Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I survived the night sleeping by Formula 1 racing and motocross. We were on the road before 6 this morning. I’m really slumming it, I didn’t even shower. How low have I sunk?

That’s good news there weren’t that many changes involved on that document and shocker to find out you were supposed to be doing something else. That’ sounds all too familiar.

I am all gold for the eclipse. I am wearing a gold wedding band that was my mom’s and my first pair of gold earrings - the classic gold balls. Nothing else. I hate worrying about storing and cleaning jewelry in a tiny RV. To be fair it’s not that tiny, but 1/3 of it is for storing “toys’.

Marty would be right there with you on Indian food. Is their bread nan? Or something like that?

I hope the new eating plan has great results. Darn those pesky rules about empty calories like drinking. We’ve been doing traditional snack food for the road. M&M’s for the road. It’s been so long since i had any, I readily downed them.

We ran in to horrid almost Wyoming wind coming in to Texas today. Marty stopped at one point and rearranged heavy gear through the trailer to see if that helped the trailer whipping and pulling on the truck. Nope. That was a waste of time. We got to the RV park at about 3 p.m. and I texted my SIL and told her we were here and to bring steaks to grill. She went how a while ago. Marty set up some of his gear in a lot nearby to polar align in case it is cloudy all weekend, including for eclipse day.

We have this cool tree or our spot:

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I forgot to mention thinking of some of the old gang here when you mentioned pants. I thought of Skippy as we were cruising through Albuquerque. I hope they are all doing well.

We were busy yesterday. Marty’s sister came over here and we drove around the Texas hills area. It is quite pretty. Then we went over to where my SIL is staying and Marty helped her fix some things in her RV. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant, it was pretty good. We got the pickup washed since the RV was no long attached. Then we topped off the gas tank and came home. The chicken little speak is saying the entire eclipse path will be packed and run out of things so we figured gas was a necessity to get out of here. So far, it’s getting busier but still nothing insane.

There was a gorgeous sunset last night. Our shower was leaning yesterday so Marty went to Walmart and got caulking. It was still leaking today but not as bad. My little stool worked great for the shower. I might try it for the bed but will need to be careful since it sticks out a bit past the end of the bed. I kind of pulled a muscle or something in my stomach pushing myself up on the bed with my better-functioning knee. I only notice it laying down so hope it goes away.

Forecast still says cloudy for the eclipse tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll have some sucker holes.

Laters,
Curby #lookingforwardtobehome

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, that is a really cool tree! I think you're wise not to bring any big bling with you. I really scale it down when I travel too. My favorite Indian bread is onion kulcha. I'm not really an onion fan, but they cut up onions really small so they tender and bake it inside of this soft doughy bread. Our best eclipse time tomorrow is at 2:06 pm and we'll have 90% coverage. I'll be out in the parking lot! Are you all situated in your spot for tomorrow? I figured you'd have to get there early to stake your claim.

Yesterday I got up and headed to a sale. By ten I was back home with five sets of glasses, a rack with eight spice jars and a set of candle holders. Once I got done with the pics for the day I had to take a nap! Facebook suspended my account until I can prove I'm a real person. Whatever. If it never comes back up I'm just going to forget about it.

It's raining and gray today, which is a bummer because I need to take pics. I'm stockpiling listings because I'll be out of commission the last weekend of this month and the first weekend of next month (helping the purse lady at a show and visiting "dad" for his 89th birthday).

Alright, off to delete some photos off my phone and then take some more LOL.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, Marty would enjoy that bread too. He cooks a lot onions and garlic. Since most food makes me sick, I rarely enjoy those flavors. I hope you get to see some of the eclipse. We are having really cloudy skies but hopefully we get some sucker holes so we can see something. We’ll see it get dark regardless.

Marty set up his 2 drives and polar aligned them the night we got here. Then covered them with rain covers. Hopefully he can take his pictures tomorrow.

It sounds like you came home with some nice new treasures. Have fun helping the purse lady and celebrating his. birthday with dad.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

‘Twas the day of the April 8 total solar eclipse, and all through the land,
Eclipse viewers were hoping their day went off as planned.
But Mother Nature said “nay” and threw clouds in their way,
However, eclipse chasers everywhere had traveled too far to call it a day.
So with hope and anticipation they began setting up their gear,
Knowing first contact would soon be here.
With hope and optimism they wait to see if the skies will clear,
Or at the very least, during totality some sucker holes appear.
Wishing a clear day and awesome eclipse to all,
Hoping this day will be a memorable experience to recall.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy eclipse day!

Curby, I hate to tell you this, but we have completely clear blue skies. here. I sure hope yours clear up!!! I've got a cute meme to send you.

I took pics for only four listings yesterday before I gave up due to the bad light. My attempt at a nap failed, but I deleted THOUSANDS of photos off my phone, did a load of laundry, packed up two order (all of the $ for which will go to bubble wrap and peanuts at lunch today... ) and did my nails. Now that I've gotten the hang of these nail strips I really like them.

Today I need to get the quarterly certs out to people, and I have a two hour CE webinar that is going to run from eleven to one. My life is SO exciting. NOT!

Alright, off to proofread this document before I blast it out to 50 people.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Still working on the certs LOL. But TODAY -- I SWEAR!

I picked up bubble wrap at lunch yesterday. This might sound crazy, but it's different than the usual bubble wrap I get. It's "softer" (if that makes any sense) and the bubbles must be thicker. I couldn't figure out what was going on because the guy really struggled to get it into the car and usually it slides right in, and then I had a helluva time getting it back out when I got home. When I was wrapping glasses last night I only used three sheets instead of four on every piece and then I wrapped the inner box in three layers of bubbles before I put it in the outer box... and couldn't get the sides of the outer box to come together so I could tape it. Finally I had to get Liam to help me struggle the outer box back out again and I removed one layer the whole way around and put it back in there. What a PITA! It took me forever to wrap up the order and I was just exhausted from fighting with the bubble wrap at the end... so I went to bed LOL.

Today I've got TWO two hour CE webinars set up. Ugh. Just kill me now...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids

Dee Jay, it sounds like that bubble wrap and packing was as much work as making a king sized bed. I am worn out listening.

We in Amarillo. It’s been raining hard on us most of the day. It’s about 40 out. Marty has the heat set at 65 and is worried we’ll drain the batteries overnight. The roof is leaking in to the shower, the shower leaks in general and something is leaking around the kitchen sink. Is this a good time to remind Marty of his buy it nice or buy it twice philosophy? Probably not. I guess since the RV is hooked to the pickup, it could start to drain the pickup battery. We’ve got every towel in the tiny trailer soaking up leaks. My hat and down jacket is in the pickup. I’m not going out in the rain to get it. One more day to live through and good luck ever getting me to go camping again. He even just said this is a piece of crap.

We had supper at an Olive Garden. It was pretty good. It’s over 500 miles home tomorrow. I’ll cry if we don’t get home.

Laters
#thisiswhyineverclaimedtobeanoutdoorgirl

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, oh my... that sounds pretty grim. You definitely have a lot of motivation to get the whole way home today! I always think of my grandmother when you mention the Olive Garden. She just loved that place! She'd always have a ziplock bag in her purse and put the extra breadsticks in there. I was pretty mortified, but that was just her LOL. I'm lucky she didn't bring a tupperware container for the soup!

Yesterday I picked up packing peanuts. Fortunately that is a lot easier that the bubble wrap, they just slide the giant bag right in the back. I had one order to pack last night and then I went to bed early.

Today I've got more CE... ugh. (You'll be hearing me say that pretty much ever day for the next several months!). I'm having dinner with a friend so that will be nice. Other than that... hamster, meet wheel!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, we were on the road by 3:30 a.m. today and got home after lunch. It rained all night and was still raining when we headed out. I am soooo glad to be home.

Too funny about your grandmother and Olive Garden. Marty's grandmother used to pack around baggies too. I like their bread sticks hot, but I never enjoy them heated up or cold. I can picture someone taking in a tupperware bowl to pack home some soup.

I bet packing peanuts are far easier to transport than a giant roll of bubble wrap. I can picture you trying to get it in and out of your car. Speaking of cars, when is Rilly Ray coming out of storage? we saw a 718 Soyder in Texas.

How was dinner with your friend and good luck with the CE.

We got the RV unpacked when we got home - most of which is still smack in the middle of the entry way. I took care of my stuff, just sayin ... Plus I am on about batch 5 of laundry.

We did cruise out to the TBE. The concrete is done, the house is sealed now with a locked door and garage doors. They were singling the roof. Yay. Progress.

Our tax lady called us this morning and we have some money coming back but we're applying it to next year so I only have to pay 3rd and 4th quarter payments again this year.

Laters,
Curby #delightedtobehome

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, your road trip home certainly got off to an EARLY start! But I totally understand; last year when Liam and I drove home from Orlando to escape the hurricane we were out the door at o'dark hundred too. I do need to get BR out -- I'm sure he misses his momma! Dinner with my friend was good... but I only had two glasses of wine and some seared tuna and the scale said I was up three pounds this morning. WTF?! You have money coming back -- that's awesome! I likely won't know what's goin on with mine for a while yet given the extensions. I really hope the government won't want a kidney.

Well I plowed through three quarters of a huge CE module yesterday and also had a two hour webinar run in the background while I was doing other stuff so I'm making progress. It's slow going though...

Today a lady is coming to meet me at the bank and I'm going to take her to an antique mall a little ways down the street. She said she' looked for it a few times and can never figure out how to get in there. There's a trick -- you have to drive around the building and go in from a lower back entrance. She is interested in some more quilts too (she bought two off of Etsy but I've got a dozen more in the back of my car) and I've got my fingers crossed she want's a bunch!

Alright, off to finish the last part of that big CE module and see how the quarterly certs are doing.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Well the lady's visit was a success yesterday! She picked out four more quilts in addition to the two she'd already bought. At the end I came back upstairs (we'd done the transaction in the parking lot, LOL, Laying everything out on a clean white blanket so she could see them) and as I sat down at my desk I thought... Hmmmm.... Did she actually put the quilts in HER car? So I went downstairs and lo and behold, they were still in MY car. We folded them up and put them back in the plastic tubs as we went through them, and somehow the transfer never happened. Ack! So I called her and she came back. It's like a bad joke: How many vintage loving dingbats does it take to move quits from one car to another... !

Anyway, I did twelve more hours of CE yesterday and made a spreadsheet counting days to retirement using what I hope is my worst case scenario (March 3 next year). One column has actual days and the other has days in the office. As you can see, I'm making very good use of my time.

There is a local auction this weekend and Liam has committed to a spot and taking some things over (a couple of boat motors that are too big to reasonably ship... and I can't remember what else. We then went down the path of taking some of the ferals' toys over (they're 17 and 14 for god's sake -- they're never going to touch any of this stuff again!), and that resulted me moving a bunch of my inventory into the middle of the room so we could assess the toy situation (they are in big tubs along the wall... and then there was a conversation about shelving and other organization... and then there were multiple orders placed on Amazon. As you can see, we're just a couple o' wild ones in the evenings.

Today I'm in the office because I've got another live webinar and I want to try to crank out about ten more hours of non-live CE if I can. Go Dee go!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

My condo is under contract! Cash offer, closing May 10. Holy cow... I have no idea how that's going to get done because I've only got two weekends between now and then that I am free. And of course I'm not counting any unhatched chickens, but fingers really crossed tight that this goes through!!!!! I made two spreadsheets in the middle of the night, one for if I retire immediately upon closing and the other if I wait until March of next year (which pays out my bonus and gives me two more stock vestings). I KNOW that's the right option... but dammmmnnnnnn it's so tempting to bail immediately!

I just came in from the garage... where I realized that someone has been through my car -- AGAIN. Liam feel asleep on the couch with the garage door open. He woke up around one a.m. and went around the house closing stuff up, including the garage door. He noticed my driver side door was a little open but figured I just didn't close it all the way, so he did. What made me take notice was that I was in the driveway talking to him, and saw that my passenger door was open a little. When I went to close it I saw the big flashlight I keep in the glove compartment was on the seat. Someone clearly riffled through everything. I had a checkbook in the door for my corporate account but I've just downloaded all the checks online and based on what I have in the checkbook I don't think any are missing. The also went through Liam's truck, which was in the driveway. This make me so fvcking mad. Plus, the damn dogs bark when the wind blows, but there was someone IN THE GARARGE, not six feet from the door into the laundry room (which also wasn't locked BTW, and they didn't make a peep. ARGH.

Other than that it's been a nice day LOL. Weather here is perfect (75 and sunny), I took some pics for listings this morning and figured out how to include videos in my listings, we had steak and mushrooms from the grill for lunch, and I'm deep into laundry. I've gone one small order to pack up, and I didn't my nails last night so I'm hoping for a nice leisurely evening!

 

[marcy]

H Kids.

Dee Jay, holy CRAP about your car and Liam's pickup being rifled through. And that's very scary the backdoor was unlocked. I felt very violated with the eggings at hour house, I can't imagine how that makes you guys feel. Glad they didn't trash your vehicles. So none of your checks were missing out of the checkbook? And of course the dogs won't bark at someone doing that. That sucks that happened.

Sweet that lady went home with quite a few quilts. Too funny - making the deal in the parking lot and then her taking off without getting the quilts. Glad she was able to come back right away. And good deal for knocking out more CE credits.

Good idea to make a countdown for retirement. Don't do what I did and un-retire. That's great you have a cash-offer on your condo and that's a rough decision to work until March next year or just retire now. Good luck with that!

Sounds like a big clean out and organizing going on at the North Estate. Can you come work on my house next? I'm so unmotivated since we got home, it's very unusual for me.

I painted my nails Saturday night. I've been super tired since we got home. Lack of sleep and normalcy, I guess. Or too many bags of peanut M&M's on the road. They are the perfect snack to pick up at each truck stop. I watched TV quite a bit this weekend and worked some. We watched movies and had popcorn Saturday night. Sunday we went over to a friend's house for dinner. I did start knitting a hat for myself. It's one skein of gray variegated yarn I couldn't return since it was on closeout. It matches my down jacket perfectly so why not make myself a hat?

I brewed up mini cheesecakes to take to dinner yesterday. We didn't drink much wine since it was Sunday night.

I scored big on BP pills. I called the doctor's office to get an appointment so I can renew my pills in May and they are closing. They can't find someone that wants to take over the practice since that doctor got killed last summer. She said she'd call me in a month's supply and gave me 2 recommendations to call for an appointment. I picked up my pills and she sent in a 90 day supply with refills. I'm good for a year now. Ha! I might try not taking them for a week and see how I do. My BP is low, but I do have a high heartbeat rate probably due to my thyroid issue. Guess if I feel bad, I'll make an appointment somewhere.

Off to lift.
Laters,
Curby

P.S. The TBE was fully shingled by Saturday moring.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, the inspection at my condo is this afternoon and I really really really hope there's nothing wrong! The buyers want some of the furniture, and I reached out to someone else who had expressed interested on the other pieces but once I game him a price it was crickets. I've got elevator time scheduled for two days before the closing so we could get the stuff out of there ourselves, but then what to do with it?! That's a good deal on the pills! I'm always amazed and appalled at how much drugs cost. TBE is shingled already??? WOW! Do you have any updated pics?

Welcome to spring allergy he!!... If I sneeze one more time I think my head will just explode. Ugh.

Yesterday at lunch I picked up some blue glasses that I'd won on Sunday night's auction, and had a bunch of meetings (no surprise there!). Liam and I went to the local BBQ place for dinner that just opened for the season this week. The line was loooooong. I need to do some work on the certifications this afternoon and send out a reminder to people. Retirement is sounding soooooo good right now!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I am sure your inspection went fine. We'll be having those this summer, on both places. Fun. Nice that the buyers want some of the furniture. I hope the elevator reservation works out for moving out.

My 90 days prescription came to $21 something. Not bad. Some are astronomical though.

We did cruise out to TBE a while ago. It doesn't look any different than it did on Saturday. Darn. I had to shrink the image so I can post it.

Yep, on allergy season. Mine kicked up big time in Texas. It hasn't abated being home yet. It doesn't get too bad here until trees bloom and that's a few weeks away in Wyoming. Stupid allergies.

Mmm to the BBQ place. We tried to get in to the top rated one in Amarillo, but they were sold out before we got there at 5. We have one here in town and it's a chain and only adequate.

Not much new here. We had a lot of rain overnight and then the good old semi-tipping wind kicked in. It's been nuts all day. Marty's motor showed up for the drive he bought and broke. Let's hope there's not more things wrong with it. He may not know until he gets his update kit for it though. So far, they keep extending how far out that kit will be for delivery and they already took his money.

I got about 4 inches done on my hat.

Laters,
Curby

TBE today:

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, TBE is cranking right along! The agent texted me yesterday that there are no requests that came out of the inspection, so that is a HUGE load off my shoulders! I thought when I lived in Kansas City that I had eaten all the BBQ I would want for the rest of my life, but NOPE! I'm still always up for some pulled pork or ribs.

Yesterday was a cluster. I thought I was in good shape to do some work on quarterly certs yesterday afternoon... and then two fires cropped up. Of course. Liam and I had leftovers last night for dinner, and I really have no idea where the rest of the evening went.

It sounds like the other guys is going to take pretty much the rest of my furniture, so I'll need to get that coordinated. Really the only things I think I'll have to bring to The North Estate are a credenza out of the bedroom, two console tables, and a bunch of little and personal stuff. I keep thinking this is going to be "easy"... but things are always more of a PITA than I think they're going to be! I'm planning on going down tomorrow and assessing, and also starting to pack some stuff up.

I woke up to an order this morning so I got out of bed a littler early and packed it up. And now I'm on a monthly department wide meeting. Oh joy...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, they started on the base, frame - or whatever they call it - for the stone on TBE. That might get done soon, though it is rainy and snowy for the next few days.

Sweet there are no requests for fixes or changes from the inspection. Good luck getting everything out of the condo and that’s nice all of your furniture is spoken for. I have been slacking on going through things, I’d best get back on that.

Did you stay awake during the meeting?

A friend came over for lunch today and we played cards for a while. Not much else going on except work.

We had more rain. It’ll be green here before you know it.

Laters.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, speaking of rain, have you seen what's going in in the UAE? Crazy! Hopefully it will clear up soon and they can do the stone. Have you actually started packing things up yet? And the "going through stuff" process is the worst... It requires quite a bit of alcohol!

I went into the city yesterday. It took WELL over two hours each way. Ugh. But it was worth it because I packed up a lot of stuff during a FOUR HOUR continuing education webinar. It was a lot of work, but I came home with a full car, and now all of the loose nick nack type stuff is taken care of. I'll be down next week too because I'm helping the cowhide bag lady at the show, but I'm not sure how much packing I'm going to want to do after I get done standing around all day, so I should probably think about a trip this weekend with Liam.

Today I was going to work from home but the ferals showed up last night (no school today) so I cam in. I'm actually working through my personal To Do list (switch car insurance, schedule termination of my electric service, etc.) so it's a pretty productive day so far.

Alright, off to call the library and see why my new electronic access library card doesn't work.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I did see the rains and flooding. Some ”news” stories have indicated it was caused by seeding clouds. They do that in neighboring states around here and my BIL - who is a farmer and follows weather closely - claims when they do that we get less snow and more hail storms.

That packing and going through stuff does require alcohol. I need to seriously get on that. We have to shrink stuff by about 900 square feet. D’oh! We did cruise out to TBE this afternoon. It doesn’t appear anything had been done on it.

Good deal to get some stuffed packed especially while taking a CE course. The trend now is mounting the TV over the fireplace. I’ll miss my mantle. I have lots of Knick-knacks on our mantle. And where am I going to put my Snoopy Village? I am sure you’ll be tired after standing on your feet at day helping your friend at the show.

Good luck with all those personal to do lists. I need to start on that myself.

Both of us are still struggling with being motivated to work. I at least put in 8 hours today. Marty was done before lunch and skipped going to the gym tonight. We are getting cold temperatures and snow for a few days.

My hay fever allergies really kicked up while in Texas and haven’t gone away yet. The trees might be starting to bloom here, I am sneezing and wheezing and really tired. That’s typical when things start blooming.

We have a 7 pound brisket on tap for tomorrow. I’ll be starving smelling it bake most of the day.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Happy Saturday!

We woke up to snow and ice. Headed out for breakfast and picked up a few things at the store. I watched the first few episodes of Sugar on Apple TV+. Not bad, not riveting either. But it was something to watch while I finished my hat.

Guess we’re having brisket tomorrow so I’ll suggest we go out for dinner later. I can wear my new hat. Ha Ha.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, you look most fabulous in your new hat! Any progress on TBE to report? Interesting about the seeding clouds. Did you have brisket last night? I made (another) chili fail. I got these "kits" last winter where all you're supposed to add is water and the meat so I decided to try the chicken chili (again). The instructions say to soak the beans overnight, but as an alternative you do it for at least two hours and just cook longer. I tried the shorter method last time and it wasn't great so this time I soaked the beans for FOURTEEN HOURS. Then I put it all in the crockpot and cooked it on high for four hours. At that point you could have shot those beans out of a pellet gun and killed birds at 50 years.... so I cooked it all on high for another four hours. It's marginally better, but if I have any more of these kits lurking in the pantry they're going straight in the garbage!

I have no idea how the weekend went by so fast! Saturday I didn't list a single thing, but we did do some rearranging in the basement, which involved input from YF as we got rid of a bunch of old little kid toys. Unfortunately all of the shelving posts hadn't arrived from Amazon (the rest are supposed to come today) so we only got about half of that project done, but I'll take any progress I can get! Hopefully I can get it finished up tonight and move The rest are supposed to and I'll move some more things on there.

Yesterday I listed all of those gorgeous blue wine glasses, but it took a long time because I was messing around with videos for the listings. Liam made burgers on the grill for lunch.... and then I took a nap while he ran YF home. I really should have gone down in the basement right then and packed up my three orders, but I had to do it once we got home from dinner (sushi just over the Wisconsin line). It was midnight before I finally got to sleep. Ugh.

I just had an order come in and normally I would try to run home at lunch and pack it, but I'm booked from eleven to three. Oh well, it will go out tomorrow!

Alright, off to "remind" people about their quarterly certifications.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Yesterday was A. Day. Nothing too major, but everything was just a bit more of a PITA than it should have been. At the end of the day Liam ran to get his 944 out of the shop and then we went to Chilis for dinner. Living the high life! I had two orders to pack up, but I was just exhausted so my plan was to have a glass of prosecco and got to bed. Next thing I know we're in the basement putting more shelves together. After that I was AWAKE so I packed the orders, checked out shipping on a set of glasses for a lady in Australia (my guess is she won't buy due to freight costs), and then--just as I was about to head up to bed-- my phone went Cha Ching! again and at that point I was like What.Ever. So I packed up some candleholders. What a long night! Of course I woke up early this morning sneezing, so I got about five hours of sleep.

I have five solid hours of meetings this afternoon, and I'm hoping to run to the packaging place and pick up the rest of my bubble wrap at lunch, but we'll see if that actually happens.

OK, time to chase done the outstanding certifications. Oh joy.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

I made it through all my meetings yesterday, including one that went welllll past five o'clock. When I got home I ate leftovers from Chili's and took a nap on the couch while Liam went to an event at a local community college.

We've decided we need MORE shelves in the basement. (???) I was about to order some on Amazon but Liam looked on marketplace when he got home from the event and there is a guy with five sets of them for less than we would pay for two sets on Amazon, plus these ones have wheels. So we're supposed to go and get them tonight right after work. Fingers crossed he doesn't sell them to anyone else in the interim! We have told him we're coming, cash in had, but you just never know.

I need to run by Chase, pick up the rest of my bubble wrap, and go to the post office today at lunch. Not sure how all of that could possibly happen in an hour, but I'll do my best!

Alright, off to get ready for the next meeting. I'm the chair of this one so I better know what's going on LOL.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, darn that your chili mix turns out so bad. I’ve never had luck with them. Our brisket was quite tasty. Marty is still working on it.

You did have a busy weekend and you’ll enjoy having those shelves. We got two bags out basement stuff out in the trash today. I have no idea what was in those bags, but they were heavy. Thousands of more things to go. Ooh Liam’s 944 is out and ready to play. Vroom vroom.

Those were long meetings this week. I don’t miss those days. I used to love the Old Timer burgers at Chili’s. Last time I went there, they weren’t very good.

Did you get those shelves? Isn’t it nice to find a bargain like that? I hope you got all your errands accomplished during lunch.

Sunday we ran errands and smelled the brisket cooking all day. I got my sister’’s hot done and really like the yarn. I might make myself the same hat. It’s match my down jacket too. I started on her scarf today. We watched a lot of movies that day.

I worked quite a bit every day so far this week. We had a GoDaddy crisis that resulted in Marty spending most of last night working on it. First, I elevated out of my chair when I saw a charge for $2500 for them. I guess that’s our fees for 5 years of their domain. However, all our websites have been down for over a month and the few times Marty has called them, they have no idea why. He finally called them again yesterday and I guess my sister’s doll clothes site was full of malware. He had to delete everything and moved all our emails to another place which lost of my archived emails for work. He had all sorts of problems and they don’t do anything to protect their sites or apps. But, you can PAY X number of dollars to add it. Grr. We finally got emails up and working again today.

We went out to supper last night since Marty skipped the gym. We had wine and ice cream. Did it help? No, but it was good.

Our house has most of the stone on it (as of yesterday). Marty peaked in window and some of the dry wall is done.

Some friends came over for lunch and cards today. I baked a batch of cocoa brownies for us and sent half of the remains home with them. I got my hair cut this morning as well. I decided to try and grow my hair a bit longer, we’ll see how it goes. At least this time I told her to not doddle when she washed my hair because the last time I was there (it’s a new place) their sink hurt that spot on the back of my head I whacked on the corner of a cupboard for weeks. So she used a different sink and it worked much better.

We’ve got an astronomy meeting tomorrow night. I downloaded a brief program on sunlike stars from JPL’s night sky network and added a few things to it. Instant program! They have a lot of outreach stuff I use, then I through in some stuff from my teaching days and include a few charts from my day jobs and VOILA! I’m ready.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Here's TBE yesterday:

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, I really like that yarn! For some reason I've always been fold of yarn like that with little pops of color. TBE will be done before you know it! You just reminded me, I need to look at my GoDaddy account and see when my store domain expires. I think I've got time yet, but who knows if they'll send me a renewal notice. I assume they will... ? No shelves. Liam was in contact with the guy all day, and kept asking for his address. Finally, at the time we had agreed to BE THERE, the posting got marked as SOLD and he immediately took it down. WTF. People suck! I did get all my errands run yesterday, but It was close!

Today I need to get ready, pack one small order, and head downtown. I'm having lunch with two of my old colleagues who I really love. Hopefully I'll get to the city in time to swing by the show location before lunch, but otherwise I'll go after. Then I need to queue up a bunch of stuff because Liam is coming down with the truck. If all goes well I think we can get most of the stuff out of the store unit.

Alright, off to get this party started!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, They have that yarn in all sorts of colors. A yellow and a peach one was catching my eye for a sweater or vest.

I have no idea if GoDaddy sends reminders, Marty isn't that good at paying attention to those things. He signs up for all sorts of crap as auto renewal and I am constantly asking him "is this your charge?" And he has no idea.

That sucks about the shelves and yes people suck. They could have kept it for you for at least that day or let Liam know they were sold already.

I bet that was a challenge getting all your errands run. I could run to the store now or go order groceries. I think I'll pick the later.

Have fun at lunch and drink a lot so it won't be so hard to pack the truck with things outs of storage. Or maybe you won't care as much and say throw it out. Good luck!

I spent 90 minutes on the phone rearranging a book we're going to edit for my retirement job. The boss texted me very vague directions to move all the charts to the beginning. Um, there are 50 some charts, let's start it together.

It's laundry and lifting day as well. I'll be busy.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, did your neck of the woods get any of the horrible tornadoes or thunderstorms? Have fun packing out things this weekend. If you and Liam want more practice, we’ve got stuff here. I’ll send some stuff home with you for your site.

I didn’t sleep well last night. Some guy who triggers my spidy-sense keeps wanting to go in with Marty on his observatory and have access to it. He’s asked me several times when Marty wasn’t at the meeting, but Marty got to the meeting the other night on time and they guy hit him like a used car salesman who thinks they have a sucker on the hook. We’d already discussed it after the guy asked me about it and we both agreed NO. But after the other night, Marty said he wasn’t ruling it out without thinking about it. I thought no way in h*ll do I want that guy on our property. He’s bold, brazen, aggressive and assumptive. We don’t even know him other than he’s been to meetings for a few years. I told Marty today I was NOT comfortable with him being on our property and I wouldn’t like it a bit. No discussion followed other than okay. I get it. If it was a long-time friend I might not mind. Plus, that’s not something people ask anyway. At most, you ask once and let it go. This guy isn’t most people.

We’re getting rain mixed with snow today. I started a pot of beef noodle soup. I just brewed up the noodles and got flour all over myself, but the soup smells good already. I’ll make some cornbread to go with it.

Looks like they got the stone finished on TBE.

I have over 20” done on my sister’s scarf. I could go work, but I”d rather goof off. I do need to get the monthly newsletter done for the astronomy club. Marty is working on building our website for it again.

I couldn’t find anything on TV to watch so I rented Young Frankenstein. A classic and always one of my favorites.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, the stone on TBE looks fabulous! Fortunately we haven't had any weather issues right here (knock on wood!). Holy NO WAY Batman to that guy! Seriously, the LAST thing you want is an annoying guy like that with access to your property. I hope Marty really does refuse him access. The old movies are the best in my opinion!

Well I feel like I've been beaten with a stick!!! Thursday I went down and spent a few hours working on set-up for the booth. Then I packed some things and Liam came down and got a truckload. Friday the show started. The elevator doors opened at 10:01 and there were women rushing in the aisles of the show with flames shooting off of their American Express cards. Holy cow (no pun intended)! We were busy Friday and Saturday, pretty steady all day. Yesterday the first sale didn't even happen until two hours in... ??? ... but we ended up ultimately doing 27% better than last year overall, so we're pretty happy.

Now for the part that was NOT happy... Once the show was closed and we packed up the guys came and loaded everything from the booth onto three big flatbed carts. We got in her car and left, and Sheryl's boyfriend came with the van to get everything, and he pulled right up to to the loading dock. He called at one point and asked if that was everything, and Sheryl said yes, everything had been loaded out. He said, wow, you really sold a lot of stuff. Welllllllll... when they rendezvoused at home they realized that almost NONE of the bags with the purses were there! The display stuff (mannequins, mirrors, rounders, etc.) was there, but not the purses. So they bolted back downtown and pulled into the loading dock, and there was a big flatbed with all of the big blue Ikea bags piled on it. Somehow the flatbeds got separated, and of course Mike didn't know any better, other than that it looked like a lot less stuff than usual. Ultimately it all worked out OK, but there was some real panic!

When I got back to The North Estate I had to pack three orders, and one more came in while I was doing that, so I didn't get to bed until well after midnight. Today I'm at the office, but I have to go back downtown again tonight for dinner with sister #2, and then I have a conference for the first half of the day tomorrow. I'm going to stop by the attorney's office on my way out of town in the afternoon tomorrow and sign the closing docs for my condo. Woo hoo!

Alright, I need to go and do about a thousand things!