Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, how did it go yesterday?!

This morning I headed out to an auction, and over spent on a few things, but also got the one thing I wanted the most, plus some others, so it was OK. Cold though -- and my toes were like ice cubes from about the first five minutes, even though I had those Little Hottie foot warmers in. I really need a better solution! There are some heated insoles that I looked into last night and I think they HAVE to do something... right... ?! Now I'm sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with whiskey and Liam and the children have gone off to some video game store, so there is peace in the house, however brief it may be!

No CADs yet. Not sure what's up with that as Ilya said the guy was working on them right then when I asked for the third (!) iteration. If I don't see something by about Tuesday I'll ping him. I've given up all hope of getting Pinkie for X-mas...

Tonight we may go to a friends' for dinner, yet to be determined. I would love to go NOWHERE, but every once in a while the need to be social rears its ugly head, LOL.

Off to pack up an order with the hopes of getting it to Fed Ex in time to make the Saturday evening truck.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I didn't get a chance to turn in my letter - it's printed and signed though. There was some crisis going on so I stayed out of the fray - luckily it wasn't caused by my department. I remain very optimistic the lady I am training now will do just fine. I have a one on one Monday so will take it with me then.

Nice you picked up what you wanted at the auction today. That sucks your toes got so cold. Those little packs when I used them did just warm up a small spot and seemed to cool off fast. Heated insoles do sound interesting. I had a full length wrap nylon coat with 1 inch thick thinsulate lining for star parties; it sure kept me warm but my fingers and toes got cold. I used that coat for years but finally had to throw it out because the lining was getting ripped up from weeds, etc. out in the wild. My mom made it for me. Good idea to warm up with whiskey and tea.

Darn you didn't get CAD's for pinkie yet. Hopefully on Monday then. I am anxious to see them.

Nice to spend dinner with friends. Did you get your package mailed? I hate the t shirts for my SIL ready to mail and they were in the car; as we drove by the post office I could see the parking lot was mostly bare so I said - turn right I'll go mail the t-shirts. I was 3rd in line. When I got back in the car the cars were rolling in so steady we had a hard time pulling out.

We started the day eating breakfast out then went grocery shopping. We decided on chiicken parm and fettuccine Alfredo for dinner. Marty also made garlic bread with it and obviously a bottle of wine. I got out 2 pieces of cheesecake from the freezer. I'm stuffed and probably put on 5 pounds from it all but it was delicious.

I did get laundry done and wrote my annual Christmas poem to send in Christmas cards. I will proof it tomorrow then start working on Christmas cards.

I am debating my post employment TV options. I am used to all free TV and free PPV movies.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, probably a good idea not to turn in your letter in the midst of a fray! I ordered some heated insoles last night. They were the "second best" ones based on the scoring, but they can work on low heat for up to ten hours, which was better than the first best that only worked for seven. There are days when I'll need the ten! I didn't get the order shipped... and now I have two more. Liam will have to take them for me tomorrow. I'm also working my way through shipping X-mas boxes. I figure if I can get out one a day I'll be in good shape! The other day I got out the X-mas cards. I opened the box to grab one card so I could send $ to my nephew... and that one card had glitter on it... and now there is glitter All Over The Damn House. From ONE CARD! If anyone want's to understand about the spreading of a virus they should take this as a lesson!

Today I need to get up the listings from at least the two most expensive things I bought yesterday so I can safely tuck those down in the basement and out of the way of roving ferals and dogs. It's raining here though so the light will be terrible. Ugh.

I also need to do some laundry or else I won't have any pants to wear to work tomorrow. My office is not Pants Optional!

Liam just delivered my coffee. I guess I should at least sit up now!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, let me know how the heated insoles work. At our star parties in the mountains I refused to go in to the trailer and get warm because there was NO way I was going back outside after getting warm. Some of those nights got in the 20's or lower and you aren't super active at a telescope. The stars were well worth freezing though.

You lucked out that Liam will ship your orders for you tomorrow - Marty tries to avoid the post office as much as he can. I'll use the UPS store or Office Depot since hours are more convenient for me but soon that won't be a problem.

I completely HATE glitter bomb cards and they seem to be frequent especially at Christmas time. I actually squish the envelopes before opening a card and if it's glitter that sucker NEVER comes out of the envelope. As you said it is awful to clean that mess up and even the ones I don't take out of the envelope still scatter glitter around. If they have a letter folded up inside it is infested with glitter as well. Last year since most of the stores were closed I ordered in my cards from Hallmark and 2 boxes of Snoopy cards were covered with glitter. Those 2 boxes got donated to the Christmas cards for seniors at work. I guess I don't like everything that sparkles. Ha Ha.

Did you get your 2 expensive items listed today? I browsed through yesterday to see what was new on your site.

The "What Wind?" is horrible today. Marty wants to go try moose hunting this afternoon towards sunset because they probably go to the water hole around then. I have a roast in the crock pot for supper and can easily make bake potatoes that will keep until he gets home.

I washed our sheets and will get the table cloth washed after we eat today.

I was just browsing our internet provider cable TV options. To get the basic channels I want would be about 1/2 the price of cable and it looks like I could get a streaming app rather than needing a receiver and remote you have to pay for, decisions, decisions.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, we have your wind here now! The building is swaying and I started my day with a big cup of coffee and a double dose of Dramamine. Ugh. Are you surrrrrre you can't negotiate some sort of TV / PPV package into your retirement?! Maybe pitch it as quality control. You'll watch, and if anything is wrong you'll let them know! Good luck with turning in the letter today!!!

I am soooo tired. Yesterday I managed to get seven or eight listings up, including one of the expensive things. I then made the mistake of goofing off for a few hours, eating dinner, doing my nails, yada yada yada, instead of going down into the basement and packing up my orders. Well... at midnight... I was printing out shipping labels... And I hate that especially on Sunday nights because come 5:30 Monday morning I need to be On The Road. To add insult to injury, the big dog took off during his last pee of the night chasing a fox or a coyote or something. Liam drove all over looking for him but no luck. Finally we went to bed, and around 2 am he was on the back deck barking to be let in. I went down and did it because I was afraid Liam was going to strangle him he was so mad. All that being said, I have hooked up a cable on the deck and I always put him on it when he goes out because I know he goes out of the yard since he no longer pays any attention to the electric proximity collar, and I've had this conversation with Liam approximately one hundred times, so I think the fault here is shared at the very least. When I got downtown this morning I made the executive decision to get back in bed for an hour, but I never fell asleep. And now I'm at work, half a zombie.

The gem show is this weekend again, and I'm tempted to go... but common sense tells me not to! We'll see. And fingers crossed for CADs today!

It's December sixth already! I need to get the rest of my packages shipped this week and start thinking about getting the cards out too. And who knows what I'll sell over the next few days. I'm starting to feel like I should get T-shirts that say USPS, FedEx and UPS and just rotate them daily. Come the first of the year I am really going to think about this Etsy thing. It's turned into a JOB. What a luxury it is to have a whole weekend to myself -- which hasn't happened since last February. There were several times yesterday when I thought, just keep working to get the current backlog of inventory listed, don't buy any more, and when it runs out I can close the store. Who knows what I'll ultimately decide, but shutting down is definitely a possibility.

My boss is out today so maybe I can get something done!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, pinkie is going to be so pretty! I can hardly wait!

I swear I didn't send our wind your way. I forgot you have to take Dramamine because your building moves in the wind. I noticed when I left for work this morning the Snoopy dog house mailbox decoration outside was leaning BAD - when I got home Marty had put some support all around it. He used actual heavy duty tent stakes when he put it out the other day. We weren't as windy today but dropped to the 20's. My parka is too big now so I'll have to wear a fleece or vest under it next time.

I keep trying to tell the video on demand manager I'll gladly work for her at home and do the quality checks on their content. Ha Ha. Yes, I did turn in my retirement letter today - indicating I was retiring on December 24th. Woo hoo!!!! My boss was very busy so basically said okay thanks. News got out though because I got several chats and emails today.

I hate when that happens - you relax for a while and then it's CRAP why am I up so late? That made for a very short night for you. Oh no one of the dogs took off and Liam couldn't find him. Glad he came home on his own. Good idea to hook him up now when he goes outside. As for Liam / Marty listening I can identify. I had 3 honey dues this weekend one of which I got done by nagging at him before he went to bed. Oh well - it's not worth fighting over.

Ooh to the gem show this weekend. I can easily go to the local ones without spending money - most of it is beads and more trinkets than something that is drool worthy for me. I will have to watch for one in Denver.

Swapping shipping t shirts every day is a good idea - yes your Esty shop is taking a lot of time. You seem to be enjoying it anyway. I really liked teaching for 21 years but once that was over I wondered how the heck I did it on top of my day job plus the astronomy club.

It was cold here today and I definitely didn't dress warm enough for work. I did some training with the gal who will be taking over my team. I took in a big tote bag and brought home some stuff to start clearing out my double cube. I have way too much stuff at work. My little gym downstairs has magnetic boards so I brought home my favorite magnets and the 2 Snoopy flags I had at work.

It was a rather surreal moment today to print out my retirement letter, sign it and turn it in. My boss was dealing with more issues so we didn't even talk when I turned it in. I thought we had the 23rd off in addition to the 24th but I was wrong - it's the 27th. I am not working the following week and I guess now I'll work through the 23rd. I'll have 6 weeks of vacation coming on my last check too. Woo hoo!!!! Big check. Since Marty is on vacation from his day job the last 2 weeks of the year I told him well if it's snowy that week he can drive me to work and pick me up - his response was no way am I driving Miss Daisy. Ha Ha.

Speaking of ha ha - Marty left his camera setting on the coffee table yesterday when he went to the gym - so I played like a Rainman photographer with it and took out of focus and off center pictures on it of some of my teddy bears and stuffed puppy. Two of the bears were "mooning" him too. I can't wait until he finds them. As long as I crack myself up that is all that matters.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, now that your retirement letter is turned in That Sh!t's Real!!! What are your plans come the second week of January? I give it until then when you wake up and go, OK, what NOW?! Speaking of too much stuff at work, when I get fired (because it will happen some day... ) it's going to take someone a good long time and a lot of boxes to pack up all my stuff. I have one drawer full of just knee highs, make up, and an emergency mini curling iron. And that's the SMALL drawer! Let me know what Marty says when he sees the pics!

Yesterday I spent an ungodly amount of time looking for pics to send back to Ilya to get the CAD guy on a better track. I did finally send off an email today with some "comments" so hopefully this thing will get moving sooner rather than later... No chance of it by X-mas though I'm sure (which I've said before). Damn.

Last night I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and bought six frozen meals and a box of wine (), now now I'm good for at least a month, maybe two! I did a load of laundry and tried to steam the curtains in my bedroom, which I've never done, but without too much success. The wrinkles in that fake fabric can be a real b!tch to get out. Oh well, two and a half years now and the wrinkles haven't killed me yet, so I'm probably fine, LOL. Tonight I need to do a little straightening up though before I leave because I don't like to come back to my condo being a mess.

I just looked through the estate sales this week and so far nothing is calling my name. Thank god! In theory I am doing nothing buy zoom training on Wednesday and Thursday and then next Monday and Tuesday, so I should be able to get some of the mess cleared out of the dining room in that seven day span. Please let that be true... !

Alright, off to show my assistant something I want done before the end of the year. Wish me luck!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I hope Ilya understands your picture and comments for pinkie. It was very clear to me. I hope they surprise you and get it done before Christmas.

Definitely my retirement is real now. My boss did stop by and tell me so far HR hasn't received the information he submitted in their silly online app. Maybe they'll just keep paying me. You are being generous for when I'll be bored - I doubt I make it past January 2nd. Long weekends usually get me restless and I'm ready to go back to work. Could be interesting. Funny you mentioned how long it would take someone to pack up your stuff if you got fired. I hauled home another tote bag today and it all went in the trash - it was awards I've got at work over the years and I seriously didn't want to keep them but thought it would be rude to throw them away at work. I did mention to a friend of mine at work this afternoon that I should get fired so someone has to pack up all my stuff and deliver it to me at home. Ha!

Sounds like you are ready to eat at drink at your condo - the wine part is important. Did the wrinkles come out of the curtains?

Good luck getting the dining room cleared out. I have stuff to clear off my dining room table myself.

Work was busy today - we had to schedule about 700 channels off air - all 5 of us worked on that project. It was good training for the lady I'm training because she's never done a lot of that before. Other than that i was cold. I picked up Taco Tuesday for supper. The thrillometer is pegged.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, the wrinkles kind of came out of the few areas I steamed over and over again, but it's going to be a CHORE to get them perfect. And that may never actually happen! It was COLD here yesterday too. I got the brilliant idea that I would walk to work. It's only about 3/4 of a mile and the exercise and nice brisk air would do me good, right?! Well... I was shocked by how chilly it really was, and in my infinite wisdom I had on my tennis shoes with just little no-show socks and the area right above them was absolutely FRIGID by the time I got to work. Note to self: high socks from now until May!

I didn't get a ton done yesterday other than trying to communicate my changes to Ilya, which was a JOB in itself! The drive back out of the city wasn't as bad as it sometimes is, so that was a bonus. When I got here I only had one order to pack up and it was easy so I got it out of the way before I went to bed. When I run by the post office later I also want to go to the location auction place and look at some pictures they have up for Sunday's auction because I think they may look good in my second bathroom. Speaking of things that get hung up, I ordered a curtain rod to hang the kimono on the one remaining big wall in my condo. It will be kind of a shocking blast of color since everything else is so muted!

Between now and the end of the year I have 28 people for annual compliance training... starting with the first one in about two hours. Ugh. But I committed to my boss that I would get it done, so do it I will! I also took control of our (to this point in 2021 failed) department secret Santa. Our company holiday party is next Thursday and we're going to do a department thing right after, but my boss's boss and I used to be in charge of our gift exchange and party. Well he sailed off into the sunset right before covid and this year my boss failed miserably to pull this together so I took control. There is even a department joke about a pony (more on that later) and I had to track down the pony on ebay and order it yesterday for my boss to give to the new lady. Oy.

So the pony: Several years ago when I started and we first did this I said to whomever pulled my name that I wanted a pony. It turned out my boss's boss had my name and he got this super tacky pony (which is a bank) and gave it to me. The next year my closest friend in the department said SHE wanted a pony too. And then my assistant... and then the guy who works in my department... and then my boss's boss got one for my boss since he was the only who didn't have one. You can see how this all unfolded! The original pony came from Target and is no longer available so it has to be tracked down now on ebay for an outrageous price every year, but this is what it's become, LOL. And every year on the day of my review I walk into my boss's office and shake the bank, full of coins, vigorously and I say "Time to feed the pony!" He thinks I'm crazy, ha ha.

Alright, off to get today's adventure rolling.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Yesterday I got quite a bit done! Trips to (as you know!) Hallmark, Best Buy, Kohl's, Target, Costco and the post office. A bunch of my x-mas cards mailed (I ran out of both cards and stamps, but now the rest are done and read to go). Two employees trained. Two loads of laundry. Two boxes of x-mas gifts packed and ready to go, and a bunch more presents wrapped. For some reason I got motivated on the wrapping front and at midnight I was still in the basement slinging paper and tape around like a mad woman!

Today... who knows. There are a couple of employees on my training calendar, but not until this afternoon. I SHOULD be listing stuff in my continuing efforts to clean out the dining room, but I will likely just keep going down the gift wrapping path. There are two more boxes of gifts yet to ship, but I am still waiting for one thing for each.

Liam and I are going to spend Saturday night at my condo with the goal of hanging up the kimono. Fingers crossed on that as he and I are not exactly the best "team" when it comes to home improvement projects, LOL. We get them done, don't get me wrong, but there's often a bit of bickering and some, shall we say, difference of opinion along the way! I still haven't done the project that involves wallpapering my bathroom door and hanging the mirror on it, but getting the giant kimono up safely seem like much more of a priority at this point!

Still debating what to do about the gem show tomorrow. I always tell myself I can just go and LOOK... and then... many thousands of dollars later... !!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids! Happy Cold and Snowy Thursday!

Dee Jay, glad most of the wrinkles came out of the curtains. Oh no for a cold walk to work. I wear those short socks too and yes they don’t do much for you in cold weather. We are getting snow today and tomorrow pull dropping in to the 20’s.
Have you heard from Ilya again? I noticed my ruby ring had a similar profile to your inspiration ring. I was going to start a new thread on my earrings but don’t see the new thread button anywhere. Must be only in view of my bad eye.
Tempting for you to go to the gem show. The only one I went to in Denver was disappointing but I could have spent a fortune at the Tucson gem show.
Have fun with the secret Santa and the holiday party. Love the pony story. My BIL got me a bowl for a shower gift when we got married that gets passed around the family as a gag gift.
You did make the rounds yesterday. Our local Hallmark closed. I ended up paying double for this years Snoopy Hallmark ornament. Our Walgreens and Kohls usually have Hallmark ornaments but not his year so I bought it on Amazon.
Nice to get Christmas cards in the mail. I am starting on mine tonight.
Enjoy compliance training. I have 3 training sessions assigned to me either due the end of the month or middle January. Ha ha. I’m not going to do them. Sadly my boss stopped by today and asked me to write employee appraisals and email them to him. Rats.
I totally chuckled at you and Liam bickering when doing home improvement projects. Sounds very familiar. I hope the kimono hanging project goes well. The worst time we had is Marty teaching me how to use a computer. I wanted to know what button do I push and he wasn’t having it. He wanted me to understand the what and why. I admitted later he was right to make me learn things but at the time I was pretty agitated. Just answer my @#$& question!
Last night was busy after work. I stopped at the bank on the way home, then got home to find our 2 Christmas hams delivered. I had to clean the bar glasses out of the man cave freezer to get the hams in there. Then I lifted. All of that took so long my supper was over cooked and stuck to the pan. I was going to start on my Christmas cards but couldn’t find my Christmas poem because Marty was proofing it and it was no where to be found. He gave it to me this morning so I’ll print it out tonight and get busy. I ordered self stick envelops so I should be able to knock those out quickly.
The company approved my retirement date. Nice of them, eh? They sent me an exit interview to take online. I didn’t say much of anything. Just I’m retiring.
I did find 2 classes I’m signing up for to take online. One is Photoshop Lightroom and a refresher course on grammar. I figure grammar is a good idea since I write an article for the local paper. Another project I plan on undertaking is scanning my thousands of pictures and throwing out most of those prints. Think of the room I’ll have in my collect all room!!!

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, I think it's great you have a few classes you want to take! I have no idea what I will do when I retire to keep my brain from immediately turning to mush! The new thread button is in a weird place; look in the upper right hand corner and there's a blue button that says "post thread" with a pencil in it. Once you click on that it suggests all sorts of things that might already be being discussed (to keep people from posting on the same topics over and over I imagine), but ignore all that and just forge ahead. Yes -- you should TOTALLY do a thread on your earrings! They are fabulous and such a festive red for this time of year! Ilya emailed me yesterday that the CADs are being worked on, so hopefully we'll see them soon... Oh... and I *might* have just texted Alex Part about a stone that was posted on his instagram a while ago. I'm 99.9% certain it's sold, but hope springs eternal! And speaking of hope, I am indeed going to the gem show today. Why not, right?!

Yesterday I worked worked and worked! And then, after dinner, I went down in the basement and stayed there until about midnight and was a wrapping fool. I'm in pretty good shape here now, except there is a bag with something for Liam that I saw yesterday and now cannot find. It's just a joke present that I snuck back from Phoenix, and I'm sure it will turn up, but I want to make sure I find it before he runs across the bag and is like, what's this? Nothing for "family" in Missouri is wrapped, but I take all that with me and do it there. It's going to be quite a pile this year because several of the things are bigger than normal. I hope sister #1 bought all small gifts or we're going to need a bigger car!

I've got to train two people this morning and ship two orders, but they are easy (one bowl and one egg cup) and I'll drop them off along the way to the show.

Ok, up and at 'em -- there are gems to buy!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Just head back from Alex. Stone is sold, which is no surprise, but still disappointing.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!!

Dee Jay, darn the stone is sold. The new cad for pinkie looks great; the proportions for the side view of the head are IMO perfect.

I definitely need to find things to keep me busy when I retire. I don't want to be a couch potato - I'll be talking to my teddy bears.

Thanks for the info on where to find the start a new thread. I thought I clicked on that but maybe I didn't.

Nice that you got a lot of gift wrapping done and I hope you find Liam's joke present. Marty still hasn't said a word about the bear pictures on his camera; he probably has found them by now and decided not to even acknowledge them waiting for me to crack and ask about them first. That isn't going to happen. I hope you and sister #1 won't have to tie gifts on top of the car for the trip to Missouri. I can picture it like the overflowing gifts in Santa's sleigh.

I hope training went well for you today. Work was incredibly slow for me today so my team all did their compliance and harassment training - and since the earliest one is due December 31st I don't plan on taking them. I caught up on some TV shows I had recorded, It was a nice quiet day since my boss and his boss were both sick today.

We had enough snow to make it icy. The high temperature today was 22 - I don't know where that left us for wind chill. I had on top and bottom thermal underwear, pants and 3 more tops. I was actually not cold at work with all of that on; plus wore my down vest under my parka - I was ready for the cold. Ha!

I was going to work on my Christmas cards tonight but that might wait until tomorrow. Marty is hosting a party for his gym members tomorrow in the man cave - maybe I'll brew up a batch of cookies in the morning.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, I was SO relieved when that second round of CADs came through and they were spot on! After that first round I thought WTF. Ha! Still no bag with Liam's joke present. There are other things in that bag too, but now I can't remember what LOL. We've got your snow now spitting out of the sky. Of course, since I wanted to head into the city early. But it's supposed to stop later so my revised plan is to do some things here and head it once it stops and then I'll spend all day tomorrow in my office.

Full report on yesterday's gem show: I didn't get there until around two and it seemed CROWDED to me. I was like, oh no, I don't want to have to fight to get to the counters... But after the first row it thinned out quite a bit, and honestly by about 4 / 4:30 you could have shot a cannon down the aisles without hitting anyone. I spoke to several of the vendors I always see there, and one in particular said toward the end that she'd had a really good first day so hopefully people really were spending money because I always feel back when these vendors come all this way and spend so much to be in the show and then don't get good traffic.

As you know, the first thing I bought were those three scarves. I really love one of them in particular! The ring I sent you the photo of was from the vendor that Darth's setting came from, and I'm sure you couldn't tell from the pic but the "emerald cuts" where really tiny ECs with baguettes around them. Really well done, but I just can't get my head around that concept. It was the nicest version of a moi et toi ring that I've tried on though and I'm happy to see that I did like it on my hand so now I'm more comfortable with the idea of having one made. I tried on a bunch of other rings but not one of them compelled me to pull out my Am Ex. I did buy a pair of tinnnnnny diamond huggies (.2 ctw) to wear in lieu of the tinnnnnny gold huggies I've been wearing all through the pandemic because I'm afraid of flipping good earrings off with my mask. I may get kicked off of PS for saying this, but I plan on wearing these 24/7 and they will get cleaned pretty infrequently I'm sure. I just took a photo to send you but (a) I'm going to wait another hour since I always seem to wake you up on the weekends, and (b) please ignore the sheet wrinkles on my cheek!

Last night Liam and I went out to dinner. The first parking lot we pulled into was full to the outer edges, so we bailed on that restaurant. The second restaurant we actually went inside and got seated. The band was SO loud and the singer had a weird high pitched voice. We were sitting at a high top and my chair rocked precariously. I got up to look and see what was going on and the plastic foot thing on that leg was missing. There was nothing I could do about it so I went to sit back down and when I tried to climb on all the weight was on that one short leg and the chair shot right out from under me. I'm sure every person in there though I was too drunk to get up on my chair -- and I hadn't had a single sip at that point! We then made the executive decision to leave there and go to a local Mexican place where we ate without harm to our hearing or ourselves! That being said, my right ankle is sore this morning from the "slip 'n' fall. Ugh.

OK, of to pack up and order and get this show on the road!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, you new huggies are perfect. Your scarfs sound nice. I agree the new CAD is exactly as I envisioned it. I did notice the halo on the ring picture you sent me were baguettes. They had a halo ring setting like that in YG where I had my ruby ring made but it was for a larger ruby and the band was not as thick as I wanted for my ring. One of our local jewelers has been in business for 100 years next month and they have a ring in their commercial that has 4 or 5 stones like that a ring - it looks quite interesting. I may have to go see it in person. For all I know it's a few rings on a ring tree. That is kind of strange the gem show was so slow mid afternoon. That's good the vendors you talked to said they had good sales first day.

I hope the missing bag shows up. I wrapped some Christmas gifts this morning. I hope the snow quit for your drive in to the city. We had a bit more snow overnight but it was sunny most of the day. We had another high wind warning today - shocking I know. Places were having gusts over 90 mph. Pretty awful about all those tornadoes last night, kind of late in the year for those kind of storms.

Oh no you fell off that chair - how is your ankle now? I did a similar thing at a bar one time but my drunk friend actually grabbed me and knocked me off the stool. Such fun - as long as they don't end up on YouTube. Mexican food sounds like a better choice after that.

We were busy today. Marty headed to the man cave after we ate breakfast to wrap gifts and get ready for his gym Christmas party. I worked on laundry and started wrapping presents. After I got my first round of gifts wrapped I printed out my Christmas poem and labels for Christmas cards and in the meantime Marty went to the store to get his snacks for the Christmas party. Way to be prepared, eh? His first guests showed up while he was still at the store. Only about a dozen people showed up this year but it was fun. Everyone when home about 3:30 and since I was hungry we went out to eat. I finished my Christmas cards when we got home and will have Marty get them mailed on the way to the gym in the morning. Tomorrow I will brew up a batch of Christmas cookies.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, my ankle is fine... but now my head hurts. Not related to the "fall" LOL, just a sinus thing. It's great that Marty had a dozen people show up at the party! Good for you for getting the cards done! I always feel a sense of relief when I put that big pile in the mailbox. Of course I remember extra people for the next few weeks, but the ones and twos are not so bad.

Yesterday didn't turn out like I'd planned. (How many times do I say that?!) We didn't get downtown until about six, which was much later than I'd hoped. It worked out alright though, and Liam and I got the kimono hung -- with no relationship issues! I had to make a decision about whether to center it on the wall opposite the kitchen door opening or on the door opening and I went with the wall. Not sure that was the right choice, but now it is what it is. I'll send you pics. After that we strolled over to Michigan Avenue and had a couple of drinks at an old grand hotel bar.

This morning I slept way later than I wanted to and am just now getting settled at my office -- at 11:30! Oh well, I'll still get five or six good hours in here.

OK, off to work work work!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, glad your ankle feels fine. Oh no to a sinus headache - they are definitely not fun. I hope you feel better soon. Marty took our stack of Christmas cards to mail on his way to the gym. Yay! I don't mind those one or 2 i need to mail later either and this year I bought self stick envelopes so that made it even easier! YAY.

Sweet that hanging the kimono didn't lead to any cursing, name calling, punching, tripping or stabbing. Walking over to an old grand hotel for a drink sounds like a perfect evening. That made me think of the Brown Palace in Denver - I should suggest Marty and I go spend the night there again sometime. Their breakfast is awesome and we did enjoy a lovely glass of wine or 2 in the bar. Good idea!

Working on Sunday? Good luck! That sounds like my job. Just think they can only get to me work on the weekend either today or next weekend - then it's someone else's problem. Ha!

I got up at 6:30 and feel like I need a nap now,. The sunrise was worth the early morning though. I did my last batch of laundry, wrapped the gift for the family gift exchange, lifted and am off to bake some Christmas cookies after posting this. I thawed out some bonus free burgers we got from Omaha Steaks for lunch. I "believe" (of course I am often delusional) the wind will die down enough we can grill today. Our Snoopy mailbox lawn decoration got snapped in half last night by the wind. Marty thinks he can fix it. Stupid wind.

Have a great day.
Curby

One of my sunrise pictures today:

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, I need a nap too!!! I was here for seven solid hours yesterday. Normally I would have just stayed downtown but I had an order to pack and Liam also made a big turkey breast for dinner so I felt like I should go up north and eat, LOL. I debated coming to work today right up until I hit the snooze button for the third time... and then I got up and made the trip. I'm glad I did now, but that looooooong drive down a dark highway was not fun. Debating whether to come in tomorrow or Wednesday. I have to be here Thursday for our company and department holiday parties.

I got A LOT done yesterday, but not the one big major thing I've been putting off. Today though I'm making some headway. I also have a STACK of things to discuss with my boss... and neither one of us is going to enjoy it -- HA!

Alright, back at it!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, thank you for the Christmas card. I appreciate it. I liked Santa's clothes hanging out to dry.

You had a long day yesterday but yes it was probably a good idea to head to the North estate for a delicious turkey dinner. I bet the drive to town in the dark was a long one - our latest sunrise is still a few weeks away but at least the sunsets are getting later each day. Nice that the company and department parties are this week. Did you get the secret Santa all organized? My former employee who got moved to another department when the new gal got moved to my team gave me a nice Snoopy ornament today. I hadn't picked her up anything this year so I just ordered her a jigsaw puzzle with a lovely beach picture. She always has beach pictures as her desktop so hopefully she likes to do puzzles. I ordered my team some pens with their names on them. I usually pick up assorted gift cards to have on hand for gifts but haven't done that this year.

I hope you got a lot accomplished on your big project today and the discussion with your boss went better than expected. My senior manager was telling me today he's happy for me but not looking forward to me being gone, I said sorry for your loss. I couldn't help myself.

I proofed my 4 employee appraisals today but since the boss said he wanted them by Wednesday I'm not emailing them out until Wednesday morning. They will lead to a discussion, irritation and then I'll make his desired changes. My job got posted today - I told Marty I should apply for it.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids. Happy Windy Tuesday!!

The employee who I’m sure would have been put on a performance plan next year gave me his notice today. He is quitting December 31st. Bad news for my team but I’m. It delaying my exit. One of the things I couldn’t put in a performance plan is develop trouble shooting skills. How do you measure that? Ironically he told me is got a job on the help desk for a medical records place. I believe that would require trouble shooting skills. Oh well, not my problems. Surprise, surprise!!!

I am done with my work for the day. Yay. Trying to watch NCIS but my TV keeps resetting st my desk. Good thing I’m in the TV business. Ha ha.

I am stopping at the store on the way home to get stuff for my mini cheesecakes. Sunday is rapidly approaching!

Latera,
Curby #gonnaloveretirement

 

[Rod]

Hello, said Rod with tail between his legs. It's been far too long since I popped in to say hello.

But, I have good reasons. Honest, I do. I just had to pop in after getting a holiday card today from Dee. And I'm going to copy a portion of what I just emailed her, uh, so I don't have to type what's been going on with us over again:

Just before Covid hit, we had decided we wanted to buy a home home, and get out of communal living (no more condo's or townhomes). Covid kind of put a squash on that. Before the world shut down however, I had found a brand new home on the Hillsborough River and we really liked it. It was priced a bit high, but we couldn't act on it. Then out of the blue a year ago last July, a couple who had seen our townhome asked if we'd still sell it to them as they really liked it and they offered over asking price. So we checked and not only was the new house on the river still available, they had dropped the price $125,000, so we bought it. It's just the perfect place for us. Very open, very modern and finishing touches exactly what we would have chosen had we built it. We've had a dock put in and Charlie just got a Kayak, and used it this weekend for the first time.

What else? Lets see.........In late August I got sick. Thought it was a cold at first. After all, we were both double vaxxed. Even had rapid Covid tests, which were negative. But I continued getting sicker and then Charlie started to get sick. So we had the full PCR Covid test and by the time we found we both had Covid, it had been a week since our first symptoms. We had the Monochlonal Antibody treatment, but it didn't do squat for me. Then it was the long holiday weekend and I was getting short of breath and wound in the ER, with pneumonia and the Covid white lung scarring. I didn't have to be hospitalized, but the doctors told me my outcome would not likely have been good if I wasn't vaccinated. I was home for a month, but I'm doing OK now. I still don't have the lung capacity I had pre-covid, but I'm grateful to be alive. Oh and Charlie didn't hardly get sick at all. Lucky for me, he was able to care for me. We had to have groceries home delivered for a couple weeks. And I lost weight from not having an appetite, but trust me when it came back, so too did the weight I'd lost. LOL

We do have a good quality elliptical. I was doing great on it and going at least 5 miles in 30 minutes before Covid. I'm lucky if I can hit a little over 3 miles in 30 minutes now. What Covid did to my intestines is something I can't even articulate in polite company, so I just won't.

Otherwise, things are good now. I'm going to be 67, my next birthday and am thinking about how to either work part time or not at all. Still not sure how I'll handle that. Charlie works part time at Pottery Barn and does floor decor for them. They love his creativity.

I'll read through some of the more recent posts to see what you've all been up to. What I hope to learn is everyone is healthy, happy and looking forward to really terrific holidays this year.

I'll try to not go away for so long.

Your friend,

Rod

Ps: The new view on the river! It took 10 months of permitting to be able to put the dock in, but was well worth the wait!

And we got a new Christmas Tree for the new house, so I just have to show you Charlie's wonderful decorations this year!

 

[Rod]

Heya Marcy,

This is more for Marty, but I forgot to mention, we both got iPhone 13 Pro (I got the 13 Pro Max) and new Apple Watch 7 in stainless. The new watches are terrific with bigger screens and I particularly wanted them because they now read blood oxygen levels. I try to not check my O2 levels obsessively, but post-Covid, I do check it a bit more than I should.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Yay - it's @Rod! Glad to see you here! Dee's card beat mine - it should be there soon. But wait - hopefully your mail is still being forwarded to your wonderful, beautiful new home. I'd love living in a place like that with such a terrific view. I am so sorry to hear you got so sick and have reduced lung capacity. Glad to hear Charlie didn't get very sick and was able to take care of you. That is so scary. I hope you continue to get better and stronger all the time. I think everyone has had it or are going to get it but it sure hits people differently. I think Marty had it twice and I probably had it once - I NEVER catch stuff going around but I guess I can't say that anymore. Neither of us got tested since we were home bound at the time anyway and not sick enough to need a doctor. Absolutely gorgeous view off your deck and the Christmas tree is beautiful. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2022. Good luck with your work decision.

To catch up with me - I am officially retiring on December 24. Mostly because I can, I want to and I'm ready. Plus I am tired of the ever deteriorating working environment with my company and I am totally over being a boss. I've been a bit anxious and nervous about it but I am getting more excited every day. Overall Marty and I are doing well. He had shoulder surgery in August and was lifting weights again way before his doctor sanctioned it but he is doing remarkably well 4 months post surgery. His day job is the same and he is running a small strength training gym with about 3 dozen clients right now. His hours are very early MWF morning and then every evening plus Sunday morning. Both of us bought new digital cameras in the spring and are having fun with them. I started feeling crappy in the spring and finally went to the doctor in August. I figured I had heart problems and maybe was diabetic (I still like my sugar) but those things were fine. I am on blood pressure meds now - which I definitely needed - but found out I am anemic and my thyroid functions normally but my brain thinks it's putting out too much and counter acts it. I have no idea what they can do for that. The anemia is maybe MDS - which I naturally consulted Dr. Google over and freaked out because it is a bone marrow issue that can be cancerous and can lead to leukemia. That totally sounded like what was going on with my mom who died from leukemia. My red blood cells are too small and way too large, and I have pretty much all the symptoms you get from anemia. I had a second blood test and follow up appointment December 1st but my doctor was out and the physician assistant just thought I was better in some respects and not others and wanted me to get an EKG and then another blood test then come back next month. They were going to "arrange" those appointments and yet 2 weeks later I've heard nothing. I am rather frustrated that 5 months later I still have no idea why I'm anemic. I might go get my test results and go see a hematologist. Overall I feel better than a few months ago but I don't feel normal for me. I have been lifting twice a week for a while which has really helped my legs plus I can pack in a lot of groceries at once. Ha Ha. Sorry for the mini book here but that's what is going on with me.

I definitely had short timer disease at work today. I had my work done by about 10 am. One of my employees pulled me aside and gave me his notice. He is leaving December 31st. Not good timing for my team but I'm not changing my plans. I was going to suggest they put him on a performance plan next year but I guess he dodged that by finding another job. One of his biggest shortcomings is lack of trouble shooting skills - he told me his new job is answering phones at a help desk for electronic medical records - hopefully they provide him a script because other wise he won't be a superstar at his new job. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up tin foil muffin tins - my bill was a little over $100 and they didn't have my muffin tins.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Heya Marcy,

This is more for Marty, but I forgot to mention, we both got iPhone 13 Pro (I got the 13 Pro Max) and new Apple Watch 7 in stainless. The new watches are terrific with bigger screens and I particularly wanted them because they now read blood oxygen levels. I try to not check my O2 levels obsessively, but post-Covid, I do check it a bit more than I should.

@Rod glad to hear you are still getting the latest, greatest Apple products! Marty got the 12 Pro and I'm not sure what his version of watch is - it is a newer one though. I love that shade of blue on the 13 Pro but there is nothing wrong with my 11 Pro and I put cases on my phones anyway. That's great you watch can check your oxygen levels. I have one of those oxy / pulse readers and we have a BP cuff. My oxygen drops when I'm up and about and luckily my heart beat is better with the BP pills. It was over 100 beats before I started the pills.

 

[Rod]

Hey Marcy,

I'm glad you're retiring. Woo Hoo for you!! My company treats me well and I do like the money. I'm just tired of doing of the headhunting business. Clients have unrealistic expectations. And candidates, since Covid are now refusing to consider any job which will eventually require they be in an office. Add in Covid Vaccine mandates for some companies, but not all and it's just frustrating these days. Of course losing an entire month to being sick, cost me, so it hasn't been my best year billing wise, that's for sure.

On your health issues. Please Please keep getting to the root of the anemia. What medications do they suggest for anemia?

I'm glad to hear you're lifting. Though it is not something I would have imagined hearing. LOL. But I'm sure it's great for your dexterity and lifting strength. I get depressed about doing cardio since Covid. I need to push myself harder. It's just frustrating when you have this expectation of past performance, which Covid kind of took from you.

Both Charlie and I have been on BP meds for a long time. We only take 10mg , so not severe, but our doctor suggests we'll be on the rest of our lives. Covid caused me to have some prostate issues. I don't know if you remember the surgeries I've had down there over the years. But everything was going so well before Covid and then it caused a massive infection that required me to be on antibiotics for about 6 weeks. I had my PSA checked again this week and had an appointment with my urologist today and he was very happy with my progress. I don't have to go back till next fall. YAY!

I'm glad to hear Marty is still doing the training thing. Please give him my best.

And please take care of yourself.

Ps: We paid the Post Office to still forward mail. I emailed Dee our new home address. I do have your email address, so I'll email you the new address. Though we're still not very good about sending holiday cards. So, consider this our absolute best wishes for the holidays and the coming year!!

Your buddy,

Rod

Enjoy being a part timer till you leave. What are they going to do anyway, fire you?

 

[marcy]

@Rod I am glad you get treated well at work. That makes a huge difference. There is that pesky money bit; I am going to miss that spending money for sure. I bet headhunting is way more challenging these days. I think a lot of people would rather work from home after experiencing it for such a long time. I don't mind going to the office primarily because I like to drive my car and my monitor at work is an iMac - way better than my cheap HP laptop they provide me to work on from home. I did work from home all the time for about 9 months, then went in 3 days a week for a few months then was back full time starting in April.

There appear to be several types of anemia and I sure want to find out what is causing it. At this point in time they aren't doing anything for it. I get sick on vitamins but started taking the Flintstones complete kiddies vitamins. I definitely need to see a different doctor. Glad you and Charlie do well on low dosage BP medicine. The PA upped me from 25 to 50 mg on mine and my BP seems a bit low; sadly my heart beat can still get going but that's probably the anemia. Sure gets my attention. I do remember your surgeries and issues, I hate to hear you had another infection but good news your last test was showing progress.

I know - it surprised me I like lifting. Marty kept asking me "when are you going to try it?" I finally agreed to try it and found I could do it and I liked it. I hope your cardio endurance keeps improving. I hate to hear COVID hit you so hard.

Marty totally enjoys training people. He has a few loyal group too; most of them are women. Some of the ladies he knew in the army guard signed up, he has quite a few local air force guys and a few families. I am stunned at how well he has done with his shoulder - he had a hole in the ball joint, a bone spur and a muscle tear all of which most people are barely moving their arm again in 6 months. He pushed himself and hasn't regained full strength yet and bench presses are still a major challenge but he works at them anyway. Hanging out with me made him tough. Ha!

Thank you - I am taking care of myself. I am back on losing weight and doing well on that - now if I can get this anemia figured out and under control I'll be doing great.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

HELLLLLLLLO Rod!!! So GREAT to hear from you! Your new place sounds wonderful and I'm so happy everything came together so you could buy it. The tree is gorgeous and I'm not surprised one bit; Charlie is very very talented! I hear you on the work thing... I always thought I would "retire" at 59-1/2 (so 8-1/2 years from now)... but I think I'm revising that plan to 55! Covid is so scary and I'm really glad you and Charlie made it through. Isn't it crazy how differently people react to it?! Don't push yourself TOO hard now though! Big hugs to both you and Charlie. Maybe next year when I visit my dad I'll be able to get in another trip to see you!

Curby, good luck turning in the employee appraisals today. I say slide them under your boss's door and RUN! Pinkie is back in limbo in terms of timing... Ilya emailed me on Tuesday and asked if I would like the mele to be set closer together and the prongs less square. Well OF COURSE I would! Honestly, I'm so bad with CADs that when I got that second version I was like, okie dokie, looks good to me, LOL. So who knows what happens next... but whatever it is I'm sure it won't be fast...

Works this week is a BEAR! Seven solid hours there on Sunday, Monday and yesterday until after 8 pm, and today I am at the north estate but I have zoom training all day. Ugh. I've also got two more orders to pack up in addition to the two I packed up last night when I got here. According to the USPS site the last of my mother's gifts should arrive today, and I've got her box all ready to go. So somehow all of that has to get to the post office before they close at 5!

Alright, off to get this adventure going!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby and Rod, not sure how often you go to Hangout but Wink has posted that Dancing Fire has passed away. Just wanted to let you know in case you didn't see it. Such sad news.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I emailed my appraisals and his response was thanks. I am sure I haven't heard the last of them though. Phooey. I really had short timer disease today. At least I had TV to watch. Ha Ha.

Obviously I'm no help on CADS either - I totally see what Ilya means looking now but then again I find everything exaggerated on CAD's so I figure they'd be closer and more delicate in person. It is going to be gorgeous!

Phooey that work has been a bear this week! Are you taking off time over the holidays? I am taking off time - FOREVER. Sorry - bragging isn't pretty. Marty has the last 2 weeks of the year off.

I hope you got your packages shipped today. I worked late so didn't stop to pick up my Christmas cards at Walgreens. I made up 20 with my Christmas collage to give to people at work. It is so stinking windy again (or is that still?) I decided I'll pick them up tomorrow. I went out to lunch with a friend of mine at work and apparently the 75 mph gust recorded at 12:53 was blowing on my car door because I could barely get it open long enough to get in my car! I am sure it was comical to watch from afar.

We had a last minute maintenance ticket come out about 10 minutes till 4 and it was a PITA - it was from one of the departments Marty used to run - I commented I missed the days I could chew that manager out. Ha Ha. Good practice for my replacement though.

I lifted tonight and wasn't very hungry afterwards so I had an English muffin and a piece of cheese for supper. Now I'm getting hungry.

Tomorrow will be 1 more week. Woo hoo!!!!

Take care,
Curby