Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, I'm going to be put on gift wrapping duty here in NJ pretty soon, I can feel it. There have been several (not to veiled) hints since my arrival about needing to festive the place by up getting some gifts under the tree, and since I'm the one that does all the wrapping for everyone in the family (yes, I often end up even wrapping my own gifts too) I can see where this is going... The good news is I love it, so I don't mind!

Rod, I just hate it when my clothes shrink just hanging there in the closet like that! I have five cashmere sweaters that I really love and they have gotten quite a bit smaller since last year. Not really sure how that happened!

So my friend isn't big on (a) eating regularly or (b) having things in the house that are easily edible without (sometimes extensive) cooking. Fortunately I acted with foresight yesterday when I came up from the subway and stopped at Starbucks (to get some instant Via because she's also not a coffee drinker) and then at the drug store for milk, sugar and some Snickers bars. So you can guess what I had for breakfast! I did go out a bit later when she was on a conference call and come back with a flatbread and a sandwich from a little neighborhood place that we shared. And she just produced -- like magic! -- from the refrigerator a chocolate bar. Dark salted brown butter organic chocolate, to be exact. YUM!

OK, back to my book. I'm reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It's great, I do recommend it.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, I hope you had a nice time at your fancy dancy luncheon. What did your Secret Santa bring you? I hate when clothes shrink in the closet. I think it’s because our closet is right by the shower - the steam must do it.

Dee Jay, I love to wrap presents too. Have you made the place look like there’s a holiday coming soon? Is the tree buried in presents yet? I am sure you’ll find some food to eat while you are there. We seem to have lots of stuff in the cupboards and freezers yet I can’t say I see anything around here to eat. We had lunch out today.

We had a nice evening last having some friends overs for dinner. They forgot our presents so we only gave them the games for their kids and the Romanian cookbook. We are holding back on the hand painting and I told them it’s because I don’t want any revenge shopping going on for our gifts. Ha!

I darn near finished an entire bottle of chardonnay last night so obviously I had a hard time going to sleep. That’s probably more than I drank in total over the last 6 months. We played hearts and cribbage.

Our cleaning lady came today. Marty went shopping and then he and I met for lunch. He continued on to Sams Club and the grocery store. I came home and started on laundry and baked peanut butter blossom cookies for Christmas. I think 4 kinds if plenty for Christmas. I should take a tray to work.

Have a great weekend.
Curby

 

[Rod]

Marcy, I had no idea yesterday would turn out to have been the most fun day I've EVER had at any company I've worked for. Any. I didn't realize we would not work. None. They started the morning off with Mimosa's and they flowed all morning. Since most of us were semi-plotzed, they had Uber Taxi's pick us up to take us to lunch. Lunch was at one of the best Steak Houses in Tampa, called Eddie V's. Simply amazing. And the drinks continued throughout the meal. From holiday shots to start, through wine poured throughout the meal. The food was amazing, with lot's of great appetizers, including pepper jumbo shrimp, followed by Lobster Bisque, then for my entre I had the best New York Strip I've ever had, with Truffle Mac and Cheese and a fabulous vegetable. Desert was Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake with Godiva Vanilla Ice Cream. We then went back to the office for the gift exchange. The guy I bought for, was very pleased with an Authentic NFL Colts watch I bought him. I got a great deal on it, and since the colts are his favorite team, it just seemed perfect for him. My Secret Santa gave me a $50 Gift Certificate to one of my favorite restaurants in Tampa. And after gifts, they gave each of us a really nice bottle of wine and a card with a $500 check in it. I was simply amazed at how incredible the day was. Simply Amazed!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Rod, it sounds like you had a fabulous day at the office. They really know how to put on a Christmas party for their employees and topping it off with $500? You can’t beat that. What a lovely surprise.

Gee where did the weekend go? My last 2 batches of laundry are in the washer and dryer. I am at least down to sheets and pillowcases with only one more bed to make up when that is done. I wanted to have clean sheets and blankets on the beds in case someone in the family wants to stay here over Christmas. With the weather around here you never know.

Marty and his golf buddy are on the 4th Star Wars movie. They’ve come out of the basement once to get their pizza and wings they ordered. I took them down a warm blue berry muffin but other than that I’ve left them alone.

Have a great evening and day tomorrow.

Marcy / Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Rod, your day of the office party sounds marvelous! The food... the drinks... the gifts -- marvelous!

Curby, I will be channeling you today with laundry. My friend's parents are arriving today so I will clean up the house and wash the sheets in the guest room that I've been sleeping in because they're going to take this room and I'm moving over to the other bedroom with the pull out sofa, and I also have some of my own clothes to wash. I see that I've been left with a pile of gifts on the counter this morning. Message: Wrap me!

This weekend was nice. We did some shopping (I only got one thing and it was for myself, ha ha) and lots of eating and drinking. I'm also plowing through my library books so I will have to go on the site and pick some more soon.

Ok, out of bed now and off to start the day!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, did you get all of your chores done yesterday? Of course I know you did because you are super Dee Jay and always keep busy. I like that you went shopping and got a present for yourself. Did you wrap it too? Is the weather nice there? Is this the same friend you used to spend Christmas with in Tahoe? I remember your story from last year about the varmint in the tree.

We both had the day off yesterday so went to Denver. We started at my sapphire jewelry store. I was looking to upgrade a few sapphires but of course their selection was well picked over by now and they didn’t have anything at all that appealed to me. While I was walking through store though this EC kept sparkling at me saying “pick me, pick me”. So yes I’ve thought about upgrading my EC RHR so I asked to see it. There was an E and F that looked pretty nice; the E was by far a nicer diamond. So anyway she brought them over and both Marty and I liked the E. I traded in a 1.01 G Si2 for a 1.21 E VS1. Holy crap what a price jump that was; but I really like it. It’s medium fluorescent too. They even said they’d rush it and we could pick up my ring after 4. We headed off to Cherry Creek Mall and split a burger and shake for lunch then wandered the mall for about 3 hours. Marty’s Snoopy Omega watch is supposedly shipped but they don’t have a tracking number. We were hoping it would be there to pick up. We walked out of William Sonoma empty handed. We found some very cool old world map coasters for the man cave. It was a nice day. We picked up my ring and sadly left Denver during rush hour. Marty pulled a Marcy and hit a curb when we were leaving the mall. Ha! We stopped at an Italian restaurant about 1/2 way home. It was a nice day.

I took my little camera to work with me today but the Sun didn’t come out until I got to my desk and was long gone by the time I came home. My boss greeted me with shut the door - and 45 minutes later I ventured on to the next 5 or so problems. I started my work at about 11 this morning. Fun!

Have a great evening and day tomorrow.

Marcy / Curby

 

[Rod]

Wow Marcy, that stone is STUNNING! STUNNING! Can we see a ring and finger shot?

My work schedule for tomorrow is 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and then I'm off until January 4th! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!

Lobsters are ordered and paid for for Christmas day. My brother and I are having a 4.5 pound each. Charlie is having a 2lb, and my sister in law, who's allergic to shell fish is having Salmon. We also ordered the Chocolate cake we get every year, which is without a doubt the BEST chocolate cake on the planet. We'll make my mom's coleslaw recipe (so good and she spent years refining it and made me promise to never give the recipe out) and parsley potatoes.

I'll check in again before Christmas to wish you all the very best the season has to offer!

 

[deegee]

Hi all!
Rod – I am so jealous of your office party. It sounded marvelous! I bet you sure feel appreciated. Does Charlie love his new car? I still haven’t seen one in person around here. Just from pictures though, I think I’ll have to mark it off of my list of possibilities. I don’t think Matt could fit in it comfortably. He’s 6’4 and all legs. I always end up with a bigger car than I want so that he can fit in it with me.

Dee*Jay-Too funny you were left with gifts to wrap! You must do a spectacular job. I was always the one in my family who was put on wrapping duty because I didn’t mind it. I love making bows and making the packages all fancy schmancy. You’d have a hard time at my house food-wise too! Matt is out of town so much, we never make it to the grocery store anymore. I have fruit and salad fixings…and that’s about it. Oh, and booze. Good supply of booze.

Marcy-Matt has been out of town Monday-Thursday for the last 8 weeks, and he’ll have to start back up on January 4. Wwaaahhhh!!!! (Does that sound pitiful?) Your weather sounds pretty crappy already. We had a flash freeze on Friday with about a gazillion car accidents as a result, but right before that it was 70 and it was back up to 70 the next day. Beautiful diamond! Did you pick up your ring? I wanna see handshots!!

I have been swamped at work. We had a go-live date of January 4 and were working ourselves to death trying to hit that deadline. The system has far too many bugs and glitches, so the go-live date has been pushed out a few weeks. My raise was approved at 4 levels of government, but is now awaiting the governor’s signature. I’m doubting that will happen by the end of the year. But I did tell my boss I needed a reason to come back after Christmas, so hopefully he'll keep checking on it for me. I am technically off from Dec 21-Jan 4, but I worked from home yesterday and will probably work at least ½ day from home tomorrow. I am carrying 5 weeks of unused vacation into next year…I’m ready for some serious time off. I hope the Christmas season has been good for everyone! Have a great day tomorrow!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids,

Rod, thank you. I got a few pictures of the ring on my hand tonight. I hope to get some pictures tomorrow if the sun comes out. Marty got his Omega watch today; I will post pictures of it with my EC ring. Your menu for Christmas sounds delicious. I remember your favorite chocolate cake. It sounds wonderful as well. Is it still really warm there? Enjoy your long vacation!

Deegee, I completely understand you are less than thrilled at the prospect of Matt traveling that much. If the deal Marty has been working on in DC goes through he’ll be there at least 50% of the time. Waah for us, huh? I put the EC in the same ring I had the other EC diamond on. I am really enjoying it. I am glad to hear the freeze didn’t last too long there. Our streets are a mess; bumpy glaciers everywhere. You certainly have been working a lot lately and I hope you get to use some of your vacation soon. Woo hoo for your raise being approved on 4 levels so far - now let’s get the governor to sign off on it. You deserve it for sure. It’s nice to let our bosses know we don’t have to come back to work - EVER! I keep saying I’ll be skipping all the way to my car - Bye. If I take my 2 bears with me I’m never coming back. They can keep the rest of my personal crap. Enjoy your vacation as well!

Marty is on vacation until Jan. 4 too. I hope all 3 of you have fun while I am out slaving away. I am off through Monday but you know I’ll get paged for something - it wouldn’t be a holiday if I didn’t have to dial in and do some work.

We had a busy day at work but got to leave 2 hours early. I went by the cemetery on the way home and then did a few things when I got home. Marty went to Denver again because his watch came in yesterday. We made tacos for supper.

Have a great evening and Christmas Eve tomorrow.

Ready or not - Christmas is almost here.

Curby / Marcy

 

[marcy]

Merry Christmas Eve Kids!

We kind of slept in today. I had sunshine coming in the house so took some pictures of my new EC ring right away. We went to the grocery store about 11 am - Marty picked the busiest one in town but since he was driving I didn’t mind it. I hate that parking lot. We had cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit for lunch. Marty made his BBQ sauce for the ribs Saturday. It smells fabulous in here!

I have one more present to wrap. Tomorrow we are going to have sirloin steak, baked potatoes, dinner rolls, salad and test a few of my assorted Christmas cookies that are in the freezer downstairs.

Then we have to pick up, get out the Christmas dishes, put the table together, get the Mac and Cheese ready to bake and then rest.

Have a great day and a wonderful Christmas tomorrow.

Marcy / Curby

 

[marcy]

Deegee, I just read your post in the PS giveaway contest. I love your original wedding ring. It is really pretty. Sorry you broke your wrist and ring when ice skating.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Ho Ho Ho kids!!!

Curby, LOVE your new EC! Be careful while driving or else you might get distracted from the rainbows coming off your ring and end up with another curb event!

Rod, your lobster dinner sounds wonderful! Hope you and Charlie and your brother and SIL have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your delicious dinner!

Deegee, great to hear from you! I hope Santa brings you the raise that you deserve and that you and Matt have a great holiday together!

The fam is up and getting ready to open gifts. I had to lay down the law this year because these people take FOREVER to get around to the presents! One year it was well into the afternoon before a single piece of paper had been removed so we had to have a *talk* about this process, LOL. I'm having a cup of coffee and trying to b patient while everyone gets done with showers and getting dressed I think the only other creature in the house as impatient as I is the dog because he knows there are things under the tree for him too, LOL!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Merry day after kids!

The fam has gone on a walk with the dog and I'm having a blissful hour of peace and quiet! I just remembered that I want to go over to Duane Reede and get some x-mas cards half off for next year, but I'm not quite motivated to do that yet as I sit here with my coffee and a blanket in the silent living room... Maybe in half an hour I'll reconsider!

Today we're going into SoHo and having lunch some place and doing a bit of shopping (my friend -- she's a shopper!). I'm guessing we'll have leftovers for dinner because we've certainly got a lot of them!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Merry Christmas!

Dee Jay, I loved your story about you and the dog being impatient about opening presents. That should be the first thing you do in the morning right? When my family used to exchange presents among all 19 of us opening presents was a 4 - 5 hour job and we did it after we eat. It seemed to take forever. I am glad we don’t get everyone gifts anymore. What did you and the dog get? Did you end up going shopping today and get some Christmas cards?

I completely spaced out posted yesterday. We opened presents yesterday, had breakfast then started working on getting ready for the family Christmas today. We had steaks on the grill (even though it was in the 20’s here) and I baked some potatoes on convect so they had crunchy skins and were mushy inside.

Last night we had about 6 inches of snow and wind. I am starting to sound like a broken record about that, huh? My sister, BIL and niece called this morning saying they couldn’t make it today because the roads were closed. The crew from Colorado made it though so we had dinner and then did a white elephant exchange. That was pretty fun because everyone could steal someone else’s gifts. Then my sister called and said since the road was open now they were coming in. They got here about 4 so it was nice all of us got together.

The food was a hit; the cookies were a hit so I think today was a success. I am setting here with gel ice packs on my tired feet but I still might go finish taking care of the last batch of dishes.

Santa brought me my new iPad mini - it has T-Rex Marcy … on the back. I get called T Rex because I have shorts arms and can’t reach anything. I like to say “that’s how I roll” which triggers a response from Marty I’m not that hip so he found a dish towel that says “that’s how I roll” and has a picture of a rolling pin on it. I thought that was great. Marty did pick me up some things at Coach - some little coin, credit card and small wallet. They will come in handy. Santa was good to me.

Marty liked his Killer Rabbit jacket really well but his PS4 and new game must be his favorite because he is definitely enjoying that game in the man cave.

Take care.
Curby

 

[deegee]

Hi all!

Marcy- thanks for the compliments on my ring. We got it off of my finger before my hand swelled up, and I didn't know it was broken until about 2 months later when my wrist was all better. I pull it out and look at it every now and then, and I'm sure I have a big doofy grin on my face thinking about the day Matt proposed! It was on Cmas eve, he got down on his good knee, and then the kitten scaled our brand new curtains and was swinging from the top. Ah, great memories!! Your new stone is beautiful! Can you tell a difference in the size? I haven't bought any jewelry since my OEC rhr this summer. I'd like some diamond dangle earrings, but I didn't get around to picking them out. Maybe for my anniversary next month. I plan to take a few boxes with me when I go back to work in January and pack up any personal belongings I don't want to leave behind. I'll make sure I'm seen doing so, too. I plan to dance right on out of there and not look back when I give my notice!

Dee*Jay- what to you mean those crazy people don't tear into presents first thing? Torture! I remember one Christmas when mom and dad made us eat breakfast before we opened presents. That did not go over well with us kids. We do presents with the nieces and nephews on Cmas Eve so they can do their family thing on Cmas morning, and then we all get back together in the afternoon to stuff ourselves. Santa darn well better get me that raise, or I'm outta there!

Mom and 2 of my nieces came back with us yesterday, and we'll take them back home on Monday and then head on to Cincinnati to visit Matt's folks. Can't wait. It's been a year since we visited them and I'm not in a hurry to get back. Santa brought me a new IPad Air 2 and a cushy pair of UGGs slippers for my achy feet. I bought Matt a Bose wireless speaker, wireless earbuds, and other accessories to go with it. I figured he could use them with all the traveling he's doing. He bought himself a PS4 in November, so that ruined that gift idea. It was in the mid-70's yesterday and today. So not Christmassy! If we're smart, we'll get the outside decorations down before the temp gets below freezing next weekend. I wouldn't call us smart though. Have a great Sunday!

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I just looked through your EC thread and the pics you posted in Missy's thread... Your new stone is gorgeous! I love the collage you posted. The stone looks so clear and crisp. Beautiful!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, that is awesome your original ering brings back such good memories of when Matt proposed to you. And the cat swinging from the curtains well that just adds to the story right? Thank you for the comment about my EC diamond. Yes I can tell a size difference in the EC. I went from a 6.2 x 4.8 to 7 x 5.3 mm. I notice the ring rolls around to the side more than the last one did. Good idea for you to look in to diamond dangle earrings; that would make a great anniversary present. I like the idea of taking in boxes and packing up your personal things. That might get them really nervous. I hope you get a huge raise and even then you still might decide to say adios! You’ve got the upper hand either way. That is nice your mom and 2 nieces came to visit for a few days. Ugh to going to visit Matt’s parents. I know that is not among your top 1000 things you’d like to do. You will like the new iPad Air 2 and of course your warm slippers sound great. Marty uses the Bose noise cancelling earbuds when he travels. He loves them. I don’t think I’ll see much of Marty with his new game.

Speaking of iPads I need to make myself a calendar reminder for next year - do not wash the green tablecloth with anything else. That things BLEEDS green. Last year and then again this year I washed some of my dish towels with it and they are no longer white - they are green. Rats.

I started my day taking some more pictures of my new ring. Marty laughed at me when he got up and found me taking pictures again. I’m like “what?”

I am taking it easy today since my knees are griping at me about how much I did yesterday but I get up frequently because I don’t want to get stiff from not moving. I’ll get better.

We had leftovers for lunch and I think we’ll do snacks or pantry grazing for supper.

Do I have to go back to work tomorrow? I suppose so but at least it’s a 4 day week. Then it’s a long haul until the next holiday.

Laters,
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-yikes! Work already? Makes me shiver. I think my boss put in for me a 10% raise, which is enough to make me hang around for a while but not enough to make me put up with much crap. Matt earned more in OT the last pay period than my regular net pay for the same pay period! I can tell my new iPad is much faster than my 2 year old mini with a non-working home button. Too bad your table cloth turned everything green. In college, I once did laundry while drunk and turned my whites red. I hate it when that happens! Matt is playing fallout 4, I think. I've gone from a football widow to a video game widow. Argh!

We lazed around on the couch all day watching football. We finally made ourselves presentable so we could go eat dinner. Afterwards we went bowling, came home, made no bake cookies, and lazed around on the couch all evening. We watched Inside Out...those darn kid animated movies always make me cry! The kids pulled out the old Guitar Hero game and have been playing for a few hours. Funny how kids just walk through and neat house instantly becomes messy. We're having fun, and that's all that matters. Have a great Monday!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, oh no about the green bleed! Look on the bright side, now you have green dish towels to go with the table cloth for next year, LOL.

Deegee,, 10%?!? I think you deserve 110%!!! Hopefully the raise will come through. If not, do you have any idea what you might want to do next (if anything)? I've been at my company since March 2013 and I haven't gotten a base raise even though I've been through three reviews now, but my bonus was 50% more from year one to year two, and 100% more from year two to year three, so I'm not complaining. If they want to give me all the money at one time, I'll take it!

So the 'rents have just been put in an uber and I am finally home alone because my friend is at work. There is a shopping mall within walking distance but I'm not in any hurry to go over there, although that might indeed happen today. And I never did get any x-mas cards. I went back later in the day and the shelves were BARE. I suspect the cards (and all the other holiday stuff) were on sale even though the signage was never changed. Oh well.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, I wasn’t thrilled to go back to work today. Especially since I woke up at 2:30 then pretty much never went back to sleep. I think you deserve more than a 10% raise but that’s good you have a minimum acceptable raise in mind. And definitely no amount of money is worth putting up with crap. That’s nice Matt got a lot of OT pay. I am glad you are enjoying your new iPad Air 2. I liked my new mini at work today. The screen definitely didn’t pick up the glare of the lights as bad as the mini 3 did and it is noticeably quicker. I have the iPad Air 2 to use at home. I was amused by your drunk college laundry story. At least you had an excuse. This happened to me last year and I completely forgot about it. Fallout 4 is the game Marty is playing too. He is down there now. I actually think that is what woke me up at 2:30 is he came to bed about then. I am glad you are having fun with your company.

Dee Jay, some of the green dish clothes look okay - a light green but a few of the pure white with colored thread look nasty so they went in the trash. That is good your annual bonuses keep going up. Marty’s annual bonuses have been decent but we never know what they’ll be until they show up. Did you go shopping?

So Marty had a smirk on his face and I finally noticed he moved my bears around. Real observant of me huh? I do have a favorite bear that is always on the love seat by me and he put another bear by where i set.

The only snow drift I had to go through was in our driveway this morning. It was still there when I came home. Today’s high was in the 20’s and that is the warmest we’ll be this week.

I am watching my football team getting creamed. Rats.

Take care.
Marcy / Curby

 

[marcy]

OMG I need new glasses. I painted my nails and they look like a kid did them. I'll have to use some nail polish remover on a QTip to clean up the edges.

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay- bonus? What's that? Ha! I work for state government in one of the poorest states in the nation. We don't get things like raises and bonuses. I have stayed here because I now accrue 5 weeks of vacation 4 weeks of sick leave per year, and we get lots of holidays too. (Although I've been working so much that I'm carrying 5 weeks of vacation into the new year. Something's wrong with that!) I've always been able to make my own schedule and kind of do my own thing without being micromanaged by anyone. They know I get stuff done and mostly leave me alone. I never hit up after Christmas sales. I bet you still have cards you bought last year and didn't use this year! I was bad. I sent maybe 5...and Matt did those.

Marcy-I've been hearing that fallout game all evening! Your football team is playing Matt's team, and he hasn't even turned it on because of that video game! He gets so hooked on those things. I see the score is tied in the 4th... My die hard Bengals fan niece is probably about to explode. I wanted to buy mom a new iPad for Christmas, but I knew she'd get mad at me and try to pay me for it. She still has the 2nd generation iPad I bought her for Mother's Day several years ago! That thing is clunky and slow. My sisters didn't want to go in on it for one big gift because we all kind of wanted to shower her with lots of things to open. Dad always loved buying and wrapping gifts for us...especially for mom. It was a rough Christmas for sure. That's too funny about your fingernails. There is a lady who lives across the street from my sister who posts pictures of her fingernails on Facebook every time she polishes them. Bless her heart...she has the mentality of a child and she ends up with as much polish on her fingers as her nails, but she sure is proud of them. She has offered many times to do my sister's nails!

We have returned mom and the girls safely home and my house is back to being quiet. I thought about working some to afternoon but decided against it. I'll probably work some later in the week to get caught up on emails and get my mind to start thinking again. I checked email today and discovered I have been scheduled to be in 21 meetings for next week. Good grief! I bought a pair of walking shoes today that are recommended for plantar fasciitis pain, so I'm hoping to start getting some activity in soon. I did so well with food for 3 months, and fell off the wagon starting Christmas Eve. Ugh! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, I never know what my bonus is going to be until my boss slides the piece of paper across the table to me (at some swanky lunch place that the company is also paying for, ha ha). Then we do this dance where he asks if I'm happy and I first make a face and pretend I'm not, then I make a big show of getting out the list of head hunter contacts that I've printed ahead of time and brought with me, then assuring him that I am indeed happy, and then--and only then--can we EAT. By the time we get done with this annual process I'm starving and would pretty much agree to any figure as long and I can have some damn food!

Deegee, I DO have cards from last year (and possibly even before that!) that I didn't use up this year. But I definitely don't have enough for NEXT year, which will be a source of worry for me right up until next November when I go out and buy more, and at full price no less. Oh my... I'm filling a little faint just thinking about all this!

Yesterday I did pretty much nothing. The 'rents were put in an uber to the airport around 9:30, so that was the main accomplishment of the day. Beyond that I did a load of laundry, went to the shipping place (where I ended up not sending the package because they wanted $37 to send a box that doesn't even have $37 worth of STUFF in it -- I'll be going to the real Fed Ex location rather than the U-Ship-It rip off), bought two bottles of prosecco, got a burger at the place across the street (that had to be made three times before they got it right), and downloaded three more library books. Yep. That's it. Was wonderful! And today is shaping up in much the same way!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, that is a lot of vacation and sick time plus holidays. Sweet. Matt was better off playing his video game. Tell him I was on the edge of my seat most of the second half and in overtime. It was a good game and could have easily gone either way. Maybe get your mom the new iPad for Valentines day and have your nieces and nephews sign the card with it. That way it can be from them and she hopefully won’t offer to pay for it. That is a good idea to have a lot of presents for your mom. I am sure Christmas was rough on all of you; I’d like to tell you it gets better but it sure hasn’t improved for me. Holidays are just plan tough. That is cute about the lady who likes to post pictures of her manicure on FB. She must like how they look. Luckily my nail polish just flakes off my skin after I take a shower so my nails looked find by about 7 am today. Ha! Ugh to having 21 meetings next week.

Dee Jay, I like your approach to lunch with your boss. They need to know you can be gone in a flash so pay up! You should order appetizers though so you can hold out longer for more money and not end up starving. I think I’ve got about 4 or 5 boxes of Christmas cards. Lately I’ve been making up a photo Christmas card because they are signed already. Ha! Then I buy self sealing envelopes and I can put together Christmas cards in a flash. I am glad you are having a fabulous and relaxing time on your vacation. Marty’s day was pretty much the same. He did make us supper though.

Not much exciting going on here. I was really busy at work today. I got to work on my new task so that was a nice distraction but kind of wore me out mentally just because I am not used to doing it. My team leader who I’ve talked to easily 4 times this month about complaining about mistakes other team members make and says she found all sorts of mistakes and what should she do about it. I asked her to bring me her paperwork. It was 4 - 4 mistakes out of maybe 2400 items. Really that is a ton of mistakes? She is better than my problem employee was but she sure bought in to his vision of how things should be. Funny thing is she makes quite a few mistakes as well. Onward through the fog on that anyway.

Marty made veggies, oven fries and burgers for supper. We are going to a NYE party / pot luck so now I have to decide what to have Marty make for us. He volunteered to take care of it for me. I am thinking of what requires the least amount of clean up on my part not what sounds good.

Take care.
Curby / Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy eve to the eve kids!

Yesterday was lazy lazy lazy! My friend and I didn't get around to showering until about 6 o'clock, and then we went to dinner. After that we stopped at another bar on the way home, but that's about it. Today I was going to go into the east village and do some shopping but I think I'll pack my box to send home and do some cleaning instead. There are tumbleweeds of dog hair all over the house -- I bet I could swifter up enough hair to knit a whole new dog!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I am glad you are having some lazy days this week. You are usually so busy. Ewe to that much dog hair around the house. When do you head back home?

It was another busy day at work. We went out for supper tonight since our cleaning lady came today. I like to have a clean kitchen for at least one night. We had a horrible waitress but we weren’t in a hurry and the food was good. I saved half of it for my lunch tomorrow.

It was 15 out when we got in the car to come home from the restaurant. Thank goodness for seat heaters.

Have a great evening and Happy New Year’s Eve tomorrow.

Marcy / Curby

 

[deegee]

Hi all!

I'm at my in-laws house, sending Matt "let's LEAVE" vibes, but he's not picking up on them. We need to work on our mind reading skills. And crap, my devices are almost dead. When will this torture end??? Have a great day tomorrow!

 

[marcy]

Deegee, your post made me laugh. Do you want me to call you? I know how much you love hanging out with the in laws. Hopefully you can leave soon.

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I'm at my limit. We've been here for 6 l-o-n-g hours. We were planing to take them to dinner, but his mom insisted she make dinner. She made frozen pizza...not good frozen pizza either. I was looking forward to the distraction of a restaurant. Argh. As a reward for me being on my very best behavior, we're going car shopping tomorrow. I'm planning to check out the BMW, Lexus and Mercedes dealerships. Now I just have to be good until Matt gets my mental signals...

 

[marcy]

I'll call and you can pretend it's an emergency. Marcy needs me we gotta go.

OMG frozen pizza for company for dinner? You deserve a new car tomorrow. Have fun shopping! 6 hours is a long time.

I loved it when my in laws lived here I'd say well I've got to go home and grade papers we better go. It usually was true but not all the time.

Good luck!