictures. I liked the pic of the RV balloon on your site .

Hi Kathryn, hope you weren't too startled by the snow sliding off your roof.

Hi Nancy. I've been meaning to ask you if there have been any more cougar sightings in your area?

Hi Ivy, I'm sorry about the losses you've had in your family due to heart problems. Glad that you are feeling better today.

My tea mug is empty & the dryer buzzed several minutes ago. I'm off to deal with that, & then make dinner so all I have to do tonight is pop a dish in the oven & make some garlic bread & a salad. (I'm making meat & cheese stuffed shells).

Waving ~~~~~ to all who stop by later! Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Nancy]

I have laundry going and the m. bedroom vacuumed.
Dgd is here I forgot she was coming we mixed up cookie dough for her snacks.
Thawed out pumpkin for my lunch and chicken's treat.

Have not heard about cougar sightings lately, but coyotes are bad this year I guess. Neighbor has her cat inside now so the cat is the only one living there next door!

[helia]

I'm home from moms group and then gassing the van. As far as I can tell, mercy has been shown to dd14. At least on powerschool (online), she has not been marked tardy for any classes so far. Neither has dd17. When she called from the car, dd14 actually asked if there was school today b/c of the roads. Then, when I affirmed there was school, she commented that half the school was going to be late. Perhaps that played out and the administration decided to waive 1st hour tardies today.

Appropriately, we were talking about mercy at moms group today.

dinner sounds great, Dove.

There were rumors last spring and summer that we had coyotes in town too, nancy. I never saw one. . . How do you eat your pumpkin?

I hope df is doing well after the surgery, Ivy.

It was snowing this a.m., which was probably part of the reason why traffic was so awful. We've gotten about an inch; nothing much is forecast. We're back down with highs in the 20s, though. *sigh* Next week, we're supposed to be above freezing again, but not 20-25 degrees above freezing like we were this week.

Meet ramblings: I have 3 hours until I leave with dd14 for the meet. This is not a full costume meet; the girls will be wearing their plain black practice suits, goggles, and caps. At the "full" meet next week, they'll be wearing their glitzy suits, no goggles, and decorative headpieces on their hair, which will need to be styled, bobby pinned, and hairsprayed within an inch of its life -- although, I don't think hair is technically alive beyond the roots. Also, dd14 will be required to wear some waterproof make up (mascara, lip gloss, eyeliner - I think), which my girls do not wear, let alone even own, at this point in time. (They've never expressed an interest in any make up; I'm not philosophically opposed if worn tastefully -- not too heavy.) This is all new to us. Though, the hair styling does remind me of when I used to have to style dd17's hair into "meet hair" for her gymnastics meets when she was young. That also required a lot of hair spray. We have several friends who have expressed interest in attending the meet next week to see what it is like. I'm curious too. I guess I'll get a foretaste today.

3 hours. . . I'm going to
-finish the a.m. routine
-work on New Year Cards; I've sent out half of dh's family. The other half will probably we wondering soon. . .
-perhaps go to the gym; not sure about this since I only have 3 hours.

BBL!

[Emptynester]

A coyote walked thru our side yard yesterday afternoon before sunset. He was on a mission I guess as he was too quick for me to grab the camera. Neighbors feed their dog outside and I think Mr. Coyote like kibble, too.

I have all of the ceiling cut in and DH has all but about 1/4 of the LR rolled. His neck is grinding and he has a bit of vertigo from looking up. He is using a pole roller so he doesn't have to get on the ladder.

I need to call for a chiro appt. for both of us. These old bodies aren't used to all the stretching and reaching.

Dove - that RV balloon was from Progressive Insurance. They had girls dressed up like Flo handing out flyers. Only they had to wear jackets over their white costume as it was cold then.

[Nancy]

Feb. Prep. Card
I saw heart shaped cookies to frost at the store with a packet of stuff to sprinkle on it so dgd & I are doing our own version of that. Cookie dough has been mixed up we've over cooked one pan of them and have another pan in the oven on less time now. Frosting is with in my reach had to get on the stool for it. We've done a couple of heart shapes and some fish for the guys.

Dgson is working on his army guy Valentines box he revamps it and uses the same one each year he said.

The sun is out time for yd. work ***poofers***

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Working away on the investment reconciling. Got another account done. Which leaves me four to do. They are getting faster, as my fingers develop a memory for the keystrokes.

The wind is something else and distracting because it is so steady. We don't usually get steady wind like this. It is blowing straight into the garage but I need to keep the door open as the front walk is iffy (water covered and starting to freeze) so it is the easiest way for guests to get to a door.

I did a load of laundry today and made myself an omelet for lunch. That's the first one that hasn't turned into 'scrambled omelet' in a long time. I was using the older non-stick pan but I think its size was better suited to the task at hand so it worked.

Dd will be im-ing me later. She is home from her day-care work placement with the flu but can't chat on the phone because she has no voice. She and dsil are both ill but are out of food so she's walking over to the local grocery store. She's relieved they have enough money to shop there for essentials (it is very expensive compared to the store that is 25 minutes away on transit, so they seldom go there.)

Now off to reconcile another account. I really should (ed to add) NOT let these pile up like this.

[Ivy]

Hi! I had something really GR8 and neat happen to me! After my breakfast, I brushed my teeth, still had my clean socks and shoes on for today, had just taken off my bathrobe, and was in my nightgown. The cell phone rang, DH rushed to it, I came up to him, he had such a funny look on his face and I couldn't figure out why! Only our family usually calls our cell, but it was my DF from Oregon calling to thank me for her b-day card, so I set my timer, walked and talked for 30 min. and got in a good visit AND a good walk, too! All before my shower, so now I don't need to worry about getting my walk in because it was done before my shower.

Nancy, Those cookies sound great!

Oh, Emptynester, we have coyotes, too. A man we know about 1/4 mile from us had 6 coyotes surrounding his dog kennel one day! He asked a wildlife agent if it's illegal to shoot them and he said not if they're endangering you or your animals or children. We keep our cat indoors, to protect her because sometimes a coyote comes right up onto the edge of our back patio. And while we're speaking about patios--- We have deer visitors in the night and their hooves (is that wht you call deer feet?) clomp on the cement patio and it sounds so weird when you just wake up from a sleep in the wee a.m. hours!

Helia, It's great that dd14 hasn't been tardy and also for your dd17, too!

My df is doing so well after her open heart surgery! They had found a congenital problem with a valve so she got a calf's valve put in. She did a lot of hospital-gym rehab, too, on the treadmill and exercise bikes,too. She's not getting out of breath like she did before surgery. They thought she has asthma, but here it was her heart. It was detected unexpectedly, too.

Nancy, In the late summer, a couple came over to our house, who live on the SW corner of our woods and they saw cougar droppings along their and our property lines! I haven't seen a cougar though. I don't know if it's still there and I don't want to find out either!

Dove, It's light showers and no wind here today.

Lynlee, I forgot to tell you how I liked the quotes and the last day in Jan. starter-upper. I've turned 1 calendar around to Feb., which is in my small office where I work.

Yes, Scattered, I'll send you some coffee, too! I've got Folgers and International Coffee and I've got de-caff, too, in case you get the jitters.

(((((Dee))))), It sounds challenging sometimes and I hope the anti-freeze works, too!

Booksaver, that's a terrible wind chill temperature! Glad you rescheduled, too!

Kathryn, How much snow do you have now? When we get snow, when the sun's shining, it shows my dirty windows, cobwebs and places I've missed dusting and dust-mopping! I love sunshine on the snow, but I hate looking at all the work I need to do that the snow shows me I need to do!

Yes, Dove, the heart attacks, fatal ones, were shocking in our family, but my dr. sent me to a cardiologist, when I was quiet a bit heavier, to make sure my heart was sound, on account of my family history. I was so glad to find out everything's okay, too. Some of those tests were "hairy" and scary, too!

I'm so happy my friend from Oregon called. We have the same names, but spell them differently. She told me about a place she'll go for her Valentine's Day b-day and she said it's haunted, too. I told her I'll research it and see if I can write a haunted story about it. It was so nice she called. She's a great gal!

Have a great afternoon, Everyone!