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Healthy Living Thread

DeeJay I hope the day doesn't turn out to be expensive and it's a simple and inexpensive fix on your car.

When we closed on our HELOC, the deal was no origination or annual fee. Plus no closing costs - UNLESS we paid off the loan within a certain number of months. We paid it off earlier, so we had to pay the closing costs at the end. Like you, we were just glad to have it over with, only in our case that meant paid off.
 
Dee Jay, sadly you nailed it. My MIL, SIL and a niece in law stayed behind. And when I went to finally make my breakfast one of them shows up in the kitchen to cook. That is a good deal you closed in less time than predicted. Let's hope my car is the same way. Good luck with the car. Squealing noises are generally bad.

Marcy
 
So the garage just called... it's either going to be $974 or $1274 depending on whether then can get the frozen pins thingys out of the somethun somethuns or if they have to replace that part too... ;( Oh well, what are you gonna do? You can't drive around without safe brakes!
 
Yikes....those are spensive somethun somethuns!
 
Dee*Jay|1472064027|4069579 said:
So the garage just called... it's either going to be $974 or $1274 depending on whether then can get the frozen pins thingys out of the somethun somethuns or if they have to replace that part too... ;( Oh well, what are you gonna do? You can't drive around without safe brakes!
Click to expand...

Rats Dee Jay. My brakes were $940. As you said brakes are essential.

Rod, did you see a hurricane may be forming and heading your way? Oh no lots or rain is coming both of our direction.
 
Marcy, I have been watching the forecast, but won't get too hot and bothered until there's a clearer indication of where the storm will land. So far it's looking like well south in the state. But we'll likely get a bit of rain from it. Just in time to possibly ruin our weekend. Joy!
 
$944.56 :sick:

I guess it could have been worse!

The CB brought home Popeye's Fried Chicken. Rod, I think they have that were you are...? Curby, I'm not sure if you've ever had the joy? Let's just say I could have done without that second biscuit. Ugh.
 
Yes, we have Popeyes down here. Used to be really good and I loved how spicy it was, but lately, the size of the pieces have been so small that it's just not worth the price. Instead, our largest local grocery store chain, Publix, has fantastic fried chicken and a whole fried chicken costs something like $8 and the pieces are huge!

Charlie didn't really want to cook tonight, so when I got home we walked up the street to a Greek Restaurant and had an excellent meal. We started with Calamari and it was spicy and crisp. They also included tempura battered veggies in it, which was a nice treat. I had a cup of Crab Bisque that had a nice lemony hint to it and for my entree, I had the kabob special that included one skewer with chicken and grilled veggies and another skewer with beef tenderloin, which was perfectly cooked. It also included orzo with spinach and lemon plus more grilled veggies. Charlie had a Greek chicken dish with the orzo and grilled veggies. It was all so reasonably priced and it took less than 5 minutes to walk to from our house.

We are so liking our new neighborhood!
 
Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, I'm sorry your "favorite" people on the trip stayed behind... but sadly that's always the way! I'm hoping your car, like my HELOC, is done sooner than expected. As for squealing noises, I've never had one that WASN'T expensive, that's for sure!

Rod, your and Charlie's dinner sounds wonderful! I also love hearing about your new neighborhood! It think you've met all of your immediate neighbors now, right? That's always the crap shoot in close proximity living -- the people you're living with!

Today I am going to explore some murphy bed options. There is a place a couple of miles from me that does custom muprhy beds and I'm going to check them out. There is one I found on the internet (the internet is MAGIC -- you can find EVERYTHING there!!!) where the front panel is actually book cases and they bifold to the sides. I like that idea more than the one where there are just flat panels where the bed is but I'm not sure how much room I actually have. Tomorrow when I go to meet the HVAC guy I'll be taking all sorts of measurements!

OK, off to get myself together and go in search of some boat house stuff!
 
Happy Friday Eve!

DeeJay, have fun shopping for boathouse thingies. Getting exactly what you want for a new space is the most fun. Murphy beds have sure come a long way in looks and comfort!

Yes, we now know all of the 3 other neighbors. We literally won the neighbor lottery here. Everyone is simply terrific. We'll all be looking out for each other, which is a great thing. Saturday night, the guy who lives to the right of us, is coming over for dinner. When I mentioned, I was going to buy a tiny lawn mower for the tiny plot of grass we have in our adjoining front yard, he said I shouldn't. He's now cutting our little plot of grass and edging it for us every week. We definitely want to stay on his good side. Yes we do! He's also a tech guy and he installed a video monitoring system for his front entry door. Our front doors are on the side of our homes and once he got it all up and running, it also has a clear view of our front door. He went out and found an App in the Apple iTunes store and created a secure login for me to be able to look at our front door from my iPhone anytime I want. So as I said, we need to stay in his good graces for sure!
 
Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, Brakes could have been worse. Hope they get it fixed for you soon. Squeaks are always expensive.

That is so strange you had Popeyes yesterday. Most of the crew had lunch three yesterday. I have never tried it because we don't have them in Wyoming and they only recently started showing up in Colorado. I would go for biscuits and a few bites of nuggets.

Yes it is always my luck the person I like the least either stays behind or sets by me.

The Internet is magic. You can find anything you want and often things you never wanted to know. I am going to look up Murphy beds in a few minutes since I have no idea what they are.

Rod, you and Dee Jay really have me really wanting fried chicken. That is great to hear you are loving your neighborhood and neighbors. It's nice to be able to walk somewhere for dinner.

You did hit the jackpot lottery on neighbors. How nice of that guy to cut your lawn for you and give you access to his security camera. Definitely be nice to him. Good deal.

I set up one of our security cameras looking at the love seat with all my bears on it. Marty said if he'd known I was going to do that she would have rigged something to have one of their arms wave at me. That would have freaked me out for sure. This camera was facing the street and the green sensor must have been burned out by the sun so a lot of the picture looks magenta. It's a cheapie we had for years though. I was using it primarily for snow drift depth and whether I saw myself going to work in that crap!

Most of the gang went to some rope course thing. 4 of us went out to breakfast and I had real food and carbs. Nice.

Marty's sun burn is getting worse on his chest. It's waking him up at night. Poor guy.

Have a great day.
Curby / Marcy
 
Happy Thursday (again)!

Well... the murphy beds are *interesting*... but I'm not 100% sold. Room and Board has a sleeper sofa with a pop-up mattress, so no uncomfortable bar running down the middle, and I've slept on one before and I know it's comfortable so I think I'll probably go that way. I also had an epiphany about about building out the storage wall, but of course I just dream stuff up out of thin air so until I talk it through with the CB I'm not sure it will actually work. But points to me for thinking outside the (Ikea) box, ha ha!

Now I'm drinking iced coffee (decaf... because no one wants to talk to me at 3 am, LOL) and trying to straighten out my showing schedule for this weekend.

Curby, I feel for Marty, I really do. Sunburn is the worst! When I was a kid I would burn and peel, burn and peel all summer long. Note to self: Make dermatologist appointment!

Rod, you are SO SO SO lucky to have won the neighbor lottery! I was THRILLED when one of my problem children here finally sold but then someone else took an extra doze of crazy pills and now I've got HER do deal with.

Ok... now I think I need to go refine my budget for the boat house. If I come back in a little while slurring my typing you'll know I switched from iced coffee to bourbon once the auto sum feature in excel engaged at the top of all my columns... Flooring... Furniture... Cabinets... Appliances... ACK!
 
DeeJay, I hope you don't come back slurring. It's too early for bourbon! Spreadsheets are good. Yes. We even created one for the new house. Sticking to it is anutter whole thing. We set a budget of $40K for new house thingies. That didn't last long. No it most certainly did not!
 
Dee Jay, I hate those uncomfortable beds with the bar down the middle but I am sure you'll find something you like. You are creative and like to decorate so I am sure what you decide will be fabulous.

Good idea to make that derm appointment. Sounds like you've had some bad burns. I've had my share of bad sunburns too which is why I stay out of the sun.

Curby
 
Rod, budgets and new houses are usually difficult to follow. But look at the end result. It's never too early for alcohol. I need a mimosa on my vacation.

Marcy
 
Hi Kids!

Marty got up at 5 and made his morning omlet. 5 of them went fishing in an inlet and close deep sea. They caught quite a few fish but threw all but 4 of them back. It was fun but didn't really catch much.

I did a batch of laundry while the crowds were down here. Marty and I went to lunch alone and then went for a ride. That was nice. :appl: We had some wood stove fire grilled pizza. They were decent.

Tomorrow I think we are going to a local sculpture gardens. I want to go to an aquarium next week. It probably won't be as nice as the Montery aquarium but it should be fun.

Have a great weekend.

Curby
 
Hi Kids!

We went shopping yesterday. Found a heavier gold bracelet I liked yesterday but thought of my Porsche and said thanks but not today.

We all went to supper last night. It wasn't bad. Group of dieters won't order dessert but they'll fill up on multiple drinks. Darn it.

Kind of stormy looking today. May get rain.


Marcy
 
Happy Sunday kids!

I'm posting from my phone so I hope this works!

Rod, I've got a budget of $30k for the boathouse renovation. My spreadsheet includes everything from demo to furniture to lighting to towels in the bathroom! We'll see how close I come...

Curby, LOL on multiple drinks but no dessert! At 150 calories a glass for prosecco I figure I drink about one big chocolate cake a night, ha ha!

So I'm "accidentally" at the gem show. There's some background here: my best traveling girlfriend and I just planned a trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in October. I have a TSA pre-check number but I never got around to signing up for a Global Traveler number, which gives you expedited passage through customs and can save a LONG time. So of course I signed up as soon as we booked the trip... But the first interview appointment (which is required) that I can get is in DECEMBER. Well I'll be back long before then! You can -- in theory -- do a "walk in" appointment however so I went to O'Hare this morning to see if they can fit me in. The guy took my name and told me to come back at 3:00... That was at 9:30... Ugh. BUT the gem show (which I had completely forgotten about) is this weekend and the place where they do it is only a few miles from the airport! So I called the CB, he circled back and picked me up, and dropped me here at the show. I'll shop around until about 2:00 and then I'll take a quick taxi ride back to O'Hare. There's no guarantee they can fit me in today BTW so this may all be for not... But I'm hoping!!!
 
DeeJay, we have TSA pre-check but also didn't get the international one. I hope you get it today, that would be great.

The "only" things we really "had" to buy for the new house were a refrigerator, washer and dryer. Yet we managed to blow our $40K budget handsomely. And it's not going to stop. I've come to the conclusion the Whirlpool gas slide in range that came with the house MUST go. For one, the oven isn't truly self-clean. They call it "Aqua Clean." You're supposed to spray water inside the oven and tap the aqua clean button. In one hour, they say the dirt will be separated and all you're supposed to do is wipe it clean. Great idea. Doesn't work. Not at all. Secondly, the grates are massive and weigh a ton. By removing them to clean underneath, I've managed to scratch the panel the knobs and controls are on. This magic panel is not stainless. It's painted. So one would think you can contact Whirlpool, find out what the paint number is, order some and touch it up. At least one would think. After about a dozen calls, emails and chat sessions with Whirlpool customer service (if one can call utterly rude service such), they don't and won't tell me. Instead, they think I should pay close to $500. YES, you heard it. $500 to replace the metal painted panel. And the final icing on the axe is the gas knobs are on the top of the unit. One might say, so what? Can you say kitties get up there and kitties like to mark everything as theirs by rubbing their faces on the side of things. They have turned the gas on a couple of times. I don't want them to be able to turn the gas on. No I don't. So, I've decided to sell the stove and buy a Samsung that will fit our needs better. We'll just have to wait a while as the bank vault is empty at the moment. But fill it I will and this crappy range will go.

We had our next door neighbor over for dinner last night. The food and company was really nice. Today I'm grilling a steak for me and salmon for Charlie. Otherwise, we'll just be running errands, including having the spa water tested so we can likely be told we need to buy some new chemical we don't yet have.

Have a great Sunday everyone!
 
Happy Sunday night kids!

Rod, I completely understand about only having to buy a few things and then somehow spending many tens of thousands of dollars! Truly I do! And what a PITA about the range. Aren't you amazed--and disappointed--at lousy engineering? I am. But I have every confidence you will get something great in your new kitchen and this will all be a distant memory!

So today really turned out just fantastic! I walked around the gem show for a few hours and even found a really good replica of something I've been toying with having made but I am not sure how much I will wear it so I'm going to see if this thing gets any traction and then decide if it makes sent to spend the equivalent of a new Honda Accord on the real thing, ha ha. Then I went back to the airport and THEY GOT ME IN!!!!! So now I am all set! My traveling girlfriend was just AMAZED (as was I!) but I'm super glad it's all taken care of and I can just breeze through customs. It doesn't seem like a big thing but when you get off some twelve hour flight half way around the world and you're cranky and exhausted the last thing you want it to stand in line for what can be hours just to fill out a form and get your passport stamped. Yes, today was a bit inconvenient, but I'm sure I'll appreciate it after deplaning from Tokyo and being able to breeze on through!

When I got home the CB grilled steaks and then we walked a few blocks down and had ice cream.

What a good day!
 
DeeJay, it's great you were able to get your international pre-check all taken care of. We've been toying with the idea of a European River Cruise in a couple years, so we'll definitely go the international pre-check if we do that.

Dinner was great. My steak was a bone-in rib eye and we had dinner left over from last night, so Charlie had that. We had a great salad, then Magnum Ice Cream Bars. They are so yummy! Then we got in the spa and it was just such a nice clear night to watch the stars.

Does tomorrow HAVE to be Monday???? I so don't want to go to work. But I'm sure it will be a slightly shorter week as they usually let us out of our hamster cages early on a holiday weekend and then we have 3 days off! Woo Hoo!
 
Happy Monday kids!

Rod, some credit cards cover the cost of Global Entry and/or TSA Pre-check so if check that out before you pay and maybe you can get it for free. Otherwise pre-check is $85 per person and GE is $100 per person. They are both good for five years, but GE also includes pre-check so that's the better way to go if you have the time.

I just finished a meeting with the property manager and three of the roofing guys. The message was: FINISH THIS UP AND GET THE FVCK OUT!!! I made it VERY VERY clear that this had gone on way too long and I was over it, as is everyone else in this complex. The thing that might actually get in DONE is that our line of credit converts to a construction loan on October 8 so I said everything had to be finished and paid for by that date. The target to be finished is September 21. We will see...

My big plans for the rest of the day include cleaning the bathrooms and mopping the floor. Yes, I know, things are completely out of control here!
 
Hi Kids! Quick post as we are off to the store

Dee Jay, good deal getting your global travel done and enjoying a gem show. Keep us posted on your jewelry project.

Rod bone in ribeye are delicious. What a pain about your stove. I'd want a different one too. We did a $1500 upgrade with our place to get stainless but hated the dishwasher and only tolerated the frig. We got a new dishwasher this summer and put the frig downstairs.


Marcy
 
Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, it's too bad your appliance package didn't work out after you paid more for it, but I do get it! I'm starting to look at appliances for the boat house and frankly that sort of thing is much less interesting to me than furniture and paint colors, LOL!

I just ran over to Macy's at lunch to get perfume because I'm totally out and the lady at the counter said I should just refill my current bottle because it would save $30. Hmmm... I wonder if I've already thrown it out...

Then I got a salad and brought it back for lunch. Good thing I didn't look up the nutritional info until after I at it -- many many calories! Ugh.
 
Marcy, thanks for making feel less bad about not liking the brand new (albeit poorly designed) stove in our new house. I'd go buy the new one today (it's on sale) but Charlie won't let me until we've paid some other things off. Can you say Rod is determined to get it though? I can!

DeeJay, salads can be very high in calories. We think we're doing sumpin good for ourselves only to find out a Big Mac would have included less calories and fat. Be careful with appliances. They all look nice, but think about how you'll use them and make sure they don't just look nice, but actually accommodate your needs.
 
Hi Kids.

Rod, I am sure you'll get your stove soon. When we thought about doing the upgrade we went to the store the contractor bought the appliances from and had him show us what they were. They were Frigidaire and he said they are nice. He did say they weren't top of the line but decent. He lied! We moved the original frig to the man cave and kept the stove. Eventually if we are still there I'll get a nicer stove but this one works okay. The dishwasher had to go though. Isn't it amazing how high in calories salad can be?

Dee Jay, I am not surprised you like to shop furniture more than appliances. I do too. Plus I think appliances are easier to research and find online. Find a few you like and go see them in person. That is a deal on refilling your perfume. I hope you found your bottle.

We had a day away from the chaos today. Went for a ride, walked down a pier and looked around had lunch on the bay and picked up stuff for lasagna. Marty is brewing supper right now. We also shopped in a nice local gift store and bought a few things. I did check out a local jewelry store but didn't see anything I liked.

Laters
Curby
 
Happy Wednesday kids!

Rod, appliances aren't high on my list of exciting things but when we did the kitchen in our townhouse Bill certainly had a ball with them! 36" Sub Zero, Thermodore double oven with warming drawer, Bosch super quiet dishwasher, Wolfe six burner cook top (or maybe it was Viking...?) with some monster exhaust hood. Add in a whole lotta custom cabinetry and three slabs of granite and you've got the equivalent of a new Lexus in your kitchen...!

Curby, are you guys getting toward the end of your trip? It feel like you've been gone a long time! What did you get at the gift shop, anything good? That's one nice thing about my giant wall of book cases, I can but a little nic nak on every trip and put it up there!

Last night the CB made mini-burgers for dinner. Then one of my neighbors stopped over and Would Not Go Home. I know he's lonely... but man... we practically had to put our jammies on and get in bed before he would finally leave!

Awaiting word on the HVAC situation in the boat house. If it's done by Friday I can have the inspection in the afternoon. Otherwise the inspector isn't free until next Wednesday and I'm supposed to close on Friday. The bad part about all of this is that the CB can't go with me to see what's going on so I'm on my own with the electrical, HVAC and plumbing that needed to be finished. I'm sure something will be F'd up and I won't know enough to catch it... UGH.
 
DeeJay, I knew there was a reason I liked Bill. We are kindred spirits for sure. I'd love to have such high end appliacances!

I hope everything goes smoothly with the inspections. Hopefully you won't miss anything.

So we've got a tropical storm barreling (slowly) toward us. We've already had massive amounts of rain and I hope to maybe leave a few minutes early this evening. The bulk of the wind will miss us as the storm will come ashore tomorrow north of Tampa, but the rain is south and east of the center of low pressure, so copious amounts of water will be poured out of the skies over the next 24 hours or so. I just hope we don't lose electricity. Heat and massive humidity without A/C would be just plain awful.
 
Hi Kids.

Rod, I am sure you'll get your stove soon. When we thought about doing the upgrade we went to the store the contractor bought the appliances from and had him show us what they were. They were Frigidaire and he said they are nice. He did say they weren't top of the line but decent. He lied! We moved the original frig to the man cave and kept the stove. Eventually if we are still there I'll get a nicer stove but this one works okay. The dishwasher had to go though. Isn't it amazing how high in calories salad can be?

Dee Jay, a Lexus in my kitchen sounds fabulous. I sure love my plentiful granite countertops. My old house was lacking in countertop space and it certainly wasn't granite. I also feel like I've been gone a long time, too long. We had rain all morning and Friday looks like a lot of rain. Too many people in the house then. Looks like we'll get the end of the tropical storm playing near Rod. We got a crab sign for the man cave, a deck of cards, Marty a work shirt (t-shirt), a little jar of pearls for my gem jar, a flip flop shaped nail file for my purse and a post card to send my sisters. Of course the post cards will get sent when I get home. I hope the HVAC situation gets done so you can have your inspections this week. Good luck with those.

Rod, go big or go home on appliances, huh? May as well buy good ones instead of buying them over and over. I am watching the storm barreling towards you. Hawaii is in for a double punch with 2 hurricanes. Oh no to loosing power. Hopefully we both stay on the grid and my plane can take off Saturday morning.

Marty had to work several hours today. The young adults are oblivious to other people and took over the sitting room with movies running off the people looking for quiet. I had to tell them Marty was on a conference call.

We bought a big bottle of Baileys yesterday so we could all have a shot last night and the same oblivious people drank the entire bottle making White Russians. WTH? I am so over 2 weeks in one house with extended family. I tried to reduce my stress by eating a mini cupcake, a cinnamon roll and a Snickers ice cream bar. My MIL and I had those for a snack.

Marty and his sister are at the gym. I can't get the TV back from the hookup to the nephews computer. I wanted to watch news. Grr.

Laters.
Curby / Marcy
 
Happy Thursday kids!

Rod, how are you faring in the weather? I agree, no power (and therefore no A/C!) would be miserable under the circumstances!

Curby, sounds like you guys picked up some cute things! As for the oblivious young people, I'm glad you told them Marty was working!

Last night the CB made pizza and we just lounged around. I am spending WAY too much time on the internet looking at the same pictures of beach house décor over and over again so I finally downloaded another book from the library and read for a while. And once again I was wide awake at 3 am reading the news. This is a terrible habit I've gotten into -- I get up to pee and when I come back to bed I reach for my phone. I really need to leave it somewhere else overnight because the CB puts it in bed with me anyway when he leaves in the morning because the alarm vibrating is what wakes me up for work. Maybe I'll try having it over on the sofa or somewhere else inconvenient for me to grab it when I come back to bed in the wee hours!
 
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