Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, my hot shower was great this morning. I'm living now!

I check the flavor of the day occasionally at Culvers - and now that we have 2 in town - in case I "decide" it's a good day to buy Culver's for lunch or supper. Probably not a smart idea, but it's an occasional treat.

Why hasn't that perfect job called and made you a fabulous offer yet? Tell them to get on it! I know you'll find exactly what you are looking for - mega dust coming your way. Good luck with the recruiter and client tomorrow.

You do have a lot going on this week. Huh, who freaked you out about aprons? That was so rude of them. I totally can see why Christmas dishes would sell really well. Pottery Barn had a great pattern once that we really liked of cute and different reindeer. At the time, it was far more than we were willing pay for Christmas dishes. I do like what I ended up with though - I have Lenox Holiday.

I totally agree there aren't enough hours in the day.

That being said - I got a lot done today. I picked off dead flowers, picked up some groceries, grilled steaks for lunch, made mashed potatoes to go with them, worked over 6 hours and just put something in the oven to heat up for supper. I couldn't sleep for several hours last night. I woke up about 3 and my mind wandered and took over. I think I feel asleep about 6 and got up at 7 am.

I was excited the steaks turned out perfect. Marty likes rare and I like medium. Marty generally cooks on the grill (I did when I lived with my parents but that was a long time ago). He uses a meat thermometer. I looked up the cooking chart on Omaha steaks and followed it and they turned out perfect. Marty is on the phone so much for work, he never has the time to come up and grill anymore.

I got more done on mini me last night. Yay.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, did you get those aprons out of the house?

I worked less hours today. By a little. I also got 2 batches of laundry done plus lifted. Yay.

How is the job search going?

Waiting for Marty to be done with the gym so we can have burgers and corn on the cob for supper. Yay.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday Kids!

Curby, I did get the aprons in the house... and straight into the washer! The process involved rubber gloves and the use of long grilling tongs. I kid you not! Unfortunately only about half a dozen survived the washing and drying process, but that's OK. I'd rather have something fall apart then and not list it than have someone buy it and it falls apart the first time they try to wash it. I wish Marty lived here because I need someone to whip me into shape at the gym. I've finally reached the number I though I wanted to get to again, after my eating debacle in Connecticut a few weeks ago (and which I realized a month or so back was going to have to be revised down ANOTHER ten pounds LOL), but I need what's left firmed up!

Yesterday I ended up on two calls for work and had a phone interview with a regional financial firm. The recruiter loved me -- of course! -- and I'm going to interview with the hiring manager in person next Thursday. Even thought the headquarters is way down south (but still in Illinois) the manager is coincidentally located in a branch about four miles from The North Estate. The numbers on that job are just a little too low (unless they magically find some more $ in the budget) but I haven't been on an in-person interview in ten years so I want the practice. I also connected with a lady (through the guy I know who knows EVERYONE) who is the hiring manager for a great job and I have a zoom with her on Monday as well as a call with the recruiter there on Tuesday. So I'm making progress!

This morning I have to pack up an order that came in last night so I can drop it at the post office on my way to the highway. The bullet must be bitten... I'm going to the big outlet mall about an hour and a half away with a Talbots, Anne Taylor, and a few other stores that I PRAY will have some sort of suit option. If that doesn't work I'm going to have to stop trying to interview because I don't have anything I can wear!

Alright, better get rolling so I can be out of the shower and dialed into a call at nine o'clock.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, definitely it's better to have good and clean aprons than the alternative. I can see the many gingham aprons my mom made me with embroidered flowers, etc. on them.

Yay for being at the number your wanted. Don't you hate that a weekend or week of abnormal eating and bam! The scale tells you the cold, hard facts. Marty does online coaching too, you just need place to lift. I finally reached and even went a little below the number I told my doctor last August - "I'd be thrilled to be there". I still have more to go, but I'm glad to see progress. BUT, my Tiffany band fell off my finger last night. I have some of those spiral things, I guess I need to get them out. Sadly the Tiffany band can't be sized. The rest of my rings can be sized. Yay!

I am not surprised the recruiter loved you. How could they not? You'll be easy to place. Good idea to practice interviews, you never know when things will just fall in to place. I told my boss yesterday, this is so fun! I was working on meteor showers and things you can see in the sky in August. That's right up my alley.

Did you find something to wear for interviews? I am down to 2 pairs of pants that aren't hideously baggy. I did get 3 new pairs of sneakers today. The two pairs I've been swapping out for over two years now, were getting pretty worn out. I ran some gym money and checks to the bank. I told my niece-in-law my second job as bookkeeper for the gym pays like crap but at least I have a FAST company car.

Speaking of clothes, I like to color coordinate my gemstones with my clothes, I realized yesterday when I pulled out my emerald / diamond band to wear that I don't have any green tops right now. I got out a t shirt that has a green dinosaur on it; it worked. My LL Bean sweater should show up this week. Marty informed me this morning he can't sleep because our bedroom is so hot so I need to lower the thermostat for the AC and turn on our ceiling fan. I'll be freezing - more than I already am. I need to look in to thermals that fit me too. The curse of being cold. The lady I get shoes from told me she had anemia that took over 7 years to get over and she was always cold and apparently it can ruin your teeth. Kind of explains why my teeth just went to hell in the last year.

I have only worked a few hours today. Yay! I need to write the article for the local paper this weekend and may as well get started on the August newsletter for the club. Mini me continues to get longer but I'm not working on it as much. I am on level 780 in Angry Birds. Marty is over 1200 though.

Have a great weekend. Any estate sales or auctions on the agenda?

Curby

 

[marcy]

I see you've added vintage tins. Those are cool. I still swear looking at your site is like looking at my mom's stuff. Bittersweet memories there.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, yes! I actually had another tin listed but it sold right away so I don't think you got to see it. What are you doing with the clothes you grow (shrink!) out of? Liam took a big bag of stuff from my closet to the Salvation Army the other day so I guess now I'm committed LOL. You are absolutely KILLING IT at your new "job" -- as I knew you would!

Yesterday I hit the motherload! I bought a TON of stuff at the Ann Taylor outlet and then went to another mall and came away with so much from Macy's I practically had to hire a donkey to haul it all to the car. When I came home I placed an order at Macy's online for some things I wanted but they didn't have in my size in the store. In the middle of the night I got a notice from the fraud department that my order was cancelled. I think is because it was about $900 worth of stuff and it's going to an address other than the billing address. (I.e., Liam's instead of my condo downtown.) I'm going to call when they open here in half and hour and see if I can get it resolved. Some of the items were low stock so I really really hope this is fixable because I don't know that everything I want is now still available.

Today I'm going over to the local auction, which I haven't been to for ages. I'm not sure whether I'm hoping they have a lot of stuff or not, ha ha.

Alright, off to load up the car with boxes and packing paper and gear myself up to deal with Macy's customer service. Maybe I should be having vodka instead of coffee... hmmm...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I can see why those vintage tins sell so well. Sweet.

Nice for Liam to drop off some of your clothes at the Salvation Army. As for my old clothes, I've donated a lot, thrown out some and managed to "shrink" my bras by drying them so I'll keep them for a while. I still have my coats but a local group always collects coats around Christmas so I'll wash them up then and get them to that group. I DON'T want to have big clothes to fall back on. I ordered 5 things on clearance from Christopher and Banks last night - they had a lot of stuff on clearance. Sweet. The good news is I kept my Land's End Squall parka, plus assorted other jackets from before so I've got a warm coat lined up already.

Sounds like your shopping trip went really well and you scored a lot of nice, new clothes. What the heck on your order being cancelled? I hope you worked that out. That just happened with Marty's internet payment for the gym. His debit card had a different address than his new gym so they kicked back the payment and didn't tell us. And get this - they shut off his service before the bill due date, then charged us $25 for a return fee and $5 to reconnect his service. If their statement had a customer service mailing address - I would have sent them a nasty letter. Once they shut off his internet, I went and paid through bill pay so they still got in their payment in time.

Did you find any treasures at the auction today?

I didn't work on mini me last night but did knock out a few more levels of Angry Birds. I was busy shopping for some clothes.

So I "cooled" off the house before we went to bed and left our ceiling fan on low in the bedroom. It was a series of issues for me but Marty slept all night but he did take Tylenol pm. I hate a fan blowing on me so I tried to cover my head with covers and hated that. Marty was snoring really loud until about 1 am, I was cold, hated the fan so finally got up and got out a fleece scarf to put over my head and cover most of my face. That kind of worked but there was still the snoring, I finally shut off the fan but Marty didn't shift positions to quit snoring until after 1 am. It was a short night.

I worked on my article for the local paper last night. I should have check my July article first because it was almost the same topic. Back to the drawing board. I also started on the club newsletter and have it mostly done.

It keeps trying to rain here today. That would maybe cool us off, if we get some rain.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy crazy stormy Sunday kids!

Curby, I really miss the actual C&B store that used to be here in the local mall. Online ordering from them does not work for me. I got the Macy's issue resolved, and they did tell me it's wasn't due to the two shipping and billing addresses being different but wouldn't tell me what the issue WAS. Whatever. Stuff is now on the way. I also just ordered some new pumps from Zappos because I can only find my black patent leather kitten heels and the pointy toes made me about cry in the little while I was trying them out the other day. I can't believe I used to wear these -- AND I thought they were pretty comfortable at the time LOL. Liam is going to come come from work every day this week with stuff piled on the front porch! I also hate a fan blowing on me when I'm trying to sleep! I know some people love it, but not me for sure.

Yesterday was full of treasures! I did miss one vase I wanted because I took a load to the car when they went outside to sell the tractors and stuff like that an I didn't realize how fast they got done and started up again inside. Oh well, it is what it is. I came home with four big boxes of stuff for $245, including some really gorgeous cobalt blue glasses I'd love to list today if I ever get any good light.

I've been awake with this crazy storming since around three. I think I'm going to just get up and do my nails (my last mani didn't last too well for some reason, even though I used the good OPI polish. I've also got one order to pack up so far but I'm going to hold off until later in case anything else comes in through the day.

Alright, time to give up on being in bed and face the day...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, are the storms gone yet? We are under a severe thunderstorm watch today. Tis the season.

Our local C&B closed years ago too. There was one at a mall about 60 miles from here, but I don't know if they are still there. I know there are some in Denver. I hope that one an hour away is still there. They had a Coldwater Creek, Eddie Bauer and Macy's there. We are going on vacation (with Marty's family) in September so I'll probably go buy some clothes before we do that. Depends how many clothes I have that fit me then.

That is kind of nuts your card company wouldn't tell you "why" your order was cancelled. You'll have things rolling in all week. On one of our Denver shopping sprees we bought things at 4 different jewelry stores (Marty 2 watches and me some sapphires) and when we got home we had to call our debit card company because they were suspicious of 4 jewelry purchases in one day. It's good they watch things though.

That's great you got lots of treasures yesterday. We got the Noritake sweet swirl blue glasses when we got married. We still have some of the highball glasses. When we were thinning out cupboards at our old house, I gave them all to a friend who was getting a divorce and needed things. I kind of wish I still had them, but I do like the crystal glasses we kept - 2 of which I broke. Boo! And go figure - I remember the name of the glasses I no longer have, yet can't remember the brand for sure of the glasses I broke.

Darn your last mani didn't last. I filed my nails last night so might get them painted today.

So since yesterday's post - I bought more clothes. Land's End had a discount and I found the squall jacket I like plus ordered thermal underwear. I took two full trash bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill this morning. Two Land's End squall coats and down vest where in there. I had some Brooks and Saucony running shoes I never wore so put them in plus assorted sweaters, fleece, shirts and pants.

After Marty went to the gym, I headed to Goodwill then picked up some groceries. Marty is making us chicken fettuccine Alfredo today. Mmm. I got a London Broil for tomorrow and some boneless ribs for Tuesday. I picked up some mini flat bread pizza crust thinking each one was 150 calories - when I was putting them in the cupboard I noticed that is 1/3 of a mini pizza. WTH? I can eat half and probably be fine. BTW - I know I am making progress since my one size fits most night shirt fits me now.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who hates a fan blowing on their face. I chilled the house up before we went to bed and turned the fan off when I went in there. Marty lasted the night anyway. I put on warmer PJ's and slept okay as well. We had a nice rain shower which cooled us off right away anyway. It ruined my Mercury search though - I saw it 2 days in a row. The first day - I was like - how can that be? So I pulled up 2 different software programs and it's all it could be. I just wanted to confirm the sighting. The houses across the street are hiding the setting sun from me and Mercury is bright enough to see once the sun is blocked.

I am working on laundry as well today. Such excitement on my thrill-o-meter.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, we've had so much rain these past few days I feel like a duck! Fortunately now I think we're through it. It's always a mystery to me when/why my cards hit the fraud alert dashboard. I've bought some very expensive things over the years, and sometimes in crazy places, and no issue at all. But I order something from Walmart.com and NO WAY JOSE. WTF. I wish I could find a pizza that was low enough in carbs that I'd be willing to eat it right now. I had a similar experience to you with a cauliflower crust one that I found at Aldi and I was so excited! Then I realized the carb count was only for a quarter of it. Nope.

Yesterday I listed listed and listed. Finally around 5 pm I just couldn't stay awake any more so I took a nap. I woke up and looked at my phone. 7:21. I then went through a whole range of:
- Oh good, it's still early, I'll get a lot done today (thinking it was Sunday morning)
- Oh sh!t -- it's Monday morning and I should be downtown by now!
- Oh... I think it's still evening... not morning... but evening of what day... ?
- What day is it and is it morning or night?!?!
Of course by then my heart was racing and my head was spinning and I'd sprung out of bed in a panic. By the time I figured out what was REALLY going on I still had to do a load of laundry, paint my nails, and pack up an order. Plus, a box that I'd shipped to the wedding lady in California was "missing" and I had to call UPS at midnight to see if I could get any info. What an absolutely frustrating experience. The good news is the system got updated and the package is now out for delivery. Whew!

This morning I had a call with the hiring manager at a company. I think the job sounds really interesting! I have a follow up with the in-house recruiter today or tomorrow. I sent the hiring manager a thank you email after we spoke but she hasn't replied. It's been three hours now... should I take that as a sign she doesn't like me?! Oh well, I can only do what I can do.

Alright, off to work on certifications. Joy oh joy!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, go figure on what triggers an alert on our cards. Marty can't get his new gym debit card activated so he keeps spending out money instead. I did try one of those pizza crusts tonight. I made a mini pizza with cheese and hamburger, cut it in half and baked that. I'm not weighing my food but have a general idea of how many calories something is when I decide to eat it. I figured it was 400 to 450 calories which I'm good with for supper. It was actually pretty good. I froze the other half and since I liked it, I made up the other mini pizza, cut it half and froze them as well. Something different for me to have for supper. I hope you find something that works for you. I get sick of the same thing.

Sorry you woke up in a panic after your nap yesterday. Sounds awful. You certainly were a busy bee and deserved a nap. That is great the missing box was located.

It's hard to say if not hearing back from the hiring manager after sending them an email. I have confidence you'll find a great and perfect for you position. Mega dust coming your way.

I woke up about 5:30 and peaked out the window to enjoy seeing the moon and Venus. Tomorrow morning the moon will be closer to Venus so I hope I wake up in time to see that tomorrow. I didn't "think" I had much work to do today yet somehow I managed to work about 7 hours. I proof new posts for Tuesday, so I did several this morning that got moved to Wednesday. Oops. Guess I should wait until later in the day. I did assorted other things, plus took off at about 3 to watch the Thunderbirds practice. I worked about another hour then knocked out my lifting session. It was a busy day. All my new shoes seems to make my knees and feet sore but I am sore it's just a matter of adjusting to new shoes.

None of my new clothes showed up yet. Phooey. Both C&B and Coldwater Creek are no longer listed in that mall 60 miles away. I threw out about 10 more shirts today. I know some of my thermal tops are too big but I'm too short to see the tags in them since they are on the top shelf in our closet.

Laters,

Here is a giant heart the Thunderbirds made just for me: You can see some of the planes at the bottom.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, that sky heart is AMAZING! And it was so nice of them to make it just for you. The hiring manager STILL hasn't replied to my email, but she did accept my LinkedIn invitation... so maybe that's a good sign... ? Hopefully on the call with the internal person this afternoon she'll mention if the manger said anything to her after our meeting yesterday. Coldwater Creek -- I completely forgot about them! I should look at their site and see what they've got, and I think there may even still be one at a local strip mall, but things are closing right and left so it could be gone now.

Yesterday I worked a bit and interviewed a bit and did some other stuff a bit LOL. Then I met up with some friends who are in town from Berkeley. We had a great time!

I have to meet with three MDs today to get their quarterly certifications done. Fabulous. I'm really glad we have this very expensive and sophisticated system to do this exact thing and yet I still have to put a piece of paper in front of these guys and point at each box I want them to check.

Alright, my boss is being a PITA. Better go see what's up.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, thank you - the Thunderbirds never disappoint. It was nice of them to make a heart just for me. I've watched them yearly (almost) since I was a kid and I've never seen a perfect heart like that. Their real show is tomorrow morning. Marty has his camera ready too. I hope he can skip a call at the time.

I hope things went well with the recruiter. How could a company not want to hire you?

I hope I can find a nearby Coldwater Creek - the last time I bought from them, I really liked their clothes.

Even though your day was broke up in "bits" it sounds like you had a nice day yesterday and how fun to catch up with some friends.

I totally laughed at your impressive, sophisticated certification program that still requires paperwork and instructions. Technology is great - sometimes.

Ugh to your boss being a PITA - as time goes by - I don't know how I put up with the crap I did for so long at my former job. My boss was such a joy.

Marty has a work trip scheduled in a few weeks. Wow, he hasn't been on one for a long time. Somewhere near Nashville. Party at Marcy's house.

I got another invoice today from Lenox for that one ornament I sent a check for last month. I have a handy little pdf of the check and endorsement on the back. WTH? I chatted with them online and was told, well it can take a while for checks to be posted? It cleared their bank on July 5 and the invoice was sent July 16 - she apparently couldn't check to see if the check was posted by now. Grr!!!!

I worked about 5 hours today, ran errands including paying a dental bill - shocking was for Marty not me. His permanent brace snapped so the dentist fixed it for him. Apparently, that's not covered by our insurance.

While cleaning out more tops yesterday, I found a pair of jeans that I bought smaller but didn't fit me at the time. You guessed it - they are too big now. I am wearing them today though. Ha!

I am brewing up boneless ribs in the crock pot for supper. They smell SOOOOOO good. I've haven't eaten much today though because the scale showed more progress yesterday so why tempt fate today?

Laters,
Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, there is something weird going on with the job I talked to the internal recruiter on yesterday. An hour after our conversation I logged on to the site to print out the job description because I'd made notes all over my other copy and it is GONE. My HR friend said it's likely they had an internal candidate in the wings and they had to interview externally as a matter of policy, but have now gone internal. That's fine (if that's the case) but if that really is what happened I prefer that they hadn't waste my time. Oh well, I'll likely never know the true skinny. Party at Marcy's house! I'll bring wine! Dental stuff is terrible. Ack.

Last night I left at a reasonable time and went to Nordstrom Rack and then Whole Foods on the way back to my condo. I didn't buy anything at NR, although there was a top I really liked but the sleeve was sewn crooked and they didn't have another one in my size. At WF I bought a box of wine and two frozen meals to the tune of $38. That place is SO expensive.

Today is a big meeting at my office with a cocktail reception afterwards starting at two o'clock. I hope to scoot out of here right after that, but we'll see if that actually happens. Tonight's online auction has several lots I really want so I'm debating whether to put in maximum bids (which mysteriously seem to be the prices realized... hmmm... ) or just hope to get to Liam's and be able to do the bidding real time.

I have an in-person interview with the regional bank tomorrow morning and I'm meeting a lady with a consulting firm for breakfast on Friday morning, plus a call with a guy at another big bank that afternoon. He doesn't have any open positions right now but I figure it's good to connect with him since it is such a big organization and stuff will come up.

Alright, off to do the job I currently HAVE, ha ha.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, darn there seems to be something weird about that job. I would agree they might have hired internally but felt it necessary to advertise the job. My old company did that all the time. It sucks that it takes so long to find the perfect job. My 2 favorite jobs fell in to my lap - this one and teaching. You just never know. It's great you have so many leads right now. I totally believe you'll find the perfect position.

Sweet - party at Marcy's house. I'll bake some of my famous chocolate chip cookies.

Phooey you didn't find anything at Nordstrom Rack and yes groceries seem to cost more each time I go to the store. My new motto is "buy it today because it will cost more tomorrow". That could work to my advantage. Ha Ha.

Nice to have a liquored up afternoon with work. Or should I say - an official work event where liquor is allowed? Totally made me flashback to a guy at the photo shop I worked at - he brought little bottles of OJ with him and vodka as a filler. He'd be smashed by 11 am. And it was summer at the time but he wore a ski jacket, and you could hear the bottles clinking in his jacket. He wasn't fooling ANYONE.

Good luck with those auctions.

I got up rather early today. The Thunderbirds were scheduled to perform at 9 am but we were socked in with smoke and fog. They finally flew at around 11 am but the sky was still hazy and smoky. I got a few pictures but they didn't do any of their usual aerial maneuvers, only low ones.

I worked off and on today but only about 4 hours. I baked a london broil for lunch but I'm hungry already. I think I'll bake another one of the 1/2 mini pizza for supper.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, any news on the job search front? I'm envisioning you becoming extremely wealthy and popular so I can say "I knew her when . . ." Not to put pressure on you or anything though.

The office assistant at my dentist office cracks me up. I was in there the other day to pay Marty's bill and she asked when the periodontist appointment was to get that broken tooth lengthened. I said - they haven't made me an appointment yet. She wrote herself a note to check on it. This morning I got a call and I'm getting the surgery at 8:20 in the morning. Yay. Sadly it's over $1100 since my dental insurance has been maxed out for the year. Then the crown afterwards will run almost the same. Oh well, if my mouth quits hurting, I'll be happy.

I worked about 7 hours today. They were all fun topics today. One was a b*tch from 2016 on how to pictures of meteors. It was just arranged poorly and it was from professional photographer in 2012 and I don't think he's around anymore because none of the links worked anymore. At least it's a topic I don't have to research so that makes it less time consuming. Yay.

I lifted and am now waiting for Marty to bring me supper. I am low on soft food but I know I have enough for tomorrow. I have 2 applesauce cups, one yogurt, cheese and hamburger. I can make mashed potatoes, the only thing I'm missing is vanilla ice cream. I have no idea how painful this will be - they cut bone and gums to get the broken tooth showing. Sadly, there is no guarantee it will work for a crown.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, "buy it today because it will cost more tomorrow" -- love it! That was definitely my philosophy with Big Blue, the Green Goddess and Trifecta, all purchased during the pandemic. I figured I'd never be able to afford those gems again so I definitely went for it! I hope your dental event today is great (or at least as "great" as something like that can be). I bought a bag of almonds yesterday when I was out and about and when I bit down on the first one I had a flashback to last summer when my office opened back up and I was eating almonds from our kitchen and broke my molar. Yikes. Needless to say I chewed verrrrry carefully.

So I can be such a blond. In my head all week I was having the in person interview yesterday at 10:30, but it's TODAY at 10:30. Oops. Good thing I double checked the email. Can you imagine...? "Hi. I am here to interview for the compliance position. You know... COMPLIANCE. The people who are extremely meticulous and detail oriented." HA!!!

Unfortunately that means I am NOT having breakfast with the lady who has the compliance consulting firm. She said she wishes she knew a month ago I was looking because she just hired two new people, but we might be able to work something out anyway, and she's very in tune with people who need to hire someone, so maybe that will turn out to be a good contact after all. If we can ever get together!

Yesterday I ran up and got the stuff I wont on the auction. I only got two lots, the others wen too high. One of the other lots went CRAZY high. I can only imagine it was a collector who really wanted those glasses and paid up for them because the number certainly didn't make sense for someone to buy them for resale.

I've got two orders to pack up and I also need to figure out how to make a claim with UPS because there were three broken glasses in the box that was "missing" last week. I've never had damage like that in a shipment. So sad.

OK, up and at em! Wish me luck!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

The interview went well yesterday... or at least I THINK it did... what the he!! do I know after the one that went *poof* last week?! My new ray of hope is the lady with the consulting firm. We're having breakfast tomorrow. That could be awesome -- decent pay (I hope; but that generally is the case with consulting) and flexibility. We'll see!

Today Liam is taking the ferals to Iowa to see their grandparents and go to the fair. I am going to stay home and list list list. Plus I've got two more boxes to pack up for a big order (it's three boxes total), and I had my first sale of soft goods -- the fruit trivets. They are going to Hawaii but I can put them in a flat rate legal envelope so that's fine.

Liam is downstairs making bacon and coffee to bring me in bed. Saturday morning!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, sweet the interview went well. I hope the breakfast tomorrow brings promising options as well.

Nice to have the day to yourself with plans to pack up orders and list, list, list. Those fruit trivets are cute.

Mmm bacon for breakfast and how nice of Liam to bring you breakfast in bed. We went out for breakfast after Marty got back to town from an early more photo trip to the country.

I am glad you like my buy it today motto - it certainly seems to apply. Trifecta was a marvelous purchase and well deserved when you were staying home. I sure did my share of shopping on line then too, still seem to be doing well at that today.

Glad you chewed very carefully on those almonds. They can be quit hard to bite. I rated my oral surgery yesterday as #6 on my list of worst dental visits - so overall, it went well. They really numbed me up so other than having my mouth open a long time and the aroma from it all; it wasn't bad. It took about an hour. One of the anesthetics they gave me made me jittery for hours. It was strange so I was a bit out of it most of the day. They put stitches on both sides of the tooth so I can't brush that area of my mouth for 2 weeks. Ewe! I go back to get stitches out in 2 weeks. I have to rinse with a prescription mouth rinse twice a day, and eat soft foods for 2 weeks. Plus - oh the horror - no alcohol for 2 weeks either. Yesterday the numbness wore off about 2 pm, so I ordered cake batter flavored ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery from Door Dash. Marty wanted dark chocolate. And that was seriously our lunch. I can only eat things that you can cut with a fork. They gave me a prescription of narcotics for pain, but other than yesterday and brief occasions today, it doesn't hurt much. Tylenol and Advil are working fine.

After my ice cream lunch yesterday, I decided to work. I did a second edit on some articles - easy enough. Then decided to update an article on massive stars from 2012. It required new images and research - I thought I did fine on it. Today, I decided to give it a once over - apparently, I was as sharp as a bowling bowl yesterday. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but I sure missed a few things.

I must grit my teeth in my sleep, because that woke me up several times. Marty left for the country at about 5, so I slept in until 7:30. When he got back we went out for breakfast. We ran a few other errands then came home. I did my proofing for Sunday and wrote a mini article. We ran out to Hobby Lobby and I got 3 more skeins of ivory for mini me 2. I am almost done with mini me. It's long enough for me but I plan on finishing the skein I'm using.

I grilled burgers and made mashed potatoes for us for supper. I was pretty hungry since I didn't eat much yesterday, so made 6 ounce burgers and lots of mashed potatoes. I planned on saving the remaining mashed potatoes for tomorrow but Marty polished them off. I think hamburger is about all I can eat for the next few weeks.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Wow - your site has 11 pages. Lots of great stuff listed. I had a flashback to my mom's Fenton white milk glass hobnail covered candy dish. That lid made noise so people knew when you put the lid back on the candy dish. I got good at getting it put back on very quietly!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, I have a giant box of white hobnail to post, although I'm thinking now it's the opalescent variety, so not solid white, but gets whiter on the rims... ? Who can remember, I've got so much damn stuff! LOL on putting the lid back on gently! No alcohol for two weeks... ??? That would damn near kill me!

Well it's official: the mysteriously disappearing job that I interviewed for last week has gone to someone else. I've had time to work though my contacts and it's pretty much confirmed that another candidate was basically already slotted into the job, but for some reason they felt compelled to interview me too. The hiring manager did ask if should could reach out though if anything else came up.

The lady with the consulting firm and I finally got together yesterday. Frankly she's kinda scary -- WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK. I could definitely do what she needs, but it would be A LOT. We'll see. I'm putting that on the back burner for now, but I said I'd reach back out in a couple of weeks once I see how other interviews pan out.

The drive in this morning was crazy fast -- I think the quickest I've even done it! Of course the instant I sat down at my desk I had a big order come in, but I messaged the lady and let her know I was away until Wednesday and would ship it out later this week.

Alright, off to see how the Monday morning job boards are shaping up!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, I forgot to tell you that I sold the blue children's apron with the bunny as a photo prop, so I had two soft goods sales over the weekend! I put up listings for two more aprons and two vintage scarves. Shipping stuff that can't get broken is sooooo fabulous...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I bet packing soft goods is way easier (bubble envelopes?) and far less stressful or expensive to ship. My Land's End package arrived the other days with about 1/4 of it smashed in and ripped open. We were glad it wasn't breakable. Just my coat.

I totally chuckled at if you can remember what all you have in your glassware stash and what exactly it looks like. I image a sea of boxes pretty much in every knock and cranny.

Exactly, how dare someone expect us to pass up alcohol. I know - the minute I get told I can't have something - I want it. I want wine, popcorn and steak. Guess I'll wait until the 12th when I get the stitches out. I have no idea if restrictions are lifted then or not. Speaking of lifting, I am taking the week off from that as well, but a week from today, I'll start again.

Darn that the one position had someone in mind. Not surprising though. That's great though the hiring manager asked if they could reach out to you if something else comes up.

So if the drive in today was fast, you must have taken Billy Ray out for a spin. I was thinking of cruising out to the cemetery here shortly just to run the Curbymobile. Of course, an order would come in once you get to town.

I knit quite a bit on mini me last night but didn't finish it. I am getting close. It's long enough for me, but I may as well finish skein #3.

I worked until after 4 today and am just goofing off now. I made a pizza meatloaf for lunch but obviously didn't eat enough of it since I'm hungry. I had a peach and cherries with it. I bought stuff for a root beer float, maybe I'll have one of those for supper.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Mini me is done

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, I'm so happy MY afghan is done! It looks GREAT!!! I love root beer floats! Do you like them with vanilla or chocolate ice cream? I'm team chocolate all the way! As soon as I posted yesterday another order came in, so now I have twenty two glasses to pack up tomorrow night / Thursday morning. BTW, the fruit trivets made it to Hawaii in two days. I have things here "on the mainland" that take a week to go a hundred miles... ?

I was here until about nine last night. Two things made me literally SCREAM when I opened them, and both resulted in a TON of work. I was SO MAD. Argh. And today when I meet with my boss HE is going to be mad. So I've got all that to look forward to. Great.

There is an estate sale on Friday morning with some stuff I want so much I'm tempted to sleep in my car overnight, ha ha. Kidding. But only kinda...

Alright, off to keep the joy rolling!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, our mini me looks right at home on the love seat. I can't say I've tried a root beer float with chocolate ice cream; I'll have to try it now. Then again, how can it be bad? I had a dish of chocolate ice cream for dessert tonight.

That is amazing those fruit trivets arrived in Hawaii so fast. Wow! You might have more orders to pack up before you get home.

Well, that sucks to have two things at work made you scream and mad - I hope they worked out okay. How did the meeting with your boss go today? Could be a sign you are totally heading in the right direction looking for something else.

Sounds like the Friday estate sale has some good stuff for you; good luck getting what your want at a great price.

I had another busy day and was ready to buy myself a new laptop. I was thinking I needed a better chip and processor but finally realized after watching a few videos - this MacBook Air starts choking from the processor overheating and it doesn't have a fan to cool it down. Well, duh! It works fine first thing in the morning then the more editing I do it starts choking. Guess I will try getting up more often and close everything before I take a quick break. I lost a post today because I hadn't saved it and the computer simply froze.

I bought us Culver's for lunch today. I got their crock pot roast beef sandwich, it's not hard to chew. I had peaches with it and a few fries. Supper was 2 chicken fingers from Culvers and more peaches and then my chocolate ice cream.

I didn't sleep well last night but did get up in time to see a nice sunrise because of all the smoke around here.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, did you try the root beer float with chocolate? I called the estate sale company yesterday and asked what their process is for giving out numbers. They said they get there around 7:30 and start a list and then the doors open at 9:00. I was like, by 7:30 I will have been sitting in front of the hour for three hours... maybe longer! I tried googling whether you could put your computer on top of one of those big ice packs I use for my back, but apparently that's a bad idea. Good thing I'm not a tech person because that would have been the FIRST thing I'd do, ha ha!

Last night I worked until around ten. Ugh. And I could have stayed the entire night and STILL not be where I want. Not to mention I haven't even gotten anything done on the annual review for months. Super... And we're 58 days from bonus payout so I have put the breaks on my job hunt because there's no way I'm walking out the door without my 30% spiff. Strangely, my boss came into my office and closed the door and asked how long he though we had here -- both me and him. I was like, bonuses get paid in 59 days (as of yesterday) and he said, so you're quitting on day 60? I laughed so hard! But I'm not surprised to hear he's thinking of walking too. There's A LOT going on here this past year. Ironically I've had a pretty good few weeks and now I'm not so eager go bolt. Go figure. But ENOUGH about work!!!

Liam and I are going to the Air Supply concert on Saturday with friends of ours and he just called and said he's thinking of taking the kids too and we can stay at this hotel with a water park. The kids can go to the park while we are at the concert and then also stay the next day because you get a two day pass with the room. I want to do that as much as I want to slam my left t!t in the car door. Repeatedly. If this unfolds I will be driving separately. Plus, the rules of the water park say kids under sixteen have to be accompanied by an adult at the ferals are 14 and 11, but he seems to think as long as they don't get caught it's OK. Whatever. This is not a battle I'm going to fight. I was listening to an audio book as I walked to work this morning and the main protagonist said something to the effect of making a relationship work involves tamping down the rage. I literally laughed out loud!

I had the strangest experience coming in this morning BTW. I got here a bit after eight and walked from the elevators to my office in the corner... without seeing a single other person on the floor. No one in the offices. No one in the kitchen. None of the EA's sitting in their cubes. NO ONE. I seriously had to look at my email and make sure the office services guy hadn't sent out a message about not coming in for some reason. It was eerie!!!

Tomorrow is my super junior woodchuck's birthday and she's taking the day off but we're trying to plan a department lunch. I'm watching the weather and it might be raining by then so better pick somewhere close to the office.

Alright, off to look at restaurant options because my assistant never has any ideas so somehow this is my party to plan!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, quick question... Is there a way to insert a little thumbnail picture in a larger picture taken on an iphone? So for instance if I took a picture of four glasses lined up with some flowers could I put a little picture in the corner of that larger one with a close up showing the etch pattern of the glasses? Does that make sense... ?

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, you should be able to just place the smaller picture on top of the other picture then group them and save them. That's how I would do it anyway.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, 58 days and counting. How ironic your boss had that conversation with you. My boss started a similar conversation with me last fall and that is when I told him - well you are right. I plan on retiring in December. At least you have your "sorry for your loss" card handy. Glad things are going better recently though.

I did not try root beer and chocolate ice cream last night. I definitely will give it a shot sometime though. It's like my MIL's chocolate cake that has cinnamon in the chocolate frosting. Didn't sound appealing at all but it tastes great! Marty wanted ice cream after his late supper last night - he said "I know you already had some". Ha!

You will have to be at that auction bright and early. I hope your rival glass guy doesn't beat you to something.

I totally have Air Supply songs going off in my head right now. They would be great to see in concert. I have them in my iTunes - I should listen to them. LOL to your desire to spend the drive and weekend with the ferals - but OUCH - don't slam your tit in a car door. I wonder how strictly enforced the water park would be on unsupervised children. Definitely a good idea to stay out of it.

Ironically, I laughed too at making relationships work by tamping down the rage. Go figure we both find that funny.

So going in to the office today was like the twilight zone. Strange no one else was around. I remember going in on the weekends sometime and the entire second floor where I worked, was completely dark. It is quite strange.

Did you find a good spot for your super junior woodchuck's birthday lunch?

I quit work today before hitting 5 hours. Yay!

I made mini meat loaves for lunch and might go run a few errands. I'm in sweats though - that means I am an old lady who doesn't care what she is wearing going out in public.

I believe I fixed my laptop issue today - I never opened the laptop so the processor never got overwhelmed and slowed down to a crawl. I guess as much as I'm doing and trying to display it in two places was simply too much for it.

Laters,
Curby