Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, LOL, now I do remember the credit card adventures! Nature took care of the poor neglected hanging basket thanks to a bit of rain. Poor thing probably wishes someone else had come into the store and bought it! Did you get your egg mcmuffin? I haven't been to McDonalds in agggggges. There was nothing for me at the auction yesterday, and nothing for Liam either, so he left and went to a different one. I really scored at that one -- he brought me home three really nice sets that he got for $2 each. I love it when I don't have to go anywhere and still get good stuff, ha ha.

I didn't get any listings up yesterday but I did have five sales! Outside of Thanksgiving last year I can't think of a time I've had that many in one day. After dinner I packed up four of them but didn't have the energy for the last one since it was almost eleven by then.

The open house only had one couple come through but it was a pretty positive showing so I'm cautiously optimistic.

The birds are out there screaming this moning. Ugh.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, sounds like Liam got a good deal on some glasses for you. Yay! That was very nice of nature taking care of the hanging basket for you. Marty got our drip system working again on our last few flower pots so no more watering by hand.

My credit card at the car wash adventures were entertaining - who knows - they may be on Instagram or YouTube. Ha Ha. I didn't get an egg McMuffin, but I had a piece of toast this morning that I made in to a sandwich with an egg, cheese and canadian bacon. It was tasty.

Wow to having 5 sales come through. That is great! I am glad to hear the one couple who came through the open house seemed interested. I hope they put in an offer.

Stupid birds. I thought of tackling their poop on my sofa on the deck but decided to order a cover first. I'd be mad to clean that up and get it targeted again before I get the cover. At least I can push the cover off to the side and sit on something clean.

I got up early today. Marty has some clients in a strength lifting competition today so they are all in Laramie. I am watching it on YouTube but the video is freezing and audio cuts in and out. His 80 year old is kicking butt! I rented the last season of 24 on Prime today so I have something to watch while knitting. I am on skein #5. Woo hoo!!! I got laundry done and snipped off dead flowers. Then went back to take a few pictures and almost did a face plant bending down to get close to a flower. I've been dizzy lately and had to steady myself on a flower pot to not fall. WTH? My BP and heart beat is low again, I guess if this continues I'd best go see the doctor. Maybe I need a lower dosage of BP pills.

I sent a ring through FedEx yesterday to get fixed. The halo sapphire ring I have is missing a diamond. I forgot they won't insure over $1000 - I debated not sending it but I did. That is who that store uses to send jewelry to me so they must use outside insurance. My question is why do they recommend FedEx to ship repairs to them and specifically say you should insure it for what you paid for the jewelry? It's scheduled delivery before 10 am tomorrow. It was $54 to send it but probably still cheaper than gas for a 200 miles round trip and me not always driving the speed limit. Speaking of gas, I filled my tank for slightly under $40 yesterday, but tat is because I only got 8 gallons. Ha Ha.

Back to my knitting.
Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Here is my progress so far

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, wow, our afghan looks GREAT! I can't believe how perfect and even it is! I could never do something that good LOL. Did your ring make it yet? I am always a nervous wreck when something is shipping back and forth. Gas is so expensive I figure it's costing me $40-50 round trip each time I go from The North Estate to downtown. Ugh. And I just remembered the tolls too. Double ugh.

Yesterday I got some listings up and washed a bunch of glasses in anticipation of this coming week. Liam picked up a box of old linens at an auction over the weekend and there are three aprons and a couple of embroidered items I might think about listing. It would be amazing to sell something I didn't have to wrap in bubble wrap, then paper, then box up, then put THAT box inside ANOTHER box with peanuts in between!!! I'm also making pretty good progress on the backlog of inventory. One of these days we might be able to go into the family room again.

Still working on the monster power point. Have I mentioned how much I HATE power point? HATE.

Off to get some more coffee and then back to it.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, thanks - I am liking our afghan. My ring was delivered to the listed address this morning - that is all I know. In spite of the fact, the jeweler's website says they email you upon receipt - I haven't heard a thing. Or if the box was empty. I need to eventually send my WF rings off to be sized - I'll be a basket case doing that.

Ouch to gas to travel back and forth plus tolls.

Yes, those linens would be far easier to pack and ship. My mom did a ton of embroidery like on dish towels, pillow cases, clothing, dresser scarves and aprons. I can see them now. My favorite apron was a blue gingham check with flowers embroidered on it. My sister that makes doll clothes still embroiders old fashioned dish clothes. Someday the family room will be usable again.

Yes, you have mentioned that you hate power point. It's not my favorite but I got better at it since I used it a lot when I was teaching.

I got up before 5 to check out the morning planets again and then tried in vain to go back to sleep. I worked about 6 hours today on a top 10 list article that needed lots of editing. I just got done lifting and need to fix something for supper. I'm out of strawberries and cherries but the idea of heading to the store right now isn't appealing.

I even painted my nails last night. I watched all 12 episodes of season 9 of 24 yesterday so got a lot of knitting done. My hands go sore so I needed something else to do while watching TV.

Marty's 3 clients that competed all got medals in their divisions yesterday. Very nice for them. The 80 year old lady gets so tickled, it's cute.

My earrings are still in production. I doubt I'll see them delivered tomorrow. I do have an appointment in the morning; they finally responded to my multiple inquiries and are replacing our wooden shade under warranty. Apparently the color we picked in 2014 is no longer available so we have to pick out a different color. I'm betting 2 months before we see delivery on the new shade and right now I have a decorative angled shade on our picture window. I'm afraid to pull the cord and let the shade down for fear I can't get it back to the top again. I'd hate not being able to see out out window during the day.

Laters,
Curby #wheretheheckaremyearrings?

 

[marcy]

Ooh, I lied. I just checked my earring status again and they are now in quality check. Sweet. Maybe I will get them Wednesday.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, are you tracking your earrings?! I ordered a dress form to display aprons for my store. Because, yanno, more props are exactly what I need to add into the mess that already exists! Heavy shades are scary to me -- I'm always afraid I'm going to snap the cord when putting them up or down. There are big shades on the main part of my windows and I try to avoid touching them as much as possible LOL. Half of my nails were a disaster by Sunday with all the sudsy hot water... so I only fixed those and let the ones that were still good go. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a big cart of new gel colors, but I'm trying to resist. No idea why though!
Yesterday was A Day. And the icing on the cake was around 7 pm the tornado sirens started going off. My boss came into my office and was like, what do you think we should do? Well... We're sitting on the 55th floor of an all glass building in the flat landscape of Illinois with sirens telling us there is a problem. At the very least I think we should go into the interior stairwell. But frankly, I. THINK. WE. SHOULD. LEAVE. (MORON.) He ended up stuck at the train station for several hours because there were a lot of trees down on the tracks, and eventually he took a car service home. I walked to my place, sirens blaring all around and alarm lights flashing, took all the bottled water and granola bars from the kitchen, grabbed my flashlight, and went and sat in the closet in my master bedroom. I figured it was safer than the master bathroom, which is also interior, but there is a giant mirror on the wall and a large pane of glass for the walk in shower. In retrospect I could have gone into the second half bath, although there is a mirror on the wall there too, but at least I wouldn't have had to sit on the floor! We had thunder that shook the entire building for ages, but eventually things calmed down. In the midst of all that I sold a set of dishes, so at least I had that to distract me for a bit!

Today I rushed in here for an early morning call... that got cancelled. The lady we hired in December is really really frustrated with my boss and I'm afraid she's going to quit. I'm pretty annoyed right now too... to the point that I dug out my resume and updated it because I haven't touched it in four or five years. Not sure I'm going to do anything with it, but my philosophy is if I DON'T then I forfeit the right to b!tch about this job. (Try to) fix it, or SHUT UP!

Anyway, better go work on my "pile" because I am still employed here and I will keep on doing my job to the best of my ability until that's no longer the case.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I got a shipping notice on my earrings - they should be delivered tomorrow. Sweet. I am anxious to see them.

Nice idea to get a dress form to take pictures of aprons. So you are saying the North Estate gets smaller all the time because of props?

Yes, heavy shades are a bit much for those thin cords. After the blinds company came this morning for me to pick out the new shade and they already left - Marty texts me - did you pick something lighther so it won't break again. NOW you tell me. I narrowed it down to 2 that resembled what we had and honestly don't remember which one I picked. Oh well, I liked both of them. And ordered another blackout backing. He said about 3-4 week before they get it in to install. This shade I pull up and down every day since it's in our living room and on our picture window. I like to look out.

I keep resisting picking up new nail polish but I'm always tempted.

Holy crap on the tornado warning. Tis the season for tornadoes and hail. Fun for us! Glad everything was okay. Nice you sold some dishes during the storm. We have what I call a Harry Potter's closet under our stairs so that would be a perfect place to go. My little gym is in an unfinished part of our basement and has not windows plus both sides are underground so it would be pretty safe too. Of course, I love to watch weather so I'm usually gawking out the windows or on the deck - probably not the safest place to be for avoiding a tornado.

That's too bad that lady might be quitting and yes it's a good idea to update your resume! Sorry work is so stressful for you.

I got up way too early today but I am done with everything I can do for work already. I have a weekly meeting here in about 45 minutes and then I guess I'm done. I'll ask "what can I do" tomorrow.

I got a shipping notice on my earrings - they should be delivered tomorrow. Sweet. I am anxious to see them.

We have semi-tipping wind going on here today. I was going to go buy lunch but maybe I'll get it delivered even though it's highway robbery what they charge you for that luxury.

Laters,
Curby #soontogetmyearrings

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, are our earrings out for delivery?! We got rid of the nordic track in the basement a few weeks ago (that I used exactly ONE time) and the area is now completely piled with boxes. It took about an hour for that to happen. "Nature abhores a vacuum"... and apparently so does The North Estate! My colleague, who the lady works most closely with, finally had a talk with my boss yesterday. Fortunately he (my colleague) told me about it so when my boss came into my office I knew what was going on, and I had pretty much the same conversation with him. Unified front! So hopefully he'll straighten up a bit and we all won't have to leave LOL. 107 days until bonus day. Just sayin'. I should have ordered the nail polish when I first put it in my cart, because I got a 15% off coupon and free shipping. Now the coupon expired and I'm too cheap to get it without the coupon so I'm stuck -- it's the principal of the thing!

Yesterday I worked until about seven and then headed to my place to clean up a little and got north. I should have packed up my two outstanding orders, but I was too tired so I went to bed early. Not I've been wide awake since five!

Today I list list list. Oh. And work. If it becomes necessary.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, that's great you and your colleague talked to your boss; hopefully that helps. Counting down the days till that bonus arrives. One of my favorite former co-workers texted me today to see if she could use me as a reference for a job - at my old company. She is working from home and is bored. She was an exceptional employee so I had no problem giving her a good reference.

My earrings arrived at about 11 - I left immediately for the grocery store (after looking at them). Marty gets hangry and was out of eggs, milk and fruit. On my way home from the grocery store I got a text from work to go fix an article that we had incorrect dates and times listed. It wasn't my article so after fixing it I diplomatically said "I wonder where D*** got his information since it was incorrect?" Ha! The bosses response was I wondered that too; so for some reason she asked me to fix it. This D*** seems to be very full of himself and makes a lot of mistakes. He totally takes over the weekly call. I'm not impressed.

LOL to nature abhors a vacuum, obviously it needed filled with something. Glad you had boxes of stuff to fill that spot right away. We had a nordic track at our last house which I missed after we got rid of it; I didn't have anywhere to dry clothes on anymore.

I don't blame you for not buying the nail polish after the coupon expired. I hate when that happens. I am cheap with certain things.

Darn you woke up at 5. I woke up before 6 today. I only worked about 4 hours today. I am doing more of the organizing the giant spreadsheet.

We had some steaks for lunch and ate late so I have no idea what I'll eat for supper. Maybe a grilled cheese and fruit.

I need to clean my earrings and try them on . Here is another picture of them. They look more heart shaped when I close my evil eye but are very lively diamonds. JA sent them in a giant box that had a hole in the middle for the little jewelry box. Which reminds me I didn't get my GIA certificates. I'll go inspect the box further.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, are you wearing your hearts today?! I hope the lady you are giving the reference for gets the job. As a matter of fact, maybe I'll use you as a reference too when/if I start sending out resumes. I took everything out of my cart and put it back in on the nail polish site hoping that would trigger another coupon... but nothing yet. Did you find your GIA certs?

Yesterday I did some listings, including a few new "soft goods" ones. I only got pictures taken of two sets of linen napkins when the light shifted to the kitchen side of the house so I'll work on some more today. Liam called me as I was eating a chicken breast I'd just pulled out of the oven and said we were going to meet friends downtown... where I ate ANOTHER chicken breast LOL. It was pretty amazing though (sizzling hot with a spicy crispy coating), and I brought most of it home since I wasn't really hungry at that point.

My wired dress form is out for delivery. I'm trying to figure out where I'll set the thing to take pictures. There is nowhere in this entire house that seems like a good option to me. Maybe I'll put it on the front porch and use the yard as a backdrop LOL. I washed two of the aprons yesterday and steamed a third one (I wasn't too sure about the fabric on that one so I figured I better play it safe). I also updated the banner on my store with a "We're expanding -- See our new selection of soft goods!" message. It would probably make sense to actually USE some soft goods in the banner photo, but I just went with a picture of glasses I already had since there was room for words on both sides of the image. I gotta say, updating the banner in Etsy is a HUGE PITA. The only way I can figure out to do it is to take a JPEG, crop it (which is a total crap shoot because only a rectangular sliver of the picture shows up due to the size/shape of the banner) and add words using paint. But I can only revise the words while I'm in the text and once I hit enter it is what it is and if I want to change them or move them around after I see what the thing really looks like I have to open a new file and completely start over. There HAS to be a better way!!! Maybe once I get a few new things I want to use for the banner I'll give it another go, but as of right now I'm so frustrated with the process I'm leaving it for a bit! Plus, the only way you see the banner is if you go onto the main page of my store. So you don't really see what's going on if you look from a phone or if you just end up on one of my listings by clicking on a specific item, so I'm sure this is all a big waste of time anyway. If you get a second take a look, but I'm likely wayyyyyy overthinking this whole thing.

There are a bunch of estate sales going on starting today and extending though the weekend, but nothing is compelling enough to make me want to break my moratorium on buying stuff. That being said, there is one sale where I can see boxes of linens, but the lady is always sooooo over priced that I need to seriously consider where it's even worth going there.

Alright, off to get this party started!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yes I wore my new earrings all day. The certs were in a little drawer in the giant box. All is good. One of the friction backs seems a little snug but I am sure it will loosen up.

Darn you didn't get a new coupon for the nail polish. I sign up for all sorts of things to get a discount and then of course their emails fill up my email. Oh well.

I will go check out your new listings. Your 2 chicken breasts sound delicious. I have been craving chicken. I am going through the I'm sick of what I'm eating spell.

Wow, that does sound like a major pain in the arse to change your banner and add text. Can you do it in a graphic program and save it as an image to upload? I just looked, the text looks okay and I like the picture cropped. The thing that caught my eye on the text is on the right side the very edge of the picture is white so it kind of looks like the text is almost cut off a bit? Can you make the font a point or two smaller? I think it would look fine if the edge had the curtain color behind it.

The mystery boxes are calling your name.

I got up before 6 today and worked most of the day. I got the majority of my giant spreadsheet done (I finally figured out how to inset multiple rows at a time in sheets). The last 2 sections to finish with be a major PITA. I also did a second edit on a few articles. Then I lifted, snipped off dead flowers and haven't done much since then. I did have another cold attack. I worry my anemia is getting worse again. Or it could be I get cold when I loose weight.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

BTW - I love the rabbit prop with the apron.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, I love the rabbit too! He's one of my favorite props that I've ever used! Thanks for the feedback on the banner. I went in and adjusted the wording a little but I probably need to do it a bit more. Plus now the wording on the left is too low, but I need the room because "expanding" is so much bigger than "we're." Argh. Did you order a cover for your patio furniture? I remember what a PITA it was finding them to fit my furniture downtown. You new "job" really is a full time thing, LOL. I KNEW it would happen that way, ha ha!

On the way to work yesterday morning Liam called and said there was a garage sale about half a mile from the house with some glass. I ran over and got fourteen for a buck a piece, and might have been able to get them for less but it was a mob scene and I didn't feel like fvcking around. Liam said he would have bought them when he saw them but he didn't have an packing materials in the car and the lady running the sale didn't have any newspaper or anything. How on earth do you plan on having a garage sale with breakable items and not plan for packing them? Anyway, I already got those sets washed, listed and stored away. One of the sets was something I'd sold before but there were more this time than I previously had so I only had to take one picture to show the increased number but was able to reuse the photos from the previous listing. Sweet!

My boss annoyed me not one, not two, but THREE times yesterday. I was having a Gordon Ramsey moment when Liam walked in the door. He sidled past me sideways, back to the wall, and whispered, "I'll just go in here..." as he made his way to the living room.

The dress form showed up late afternoon and I'm really pleased with it. It does lean a tiny bit to one side, but I think if I just shim a little where the one pole fits into the other pole it will be fine. It was, after all, the cheapest one I could find so I didn't got into this with high expectations! I have no idea where the picture taking is going to occur though. In a creative burst I took "Susie" out into the yard a put her up by the trees to see how that backdrop would work. Well the dogs decided they didn't like Susie AT ALL and lost their little doggie sh!t. Blue keeps growling at her every time he walks by.

I finally organized all the lotus bowls and washed them up last night. I've got more than thirty of them in various sizes and colors! Red... white... yellow... blue... So those are first on the list to get up today. Now that I'm thinking of it I might have one or two more loose on the shelf in the basement. Better check that before I start taking pictures.

The mystery boxes are still calling my name but I think I'm going to wait until Sunday when things will be super marked down. And if I go and get nothing that will be fine too.

Even though it's early I'm wide awake so might as well get going!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, at least your rabbit isn't a killer rabbit and probably doesn't call you names like the ones around our house. The "west estate". LOL. I did order a cover for my poop covered bench, I went to the Polywood site and they recommended covers from the coverstore so I ordered one from them. I was on the deck last night talking to Marty but I never sat down. The rocking chairs are clean so i could have sat in one of them. I do feel like my job is full time but mostly I like it. I only worked about 2 hours so far today but will probably work more on that spreadsheet this afternoon.

Your banner looks better moving the text away from the white edge. Sounds like a deal getting those glasses at a dollar a piece plus since you had pictures of that item already you listed them right away. Score!

Sounds like the chat with your boss maybe didn''t help, do you think it made it worse? Or was this unrelated to the other issues? LOL to Liam just slinking by you during a Gordon Ramsey outburst. Smart guy! I have those moments too when I utter loud and colorful metaphors. I have them far less now that I am don't have employees or a grumpy boss.

Too funny the dogs don't like Susie - you may find Susie disassembled at some point, at least you'll know why.

I hope the mystery box is full of wonderful treasures.

I met Marty for breakfast and took a few flower pictures this morning. It's just breezy rather than crazy windy today. I was rudely woke up last night by and brief, but intense rain storm going on outside. Then I woke up before 6 so I had a short night. Boo. I need to get new shoes and might go chat with Verizon. We have an old plan and they keep bugging us to upgrade to their unlimited plans. I might see what they have to offer and maybe I can get a free new iPhone 13 - they have a light blue that I like. Who knows?

I am baking a piece of London broil for lunch and baked some potatoes for us. Marty is in constant conference call hell so he'll come fix his plate when he can. He has a bottom permanent retainer that broke this morning. His orthodontist is closed on Friday so I called our dentist. His receptionist is awesome and takes good care of us so she got Marty in this morning to get it fixed. It was kind of funny, when I told her who I was she said - on no, what happened now? I reassured it I wasn't calling for me this time.

Laters,
Curby

Here is my morning flower photo:

 

[marcy]

Our afghan is done. I just need to hide the ends.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I worked on my July article for the paper this morning. I did one batch of laundry then we went shopping. Marty was looking for some curtains to hang on the door of the gym. I bought some blackout curtains for the living room but they need serious ironing. I might take them to a dry cleaners. Ironing is not in my skill set. We ate lunch and then spent a small fortune at Sams Club. I hate to admit I picked up assorted paper products today and my hall closet and overflow closet are now stuffed. Marty called me a hoarder.

I did get the ends on our afghan this morning. I need to go get a few more skeins so I can make a smaller one for the loveseat.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, that is seriously the most beautiful afghan I've ever seen! I love everything about it -- the color, the pattern, and it is absolutely perfect! For the living room curtains, do you have a steamer? Mine has changed my life! But then again, taking them to a dry cleaner sounds good too. The only problem I have with dry cleaners pressing big things is I always end up with a couple of big fold wrinkles that I then need to steam anyway. There's no winning! There may be a trip to Costco in my future today too... yet to be determined by what I decide we are going to do for dinner. Liam headed to an auction, but since it's Father's Day I want to do something nice for him. My ideas are either lobster (from Costco) or I can see if Giordano's has those pizzas you can pick up ready to go in the oven and then I would just start cooking it when he leaves the auction place and it would be almost ready when he got home. Frankly that sounds like the easier plan now that I'm thinkin it out, ha ha.

Yesterday I was again almost late for my open house downtown, even though I went and got the balloons in the early morning so I wouldn't have to chance standing there in the floral department waiting forrrrrevvvvverrrrrr for someone to come and help me with them. Somehow once I got back here the day just escaped me and when I looked at the clock it was way past time to go. Saturday traffic certainly didn't help. I only had one guy through, and he was kind of an odd duck, but I guess buyers come in all forms, LOL.

Last night was the annual night flea market at the local fair grounds, which I'd head about but never gone to. I went there straight from the open house and arrived around 4:30. As much as a night time flea market sounds like fun to most people, I would (a) like to be able to SEE what's put out for sale, and (b) I could only imagine the bugs were going to be horrendous, so I wanted to get in and out during the light of day. It was pretty much a bust; not very much stuff for sale at all. I bought one x-mas present for someone and one piece of glass, but that was it. Liam and the youngest feral (we will refer to him as YF, as opposed to his older brother OF from now on ) came over and wandered around eating a hot dog and looking at the meager offerings. I do have to say, YF has an eclectic sense of things to buy. At the last big flea market Liam took him to he bought an old license plate from Panama, and yesterday the thing he wanted was an old globe. He loves maps and geography. The globe was $20 but he only had $15 so I gave him the other $5 in exchange for some chores around the house. When he went over to buy it he was about to hand the guy the money and I asked if the seller would take $15, which he did. After OF walked away to put the globe in my big blue wagon I thanked the guy for coming down a bit on it, and he said he was happy to and that OF leaned a valuable lesson in haggling. Who knows how much money he'll save over a lifetime now thanks to my expert tutelage.

After we got home some friends of ours who we had seen at the flea market texted that they were going to stop over. Total panic -- the house is a DISASTER -- but here they came. We sat on the back deck and ate cheese and crackers and drank cocktails for a few hours, and then they decided to head back to to the market to get a big lawn ornament thing they had seen and ultimately decided they did want. I'll have to check in this morning and see if it was still there.

It's already after nine o'clock and I better get moving if there's any chance of clearing the dishes off the counter and making sure the pizza is really ready for Liam come dinner time. I think I'm going to have OF and YF make cards too.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kid!

Dee Jay, thank you for the compliments about our afghan. I like how it turned out. Hobby Lobby is closed today or I'd be started on it's mini-me for the loveseat. I will definitely go pick up the yarn tomorrow though.

We do have a steamer somewhere. I thought of that too. Marty said the same thing about taking them to the dry cleaners. I think I'll see how they do after hanging for a while and who knows when Marty will get to that chore?

Good idea to have dinner ready for Liam when he gets home and pizza sounds delicious! That will be a nice surprise for him. I like YF and OF. Did they make Liam cards?

Good idea to go to the flea market while it's still daylight. Nice that you taught OF how to haggle for a better price. That's a good lesson to learn. Marty always tells people how bad I was at Audi one time. My first A6 was locked up hard and torn apart in their parking lot. They had NO idea what was wrong with it and they were on week 3 of trying to figure it out. So we decided to take the loss and trade it for another A6. It was the end of the season with low inventory everywhere. The dealer found one at another dealer with the packages we wanted so we were dealing for that one. The salesman gave us a price difference, Marty of course was all set to haggle and looks at me and asks "what do you think?" I blurted out - I didn't think we'd get that good of a deal. The salesman looks at Marty and actually got up and left. He probably thought we were going to get in a fight or something. I am usually the one giving the salesman crap, but since my car was totally broke I was truly surprised.

Sounds like a fun evening with friends. I'm way better at keeping our house picked up than I was at our last house. It was a bit too small to hide things so everything piled up on the table that we then never got to use. I can hide all sorts of things here and no one would be the wiser. I am sure the back bedroom has so much crap in it that is has sunk the foundation a few inches. Ha Ha.

Good luck on your Costco trip. I picked up a Wyoming Cowboys t shirt and told Marty now i'll have a t shirt that fits me. The few I own are huge on me but oh so comfy.

Was that the same condo for your open house? You never know who is going to be a buyer.

We ate out yesterday, had popcorn last night and ate breakfast out this morning - I probably just negated my few more pounds lost. My clothes are baggy and showing results anyway.

I picked off dead flowers and took a few photos this morning. We have a mutant flower, it has 3 centers in 1; I checked it is on one stem. I am working on laundry and need to go pick up a photo at Walgreens and go talk to Verizon when they open. I'll be bored with nothing to knit today. I could start my vest but then I'd want to finish it before I work on the mini afghan.

Have a great day!
Curby

 

[marcy]

Here is the mutant flower

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, that flower is CRAZY! The Audi story is hilarious! Remind me not to take you along next time I buy a car. LOL on sinking the back bedroom foundation. I keep thinking the dining room is going to collapse under the weight of all the glass in there! Here's another idea about the curtains... can you try putting them in the dryer with a wet towel and see if they come out looking any better? Or maybe your dryer has a steam setting on it since it's a pretty new appliance? Just brainstorming here!

So yesterday didn't exactly pan out like Liam planned... He called me about an hour after he left for the auction and was on his way to Iowa. His brother called and said they were rushing their mom to the hospital because she may have had a heart attack. The good news is it doesn't look like it was a heart attack, but now they suspect it is a blood clot. She was stable within a few hours, but obviously stayed in the hospital overnight. Being Sunday and also being a hospital in the middle of Po Dunk they weren't able to run the tests yesterday to tell for sure but hopefully they can figure it out today. So I revised the dinner plan and when Liam gave me an ETA on his trip home I placed an order online at Giordano's and ran to pick it up. He seemed to enjoy the pizza--it was much better than the lunch he'd had in the hospital cafeteria!

Last night I packed up the three orders I had outstanding so today I'll only have to pack anything that comes in (if anything DOES come in). My orders have been so weird lately; not at all consistent. Last week I didn't have anything for three or four days and then I had five orders on one day. This week was slow again and then three things came in virtually at the same time... ???

My office is closed for Juneteenth so today will more listings and laundry.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yes that flower is pretty unique. It was pretty funny when I blew Marty's chance to deal on that car. I do generally amuse myself by toying with the salesman. Great suggestions for the curtains. I have no idea when Marty is planning on hanging them so I'll kind of wait to try the dryer trick until at least on the weekend when he might have time.

That is scary about Liam's mother. I hope they figure out what is going on and get her fixed up soon. Sounds like your pizza hit the spot.

It would be nice if your orders streamed in on a regular and easily manageable basis. I am glad the orders continue to come in for you.

I didn't sleep well thanks to that darned barking dog behind our house. It was barking all night. I am seriously considering complaining to the HOA lady about it. I picked up some high decibel earplugs this morning. I also got to Hobby Lobby to get yarn for my mini me and picked up some things at Walgreens.

I didn't think I had much to do for work today. I worked about an hour before venturing out on errands. I started getting texts on the way home and now I have way more work than I wanted including some on the weekends. Not like I have anything else to do. Our man cave still has assorted retirement decorations hung up, I put one on the dart board and put a dart in the middle. Ha Ha. I did lift this afternoon and didn't get done with supper and dishes until almost 7. That's later than when I was really working.

Off to start my mini me.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Cruby, Liam's mother was sent home with the diagnosis: We Have No Idea. No heart attack, no blood clot, no idea. Definitely say something to the HOA lady; I'm sure you're not the only one being disturbed. People can be so rude! How long do you think it will take to make mini me?

Yesterday I was pretty efficient! I got up nine listings and was done "early" because I'd washed everything up the night before so then Liam and I ran to drop off packages at UPS and make a quick trip to the Salvation Army... where I then bought five more sets of glasses, ha ha. I put clean sheets on the bed and climbed in early since I had to be up at 5 to make the trek into the city.

Today I'm having lunch with a friend of mine who is a career coach to let her talk me out of doing anything stupid. Wish me luck!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I'm wishing you luck - on the other hand be open to what your friend the career coach has to say. I tend to listen to my gut when I'm trying to make a decision. I'm sure you'll land on your feet no matter what you decide.

So Liam's mom has the mystery disease? My FIL appeared to have a stroke a few months ago; he couldn't even get out of bed. They ran all sorts of tests and didn't find a thing wrong. It is worrisome though for Liam's mom and my FIL though because that happened for some reason. I hope she remains okay.

I did get started on mini me last night but only knit 6 rows. It is 26 stitches less per row so it will go a bit faster in general.

You were productive yesterday and too funny you bought more glasses. I am glad your shop is doing a steady business.

I am just getting started with work now. Since I have more to do, I should start setting my alarm again. Then again I have a dog that wakes me up. Ha Ha. He was going full bark before 6 and was still at it when I came in to the den and turned on Sirius radio.

Have a fabulous day.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids,

Curby, my friend was not very much help other than being generally supportive of looking to see what's out there. She did give me one idea of a "switch to flip" on LinkedIn that would alert recruiters I'm looking, but fortunately righhhhhht before I did it I though to myself, "Wait a minute... OUR HR PEOPLE MIGHT USE THIS!" So I backed slowly away from the keyboard without changing anything. Last night I met up with our old HR director for drinks and she gave me some advice on my resume, so I updated that a little this morning. I don't think I'm going to actually apply for anything today, but tomorrow I'll proof my resume one more time and then start reaching out to people.

I slept terribly last night. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to leave the curtains open about a foot... and it started to get BRIGHT in there around 5 am. UGH. The good news is since I was awake I had plenty of time to go switch the clothes that I'd put into the washer last night into the dryer so they were done long before I got out of the shower.

Alright, off to try to find something productive to do that doesn't annoy me too much. Wish me luck!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, sounds like you want to at least pursue other job opportunities and yes good idea not to flag that you are looking on Linked Inn. Waiting for that bonus has plus and minuses for sure. I can't say I regret where I ended up. Generally places are pretty good about honoring your request not to contact your current employer.

Sorry you didn't sleep well last night. Once light comes through the window, I am wide awake too. Nice to get clothes dried since you got up early. I woke up a lot but got in about 6 1/2 to 7 hours of sleep. My dog barking alarm went off before 6 so I got up then.

I hope you found something productive to do that didn't annoy you. I had a good day. I worked on 3 articles, all of which I liked the topic. They were all star or constellation related so other than the most recent data, I didn't have to do much research on them since that is the stuff I know well enough to know if that's full of crap! I even took a quick break and took a few flower macro photos with my camera.

I had a weird dream about my mother which woke me up but that was about 5 am and I did get back to sleep. My "Karen" sister is probably what triggered it. My dad's first cousin passed away and there is a funeral on Sunday. I told my sisters I'd send a donation from us sisters to one of their requested memorial donation places. Well, "Karen" immediately says "don't include me". She only wants to send a card because they didn't send anything other than a card to our parent's funerals. Yes, she has a list of funeral, birthday, anniversary, graduation, shower and wedding gifts because she only returns the same thing in kind. Cheese and Rice! Who cares? Too bad, I sent the donation anyway from us "sisters". So my dream was I went to visit my mom and she was in some place like a retirement home. She went to bed and as I was leaving one of my dad's buddies was waiting for me with a notebook to show me how much it costs for my mom to stay there and she doesn't have enough money to afford it. So I said well I'll put money in her account and then I'm thinking well I won't ask "Karen" for any money towards it because she doesn't play well with others. Strange dream, eh?

I picked up Culver's for lunch and resisted the Snicker's Swirl flavor of the day. It sure sounded good though!

I did get about 3" knit on our mini me last night. I have a little dry split at the tip of my right thumb, but I put a bandage on it so I can knit. We got Hulu and Disney + free with our new Verizon plan so maybe I'll find something to watch on Hulu tonight. We had Disney + already but now can cancel that subscription. They gave us ESPN + too but I didn't even download it to our Apple TV, I doubt either of us will watch anything on that. I watched more sports than I ever wanted to with my former job.

It's pretty nice here today. I should go for a walk. Maybe I can stroll down the green way and give that stupid dog the evil eye.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, did you update your resume?

I got about 5" knit on mini me last night. I watched 2 episodes of The Old Man on Hulu, then an episode of I Love Lucy. Good knitting viewing. I worked about 5 hours today. I did some of my proofing for the weekend and updated 2 articles. I had to go back through some stuff though to tweak a few things. I learn new things all the time.

I am meeting Marty for supper since it's early gym night. Yay - I foresee a glass of wine. Mmm.

I went grocery shopping this morning and did a batch of laundry. I just got through lifting. My allergies are talking to me today.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, That was a weird dream you had the other night about your sister "Karen"! I did update my resume, and even submitted it online to one company. I also talked to what I think of as my career "Yoda" LOL. Today I'm going to reach out to someone I used to know agggggges ago when I was the chief compliance officer at the hedge fund and she worked at one of our servicing agents, and now she's at a company with a few openings I could be interested in. I'm a little disappointed I reached out to two people I've know forever and didn't hear back from either one. But I need to remember that people are busy and I'm sure they have a lot going on. Five inches on mini me already -- fabulous! How was dinner?

Yesterday after I did some connecting on the job front I cleaned up a few things around the house. Liam suggested we go to a town just over the Wisconsin line for dinner and I drove Billy Ray. It was great to get him out! I think I'm going to try to drive him into the city tomorrow for the open house, but it might rain. Speaking of the open house, someone contacted me yesterday and asked if the owners would consider renting. I think that's a great idea right now with people being skittish due to rising interest rates and the economy in general. Fingers crossed that works out!

OK, off to start the job search for today!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, nice to take Billy Ray for a spin. Good deal to update your resume and start reaching out to people; you never know what will turn up and work out for you. Good luck! I need to see if that former co-worker of mine got the job she applied for recently.

Dinner was delicious last night as was my glass of wine. It was nice to go out during the week for a change. Marty wanted to go to breakfast today but I ate earlier so he came home and made himself sausage and eggs.

Good luck with the open house and maybe renting works out as well. I know rising interest rates and the economy is not going to inspire many people to make any big changes right now. I cry every time I see our retirement accounts.

We are finally get some rain right now. Yay. It has been really dry here - even during our snowy and rainy months. I guess it all ended up in Yellowstone since that had that horrible flooding.

Off to knit and watch senseless TV.

Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, your rain has come our way -- it's pouring cats and dogs out there. I'm sure that will jack up my ride into the city for my open house; better leave reallllly early. The potential renter is supposed to come through today so hopefully that really does happen. I would love to get this thing off my plate in one way or another! Are you almost done with mini me?

Yesterday just flew by. I had two big orders to pack up and had to run over to the packaging supplies place with Liam to pick up bubble wrap, peanuts and boxes. On the way back I stopped at a new nail place in town for a pedicure. It's my new favorite! Plus, it's just by the grocery store I go to all the time anyway so win win!

I washed up a bunch of glasses and they are on the counter ready for pictures, but the light is so crappy with the rain I doubt that's going to happen. Maybe with the extra time from not doing that I'll make a pass at my close and put some things in bags for the Salvation Army.

Debating whether my hair is long enough that I can finally get it cut to donate to the cancer organization. I think a short bob is more professional than the long hair I've got going and I want to look my best if anyone does decide to interview me LOL. I also found what I deem to be the perfect job online. It's totally remote too, even though it's based out east. Not sure if I can find anyone I know who works there but I'm going to make it a mission to try and find someone! I've read that applying for things over the weekend is a bad idea so I need to be ready to go on Monday morning.

Alright, off to see what I can get done in the next few hours!