Now I really did it :((

[PierreBear]

Thanks for the good lucks etc regarding culinary class. Turns out no quiz yesterday and it has been postponed. I was ok with it though part of me thought it would have just been nice to get it over with. Today I found out that my coworker will be out of office for the rest of the week. I was hoping it was vacation but one of her family members passed away and she’s making a trip to Florida. Lots of tragedy in her family life right now if ya’ll could please be spending dust/prayers her way. Anyhow, a somber note to end on but hope everyone has a great day.

@missy – Adorable Riley… I often too think that cat’s have a wonderful life. Sweet boy to show his tummy to you.

@Austina – I’m glad you like this Texas weather. The 20 degree swings are pretty drastic to me. I usually dress for the high point of the day and scurry into the office in the morning as quickly as I can from car to building.

Oh I didn’t know you were looking at homes. What style are you interested in? Over here it can range from ranch style to mid century to modern to Spanish villa… etc. Hope you saw something that peaked your interest.

@marcy – I think the way your mind works might be similar to mind. Some things I can’t help thinking about. It’s not like I can tell my brain “ok stop! It’s sleep time… the better you sleep the more chance you have at being productive tomorrow.” I’ve learned though that if I get home late at night because of work or cooking school, I need to give myself 15 minutes to do something different such as reading a book or watching tv… something that will take my full attention. Staying up later for that 15 minutes will allow my subconscious to not wake me up in the middle of the night and think about what I was working on the night before. Not sure if you’ve tried that just wanted to share what tools have helped me.

Must be nice to be young and not have to work out! Yum to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. The new flavor sounds delicious.

Funny you ask about the rings as DH forgot to put up the ring as he is traveling this week and packing Sunday night and probably didn’t get to it. It’s sitting in the jewelry box and I’ve only looked at it and worn it at home but not out and about. I’m actually waiting for the appraisal documents so as it’s not insured yet, it’s another reason why I’ll be patient and wait for next year.

@Scandinavian – Can’t wait for pictures!

 

[missy]

Good morning girls!

Marcy haha so true. Tommy is living the dream here. So relieved your roads are OK. We are getting 9 inches of snow tomorrow. My goodness it's the winter that never ends for us. Sorry people were grumpy at work but glad you didn't let it affect your mood. Oh Ben and Jerry I love them. That new flavor sounds promising. My favorite flavor in college (last time I enjoyed Ben and Jerry ice cream sad right?) was Heathbar Crunch. Yummmmm.

Jimmianne so happy for you and your sweet DD and her FI. And happy you are enjoying a wonderful trip. And yes I am lucky to have met so many wonderful NIRDIs in person and excited about seeing you again soon hopefully.

Austina so glad Dottie is doing well and enjoying her mini vacation too. How much fun looking at model homes and dont worry about wasting realtors time because you might just be needing them in the future and so it is not wasteful at all. Enjoy visiting your friends!

Ooh Scandi good luck and we are anxiously awaiting updates. Very exciting.

Pierrebear sorry about the postponement in your culinary test but sure you will ace it when you take it. I have been watching Top Chef (I tivod it from January) from the beginning of this past season and am almost to the end of this season. I LOVE this show. And I dont even cook or eat meat but wow it is just so enjoyable to watch. And so hard to be a chef. Really gives me a whole new appreciation of the whole ordeal of cooking and baking.
I am so sorry about your coworker's tragedy and keeping everyone in my thoughts.

Have a great day girls!

 

[missy]

Hahaha I have to share a few photos from a pub crawl a long time ago. Even with those awful 90s styles I love these pics.


From the 90s haha look at those kooky clothes



And from this past Saturday






I think it’s amazing all these men have remained such close friends since the 1970s. Wish all of us friends like that. Friends forever through it all.

 

[CJ2008]

marcy the bears travel with you? That's awesome. Hey, just realized those bears travel more in style than I do Good for you getting through some chores. I want to do the floors some time this week. Oh how I hate doing the floors. The same day you got the password from Amazon that you didn't request I had the same thing from Facebook. :/

missy the rescues as always were so adorable thank you for the beautiful pictures. States will become no kill when animals are no longer viewed as property (which you mentioned in the dog thread). Love the sunglasses. Stomach is better now I've been eating a tiny bit better. Thank you. Love the pictures of the older pub crawls. So nice that they have all remained friends they just look so happy and like they're enjoying themselves.

pierre some people handle stress better than others...I find that when I can't sleep it helps me to make all my muscles really tight and then release, from your feet up to head just think about squeezing real hard as you go up your body, then release.

austina I can have pizza every day. :/ Glad to hear Dottie is happy and playing in the snow. I must have missed it, where is she?

Have to run want to see if I can find some clothes wish me luck. :/ I hate going shopping when I'm in my fluffy state. :/

Hugs all.

 

[junebug17]

Hi Nirdis!

Missy, what a cute pic of Tommy! So comfy and cozy. I love those pics from the 90's! Makes me kinda nostalgic for that time period! Probably because I was 20 years younger lol. It's so great that Greg has maintained such long-time friendships, that doesn't happen often and it's really special when it does. So nice to see everyone having such a great time too. Stay safe in this crazy weather, I have a feeling you and I won't be venturing out any time soon!

PB, I think what your dh said is true, Glad you had such a great time getting together with Austina, you are both such fabulous women and I hope I get to meet you both someday! The nirdis are a great bunch of ladies, that's for sure. I think there's some truth to what your dh said about getting used to handling the emotions of being stressed - let's face it, there's always something in our lives to worry about! I think jobs can create a lot of stress for people in general, and especially when someone is starting a new one. I'm glad you're working on calming yourself, I know it's hard to control those feelings of anxiety and worry. It's a plus your sleep isn't being affected and I hope that continues. I'm so sorry about your friend, sounds like she is having a very tough time. I'm glad dh forgot to put the ring away so you can "play" with it for a bit!

Austina, that was so sweet of Tom to send pics of Dottie, it's comforting to know that your furbaby is happy and doing well while you're away. Lol to needing a new ring! Well, luckily you already have your fabulous marquise ring (which I adore!) but I'm always available for enabling if you ever decide you need another ring I love looking at show homes, it's really fun to see different decorating ideas and house designs.

Marcy, I'm glad you didn't let the grouches at work get you down. That ice cream sounds amazing, I'm going to have to try it. I probably won't be good like you and stop at a few bites though Sounds like a good idea to check your amazon purchases, just to make sure they are all ones you made. Yeah, Tiger managed to do pretty well and is definitely playing much better, but Rory ended up being on fire!

Jimmianne, I agree, just knowing a few nirdis have gotten together makes me happy, I hope I can eventually meet everyone!
Scandi, so excited for you and I can't wait to see pictures!

CJ, I love the term "fluffy state", I can completely relate to that! It's the perfect way to describe that bloated and uncomfortable feeling of a few extra pounds. For a while there, this extra running (uh, jogging) seemed to be helping but unfortunately it seems to have worn off and I'm feeling fluffy these days too. I have nobody to blame but myself, I've been craving carbs and reaching for bad ones!
Scandi, so excited for you and I can't wait to see pictures!

Well, the weather has been wacky here, started snowing, then switched to rain/sleet, and now back to snowing. the latest report says 2-5 inches, which is awesome, at one point it was 4 to 8 lol.

The snow isn't keeping the birds away, my pretty cardinal has even made an appearance. These birds are eating me out of house and home though, I just filled that thing a few hours ago! Ignore the ugly hose, I keep meaning to throw that out!

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs! Spring is here!

Jimmianne, it is pretty cool some of us get to meet; I’d love to meet all of you NIRDIs! It is fun to have friends around the world.

Scandi, I am glad they are making progress on the kitchen.

PierreBear, I’m with you on the quiz; just get it over with. Darn. I hate to hear about your co-worker losing a family member. That is always so hard. My thoughts are with her. Your late night technique is quite familiar to me. When I was teaching astronomy I often got home from school about 10 pm and still had papers to grade in my online classes. I was getting stressed and frazzled so even if I stayed up later I took about 10 - 15 minutes to do something for me before going to bed. It made a huge difference. I would read, look through a magazine or knit. I am definitely not young and I should be working out but I don’t. Not for Marty’s lack of trying either. That’s a good idea to only enjoy your ring at home until you get it insured. One time Marty bought me a diamond star pendant and I swore he could keep it until my birthday. I had it out on the couch in the sunlight just to “see it”. Marty and his buddy came walking in the front door to get something and all I heard was “busted!” At least I wasn’t wearing it.

Missy, I saw you had another major storm coming your way. The 4th one in a month. You’d think you were in Wyoming. I bet Heathcrunch bar ice cream is delicious. I usually just have one of those mini ice cream bars but the new flavors caught my attention. Great pictures of Pub Crawls from years past. It is great those guys have remained friends for so many years. That is a rare treasure. Stay safe and warm. I dug out my blues to wear today - sapphire band, sapphire ring and earrings plus my sapphire bracelet. Stay safe and warm.

CJ, I’ll take Snacks with me on trips and sometimes one of the bigger bears go with us to Denver but it’s hard to smuggle them out of the house. The little killer rabbits show up frequently on road trips too. Isn’t it annoying there are so many people out there hacking in to our accounts? I am glad to hear you are feeling better. I hope your shopping excursion was a success. I too like the term fluffy state. I feel that way after eating 2 pieces of pizza for supper. I told a friend of mine in an email one time that my teddy bear was flipping her off (she’d made some smart comment to me) and her response was to tell my bear to shove it up his fluffer hole. I chuckle every time I think of that.

Junebug, I am a total sucker for ice cream when it’s warm so I have no idea why I’ve been hungry for it lately. I usually buy mini ice cream bars or slow churned ice cream but new Ben and Jerry’s flavors caught my eye. I’ll be anxious to hear what your DH thinks of the steering in your Macan. Rory was definitely on fire and Tiger is actually playing pretty well. Your snow is pretty and how cool some cardinals made an appearance. You can definitely spend lots of money on bird seed. That hose cart looks very familiar.

I got my appraisal late today. It was better than I thought it would be and I even got a 2.5% raise. I guess we need to have them handed out by Friday this week. I’ll try to get them handed out tomorrow. No point in going over the appraisal with my new employee; he wasn’t working for me last year so basically I’ll have 4 to hand out.

Marty’s buddy that came over to lift tonight has a Chevy Volt and he plugs it in while he’s here. I met him at the door while he was plugging it in and asked him who said we were going to pay for your gas? He is very literal and wasn’t sure if I was kidding or not. I don’t know for sure but when he started doing that I was curious and what I found online was the electricity costs more than gas. He is a first generation Chinese, brilliant and has no common sense or filter so it’s fun to give him a hard time.

I ordered myself a pizza for supper tonight. Marty had done most of the dishes when I got home so why mess up the kitchen again?

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

This is perfect:

 

[CJ2008]

Just a quick write-by (get it?) to say

CONGRATS on your raise Marcy!

Happy for you.

(fluffer hole LOL)

 

[Scandinavian]

Hello!
Pictures from my phone first:

 

[missy]

Good morning girls!

Junie yay you are only getting a few inches. We are predicted to get more than 12 inches right now at both homes. LOL helloooo Spring.
Love your pretty snow photo. Stay safe and warm Junie. I hope to be curling up with a good book though Greg is working from home today as the office is closed (12 plus inches yup no joke) so if time permits and his work is slow we might play cards and board games so then I might not get much reading done. We will see.

CJ thank you. So glad you are feeling better. Stomach ailments are painful. Hope you had good luck yesterday clothing shopping. Haha fluffy state I feel you and get it. (((Hugs))).

Marcy woohoo on your raise!!! You go girl. LOVE that Snoopy meme. Adorable and oh too true. Yes we have Wyoming weather here don't ya know? Come here if you are feeling homesick. Yay to Pizza last night and not messing up the kitchen. Have a good day at work today. If this was Wyoming I bet everything would be open but it isn't so schools and many workplaces are closed now.

Scandi LOVE your photos. I think you might still be adding them but I have to say it is all so lovely. I think I had a preview. Enjoy!

Have a lovely day girls!

Leaving you with a warm cozy winter scene inside. Not bad right?

 

[Scandinavian]

Hi beauties!

I read somewhere (a newspaper probably, they are always right about everything…) that you should never start an email or such things with “Hi” in English. Way to rude. So I thought it might be interesting to ask you girls for your opinions. Please note that I included “beauties” in my greeting to make up for any insult made. Also, I was balled enough to include an exclamation mark, even though I was not trying to express my surprise. What are your thoughts on that?

Anyway, on to more pressing matters. The kitchen is finally starting to come together. Yippi! (Again, the exclamation mark, although this time it might be because I’m kind of surprised…)

The chess pattern floor is in the hallway, just outside the kitchen / dining room. But in the old part of the house, so it is new LOL. The other chess floor that you have seen before is in the new part of the house, although part of the same hallway…. LOL.

The windows look silly without their trimmings. So please imagine that they are there, and that the walls are stained snowy white. And perhaps a snow owl (live, of course) on the window sill whilst you are doing the whole imagining thing. I have always wanted a snow owl since I first read Harry Potter.

They are assembling the kitchen cabinets today, and the workers sent me some pictures. The first picture shows the colour I think. The one with the two wine cabinets in the lower part. The next is the fridge. It is obviously not completed yet, lol, or someone will get fired…

And then the AGA. Oh how I love it already. Can’t wait to get to know it. Fortunately, one of my friends has one, so I can ask her for advice. Or just invite her to dinner – PS your cooking LOL. She loves her AGA so much that they have bought one for their cabin too.

I’ll take pictures tonight, going up there to look around.

@marcy, a raise is awesome! And a good report too! I think you might have a few weeks before you need to work again… they’ll forgive and forget long before the next assessments are due… And I suddenly felt a little Chinese LOL I’m not sure I would have know if you were joking either… LOL

@junebug17, I would love to invite you to come visit June, but we have even more snow than you, so I think you might hate it LOL. But summertime is wonderful and very pretty!

@CJ2008 I love pizza too! Let’s move to pizza land where they have only pizzas and no mirrors! I’m fluffy too. But I’m working hard to fix that! However, perhaps the money I spend on a PT would be better spent on a shrink. That way I could look “good” and have pizza at the same time… LOL

@missy, you are just evil talking about ice cream… LOL I love ice cream… We have so much snow here too. A bit of sun today, but it looks like it might take weeks of sun to get rid of all the “black ice” in the streets and on the sidewalks. Look forward to being able to wear high heels again without risking my health LOL. How are the ferals? They are so lucky to have you and Greg and a nice supply of food through the winter.

@PierreBear, please come visit and teach me (i) how to work out hard and (ii) a few nice new dishes. I do the watch TV thing too to get my mind off work.

Hugs!

 

[Scandinavian]

Good morning Missy

 

[missy]

Good morning Missy

Good morning sweetie! I am loving your renos sooooo much! Cannot wait to see it all completed. And I know you cannot wait either. (((HUGS))).
And can you please take some of our snow away? OMG we are getting over a foot. For us that is a lot. For you not so much I know.

XOXO.

 

[missy]

The storm is just beginning here but I snapped a few pics for you so you could all share in our snowy adventures.

 

[Scandinavian]

@missy, I can still see the streets so that doesn’t count as a lot of snow yet LOL <3

 

[PierreBear]

Good morning Ladies! Hope all is well. DH is out of town so yesterday I did a long work out and saw my friend at the gym and we chatted a bit. I was messing around on my phone, trying to get my work calendar showing up in this app. Not the way I wanted to spend my evening and it took me a lot longer than I wanted to but eventually got it figured out. I’m an Android user but maybe I-phone is more user friendly? What do ya’ll use/prefer? I miss the high school/college days where I use those daily planners and hand wrote things in there and to manually cross things out complete. Well if I’m really reminiscing, I recall collecting stickers are a little girl. : ) Hope ya’ll have a great day!

@missy – Glad to hear that you enjoy the cooking shows too. I think my favorite one is Chopped. Gosh, how to perform under pressure like that… now these people know how to handle stress well. Appreciate you keeping my coworker in your thoughts.

Picture from the past are wonderful… Greg looks the same. I need his beauty secrets on aging well. Hahaha…

How is the health coming along? You haven’t mentioned it in awhile… hope you are doing well physically!

@CJ2008 – Interesting about your tip on squeezing muscles really tight and releasing. I’ll have to try that some time. Hope you get some good finds on your shopping adventures. Anything you are looking for in particular? Don’t worry about your “fluffy state”… I think everyone is still trying to still shed some winter pounds. It’s not summer weather yet!

@junebug17 – Thanks for sharing your views on stress. DH was pointing out that some of the stress is caused by my own internal fears and struggles. Not the actual work etc. I def need to work on that part. He did ask me if I felt like I was the right pick for my current full-time job and I said yes. So I think I’m just going through a “trying to feel accepted” and wanting to prove that I’m the right pick for this side job… should taper off as I work through these issues and get more comfortable with myself. Never stop growing up right… haha eventually I’ll learn these lessons.

Glad that the extra running has been helping you shed some of that “fluffiness” as well and can relate that it does seem to taper off. I think it might be a good sign though that your body is “used” to the running now even though it’s not showing in the lbs. Sounds like your body is ready to run farther and harder and injury free. Wow, after seeing that snow picture, no wonder you are running inside. Beautiful cardinal!

@marcy – hahaha your “busted” story is adorable. A star pendant to symbolize your love for astronomy I’m guessing? Do you still wear it? Sounds lovely!

Congrats on your raise! Proud of you… way to be a woman in the workplace and excel. Glad you got to reward yourself with pizza.

@Scandinavian – Thanks for showing the pictures…. WONDERFUL! Good luck on the kitchen cabinet assembly today. I’ll gladly come visit and do all those lovely things with you! Hope your family/pups are doing well!

 

[PierreBear]

@missy, I can still see the streets so that doesn’t count as a lot of snow yet LOL <3

haha.... oh my... I'm always reminded that all the NIRDI ladies live all around the world. So neat! Ya'll be safe.

 

[MarionC]

Good morning all.
I wrote this yesterday.but had wifi issues, so now I am hopelessly behind again.
It's amazing how much snow you are getting and have gotten, Missy,
I'm at the airport hotel ...with wifi!...headed home.

Hi CJ

Hi funny cartoon Marcy. That cartoon just about says it all. What a winter! Oh well, maybe we WILL get a second Christmas out of it...if it lasts long enough. Ugh.
Happy you got a raise. You deserve that and a medal.

June, i am looking in my cyrstal ball and seeing you at a GTG.

i went to visit my castle yesterday. Lol. I’m one of about 7,000 owners, but I was the only one there yesterday. 26 degrees with the wind chill, so I’m not surprised.
It is a haunting reminder of another era, built in the 1300’s. It’s pretty much gutted with no roof, but will be repaired eventually.

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

CJ, thank for the congratulations. Fluffer hole does crack me up.

Scandi, your place is looking fabulous. I bet you can’t wait until it’s done. Starting an email with hi doesn’t bother me. Of course I am honestly impressed if someone can offend me. I like your idea to goof off for a few weeks at work; i’ve got 9 months to redeem myself before they write my appraisal for this year. Thank you for the congratulations. Stay safe on that ice.

Missy, how much snow did you get? I noticed the snow coming down outside the windows on the morning shows from NYC. Your fire looks very cozy; I hope Greg didn’t have a lot of work today so the 2 of your could enjoy playing some games. Thanks for the congratulations on my raise. I still plan on winning the lottery though. Yees, we mostly don’t close places here unless it is a total blizzard.

PierreBear, I am an iPhone fan and my calendar automatically syncs between work, phone, and iPads. I don’t sync my work calendar with my laptop though. We watch Chopped too; some of the judges can be pretty harsh. I don’t have the star pendant anymore; I have a mole on my chest that is pretty close to where pendants hang and the 2 star pendants I’ve had stab it. The were liquidated in one of my jewelry sales. I had another star set (ring, earrings and pendant) that were baguettes with a small round diamond in the center. They were pretty but the diamonds were pretty yellow so I sold those as well. I wish I still had them. Thank you for the kind words about work and my raise.

Jimmianne, great picture! That’s a very cool castle. I saw it briefly on FB this morning and didn’t get back to like it. Christmas in July is a fabulous idea! Thank you for saying I deserve a raise and ha ha for saying I deserve a medal.

We were in the mid 50’s today. Woo hoo!

My retinal exam was good; the edema has really flattened out. I am getting a different lens for the left eye and only have to keep using drops for one more month. Then he wants me to quit using drops for 2 weeks and we will see how my retina looks then. I won’t miss the sore throat the drops gives me but I will miss breathing out of my nose.

Since I was already late for work I filled my tank and washed my car.

I handed out 3 of my 5 employee appraisals. The 2 most difficult ones will be handed out tomorrow. Wish me luck on that.

Have a great evening.
Marcy

 

[MarionC]

Marcy, a cool thing about the castle is that thousands of people got together to donate the funds to renovate it. So for 65€ I can call myself an "owner" lol. So far, the foundation has raised about 1.4 mil to restore it but I don't think that is going to go very far. It's a wreck! Anyway it is beautiful as is.

At the airport now.

 

[Scandinavian]

Good morning!
Here is todays entertainment / the chaos at the house this morning

 

[Scandinavian]

Jimmianne, wonderful pictures and I love your castle!
Missy, hope you have had some hot chocolate or something to help you survive the snow?
Marcy, best of luck!!
Pierrebear, you are very welcome to come on over
Austina, how are you?

 

[PierreBear]

Not sure if ya’ll have caught the news about the bomber in Austin who left packages on door steps to random people. He’s finally caught but gosh what a scary world we live in yet. Seems to me there is no rhyme or reason for destruction.

On another note, I am hosting the Jeffersonian dinner next week and sent out invitations yesterday. The topic will be to share your favorite quote/life anthem/bible verse/statement etc… and why that is significant to you. I think some of the ladies are honestly excited but I’m nerrrrvvoouusss. But I think we can all learn from one another and motivate each other. Hoping for a mixed crowd and so far at least 8 ladies are coming. Hurray?! Have a good day!

@Jimmianne – What a beautiful airport. Safe travels!

@marcy – Ouch.. sorry that the pendants aren’t comfortable to wear but glad that you sold them and were able to get a different use out of it. Hurray on a good retinal exam! Good luck on the last employee appraisals!

@Scandinavian – Yay cabinet install time. What is that white device? Dish washer?

@Austina – Hope you are having a blast with your friends!

@missy – hello lady! Hope you are having a great day.

 

[missy]

Good morning girls!

Marcy not sure how much snow. Less than 12 inches here and abut 6 inches at the beach? We had a wonderful snow day yesterday. Card games and movies. Perfect. I'm sad that Greg is off to teaching and then work later today. Miss him already. Sending you lots of good wishes and good luck with the rest of your employee appraisals.

Junie how did the rest of your day go yesterday? Hope your dh is arriving home soon if he isn't there already and that you enjoy a wonderful day with him today. And good luck with the car. Probably should wait till the snow is all gone. Hugs!

Jimmianne wow I love your castle. Gorgeous. And what beautiful photos at the airport. Safe flight and hugs. Email me if you can.

Scandi chaos but looking gorgeous!

PierreBear yes I read about that. It is a scary world. Cannot wait to hear about your fun Jeffersonian dinner party next week. Please take pics of the food if you can. Sounds like you are having a good turnout.

CJ thinking of you and sending lots of warm wishes your way. Hope you and the kitties are doing well. (((HUGS))). And thank you so much for enjoying the pics I posted.

Ok here are some fresh snow pics from this AM.
Not too impressive but yay because that was enough for us for the first full day of Spring yesterday.



and at the beach. Not much there at all. Hoping that the feral kitties can get to the food and shelters.

Have a great day girls!

 

[Scandinavian]

Missy, Thank you not yet but soon
Pierrebear, yes, it is and it is going into one of the holes in the island - together with its twin brother

Sneak peek

 

[junebug17]

Hi Nirdis!

Missy, lovely pics of the snow both in the city and at the beach! Dh was delayed about 5 hours but was able to make it home last night. Sorry Greg is going to be gone for so long today, and I hope the day goes by quickly for you. Yes, I think it's probably a good idea to postpone him driving my car until most of the snow melts, it's kind of a mess here right now.

Marcy, congrats on your raise, that's great! Glad your appraisal was better than expected too. Hope the two you have left to do go ok. Lol to your Snoopy comic, it does seem more like Christmas right now here in NJ. I'm really glad your last retinal exam shows improvement! And yay for temps in the 50's, awesome.

Scandi, thanks for the pics! So exciting to see everything coming together. I love all your choices, looks beautlful so far. I don't think it's rude to start an email with Hi, it doesn't bother me at all - although I personally don't use it in a business type of email, seems too informal to me.

Jimmianne, the castle is so beautiful , how amazing it has lasted throughout the ages. Fun pics of the airport, makes me want to go on a trip lol. Safe travels!

PB, I agree that sometimes our inner fears and insecurities can make us feel more anxious that we need to be, that's often true for me. I also worry about things that could possibly happen and that's just so unproductive. Otoh, it's hard to control our emotions. When I'm anxious about something my dh will ask "what's the worst thing that can happen?" and the answer usually isn't as bad as what I've started started imagining in my mind, and it puts things into perspective a little. And omg, I'm almost 58 and I still feel like I'm a work in progress!

Yeah, the weather has definitely not been cooperating lately! Believe me, I'm dying to run outside but our weather for March has been so awful - it's either raining, really cold, or snowing. Hopefully the weather will be better next week.

Your Jeffersonian dinner sounds like so much fun! Don't be nervous, you've picked a great topic and I'm sure everyone will have a good time.

Yes, I've been reading about the explosions in Austin and am so relieved it's over. What a horrible and tragic thing, and impossible to understand.

I have always used an iphone so I don't really have anything to compare it to. It seems pretty user friendly to me though.

Not much going on with me, not too motivated to go out so I'll just do some things around the house today. I hope everyone is having a good Thursday, take care all!

 

[Austina]

Hello lovelies, we’re back

I’m sorry to say that I think my friend may be showing signs of dementia She really didn’t look good and it was obvious from things she was saying that she’s misremembering things. It’s so difficult because we think Bob has noticed but he was making excuses for her lapses.

It took 3 3/4 hrs to get to their place, it was a very long and boring drive, and it took us the same amount to get back.

@Scandinavian your kitchen is already looking fantastic, I can’t wait to see it all finished, like Missy’s, it’ll be magazine worthy! How are the pupsters?

Well done on your much deserved pay rise @marcy, I’m glad the company is showing some appreciation of your hard work and worth.

Oh no to all that snow @missy I did read we’re due for more snow over Easter, just in time for when we get home :roll Are you sure Greg doesn’t have a secret portrait in the attic, he hasn’t changed at all It’s great that he has such long term friends. I echo your sentiments that I hope the NIRDIs will be life long friends. Keep safe & warm.

I’m glad your DH finally got home @junebug, this pesky weather just doesn’t want to give up.

Are you back yet @Jimmianne , our very own Rapunzel ?

We always look at houses when we’re over @PierreBear Ideally we’d like a single storey, and a lot of the houses around here are pretty new, which suits us as the fittings are more modern and to our taste. Have you decided what you’ll be serving next week, will it be something you learned in class?

Hi @CJ2008 - I’m keeping fluffy to keep my face plumped up - that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it

I’ll say bye for now, I’m feeling really weary from the drive, see you tomorrow

 

[junebug17]

Austina, I'm really sorry about your friend. You've had a long day, physically and emotionally, so be good to yourself tonight and just rest up and relax. (((Hugs)))

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDIs!

Jimmianne, those are the perfect shaped teddy bear pendants. I have toyed with having our original wedding bands melted down and shaped like a teddy bear; that would be perfect. I’m saving your picture. I hope you had a safe trip home. That is so cool they have raised that much money to restore that castle but I am sure they need a lot more money. Great pictures from the airport.

Scandi, your chaos is showing progress though. I bet you are so anxious for them to be finished. Your sink is going to look great. We had our kitchen sink inset and I sure wish we hadn’t done that. I’d change my sink out in a flash if I didn’t have to replace the granite countertop. It’s a split sink with different size and shape and neither one of them is big enough. I’d rather have one deep sink but it’s too late now.

PierreBear, I was thinking of you and Austina’s Adam when I heard about the bomber. My nieces have cousins there too. It is very scary; I am glad they caught him and I hope there aren’t more bombs out there. Your Jefferson dinner sounds fun with a good topic. The other star pendant I had was ruby and sapphire and I really liked it but it did some serious damage one time so it was gone. I’ll check my old jewelry photos to see if I have any pictures.

Missy, that isn’t bad on the snow. I checked a lot of the live webcams on Earthcam today and it looks like most of the snow melted in the city anyway. I am glad you enjoyed a nice snow day with Greg yesterday. Darn he is out working and teaching today. Great snow pictures.

Junebug, thanks Junebug. I wasn’t expecting much on the appraisal or raise so both were a pleasant surprise. I got some advice from Marty tonight because I need to stay in my boss’s good graces but I need to help improve his perception of my team. I’ll still share my WTH stories with you ladies but he makes them in to such huge issues. With all of your snow I can see why it looks more like Christmas than springtime. I like your DH’s question - about what is the worst that can happen? Good point. Has your DH drove the Macan yet? I keep thinking about it and wondering if everything is okay.

Austina, I am sorry to hear about your friend. I think her husband notices but if he’s like my dad was it may be hard to face. That is a long drive. Take it easy tonight. Thank you for the kind words about my job.

I did finish my other 2 appraisals with my employees. I figured both would be difficult. They just said okay. My boss told me his boss asked him if he didn’t think he was being to strict and set too high of standards for his employees. I kind of agree with that. My teams does 10’s of thousands of manual entries and he thinks they are worthless because they make a few mistakes. I am not saying my employees are all stars but I think he is unfairly judging their results. My goal this year is to make them look better and try to get him to back off a bit. Wish me luck that is doesn’t blow up in my face.

Our weather was very nice today. Near 60, not too windy. I rebelled and didn’t wear a jacket. Ha! I felt like a real rebel.

Have a great day.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Yes, this made me LOL