Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, 36 years together is awesome! Congratulations to you and Charlie! Happy Anniversary.

Marty played golf this morning, then we went out for lunch and headed south. We didn't take my car down to be fixed and I am glad we didn't; the highways were very busy. I would have been causing all sorts of traffic jams slowly driving in the right lane. I think I'll make an appointment this week and I am still on the fence whether to have the car towed down there. I might just do that.

We test drove a Porsche Macan today and loved it. Like Marty needs something faster than my car but it handled really well. I want one. Oh oh.

After wishing on a fancy car we stopped at Cold Stone and had some ice cream for supper.

Have a great evening.
Curby

 

[Rod]

I am writing from an almost completely unpacked home! We only have a few boxes left and it's simply stuff we don't really know where to put what's in the boxes. And the house is beautiful! We'll start hanging art today, which will really make this feel like home.

We bought a really beautiful chair at Crate and Barrel, which arrived yesterday. So, we're going to go there and pick it up today for sure. We also need some things for the house and we'll hit Home Depot, Target and Macy's. We're going to cook in our new kitchen tonight for the very first time! Woo Hoo!

Last night my brother and SIL came up to see the house and we went out to one of favorite Italian restaurants for dinner. I ate too much and had really bad indigestion. My brother has a tendency to order too many appetizers so when the meal arrived, I wasn't hungry, but ate most of it anyway. Then he decided we needed multiple deserts.

We had over 100 boxes broken down in our garage when we got up yesterday morning. Our moving company said they'd come sometime next week to take them off our hands. But I wanted them gone, so I put up an add on Craigslist and offered them for free as long as whoever wanted them, took them all. Within 45 minutes of posting a nice young man wrote came over and took them all! I was able to get my car in the garage last night for the first time. We still have work to do out there to get the other car in.

That's about all from our side of the world. Have a great Sunday.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, I bet your new house is all set up by tonight. Very cool! Now that you’ve hung up your art you’ll feel right at home. I remember when we moved in hear a few years ago. Some stuff we moved from our old house, some was new and I told my mom it felt like we were staying at a really nice hotel that had some of our stuff in it.

I bet you enjoyed shopping today picking up new things for your home. What did you get?

What did you cook for your first supper?

Dinner with your brother and SIL sounds delicious but filling. If I eat appetizers I can’t eat much of my meal at all. I do always manage to squeeze in a few bites of dessert though.

Great idea to get rid of all of your boxes by posting on Craig’s list. We were getting rid of boxes for months.

We had a quiet day doing things around the house. Marty changed all of our water, furnace/AC filters. I pulled weeds and cut off deal flowers. I’ve been working on laundry. Marty WD40’d the door between our bedroom and our bathroom - it was pretty squeaky in the middle of the night. I can’t sneak out. Ha!

We’ve been building our own version of the Macan today. Marty’s comes out about $5000 more than mine. I am having a really hard time talking myself out of buying one. I am my father’s daughter there - he never went to look at new snow machines or automobiles without coming home with one. I figure my car is worth as much as it will be and we both seem very excited about getting this SUV next year so why not now? Decisions, decisions.

Some friends of ours just bought a 30 foot trailer (with 3 feet added for hitch) and they live on a cul-de-sac with only one lane of traffic in most spots because of cars on the street. Their driveway is maybe a 75 degree angle. We want to go watch them get it in to their house when they pick it up. I also don’t see how they’ll get it out of there once they do get it in there and our HOA really frowns on RV’s left more than a day or two. Mean, aren’t i? We thought we’d film it and take popcorn. Ha Ha.

Off to start on tacos.

Curby

 

[Rod]

Marcy, we cooked dinner in our kitchen tonight and it was just wonderful. I still don't know where everything is in the kitchen, but I'll find things as I need them.

Today was a great day. We finished unpacking all boxes and everything is now where it belongs. Then we went a-shopping. We have a Dyson vacuum, which worked well for a one floor condo, but I just can't imagine carting that thing up and down the stairs. So what I wanted was a hand held, but really good vacuum for the downstairs, which is all hardwood. We bought an Oreck, which weighs only 5 lbs, and has a shoulder strap, with all the attachments one could want and it works great. Then we went to Target and got some kitchen organizing things. Then our daily Home Depot visit, but for two small items. Then to Macy's for new pillows. Wow, even on sale, 4 new pillows cost over $500. I'd better have the best night's sleep of my life.

The icing on the cake was to Crate and Barrel, where a chair we ordered weeks ago for the master bedroom came in. Here's a pic:



We also ordered a rug with the chairs colors from Crate and Barrel, plus a mosaic top table came in we had ordered for the back yard.

Tomorrow we'll spend the day enjoying the house and hanging pictures. When I go back to work on Tuesday, we'll be all done. It will be as if we've lived here for a long time.

 

[deegee]

As you may remember, I live in West Virginia. My town and 2 other towns just to the north of us were among the hardest hit during the June 23 floods. The population of our 3 little towns together is about 3,000. The numbers released yesterday for our 3 towns: more than 1,000 homes and 80 business damaged or destroyed, and 1,150 newly homeless people. Think about those numbers in relation to our population. I can’t even begin to describe how horrible it is here. Absolute devastation. The smell hurts your nose & throat and gives you a constant headache, the bugs are unreal, several inches of river mud coats everything and is shoveled from walkways like snow. People’s possessions all piled up at the end of driveways near the road so the debris trucks can pick them up. Appliances, furniture, clothing, toys, tv’s, computers – everything. And along with personal belongings to be hauled away are the insides of the houses themselves. Carpet, drywall, hardwoods, HVAC units – everything. Houses have to be ripped down to the studs. Many have structural damage and have to be demolished. Mobile homes are all over the place, along with boats, storage buildings, campers and all kinds of other random things. There are things strewn everywhere in every direction.

In my little town, nearly all of the businesses are gone. One grocery store was flooded and the other is unreachable because the bridge to the shopping center washed away. Our pharmacies, the post office, restaurants, churches, the community center-gone. Schools are heavily damaged. I live high on a hill, and the most we had to endure was listening to the generator for 2 days while the power was out, spotty cell service, no internet or cable. We had no idea the horrors that were going on below, we just knew we weren’t able to get out because water was over the road. There are so many heartbreaking stories of desperate survival. The water just came so fast, and areas that have never flooded were washed away. The Red Cross response has been absolutely amazing. We have given 2 sizeable monetary donations to the Red Cross for WV floods, and Matt has signed up to be a volunteer. He is to call tomorrow to find out about deployment.

Sorry for the too long and depressing post. I just ask that you please keep our little state of West Virginia in your thoughts. We're hurting desperately right now.

 

[Rod]

Oh Deegee, I knew you were in WV, but didn't know you were so close to such devastation. My heart goes out to your town and my wallet will open to offer help. I'm glad you were only inconvenienced, are safe and your home is in once piece.

I am a graduate of WVU and have nothing but the fondest memories of my days in Morgantown.

Thoughts and prayers with you all.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy July 4th!

Rod, how awesome you got to cook dinner and eat in your new home. I am still trying to find things in our kitchen and we’ve been here 3 1/2 years. You will love that light weight Oreck vacuum. that girl that cleans for us has one and it weighs absolutely nothing. Your new chair looks great. That is funny you said you ordered a rug to match the colors in your chair because when I saw your picture I thought “they should get a rug with those colors to match. Did you sleep well on your pricey pillows?

Deegee, it’s good to hear from you. I hate to hear about the complete and utter devastation and destruction in your town and area. When I saw the floods on the news I wondered if they were in your area and knew you were on top of a hill. I am glad your home is okay. That is great Matt has signed up to help the Red Cross. Its good to hear they are doing so much for the people and community. My heart goes out to everyone who lost so much.

I made myself a Marcy McMuffin for breakfast (egg, swiss cheese, a piece of Canadian bacon and an english muffin). Then Marty and I headed to Denver

We got to the Porsche dealer before 10 and test drove a Macan GTS. The other day we drove a S model. I drove it for a few miles then turned it back over to Marty. We sat down with the dealer and priced out what we’d want, I stuck with the sapphire blue color (duh!) and figured everything else out. We then told him we usually deal with the Audi/Porsche/VW dealer 50 miles from us (rather than 100 miles where he is) and asked if he could give us a reason to switch to his dealership. He was very nice about it and said since they don’t sell Audi we’d do better on a trade with our usual dealer. We didn’t think any dealer would offer deals on cars you order. He was a decent guy so he may see us again in the future.

We’ll go down Wednesday to talk to the other dealer. I think both of us are excited. It sounds like delivery is about 4 months from ordering. Marty test drove my car on the highway this afternoon and feels it’s safe for me to drive it at speed to the dealer (50 miles away) just don’t think I can pull in front of someone coming and get out of their way.

We ate at Marty’s favorite Cajun Seafood restaurant. I had a steak, fries and margarita. All very delicious. We split a creme brulee for dessert. I had a peach for supper and a few almonds.

Take care.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Hello kids.

Deegee, I am so sorry to hear of the tremendous devastation. Events like this are so heartbreaking and the worst part is the helpless feeling because no matter what you do you can never put things back the way they were (physically maybe, but the memories will remain).

Rod, it is VERY impressive that you are fully unpacked! I have a few boxes that I've actually moved without even unpacking in my past few places -- although I did at least open all of them when I moved into my current place to see what was in there!

Curby, I've never driven the Macan but I had a Cayenne for a loner one time when Billy Ray was in for an oil change. It was nice vehicle and drove a lot differently than my Lexus SUV. Can't want to see what you end up with!

This was a loooong weekend. I picked up the CB in a northern suburb about 10:30 Friday morning (he was at his office and when they told people they could go there was no point in him driving back south into the city to turn around and rive north again) and then we went 400 miles up into Wisconsin to his family's place up there. We actually made pretty good time and stopped and bought groceries for the weekend before we went to dinner. Saturday we went to a big antique place and I added to my depression glass wine glass collection and then the CB took his kayak out on the lake. That night the CB made corn on the cob and steaks on the grill and we sat outside with a fire. Sunday we were slow getting started but had a late lunch/early dinner and then the CB went out fishing with some guys. Yesterday we came back pretty early and then went to a party at a neighbor's house. So a pretty basic 4th of July weekend!

 

[canuk-gal]

As you may remember, I live in West Virginia. My town and 2 other towns just to the north of us were among the hardest hit during the June 23 floods. The population of our 3 little towns together is about 3,000. The numbers released yesterday for our 3 towns: more than 1,000 homes and 80 business damaged or destroyed, and 1,150 newly homeless people. Think about those numbers in relation to our population. I can’t even begin to describe how horrible it is here. Absolute devastation. The smell hurts your nose & throat and gives you a constant headache, the bugs are unreal, several inches of river mud coats everything and is shoveled from walkways like snow. People’s possessions all piled up at the end of driveways near the road so the debris trucks can pick them up. Appliances, furniture, clothing, toys, tv’s, computers – everything. And along with personal belongings to be hauled away are the insides of the houses themselves. Carpet, drywall, hardwoods, HVAC units – everything. Houses have to be ripped down to the studs. Many have structural damage and have to be demolished. Mobile homes are all over the place, along with boats, storage buildings, campers and all kinds of other random things. There are things strewn everywhere in every direction.

In my little town, nearly all of the businesses are gone. One grocery store was flooded and the other is unreachable because the bridge to the shopping center washed away. Our pharmacies, the post office, restaurants, churches, the community center-gone. Schools are heavily damaged. I live high on a hill, and the most we had to endure was listening to the generator for 2 days while the power was out, spotty cell service, no internet or cable. We had no idea the horrors that were going on below, we just knew we weren’t able to get out because water was over the road. There are so many heartbreaking stories of desperate survival. The water just came so fast, and areas that have never flooded were washed away. The Red Cross response has been absolutely amazing. We have given 2 sizeable monetary donations to the Red Cross for WV floods, and Matt has signed up to be a volunteer. He is to call tomorrow to find out about deployment.

Sorry for the too long and depressing post. I just ask that you please keep our little state of West Virginia in your thoughts. We're hurting desperately right now.

Wow Deegee, this must have been a difficult post to write. I can feel your emotion.

I am sending healing vibes and strength your way--with the hope it filters down to all involved. The Red Cross seems to be busier than ever these days as our world weather is both beautiful and cruel.

kind regards, Sharon

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, we are probably ordering the Macan GTS tomorrow. I am so excited. Marty definitely was opposed to me getting a SUV but he can get himself in plenty of trouble with one of these beasts so he seems pretty excited about it too. We probably won’t get it for about 4 months. 4 LONG months. They had a 918 Spyder in the showroom. The owner of the dealership bought one and put it on his showroom floor. I guess they sold for a million. He has had one offer so far for 1.6 million. He turned it down. I’ll post pictures off my phone. Very cool looking car. Your holiday weekend sounds like a lot of fun. It’s sad that it ended so quickly.

Sharon, that’s a great way to look at our weather. It is so beautiful and amazing but cruel and indiscriminate.

I ventured to work 30 minutes early to avoid traffic. Then ended up working about 50 minutes late. It was a busy day.

Marty went to a concert at Red Rocks with some friends tonight. They’ll have fun.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Fancy car.


Marcy

 

[Rod]

Marcy, even if I could afford that Spyder, I wouldn't want it. Cars like that simply don't interest me. The Macan on the other hand is a great SUV. You'd better get the wheel and tire insurance when you get it. Porsche wheels are expensive puppies!

We had some garage shelving installed today. It wasn't really enough, but it will have to do for the time being. We've got the garage all organized and we can now get both cars in. The only issue we have is the city mandated trash and recycle bins are simply humongous. I mean really big. It's nice to have a garage again, but this one is a bit on the compact size.

Work just dragged on today. We worked non-stop on the house and now that it's all finished, I just wanted to stay home and enjoy it a bit. And we're going away this weekend, so we won't have the opportunity to relax here. It's my company annual President's Club trip. They're taking us to the Ritz Carlton, in Naples, FL., from Thursday through Sunday. Charlie and I stayed there years ago and it's a beautiful resort on the Gulf of Mexico. It will be fun I'm sure, but I so don't feel like going away so soon after moving in the house.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, the Spyder is an amazing car and I would love to drive one! As for owning it... I had a hard enough time with just Billy Ray, I can't imagine the worry that would go into owning something Billy Ray expensive X 10!

Rod, I know what you mean about just wanting to be home enjoying your new house, but I hope you have a wonderful time at the resort!

Last night I got motivated and cleaned up the house. Well, the clutter anyway, but didn't do any actual deep cleaning. The CB's stuff is centralized on the high part of the breakfast bar and by the front door. Perhaps he will get motivated and clean that stuff up tonight... one can only hope!

I wasn't really hungry when I got home so I just had a banana and then one of my neighbors knocked on my door with fresh chocolate chip cookies. Huge. And still Warm. I definitely had one of those! I brought the rest into my office though so they wouldn't be sitting around at home because otherwise I know where the rest of them would have gone, LOL.

 

[Rod]

Morning All. Likely won't check in tonight as we have to pack and get ready for the trip tomorrow.

I wound up calling the guy who installed the shelves in the garage and told him to triple the amount of shelving we need. He's going to come back next week and install more. We just have to get stuff off the floor and up out of the way for the cars to have more space.

Have a great weekend all and I'll check in when we get back.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I approve of your car choice! That was on my list to test drive, but our Porsche dealer closed up shop. But then I test drove my BMW and fell head over heels in love, and forgot to test drive everything else. I really wanted blue, but I wasn't patient enough to order it because they had that loaded pearl white one with the big bow sitting in front of the Christmas tree on the showroom floor. How is a person supposed to pass that up? In my opinion, a small SUV (with great horsepower, of course) is both practical and so much fun to drive. I love, love, love mine. Matt thinks he has to punch it every time he gets behind the wheel and I'm pretty sure there's a speeding ticket in his future.

Dee*Jay-I don't know why, but I always read your posts really fast in my mind. I think it's because I picture you as someone with a lot of energy and always doing something and going somewhere!

Rod-congrats on your anniversary (late-sorry), and your new house. It looks beautiful! Wow-that happened fast!! On the day you posted about your cat getting into the box spring and having to take the bed apart, Matt had to do the very same thing with our cat Milo. I don't know when he decided he could get up in there, but it sure explains some of his disappearances. I didn't know you went to WVU, or I knew and forgot. I live just north of Charleston in a tiny little town. If you saw on the news about the shopping center where 500'people were stranded because the bridge washed away, that's near me. I know it's late, but I also wanted to tell you that I'm sorry to hear about your dad.

Sharon-thanks for your kind words. A disaster brings out the best and worst that mankind has to offer. Thankfully the best (the amazing volunteers, the people who donate time, supplies, money, the care & concern) is far more prevalent than the worst (the looters and the scum who falsely represent themselves as flood victims to get free stuff from donation centers). Everyday I hear or see a story that brings hope.

When I leave my neighborhood and turn towards Charleston to work, there are very few signs left of flooding. If I go left for about one minute, it's like I'm in a different world. Nothing looks familiar or is as it should be. Matt has to drive through it to go to work, but there is no other reason to go that way because almost nothing is left. You can't even go far into town unless you're volunteering because they're trying to keep out sight seers. I went that way through the flood zone to Matt's office today, came home and made another donation to the Red Cross. They are doing so much good here. But it's raining again. Ugh. It has rained every day since Sunday. Everyone is nervously watching the creeks and rivers! On a good note, our agency is preparing for the project team to return to the office after our next go-live scheduled for March 2017. They have reorganized the whole agency and unfortunately put me as manager (back in March-prob when I stopped posting!) over a department that is in place now and needs a manager now. I've been trying to manage my department from our offsite location plus do my full load of project work. Thankfully the powers that be decided I needed an assistant manager two weeks ago, and I hired one today. Yay! I hired her when she first came to work at the agency 7 years ago and we work very well together. I'm relieved to get some help. Maybe I can take a deep breath after she officially starts on July 23. Have a great day tomorrow.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, the Spyder looks cool but I wouldn’t want it. And now that I have ordered my Macan I am freaking out how worrying about expensive is it going to be to maintain? I am glad you are getting more shelving for the garage. Good deal. Marty put a big cage on the ceiling and put things up there like camping chairs, coolers, etc and that sure gave us more room in the garage. I bet you’d love to just some time at home so you can enjoy your new place but life continues to happen, huh? The President’s Club Trip sounds like a really nice time. I am sure you and Charlie will have a fabulous time.

Dee Jay, it would be fun to drive the Spyder just once. What were your worries about owning Billy Ray? Am I going to regret getting a Porsche? I was fine until Marty kind of said we could have waited until next year, that I wanted it more than he did and now I am freaking out. I am thinking of getting some of the prepaid maintenance and extended warranties on it and I won’t even get the car for over 4 months. Good deal you cleaned up some clutter at the your house. I need to do that myself. No one can pass up warm chocolate chip cookies. Good plan to take the rest of them to work. I guess I have to send some chocolate chip cookies to the sales manager at a Porsche dealer in Denver. He gave up his “slot” to our guy today to get my car order in line.

Deegee, I am delighted to hear you adore your BMW. How could you pass up a beautiful new car with a giant red bow on it? This SUV seems very fun to drive too. Matt and Marty probably both have a speeding ticket in their future. We took one of the Macan GTS for a ride this afternoon and ran it up a mountain and ran it around a lake. Marty was pleased. I wore my Kentucky Blue Sapphire today and it matched the blue sapphire of the car we ordered so that convinced me. Or that is what I am telling myself. I did go look at more pictures of your flood the other night. How terrible for those families and your community. How erie that parts of your town are unrecognizable and heading the other direction it looks about the same. I am so glad to hear the Red Cross and others have been so helpful. That’s great you finally got someone to help you. Congratulations on being promoted to manager. You definitely deserve it as much work as you do for them.

We headed to the Audi dealer about noon. We were still trying to decide on wheels, interior color and I wanted to make sure I wanted that color of blue. Of course the color is named sapphire and the interior we picked is garnet red. It’s like it was calling to me. I was resisting a red interior but felt the brown / beige just kind of went with a blue car, the light grey and dark gray looked good with it and then they put down the red / black sample and I thought it looked good with the blue. The car builder online makes the red appear brighter red than it is in person so we went for it. Estimated arrival in the U.S. is October 21st. It comes in through a port in Texas then is sent out from Houston. I was all excited and happy until supper and then Marty said we did this because it was my idea and now I am freaking out. What have I done?

My Audi did have rodent damage. Something chewed through the wiring harness for the speed sensor. Grr. They had foxes around work that chased away or eliminated the little varmints like rabbits, weasels, mice, etc. Well security got rid of them and now the varmints are taking over. I have heard of several people having this problem. I guess they put soy on wiring and it attracts varmints.

Have a great evening.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Rod, we had shelves on both sides of our garage when I lived in the townhouse and it was a life-saver! The down side was when I moved out after being there for seven years and had to clean everything out of there is was a CHORE. I think it took me a solid week!

Deegee, LOL on reading my posts fast! I also talk fast (or maybe other people just talk slow, ha ha!) and sometimes when I'm doing training or some other thing where I kind of hear myself in my own head I'm like, woah! Slow down there!

Curby, I was mortally terrified of door dings with Billy Ray. I would park sooooo far away from the front door of places that I think in some instances I would have been better off just leaving the car at home and walking! Oh well, at least I got some extra exercise, which is never a bad thing.

Yesterday I worked a little late and when I got home and took out the trash I ended up standing in the parking lot talking to my neighbors for almost two hours. Then I fell down the rabbit hole of depression glass patterns on the internet and was up half the night looking things up. I am amassing QUITE a collection of glasses and now I've decided I should learn a bit more about what I'm collecting. I also ordered a book that I hope comes tomorrow before I head off to Michigan for the weekend because I would like to take it with me (god bless Amazon Prime!).

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I totally get worrying about Billy Ray being scratched. Of course when you park in the way back of a parking lot you’ll find some jerk parked right next to you as close as they can when you come back to your car. Everyone is a comedian but not everyone is funny.

I chucked that you talk fast. I remember I had to consciously slow myself down when I was teaching. I’d see people kind of throw up their hands trying to take notes and so I’d pause, repeat myself, etc. so they could get decent notes.

How fun to be researching what you’ve got with your depression glass. Some day can you snap a picture or two of your favorite pieces? I would just like to see some of it. It sounds pretty. I know you posted some a long time ago but wine has successfully removed some of those memory cells.

I am better today and not freaking out so much about buying my new SUV. I always suffer from buyers remorse. I also realized today what triggered Marty’s comments - they followed my nagging at him about getting speeding tickets. So I started down that path. D’oh! We are both excited but he is right I am more excited about it than he is. It’s going to be a long time until delivery.

Have a great Friday.
Curby

 

[marcy]

Happy Weekend Kids!

Work was just another chapter of dealing with passive aggressive BS from employees. I will put a picture of my new car as my wallpaper to keep me from packing up my work teddies and heading home. Sigh. Why oh why are people such jerks? But hopefully I won't have to talk to anyone from work until Monday.

I had leftover steak for supper which I heated up too long so it was kind of tough but my oven fries were good. I had a dish of cherry slow churned ice cream. I don't know why I am on such a cherry kick these days.

I have no idea what we are doing this weekend. Marty can't play golf locally this weekend due to a tournament but hopefully he can get out to the range.

We had another big rainstorm this afternoon. It has sure been a wet summer here.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Are you enjoying the weekend? Our cleaning lady came today so we went out for breakfast after she got here then stopped at Walgreens and the grocery store to pick up some things. Marty went to the range and we are going to lunch when he gets back.

I rarely wear short sleeves since I am usually cold but I have a short sleeve shirt on today - I've got so many bruises on my arms it looks like some beat the crud out of me. I bruise like a peach and I have no idea where I got these bruises fun. I am going to blame the rabbits for sure. They must have bit me.

I was dreaming about cars last night but don't really remember what. I bet it was my new SUV. I got home yesterday a few minutes before 5 and I told Marty I pretended like I was driving my Porsche and that's just how fast I made it home. I don't know why I am so excited about this - it's going to be a LONG time until late October.

Take care!
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Is it really Sunday afternoon already? If only the work week went this fast.

Marty is making us burgers on the grill for lunch. I am hungry too. I have no idea what we'll do for supper. Marty is trying to eat only protein after 3 pm and to be honest a cheese pizza sounds good to me. Maybe I'll go get a slice tomorrow for lunch.

I am almost done with laundry. I am working on our bed linens too.

We rented Eye in the Sky last night. That was a good movie.

I hope you had a great weekend.
Curby

 

[Rod]

So our weekend in Naples, was nice, but TBH, we just wanted to be home in the new house. Ritz Carlton's are certainly nice. Our room was very luxurious. It was SO BLOODY HOT outside, without a breeze, that we spent little time outside. We got to the resort Thursday afternoon, near dinner time. Plus I somehow managed to throw my back out on the way down and I was in mega-pain. In fact, I was mega-pain the entire time we were down there.We ate at the resort at the beach side restaurant. The food was nothing short of disappointing. And it was super expensive to boot. We had breakfast at the resort Friday morning and it was outrageously expensive. That was the end of our eating at the resort.

Friday was the most enjoyable day for us. Naples has great shopping, so we went to a new outdoor shopping area with a Nordstrom Rack and lot's of cool stores, such as Sur La Table. I got three new Tommy Bahama T-Shirts with our Nordstrom rewards and we bought some kitchen things we needed at Sur La Table. We found this really cool furniture and home accessories store called West Indies and we got some hand woven 2' x 3' rugs with really cool patterns and a wood carved tropical bird that looks great in the house. We had heard about a restaurant in a shopping center strip mall that was supposed to be excellent. We ate there Friday night and I have to say it's one of the best dinners I've ever had. Then we came back to the hotel and went for a night swim in the pool and we were the only people there, so that was nice.

Saturday, we just lounged around the pool, but it was so bloody hot and I was in so much back pain, that I just went to the room and napped and watched TV. We had lunch outside the resort, which was good and reasonably priced. Saturday night was our group dinner at The Capital Grill. We hate group dinners. It started at 6 PM and we didn't get back to the room until 10 PM. It was decent food, but so not worth what they must have paid for all of us to eat there. We came back to the room, packed, went to bed and decided we'd head home as soon as we got up.

We left the resort at 8 AM, went to Starbucks and got coffee for the drive home. We were home by 11 AM!

We picked up some outdoor furniture we ordered at Crate and Barrel. Then we went to Macys as we wanted a new baking pan and found an amazing deal on a Cuisinart baking pan, that was huge, came with all sorts of neat accessories was regularly priced at $150, but get this.........with the sale price and some discount coupons, we paid $25 for it!

Now we're home with the kitties and were baking a chicken for dinner in our new baking pan. Life is good!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, funny you said about having bruises all over your arms. I wore a dress today and I realized that I've got a BIG green bruise on the front of my shin. No idea at all where it came from. How can that be...? I mean, it's an area that doesn't really have any extra padding so it must have hurt when I whacked it, and it's green so it's in the fading stage which means it's been there for a while...?

Rod, I know what you mean about resort food being crazy expensive. One time I was staying at the Four Seasons for a conference and I stayed over the weekend when it was over. I went do to the restaurant and just got a cup of take-out coffee that Saturday morning and it was SIX DOLLARS. Wha...?!? Fortunately I learned my lesson at that point and only with coffee; god forbid I had actually ordered a piece of toast or something, I would have been broke!

On Friday the CB came home late and we didn't headed off to Michigan until about 6 pm (which is 7 in Michigan) so we arrived around 10 pm at my friends. On Saturday we went to brunch and did some antiquing, then grilled out for dinner. Sunday we left early and stopped in a little town called New Buffalo and looked around a bit. There is a condo community in a harbor and there are a couple of models that I might look into buying. One is TINY (like 400 square feet -- think two car garage) with a roof deck of another 400 square feet, and the other is about 750 square feet with two beds and two baths somehow crammed in there. I need to see them inside in person, but this was an exploratory mission to check out the community and see if it might be of any interest. There's an amtrack train that goes from Union Station in Chicago to literally right at the front entrance to this community so that's also a nice feature. Hmmm... we will see!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, I am glad your weekend in Naples was nice but I get that you guys would rather have been home in your new house. Is you back feeling better? I hate to hear you had problems with it on your trip. Places like that are always pricey. I remember the first time I went to a teaching conference at Steamboat Springs, Colorado we took $$150 cash per day for meals and my breakfast and lunch were included in the conference. We went through our cash the first day we were there. It was crazy. You certainly made the rounds on shopping. Good deal! How was your chicken dinner?

Dee Jay, the condos you are looking at sound great - it’s nice you can take the train directly there. It sounds like a nice get away for you guys. I am sorry to hear you had a mystery bruise too; when we used to go camping I think every part of my body was bruised except my face when we go home. I try to say “that’s going to leave a mark” when I hit something hard hoping I will at least remember how I did it. $6 coffee is a bit much. We did a bid on priceline for a 4 star or better hotel in the Vail area and got a place in Beaver Creek for $222 a night (plus the other charges of course). They made their money back on us in booze and breakfast. Wine was about $20 a glass and breakfast was buffet only and $35 each. The last day we were there we realized we could custom order what we wanted for breakfast but of course we were in a hurry to head home since we planned on driving over the top in Estes Park. I always say “we didn’t come here to save money”. I will remember that when my Porsche shows up. Ha!

Speaking of my Porsche my post excitement peak is waning and I don’t see how I am ever going to be able to wait for 4 months (or more). I can’t amuse myself with new jewelry either because my goal is to save some money by the time my car gets here - wish me luck. Of course another goal is to be thin and rich. So starting this Thursday and every 2 weeks you should nag at me - Marcy did you move money to savings?

Speaking of cars we got the renewal notice for Marty’s pickup license plates and I noticed it just has Marty’s name on it. Of course Marty thinks it’s funny but that will require a trip to the county clerk’s office.

Work started off with excitement - my team scheduled some things incorrectly. I got that fixed then resisted being Gordon Ramsey on the people who scheduled it and verified it. The work load is super light for 3 days so my work was done by 10. I had to schedule some things in the testbed for someone and couldn’t remember my password so I tried every password I generally use so by the time I got back to the main server I couldn’t remember my current password. I completely locked myself out of my PC and then couldn’t get back in to our applications. 2 plus hours later I finally had all of my passwords reset. Good thing we weren’t busy today.

It’s super smokey here again. There are 3 fires going in Colorado. They arrested 2 guys for one of them because they left a campfire going.

Have a great evening.
Curby

 

[Rod]

DeeJay, a 400 sq ft condo? I'm assuming you'd buy it for investment to rent out? I can't imagine something quite that small.

Marcy, the chicken was great. This is the first time we've had a gas stove and it definitely does make a difference. It's oddly complicated to turn on the oven though. You have to first touch bake. Then temperature. Then start. Then Convection if you want Convection, then start again. If you don't hit start the 2nd time and walk away, you'll come back to food that isn't cooking. At least we're figuring it out.

The grass was removed today in the side and back yard. It looks so bare without grass. Tomorrow the electrician comes to run the 220v line for the spa. Then our landscaper will be here Thursday to finalize the hard-scape plan and the actual work begins on Friday. I'm really anxious to see it all done. The spa isn't coming until the 28th.

Tonight we had one of our new neighbors over for a glass of wine. It was a nice visit, but he stayed much longer than we imagined. Still, it was nice getting to know him better.

We have suspended shelving from the garage ceiling going in on Friday, the A/C people will be here tomorrow to do something called an Air Balance. The living and master bedroom are too warm and the rest of the house too cold. They said they'll get that all sorted tomorrow.

I guess that's all the news from this side of the planet. Have a great Tuesday all!

 

[marcy]

Rod, I am glad to hear your chicken turned out great. I was resistant to get a gas stove and oven but I sure like it now. That is strange you have to push that many buttons to get the convection going. We push either bake or convection, them punch in the temperature then start. Are you having new lawn put in? I bet you are excited to get your spa. It sounds wonderful. Let me know how the air balance goes; I wonder if they can do that for our furnace? Our basement is about 15-20 degrees cooler than the upstairs in the winter. How nice to meet a neighbor and enjoy a glass of wine with him. One of the little boys on our block must talk to Marty a lot because when I was out pulling flowers and weeds the other day he rushed over and asked me "Where's Marty?" Marty told me he says hi to him when he's on the patio so I guess Marty is his buddy now.

 

[Rod]

Marcy, I don't know why it takes so many button pushes to bake something, but it does.

On the backyard, no, we're not going to have ANY grass. That was the deal when Charlie said he wanted a house house. I don't want to have to deal with grass, so we're having the backyard filled with brick pavers especially under the spa, and lush tropical landscaping. It's a very small fenced in yard to begin with, which is just perfect to me. Here's a pic of it bare:

 

[marcy]

Rod, your back yard looks fabulous. You will really enjoy it when everything is done. Good idea to make sure you don't have to mow the lawn.

We have a yard service - you may remember my dad used to come mow our lawn because he didn't think Marty got to it quickly enough - it ticked both my Dad and Marty off - my dad complained to his buddies he always had to cut our lawn even though we never asked him to and it made Marty unhappy my dad would come do it. They got along better after I hired the lawn service. Same applied to shoveling - so the lawn service became our year round service.

 

[Rod]

Until just a few years ago, we moved a snow shovel with us to each new home we brought with us from up north. We finally got rid of it. Snow is a bad four letter word. Mow is a bad 3 letter word! I'm glad your dad and Marty got along much better after hiring a company to mow and shovel!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, your story about the grass cutting is funny! I'm sure things did improve once you got a lawn service though, LOL. As for passwords... all the ones in the accounts I don't really care about (like Amazon and evite and that sort of thing are the same) but the ones for my financial institutions are all different. I figure if somebody hacks my evite account I'm not that spun up but if they hack my retirement account that's a different matter!

Rod, the 400 SF condo IS tiny, especially now that I live in a 2800 SF condo that's totally open! I would like to go and view some of them in person this weekend and see how I feel. There's one that I think is not yet built out (they were constructed as "cabanas" with boat slips and that would be ideal because then I don't have to undo what someone else has already done. And you KNOW Dee is going to want to redo the whole thing!

Yesterday we had a cocktail party for our new class of incoming associates and then I went home and had two more glasses of wine and ate three pieces of leftover pizza. Oops. But today I am back on the wagon!