Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Deegee. Your hair looks great. I wondered if there was a hole in the cap and all of your hair got lightened. I like it a lot. That is too bad your scalp reacts to dye. I hope your hairdresser did round 2 for free.

That’s great you had a lazy day. You deserve it.

I would be nervous about trees breaking and falling in to your house. Generally yours are because of wet roots? Is that right? We get breakage from heavy snow or dried out trees snapping in the wind. Our house has 7 year old trees so they are still small. None of them seem to grow fast. Marty had an umbrella on the deck that the pole snapped in half and wind would swing it around. I was always terrified some gust was going to hurl it through the window. I was delighted when we had our deck stained Marty finally threw all of it out.

I have enjoyed my long weekend. I’m ready to go back to work so I can relax. I did shopping, baking, got thanksgiving cards in the mail and wrote my December article. We are meeting friends for supper tonight. Tomorrow is laundry and lifting.

We have both Thursday and Friday off next week. Another 4 day weekend.

I do see your moms point on you can’t stop living because of a virus. Our friend took his MIL out of the nursing home here and moved her to Arizona with them. She flat out said not being able to see anyone or go anywhere was an absolute living hell on her and she’d never wish that kind of restrictions or loneliness on her worst enemies. Are you guys going to have dinner at her house?

Looks like 3 of us for Thanksgiving here. I bought tenderloins and thought I’d make some kind of potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and I made mini cheesecake for dessert.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-we are planning to go to mom’s for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. She told me she wouldn’t make it through another lockdown like we had in the spring, and I believe her. I am not a social person, but she is. I genuinely believe you have to consider mental health and do what you feel is the right thing to do. My nephew tested positive yesterday after having mild symptoms, so everyone who has been around him won’t be at dinner. After they’re out, that leaves only 7 of us. We will space out, wear masks, and do our best to be careful. When I was the manager of the death claims section, I saw many death certificates with the cause of death as failure to thrive. That is a genuine concern for me with my mom.

Sorry to be so grim! Happy Thanksgiving!! Happy day off work! Are you putting up Christmas decorations his weekend? I didn’t put anything up outside last year and only had a 4ft real tree inside. We had a beach trip planned for the week after Christmas and didn’t want to bother with having to undecorate before we left. I think we’ll do some lights outside this year, and a small tree inside again. We might do another beach trip after Christmas too. That’s always something to look forward to.

I signed up for a trial of Hello Fresh. We cooked our first meal yesterday, and it was really good. We can’t do much on our own and we eat the same things over and over. I signed up for 3 meals a week, so that will give us a little variety. I made a cherry cobbler for dessert too. I need to knock it off with the sugar. I did so well for so long! It’s addictive, darn it.

I’m off to read a little before bed. Have a wonderful day tomorrow! As lousy as this year has been, there are still things to be thankful for. I’m grateful that Matt and I have stayed really busy with work this whole time, that we’ve been able to successfully work from home, that I have a great guy to be stuck at home with, so far my family has been mostly healthy, and my nephew’s case seems to be mild and I sure hope it stays that way. What a year!

 

[deegee]

Happy Black Friday! I did not step foot inside a store today, nor did I go near a retail area. I am not a Black Friday shopper. We had a really nice day yesterday. We were able to space out nicely at mom’s and it was like a normal dinner, minus my sister and her kids. My nephew continues to have a mild case of Covid. He has a cough, no taste or smell, and is really tired. His wife works in a Covid unit at a hospital and has to be tested quite often. She has never tested positive. My nephew works in a Pepsi bottling plant, and apparently there are more than 30 people there with it so we’re guessing that’s the source of his infection. He stops by my sister’s every day for lunch (before testing positive), so that whole group of our family is in quarantine.

Milo had his dental surgery today and ended up having 3 teeth removed. Poor kitty! He seems to be feeling okay though. He helped me put laundry away, so that’s normal. I have antibiotics and pain medicine to give him. Medicating cats is no fun.

Since we were up early today, I did 4 loads of laundry and gave the house a thorough cleaning. I sure miss my cleaners! I am thinking that after the first of the year, I will have them come every other week to start with. Matt did yard work all day, and we ended up not having enough energy to go to the farmers market for a Christmas tree or to put up lights outside. That’s on the agenda for tomorrow. Dinner today was leftover turkey and sides. And ooh! I ordered the earrings I thought about for a couple of months. Yay! One pair sold, so I ordered the other. I couldn’t decide between the two, so the one pair selling really helped! Have a wonderful weekend!

 

[marcy]

Hi Deegee! How did Thanksgiving go with your mom? I am sure having some of her family with her really brightened her day. I totally agree with you mental health consequences from this isolation can and will have long and lasting consequences.

I am not surprised you would see death certificates listed with failure to thrive. That is so sad too.

I think we are putting up our tree this weekend. I am anxious to see the new tree and new lights. I cleared off the mantle tonight for my Snoopy Christmas village. Marty mentioned ordering new lights for outside but hasn't yet; he doesn't want to use what he has because they aren't LED and really run up our light bill. I don't care tho - I like the lights outside. Maybe I'll offer to go buy some LED lights locally if he'll put them up. I can see why you wouldn't want to decorate much if you do go to the beach again for Christmas.

Let me know how Hello Fresh works out for you and Matt. I like their commercial where the couple is so excited they don't have to cook anymore. I'd probably have to order 3 meals for Marty though. Ha Ha.

Did you finish your book? I am almost done with the new Jack Reacher novel.

Good idea to the remember and appreciate things we are thankful for; I also have a lot to be thankful for in spite of this challenging year.

Yesterday day morning I decided to make myself a Belgium waffle. I thought it looked like it still had oil in it but I sadly found out I was wrong. I couldn't pry the top off at first so then I pulled harder and found both top and bottom were completely stuck in all those crevices. I threw that sucker away and told Marty when he got back from the gym I hope he didn't have an emotional attachment to our waffle maker because I threw it out. He's such a smart arse this morning he asked me to make waffles for breakfast. I said okay but first I'm going to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Our Thanksgiving dinner went well. Marty's client that came over is such a sweet lady. She brought us some red wine. I fixed garlic scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, dinner rolls and relish trays. Marty grilled tenderloins for us. We had mini cheesecake for dessert with cherries, whip cream and chocolate sauce on top. Our investment guy at the bank brought us a pumpkin pie but none of us like pumpkin pie so I froze it for Christmas.

I did a little online shopping today. We do a $20 gift white elephant exchange with my family and Jay Leno's Garage had 25% off today so I ordered a car wax kit for that which was on sale for $19.95. I spent enough to get free shipping. I ordered Marty a few kits with wax, cleaner, detailing, wheels and windows. I picked up a few things for Marty and some friends.

I put the little Christmas trees I ordered for co-workers in Christmas bags and cleaned up the glitter mess from that.

I started on my annual Christmas poem (my form letter for cards) but don't have a lot to say this year since we've been under house arrest.

I can't believe it's Friday. Seems like it is Sunday.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Milo is the large kitty in front. . I see we were posting at the same time, Marcy!

 

[marcy]

Oops we were posting at the same time Deegee.

Glad yesterday went well at your mom's house.

I hope your nephew recovers quickly from COVID - you'd think his wife would be more susceptible to catching it given where she works. I know they say some blood types are more likely to get it.

Poor Milo! I hope he feels okay soon. Beautiful kitties.

You had a busy day. Yay for ordering earrings - I can't wait to see them.

 

[marcy]

It was a long day but we have decorations up inside. The new tree looks good. The new LED lights are extremely bright. I keep thinking the light is on in the den. The tree is skinnier than the one we had so I didn’t pull out as many ornaments. We also went outside and measured the house, doors, roof, windows and peaks and Marty is ordering commercial grade lights now. I guess it is a long string you cut to fit, add the plugs and screw in the bulbs. Fun! I hope we get them right away and it’s nice enough to put them up this year. I got my PITA battery lights on the mantle placed almost perfect so since I’m too short to see on top of the mantle I had Marty put my Snoopy village up. The bulbs and battery pack are top heavy so they just fall off the mantle. Plus I got both of the light strands twisted together just trying to get them on the mantle. We went out for Mexican food mid afternoon. I ordered a pickup grocery order and they had toilet paper. Limit 1 but I was surprised they had a brand name in stock.

I made my first batch of Christmas cookies too. No wonder I’m tired.

Here is the new tree and lights plus the mantle.

Take care
Marcy

 

[beatricecrummles]

Did

Happy rainy Saturday! I don’t mind a good rainy day every now and then. It gives me an excuse to be lazy and sit around in my jammies watching Netflix all day.

Marcy-I’m glad you’re feeling better. We’ve been having some strong winds, but not bad enough to knock semis over! Wow! Our deck furniture has moved around, and we have a tree that has fallen but got caught by another tree. It makes me nervous, but Matt promises me it won’t hit the house. In my mind, I see the tree holding it up breaking, and both trees flying down the hill into the house, which could happen if we had winds like you get!

Did you enjoy your two weekdays off? Are you planning to take off any next week? I’m planning to work through Wednesday and maybe Friday. I have to drop Milo at the vet at 7am on Friday for his tooth extraction, so I may end up working that day too. Unless I come back home and go back to bed! Do you have plans for Thanksgiving? Mom wants Thanksgiving as usual, which makes me nervous for her. She nearly gave up the will to live back in the spring, and now firmly believes we can’t stop living because of the virus. We’ll have to be extremely careful.

My hair was quite a shock. I have been having reactions to my monthly root dye for a while now. My scalp turns bright red and it burns for several days. My hair grows so fast, you can already see grey roots after just a week. I told her not to dye the roots this time and to add subtle grey highlights to the rest of my hair. I kept telling her I thought she was pulling to much hair through the cap, but she promised it would be very subtle. Turns out, what she was referring to as subtle was the difference between my roots and the rest of my hair. We had very different outcomes in mind! While it did look very cool, I don’t have the completion for white hair. She added brown back, but it is very light. It’s very dry and frizzy, so I’ve been using a lot of leave in conditioner.

Have a great weekend!

Did your scalp have burns from the hair color? The hair treatment was strong I guess. How did you soothe your scalp?

 

[marcy]

Hi! I have been back in the office so far this week and forgot how cold that place is in the winter. I am still so cold I have on sweats plus an extra sweatshirt right now. I hate to turn on the fireplace since I have plastic LED trees and my Snoopy Village on the mantle and whatever the bottom of the fireplace is called. It is super windy again so it is really chilly out. Snow only made it as far ass about 20 miles west of us so that's a good thing. I am working from home the next 2 days.

I finished my Christmas poem a while ago. I needed about 4 more lines so I had to put in some goofy stuff to fill in the space; it's not like we did anything new or exciting this year.

I made a grilled cheese sandwich for supper. Quite tasty and quick to cook. Sweet.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-your tree and mantle look beautiful! I absolutely love the colored LED lights. All of us (5 houses) on our street decorated outside with colored LED lights and it’s so pretty. Some of our neighbors went hard core with the decorating. One neighbor owns a construction company, and brought home a man lift to decorate. He loaned it to others on the street, so we’re seeing lights in high places that we’ve never seen before. I love it! We would have borrowed it too, but we didn’t have lights for the house. Maybe next year. We have lots up outside. We bought a 5ft tree instead of our usual 12 ft tree, and I love it too. I’ll take pics. Did you get your outside lights?

I downloaded the first Jack Reacher book. I haven’t read any of those. Mom told me not to think about Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher...I can’t stand him!

Sorry your work is so cold. I was only in my new office Oct-February and I was really sick for most of that time, so I don’t remember if it’s hot or cold! I guess I don’t need to worry about that until after the first of the year. We had about 3 inches of snow yesterday, freezing rain this morning and lots of wind. I sure didn’t complain about working from home! I am not ready for winter.

I got my earrings today. I really like them. They fall right about where I wanted them. They’re really small, but I like small earrings for everyday wear. I probably should just wear my studs, but I wore them and no other earrings for so many years that I want something different. I like my dangly earrings, but sometimes I just want something more plain. I know that probably makes no sense.

Our Hello Fresh meals have been really good, but we’re cooking way more than we’re used to. You get all of the ingredients for the meal along with a recipe card and you have to do all the work. We’re having fun with it right now, actually cooking a meal together. After only being married 26 years, we’re enjoying preparing meals at home. Who knew? Last night we had beef bulgogi meatballs with roasted carrots, jasmine rice, and sriracha crema. It was tasty.

Have a wonderful evening. Stay warm!

 

[deegee]

Now this is the way to put up Christmas lights!

 

[marcy]

Deegee, I bet your street looks fabulous with all the houses decorated. How nice to have a lift to help decorate. Our last house had really high peaks; this house makes me nervous enough seeing Marty on the roof. The back of our house is a tall 2 full stories so that would be tough too. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your tree.

So far we have the bulbs, clips, electrical plugs but nothing else yet. Hopefully everything will arrive by Friday and Sunday looks like we will have decent weather that day. Maybe just maybe Marty will get the house decorated that day.

The Jack Reacher books are usually an easy and quick read and yes don't think about Tom Cruise as Reacher; he is nothing like the character is described. I can't say I am a Tom Cruise fan either. I started the latest Michael Connelly book yesterday.

Glad you didn't have to venture out in the snow especially with the ice. That does make it nice to be working at home then.

That's great you like your new earrings; I like dangles a lot too. I only got our my ruby band and ering today. I was lazy.

How fun to enjoy cooking the Hello Fresh meals together. I guess I didn't realize you had to cook them; I thought they were just microwave dinners. That might be another company I'm thinking of for that. That's nice they have everything you need included. i cooked Culver's for lunch today. I think I'll thaw out some sirloin steak to grill tomorrow since I'm here at lunch.

Not much new with me. We had horrible wind today so I worked in the den first thing so I could go rescue our trashcan as soon as the truck came by; I didn't want to track it it down later. I was rather busy with work so the day zipped by. I lifted after I logged off work and had a banana for supper so far.

I did finish my annual Christmas poem today and hope to get Marty's input before printing it out. Then I can start working on Christmas cards.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi! Happy Saturday! All of the parts for the Christmas lights outside came but one. We have the lights on the house but the connecting wiring to plug them all in won't be arriving until Monday. Marty was working for over 6 hours getting everything up. I was out there for over 4 hours. I put all the bulbs in the sockets and "helped" hand things up to Marty on the ladder. It was cold too - 28 degrees when we started with a very chilly wind. I get nervous when Marty is on the roof. I call it the "death zone" like that zone on Everest. Ha Ha.

I had to come in the house for about 20 minutes to change the 4K game with about 25 minutes to spare. Nothing like a last minute change. At least I warmed up for a while.

After the lights were all hung up we went out to eat lunch.

I am working on laundry but I decided (or my right knee has decided) to put off Christmas baking for another day.

I did get my Christmas cards ready to mail this week. Woo hoo!

Take care.
Marcy

Marty in the "Death Zone"

 

[deegee]

Marcy-Marty makes me nervous up there! I hate heights. I’m kind of glad Matt doesn’t attempt to get on our roof in this house. It would scare me half to death. The front of our house is 3 stories in one place and we’re on a steep hill. I don’t think the man lift would reach all the way to our house from the road. We have neighbors on the other side of us who hire a company to put the lights up high and then they do all the rest. If we’re ever to have lights on the front of the house, that’s what we’d have to do. Your house will look awesome with the lights.

We went to moms yesterday and took one of our meals to make there. It was brown sugar bourbon pork chops with apple pan sauce, scallion mashed potatoes and roasted green beans. We stretched it to 3 servings by adding rolls and a salad. She was impressed! We also took homemade chocolate chip cookies. We have now made those twice in our almost 26 years of marriage.

We had planned to get a good walk in at the park today, but it’s cold and windy so we chickened out. I’m not sure what’s for dinner, but I’m thinking potato soup and BLT’s sound good on a cold day. Today is my sweet Lily’s 12th birthday. She was rescued from a trash pile when she was about a week old along with the rest of the litter by a dear friend. I knew when I met Lily, she would be coming home with me. And I wasn’t even looking for a dog! But I knew we needed each other, and it ended up being one of my best decisions. Happy birthday Lily Pie!

I’m an emotional wreck this week. We had a police officer killed in the line of duty about 15 minutes from my house. She was shot in the face after she responded to what seemed like a simple call, a parking complaint. Of course drugs were involved and the guy was out on bond from his last arrest. The officer had just turned 28. I have taken care of many duty deaths at work, and I’m helping the lady who replaced me with this one. For some reason, this one has gotten to me even more than the others I have taken care of. They’re all difficult and tragic. She was so young, hadn’t even begun to live yet. She was an organ donor. It sounds like she was an all around great young lady.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I have tried to get a good pic of my mew earrings, but I’ve decided it’s impossible! They’re so pretty & sparkly, but pics come out blurry. They are small and fit close to the ear...just what I was looking for to wear everyday.

 

[marcy]

Deegee I really like your new earrings. They are very pretty. They look great on your ear. Enjoy the new sparkles.

I'd be terrified for Matt to be that high with part of your house being 3 stories. The back of our house is 2 stories and we have 10 foot ceilings in the basement plus varied heights on the main floor. I don't blame people for hiring someone to decorate the high spots of their house. Marty mentioned yesterday now that he has our sections set up he could hire someone to put them up and take them down next year.

Dinner with your mom sounds delicious. I am sure she enjoyed your company. You and Matt are becoming major cookie bakers; I sadly didn't bake anything this weekend but will get on that soon.

Happy Birthday to sweet Lily; you and her were meant to find each other. Very cool story about her.

That is so heartbreaking about that police officer being killed in the line of duty. Very tragic and so senseless; I hope they throw the key away on the guy who murdered her. I am sorry you have (had) to deal with so many tragic deaths. That must be hard to leave behind at the end of the day.

It should be getting dark here in about an hour. I am so anxious.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

First light. Looks good.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-the lights are perfect! Just beautiful!!

 

[marcy]

Thanks Deegee. Marty did good.

 

[marcy]

Hi! I totally enjoyed my day off; slept in a bit, enjoyed a clean house after our house cleaner worked her magic, had lunch with my sister and BIL then made a batch of Christmas cookies.

Our Christmas dinner went from 18 to 11 people so it will be way more manageable this year. I'm not cooking as much either. i am kind of worried about cookie platters so we'll have other desserts and I'll give each family a to go bag of cookies. I don't want anyone to get sick.

My sister was up here picking up her new Montana sapphire ring. It turned out really pretty. This is one of her sapphires she found in a bag of rough from a Montana mine and had the stone cut.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I love your sister’s ring. Very pretty! The stone is a really nice color. She found a bag of rough? Wow!

I guess we’ll scale down a bunch for Christmas this year too. We need to scale back with the food and goodies anyway. We’re planning to get together next weekend for candy and cookie making, but we don’t plan to make as much. My sister just got new flooring throughout her house, painted her kitchen, and refinished/painted the kitchen cabinets and added new hardware. From the pictures, it looks like a whole different house. I’m anxious to see it!

Have you been going in to work? Our office has had another wave of sending people home. Those without laptops took their towers and monitors home. Out of 95 people, fewer than 20 are actually in the building now. I have to take off 4 days before December 23 or I’ll lose them. I already scheduled Dec 24 through the end of the year off, and then the governor gave us Christmas Eve and New Years Eve off too. So now I need to figure out 2 more days to take off in addition to the 2 I already needed to figure out. It’s not as fun to take days when you don’t go anywhere!

I slept in today and it felt so nice. Last week seemed to last forever. Other than doing laundry, I am just taking it easy today. I’ll work on Christmas cards later. We’re still enjoying our Hello Fresh meals. Last night we had firecracker meatballs with roasted green beans and jasmine rice. Tonight is pork sausage rigatoni in a creamy sauce with bell pepper and lemon. We’re certainly getting a variety! We were able to get a few good walks in at the park last week, but it’s been drizzling rain all day today. I’m a fair weather walker. I can handle walking in the cold better than walking in the rain.

Stay warm and have a great weekend!

 

[deegee]

Here’s my scaled back family room Christmas decor. I kind of miss the 12 ft real tree we usually get, but not enough to make me want to go through that hassle ever again! This tree is perfect, and it’s up high enough so the cats don’t try to climb it. I slapped a real wreath on the front door in the foyer and that’s it. I usually go overboard. I’ve gone with minimal decor the last two years and I’m happy with it. Marcy- what are the lighted trees around your fireplace? Those are really pretty.

 

[marcy]

Hi Deegee, your Christmas decorations look great! Cool shot from "above" too. The lighted trees by my fireplace are little LED trees. I ordered them from current catalog online. This summer they had all the Christmas decor 50% off and I had a coupon for additional 25% off even sale items so they barely cost me anything. I really like them.

My sister and BIL bought bags basically of scoped up dirt and rocks that they have to clean and go through looking for rough. She has done pretty well with it; maybe found an average of 6 to 10 pieces in each bag worth cutting. She bought each of us a clump of Yogo sapphire but no dice on those. She paid for rings or pendants for all the ladies she worked with at the hospital. The jeweler I use here in town was quite happy I referred her; she has spent a ton with him getting jewelry made for herself and everyone else.

Wow your sister did a lot of upgrades and remodeling; very cool. I bet it looks fabulous. We were sure happy extending our hardwood floor last year. Have fun cooking and baking.

Woo hoo for lots of time off this month. Sounds like most of your co-workers are all at home. I know our company really struggled to provide enough laptops so a few ended up taking home towers and monitors. All of our department are on call so we have them anyway. We do have an occasional case of COVID at work. They clean and sanitize their desk / room or whatever and have those in contact with them work from home for 2 weeks. I am still working from home 2 days a week. I am taking off the 28th. I agree it's not fun to have time off when you can't go anywhere.

That's great you are enjoying those meals. I assume you can pick what you want? I have a roast in the crock pot and plan on making mashed potatoes with it. Tomorrow is homemade soup day. We had snow and it cold really cold. Nice layer of ice everywhere. I had a hair appointment this morning so I had Marty drop me off at the door and come pick me up about an hour later. Worked great. He has some buddies coming over tonight for poker. Best go get those taters boiling.

I have not given Marty any ideas of what I want for Christmas and keep telling him I want another sapphire ring so he made the mistake of telling me I can order one. Sadly now I didn't spend that much on him. My new ring will arrive Thursday.


Look what I just ordered for Christmas. Ooh. It's 1.54 carat 7.54 x 5.77 mm, the ring is YG with 2 round (.22 ctw) and 2 baguette diamonds (.15 ctw).



Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi. I am ready to go back to work tomorrow. Too much house work, cooking and doing dishes this weekend. Our homemade soup and cornbread was quite tasty.

Marty's poker night went well; it sounded like they all had fun. I was out long before the poker night was over.

We had several more inches of snow yesterday and some today. Winter is here.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I love the ring! Be sure to post pics as soon as you receive it. Seriously, how do you decide what to wear? I’ve been wearing rings & earrings everyday lately, even though I don’t go anywhere except the park...and I take them off to go there. Today I decided I needed to start rotating things, and I pulled out the opal ring I haven’t worn in probably a year. I’m still loving my new earrings.

I do pick our meals with our meal subscription. I have about 20 things to choose from each week, and I’m signed up for 3 meals a week. We were lazy today and ordered Outback to go. I had a filet and veggies. Yum. What kind of soup did you make? I need to find some soup recipes for winter.

Yuck to winter being there! It’s supposed to snow again tomorrow, but it’s been in the 60’s the past few days so it won’t stick.

I woke up this morning to the news that a family was murdered about 2 miles from where I live. Since everybody in this little town knows everybody else, we knew early on that a teenager is suspected of killing his family including his brothers, ages 12 and 3. He is in custody now after police searched for him most of the day. Very sad. Just to be safe, I kept the doors locked and security cameras turned on. Since December 1 when out officer was shot, it seems like there is a tragedy every single day locally. This year will not go quietly.

I’m off to read a little before bed. I downloaded a fluff book. Nothing serious to think about there! Have a good day tomorrow. Stay safe.

 

[deegee]

Howdy! Not much to report today. We had chicken sausage stuffed peppers with couscous for dinner tonight. It had fresh garlic, parsley and chives. I’ll have to say, I have never in my life minced or chopped any of those things! It rained all day so we didn’t make it to the park. We have a winter storm coming, and I’m so glad I won’t be going out in the cold, snow and ice on Wednesday morning. I’m enjoying an evenwrapped up in a blanket, on the couch by the fire tonight.

I have a hair appointment tomorrow, and I toyed with cancelling it ever since she turned my whole head white. I really don’t want any color this time. Despite the conditioning treatments, hot oil treatments, and washing my hair with no-poo shampoo every 4 days, my hair is still really dry and damaged from that super harsh thing she did to it. I have about an inch and a half of grey roots. I’m kind of a mess. I’m planning to ask her to do a deep conditioning treatment and maybe a trim.

They didn’t release much information today about the family who was killed. They did release the names of the two adults, the 12-yr old and the 3-yr old. The 16 yr old is charged with murder, but they did not release his name. We have a lot of kids in our neighborhood who are 16 and it’s a small community. All the kids in our neighborhood and the kids in Matt’s youth group know the 16yr old. The kid who takes care of our cats when we’re out of town is 12. I can see him and his friends playing football every afternoon on the road below our house. I just can’t even imagine.

I’m off to read my fluff book, or maybe to watch something mindless. Have a great evening!

 

[marcy]

Deegee, yay for chopping those things up and not having a knife accident. Sweet! Your dinner sounds good. I made a patty melt. Darn that you have a winter storm coming. Glad you are working at home. We ended up getting maybe 6 to 8 inches since Thursday night. The side streets are a disaster. Due to COVID shutdowns the city lost so much money so they plan on only blowing main streets; great! I drove around the neighborhood to look at lights tonight and some spots are pretty deep. We always get drifts with the wind around here. I'm not ready for snow and cold; we've had a mostly mild winter so far - I keep saying Mother Nature is about to say "hold my beer".

Being wrapped up in a blanket by the fire sounds great! I hate to turn on my fireplace with all of my Christmas decorations all over it.

Sorry to hear what she did to your hair damaged it so bad. I hope a deep conditioning can help it. Roots growing in are such a pain too. When I had my Ronald McDonald orange incident they had to bleach my hair to cover it up and my hair was like straw.

That is so awful about that family getting killed by the 16 year old; how sad someone that age had that much hate, rage, anger, sadness or whatever triggered him. Totally heartbreaking.

Good idea to read a fluff book. I'm reading one of the Lincoln Lawyer series by Micheal Connelly; it's okay but I'm not really that in to it.

I am anxious to get my new ring. No shipping notice yet but it was expected to deliver Thursday. That is great you are rotating jewelry; it has to brighten your day. That is awesome you are enjoying your new earrings. I totally love my diamond dangles. I made up my annual kind of goofy Christmas card for Whiteflash. I put on it "Merry Christmas to Whiteflash" Then had "all that glitters is not gold, but enjoying my ACA diamonds never gets old". Then I put pictures of my WF jewelry under our Christmas tree.

That is nice you have so many options to order in for dinner. We like Outback too.

I did all sorts of little projects at work today so the day zipped by. I save those little things when I am in the office so that worked well to get that done.

I may be wheeling and dealing for an upgraded EC ruby. The lady I chatted with for my sapphire ring found me 2 different 5 x 7 EC rubies I could trade up for; right now the one I have is a 6 x 4. Sadly, my ruby is old enough prices have really jumped but I could trade my current ruby and my RB sapphire towards it and only owe about $165 more. i am pretty tempted. That RB sapphire just isn't my favorite anymore; I hardly wear it. If my new oval is as pretty as I hope then I might just go ahead and upgrade. Good thing Marty doesn't want to kill me when I toy with these ideas.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Well hellllllllo girlie girls!!! I'm back!!!

I've been reading along, but not consistently, so I'm sure I've missed stuff.

Deegee, Your tree looks perfect in the corner and I like the way your living room is set up!
And I think your current hair after the "fix" looks lovely! But as for the condition of it... rut ro. In the adventure of growing mine out I bought some stuff from Olaplex (I think I have #3) to keep my ends healthy, but there's a whole line of stuff. People rave about it. I just got mine trimmed a few weeks ago for the first time since last January (!) and the guy was amazed at how good a shape it was in for no attention whatsoever for that long.

(https://olaplex.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgoekxZTQ7QIVZFXVCh2qHAeqEAAYAyAAEgLTFPD_BwE)

Curby, I love the lights on your house and the way they outline the edges! Are you trading your current ruby for a smaller ruby... ? I'm sure I missed something there. Speaking of missing something, I lost out on a 4.39 ct UNOILED emerald at an amazing price because I decided to think about it overnight and it got sold to a wholesaler in Austria. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be... but damn!!! I see from my USPS daily digest that your card is on its way to my mailbox (likely in there by now!). I'll get it next week when I go downtown to pick up some other packages that have been sent there by my family.

I wish I had something exciting to report for you you lovely ladies, but alas I've just been laying low. Every single day I get up and think, Today's The Day! I'll exercise and eat better and drink less! And then... um... reality. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Wait -- I do have something that I know you fellow car lovers will appreciate! I got a new Audi SUV! Not by choice though.. My lemon of a Lexus (2017 with 52,000 miles) tried to kill me for the third time. I'd be driving down the highway at 85 and suddenly the top speed would drop to 25 and all sorts of warnings would pop up on the dash. The first two times it happened was last Nov/Dec at 46K miles and the dealer said the two incidents were related. A "complete anomaly" and certainly there would be no further issue. Yeah... well... six thousand miles later, here we go again. It cost me two grand to get it fixed (out of warranty now of course). I spent the four days it was in the shop test driving everything I could get my hands on and when I picked it up I drove straight to the Audi dealer and traded it in. So disappointed... I drove my last Lexus for 14 years without so much as an engine light ever coming on, but this one: LEMON.

OK, off to do some work. I have a PILE of stuff that needs to get done before the end of the year.

Later gators!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay it's great to hear from you. Oh no that your lemon of car tried to kill you again. That is scary to have the car freak out on you at speed. Glad you didn't get in an accident when it happened. Sorry you don't like the looks of the AUDI SUV; which model did you get? What color?
Thanks - Marty did a nice job putting the lights up. Darn that you missed out on a giant emerald. I always tell myself that too; it just wasn't meant to be I would like to trade my ruby for a larger stone. Finding one I like has been elusive. No shopping and wandering stores has made me antsy but I'd rather see a ruby before I buy it; so many of them are hazy, cloudy and poor color. I got your card already - thank you.

Deegee, did you get your hair done? My hair is short enough I can see my dangle earrings sometimes.

My day went better than Marty's. Some lady rear ended his parked pickup. She had to be hauling ass; her car is totaled, her air bags deployed and to make things even better it was her boyfriend's car; neither of them have insurance and the plate on the car belongs on another car. She got tickets but who knows how that mess will turn out. Marty said she was huffing - is that vaping? I am hip enough to know what that is either. Sadly we don't have car rental on our insurance. It looks to me like his pickup bed is crooked; hopefully it didn't bend the frame.

Take care
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

So I just lifted 2190 pounds. Okay, it was spread out over 45 different lifts but still. The total sounds more impressive.

I didn't sleep well thinking about the wrecked pickup and what we'll have to do. I love how someone being totally stupid, irresponsible and breaking multiple laws behind the wheel of a car has now become our problem. There will be our deductible, our eventual policy fee increase, we just lost our vanishing deductible, a car rental fee for probably 2 weeks, if the car is totaled we will have to pay taxes on a new car and oh we won't have a vehicle to trade in on a new pickup. We haven't been with Farmers very long so I don't know how they are to work with on a claim. We have an appointment Tuesday morning to have the pickup evaluated. Since it was pushed about 15 feet who knows what damage may be lurking with the transmission, wheels, tires and other things. Grr. Okay I'll quit whining now but it is upsetting.

I was too distracted to concentrate on work today; it was hard getting my tasks done. I am home again tomorrow so hopefully I can concentrate better. We have a lot to do to cover 2 days off next week.

My ring arrives tomorrow, sadly I need to go pickup my grocery order during the delivery window. Marty will hopefully take care of one of them for me. I am anxious to see my ring.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby