Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, that meme about gas prices is so true! I seriously drove back to The North Estate yesterday ten miles an hour below my usual speed to see if it made any difference in my MPG. It did BTW -- by about 5 MPG! Too bad I'm always in a hurry and will likely never do that again after my little experiment. You're working more now than you did before you tired. All I can say is... Told Ya So! Let me know when they make you CEO!

The past two days have been a whirlwind! I worked on Tuesday, visited a potential listing at lunch that is going to be a huggggge PITA, picked up Trifecta (as you know!) on Tuesday evening, and went to dinner with a friend.

Yesterday I took a bottle of tequila and two dozen cupcakes over to Ilya for the team to share. The all appreciate stuff like that, and the guys back on the bench seem especially happy! Ilya told me they never get visitors -- let along gifts -- because no one gets to go back there. So it made me happy to do something nice for them! Then I went to lunch with another compliance officer that I've been friends with for ages and we shared our woes. Oy. Makes ME want to retire... like... TOMORROW! After that I headed back north.

Liam and I went out for sushi, which we haven't done for AGES since I've been no carb. I didn't want to blow it, especially since I'm headed to Aspen for five days of fabulous food with #2... but I did, LOL.

Today is going to be crazy! As soon as I post this I'm hopping in the shower. Then I need to do a load of laundry before I pack, and I went to bed with all my orders taken care of... only to sell a cookie jar and twelve glasses in the past hour. Gotta get those into boxes too! I also got through the cow bag lady's accounting last night, but I have a few questions for her... and that always takes forever to get her to focus.

No pics of Trifecta to post yet due to PANTS weather, but I am ABSOLUTLEY LOVING it! This setting is just astonishingly gorgeous! If I'd known how fabulous it was I would have gotten it ages ago and set a diamond in it. Seriously -- I think this is my absolute favorite setting that I own! Liam was blown away when he saw the ring in person. He said the pictures don't do it justice at all; they are static so no sparkle, and the filigree and milgraining are super fine in person, but look "heavy" in the photos. I don't know how I can fix that other than doing a video to show what it looks like when in motion... do you know how to post a video on PS?

Alright, off to do a zillion things!!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, NOOOOOOOO I don't want to know driving slower saves gas. It can't be true! Lalalalalalalalala.

I doubt they'll make me CEO - I still feel very disorganized and keep forgetting little things. Today I updated the 2 upcoming Mercury greatest elongations. Trying to find the info I needed took longer than updating the articles.

Did you safely arrive in Aspen? It should be a very nice weekend. We were near 60 here today so it was very nice except for the wind.

Trifecta is amazing. That setting is one I would probably never try on from seeing it in the case but then you get it on your finger and it's WOW!!!! I will be anxious to see the video. I think you can just loaded them on here the same way you do pictures. That was very nice of you to take alcohol and cupcakes to Ilya and company. I am sure you are one of their favorite customers especially now.

Nice to share woes with a friend who is also a compliance officer.

Is sushi carbs? I would think it's protein but since I don't eat fish I guess I don't know. We had grilled steak for lunch along with cottage cheese and raw veggies. I am shirking my lunch cooking duties. The lady who gives me "tasks" doesn't text me until about 8:30 or 9 am and then I have to print text out because there is so much stuff to remember. Then I forget something! I need to make lists and check them off until it becomes routine for me.

I went grocery shopping after lunch the did my lifting. I played Angry Birds during sets. That passed the time quickly!!

Have fun in Aspen.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, I don't want to believe it either... but it's true. I went around 70-75 the whole way to O'Hare yesterday and got over 30 ave MPG. Damn!!! The carbs in sushi are the rice, and fish is all just protein. I forgot how much I love sushi -- it's been so long since I had any! When you get tired of Angry Birds you should try Wordle, if you haven't already! We have a string going with mom, dad, #1, #2 and me. And then I made the mistake of showing it to Liam and now he does it too, LOL.

I got to ORD in plenty of time yesterday, even including the slooooooow drive, and my usual parking lot has space. But then... #2 (who I met there because she was coming in from NY and we went the rest of the way together) and I set at the bar for several hours as there was an issue with our plane so they had to bring us a new one. When we finally got to Aspen we changed clothes real quick and then went to dinner with some friends of #2's that are here for the week. The wife is a huge jewelry lover and we got on like a house on fire! Unfortunately her husband doesn't "get" jewelry, and they are in the process of putting in a very expensive swimming pool, so I'm not sure she's going to get anything for a while. But hope springs eternal!

This morning #2 is out for a run and I'm trying to get the cow bag lady's stuff off to the accountant, but she texted me early about something she forgot, so now I'm trying to connect with her to see if I need to add it to the list. It's always something!

Not sure what the day is going to bring, but it's absolutely gorgeous here! I think it's going to be around 60 and not a cloud in the sky!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay - you are a ruiner. Ha Ha. I didn't even put my car in sport or sport plus today and I drove the speed limit. Very sad. Plus when I pulled in to the garage I didn't rev the engine. My life just won't be the same.

I get it now on sushi. Marty likes it but I don't do fish - severe allergies to shell fish so I just stay away from it.

I know Wordle is popular - after Angry Birds ticks me off enough I want to quit I might download it. Like I need something else to do.

Nice that you and sister #2 got to fly to Aspen together. That's the best way to spend time at the airport is in the bar. Nice to meet someone who is a huge jewelry lover. Did she LOVE Trifecta? Or did you wear it on your trip? Jewelry is far more important than a pool. And that's a shame her husband doesn't "get" jewelry. My friend with the awful diamond in her wedding ring has that problem. It is LOW on his list of things to buy. I quit wearing my rings when we go to their house. She starts wanting to try on my rings and it gets uncomfortable. I was just dreaming of a bright orange spessartite garnet in a halo ring. I'm going to have to do a LOT more editing to get that accomplished though.

That's great the weather is so nice in Aspen. It's quite nice here as well. I think we may reach 70 sometime this weekend. Yippee!!!! There is a huge sunspot too that I want to pull out my solar scope to look at sometime. I can even see that sunspot in my 7 power solar binoculars. That's a BIG sunspot.

Something woke us both up at 2:30. I stayed in bed but poor Marty got up. I drifted off to sleep again sometime after 4:30. Then woke up several times. We went out for breakfast after Marty was done with the morning gym crew and his first conference call. One of the guys in the morning is toying with him putting up fake weights or spaces between weights so it looks like a lot more weights. I think that is awesome.

I got enough assignments today (and by email) to keep me busy through Monday. I worked almost 3 hours today but since I started at 10 that's good enough. I am glad to know what to do on Monday too. Usually I get texts for assignments then there is so many exchanges I loose track or miss something. I feel more confident with what I am doing. She keeps commenting on my attention to detail maybe she'll have me help the lady who proofs everything. That was my life at that place I retired from. When someone makes a mistake at work I get a text from a lady a corporate telling me it was a "miss Marcy day".

I have some things to return to Kohl's so I will probably do that this afternoon. I think I told you about the sweater that became a dress. The 2 cardigans I ordered have the exact same contents and washing instructions so I am returning them now. I see Land's End has 40% off regular prices so I will go buy myself a few cardigans and tops that fit me from them. I know they won't stretch out and I totally expect their cotton sweaters need to lay flat to dry - I have a problem with cheap sweaters requiring that though.

I made tacos for lunch and even ate crunchy shells. Yay.

Have a great weekend in Aspen.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, I have a couple of sweaters that grooooooow as I wear them too! Eventually I'll give them to the Salvation Army, but I almost hate to subject that on some other unsuspecting person, LOL. It was so hot yesterday sitting outside that I seriously considered taking my long sleeved T-shirt off and just wearing my tank top underneath! Today I'll dress differently. I think it's great that the guys at Marty's gym like to prank him! The new job seems to have come around rather quickly to giving you a lot to do. No surprise there! I didn't bring Trifecta -- or any other ring -- on the trip. I usually don't on this type of travel, just because I'm afraid of losing it getting it stolen, or if I wear it, bending a shank putting my heavy suitcase in the overhead bin or something. I'm sure all of that is silly... but that's what goes though my head!

Yesterday I shopped around town, but didn't find anything I felt compelled to buy. I also had a call with the cow bag lady that forced me to go back and look at one aspect of her accounting... and now I have to rejigger something in a way that's going to take me while. Ugh. Oh well, I feel obligated to do it right! After that I took the bus over to Snowmass and met #2 and her friends (husband, wife, two boys 10 and 13) for apres (i.e., the baking in the sun event!). My face got a little pink so today I will make sure to put sunblock on.

I've been contemplating buying some shelves for the basement so I can stack the boxes of glass up higher. Liam keeps saying he'll find some super cheap at an auction... but a year in there hasn't been anything. I can get 3-tier ones at Home Depot for about thirty bucks, and I think it would be money well spent because I really need a better solution or else I'm out of space to put things!

#2 is out for a quick run and I already went down to the lobby to get my coffee, so I might work on the accounting for a little while before I motivate into the shower. As you can tell, the craziness factor here is just as high as it is at home!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, isn't it fun to have sweaters that grow during the day? As long as they keep us warm. The weather was quite nice here too. It was windy but not semi tipping windy! I guess there is a fire near Boulder. Too early for that crap to start! We ventured down to Fort Collins and I thought I saw smoke but it was so windy we figured it was dirt blowing up from being dry. I totally get not wearing your nice jewelry when you travel. I have "travel" jewelry. Something to wear but also that I won't be devastated if I loose it or break it.

Nice you got some sun; darn you got a little burnt. We were on the deck briefly this morning looking at the sun. It was quite nice out then. Good luck getting the taxes done for the cow bag lady.

Good idea to get some shelves to store your glassware on. We bought those bookcases made of particle board you can put together years ago - real basic, cheap and sturdy. We had them at our old house and Marty ended up putting them in his gym.

We enjoyed dinner at our favorite steak house today then spent money like drunken sailors at Best Buy. Can you tell I'm typing on a new laptop? Marty got an external hard drive and wireless magic keyboard. He wants a new laptop now too but of course he wants added stuff they don't have ready to buy in the store. I got the latest MacBook Air. It's quicker than my other laptop. I wanted a new one mostly because my old one was heating up when I used it and the fan would really kick on for a while. Made me nervous. If Marty doesn't want it for the gym, I might try to sell it. Mac sure makes it easy to move all of your stuff. It probably took me less than 90 minutes to get everything moved and up and running. Still working on a few things but so far it's working. My very early birthday present.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, oh yes, I can totally tell you're typing on a new laptop! My work computer gets hot too. The IT guys keeps saying they're going to replace it... but nothing so far. The cow bag lady's tax info is now done... for the second time... Don't ask... And I'll be getting that off to her tax preparer this morning. Glad to have that over with! I've decided I need shelves on wheels, and that is turning out to be a more complicated thing to find because I only want them three tiers high. The search continues.

Yesterday I went down to the pool/patio area in the courtyard of the hotel and worked on the bookkeeping there, which is a really nice setting. Then I met #2 for lunch... which went on for many hours, LOL. We also got absolutely fried. The day before I burned my right side. Yesterday I got my left. So now I'm pink all over! My arm is the worst because I only thought to put sunblock on my face. Oh... And the part in my hair is burned too. I hate that!

Today I'm going to meet #2 over in Snowmass for lunch around 1, so I'll just take a shower and tool around here for a while first. Out of control once again, as you can see!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yay for getting the cow bag lady's taxes info ready. That does make sense to have shelves of wheels for your glassware. I am picturing a delivery cart because it would have to be sturdy. The ones I see in stores is usually 2 shelves though. Good luck finding something!

I know the more the processor is used the hotter a laptop can be; we had a HP once with a Pentium 4 and that sucker would burn you it got so hot and sounded like a plane engine kicking up in the middle of the night. It would wake us up when that fan kicked on at night. The MacBook Air doesn't have a fan and their new M1 chip is supposed to run quickly, smoothly and quietly. I'll know soon enough.

Oh no to getting sunburnt part 2. Those sunburns on your head where your hair parts are amazingly uncomfortable. I hope the burn is fading today and not hurting too much. I swear I could burn walking over to the mailbox and it's right across the street.

Not much going on today. Working on laundry, finished the clubs newsletter for April and planning on knitting. I am in to skein 3 now and need to find a bigger tote bag to store it in when I am not working on it.

Another day of nice weather here today. Sweet.

Have a great day.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, the ferals have gaming laptops and they sound like 747s revving up for take off! Do you take your knitting places to work on it or just do it at home? I once saw a lady have a melt down in the airport because they wouldn’t let her take her knitting needles through security and she was abound half way through an afghan! I get burned super easy too. This upcoming week in Mexico should be interesting LOL.

I switched my flight to go home a day early because #2 has to too due to a work thing that came up. Originally I was just going to stay myself, but then I changed my mind. Currently sitting at the gate waiting to board. Unfortunately I have to connect through DFW rather than flying direst, but beggars can’t be choosers!

So I thought over the stone I sent you the video on yesterday and I’ve talked myself out of it. I like the idea, but I want something darker in tone or else I think it would be too similar to both BB and GG. Pretty much right in between. Still thinking about going to the gem show in a few weeks… yanno… just to look…

Alright, off to the ladies room as we’re getting close to boarding.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, this new "desk" setup is awesome. With a big monitor I can see your post and my response at the same time. Sweet.

Yes, those gaming laptops do sound like a 747 taking off - that is exactly what that one laptop was designed for. I play a few games on my iPad but never play games on my laptop. I used to haul my knitting around wherever I went - to visit people, on road trips, etc. I kind of quit knitting for years due to a mental block. I was working on a scarf for myself the summer my mother died. I would take it with me to visit her at the hospital and then I never finished it after she died. I pulled it back out to finish maybe about a year and a half ago. I didn't knit a thing that entire time. Now I am a knitting fool or a fool knitting. Ha Ha. They say you can kill someone with a knitting needle but I have never tried to confirm that.

Good idea to go home a day early since sister #2 is heading home. Darn for having a connecting flight; makes it for a long day of travel.

Good idea to wait for the gem show to go green/blue gemstone shopping. A lot of the Montana sapphires are that color but they can have visible inclusions in them. I would love a true color change sapphire or garnet sometime or a bi / tri color gemstone. I have some ametrine EC gems that I was going to put in a ring but like I told you in my text yesterday - the quartz and tourmaline family are pretty but if I buy them I never wear them. I'm either going to pull out a diamond, corundum or garnet. I do like the beryl family but only have a few emeralds. I used to really like tanzanite but I sold or gave away all of that. I must be picky - but shows you something has to really sparkle to get my attention - bling by day and stars by night.

I got up at 6 am today to see a crescent moon near Venus, Saturn and Mars. I saw clouds instead. I did watch the pretty sunrise then took my shower. I was working by 8 am and got done with my tasks by noon. Marty should be grilling for us soon - I hope. I am hungry. Brushing my teeth after eating is really curbing my snacking - which is a good thing. I ordered a few more things from Kohl's my sweatpants from them fit - yay no baggy sweatpants! So I ordered one more pair, ordered a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that won't be falling off me. They had 20% today and my sweatpants and sweatshirt were the same brand so I got the second one 50% off. I am definitely not spending a bunch of money on clothes right now.

I have to learn to not double space after sentences. I guess it does something in HTML. It's hard to break that habit!

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

My view of the moon and planets this morning. Only "Earth" was visible.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, your pictures looks like the opening landscape for some Grade B dystopian or sci fi movie from the 70s! When I took typing (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth... ) double space after a period was The Way It Was Done. This dog is too old now to learn a new trick! I'm thinking of running by Kohl's one of these evenings to see if there's anything I "need" for out trip to Mexico next week. What I really "need" is to have lost 10 more pounds and to have started using the self tanner on my legs about a week ago! I'm absolutely sure you could kill someone with a knitting needle based on all of the novels I've read, LOL. Many years ago when I was on my way back from Paris I had a little mini Eiffel Tower in my carry on that I'd gotten for my best friend. Security took it away saying I could use the pointy end to kill the pilot. First of all, I don't think the whole thing was 6" tall. And second of all, do I appear in any way inclined to kill the pilot?!?!?

The trip home yesterday was uneventful, if long. When I got back to the north estate I packed up eight glasses for a lady, but haven't closed up the box yet because she's thinking about a sugar and creamer set in the same pattern, took close up pictures of something for a lady who is still deciding on a set of glasses, and made a close inspection of a bowl that someone is thinking of giving as a gift, which she then bought. I've also got some other things to pack up, but I ended up going to bed early so that's all on the list for this morning. I also need to get some pictures of Trifecta... if the weather will cooperate, but as of right now there is no sun in the forecast for the next 10 days, so maybe not...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, maybe I should start making my own Grade B movies and have talking teddy bears. I think I'd have to be liquored up to do that though. I must have taken typing before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. It is going to be a hard habit to quit double spacing. Think of the time it will save - or not. You definitely might need something for your trip to Mexico. I can see why security would be worried about you and a little Eiffel Tower. Marty got pulled out of line once (prior to 9/11) to search. They took me with him but had no interest in my.

That's great you get so many orders. It looks like it's steady for you now. Sweet.

I got to create my own post today. It was a short one to post a video someone sent in but it was something i hadn't done yet. Then I did busy work.

I went and picked up Culver's for lunch. Decided to pass the drive through and walked over from Office Depot. The car I would have been behind left before I got my food. Darn. Oh well; it was a short walk for me.

My jeans have arrived so I guess I'll wander over to the mailbox before the snow flies. I think I heard thunder a while ago. It's semi tipping windy here again today.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, just posted some pics of Trifecta. Not the best, but I tried! And I "went shopping in my closet" for Mexico. Holy mother of mercy I have A LOT of clothes! And I need ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for this trip now that I've gone through things. Seriously, I have soooooo much... Someone needs to do an intervention, both in terms of my jewelry buying as well as my clothes buying apparently!!!

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, yay for finding what you need for your trip. I totally get way too many clothes. I keep telling myself I am going to clean out my clothes and get them to the Goodwill but I manage to put that off. Off to find your Trifecta post.

Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, where did you order jeans from? I need some too, but the last time I ordered (from Christopher & Banks -- and the ones I already had, but just one size down) it was such a disappointing experience that I'm looking for a new option. I haven't had Culver's in ages... that chocolate custard sounds soooo good right now!

Yesterday I swear the hours just disappeared! I packed up four orders and did a bunch of laundry, but that was really about all that happened in terms of productivity. Liam asked me to pick up the ferals, so I did lose about an hour and half that way too, round trip.

This morning I came downtown early and will spend the day training new staff and getting stuff ready to take to Mexico with me next week. As painful as this sounds, I'm going to print out and take the policies and procedures and get those read so I can tick it off the annual review list first thing. I also want to download a year's worth of personal trading to look at, but I can't do that until April 5.

A friend of mine (the one I went to Austin with last fall) is retiring so I'm going to her retirement party today after work, and then I'm stopping by my friends' house with the two little girls to give them their x-mas gifts. As you can see, I'm a little behind, ha ha!

OK, off to print print print!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I ordered my jeans from Kohl's. I had that coupon so thought why not try them? I should just wander over to a local store and try clothes on but that sounds like too much work and too tempting to buy new clothes. I have on sweats again today and keep telling Marty I am learning from him how to dress in work clothes. Ha Ha. I used to buy quite a few clothes from C&B but they closed the local store and I haven't shopped at one since. I liked their sweater sets.

I hate those days where you have no idea where the time went. This new routine is weird - I am trying to get my "work" done then be retired the rest of the day but that makes for a short day. I am getting behind on knitting and TV watching.

Darn to taking work reading stuff with you to Mexico - I tend to get bored on trips and enjoy having something to do. Have fun at the retirement party and dropping off the little girls Christmas presents. You can say they are early for this year.

I got up quite early again today and had assignments in my email. One of the articles to update is for April 1st so I got on it right away. The boss told me my Venus articles for next year looked great. She had to update the months Venus was visible though because my reference was from Canada and that shaved off some of the months it's not visible further north.

I ran out and got Arby's for lunch. I dinged out bell to let Marty know I had lunch but he was on a call and had earphones in so didn't hear me. When I finally asked him he said he'd come get it but by then it was cold. He is not picky about food though so other than being hangry he didn't care.

We are cold and windy today with occasional horizontal snow. Good day to be staying home.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Well phooey. My rings are so loose I can shake them off my hands. Oh oh.

 

[marcy]

I see sunspots. My 250mm can’t quite get lots of detail but the sun is over 93 million miles away.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, holy cow! PLEASE get some of those spiral ring thingies before you lose something! I once had a ring fly off in the winter and it was SCARY! It sounds like they give you something to do at your new "job" every day now... ? The girls LOVED their gifts! I got them each a package of "unicorn poop" (rainbow colored marshmallows), hand knit hats that looked like owls (one pink and one tan), and then I got the older one a mermaid tail with sparkly stars on it and the younger one a thing like a mermaid tail but it's a shark so it looks like she's inside the shark from the armpits down. I'll text you a pic; they were adorable! They wanted to sleep in them -- of course!

Yesterday I got an astonishing amount of work done! Including printing out everything I wanted for the trip and going through a file of stuff that needs to be updated for the first quarter certifications. Part of that was a realllll cluster****... but now it's done. In between work and visiting girls I ran by my friend's retirement party. Even though I was only there for a few minutes I'm glad I went.

When I got back to The North Estate my taxes were waiting. Somehow -- ????? -- I am getting a refund, both federal and state. I have no idea how, and frankly I'm not even going to look at it! I will sign, email the forms back, and wait for my deposits from the gov. Woo hoo!

Today I have to train two people by zoom, pack up a two orders, and get a pedicure after lunch. And the jewelry lady's bookkeeping... which I haven't so much as started... UGH.

OK, off like a prom dresss!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I was thinking the same thing about getting some of those spiral ring thingies. I wore my band on the outside of my ering today. And my ruby ring.

You certainly made those little girls day! Sounds like perfect gifts for them.

Yay for getting the first quarter certifications done. Nice. Glad you made it to the retirement party. Such a deal you get a refund on your taxes. I like to break almost even but that rarely happens.

Did you get everything done today? I was crazy busy today. I got up about 6:30. I did one article first then went grocery shopping. Started article #2, went out to pick up lunch at Wendy's. Everyone in town had the same idea. Finished article #2 and then did article #3. Lifted, ate supper then made cookies. Did dishes. Sat down about 7 and haven't done much sense.

A friend of mine if coming over for lunch tomorrow. It's her birthday so I wrapped her hat, mitten and scarf set plus will send cookies home with her. I submitted my invoice for March - I almost earned enough money to pay for my new laptop. Woo hoo!

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, how many hours did you put in for March? And over how many days? Are you earning overtime yet?! I'm sure your friend is going to love her set! How is the afghan coming? Have you killed anyone with the knitting needles yet?

Yesterday, once again, evaporated. I did training with two people from 10 - 11, packed up an order, ran to UPS, got a pedi, came back and packed another order, and ate dinner. And then the day was done. ??? I haven't touched the jewelry lady's accounting, so that is Mission 1 today!

I think I hear a woodpecker outside the bedroom. Rut ro! Those things can be so damaging. When I lived in Idaho we had one that got between the wood roof and the metal over-roof (does that make any sense -- all the outer roofs are metal so the snow slides off) and it made such a racket! We were all like WTF is going on! Stuff like that didn't happen out east where we'd come from LOL.

Alright, I'm going to try to get things moving early today. Ugh.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, you have me on a ruby kick. I've been wearing my ring and earrings plus I even dug out my $99 Sears natural ruby bracelet to wear today. Great color - not much transparency though - if you can see a facet inside you are lucky. They are 3x5mm ovals with one - count 'em - one little tiny diamond accent in YG. I got it a long time ago on closeout then additional % off so it ended up $99. It's pretty much the only old, cheap piece I jewelry I have or occasionally wear. The color works and I wear my 2 carat tennis bracelet with it.

I ended up working almost 51 hours over 21 days and got my $915 already deposited. My new laptop was $999.99 so see I almost paid for it. Plus typing at a desk with a keyboard rather than on the laptop means I can wear bracelets again. Sweet. I always take them off when I'm on the laptop so I don't scratch up the laptop. Damn these 2 spaces. I got included in another planning session today plus sounds like I will have an ongoing assignment. I might even be employed for awhile again.

The afghan is maybe 1/2 done. It's hard to work on since it's so long but at least it will get longer. If only people were all short like us then I wouldn't have to knit that extra foot or so. My friend loved her hat, mitten and scarf set. We polished off a bottle of wine playing cards. I have a hard time coming up with clever or descriptive captions or titles so I figured that might help my creativity - or maybe get told "that's not appropriate". Ha Ha.

Did you get the jewelry lady's accounting done? I did my end of month for the gym. That doesn't take long.

OMG about the woodpecker. They can be so destructive. They were around my parent's cabin but there were lots of trees they seemed content enough with to peck on. Squirrels though were another thing. They ate all the bird seed out of the bird feeders at the cabin plus got in to the attic of my parent's house and kept chewing through wires in to the house. My dad finally figured out where they were getting in the attic and plugged the hole but unfortunately one was in the attic at the time. The next morning I heard something scratching and weird noises very early in the morning. It turned out that squirrel ate it's way out of the eve of their house. I named the squirrel Seymour.

No I haven't killed anyone with a knitting needle yet - or that I'm willing to admit to anyway.

Any estate sales or auctions this weekend?

I didn't work on my article until this afternoon so I haven't done much yet today. Guess I'll go thaw out something for supper and start knitting.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, cheap jewelry is AWESOME! Fifty-one hours over twenty-one days... from the company that didn't have ten hours a week to give you... I got the jewelry lady's accounting done as far as I can go without her input on a couple of things. I'll email her this morning before I go to the local auction. If the auction pictures are any indication, I will be be home early -- which isn't a bad thing! I still need to do at least one more load of laundry and redo my nails because they are pretty good now, but this mani would be about three weeks old by the time I get back and I'm sure that ain't gonna cut it! Squirrels look so cute... but can be such a PITA!

Yesterday, being April 1, was the kick off date for my annual review. (AGAIN.) I actually sent off five emails to people with things I always need to request. I'm wayyyyy ahead of the curve this year! Once that was done the aforementioned accounting commenced around one o'clock... and went on for what felt like forever...

I had an absolute (albeit rare) fit yesterday and called Liam at work in a rage, which I never do. The oldest feral had left his lunch plate with half a taquito and a pool of salsa on the table, and then went to a sleep over the other day and I had to demand he clean that mess up when he got back the following afternoon. Then I came home to his McDonald's trash sitting on the table many hours after lunch was over. And finally I got up yesterday morning to a pile of candy wrappers and two dirty glasses on the kitchen table from the youngest feral. I absolutely lost it. I told them they cannot have any food or drink in their rooms at all and they cannot eat or drink anything away from the kitchen table unless the dogs are in the kennel until then show they can be responsible and clean up their messes. The reason this matters is because the kitchen table has a round glass top that just sits on top of a base and the big dog (65 lbs) will get up there and go for any food laying around. He's heavy enough to tip the top right off the table if he had his paws up and put his weight one it. He and the other small dog also get the candy wrappers and other stuff left out in the feral's rooms and eat them. I've just had ENOUGH. Fvcking ENOUGH. So now I am evil. But you knew that already.

OK, I'm going to see if I can get my nails done early before the auction so that's off my plate for later. Then I'll just need to finish the account (assuming the jewelry lady gets back to me) and think about packing. It's going to be a busy day!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Yesterday I bought exactly ONE box of glass at the auction for $7.50 (the other four I wanted went too high), with two good sets of glasses in there and one I will likely throw away, LOL. It started snowing like a mo fo as soon as I go there and when I left an hour and a half later it was a sh!t show on the roads. I don't know if the weather took an unexpected turn and caught the road crews unaware or something, but there were no plows out and I actually slid right through one intersection on the way from the fairgrounds. It was one of those intersections where I stop but the cross traffic doesn't. I was soooooo glad there were no cars coming across right then!

I spent the rest of the day finishing up the jewelry lady's accounting, and I sent it to her mid-afternoon with the caveat there is one thing she needs to do (log on to Intuit and retrieve something for me because I can't get on for some reason) and provide me with mileage from her log, and once I add those things in she's DONE!

After that I even motivated to pack up my suitcase a bit so once I get out of the shower all I need to do is throw my makeup and stuff in there and I'm good to go. Our flight is at 10:30 so I'm hoping to leave here around eight because I need to get gas on the way. There goes my other kidney...

Alright, I've got two minutes to get motivated and hit the shower!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yes cheap jewelry is awesome. I am ashamed to admit other than my first few real pieces of jewelry that were expensive to me (at the time) I went the cheap route. I used to buy from jewelry television quite a bit. Funny thing was when I started getting pieces I liked better I could usually sell them for what I paid for them. Relatives or friends got freebees and when I was teaching they had a campus swap so I sold them easily that way. Most of the things I own now can be traded in for full credit so even if I'm not wearing something it's good for a deposit on something else.

I guess I worked 18 days in March - some of my days had multiple projects. Looks like this is a 7 day a week job but other than emails and texts I don't think I need to do anything today. I got more more assignments though. One of them is if you can see the moon in the day. When I was teaching I had observing projects for grades and one of to draw the moon phase each day for a month and note what time you saw it. Some students would obviously not "observe" the moon because they'd never change the angle of shading and put down they saw it at the same time every night. Wrong - you can't see it every night.

Yay for getting most of the jewelry lady's accounting done and yes squirrels can be a PITA. You hear about them getting in houses and absolutely wrecking the place.

Are you leaving tomorrow on your trip? Have fun. I hope topping off your tank didn't result in the loss of your other kidney. I keep trying to remind Marty to fill up at King's Sooper's gas station because we get points there for our groceries and can save up to a $1.00 a gallon depending on what we spend. He never remembers and then the points expire. I guess I'll start using them.

Darn for the annual review kicking off again on April 1 - like it's an April's Fool joke. Good deal to be ahead of the curve though.

I feel your pain on the ferals and cleaning up after themselves. I think that is exactly why mother nature made sure I didn't have kids - I would have been psycho about messes. I can barely stand the debris Marty leaves behind. I silently clean it up tho because it's not worth fighting over and he isn't going to change. Some days when I'd come home from work and the kitchen was a mess with nothing rinsed off I had some rather loud and vocal Gordon Ramsey outbursts.

Speaking of doing your nails; I need to get that done myself. My nails need filed and polished.

Not bad coming away with one new set of glasses. Oh no to driving in a snow storm plus sliding through the intersection. It must have been icy as Audi's tend to be really good in snow and on ice. Definitely glad there wasn't another car coming through the intersection then.

Yesterday seems like a blur now. Marty and a friend went hiking early and they woke me up taking at about 6 am. I got up and made breakfast then started knitting and watching TV. After Marty got home we ran some errands and ate lunch while we were out. I watched a few movies and pretty much did nothing until about 6:30 when we ventured to the park hoping to catch a young crescent moon in some sunset photos. Marty's 600mm lens did great some great shots of the very skinny moon. I got a few sunset pictures I liked so it was worth the trip to the park. Wasting that precious fuel for photos. What were we thinking?

Today is chore day - laundry and more errands. I thawed out filet for the grill for lunch but we did eat breakfast out this morning. I slept in until 7. Glad I have my phone on do not disturb until 7 am because the "work" ladies were texting fast and furious starting at about 6 our time.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, are you winging your way to Mexico? Well, I hope you are not out on the wing but still . . . Have a great time!

I got up at 6:30 today to go to work by 8. WTH was I thinking? I worked over 4 hours today and still have more to do but think I'll ask the "boss" how many hours a week I should be working. They are throwing plenty of things my way so far. One of the articles today (I mostly make older articles up-to-date) had all this gibberish about ascending and descending nodes of the moon but the article was about the moon near a particular constellation and stars. I decided it would take me 2 hours to find that info for 2022 and as a person who would be reading their posts there is no way in heck I'd care about that info. As Marty said the other day watching one I was working on - really technical people are not going to be using this site as a source.

I did get done in time to cook lunch for us. I went out to start the grill and the wind was horrid so I got out the griddle. At least I cooked instead of exchanging cash for food through a window.

I am almost done with skein 3 on the afghan. If I hadn't wasted so much time on Angry birds last night I would probably be in to skein 4 - definitely today. I have to lift this afternoon too.

Yesterday I dropped off a package at Office Depot for FedEx. While there I checked out new chairs for the den. I found one I like but decided no way that big box fits in my car so Marty took me back after he got home from the gym. It's not for big and tall people so it is way more comfortable. Then I decided to list my old MacBook Pro on our neighborhood community Facebook page and sold it in 20 minutes. Funny story though I had reset and wiped it a step too far - Marty had to download the entire operating system online before he could have it. Oops. He lives next door to a friend of ours and served with Marty on a jury last year so he was cool about it.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Mexican Tuesday kids! Your post reminded me of a funny story from when I lived in the townhouse complex. The couple that lived a few doors down had a adorable--and very smart-- little boy. He was about four and asked his dad how come he could see the moon in the day because the moon was a NIGHT thing. The dad, who was a lawyer and very smart himself, always tried to answer the little boy's questions with real information and not some BS that people give to kids just to get them off the topic, but he was like "How the fvck am I am going to explain THIS in such a way that a four year old can understand it?!" How do you like the new chair so far? Did it take a degree from MIT to put it together or did it come in one piece? After all those Ikea bookcases a few condos ago I get PTSD just thinking about putting any piece of furniture together, ha ha. I'm sure the guy is happy to get your laptop, and LOL to going a step too far. That is TOTALLY something I would do too!

We have made it south of the border! The trip down yesterday wasn't too bad at all, although there was a little bit of a PITA right at the border. We stopped at the duty free to stretch our legs and my friend's sister bought a bottle of vodka. Well now they apparently walk the goods across the border and hand you the bag on the other side to be sure you aren't just buying stuff tax free and keeping it in the US. Except... their car was chosen to be stopped and searched. My friend and I were in the other car and had pulled out ahead of them and we had no idea, so we just kept going. Oops. We all met up at the house anyway, so it didn't matter in the end, but I did feel bad for the guy who was standing over there the whole time the search was going on just wishing he could had off the bottle and get back into his store!

After unloading the car (damn we brought A LOT of stuff!) we went to dinner at a local place and then Liam made us a fire in the fire pit one level down from the main deck. I took a (very!) short walk on the beach and got my toes (barely) wet in the surf, but that water is COLD. I can't believe I wasted space with three bathing suits in my suitcase!

No idea what is going on today... perhaps nothing! I'm currently drinking the coffee in bed that Liam just brought me. I know at least one other person is up out there, but that might be it so far.

BTW, our shower is treacherous. Just saying that now in case my post tomorrow involves the reporting of a broken leg! There is a lip about 8 inches above floor level, but the bottom of the shower is about 18" lower than that. I'm pretty sure I can get up and out of there, but I'm not certain how the he!! I'm supposed to get IN. I'll send you a pic. It's going to be a challenge.

OK, off to see what's going on because now I hear quite a bit of activity!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay #visitingthelandoftequila - have fun!

That is a funny story about the lawyer's comment on how to explain that to a little kid. The new chair is pretty comfy so far; it has a neck rest and lumbar support which seems weird but not uncomfortable. Marty put it together no problem. He is handy with those kind of things. The big / tall chair we moved downstairs is Serta too and he bought wheels for it that don't scratch hardwood floors so they switched right out with the new wheels. Sweet. So Ikea furniture is a PITA to put together? I hated that store because you just "had" to walk through every isle.

Glad to hear everyone made it safely to the house. You gotta love being picked to be searched at the border. When we went in to Canada years ago it was a cinch going in to Canada but coming back the US border agent was a jerk. We got pulled aside and asked to get out of the pickup. They put on gloves and searched the pickup from top to bottom. We had taken grapes, cheese and bottled water in a cooler and I figured that would be a death sentence. Turns out we had not signed our new passports and that is what triggered it all. The Canadian border agents didn't notice that or care.

Dinner from the fire pit sounds great. Darn the ocean is cold; I always freeze near the ocean. At Pebble Beach I ended up buying a blanket to ride around in the golf cart and luckily I had those little stretchy gloves in my purse which I used all the time.

That shower does sound treacherous. Be careful! That would suck to get hurt far from home. It would suck even being at home.

I woke up about 2:30 and never went back to sleep until after 5. I got up at 7; I feel kind of tired but not bad. I got my 3 chores for work done in 2.5 hours but i have the weekly meeting at noon. I was going grocery shopping and to pick up our lunch but the wind is NUTS!!! I swear this is hurricane #72 for 2022 here. I thought the window was going to break out once. I am ordering in instead. This wind event is scheduled through Thursday. Joy! I'd rather we had a blizzard.

Last night I rented Marry Me to watch; definitely a chick flick but I liked it. I needed something to watch while I knit. Now that I'm semi employed again I might be able to afford the $12.99 to watch season 9 of 24.

Laters,
Curby #holycrapitiswindyout

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, I think the larger issue with the Ikea bookcases was that there were TWENTY ONE of them that had to be put together and stacked/connected to form that giant display wall in my old condo. If someone (like a NORMAL person) only had one piece of Ikea furniture to put together (because NORMAL people don't have TWENTY ONE pieces to deal with at a time) it would be OK. I've always loved this meme:

Just bought a book at Ikea.



I confess I did not brave the shower yesterday... but today there's no getting around it. Liam has instructions to text you if I don't make it.

Yesterday we went over to see the giant whale skeleton on display at the local museum, although we couldn't actually got IN the museum because it's closed. (No explanation given.) Then we went into town and had lunch and bought the ferals T-shirts at the tourist trap shopping area. After than, drinking commenced on the deck.

Today we were going to go to the volcano, but it is apparently "closed." (How do you close a volcano?) Again... No explanation given. So I bet you can guess how this day is going to unfold. TEQUILA!!!

But before that... COFFEE. I just had a cup that Liam brought me, but I need at least one more. And then... The... Shower... Wish me luck!