Now I really did it :((

[Austina]

Hello lovelies

Arrghhhhh to house selling aggravation @junebug17 I know it's absolutely no consolation to you, but it's even worse here. I just hope you can get it all resolved quickly and be stressfree. Have a lovely relaxing time in SC.

Hi @rainwood hope all is well with you.

A cat would be equally acceptable @PierreBear but I think DS's g/f has allergies, so I don't think that'll happen. The only reason we don't have one is DH says he couldn't stand not knowing where they are every minute of the day. Cats always like him, our friend's cats are always drawn to him, even though he's never had one. We had cats as children, but he always wanted a dog, and was never allowed to have one. As soon as we could, we got our first dog, Waldo, and have had dogs ever since.

Waldo. Monty

Old blue eyes, Harry.
They were all Old English Sheepdogs, in various stages of coat.


Good luck with the dog training @Scandinavian We have always found they have selective hearing and a mind of their own when it came to obeying commands

I am still loving the dark frames on you @missy, but you suit both shapes and frames, so either will be a great choice. I hope you find a lovely care home for your MIL, when DH's mother moved into one, she often said she wished she'd done it sooner.

Thank you all for the kind comments, they exceeded my expectations, and I know I will wear them everyday, so absolutely the right way to go.

I'm waiting to hear about a new ring mount for my tanzanite, but the jeweller advised rhodium plating the pendant which surprised me. He said as it will not wear like a ring, he didn't see the point spending unnecessarily on a new mount. I was impressed that he didn't try to talk me into spending more money. His price for the earrings and pendant were less than the other woman wanted just for the pendant (in a style I didn't even want :roll) and mine are in platinum with an adjustable chain, rather than white gold.

Big wave out to you all, it's time to eat, so I'm going to cook paesotto, my own take on a cross between risotto and paella

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

Missy, I had kind of picked up on the fact you liked kitties and puppies.
It will be different for you at first adjusting to not working and looking forward to time off. I know I am often ready to go back to work after a 4-day weekend but then when I have a nice long vacation I hate to go back to work. You and Greg will figure out other ways to meet up for lunch or supper. Somewhere near Adam’s place? See I’m a helper.
The flowers look very pretty. Our city has really large flower pots on every corner; they look nice.
The treats at work look good.
Yes, Greg is a sweetie sewing your canopy for your trike.
Both sunglasses look great on you but I agree with Scandi that the lighter pair looks great as a contrast to your hair.
Enjoy your weekend at the beach house. Yes, getting old isn’t for sissies. I hope Greg’s mom finds an assisted living place she likes. That’s great she made the call herself.

PierreBear, good news your kitty is doing better.
Your parasailing picture is great. I bet that was a lot of fun.
A skein is a ball of yarn.
Thanks for the nice comment about Marty. I think he’s pretty special but I’m partial. We have one more old payment coming and then he’ll have to submit his recent 2-week trip.
I bet it is very dry there. I bet getting new sod going and staying green there requires a lot of water. We have to get a special watering permit here for new sod or grass since we have watering days and times.
I was always interested in the stars. I guess my mom’s dad was quite an amateur astronomer as well. I took some courses at our local community college after I graduated from college and then eventually ended up as one of the founders of our local astronomy club. I also ended up teaching the astronomy classes at the community college for 21 years. Most of my knowledge is from studying and practice.
Glad your DH is home from his work trip.
I hope you had a nice time at the baby shower.

Scandi, I think I should get us t-shirts made up that say “I survived the Wyoming Eclipseolypse 2017”. Marty would enjoy that.
So true, our sentimental diamonds will always hold a special place in our hearts.
I love your description of your 4 little ones. That was cute.
Oh no that you hurt your knee. I hope it feels better soon. I am having sympathy pains for you and Sharon because my right knee is screaming at me right now. (It’s the worse of my 2 knees).

Austina, your earrings and pendant turned out great. They are really pretty and look perfect on you. That is so cool you are using your diamonds are from your 20th anniversary ring.
It’s not a holiday for the eclipse but some businesses are closing for a long lunch during the eclipse and they are delaying the start of school by one day so school kids can stay at home and enjoy the eclipse.
Knitting has always relaxed me. I am glad I started it up again.
I like that your jeweler isn’t trying to gouge you on your tanzanites. The guy I go to does that all the time too; he’ll keep stuff in the same mountings to use in another piece.

Sharon, I am glad to hear your knee is improving anyway. Good idea to go to work; like you said your knee hurts anyway you may as well do something.
Eclipse hysteria is about right. I swear I could have made a few thousand dollars selling those 500 eclipse glasses I got. People are going nuts trying to find them at the last minute here.

Rainwood, I hope you are having nice warm weather these days. We are drying up and warming up again.

Junebug, sorry you are having some rough days. We are certainly here for you. You certainly do deserve some bling for all the aggravation you are running in to trying to settle things. It sure should be an easier process but everyone just has to make it difficult. The realtor we had for our house was AWFUL. Maybe yours is her sister or cousin. When someone asks if I can recommend a realtor I just say “Not …”. The only time she showed up (and it was usually 2 hours late) was if there was money involved for her. Any other it was too much of a bother for her. I feel for you cleaning out your mother’s house; it is such a big chore and bittersweet going through everything. My thoughts are with you; big hugs.
Black humor helps me too. I just have to find something to make me laugh.
I sure hope I don’t have to deal with employees for 4 days. One of them texted me about 2:30 to see if she could leave early but that was the only time I was bothered.
Enjoy your weekend in SC.

The eclipse traffic was so heavy already yesterday it took Marty twice as long to get home from the airport. He got his rented utility trailer packed last night and then his sister showed up; she was going to the scout camp this weekend. We stayed up late and watched a movie. They didn’t know I had the day off so they went to breakfast this morning without me; I was still sleeping. I gave them grief about that! After that they went out to buy food for the weekend and were out of here before 10.
I got laundry done and did some grocery shopping. I called ahead and had the butcher shop make me 5 pounds of ground sirloin. That is so much better than hamburger. You can’t find it anymore since the price of beef shot up a few years ago. They gave me a sale price anyway so it was cheaper than extra lean ground beef. I’ve got 19 more burgers in the freezer.
My cleaning lady is coming at 7:30 in the morning. I’ll be up early then. My sister and BIL are coming up to get her necklace. She got the same setting I have my CBI diamond in for a 6mm light blue sapphire. We are going to lunch then I am giving a program on the eclipse at a local retirement home.
I ordered a solar filter for my camera and tried a shot this morning and quickly decided BAD idea. When the sun is that high in the sky you can’t block the sun out with a tiny camera trying to see the screen on the camera. I caught a glimpse of the sun in spite of trying not to; I figure I’ve already got enough eye problems I’m not going to risk it. Phooey.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[Scandinavian]

Good morning!
Missy, these are from Oakly and are super light.

 

[Scandinavian]

Marcy, so sorry to be waking up you knee pains! Are you looking forward to the eclipse? T-shirts would be fun! Horrible people for leaving you! Hope they feel bad about it. I do the same re butcher.

 

[Scandinavian]

Austina, don't get me started on selective hearing lol! My little F is and English Setter so I have even tried yelling after her in English - my DH so helpfully suggested that - but no. If you whisper "go for a walk" however, she will hear it from the next county... The dog pictures are adorable!! And saving a dog who needs a new home is fantastic. I would if we had room for an extra dog. But so far we have enough with our hunters. And they are never available for rehoming lol. New word. Pride and joy of their family. Eyestone as we call them here This time we waited for months for this litter LOL.

 

[Scandinavian]

Pierrebear, Good Luck on the baby shower thing. We don't normally do that here, we are not very "modern" Lol! I do think there should be cakes though? Just wat and enjoy and talk about the holidays Babies can be really boring . Let us know how it goes!

Sharon, continued good wishes for your knee!

 

[Scandinavian]

Missy, that subway story is just too sweet! Keep thinking about that! Hope work has treated you well this week? Hugs!

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

Scandi, I like Oakley glasses. I actually saw something on Daily Mail today that retro styles of sunglasses are coming back. I am anxious for the eclipse and a part of me still feels bad I’m not going to go to where I can see totality but the inconveniences don’t seem worth it to me. Trust me I’ll be giving Marty and my SIL some crap for a while. My friend that stopped by today is heading up there tomorrow so he is going to mention how upset I am about it. I like having accomplices.

I had a busy day. I got up about 6:10. The cleaning lady showed up about 7:45. Since Marty hasn't been here lately she was done with the man cave and basement quickly so I had her clean the lazy susan in the kitchen and wash the screen door and patio doors. When I was putting the spices back in the cupboard a tin of garlic pepper didn't have the lid on tight and I spilled it all over my clean floor. I was sure sneezing cleaning that mess up.

My sister and BIL came to town this morning to get her sapphire pendant. We all went to lunch after the cleaning lady was done. Downtown was hopping since the farmer's market was going on and eclipse travelers are everywhere. Even so we got seated right away at the restaurant which was lucky since I had only about an hour to eat. This afternoon I gave an eclipse program at the retirement home where we hold our monthly meetings. I had about 50 people attend and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

When I got home I decided to sync up my phone and iPads; I haven't done that since I bought this new laptop right after Christmas. Some old apps were bought under my old iTunes account so I lost some stuff since I couldn't remember my old password but so far I haven't notice anything I use missing.

An old friend of mine stopped by this afternoon and we had a nice long visit. He was one of the original founders of our astronomy club and he was only 14 when I met him. He and I became really good friends; he is like Sheldon a la Big Bang smart so he never seemed like a kid to me. That was 31 years ago, how time flies. He lives in the Bay area now and I get to see him now and then when he's home to visit his parents. He is joining Marty and co at the scout camp for the eclipse. It was great catching up with him.

Tomorrow I have nothing planned. I'll be bored.
Marcy

Here is my sister's pendant. The restaurant was dark but the stone is quite lively. It's a light blue 1.08 carats (6mm)

 

[missy]

Good morning girls! Sorry I missed checking in with you lovely ladies yesterday. It was a super busy day and I woke at 230 AM Saturday morning and could not fall back to sleep. We left for cycling yesterday before the sun came up at 6AM and are leaving early again this morning because it is too hot by afternoon.

We ran into a sweet pup named Beatrice yesterday early AM and this is the first Beatrice besides my grandma (I named my ring after my grandma) I ever met. A sign?

Here she is asking me can I try on your ring of the same name pretty please?




And here she is accepting my apologies for not wearing the ring while cycling. It almost looks like she doesn't believe me...


And Look how lovely the beach and the sky is early before all the crowds arrive.







Scandi love those yellow lens Oakleys. Cool. LOL I have to take a photo of me wearing both at the same time for you to see how hip and cool (or just plain crazy I look lol).
I ended up buying yet another pair of Maui Jim sunglasses yesterday LOL but this time I had no choice as these were the first Maui Jim sunglasses ever to go on sale. And Greg was like you cannot pass that up. I decided I am keeping all 3 pairs that I got this week. Haha how's that for a decision. They all have their advantages. The latest pair I just got yesterday are super light. With the Hawaii Blue lenses and a steal so how could I say no?







We had a good time Friday evening with Greg's mom and brother. It's not assisted living that she is looking at but Independent Living. The only reason is that her eyesight is failing due to macular degeneration and she has no vision in one eye and the other eye is affected as well though thank goodness not too much. I did try helping her re Low Vision options to help her see better but she wasn't too interested. One thing all our parents have in common. Totally and completely stubborn. But thank goodness she at least is realistic about her future living arrangements and has a plan in place unlike my parents. And one of the places that she is seriously considering has 2 pools which is awesome because she likes swimming.

Marcy glad the cleaning lady came and that she sped through Marty's man cave haha. Love your sister's necklace. Sweet. Glad you enjoyed a nice long visit from your friend yesterday. Greg's brother bought 100 of the solar sunglasses for his employees for Monday so they can all enjoy the eclipse. They are in St Louis. Nice boss right? I can just imagine (NOT) our workplace doing something like that.
You had a productive weekend so far. Laundry, grocery shopping, butcher score and clean house and socializing and sister and BIL visit. Niiice. I don't think you are missing Marty too much yet and before you know it he will be home with his sweet Marcy.

Austina LOVE your latest doggie photos. They are all so sweet! And yummmmm to your paesotto. That sounds amazing. I love both cats and dogs and wish we could have a whole menagerie of animals. Wish we could rescue them all!

Forgive me for sharing this and warning as it is super upsetting so please SKIP if you can't bear to see this. I only add it in case it moves anyone else enough to donate as this sweet kitty needs HELP. Her humans cut her and crippled her (Yes HUMANS can SUCK so freaking bad I want to kill these people truly I DO want to KILL them!!!!!) and this organization who I personally know and they are amazing needs money to give her an operation that can help her. It's a horrible horrible thing that happened caused by horrible horrible people but this animal rescue organization is the best. I know them personally and that is why I am linking it here just in case any NIRDI can help. Thanks so much and I apologize as I really never do this. But this is egregious beyond words.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8okB8hsUw/?taken-by=brooklynanimalaction

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX_VKXehf1a/?taken-by=brooklynanimalaction

I hope everyone is doing well and see you all later. And thank you.

 

[Austina]

Hello lovelies

Thank you for the photos @missy, the beach looks amazing, and the sky looks very dramatic. Hope you've had a good ride with no bothersome rash. Little Beatrice certainly does look like she'd be very happy to be sporting some bling. Reminds me of when we first got Dottie. I bought her several blingy collars, and came down one morning to find DH holding one in each hand and asking Dottie which 'necklace' she'd like to wear that day

I do like the new shades, another pair that suits your face very well.

So sad about that poor kitty, people can be so unspeakably vile

@marcy your sister's pendant is just lovely, even in the restaurant light, you can see what a beautiful colour it is, lucky lady.

How great to be able to catch up with your friend, and what a good turnout for your programme, glad it went well.

We went out to friends for dinner last night, and I'm just catching up with laundry, got a busy week ahead with DS arriving.

Hope your all have a great weekend, enjoy the eclipse

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

Missy, Beatrice is a cutie. The beach pictures look fabulous too.
Your new glasses look fabulous too and they match your pretty blue dress. You look great. Yay for 3 new pairs of sunglasses.
That is good Greg’s MIL is realistic and looking in to independent living. Finding a place with activities she likes to do like swimming will make it nicer for her too. Sorry to hear about her vision.
It was nice of Greg’s brother to buy his employees eclipse glasses. My workplace wouldn’t do that either. I handed out eclipse glasses to everyone on my floor and had a few other people show up at my desk because they heard I had glasses. I gave them out until I had no more to give.
I am so sorry about the kitty being so cruelly mistreated, I hope those people do some serious jail time. As Austina said -people can be so vile.

Austina, that is pretty cute your DH was asking Dottie which collar she’d like to wear.
I did really enjoy catching up with my friend; he has always been one of my favorite people.
How long is DS staying on his visit? Are you cooking him any of his favorite mom dishes?

I slept in until 8 which is a treat for me. I had to pick up a few more things at the grocery store so I had them make me some more ground sirloin; I am making homemade tacos tomorrow so now they’ll even taste better.

I broke up some more of my Yogo ore this morning but whatever that stuff is sticks on everything like cement. My sister brought me 3 pieces yesterday that we can at least some sparkly thing in it but they need soaked some more. I don’t have the patience for this - I like faceted sapphires I can see right now.

For lunch I made pizza and since that is way too much pizza for me to eat I made 4 little pizza and froze 3 of them. I bought 8” tin foil pans to freeze the other ones. I put them in parchment paper and once they get frozen I’ll move them to freezer bags. Instant suppers.

For supper I had some garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. My BIL brought some some produce from his garden. Stuff is always so much better fresh from the garden.

NASA chose the scout camp as one of their locations to launch a balloon from tomorrow so I’ll definitely be watching NASA TV to look for Marty in the crowd. I saw a picture of one of the camp grounds in totality and it was a sea of tents. Tomorrow’s traffic will be insane especially when everyone is trying to go home.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[missy]

Good morning girls! Happy Solar eclipse Monday!
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html

Austina thank you for the compliment. How exciting that your DS is coming for a visit. I know you are going to enjoy having him there. LOL which blingy necklace should HRH Dottie wear today. Hey we have to dress our princesses up don't we? They love the bling and they love being girls. HRH Francesca was just asking when HRH Dottie was coming for a visit...
Enjoy your week and enjoy the visit with your son!

Marcy thank you. That was so nice of you to hand out all the solar eclipse glasses you had to your colleagues. Very generous. Your fresh garden salad sounds delicious and I agree. Fresh from the garden is the best. And that pizza plus leftovers sounds yummy too. We had pizza samples at Trader Joes on Saturday when we went shopping after our bike ride and man it was good. First time I ever had pizza samples at TJs and let me tell you the uncrowded stores in the suburbs as compared to Brooklyn TJs is awesome. I can see why people want to live out in the burbs. Less crowds and more civilized at least under certain conditions. It was the most pleasant TJs experience we ever had. And it was their 50th anniversary (which we didn't know until we got there) so they were having a celebration and games etc and still not crowded. Lovely.
Glad you slept till 8AM the other day and yay for fresh tacos today.

I hope Marty has a blast and that you see him on TV and that he makes it home without too much traffic. Enjoy your Monday off from work and enjoy the eclipse!

We had a wonderful Sunday. Long bike ride and lots of beautiful beaches and skies and fur babies along the way. A lovely weekend all around. Pictured below the new spf canopy Greg designed and created for me. It is more opaque and a bit wider and more protective. Same bright neon yellow for maximum visibility.



Some cat cookies from Trader Joes...never tried them but love the name and label.



And who was waiting for us when we got back home...Rootbeer! Looking as pretty as ever.




Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and enjoy your Monday and if you are viewing the eclipse enjoy and please be safe.

 

[junebug17]

Hi Nirdis!

Missy, love your new sunglasses, and I agree, sometimes a sale is just too good to pass up! They look great. Your dress is beautiful too. So nice of Greg to get eclipse glasses, those kinds of things mean a lot to employees. Sorry to hear your mil needs to make a change but it's great that she realizes it's necessary and has a plan. I hope she chooses the place that has the pools! I wish her all the best as she enters this new phase of her life. Glad to hear you had a good bike ride. The new canopy looks great and I love your beautiful pics of the beach. Really pretty! Love the cat cookies, very cute - and Rootbeer is so sweet, I'm glad you had a chance to see him.

Such a horrible thing those people did to that poor sweet kitty, it is beyond horrible and so heartbreaking. Absolutely impossible to fathom how someone could do such a thing. Very scary that there are people in this world capable of this. Makes me physically ill to think about it.

Scandi, so sorry about your knee! I hope it's feeling better by now.

PierreBear, yes, my mother died last September and I'm Executrix of her estate. Cleaning out the house is somewhat emotional sometimes and does bring back memories but so far I've been handling it alright. Thank you for your kind words! I ended up going shopping with dh to buy breakfast food, snacks, and drinks and helped him prepare the house. He's taking them out to lunch and dinner so those meals are covered. He's done this before so he's got it down but I did give him some tips lol. I hope you enjoyed the baby shower and had a nice weekend!

Aw Austina, love the pics of all your doggies! Glad you got a reasonable quote for resetting your tanzanites, do you think you'll go for it?

Marcy, glad you had nice visits with your sister an your friend. Her pendant is beautiful! I'm glad your presentation at the senior center went well. It was really nice of you to do that. Enjoy your break from work, the days go by fast! Your pizza sounds delicious, good thinking to freeze some of it, makes for an easy and quick meal. I hope you see Marty on tv!

Got home yesterday and today I'm just doing errands. Also have some paperwork to fill out, bills to pay, and a few calls to make. Such fun lol. I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far.

 

[PierreBear]

Hello and Happy Monday! The baby shower I’ll deem as a success because I didn’t say/do anything embarrassing. I did get caught up in a good 45 minute one-sided conversation with the husband’s mother though. Hahaha.. no one came to save me. Whew, she was a “chatty Cathy” but was a very sweet lady. This weekend we also watched a movie called Hacksaw Ridge, which I checked out from the library. I’m usually not one to enjoy war movies but it was very moving and was based off a real story. Also who knew that Mel Gibson was a great director?! Oh and the other thing I did this weekend was put on a temporary cat tattoo on my wrist that someone got me for my birthday. I did get a few questions whether it was real. I wish I took a picture of it to share and will have to do it next time. It doesn’t last very long but its fun.

@missy – Parasailing/gliding with Greg sounds like a great memory to have together. Do you mean you have the skill set to do tandem with Greg or you would do tandem with an instructor and likewise Greg with an instructor as well? In the ideal world, I would have loved to do tandem with my DH to share the experience together but we just did our separate flights and talked about it afterwards. How wonderful if ya’ll can do tandem biking and tandem flights as well!

Thanks for sharing information our your Cybex Arc Trainer. Looks like a great calorie burner for sure! DH jokes about building a bunker/space in the back yard where we put up spin bikes and other work out gears. Fun to talk about but not practical as it just makes more sense for us to go to the gym and use their equipment. However, I’ll indulge him and we would plan our imaginary space together and I’ll now tell him we need to throw in some of these cutting edge Arc Trainers!

In terms of a workout, we got in a 9 mile run on Saturday and then went to brunch with our run group. Then on Sunday we did a 70 mile bike ride. I was ready to get off the bike for sure and had DH make an adjustment to it as my back/neck was getting sore in the tri position. DH tacked on a 6 mile run afterwards and turned it into a brick workout but I decided to play it safe and conservative given my leg. Whew, after that bike ride, we sure took a long nap!

Hahaha… you are so sweet to be excited about my ring project. I am actively trying not to email you non-stop. I gave DH an update on the 2 contenders and our plan and he was glad to hear the progress. I’m trying not to talk his ear off about it either but it must have been 7 AM in the morning while we were on our bikes and I asked “is it too early to talk about the ring?” hehehe… I can’t remember how he replied because I must have still been waking up but it made me laugh. I’m so thankful that DH is supportive of the project and is excited as well.

Sorry to hear about the challenges of parents getting older. I’m sure it will require wisdom, patience, and kindness but you and Greg are so gifted in those areas that ya’ll will do great and handle it with much grace.

Way to go on keeping all 3 pair of sunglasses! It’s nice to always have options!

Gosh so crazy to hear that her owners crippled their own animals. I’m just lost for words….

@Austina – Thank you for sharing those dog photos! Oh my goodness… Waldo is half white in the front and half gray in the back?! So precious and unique! He looks like a big fellow, as tall as the dinner table. I bet he might have snatched some goodies during a meal or two? Hehe.

Good luck to you on your tanzanite project and so glad that he seems to be honest about when to put in the extra funds or not. How did the paesotto turn out? I’m so impressed with your cooking experiences. Did I mention that one the side I take a culinary classes at a local community college? I’m not good by any means but really love cooking so please share your experiences!

@marcy – I literally laughed out loud when you recommended Missy and Greg to meet up for a meal around Adam’s place. Hilarious!

Wow, thanks for sharing how you got into astronomy! I love your passion and dedication towards something you love for 20+ years. I find that I’m consistent with things that I love and enjoy and wonder if I’ll stay true to those things or if overtime I would be drawn to something new. I hope you get to see the eclipse clearly today and share that knowledge/commentary with your students.

So kind of you to hand out glasses to watch the eclipse. I was talking to my coworkers today and no one had any. Guess I’ll live vicariously through your pretty eyes!

@Scandinavian – No cakes but there were cupcakes! I had a chocolate one and it was delicious. The main party of the baby shower is giving a gift to the upcoming parents and they usually open it up in front of the group. Their first baby will be a girl so there were many cute dresses and other things that they signed up for. There were some gifts that had my scratching my head though. Whew, there are a lot of things that babies need that I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t know how to use!


Have a great day everyone!

 

[PierreBear]

@junebug17 – Ohhh your post just came in right before mine so I didn’t see it sooner. Apologies! Sorry to hear about your mother passing away last year. I’m glad that you are dealing with it well but of course it’s still not a pleasant experience. You are such a strong woman though. Keep it up!

 

[Austina]

Hello lovelies

No eclipse here, they did say we may be able to see something, but it's been raining and overcast, so no chance of seeing anything.

That's very sweet of you to let the MIL chew your ear off @PierreBear I expect she's very excited to be awaiting a grandchild. We don't have baby showers here, although, I think they're starting to creep in, like Proms and wedding showers. They didn't have them in my day, oh dear, that makes me sound like I'm at least 100 Wow to running 9 mikes, I'm feeling exhausted just thinking about it, good decision not to over do it and call it a day when you did. Waldo was indeed a very big boy, but was very good at not helping himself

I hope Marty and gang are enjoying the eclipse, and that you get a good sighting of it too @marcy . Hopefully they'll have some good footage on the news here so that I can see it. I try to batch cook too, it's a great feeling knowing you can just open the freezer and you've got a lovely meal waiting. It'll be DS's birthday while he's here (29th) so I'll make him an ebony and ivory cheesecake if he wants it, but he's very big into healthy eating, and it's about a million calories a slice

I hope things are progressing with the house sale @junebug17 it must be so difficult for you dealing with clearing everything out. I'm just waiting for a quote for a new mount for my tanzanite ring, but assuming it's reasonable, I'll go with it.

Awww, Rootbeer is indeed a very pretty puss, is she one of the ferals? Sounds like the perfect weekend @missy and the canopy looks great, is it helping to keep the rash at bay? How is your toe now, has it healed up completely? I think our Princesses would be fine together, there's a big ginger puss in the road who walks up to Dottie and kisses her and she doesn't bat an eyelid

Hi @Scandinavian hope the puppies are behaving themselves

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

Missy, I wouldn’t even say I live in the burbs; I am in flyover rural America and I hate crowds. If there are 3 people in line in front or me or 3 cars in my way it’s a crowd. LOL it is all what we are used to dealing with every day.
Your new canopy looks great - with more coverage and definitely very visible - it has to be a win win for you. I hope it helps with your rash too.
Your pictures are great. The beach is always pretty; the cookies are pretty neat and Root Bear is a cutie.

Junebug, I pulled my frozen pizza out of their tins this morning and moved them all to freezer bags; it looks like they’ll work fine. I get hungry for pizza now and then and now I’ll have some when one of them is calling my name.
Good luck with your errands and phone calls.

PierreBear, glad the baby shower went well and you were able to keep the husband’s MIL entertained. Some people are talkers all right. Hacksaw Ridge was a good movie; I looked him up online after watching the movie and read about his life. Very interesting.
That’s pretty funny asking your DH if it’s too early to talk about you ring. I know Marty has heard more about diamonds, sapphires and rings than he ever wanted to hear.
I am an enabler so if I can help Missy get Greg in to Adam’s blingarama I’ll give it a shot.
I did have clear skies here for the eclipse and enjoying how little “roughing” it I had to do from home. Ha! Darn you guys didn’t have eclipse glasses.
Mm cupcakes.

Austina, darn the eclipse didn’t put in an appearance for you.
Hopefully your DS wants some of you cheesecake; it sounds delicious. Cheesecake is so many calories but it is one thing Marty will budget for in his food for the day. Lately I’ve been making my cheesecake recipe as normal but bake it in muffin tins. It works like a charm. Plus you have civilized serving sizes that way. I get 20 individual cheesecakes.
Hopefully your tanzanite ring comes back with a decent quote.

I had a lovely day. A friend from the astronomy club came over, we had on NASA TV and went out on the deck maybe every 20 minutes or so. We watched the beginning of the eclipse, maximum eclipse and then the end of the eclipse. My solar binoculars were great; $53 well spent.

We enjoyed AC, bathrooms, snacks and the most roughing it we had to do was dust off the cushions on our deck furniture. I made us homemade tacos for lunch, my friend brought cookies so we ate well too.

I tried to take some photos of the eclipse using eclipse glasses over the camera on my phone and iPads but again decided I don’t need to risk my eyes with anything to get a picture so my pictures are from the projected images of the Sun through my mini colander. Ha!

Have a great day.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Marty may be a while getting home

 

[azstonie]

Missy, is there a Go Fund Me for this kitty? I'm afraid to go to the Instagram page in case I get homicidal.

 

[missy]

Good morning girls!

Marcy that is a super cool photo you took through the colander. Nice going. And yay on those special binoculars being a worthwhile investment. Sounds like a perfect day and so glad it remained clear so everyone could enjoy it. I prefer the way you saw the eclipse. In comfort and in style with all the necessary nourishment and creature comforts. Yay to bathrooms, A/C and having your friend over to share in the eclipse viewing. No need to suffer to enjoy momentous events.

How was Marty's eclipse trip and how was the traffic back? It looked pretty congested on the highways after the eclipse and hoping he made it home without too many delays.

Junie welcome home honey. I hope you had a lovely weekend in SC and that your trip back was uneventful. I hope everything starts working out re the sale of the home and that things start falling into place. Thank you for your lovely comments. Sending you hugs and love.

PierreBear glad you enjoyed the weekend and that the baby shower was fun. Sorry you got cornered by the baby to be father's mom. That happens to me a lot too. I am not always graceful when trying to exit conversations with people I don't know. I sometimes find it difficult to extricate myself from conversations at social gatherings.

Wow to your active weekend. Super impressive. And I am glad your dh was able to help you get more comfortable with an adjustment while cycling. It is never fun to cycle or run or swim in pain. Yes the Arc trainer by Cybex is a worthwhile investment.

Read your email and responded with some thoughts. Don't hesitate to contact me whenever you want though this week is a busy one so I may not be able to respond as quickly as I normally do I more than welcome your questions. Keep in mind I am not an expert however but will always give you my honest opinions. It also might be a good idea to start a thread in Rocky Talk because more minds are better than one when it comes to bling projects. People might think of different suggestions we might not have come up with. Though some people feel too many cooks spoil the meal (or something like that lol) I feel you can take what is useful and discard the rest. So just a suggestion. It might be overwhelming to do start a thread or it might just be very useful for you.

Austina I am sorry you couldn't see the eclipse through the clouds. We didn't have special eclipse glasses and we were traveling back to NYC during this time but it was ethereal. The sky took on this hazy surreal view and it almost felt like we were in a sci fi movie. Both my dh and I felt it. The kitties in the car with us didn't act weird at all though I heard other animals were acting strange. It doesn't surprise me that our kitties were nonchalant about the whole event. Like mama like kitties.

Thanks for asking about my toe. No improvement at all and it does sort of freak me out but just because of the metal plates in my leg. I am so worried about getting those plates infected. My toe doesn't look right. Red swollen and irritated. It has been over 2 months since my nail removal procedure.

Re the rash well I have made some interesting observations and perhaps a way to help lessen its severity. I find that dousing myself with cool water all over my legs while cycling every few miles or so helps decrease the intensity and minimize the onset but this is a very rough experiment and no scientific info and I have just been trialing/experimenting with this for the past few weeks. I have a theory that the coolness of the water and the cooling factor of the evaporation helps diminish the trauma of the heat to the blood vessels and helps prevent them from bursting/leaking quite as much. If that makes any sense. Seeing my dermatologist this morning and will see what he has to say about this. I could be totally wrong and probably am.

Sharing a few pics that a friend sent me yesterday and that the garage attendant at my building showed me when we were getting in from the beach yesterday afternoon. First 2 pics are the garage attendant's photos and last pic is a photo my friend Rob took.








Pretty cool right?

 

[missy]

Missy, is there a Go Fund Me for this kitty? I'm afraid to go to the Instagram page in case I get homicidal.

Hi Kristie! Thank you for asking and for considering donating to them. You are a doll!
Here is their donation page and if you want to specify the money for this kitty please put "Lady Emergency Fund" in the notes. That's her name. Thank you sweetheart. (((HUGS))).

brooklynanimalaction.org/donate

 

[Scandinavian]

Missy, good morning. I have donated to Lady, just wanted to let you know. I'll try to get back here later today. So much to do. At work today... have to stop working... don't have time for anything when I'm at work...

 

[missy]

Missy, good morning. I have donated to Lady, just wanted to let you know. I'll try to get back here later today. So much to do. At work today... have to stop working... don't have time for anything when I'm at work...

Thank you so much sweetie! I have been so upset about Lady and the fact that people can do something like this...breaks my heart when I think of all the needless suffering all over the world that we cannot do anything about and then something like this occurs. Purposefully torturing and crippling a defenseless animal. OMG it makes me lose all hope in humanity. But for kind, loving, caring and generous people like you and the other girls here that is what I hold onto trying to keep it together in what is often a cruel senseless uncaring world.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Words cannot convey what your kindness towards Lady (and all the other animals you help) means to me. (((HUGS))).

 

[Scandinavian]

Only thing, I had to write "Lady Emergency Fund" where my phone number was supposed to go, so I hope they see it. There was no comment option. Hugs!

 

[missy]

Only thing, I had to write "Lady Emergency Fund" where my phone number was supposed to go, so I hope they see it. There was no comment option. Hugs!

I am sure they will see it...the notes section was under their Venmo account but I linked their general account here to you girls as more people can easily donate through their main donation page vs Venmo. Thank you again Scandi!!! XOXO.

 

[PierreBear]

Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well. I just realized that many of us have either bling in our avatars or some sort of animal. Two of my favorite things! Anyhow, I made a fun dinner yesterday night. Had my first poke bowl (it’s similar to a deconstructed sushi but in a bowl) in CA and tried my best to reproduce it. Did it with quinoa, sautéed shrimp, zucchini, and mushrooms. For toppings I added on kimchi and sea weed salad. It wasn’t like the real deal but a start. I was hoping my local grocery store sold sushi grade sushi but they said to check out central market or whole foods. I’m sure it would be so pricey that I might rather just go out for sushi instead? Speaking of homemade items, I might try and make my own cashew milk. Apparently you just soak cashews in water and then the next day blend it up with the right amount of water and then you magically get cashew milk. Keep ya’ll posted. I have a trend of making things home made for a bit and then realizing that it’s not worth it. I do enjoy making bread though. Nothing like seeing that dough rise and DH loves to punch it down. Anyhow, it’s only 8 AM here and talking about these food items is making me hungry so I’m going to stop! Hope ya’ll have a great day!


@Austina – Sorry that it’s been raining and there wasn’t a chance to see the eclipse. On the other hand, I would trade you the opportunity to see the eclipse for some rain!

Where do your dogs tend to sleep at night? Mom and dad’s bed or is that off limits for such large dogs? My cat loves to snuggle with us at night. We have a sleeping routine where I hold my cat, and DH holds me. We all spoon and the cat purrs us to sleep. Very bizarre but it’s one of my favorite parts of the day. It’s not perfectly pleasant though as I get the occasional head butt in the middle of the night as a sign to hold the cat. Can’t get mad at the cat for being sweet though. : )

@marcy – I love the photo of the eclipse in the shadow. Glad you had a great time with your friend from the astronomy club. Tacos and cookies sounds like a great way to celebrate!

@missy – Hmmm sorry to hear that your toe is still red and irritated. 2 months is rather long. What are your next steps on addressing it? I’m glad it hasn’t stopped you from your activities through but would have thought your body would have started to heal by now.

Glad that keeping your legs cool has helped with the rash. Hope that the dermatologist will give you more insight and perhaps a permanent fix. I had my heat rash flair up a little bit this past weekend riding in the heat as well. It always seems to be around where my biking shorts-line ends. I wonder if you experimented a bit on length of shorts whether that might benefit you or at least lessen the area of the rash? Please keep us posted and hoping for good news!

OOhhh love that last photo that Rob took!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI NIRDI's:

Hope this note finds you all well--and hopefully I won't have eclipsed anyone! nyuknyuknyuk

Today I told that Bakers cyst behind my knee to HTFR. I am thinking those strong words will improve my healing, since the cyst persists!

At least the weather is very fine and I can hobble around outside in comfort.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Austina]

Hello lovelies

Nice to see you @canuk-gal but a big boo to that persistent cyst. I hope it does as it's told and departs soon. Glad you're having good weather so that you can at least get out.

The puppy has her own bed @PierreBear she's far too big to sleep on the bed - there'd be no room for us We didn't actively discourage her from coming upstairs, she just didn't for the first couple of years, then one day, a furry head appeared around the bedroom door, and since then, she comes up. As soon as it's her bedtime, (if we're watching TV in bed) she'll trot downstairs and puts herself to bed. She has a big crate in the orangery. We've tried to do away with it, but she loves it, so we're stuck with it.

Good grief, that traffic looks horrendous @marcy . I hope Marty managed to get home ok, and enjoyed his trip to see the eclipse. Thank you for the photo, it's a very quirky way of viewing it.

Please don't worry yourself ill @missy, we can only do what we can to help animals. One of the groups I belong to rescued 20 Spinone last year from horrendous conditions in Italy, they were all rehomed throughout Europe and the U.K., but there are always others. We recently tried to save a beautiful girl who been bred from continuously and had developed mammary tumours. She'd just given birth to 2 Spinone/Bracco pups, but despite all the efforts of those in Italy, she didn't make it. Her 2 beautiful pups have loving homes. It won't be long before there are others dumped after the hunting season is over, half starved, unloved and in desperate need. We save as many as we can.

I'm glad you've found something that is giving some relief from the rash, I hope the dermo had some encouragement for you today. I'm sorry your toe is still painful, that Pod certainly did a number on it

We went out to lunch with a friend I used to work with. I'm so happy for her, she's had a really tough life, (cheating husband who left her with 2 small children and an STD), a few years ago she met a lovely man and they're getting married next year. She's finally got a loving relationship and stability, no less than she deserves. Her OH and DH get on well too, they have mutual love of rugby, so always have lots to talk about

Won't be long before DS heads off to the airport for his flight over, although knowing him, he'll probably leave it till the last minute:roll He almost missed the flight once because he got stuck in traffic!

Hi @Scandinavian Don't work too hard! Hope everything is well with you @azstonie and you haven't melted!

Have a great day

 

[Scandinavian]

I need help... I have a new IPhone (7) and all the pictures I try to take move a little like a 1 sec video... How do I avoid this???



Edit: found it...
F has stolen a bottle and T is trying to re-steal it LOL

 

[Austina]