Healthy Living Thread

[deegee]

Hello Dee*Jay! I had the funniest dream about you a few months back. I was surfing through the internet and came across a picture of Liam Neeson with his new lady, and his new lady was you! So I thought, hmm...TR is Liam Neeson. Haha! Thanks for linking the olaplex site. Of course, I want to dive in and buy the whole hair repair kit. She did an olaplex treatment on my hair yesterday and it feels softer, but still damaged and frizzy. I need lots of those treatments. Sorry your car tried to kill you. That’s my worst nightmare! I had a car once that would accelerate when you had it in cruise and tapped the break to slow down. So you don’t like your Audi? I have it on my short list of suvs to research for my next car purchase.

Marcy-that’s some crazy damage to the car! Wow! I’m sorry you guys have to deal with this now. On one hand, you’d rather your truck not be totaled because of the expense. On the other hand, you’ll be driving a (fixed) wrecked vehicle. It’s no-win, unless Marty wants a ew truck! Yay for getting your new ring tomorrow!! That’s something to look forward to. Your total today sounds very impressive. You have been so good to keep up with it. I’m jealous! The lazy me seems to have taken over, and the tries to do better part of me didn’t put up much of a fight. I had the deep conditioning treatment on my hair yesterday and a trim. What did you do to help your Ronald McDonald hair? I have been growing my hair, taking care of it and not using heat, no flat iron or dryer, reading hair product ingredients..all that. I was learning what to use for my curly hair and it was actually looking pretty good before she messed me up. I’m going to be so mad if I end up having to get it chopped off.

We dodged the big nor’easter. Yay! We were supposed to wake up to ice accumulation with snow accumulation on top, but it was just barely warm enough that we ended up with rain all day. I’m always okay with missing snow and ice. I feel like I’m slacking this week because I need to be taking time off. I only worked 1/2 day yesterday, and logged out on time both Monday and today. I had a leftover stuffed pepper for dinner and have been watching goofy shows on Britbox all evening. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby - HOLY SH!T! That's some craziness about Marty's truck, but thank god he's OK!!! I hope the insurance company is very generous and you guys can get this sorted out without too much of a hassle (in a relative sense). About the tax on a new vehicle, here's some craziness for you: My cars are registered here at Liam's (ha!) because my insurance told me to do that -- insure the cars where they are, which since March has been HERE. Plus, the renewal for both of them came due in the summer so that's where they are now registered. Audi was offering 1.49% for 60 months, so why not, right?! Welllll.... the finance people had an issue because even though my cars are insured and registered here, all my credit associates to my downtown address so they couldn't figure out how to do the financing. I finally said, fvck it, I'll just write you a check. But if I did that I would lose $2,250 in financing incentives (even though I'm only paying $827 in interest over the life of the loan) AND I would have had to pay over $2,000 in additional Chicago tax vs. out here. They did finally figure it out, but it took two days and was a big pain in the a$$. Anyway, at least you have a new ring to cheer you up, and we can't wait to see it! As for the lifting -- girl you're amazing! I think the heaviest thing I lifted yesterday was my fork!

Deegee, from this point forward we shall refer to TR as Liam, hahahahaha! The Audi is fine, but I ended up getting the Q3 instead of the Q5 (or Q7) because the tech screens on the bigger SUVs stick up above the dashboard and I'm only 5 feet tall so I really prefer stuff not to be in in my sight line like that. The screen for the Q3 is "in the dash" and I preferred being able to see the road clearly! Definitely less cargo space though. I guess my biggest gripe is that I just wasn't planning to buy a new car so that has colored my whole experience. Liam (!) says I am the only person he knows who would be pissed off at having a new 2021 Audi SUV sitting in the garage, LOL. As for the Olaplex, hopefully your hair will recover and you won't have to lose length. I have a pic from my my 50th birthday in September that I'll post to should you the current length on mine. It hasn't been this long in yearrrrrrs!

Tuesday I got a burst of motivation and worked solid from 7 to 11 pm. Then yesterday I was at it again for another twelve hours. And still I'm not done with everything. I punted my weekly call with my boss from yesterday to today so I could get more on the list, but I'm afraid come the end of this week there will still be stuff to do, even though we were hoping to take it easy these last two weeks of the year. Oh well, it is what it is.

And speaking of work, I better get up and get on it!

 

[Dee*Jay]

 

[Dee*Jay]

I have no idea why my pics are so HUGE! Sorry!

 

[marcy]

Deegee, great dream about Dee Jay and Liam! How awful you had a car that would accelerate on cruise control when you tapped the brake. I was driving back to college in a blizzard and my accelerator must have been getting frozen because it kept getting stuck all the day down. I was able to keep stopping it with brakes which are not a good thing to be pressing down on with such icy, snowy conditions. Oh no we all have had killer cars!

Your thoughts about the wrecked pickup are exactly what we talked about last night. Funny Marty related this pickup to my jewelry; he said I worked up and traded up for years to get the pickup I wanted. I told Marty again today that whatever he decides to do with his pickup is fine with me.

I did like adding up my total for today; I forgot to add the 60 pounds of my warmup lifts with the 15 pound bar. Thank you and I am kind of shocked I’ve stuck with lifting for over a year now.

That’s great your hair treatment helped. I picked up some deep hair conditioner at Sally’s Beauty Supply and used it about once a week and used some moisturizing shampoo and rinse every day. I would say the “mess” grew out not really went away. I hated my dark roots the most; I would say I have dirty blonde hair but it looked black compared to the bleached out hair.

Good deal the big nor’easter didn’t hit you. It was decent here today. Sunny and in the 30’s.

Dee Jay, your car looks great. LOL that Liam pointed out most people would be thrilled with a new AUDI SUV in the garage. I have not tried a Q3 yet but will sometime. I do know what you mean about the tech screen sticking up. The last Q5 I drove I had trouble seeing out of the frame around the windshield. The curse of us short people. What a PITA about arranging the financing. When we bought Marty’s Honda Ridgeline we’d just moved to this house and it was the first house on a “new” street. We get halfway home (bought it 50 miles away) and their financing kicked it back because our address didn’t exist. We had to scan and email him a copy of our water bill when we got home before they’d approve us. Crazy stuff. Did your insurance drop not having your cars in the city?

Yes, the pickup will be a hassle but hopefully work out okay. A friend of ours has both a pickup and car and has offered to let Marty drive the pickup anytime he might need aa car. That is quite nice of them. I don’t know if Marty will accept but it’s an option. I guess we will find out on Tuesday if the frame is bent or not.

Great picture of you!

Yay for getting work done this week; I hope you and Deegee (and Marty) enjoy the rest of the year off work. Sadly I’ll be at work which is funny since I am still at max allowed vacation time. My boss originally turned me down to take off next week because he didn’t know who else was off then - guess who is taking off next week now?

So far my ring has not arrived. The jewelry store sent me a notice delivery was delayed yet FedEx says it is out on a truck for delivery. Hurry up. I was playing cribbage online with a friend of mine during lunch and sat where I could see out the front door and said “Hurry up FedEx” and she thought I was talking to her and called her Fat As*. Too funny!

I picked up a grocery take out at about 10 this morning; since it was so decent out I topped off my gas tank while I was out. 50 cents off per gallon - woo hoo! Got to save money for that new pickup (maybe).

I was going to brew up some Christmas cookies this afternoon but might make popcorn for supper instead.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

It's here. It's pretty and shiny. Here's a crappy picture. I'll have to get some with natural light. The band is very thin which I'm not sure I like and that is partly contributing to that it seems to be very loose on my hand. I can't wait to see it in sunlight. Our "canned" ceiling lights SUCK for pictures.

 

[marcy]

I did venture downstairs and took a few pictures.

 

[marcy]

Waah! Marty made me put my ring back in the box - I guess I won't see it again until Christmas.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, your ring is gorgeous! If the thin band bothers you get one of those spiral sizing thingys and cut a little piece to wear on the back of the band. My yellow diamond has a thin band and even though it's the right size I have one of those on there just to keep it from moving around. I'll text you a picture later of what I mean, and if you want some I've got extras so I can send it to you.

And speaking of gemstones... tell me if you think this is a stupid idea... but I just emailed the jeweler and asked if he'd inquire about the wholesaler selling me the emerald back. I realize it's a total long shot, but I had to ask! Will keep you posted. Ugh. Such a dum dum for not buying it in the first place!!!

Yesterday I covered A LOT of ground with the stuff on the list for my boss. Now of course I have items that need to be finished since we've talked through them, so here's to hoping for a productive day!

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, that would be great if you can buy that emerald. Do you have a picture of it? I love emeralds. What a luscious glow they have. Don’t you hate those things you passed on and then wished you hadn’t.

Thank you on my ring. It is pretty. I’ll get to see it again a week from today. I started to say but what can I wear but he cut me off and said don’t you dare say you don’t have any other rings to wear. It doesn’t look like the band is so thin it would bend and that is a good idea to get once of this spring things. I’ll see what I think when I can wear it all day.

Good luck getting all of your work done today so you can goof off the rest of this month and dream of lovely green emeralds.

Marty is still having a great week. He got to the gym early this morning to find a shattered window. Could have been a BB, pellet gun or maybe a rock? We wondered if it’s the couple who got so many tickets from the accident. I first thought he was targeted but if someone was angry at him I’d think they’d break all the windows and door. I can totally see someone hauling down the street throwing off a big rock. Hard to say. He called the police and one of them actually asked him if he did it. He was ticked. He is going to call and ask to talk to his supervisor.

I’m at work and so distracted over the weeks events I am having a hard time calming down and focusing. I am ate lunch so goofing off a bit.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, I just texted you a couple of pics of the plastic spiral ring guard. if you want any let me know and I'll dig around and see what I've got. I can only find a couple of them right now, but I must have more around because they came in like a 12 or 16 pack.

I think the emerald is really gone... but he's going to see if he can get me something else from the same mine and rough. I told him I'm only interested in unoiled and I will require a cert from GIA that says so, just like this one did, but of course I'm willing to pay for it. This may come to naught... or it could result in a fabulous new green stone -- we'll just have to wait and see!

Hopefully the incident at Marty's gym is truly and accident because I hate to think someone did that on purpose.

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-i love your hair! That’s a big change from the pixie cut. I have always hated my hair because it doesn’t do what I want it to do. It’s curly and I have fought it since I was a teenager with chemical straighteners, flat irons, and other terrible things. After my straightener this year (which didn’t take), I decided to stop fighting it and let it do its thing. I don’t even dry it anymore. And I know what you mean about the thing sticking up on the dash. I think that’s why I marked several cars off my list last time. My BMW still has the in-dash display, but I think the new ones have that thing sticking our of the dash. I REALLY want to see that emerald. I have one emerald ring. It’s antique and it’s one of my favorites. The emeralds aren’t very big at all, but they are so glowy.

Marcy-I love your new ring! Very pretty and sparkly. Darn Marty for wrapping it up. I can’t think of anything to tell Matt to get me, so I offered to let him wrap my new earrings. He told me to wear them and enjoy them, so I am! I have a few of those rubbery things Dee*Jay is talking about on a few of my rings. I hate having rings sized unless they are WAY off. I’m so sorry to hear about the window at Marty’s gym. Poor guy! He is having a banner week. Why on earth would the police ask if he did it? That’s ridiculous.

The workweek is over. Yay! I’m missing my overtime checks, but we can’t get overtime in a week where we use vacation, and I’ve been trying to burn vacation days the last few weeks. I’m working Monday of next week and that’s it. I have a feeling I will end up having to login to take care of something and end up losing leave. I have 7 days to take outside of Christmas and New Years Day.

Here’s my hair after 3 weekly hot oil treatments, a salon Olaplex treatment, and I did a cholesterol treatment on it today. I remember that stuff from when I was a kid, and wow! It stinks! I just about can’t stand myself right now. Anyway, my hair is less fried, but still fried. It can’t remember it’s curl pattern, but I think it’s trying. What you can’t see in the pic are my 1.5 inch silver roots! And wow, are they shiny! I ordered Overtone, but I’m probably going to be too chicken to use it. Have a great evening!

 

[Dee*Jay]

 

[Dee*Jay]

Here is a pic from the GIA cert. The pics on the vendor site are much better, but doesn't everything look better on a vendor site -- just like diamonds all sparkle like mad under the lights of a jewelry store!

I guess I just need to get over this one and hope that he can get something else. Ugh. So mad!

ETA: Why doesn't GIA use a white cover the camera they use to take pics so everything doesn't reflect black?! I mean, if WE can figure that out, surely GIA can figure it out!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, thanks for the info the ring guard. Those would come in handy at times. It was sunny this morning so I got my ring out and took a few pictures then wore it all day. I cleaned it and wrapped it back up in the jewelry box. I had this urge to stick another ring there but decided Marty would get even if I did that.

That does look like a pretty emerald and I agree some of the background colors aren’t well suited for what they are photographing. I hope you can get that emerald or another equally gorgeous one.

Deegee, I am definitely with you and Dee Jay on the info center sticking up on the dashboard. I find them distracting there.

Your hair looks great with the curly waves; I’d get a perm if my hair would look like that. I am finding with my very thick hair it has a lot of body once it grows past my ears - I wasted money on perms for years.

I was rather nervous when Marty headed to the gym today but nothing had happened overnight. I guess if something else happens we know someone is targeting him and can’t help but think it’s those people from the accident.

We had a very busy day. First I took a few pictures of my ring in sunlight; I am pleased. The sapphire is typical in that sometimes it just flat photographs or looks dark in direct sun but it has my favorite color of blue.

I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things for Marty; he had a gym party and we ended up with about 20 of us in the basement. It was fun. It was pot luck snacks and a white elephant gift drawing. After most everyone left we player poker for a while with about 6 gym members.

Tomorrow is laundry, lifting and starting on my January article for the newspaper. I sent in my recipe for candy cane cookies for the paper’s feature section including a picture of 2 cookies with the Killer Rabbit; they put that picture front and center in the article. Too funny.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

PS - Marty did tell people at the party why my nickname is Curby.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy early Sunday kids!

Curby, I think it would be hilarious if you swapped out the ring! But then again I'm easily amused, ha ha. It's great that the paper used your killer rabbit pic with the cookies! Do your candy cane cookies have a chocolate base?

Boy, shipping is taking For.Ev.Er. right now. Fed Ex at least updates the site with relative frequency, but USPS... not so much. I'm really starting to get annoyed. Like anyone cares, LOL.

Yesterday I wrapped what I think will be the last of the gifts, which were for Liam's nieces and nephews. Oh wait -- his mother's gift is still "in transit" so that one needs to be wrapped too when it comes. Please see note about shipping above!) I hesitate to clean up the wrapping paper, etc., in the basement until this is all over though because I'll likely have boxes and stuff to pack up once all the present opening is over with.

I haven't done my nails since March thanks to all the non-stop hand washing during the pandemic, but I gave myself a gel mani a few weeks ago and it made all the difference in the world so I think I'm back on that train again. It did lift a little around the edges, which it never did before, but I'm chalking that up to a combination of all the extra time in water now and the formula maybe getting old. When I opened the bottle it had separated a bit and the color looked kind of off. Yesterday I redid my mani and put on a brand I had tried only once a few years ago. My recollection was that it didn't last well (they tried to make a gel with 60 second removal), but I used my really good gel topcoat rather than the one that goes with the set so we'll see. I hope it does ok because I've decided I really like this color! And if it works there's still enough stock out there (the concept has since been discontinued) that I could get enough colors to last me. A gel mani with easier off would be awesome!

Today there needs to be some major house cleaning. I've already set the state with the ferals and Liam so it won't come as any surprise when I start handing out dust rags and vacuum cleaners and ordering people around, ha ha.

I've been up since about 3:45 BTW. I spent too much time yesterday in shoes with no support and my left hip is killing me. I could not find a comfortable position in bed to save my life. I'm currently sitting here with a cold pack wedged against me and some major advil working its way through my system. Getting old is hell!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, Marty would figure out in no time I was amused about something and go check the ring box. Sadly he can always see right through me. It would certainly be amusing. We went to breakfast the morning and I noticed he did look to see what ring I had on. There is no chocolate in my candy cane cookies. They are a shortbread with almond flavoring.

I have heard the USPS is really struggling to stay up with everything being shipped right now. Even Prime has been a day or two longer. FedEx seems to be the best so far in my deliveries.

Good plan not to pick up all the wrapping supplies until you are done. I have avoided wrapping one present so far this year but I do need to wrap a few for Marty. I used gift bags and tissue paper which is unusual for me since I like to wrap packages and decorate them. I guess I'm lazy this year.

I hope the gel top coat lasts well for you since you life the color of gel polish you put on. I have a few colors I gravitate towards; my hands are so dry and have little splits (cuts) everywhere so I haven't painted my nails in about a month. That acetone is painful on little cuts.

How did house cleaning go? Did all of your assignments get completed? Our house is kind of mess - poker last weekend, party yesterday and lots of cooking / baking right now. Luckily the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow. I told her already the house actually looks lived in and used everywhere.

I hope your hip is feeling better this evening. Sounds like you had a miserable night last night. I had so much salt yesterday I didn't wake up for a trip down the hall - the next thing I knew it was 6 am. Shocking.

We went out for breakfast after I took my shower. We drove by the gym and were pleased / relieved to see no new damage had been done to anything. I had Marty pick up Culver's on his way home from his morning training sessions.

I was going to bake rolls today but forgot to get the yeast out of the refrigerator so I baked my sugar cookies instead. Now I have rolls, candy cane cookies and mini cheesecakes still to make.

I need to get going on my January article but I haven't even picked a topic yet. That will be my next task tonight.

Here are some pictures I got yesterday morning with my ring in the sunlight.

Take care.
Curby / Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I worked from home today plus did house stuff - I'm exhausted!!! Started my day too early. Woke up at 4 am and didn't go back to sleep until about 20 minutes before my alarm went off. My boss who is on vacation was already logged in when I logged in to work to fix a schedule issue from last week and he wanted to talk to me about why he basically stormed off on Friday. Then my sister showed up and visited for over an hour, the cleaning lady showed up right as she was leaving and she talked my ear off. I was still trying to get my work done this afternoon. Had some crazy, weird issues at work that I had to work on as well. My SIL is coming tomorrow so I had to wash the bedding in both guest rooms; she'll probably stay in the larger room but in case we need another clean bed I washed everything in both rooms. Strange how much easier it is to make a queen sized bed. I lifted and then headed outside to see the close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I decided to see if I could get to my small telescope which I did but sadly our larger eyepieces were way too challenging to get to; I did have a better view than naked eye anyway. Since I had my little scope out and we are across the street from the community mail box I drew quite a crowd; I showed everyone the moon too. After that I finished putting pillowcases on our assorted pillow collection. I made the mini cheesecakes for Christmas and now I'm resting.

Tomorrow is an office day; I'll be glad to rest.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, you and I are on the same sleep schedule today! I woke up wayyyyy to early thanks to my hip and did a bunch of internet surfing... which always leads to a little money spending, LOL.

Speaking of money spending, I'm on the trail of another no oil emerald. There are two options right now that I'm waiting for dimensions on (I didn't like the third one, even tough the color was technically better). So we'll see how that turns out!

Do you have Deegee's email/phone number? I want to send a gem video to you gals but I don't want to post it online just yet until I make a decision.

I really did not a lot today... After TR came home from taking the ferals back we ran out to Home Goods and came home with some random crap, including some new hand towels for my master bathroom downtown, but they only had two and I am trying to find a few more online of the same thing. That's always the way with Home Goods -- good sh!t, but not enough of it sometimes!

OK, off to have a little ice cream and go to bed to look at ring settings in the comfort of a big pile of pillows!



My nails were holding up pretty good until I used my thumb to scrape the price off of two boxes of candy. I'll be repairing that in the morning...

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, sorry to hear your hip is still bothering you. Both the shoulder blades on my back are sore today for some reason. I feel like I'm 100 years old today.

Internet surfing is a great way to kill some time and spend some money. Loving the sapphire and emerald you are looking at; gorgeous colors.

Home Goods is a great store; we went to one in Arizona once. Glad you found some things you like. I dug out some reindeer hand towels today for our guest bathroom. I like to have seasonal towels in the guest bathroom. Come to think of it I have some Snoopy Christmas ones to put out as well.

Mmm ice cream. I had one Christmas M&M cookie and a sugar cookie this afternoon.

That's great your nail polish is holding up well. I broke several nails this weekend and they are all in need of a nice trimming and filing and then painting.

I'm down to 2 more things to bake before Friday. I get off early on Wednesday so will make cookies that day bake rolls on Thursday.

We have to get our giant tenderloin roast out of the freezer for Friday at some point. Mmm I can hardly wait. We ordered in pre-cooked BBQ brisket for the family dinner on Sunday.

Curby

 

[marcy]

Oh and great news - one of Marty's clients heard a lot of windows were shot out along the street where Marty's gym is over Friday night. He must have just been the first one to call it in.

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-good luck with your emerald search! I pulled my emerald ring out to wear today. It’s been in my jewelry box for probably a year. And I love this ring! I could never buy a stone and then out together a ring...for the same reason I have lived in my house for 7 years and haven’t picked a paint color for the kitchen. Ha!

Marcy-I’m glad to hear that there was no new damage at Marty’s gym and that other windows in other businesses were shot out too. At least his place wasn’t a target. Have you decided what to do about his truck? We couldn’t see anything in the sky last night except clouds. It rained all day. And I love sapphires, but they are stinkers to photograph for sure. I love my sapphire ring and get lots of compliments on it, but it fails to show up for pics.

I found out today that I am on the list of essential government employees for the vaccine. I’m kind of terrified about that. I figured it would be several months away and I could take a wait and see approach. You know, see if anybody grows horns or anything like that. I realize people will call me all kinds of things for being apprehensive, but I am. I have reactions to just about all medicines. A flu shot puts me down for about 2 days with a major migraine. Nothing life threatening, but reactions just the same. I’m hoping it will still be a month or two away.

Today was my last day of work. Yay! I’m carrying forward 319 hours of vacation and we’re allowed 320. Let’s see if I can NOT log in for more than an hour until January! Tonight we’re having chicken stir-fry tacos with tangy cabbage slaw, green pepper, sriracha mayo and crispy fried onions. Yum. Last nights meal was a chicken dish that turned out just like the picture on the recipe card. Since we have started getting these meal kits, we haven’t had the same thing twice. I love the variety! Have a great evening.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, it pains me that you don't have a Home Goods near you! Under normal (i.e., non-pandemic) circumstances I go there AT LEAST once a week. Most of the time I'm not even looking for anything, haha. And I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad a lot of windows were broken, LOL. At least you can rest easy that it wasn't related to the accident.

Deegee, I would LOVE to find a ring that was put together in a way that I could live with it! But sadly I seem to take the hard way out every... single... time. And that's interesting about you getting the vaccine so soon. I do understand what you're saying about it maybe being TOO soon for you taste. BTW, Curby has your email. If I would like to share something with you gals privately without posting would it be OK to send you a message? I *may* have some exciting news later depending on how things go today!

Last night we went to a friends' house for a drink and to trade presents. These are pretty much the only people we've socialized with since March. When the world opens up and we can go out with other people I won't know how to interact with anyone else!

Today we're going to downtown, with a couple of places to stop along the way. Of course TR has added an errand (which, to be fair, I gave him "permission" for) this morning. My hopes of getting on the road early are dashed.

OK, I've got the car loaded up but I better go check my list again because once I pull out Gone Is Gone!

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-absolutely yes! Send me a message. I want to see this exciting thing!

I’m cleaning house and doing laundry today. My life IS the very definition of exciting!

 

[deegee]

Howdy! I cleaned house most of the day today. I really miss my cleaners! I was waiting until we got back to work because I feel so awkward being here when they come to clean. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re ever going back to our offices. I did a bunch of laundry today too. Every article of clothing in this house is clean and put away.

I took the Christmas tree down today while I was cleaning. We’re heading out tomorrow and will stop back by long enough to drop stuff off and grab more stuff to head back out Saturday morning for a week. I don’t want to leave this dried out tree up while we’re gone. One spark of something and that thing would be up in flames.

I have been thinking more about the vaccine. I really think I’ll get bumped down on the list because, while what I do is essential to keep the business up and running, I can do it all from home with no problem. I am 52 and my only health conditions are asthma and a scar on my lung from pneumonia. I think I’m kind of low risk. But I will get the vaccine when I’m asked to do so. I just had a freak out to find out I was on a list and I had to notify them within a few hours if I wanted to opt out. (I did not opt out)

We took Lily for a walk today, and my neighbor was out polishing his new mustang (Christmas present). I told him that all I got was a pair of earrings, and he said “yeah, but I’m guessing they’re NICE earrings.” Haha! I must have a reputation. Have a wonderful Christmas. Stay safe & warm!

 

[Aerielle Max]

I have no idea why my pics are so HUGE! Sorry!

You look amazing

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee yay for digging out your emerald ring. I dug out my emerald band today. So far the estimate on the pickup is $8500 but they won’t know about the frame until they take it apart. He turns it in Tuesday. That sucks you have to decide now about the vaccine. Will the state mandate you get one? I have so many allergies and reactions to things I plan on passing right now. Who knows what the right thing to do is on taking it or not. Good luck with that. Your meals do sound delicious. I am glad you are enjoying them. Enjoy your vacation! Yay for a clean house and I totally get feeling awkward when someone is cleaning the house while I’m just hanging out. I get up and move to different rooms so it doesn’t look like I’m watching her clean. Good idea to take down the Christmas tree before leaving.

Dee Jay did you get that sapphire? It’s such a gorgeous color. I think I would spend lots of money at Home Goods. Nice you got together with friends. I know what you mean about the loss of social skills being at home all the time. I’m so tired of this too.

Yes ladies I agree it’s a relief more windows were broken along that street. It made me uneasy thinking someone was targeting Marty of the gym.

I got off work early yesterday. Came home and made candy cane cookies and then made dinner rolls today. My baking is officially done!

I lifted today, finished and sent off my January article for the newspaper and considered doing laundry but resisted that temptation.

I had a 3 course meal for supper. An orange, a homemade roll and a candy cane cookie. 1 out of 3 was healthy. My tops are getting really baggy and loose on me but today when I was lifting my pants were dropping over my waist. That’s a good thing.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Marcy / Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Merry Christmas Eve kids!

Aerielle, you are very kind -- thank you!

Deegee, sorry I had to send everything in a separate email last night. I'm such a tech moron, especially when it comes to my iphone sometimes! Where are these fabulous new earrings?! Inquiring minds want to see!

Curby, I did get the sapphire, but I left it there to be set. I also committed to the emerald, but they won't ship it until after new years. By the time it gets through customs, goes to GIA, etc., I likely won't even see the damn thing until February!

Yesterday was a whole lotta craziness! Liam (!) went into his office first thing, did a drive by refinance on his house (literally in the drive up lane of a bank LOL), dropped ebay packages at the Pack 'N' Ship, then came home to so we could get on the road downtown. I was loading up the car while he was doing all that other stuff so we headed right out. We picked one thing up downtown then swung by my friend's house where we literally sat in the garage with the door open and drank champagne and ate spring rolls (because who doesn't want to drink champagne and have finger food at 10:30 in the morning in the quasi-outdoors when it's below freezing out... right?). Then we went to my place and I bolted to the jewelers where I spent two hours looking and everything and crashing their holiday party (I brought a bottle of tequila, ha!). Then I swung by a colleagues to do a quick gift trade, went back to my house where Liam and I hung the rod above my bed so I could put up the art, and then went to dinner at a restaurant where they had big wide open patio doors (did I mention it was below freezing?! this is CHICAGO in DECEMBER for fvck's sake!!!). Early to bed, and we were back on the road heading north by a little after 7 o'clock this monring.

AND THEN... Liam went to work and I started some laundry with the intention of taking a nap and a shower, but he called and said he'd just bought a new sectional for the family room and it was on it's way to be delivered (?!?). After that he posted an ad on Craiglist to get rid of the old family room furniture for free and someone had taken it out of here within a few hours. I did finally get my nap and shower, and we had a lovely giant steak for dinner before I dragged all the kid's gifts up from the basement, tagged them, and put them under the tree.

God. Dammmmmmm. I am EXHAUSTED!!!

Tomorrow morning TR is going to go get the ferals from their mother's house while I do family x-mas by zoom at 10. There will be prosecco involved... !

OK, this little elf is going to turn in early.

Ho ho ho!

(Did you just call me a ho?!)

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I hope everyone survived Christmas and Santa was good to you.

Dee Jay how exciting to get that gorgeous sapphire and I hope the emerald is fabulous as well. Sweet.

You guys are real troopers drinking in an open garage in freezing weather. Of course with drinking you probably didn't care after a few drinks.

That was quick getting a new sectional delivered that fast and even better getting rid of the old furniture so quickly.

We had a nice day yesterday. I got a few Snoopy things (and my ring of course). Marty grilled a huge tenderloin roast for lunch which was delicious. I got each of us out 2 cookies of each type I baked and we ate everyone of them.

We watched Christmas movies all day long. It was a lazy day.

Today I've been getting ready for the family GTG tomorrow. Hopefully with only 11 of us means less clean up - yay fewer dishes.

Take care.
Curby / Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, how was the family GTG? We took the kids to Iowa to do presents with their grandparents. It was a long drive in both directions but I'm glad they got to go. I confess I spent the drive over and back looking at setting ideas on my phone. Poor Liam, he must have been so bored and lonely! The kids were either on their phones or sleeping and I was like, "Can't talk now, I'm thinking about swoopy prongs!" BTW, I misread your post as thought you made "type I" cookies. I was like, "Type I diamonds, ok, but Type I cookies... ??? What could that be?!" Ha!

When we got home I redid my nails. The polish I used earlier in the week was a really good color and went on great (nice wide brush!) but it only lasted a few days before I hard to start repairing it, and by yesterday (day 6) it was DONE. Too bad because it came off pretty easily -- I guess those things go hand-in-hand though. I put on a deep burgundy red, which I almost never use. Half way through I remembered why -- the brush sucks and I end up with smears all around my cuticles, which are a b!tch to deal with since this is gel. Regardless, they're done now and hopefully this will last two weeks (or close too it). I also have one weird nail... The middle finger on my left hand keeps getting ragged and so then I've got to file it down a little each time. When I look at it with my loupe (of course!) it doesn't look split or anything, but within a day or two it starts all over. No idea what's going on with it. And now all my nails are long(er) but that one. Looks a little goofy. Oh well.

Today I am going to clean up the disaster in the basement. I'm also toying with the idea of moving my office down there, but I'm worried that my phone reception and connection for zoom won't be good enough. I guess I could test it out and see.

So as you can tell, the excitement here is going to be Out Of Control!