Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, I put up my "spring banner" today on the shop page. Let me know what you think. I might be a little premature with the pastels but I can't get the black background to work with the current lighting so I'm going right into Easter mode, LOL. I also have some sharper images, but I kind of like the "blurry" one for the moment.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, that is awesome your roast turned out great. I picked up one yesterday so I'll have to try searing it first. It's nice to have some leftovers too.

Good idea to keep cleaning snow off your car. I have the same problem with ice scrapers - I need a long handle one - that's why they call me T-Rex.

I should set up our bills on autopay - our mortgage and car payments are auto withdrawal but for our utilities I use our credit union's bill pay service. I can't believe I never noticed my light bill entry in my checking account hadn't cleared yet. Oh well - it should be fine. Our gas / light bill runs about $350 - $400 this time if year as well. Marty tends to leave his lights on downstairs, or the fan running or leave his office heater on. I tend to see them or hear them when I get up in the middle of the night and I'm not heading down to take care of them then. Usually when I got home from work I had to make the circle to shut off lights everywhere and lock the door to the deck. Now I can take care of it all the time.

Good goal to get the dining room cleared out by Easter! I did take a few things back down to the man cave today. Not a lot but still had some progress. I am going to start working on Christmas decorations next week.

Did you get your new banner picture taken?

Speaking of forgetting things Marty forgot I wanted to go to breakfast so we ate here. We did head to Sams Club about 8:30 and spent money like drunken sailors. We stocked up on paper products, fruit and meat. Marty had clients this afternoon and I can't say I did much else today. I did lift and do dishes. I need to write the January newsletter but I can do that in a few hours.

Did you hear about the wildfires northwest of Denver? Really horrible - over 500 houses / businesses have burned already. Snow is moving in tomorrow - I hope they get enough early to put the fires out.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, I just saw your post and your new banner looks good. I like the colors and like it a bit blurry.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy New Years Eve kids!

Curby, when you get done walking around your house turning lights and everything else off you're welcome to come here and make a lap! There are SEVEN lights throughout the basement, all the hallway lights on the second floor along with the ceiling fans in the ferals' rooms, and who know what on the main level that's always on. No wonder ComEd sends Liam thank you cards! Thanks for looking at my banner. I didn't notice the yellow glass in the front row was tilted forward, so you can see the circle of the rim, until everything was put away and I'm definitely NOT getting it all back out to redo LOL. There was a time that I would have, but that time is OVER!

I got five listings up yesterday and washed stuff up last night for the first three listings today. There is starting to be a noticeable difference in the dining room! A guy from the local auction called me and wants me to sell all the depression glass he's been collecting for years. By the time I would go and get it, inspect it, clean it, photograph it, list it, store it, ship it, and then give him half the $ I might as well go and work at McDonalds. People don't understand what goes into this -- I know I certainly didn't! I've been putting off calling him back, but I need to do it today and just get it over with.

Liam informed me this morning we don't have any coffee roasted. He's going to run to work and take care of one thing and then swing by Starbucks and bring it home to me. How on earth could that happen?! I mean, I give the guy One Job... ?!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy New Years kids!

Curby, did you whoop it up into the wee hours of the morning?! The*excitement* here was almost overwhelming... ! I "took a nap" on the couch after dinner that lasted 'till about eight. Then around ten I went up to bed, only to be kept awake until well after midnight anyway by the dog who was barking at the neighbors' fireworks. Ugh.

This morning I went to a local auction that had a few things I wanted, but the glasses I was most interested in went sooooo high that after those sold I kind of gave up and headed home, stopping on the way at the grocery store for some sinus meds because this headache has been killing me for about three days now.

My ambitious plan for this afternoon involves POTENTIALLY washing an entire set of dishes I got back in October at the local auction and have never listed. That would clear another three big boxes out of the dining room. I also have to see what the dinner situation is because even though Liam and I would be happy to eat the second half of the lobster tails and pork tenderloin from last night I'm sure the ferals will want something different. I picked up some sharp cheddar at the store today and I may have to sample that with some "crackers" and a glass of prosecco while I think it over. I say "crackers" BTW because they are some keto version that I'm pretty sure involves cardboard. But when all you have is cardboard flavored crackers, you learn to enjoy them, LOL. And frankly, pile enough good cheese on anything and I'm in!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

I'm happy to report that I did get all those dishes washed yesterday so this morning I need to get pics taken and convince Liam to carry them all down into the basement because it's going to be a heavy tub! No idea what I'll photograph after that... but there's still plenty to choose from LOL. I also took pics of a really pretty green candy dish the other day and for the life of me I can't remember the maker or what it's called. So frustrating -- the info is on the tip of my tongue but won't come out!

We got some more snow yesterday, but not nearly the "Winter Storm Warning - We're All Gonna Die!" that was predicted. I did hear the snow plow scraping along the road this morning, but Liam hasn't said anything about doing the driveway with the snow blower, so not really sure what's going on out there in the wild, LOL.

The laundry pile has turned into a laundry MOUNTAIN overnight. If you don't hear from me for a few days send a search party into the laundry room and tell them to look under all the jeans and sweatshirts and towels -- oh my!

Alright... off to face some domestic chores...

 

[AprilBaby]

My BIG snow is 1.75 inches. I assume you got just a little more than me?

 

[Dee*Jay]

My BIG snow is 1.75 inches. I assume you got just a little more than me?

Ha! Yes, a litttttle but, certainly not the snowmagedden we were warned about! I was actually surprised because it kept spitting all afternoon and night, but the accumulation wasn't nearly what I thought it would be. I can see the tips of grass poking out in the corner of the yard where the wind blows the most, and there are tall drifts around back, but overall I'd say about 3". Of course the worst drift is right against the back patio door, and that is the ONLY door the Australian shepherd will use to go in and out, LOL.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy New Year!!!

Where the heck did the weekend go?

Dee Jay, sounds like I could get lots of steps in walking around both of our houses shutting off lights. I totally didn't notice that one glass was tilted forward but you know I'll notice it now. I think it looks fine. I did see your new listings. I totally swear some of those pieces could have belonged to my mother. Yay for noticing a difference in the dining room. I can totally believe how much work you put in to your site and I'm sure you aren't laughing all the way to the bank from the profits. Kind of like Marty's gym - it's a hobby.

WTH - running out of coffee - I don't drink coffee and I know what a crisis that would create around here. Marty just ordered $179 worth from Nespresso the other day.

Don't you hate those midnight fireworks? After what happened in Denver I was hoping the idiots around here wouldn't shoot any off; I was wrong. We were in bed that night at 11:40 - I guess we are too old to make it to midnight anymore. Ha Ha. We did watch fireworks around the world on YouTube. Our friends that came over for NY Eve just wear me out. She is really nice but very negative and they snip and bitch at each other all the time. Everything he says to her she takes wrong and gets mad, she talks all the time so we finally started playing Trivial Pursuit and she kept talking over the questions and answers. They went home about 9 and we weren't sad to see them go. I told Marty one of my retirement plans was to get her out of the house once a week and meet her for coffee but trust me those meetings will be brief. They are my go to reminder for no good deed goes unpunished. They are in our astronomy club and so we've been friends with them for years. I made cookies one time when Marty was overseas and decided to run some by their house just to be nice. They talked me in to staying for supper and while eating it became apparent I was eating his second hamburger which of course led to them having another fight. He goes to the gym all the time and likes to go hiking with Marty and I am sure it's just to get out of the house.

Is your sinus headache better? My sinuses sure get agitated with our high winds.

I bet keto crackers require LOTS of cheese to taste better - probably right up there with rice cakes.

Yay for getting your dishes washed. I bet those tubs are heaving hauling down stairs.

LOL to "we are all going to die" winter storm warning. Isn't that everything anymore? Glad snowmaggeden didn't arrive. We had a few more inches of snow and lots of cold, windy weather. Marty did run his snow blower again.

Good luck with the laundry mountain. Mine was lower than normal because I just wear my sweatshirt around the house rather than the usual daily layers for work.

Hi AprilBaby! Winter is upon us for sure.

What the heck did I do this weekend? Day 2 of 2022 and so far, so good! Saturday we went out to breakfast and I did laundry. We cooked a rib eye roast for dinner and since it was cold and snowy we baked it in the over - which means I had to run the oven cleaner afterwards. We are down to our last Christmas cookies today. GOOD!!!! I got another puzzle done. I got the January club newsletter done and posted online.

Tomorrow Marty will be working again - it will be strange not going back to work after our staycation.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, welcome to Day 1 of your "real" retirement! BTW, you don't get to say things like "where did the weekend go?" anymore! My sinus headache is FINALLY better... but it took a boatload of meds -- and a lot of prosecco!-- to get there! Did you get your laundry done? I confess I didn't touch a single sock! So today it looms larrrrge on the horizon. Your idea of getting the negative lady out of the house is very noble... and pretty ambitious. Maybe shoot for once ever TWO weeks, ha ha.

Yesterday turned out OK, but not nearly as productive as I'd hoped. I got pictures up of of the entire set of dishes and all the serving pieces I washed the night before, but I never got around to moving them down to the basement. I also logged into work and did one thing my boss has asked me to take care of that I realized I never did, so it was good to get that out of the way. After dinner I packed up four orders that will have to make their way to the post office and UPS later today. But that was really about it!

Liam cleaned out the garage to the point that I can actually get my car in. I'm super grateful for that, and I know that will especially be the case when we get another big snow and I don't have to scrape Q off to go somewhere!

Speaking of going somewhere, I should be able to run downtown and get Pinkie this week -- woo hoo!!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Day 3 2022 - Continuing to be better than bad. Only 362 more days to go.

Dee Jay, it's only 2:30 and I am tired already. House chores and shopping is way more work than work. Marty dialed in to work only to find out today was his holiday. Surprise! I took down my Snoopy Village and overflow village, dusted everything that goes back on the mantle and entry way table and continued dusting assorted things my cleaning lady obviously doesn't dust or dust under. WTH? Marty and I went shopping to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Micheals and Hobby Lobby. Then we figured hey were are out we may as well eat lunch somewhere. Funny you mentioned weekends - we saw a little sign in Hobby Lobby that says "Everyday is a weekend when you're retired". I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook.

I did get laundry done and washed the Christmas tablecloth and dresser runners. I was ambitious for sure.

Sweet your sinus headache is better. I think I'm brewing one but a storm is moving in - up to 8" on Wednesday. And I don't care. Ha Ha.

I totally agree with you - I might only be able to put up with the lady a few times a month. I can't imagine going through life allowing everything to make me miserable and angry. What's the point? She lives across the street from a couple that lived next door to my parents before they moved and they are friends too so I suggested the 3 of us get together. That might be a better idea!

Yay for Liam making room for your car in the garage! Nice you won't have to go scrap ice off your car. I'd give up lots of things before giving up an attached garage.

Ooh - you get pinkie this week. I am very anxious to see it. I dug out my blue sapphire with PC side diamonds today. I sure like that ring.

I cut my finger this time on a broken china decoration. I put little battery operated lights on the mantle with the Snoopy village and they tend to be top heavy and fall off easily so I decided rather than pulling all the decorations off first I pulled off both sets of lights and the left side when to fall and sent a china sled flying on the floor. Naturally it was the one sentimental decoration up there. It was a Lenox decoration of Snoopy on a snow machine pulling a Christmas tree on a sled. I bought one for me and one of my sisters the first Christmas after my dad died because we used to go to their cabin every year and ride snow machines to go find Christmas trees. At least the Snoopy on the snow machine was fine. Anyway picking up some of the broken slivers on the floor stabbed me. Phooey. Sadly Lenox doesn't have it listed online anymore. I did see it last fall. I'll keep looking. The finger I cut is my right index finger - and all my touch screen stuff won't work. How annoying!

Now what do I do? Ha Ha.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, wow, you got some serious cleaning up done! Liam dusted in the living room last weekend and I swear an inch of fuzzy dust came up LOL. Oh no for cutting your finger! I must have a cut on mine too; left index finger. I realized this yesterday when I was soaking off my nail polish and the acetone hit it. YOWCH! Keep looking on Ebay for the Snoopy ornament and I bet it will show up. EVERYTHING eventually shows up on Ebay, ha ha.

Yesterday I got three loads of laundry done, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher twice (???) and washed up another box of glasses so I can take pics. Today I need to continue down the laundry adventure and also do some actual work because I've got a zoom with my boss at 2 pm and there is a long list of stuff to talk about.

In anticipation of Ilya's call on Pinkie I did my nails. Unfortunately they are super short and several are a weird shape right now due to having washed about a thousand pieces of glass over the past two weeks and breaking them in other ways, but it is what it is. Not sure how the timing will work out because I'm supposed to do training tomorrow for five new employees from 11 to 12. Hopefully I get enough notice from him (like today!) that I can plan on driving down and just working from my condo tomorrow. Of course there is no guarantee Pinkie WILL be ready tomorrow, but I'm hoping...

It's already after 9, I better get moving!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, good idea to get your nails ready for the arrival of Pinkie! I bet all the dish washing has done a number on your hands. Ouch for acetone hitting a cut. I have a similar problem. I broke several nails and have so many splits in my dry fingers that I haven't painted my nails for a while.

You were certainly busy with laundry and dishes yesterday. i always say we must have ate well based on how many dishwasher loads resulted from dinner.

Good luck with your zoom call today. Marty must be in meetings - he was already in his office when I got up today and haven't seen him since. I've been visiting with our cleaning lady - she loves to talk to me and I have to keep saying uh you forgot to dust that.

Thanks - I totally checked Etsy and Ebay for that Snoopy ornament I broke. I plan on emailing Lenox online to see if they still have one. They had several Snoopy / Peanuts items before Christmas and now none of them are listed right now which is strange. They closed all of their outlet stores too or I'd seriously call every one of them.

Yes, I did lots of dusting yesterday. I plan on cleaning our knife block today. You know, one little project at a time. I just ordered a skein of wool yarn to knit Marty a hat.

I am heading to the store as soon as the cleaning lady is done. We could get 8 inches of snow tomorrow so I figured it's a good day to go. We are out of fruit. Marty's been downing grapes like candy so I think I'll get extra of those; I eat strawberries up first because they go bad so fast and by the time I am moving on to grapes they are gone. I want popcorn but ate bad for 2 weeks so II am trying to be good this week.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay - Any word on Pinkie yet?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, I got a message from Ilya that the entire team has covid so all orders are delayed. Under the circumstances I'm happy to wait! Maybe by next week before I go to Aspen... but we'll see. Like I've said all along, I don't need it by a specific date so I guess whatever will be will be. You can set up an alert on both ebay and etsy for the ornament. I don't know exactly how it works, but every time I look for anything on either site they ask me if I want to do that, LOL. So if Lenox doesn't have an extra maybe try that. Do you stay there the whole time the cleaning lady is at the house? Ours used to come while we were at work so it was like magic; we'd leave on Wednesday mornings and the place would be a mess and when we came home... VOILA!

Yesterday turned out pretty well work-wise. I got a lot done and my boss was actually rather happy with me, so that's always a bonus! More laundry also got finished... but I realized late in the afternoon that the kids' hamper is still upstairs and I'm sure that is absolutely overflowing. Ugh.

For dinner last night I got the brilliant idea I would fry up some hamburger and bake it in a dish with a can of black beans and three cans of diced tomatoes with chilis all mixed together. I was expecting some sort of taco or chili-like "casserole." Um... NO. It was edible in that it didn't kills us and it technically qualified as food, but that's about all I can say for it on the positive front. I'm such a failure in the kitchen... We've got a ton of it left so I think I'll try it with a big spoon of giardiniera and see if that improves it at all.

Today I need to pack up one order that came in overnight and get that to UPS. Liam said he's got a giant pile of post office stuff downstairs, but he might come home at lunch and take that because it's so much. I washed some more glasses last night so now I've got about five or six listings ready for pics. Now that I'm not going into the city today maybe I'll get some of those done, although the light is really bad. Apparently our weather is going to turn for the worse and Liam said it was probably a good thing I wasn't going to run downtown today.

Alright, up and at 'em!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, darn Pinkie isn't ready yet - sorry to hear so many of the crew there are sick. So you are headed to Aspen? Have fun. I think I can safely say there will be snow there.

I will check around for alerts from Ebay and Etsy on that Snoopy ornament. Good idea! Thanks.

Marty is generally here when the cleaning lady is here but he is downstairs in his office. I was here when she was cleaning when I was working from home. I guess I can go downstairs when she shows up because she talks way too much if I'm here. Once it gets nicer I'll ask her not to park by the garage door so I can leave. She can park over on the 3rd bay that is Marty's shop. I love coming home to a magically clean house. At least now I can get the towels washed right away after she leaves. She is pretty fast - she is generally here around 2 hours. The other girls we used to have clean took 4 hours - they were more thorough though and did more deep cleaning.

Good deal your boss is happy with you. How could he not be? Darn the kids hamper is full. I did 2 batches of laundry today.

Phooey your casserole didn't match your expectation - at least it was edible. I only made one thing Marty commented you don't need to make that ever again. Seems like it was some casserole as well.

Yes, it does sound like a good day for you to stay home.

We have blizzard conditions going on today. It started snowing before I got up and Marty didn't put the trash out so I put on my long coat and shoes and walked it out wearing my PJ's. I tried to go get the trash can about noon and got near the curb and decided I couldn't tell where the curb was and I knew that spot was really icy in the street where I put it so I came back inside and had Marty go get it at lunchtime. I could see myself falling on my face tripping off the curb. We had about 4" by then. I told Marty on days like this I would be getting nervous about driving home from work - the Macan is great in snow and ice but I worry about someone hitting me. Not a problem now.

I used a grille pan and baked hamburgers in the oven for lunch. They turned out pretty good. I am baking a roast tomorrow and lasagna Friday.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, LOL on "you don't need to make that ever again"! Liam didn't actually say that to me, but *I* had already said it to me in my head, so same thing. Our weather yesterday was perfect fine. No idea what the bit bruhaha was about, but nothing came of it. I have been watching the weather in Aspen though, and next week when we get there I think sister #2 should be very pleased with the snow! I hear you on worrying about people hitting you in bad weather. I always say I'm not AS worried about me driving in the snow and ice and having and issue, I'm MORE worried about everyone else out there driving in it!

Yesterday I did A LOT of work! And had a second conversation in a row with my boss where he was super happy with me. I should record those, ha ha. I've got one training this morning, but Liam has the water pump people coming because there's some issue (I think it keeps turning off and on and there's low pressure). Of course I'm sure they will show up as soon as I start my zoom...

I've got two super easy orders to ship this morning. Don't get me wrong, I love the big stemware orders... but mornings like this where I just have one bowl and one set of salt and pepper shakers are just fine too!

Alright, going to get an early start today just in case the water people show up sooner that I expect.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, definitely it's a good day when the boss is super happy with you twice in a row,. Then again I'm thinking why is he being so nice to me? See how my mind works? Ha Ha. Good idea to get calls done before they show up to work on the water pump.

Glad your bad weather didn't materialize - maybe that's because all the snow ended up here. Wyoming is pretty much closed today. Marty is out shoveling now and said there is a lot of snow out there. His fancy North Face gloves we bought him at Jax for Christmas aren't cutting it in 0 degree weather and it feels like -22. He came in because his fingers hurt and dug out some other gloves. I'm sure you see lots of idiots on the road too during bad weather and that is what makes me nervous too. Aspen should be pretty much a winter wonderland next week.

I am sure stemware is time consuming to wrap. Did you sell those green salt and pepper shakers? I know my mother had a pair like that. I swear sometimes pieces you find were hers and somehow ended up in your neck of the woods. Definitely a case of Deja Vu.

Not much new going on here other than snow, cold and wind. We watched Last Duel last night, it was pretty good. Ben Affleck was in it playing a drunken, womanizing ahole - not much of a stretch for him. Ha Ha. He was blonde in it and I bet we were over half through the movie before it dawned on me who he was. Matt Damon was in it as well. Marty closed his gym last night because the weather and streets were so bad. With wind kicking up today we'll get more drifts. My Snoopy inflatable airplane was funny - it was buried under snow and all that made it through the snow when it inflated was his head.

I put a roast in the oven for lunch. It is over 7 pounds and still frozen so it may take a while even in a browning bag. I wrapped up baked potatoes to cook with it so easy lunch today whenever it gets done.

I need to call Fidelity back about closing my account. I hope I can either get my money transferred or sent to me by FedEx because our post office and mail person sorts mail as well as my teddy bears could do.

Laters,
Marcy

 

[marcy]

My over 7 pound roast turned out good - Marty was happy it was rare in the middle.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday Kids!

Curby, yes, it was the green salt and pepper shakes that sold! LOL on your mother's things -- some of this stuff launches me right back into my childhood, especially the avocado green and amber. Poor Snoopy! I bought an inflatable plane with santa in it for "dad" down in Missouri several years ago for x-mas and he just loves it. Puts it out in the yard every year. Did you talk to Fidelity? I always have them x-fer $ like that rather than send a check. Even if there's a wire fee or whatever it just gives me a little peace of mind. Glad the roast turned out well! I need to go through the panty and see what else is in there to get some ideas for our next one. I feel like a one trick pony -- or now a two trick pony since going down the path of the gravy and mushrooms and onions last time. But I'm sure there is other stuff in there to inspire me, I just need to dig around a little and find it.

Well the water thing certainly turned into an adventure yesterday... The guys came and replaced the compression tank (at least I think that's what it was). The first part of the process involved them being compelled to provide me with a long and technical explanation as to what was wrong with it. I kept backing toward the basement stairs as the explanation went on. When the guy finally paused for breath I was like, "wow, that's crazy! good thing you're here to take care of it!" and ran as fast as I could back upstairs! THEN he said there must be some sort of leak in the line from well so he had to go check that out. Liam talked to him and told him to just replace the well pump while he was down there anyway, and then he reset it deeper by another 30 feet. I also got a long and involved explanation on that process. Finally they left and I was supposed to let the water run from an outside faucet for an hour to get rid of the chlorine because they had to "shock" some part of the system. I turned on the water and went back inside. An hour later when I went to turn it off nothing was coming out of the faucet. ??? Liam came home right then fortunately. He went downstairs and took a look at where the valve for that faucet is inside and made the executive decision not to fvck with it because it appeared to be corroded in place and if he turned it too hard and broke anything it might affect a pipe on an exterior wall in zero degree weather. I fully supported that decision! So he instead try to run the water using some sort of "bypass" process from the basement. Except he realized as that was going on that the sump pump wasn't working. It had apparently burned itself out (or something like that). He went to three stores and finally found another one that was the right size and we installed it (involving a fair amount of jerry rigging... ). There was one point in the process in which a geyser occurred and we both got covered with water. Don't ask. And now I have no idea what the water status is because before I went to bed last night I ran the water in the bathroom faucets for a loooooong time it was still coming out brown so unless this situation somehow resolved itself overnight... ?!? Oh. And there is someone coming to look a the iron filters next week because apparently they are problematic too. Oy!!!

And BTW, if you skipped reading all that because it was long, boring, and frankly unnecessary, I don't blame you one bit! But now that I've typed it all out I can't bring myself to delete it.

I also got some work done and packed up six orders, one of which is going to Spain. You'd think they'd have enough wine glasses in Spain, but apparently not!

Today I'm working working working. I've also got two zooms this afternoon, both of which include my boss. Oh joy.

Ok... of to see what sort of water comes out of the shower head...

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Well the water adventure continued yesterday... and now there is a new iron filtration system in the basement too. The guy also cut out all the pipes from the system and put in new ones because when he opened them up there was the equivalent of about two pencil widths open inside all of the other corrosion. No wonder the pressure here was so bad! Oh... and when Liam told him he'd installed the water softener himself the guy decided to take a look "just because." Uh huh. It was PLUMBED BACKWARD. Literally it has been doing no good whatsoever since it was installed. So now that works too. Geez... !!!

Once again my day was ruined by work yesterday LOL. Today my plan is to list a bunch of stuff and then hopefully make some progress on a work thing once it gets dark since I can't take pictures then. I also need Liam to figure out what's going on with the scale in the basement, which got unplugged when the whole water thing was going on, because I've got orders all packed up and ready to go but I need to weigh them to print out the labels.

Currently sitting here in bed waiting for my coffee!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, what an ordeal to get the pump and plumbing replaced. Hope the water is coming out okay now. Water can sure get nasty!! Just think we wash in it and drink it.

Nice you had 6 orders to go out and now those green salt and pepper shakers won't make me wish I'd kept the ones my mother had. Flashback central there. Did you get pictures taken? Marty took a very early trip to the park this morning to get pictures. He got a few close ups of a squirrel and some nice scenery shots. I was blissfully asleep while he was out in the cold. I had no idea he was gone until I set the alarm off wandering out to the living room when I got up. Surprise, surprise!

I am glad to hear the inflatable plane with Santa has held up well for your Missouri "dad" - they don't seem to last here probably because of our crazy wind. Speaking of crazy we had a high speed chase here yesterday (no it wasn't me) that resulted in a 4 car pileup when they ran a red light. It was close to Marty's gym. I guess the 3 guys in the car all had warrants out for their arrest prior to stealing the car in Colorado. Such excitement for a small city.

I did talk to Fidelity. Apparently my company has a deal with them for retirees and my fees to keep it with them is minimal. He said he would move around some of my selections if I stick with them but no point going through all of that now. Of course I realize both he and the financial guy at the bank are both approaching this like used car salesman so I an really undecided. Info found on the intranet at work said deposits to my 401K could take up to 3 months to show up so I should probably wait just in case something else is going to be deposited. I mentioned to the guy I talked to what the credit union moved Marty's roll over in to and he thought it was an annuity which he thinks are a bad idea. I don't believe it is and it has done well for Marty. Basically I'm in limbo over that but it's fine to leave it where it is for a while. I totally agree getting funds transferred is way safer. He said if I do close it out they generally make the check out to the bank or wherever I'm moving it to. I might try to go talk to the guy at the bank this week. Decisions, decisions.

Darn that work interfered with other things for you yesterday. I did get a text from the new gal at work saying she missed me. I asked her how she was doing and she said she is good but the department - no comment. I didn't ask for clarification but I'm sure it is a bit bumpy right now.

I wasted a lot of time after downloading a puzzle program yesterday. I finally paid the whopping $4.99 to get rid of ads; they were getting really annoying.

I had more bookkeeping lessons today for the gym. I even printed out the 2021 income / expense report for taxes. Woo hoo! I created a few invoices, deposited a few checks with my phone and chuckled when I noticed under resources one of the tabs is "hire a bookkeeper".

Think I'll order pizza for lunch. Marty looks firmly planted on the couch right now and I'm getting hungry. Yesterday I made homemade beef noodle soup then had some popcorn for supper. I get sick of protein, protein, protein.

We are above freezing today. Woo hoo!
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, it sounds like the moose is still eluding Marty... ? What sort of bookkeeping lessons are you doing? I keep thinking that I should learn quickbooks, but then I ask myself WHY? LOL. Good idea to let your 401(k) sit for a little in case any more $ comes in. People have strong opinions about annuities. I don't know enough to have a really educated stance, but as I get closer to retirement I'm definitely going to learn more. As for protein protein protein, Liam just brought me up a big plate of bacon to go with my coffee!

Yesterday was pretty productive on the photo front, although things took longer than I'd have liked. I washed up stuff for five more listings today and set it on the counter. I am getting to the point that I'll need to unpack a lot of boxes all at once from under the dining room table because I know things got split up into different boxes as I was packing them at the large sales and there's no point in taking pictures of five of something only to find out I've actually got eight. I need to work out a system for labeling boxes as they come in! Today is a nice sunny say so I'll have good light -- yay!

I did one thing last night for work and tonight I need to do another. My boss wants to have a call on it first thing tomorrow so I better find the motivation to actually produce that tonight, ha ha. There will be wine involved.

Can I just say Instagram is the devil?! Every day I find some new vendor and simply HAVE to look at every single post they've every put up. Talk about a time suck! Oh... and then I want a whole slew of new things. Argh... !

Ok, off to enjoy the new water pressure in the shower. And it is MUCH better I must say!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

I got a lot done yesterday! Seven new listings put up, four orders packed, including one that was dishes service for four (twenty pieces total), and I did the work thing, which turned out not to be too bad at all.

This morning I started the day with a call related to the thing from last night, did the follow up from that, trained a new employee, and then ran to pick up my box order from the packaging company and to drop packages at UPS and the post office. Now I need to work on something else big that I'm sure my boss is going to want to talk about on our call scheduled for tomorrow morning. Geez. Talking to this guy first thing every morning really puts a damper on my sitting around in bed drinking coffee and cruising PS until nine!

Liam is hopefully going to stop at Costco on the way home from work. If that happens we'll be having rotisserie chicken for dinner. If it doesn't happen... we'll be having cheese and crackers, because I think that's about all there is at this point. Well, OK, cheese and crackers AND PROSECCO.

No word from Ilya. Still hoping I might actually set eyes on this thing before I fly out on Thursday, but I'm not holding my breath...

Alright, better go do some more work or else I'll be sitting here again tonight late trying to get stuff done.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, you were busy yesterday. Nice to set a 4 piece set of dishes.

Darn you have to talk to your boss first thing in the morning; way to wreck that relaxing in bed first thing. I wasted easily 90 minutes in my PJ's this morning before I took a shower.

Did you get chicken for supper or was is cheese, crackers and PROSECCO? I had a piece of toast with PB, a few tortilla chips, some grapes and 4 cinnamon heart gum drops. We had filet and rice for lunch.

Nice your started your Sunday with coffee and bacon. Bacon and popcorn always smell so good when they are cooking.

Yes, Instagram sure has a lot of pretty jewelry to tease us with. If Llya doesn't have Pinkie done before your trip I will gladly pay the overnight FedEx fee to ship it to me for safe keeping then I'll FedEx it back to the North Estate when you get back from your trip. I'm just that kind of friend. I promise it will be clean when you get it.

I've been wasting time playing the new Angry Birds plus still using that jigsaw puzzle app.

I am learning some of the bookkeeping chores for Marty's gym. He uses Wave. I used Quick Books years ago at the photo lab I worked for - I was his fill in bookkeeper and paid his bills for him. I have Quicken for my personal checkbook program - it's really old though because the newer versions are set up with your banking account and all the info is stored online. I'm like no thanks I'll keep using the old version. I am skeptical of annuities probably because some jerk at the bank talked my parents in to getting one for each of them and I was so stinking mad about it I almost went down there and gave them a colorful metaphor laced piece of my mind. Marty talked me off the ledge though because as he pointed out neither one of them were incompetent and could think for themselves. My dad was able to cash in the annuity that was my moms but when I tried to cash his that guy at the bank claimed my dad didn't have one and he didn't know what I was talking about. After that he wouldn't return my calls. That bank had several branches here in town and when I went in to close their safety deposit box they pulled up a list of their accounts and huh - there it was on list. It's not like he could have cashed it but I just called the company and got it cashed in. Ooh - what a rant - it still must irritate me.

I ventured out today - side streets are solid icebergs but main roads are clear. I dropped our new insurance info by the dentist office and Walgreens. Then I picked up groceries. Certain sections of the store have very bare shelves. I might utter more colorful metaphors on that as well. Ha Ha.

Tomorrow I might go get some new shoes and I have a bill to go pay for a repair we had last month. Such excitement.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, Liam walked in the door just as normal as you please after work... and THEN remembered he was going to stop at Costco. So we ate something frozen he dug out of the way back area of the freezer and he went to Costco after. Now we're stocked! Thanks for the offer on Pinkie! You are such a good friend! That annuity story reminds me of people who've had issues with insurance companies. Someone will pass away, the heir will call the company and ask about ABC policy and get the $. However the insurance company didn't tell them also about XYZ and123 policy, the info for which was sitting right up there on the screen, because the heir didn't specifically ask about those. I can't remember all the details now, but it was a truly shady practice. And you were right to be irritated about that guy and your dad's annuity! Our streets are OK now, but it you look across the fields with the sun hitting you can tell they are a solid sheet of ice. It's from the days heating up a little, everything melting a bit, and then refreezing at night. Over and over. I'm sure they are quite solid by now!

Yesterday I worked so much my boss should pay me double! I did do that thing last night, and it wasn't hard, but it was tedious. After that I went to BED!

Today I have more stuff to do along those lines. I also need to make sure laundry is done by tomorrow so I can think about packing for Thursday. Somewhere between now and then I need to do my nails too. I've got one that's going to break if I don't get it repainted, so might as well do them all.

Training with my first person (and my LAST person of this round!!!) in an hour and seven minutes. Off to get ready!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I totally smiled at Liam walking in the door after work completely forgetting to pick up groceries. Marty and Liam - they have so much in common! Glad you did go shopping. We had a guy in the astronomy club come over one time to play MYST or some stupid computer game with Marty and ended up staying most of the day. Marty wanted something to eat - I fixed Kraft Mac and Cheese and frozen french fries - that was about my only choice. They didn't complain.

That is very shady about insurance companies when someone passes away. I had a horrible time with my parent's home owners insurance because my name wasn't on it and we needed the roof to get new shingles before we could sell it. You call the 800 number and have to tell your story again - I finally found an agent in Fort Collins who kind of helped me. It was not fun.

Sounds like we are both living in a frozen tundra. Our last house had a 6 foot privacy fence and the south side of the back yard rarely melted before June.

Yay you got the tedious job done - and I agree you should ask for double pay. You deserve it. Yay for getting the last person trained today for this round. My online class starts tomorrow. Sweet.

I lifted this morning and need to do a batch of laundry. I hit it big on a lotto ticket - I won $3. What will I do with all that LOOT??

Off to start on Marty's knit hat. The live of a retired lady doesn't rate too high on the thrillometer.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, I'm not giving it much longer before your Thrill-O-Meter dips into negative territory and you post that you've found a part time job! The freezer here also has a weird and random array of stuff right now. We're trying to clean it out because the next half of a cow will be ready to pick up soon and there isn't enough room for it at the moment. Not that feeding the ferals one package of pizza puffs will make much of a difference, but we're trying! I'm excited to see Marty's hat! I can only knit two stitches, and only in a straight line, so any creativity like this is fascinating to me!

Yesterday I did a bunch of work in the morning, including yet ANOTHER call with my boss (geez buddy, call someone else, willya?!). Liam came home at lunch with the surprise part of my xmas present that was finally ready. Oy. He got at an auction a feed bag with a company had has my last name and a picture of a pig. It's a joke based on my stuffed pig that started the whole stuffed animal thing. Anyway, he had it framed at Hobby Lobby... and it looked TERRIBLE. The bag was crooked in the mat and the frame itself... well... let me see if I can describe this... It was made up of pieces of wood rather than one long piece on each of the four sides. One side had sections about 4-5" long and they were very burled. The other side had sections 6-8" long and they were grained. And where the sections were put together the seams on some of them weren't stained. It was an utter joke. I said Give Me That Receipt and I marched right back there. At first the lady didn't understand the problem. When I was done SHE DID. In general I'm very very nice to service people, but this was beyond the pale. I'll send you some pictures by text; I don't want to put them up here because the bag has my last name on it. Anyway, that trip to Hobby Lobby then spiraled out of control in a big BIG way...

From there I went to DSW and Ulta... and then I crossed the street and went to Kohls, Marshals, BB&B, and Shoe Carnival. Shoe Carnival turned out to be my undoing, LOL. I found a pair of boots I wanted for my trip tomorrow, but they didn't have the right size so I cam home and located a pair... and hour away. So I then hopped in the car and made the three hour round trip (three hours because of course I had to try on every other damn thing in the store there too, and that took an extra hour!). So basically from about 3:30 yesterday on I was in shopping mode. Ugh. I also need to asses my jeans situation because I think I have two pair of jeans I can take with me, but I'm not 100% sure any more with all this between size stuff due to the diet. Don't get me wrong -- I'm thrilled to be losing weight! But I just wish I'd lose it in full size increments!

Better get this show on the road because I've got a lot of things that need to happen here today!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I admit I check the very few help wanted ads in the paper. I almost called about one but will refrain until after spring blizzards and by then I'll be too lazy to go back to work. Ha Ha. Good idea to clean out the freezer for the upcoming cow supply. We only have the freezers in our 2 refrigerators so I doubt we could freeze even 1/2 of a cow.

Yes, it would be nice if you ever got to talk to your boss. He misses you!

I like the idea of your Christmas gift but it sounds like the frame was a jigsaw puzzle and a kid put it together. WTH? Did they put it in a new frame and have it straight?

You did go on a shopping spree; shoes are on my list to go shopping for as well. And yes it would be nice to lose 1 size at a time. I actually have a top on today that I never tried on when I bought it and wasn't even close to fitting me. I dressed up for the first day of school,

You can knit anything if you know 2 stitches - the hat is easy it is all K1, P1 and on and on. I might go work on it shortly.

My day was like being at work. I once again had to put on shoes and coat to roll out the trashcan out when I got up. I need bigger sticky notes for Marty. I guess if I was leaving before 5 am I may not pay attention to sticky notes either. After my shower I cut up some strawberries and measured out my cheerios when Marty sent me a text to meet him for breakfast at Sharis. I dumped my strawberries and cereal in baggies and headed out. 30 minutes later while wondering where the heck Marty is - I get a text that he meant Perkins. I had to hunt down my waitress and give her a $5 for the coffee she poured for Marty and headed to Perkins for breakfast. After we got home I ventured out on errands. The repair bill lady charged my debit card but she used a machine where you manually enter the numbers and it got rejected. So I wrote her a check. Later when I got home I checked and the charge had gone through. My next stop was the bank to deposit some checks and cash in the gym account and while checking on that repair charge I noticed the checks and cash had been deposited in our account not the gym. So back I went back to the bank to get the money moved and to retrieve my check for the repair. Marty also had me drop off a return at the UPS store - the box was larger than the length of my arms plus it was windy so that was fun carrying it in from the parking lot. After I got home the second time I logged in to my class and my saved password didn't work. I had to reset it and then I got locked out on my iPad. I quickly decided I need to use 2 devices for the class - one to have up the lessons and the other to have Lightroom open. An hour later I was ready to do lesson 1. I did get 100% on my quiz. I was making tacos for lunch and pulled my package of ground sirloin out of the refrigerator and it dripped blood all over the floor. I cleaned that up and opened the deli wrapped package and found it was a flank steak not hamburger. I pulled a pound of hamburger out of the freezer and forgot to turn the burner down so the one side was totally sizzled. At least when I cut up the vegetables up I didn't have any knife accidents. The rest of my bad went smoother. I also noticed the flashing yellow light at a school zone. Yay!

Have a safe trip tomorrow!
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Going To Aspen Today kids!

Curby, you and I were both on garbage can duty yesterday! Liam always rolls them to the end of the driveway before he goes to work (regular garbage and a separate one for recycling)... and I always find about ten things that should have gone in there when I get up, especially stuff in the fridge that needs to be tossed. So then I make a trip down the driveway and get rid of those extra things. Well yesterday it was like carrying a bag of garbage across an ice rink. In tennis shoes. I made sure I had my phone in my pocket so I could call 911 if I fell and broke a leg along the way. That was assuming I didn't fall ON my phone and break it too on the way down! Your trip to the UPS store sounds like my trek across the windy parking lot with the big framed picture! I was so mad though it was driven by sheer force of will. The wind was no match for me, LOL! It has to be completely redone, with the new frame material, so I won't see the new iteration for a week or so. Who knows what THIS one will look like. But I've already decided it will be what it will be. I'm not doing this a THIRD time!

Yesterday was crazy busy. And then I created a disaster in the kitchen... I decided to make a "casserole" using riced cauliflower and left over shredded rotisserie chicken. The packages of riced cauliflower from Costco are so big (and I used TWO of them!) that when I put them it the biggest non-stick frying pan we have it still spilled little bits out and around the pan when I tried to stir in the "chicken broth." As for the "chicken broth"... The riced cauliflower was plain and I knew it needed some sort of flavoring, but we didn't actually HAVE chicken broth... so I decided to "make" some. That involved taking two packets of chicken noodle cup of soup and using a small strainer to get the flavoring out, but not the noodles. The process of shaking that around got stuff all over the cooktop and counter too. And then I figured some parmesean would be good in there -- because what doesn't get improved by salty cheese?! But the flipper thing on the top of the plastic canister created another issue (don't ask... ) and so THAT got all over the counter. I gave up. Everything finally went into the big baking dish and in the over and I just walked away from the mess. When Liam came home and looked he actually paused mid step, but to his credit didn't say one word, he just cleaned it all up! Later on, after dinner, he showed me a video of the Swedish chef from the Muppets, which is what he said he imagined went on here! Anyway, we ate it. And we're both still alive!

Alright, better go start shoving things in my suitcase!