Summer Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend.

We’ve had a busy weekend so far. We had our astronomy club meeting last night. This morning Marty had an early tee time so I worked on chores and errands then we met for lunch. Tonight we took both of our parents for supper for Father’s Day and tomorrow we are going to a BBQ. Ugh many calories lurking around me this weekend. Sigh. I will try to not overdo.

Merilenda, it sounds like you, Deegee and I need to make an effort to go to bed earlier. I can’t take naps either which is kind of sad. Even as a baby I wouldn’t take naps; I guess after I was about 3 months old I quit taking naps. That is awesome you are getting stronger from your workouts and did good on your diet. We can only work on it one day at a time, huh? I read that book too about the Short History of Nearly Everything. It was interesting. The book on Arthur sounds interesting. I am reading a series of books by Vince Flynn. They are centered around a CIA counter terrorist export and they really keep you going. I like comedies, light romance, sci fi, thriller and drama books. I am interested in politics but quit buying those kind of books because I get bored with them and don’t finish them. I’ve never tried an audio book but I don’t spend a lot of time commuting either. Do you have to travel far to get to work?

Back to my book.
Marcy

 

[merilenda]

Sounds like a busy but fun weekend, Marcy! I'm kind of the opposite - I've had a lot of busy weekends in a row and am finally relaxing this weekend! I went shopping today and bought clothes. I got 3 pairs of cropped pants, 2 shirts, and a dress for $75, so I thought I did pretty well. In return for the new clothes I've been buying lately, I've told FI I'll go through my closet and donate clothes I no longer wear, so that's my project for tomorrow! I also need to weed through my shoes before we move.

I'm the same way about naps, Marcy. I'm a terrible nap taker! It takes me a while to fall asleep, and if I know I need to be up in an hour, I start getting stressed out about how I'm not falling asleep, and I just end up winding myself up. I will have to check out the Vince Flynn books and put them on my goodreads to-read list.

I don't have a commute (I live less than 10 minutes from the office) but I do work out in the field (hospice). In fact, I go days at a time without even going into the office. So I drive a lot while I'm at work to see patients. I'm reimbursed for my mileage, so it's not too bad. I get audiobooks from the library, so it works really well for me!

 

[marcy]

Merilenda, you did get a great deal on your new clothes. Good idea to clean out your clothes. I very much need to do that too. I am glad you are having a lazy weekend. Those are nice sometimes. I do the exact same when I sleep especially if I go to bed late or wake up early. If we have to get up early I do that too. It makes it hard to rest. You are a saint working hospice. It would be hard to leave work behind. That is nice you get reimbursed mileage and great idea to use audio books while you drive. I like the Michael Connelly books and Janet Evanovich series too. When I run outbox things to read I might download the Harry Potter books and read them again.

Marty got up about 6 and went to play golf. I got up and decided to go grocery shopping. The store wasn't busy at all at 7 am. Woo hoo! Maybe I can stop. Y the Coach Outlet store today. They have 30% off everything. Sweet.

Deegee, I hope you had a nice time with your parents this weekend.

Marcy

 

[deegee]

Hello!

merilenda - Your engagement pictures are great! You and your FI look adorable together. I'll have to check out that short history or nearly everything book. I love to read, except for the boring stuff I have to read for work. I have that problem too with a good book - just one more chapter... I desperately need to go clothes shopping. I bought clothes on clearance last year when I had absolutely nothing to wear because I lost a bunch of weight, but I haven't bought anything at all this year. Not even a purse, which is unusual for me! I donated all my old clothes and shoes ... I got rid of everything. It was very therapeutic. You work with hospice? Bless you. I just lost my grandmother. She lived with my aunt in St. Louis, and I know the family is extremely thankful for the in-home hospice visits. She was able to stay at home all the way until the end. We're so grateful for that.

marcy - Did you get to the Coach outlet? I'm hoping to get to the outlets soon - before all the summer clothes are replaced with fall clothes! I could really use a few things. Wow - I can't imagine getting up at 6 on the weekend. I go to bed even later on the weekends than I do during the week. We're usually heading to bed between 2-3, so there's no way I could wake up at 6! I've been known to stay up all night reading and go to bed at 7 on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I had a great time with my parents this weekend. Mom and I talked about grandmother a lot. She was even more incredible than I knew.

I totally overdid it with food this weekend. My stomach is really blah right now. Good thing our new WW at Work series starts this week! Mom and Dad visited Friday and most of Saturday. We went to dinner and then a WV Power baseball game. They always have fireworks on Friday nights, and I LOVE fireworks. Saturday we ate lunch at the Olive Garden and went shopping. I took the sample of wine at the Olive Garden and liked it so much that I ordered a glass. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but that one was sweet so I liked it. Today we went to Mom & Dad's for Father's Day/Sunday dinner/wiffleball game/pool. It poured rain, but the wiffleball game and pool events went on anyway. I had to drive home because, as usual, Matt and Lily wore themselves out and slept all the way back. I'm off tomorrow for a State holiday - West Virginia Day. Woo-hoo! I have to go to the oral surgeon tomorrow though because Lily ate my mouth splint on Friday and I have to get fitted for a new one. I have only been without it for 2 days and can tell that the right side of my face is starting to ache and get poofy. Have a great day tomorrow!

 

[marcy]

Deegee, it sounds like you had a marvelous weekend with your parents and had some quality time with your mom celebrating your grandmother’s life. I am sure it helped both of you to talk about her. Yes, we did go to the Coach outlet store and I got the exact color of blue messenger bag I wanted. It’s a medium blue. I was just going to get a matching billfold but Marty said I should get the little zip bag and the small zlp blilfold too so I ended up with 5 pieces. The billfold didn’t have a checkbook in it so I got a lighter blue checkbook too. It’s bigger than the other purses I’ve been using and my iPad fits in it. It’s a cross body bag and it’s a good thing because it seems heavy with everything in there. It sounds like you are due for a nice shopping trip. Sadly we do get up early on the weekends too. We aren’t smart enough to go to bed at a normal time either. Once I wake up I cannot go back to sleep. How cool you got to see some fireworks this weekend. I love to watch them too. Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat. I bring home lots of leftovers so we get lunches out of it too. OMG I can’t believe Lily ate you mouth splint. I assume it’s metal or plastic - did it hurt her to eat it? Enjoy your day off tomorrow. I was just trying to convince myself I was sick and couldn’t go to work tomorrow. I said “I don’t feel well” and fake coughed. Poor Marty took me seriously and was all concerned - he didn’t think it was funny when I told him I was faking it and working on my “story”.

Marty was up about 6 again and went to play 9 holes of golf. I got up, showered and went grocery shopping. I will tell you the store is almost empty at 7:15 am. It was nice.

We went to my sister’s house today for a family BBQ for father’s day. It was quite fun. There were about 16 of us. My sister had her son grill steaks. She made baked potatoes, had raw veggies and a salad and her son’s MIL brought corn on the cob. It was really a nice afternoon. We picked up some assorted snack things from Harry and David so I had some of that for supper. Marty got some washabi peas, yogurt covered pretzels, peanut butter pretzel bites and 2 other spicy snacks but I don’t remember what they were. I picked up an apple / cinnamon pancake mix for some weekend.

We had another big rain storm tonight. They had flash flood warnings out everywhere. Tomorrow’s high is only going to be about 60 with more rain.

Well, I am going to read one chapter (I haven’t read all day yet) and get to bed on time. Ha ha. Good one.

Marcy

 

[merilenda]

Deegee, I'm really sorry to hear about your grandmother. Hospice can definitely help keep people in the home with their families. I love it and I'm only hoping I can find another hospice job or something I love equally when we move. I've been putting in some applications. I know what you mean about getting rid of old stuff being therapeutic. I did one pass through last night and put quite a few clothes into the donate bag. I need to keep weeding out though. I hadn't bought clothes in years before this really. Maybe one or two shirts total in the the last couple of years. Some of my clothes are starting to get really worn though, so I'm slowly starting to replace.

Marcy, glad you were able to get together with your family this weekend! Those snacks sound really good, and so do the pancakes! I ended up staying up too late again last night - probably because I slept in a little too much yesterday. I'm hoping to get to bed earlier tonight. Never a good way to start the week.

Thank you both for the kind words on the pictures! I'm really excited to see the rest of them. I'm having a hard time getting started today. FI and I went for a walk at a nature area yesterday. We did about a mile, which isn't that much, but it was HOT and a lot of it was up and down hill. It was really pretty, so we'll have to do that more often. I'm feeling a little more toned (especially my legs) after one week of working out, so I definitely need to keep this up!

 

[deegee]

merilenda - The only exercise I'm able to do because of my back is walking. We walk Lily, our dog, 3-4 miles on most nights unless it is raining. I can tell a huge difference in my legs to the point that I am actually wearing shorts (hadn't done that in years) because my legs don't jiggle when I walk anymore. I think they're in the best shape they've been in since I was in my 20's! I wish I could say the same for my arms. (Shorts for me are the ones that come almost to the knee...hee-hee!)

marcy - My mouth splint is made of soft plastic. I was able to pry her mouth open and get the majority of it out before she swallowed it, but she had chewed it to pieces. No saving it. The dr laughed when he saw it today. You could have taken the day off and celebrated West Virginia day with me today! It poured buckets of rain all day, so all I did was laundry and read. I'm glad you got a bunch of goodies at the Coach outlet. I'll have to suggest an outlet trip for the weekend if the weather cooperates. It takes about 3 hours to get there, so it's a bit of a road trip.

Lily and I hung out at the house all day until I had to leave for my mouth appointment. The rest sure felt good. Sometimes I feel like I really run myself down and need a good day of doing nothing to recover. Matt needs one of those days too right now, but he is too swamped at work to take off. I ate so much at mom's house yesterday that I wasn't hungry and didn't eat anything until Matt got home. We went out for pizza and then grocery shopping. I had berries over sugar free angel food cake for dessert. I can tell my jaw is really starting to act up since I haven't been able to wear my splint. They put a rush on it, so hopefully it won't take too long. I think it has stopped raining so we're heading out for a walk. Have a great day tomorrow!!! Oh, and the start date for the dreaded project got bumped out another week. If it keeps getting bumped out, we'll be taking vacation in the winter! We can build snowmen instead of sandcastles.

 

[marcy]

Hi. How are you today? I was busy enough at work I wasn’t bored. Yippee. Poor Marty only slept about an hour last night. I have no idea why he is still awake now.

We had leftovers for lunch and I made homemade tacos for supper. We had some slow churned ice cream for dessert.

Merilenda, have fun replacing your clothes. Sorry to hear you are starting the week out sleepy. I know that happens to me too; I’ll stay up later on the weekend then get up later and have problems adjusting my sleep schedule (as poor as it is) on Sunday night. Your walk sound great, you can’t beat being outdoors, exercising and enjoying the view. That is great you notice your legs are more toned after working out. Woo hoo - Progress. My poor dad has his hands full with my mom. She has quite a few health issues and age related mind issues and he told me tonight she’s only bathed about 3 times in the last few months. She had an infected toe and was unable to bathe so quit taking baths then. They have a shower in the basement she always preferred to shower in but won’t use it either. I guess if my dad says something to her she gets angry. She has a benign tumor in her ear canal that has impacted her mind and balance and she falls a lot so I wonder if she is worried about falling. I tell him to talk to her doctor about it and he just laughs. She needs maybe more help than he can give her. Bless his heart he is better with her than I ever imagined he’d be.

Deegee, the new Stephanie Plum book comes out tomorrow. That is me too; walking is about all I can do for exercise. You are so diligent about getting out and walking. Maybe I need a nice dog like Lily! Yay for having more toned legs than you did when you were 20. I am glad that Lily didn’t swallow much of the plastic mouth splint. Too bad she ruined it though. She thought it was a chew toy. It sounds like you have a great West Virginia day staying in from the rain. I hope they get your splint replaced soon and you don’t start to have more pain and difficulty chewing. I agree sometimes we just need a day to rejuvenate ourselves. Yay for delaying the start of your project for another week.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

marcy - I come from a very active family. My mom takes after her mom and is constantly on the go. When we were kids, we would walk 3-4 miles with her in the rain, snow, or sunshine. In the summer after our walks, we would swim at least 100 laps. Mom has 5 sisters who are obese to morbidly obese, and she always encouraged us to stay active. (That's why it was a shock that none of her 5 sisters has heart problems, but mom does. Hmm..) But oh, my arms. They're kinda bony right now, but somehow they're also flabby. Can that ever tighten up? I can't stand to wear shorter than 3/4 sleeves. Bless your dad for being patient and taking care of your mom. I bet that is really hard on him, and your mother too. The balance issues are probably really scary for her. I hope her toe is better now. It is so hard watching parents age. Did you download the new Stephanie Plum book? I am trying really hard to finish a book that I just can't get into. It seems like I read and read, and I'm only at 54%. And I really should be reading over that 1,500 page proposal for the computer project that starts next week. The funny thing is that I had planned read over the weekend, but when the start date got bumped out - I kind of fizzled.

We got stuck in a really heavy thunderstorm on the way home this evening with high winds and hail. It was creepy because we saw it coming right at us. We had hot dogs and pasta salad for dinner. Matt took one bite of his hot dog and said "is this low fat?" Twerp. Yes, it was, but he's lucky I didn't buy fat free or all turkey hotdogs. Those turn white when you cook them! He had peanut butter bars leftover from mom's house for dessert, and I had fresh berries over sugar free angel food cake. Lily and I caught a break in the rain and got our 3 mile walk in. We walked fast because another storm was moving in, and it started raining right after we got home. I couldn't have timed it better. We had a welcome home party at work this morning for a coworker and friend who is just back to work after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. When we had our send off party, we cried tears of apprehension. Today it was tears of joy that he's back safe and sound with his family (especially his 4-yr old daughter) and us. He said he was going to be able to do an 8 hour day in an office with his eyes closed! It was sure a relief to welcome him back. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

howdy folks!

Don't know where the time goes, but it does.....I have been at the pool in my usual habit and now the weather is fine, I've started to run outside. Got my bike down, so that is next. Had a long walk by the river today in addition to my AM run, so my knees are feeling tired tonight.

Keep well and active folks!

cheers--Sharon

 

[merilenda]

Marcy, it sounds like your parents are in a tough situation. My dad had Alzheimer's, and I know my mom had a really hard time with it. She had quite a few crisis situations before realizing she couldn't take care of him at home anymore. I run into caregiving concerns all the time, and there's just no easy solution. My mom also refused to believe that there was a problem with my dad until there was a BIG problem. I hope your parents are able to get things sorted out before it escalates too much!

Deegee, I hear you on the arms! I'm pretty frustrated with mine. I really feel like I'm toning up everywhere except my upper arms. That's always been a really flab problem area for me. I'm hoping that if I keep sticking with working out daily, I'll see some results before I have to wear a strapless wedding dress in September!

Canuk-gal, sounds like you're being active in fun ways! I don't miss living in an apartment, but I do miss the pool from our old apartment complex.

I'm still doing the 30 day shred and I moved up to level 2 yesterday since I was feeling pretty comfortable with level 1. It's definitely kicking my butt! I'm sore and that is one challenging workout!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone. I downloaded the new Stephanie Plum book and I am about 75% finished already. Needless to say I’ve been reading tonight.

We had leftover tacos for lunch and I made pasta with a little hamburger in it for supper. Marty played golf after work so I did 2 batches of laundry tonight too.

Deegee, all the women in my family have weight problems except my one sister. That is great your mom encouraged you guys to be active. Good for her. It’s hard to say who will have different health problems; I think all of our bodies just have quirks. The flabby skin does eventually tighten up some but sadly it added inches back on me - I had so much of it. It really bums me out but as always I continue to work on it everyday. If I can’t get in to a book I eventually just give up. How nice to hear your coworker is back safely from Afghanistan. My neighbor was over there and he sure had a time adjusting when he got home. I am very happy for him to be back home with his family. It sounds like you and Lily timed it just right for your walk tonight. We didn’t get any rain here today.

Sharon, glad to hear summer has arrived there too. I know you’ll be enjoying the great outdoors this summer while keeping active.

Merilenda, I knew you’d understand and have insight in to my parents. It sounds like your parents went through some tough times too; it is so hard. Sorry to hear your dad had Alzheimer's. I don’t feel like I should but in more than just making suggestions when asked. My mom was mentioning her sore back tonight and I kind of went to “I love running hot water on a sore spot when I’m in the shower”. I didn’t get much of a reaction. That is great you’ve moved up a level with the 30 day shred. That is exciting.

Well, I am going to get ready for bed and read some more.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hello everyone! I finished the Stephanie Plum book already. I started reading a book called "Freakonomics". It is rather interesting.

I made raviolis for supper. I had a big bowl of raw veggies when I got home and baked the raviolis with lite alfredo sauce. Marty was going to play golf so I wasn't in any hurry to get supper ready. I was just finished eating and he got home and ate his supper.

We played Monopoly on our iPads tonight and watched TV.

The weather was very nice here today. Yay for summer finally arriving.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Stupid wireless router! I just lost my post.

Hi everyone! One more day until the weekend arrives.

A friend took me out for lunch today; I had breakfast. It just sounded good. For supper we had Italian. I have enough spaghetti left for both of us for lunch tomorrow. I love 3 meals for the price one one. We split a small piece of cheesecake for dessert. They squeezed lemon on it; it was a good combo.

I am just being lazy tonight. I thought of doing laundry but it's too late to start some now.

I hope you have a great Friday.

Marcy

 

[deegee]

Howdy!

marcy- your food for yesterday is like my perfect day - breakfast for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. Yummm... my favorites! I think I'm going to give up on the book I've been trying to read for a while. It's from the Kay Scarpetta series and I've read several of them. This book is a continuation of the last book - like a part 2 and not just another book in the series. It reads differently though. Kind of like someone else wrote it, and I just can't get into it. I downloaded the Stephanie Plum book last night and read over half of it before I went to bed. I meant to bring the 1500 page computer proposal home to read over the weekend, but darn - I forgot it on my desk. It's like I'm back in college. I'll be cramming on Tuesday night to be ready for Wednesday morning! Your suggestion with your mom and her sore back was a good one. Bless her heart. Maybe enough little suggestions like that will sink in.

merilenda - Hee-hee...my wedding dress was one from the '90's with the high itchy lacy neck and itchy sleeves all the way to the wrist. Wedding dresses are so much prettier now. I bet you will look just wonderful in yours! I wore short sleeves to work yesterday and heard "OMG- Deana has arms" all day long because I almost always have on long sleeves or jackets at work.

Hi sharon! You always do so well with exercise. You mix it up too, which is really good for you.

We started our new WW group yesterday. Everyone in the group seems so motivated, it's exciting! I put on 5 pounds since my last official weigh-in on March 2010. It WILL come back off. I have been tracking my points the old way and the new way just to compare, and I can really see how the new way will force me to make healthier choices. A 100 calorie pack of something with no nutritional value is 3 points while all fruit is 0 points? Luckily I love fruit! Yesterday I happened to have bread and pasta for 2 meals. The point values on those really went up, so I will be watching closer not to eat so many carbohydrates in a day. There was an article in the paper today about our local Toyota plant. They had a wellness challenge in which 275 employees participated. They lost - get this - 4518 pounds in 12 weeks. The front page article read "Toyota Plant Loses 23 Employees...but not through layoffs!" I forwarded it to my WW group...it was very motivating to me. Unfortunately this lousy computer project will also take me away from being the WW office leader, which is a bummer. It was really good for me, but I have designated someone else that I think will really be motivated by taking over. We stopped for dinner at our favorite local home cooking restaurant on the way home tonight. I had a salad with grilled chicken on top, and got a piece of my super sinful carrot cake to go. My week starts over on Monday and I still have all of my weekly points left, so no guilt! Have a great day tomorrow!!!!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone! I drank my supper last night and was in bed by 10:15. Oops. Marty and I went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch where they have homemade flour chips for chips and salsa and I ate way too many of them. Then about 4 pm a friend of mine who has been out of town all week asked me to go have a margarita with her after work. Marty ended up going too since we had thunderstorms in the area and he didn’t want to go play golf. My friend picked that same restaurant to go to because they have $7 pitches of margaritas on Friday. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat but I ate more chips. Ugh. I am still full this morning. I might eat a grapefruit in a while but food just doesn’t sound good to me right now. I’ve been kind of tired lately so I stayed in bed after Marty left for golf and I slept more but my back is achy for being in bed so long. I am sure a shower will help with that.

This friend and her sister and I went to breakfast a few weeks ago and discussed we should start a book club and take turn picking books to read so I guess they elected me to pick the first book. I browsed through the best sellers in the Kindle store last night and picked “Before I Go to Sleep”. It is about a woman with amnesia who keeps a diary and finds a note in it not to trust her husband. I read the first chapter; it seems good. The funny thing is as soon as I buy it and send out the info to those 2 girls they want me to loan them the book. Excuse me? I know some books you can loan on Kindle but this one isn’t one of them and no I am not giving them info to our account. I suggested since they are sisters one of them create an account and they share books that way. The book is $12.99. Most of the free or 99 cent books didn’t look too good. I also suggested they look at the library. If they wanted this to be inexpensive they should have explained the “rules” first.

Deegee, rats for forgetting your 1500 pages to read. If I can’t get in to a book I just quit reading them too. I enjoyed the Stephanie Plum book but it wasn’t my favorite of the series. I am about 1/2 through the Vince Flynn series. I will probably start going through the series you recommended but so far I’ve only read the A is for Alibi. There are a lot of those books to buy. Too funny they teased you at work about having arms. It sounds like your WW group at work is off to a great start. How exciting. How wonderful about the Toyota plant having such a healthy idea for their employees. That is very exciting.

Well, my first batch of laundry is ready for the dryer so I will get it going and get my shower. It’s time to get on with my day.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Good afternoon. Marty was done playing golf about 10:30. He brought us home breakfast. I went to the store and picked up some steaks for lunch. I cooked them, baked potatoes, corn and made us some garlic bread. Marty is scrubbing our shower, re-caulking and putting in a new shower door. Our shower door has seen better days so he just decided to replace it today. I dust mopped the hard floors and was about to vacuum but he has some things in the living room for his project so I think the vacuuming and bathrooms will have to wait until tomorrow. I got the living room dusted though.

This afternoon we wandered around Lowes and Target for awhile. It's only near 80 here this afternoon but it seems hot to me out of the house.

I am watching the end of "The Guardian". It is a really good movie but certainly doesn't have a happy ending.

Bye.

 

[deegee]

Hello! We ordered our countertops today and I'm so excited! We went with Silestone quartz in a color called Sienna Ridge. I like it because it looks like broken up rocks. They have to come and take official measurements for the template, and then it will be 4 weeks before it is installed. I can't wait! We also bought all new towels and washcloths for the master bath. Ours are pretty old...I can't remember when we bought them. They're getting really scratchy. Exciting day, huh? We're getting ready to walk. It's such a nice, calm evening after all the rain we have had. It's 65, not humid, not raining. I had spaghetti from the pizza place for dinner and ate my carrot cake from last night for dessert. Yum.

marcy - my mom is in a book club and is always asking me if I've read any good books. It's all a bunch of older ladies, so I don't think they care too much about the cost of the books. They're too busy looking for good places to eat! I finished the Stephanie Plum book last night and you're right about it not being the best one. Did you have the bad guy figured out really early in the book? Not much of a shocker. Are you going to keep your Kindle or start downloading books on your iPad? You're like Matt as far as the backache from staying in bed too long. Bed is the only place where my back doesn't hurt, as long as I'm in a good position. I know as soon as I stand up that my back starts griping at me, so I tend to stay in bed extra long on Saturdays. I love my bed.

Have a great day tomorrow!

 

[deegee]

Not my kitchen, of course!

 

[sphenequeen]

Getting back into yoga! That is my plan... Just got a gift certificate for my local studio and I hope to get a good routine going.

 

[marcy]

Marty is coming along with our new shower door. This one is about 3 to 4 inches shorter than the last one; Marty’s full head is going to stick out above it. I might even have to duck when I get in, I’ll have to see when I am barefoot; it’s close right now. It sure looks nice though.

Deegee, I love that countertop. I believe I saw something just like it on one of our trips to Lowes today. You will love it! How exciting to get new towels too. We are still using ones we got for our wedding. In the last year I bought 2 different towel sets and they are now rags. One was from Land’s End and one was from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I bought navy blue so the dye runs and both of them shed like crazy. The BB&B don’t seem very absorbent either. So we keep going back to our almost 20 year old towels. If you like your new towels let me know where you got them; I might try them. Next time I am only going to buy one towel. It sounds like you had perfect weather for a walk tonight and now I am hungry for carrot cake. Mmm. I understand neither of these ladies want to spend a lot of money but they were the ones who came up with the book club idea. I just went along with it because I have been reading a lot lately. Oh well, one of the ladies is leaving for Africa in October to join the peace core so I bet the club won’t last long. Yes, my iPad has become my reader and I actually don’t mind reading on my iPhone. That’s nice your back doesn’t flare up when you are in bed. If I am in bed more than about 6 to 7 hours I get very stiff and sore. I always sleep on my back because of my bad knees so I don’t move much. I figured out Dave was the bad guy pretty much right away too. I thought it was pretty obvious.

Sphenegqueen, how nice for you to get back in to yoga and that’s great you got a gift certificate to help get your routine starter. It sounds like you are set. So you did yoga before?

Well, I think I’ll go check Marty’s progress. Of course he might put me to work so maybe I’ll stay right where I am and start reading.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Happy Sunday!

Since I slept in late yesterday I was up until about 1 am reading. I wasn't sleepy. Marty got up about 6 to get ready for golf. I made us a waffle to split, some scrambled eggs and Marty sausage and me canadian bacon before he left. Then I finished cleaning the bathroom with the new shower door and vacuumed. I was at the grocery store before 9 so I was done with my chores by about 10:30. Woo hoo!

I bought some 96 lean sirloin and made sliders for us to have for lunch. I got mini buns and will make a mixed fresh fruit salad and have cottage cheese with it. We'll have a light supper probably something easy like Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Once Marty is done with golf I will go meet him for a drink. Their social club has very cheap booze. I could get totally smashed for $10 and that includes tips. When you get a glass of wine there you get the entire glass filled. I bet 2 chardonnay there is almost an entire bottle. I'll quit at one.

I parked far away at the grocery store so I could get in some extra steps. Yippee. I love warmer weather.

Have a great day.
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi. I hope everyone had a nice day. Out weather was quite lovely here without much wind. The cotton trees are shedding. Our yard looks like snow. My allergies are really kicking up. Rats.

I left a roast in the crock pot. Marty worked late so I keep his supper warm for him. His mom stopped by tonight to have me print some things for her. She having teeth pain and a buzzing in her ear. She is going in this week. My FIL is having problems with his foot but won't go see anyone. I resemble that remark.

I am off to read.

Marcy

 

[deegee]

marcy - I need to tell Matt to join a social club with cheap booze. I bought a bottle of wine last night, and I don't usually buy wine. It's a Moscato - and I hope it's half as tasty as the glass I had with dinner at the Olive Garden last week. I love coming home when I've left something in the crockpot. The house smells so wonderful, and I don't have to do much extra work for dinner. A win-win! I feel for marty's mom. Did your mouth problems get better? I'm still waiting for my replacement splint. I really need that splint!

We got stuck in traffic on the interstate today which was really bad because my car was on empty. Oopsie. We were finally able to get to an exit to get gas, and I think we coasted in on fumes! We got home late, and our evening has absolutely flown by. I made homemade pizza for dinner and had watermelon for dessert. I'm not used to this new point system, and I am going to bed with a bunch of points left over. I did try to plan better for tomorrow. I'm going to eat a little more for breakfast and lunch, or at least not try to eat quite as light as I did today. We were barely able to get our walk in tonight. Halfway through the last mile it started lightening and thundering, so we walked really fast the last 1/2 mile and my legs are still jumping! I need to get to work a little early tomorrow so I can leave a little early for a hair appointment, so I'm off to bed. Goodnight - have a great day tomorrow!

 

[deegee]

Hello!

Lily and I are sitting outside on the porch, enjoying the evening. Matt thinks it's still too hot to walk (76 degrees) so we're killing a little time, waiting for the sun to go down. I'm perfectly comfy at 76, but he overheats pretty easily. I'm so excited - he decided today to join his work's WW at Work group! His company pays for it as long as you go to 60% of the meetings and make progress. He doesn't need to lose much weight, but he does need to start eating healthier. His parents are morbidly obese and his dad has diabetes, and Matt is totally a carb and sugar addict. He starts his day with a couple candy bars or Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, a pack of cheese crackers and a pepsi, and it goes downhill from there. He completely crashes at the end of the day. I'm hoping he notices that he feels better and will stick with it. Maybe he won't feel the need to eat Frito's with every meal? Last night while I was snacking on a tasty Greek yogurt, he was sitting beside me eating a Klondike bar. Tonight for dinner we had ham, scalloped potatoes (box - I'm not that good a cook!) and broccoli. I thought I planned better points-wise, but I have even more leftover tonight than I did last night. Hmm - might be a good night to try my wine...

Have a great day tomorrow!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone!

Deegee, the social club we are in is amazing. Annual dues are $25. The club is private and non-profit so they sell booze fairly cheap and fill your glass. You can use their facilities free for parties. I had them cook burgers for about 35 people one time and they charged us $3.50 per person. They had burgers, buns, condiments, chips and raw veggies for that including coffee and punch. They sell $1 lotto type tickets that you can win up to $500 on and if you sign in with a fee of 50 cents you can win $500 if they draw your name for that day out of club members. I will have to try Moscato. My mouth is pretty much okay now. I hope they get your splint soon. Good for you having extra points at night but don’t get hungry either. Yay for Matt deciding to eat healthier. You are a good example for him. I hope it cooled off enough for your walk tonight. Lily was probably getting anxious.

My day at work was long and kind of ridiculous. Since we are in our slow season I assigned everyone specific procedures. This one guy is putting more details in his than is probably necessary - he is over 50 pages already. Anyway he enters events one way but it’s not necessary you do them that way and he wanted to put it in the procedures. I said no because it’s not wrong if someone enters them another way. Anyway that led to a 30 minutes argument with me we should do it his way. I mean really? It was like arguing with a kid. Then another lady who needs training was getting help from the last person in the room who should train anyone. I was about ready to scream. At least I got out for my afternoon walk. That helped. We were at 91 when I went home so it was probably about 93 when we went for our walk.

Tomorrow is our 20th anniversary. We’ll probably go out and have a nice quite dinner somewhere.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

marcy - we don't have anything like that club around here that I know of. I live in such a dinky little town! One of Matt's coworkers just moved here and said it like a cultural black hole...not much to do at all. Moscato is pretty sweet. I can't drink many sweet alcohol drinks because of my margarita incident, but I can do the Moscato with food. Is your employee being wordy or doing extra steps to look like he's doing more work? My problem child does that and I really have to watch him. We had a procedure manual issue a few years ago when a governor's intern was brought in to do nothing but work on desktop procedures all summer (she never got to my department). She sat with each employee and supposedly wrote procedures for everything they did in their jobs. Each employee had a manual that was about 5 inches thick when she was finished. Employees started looking over their manuals after she left and decided that even they couldn't follow the procedures she wrote to do their jobs! The desktop manuals for my group are really outdated, but we've never had the chance to work on them because my section has never been fully staffed since I've been manger. We are now, but the computer project starts next week so we're back to not being fully staffed. Happy Anniversary! Congrats on your 20 years...that's awesome!!!! Did you so somewhere tasty for dinner? Matt and I are working on 17 blissful years...

Lily and I are relaxing on the porch again, waiting for it to cool off enough for Matt to walk. He's probably taking a nap because he could barely keep his eyes open for dinner. I had so many points left over that we stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel on the way home. What I had planned to fix for dinner was going to cause me to have 20 points left today after exercise, so I decided to use up more points and had chicken & dumplings, carrots and green beans instead. I had plenty of points for a biscut too. I'm still going to have points leftover because breakfast and lunch were way too low. I'm so used to the old points values and I'm not accommodating properly. There is no rain in the forecast for the evening, so we shouldn't have a problem getting our full walk in. I'm planning to take off on Friday, so tomorrow is pseudo-Friday. That thought will get me out of bed in the morning. Have a great evening!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone. I hope you had a great day.

Deegee, we are in a small town of about 50,000 to 60,000 and there isn't much to do here either. That social club is nice. A year's pass for golf there is about $475 including Marty's handicap (no not me. Ha Ha). It's very cheap. We did have a nice anniversary thank you. Congratulations on 17 years of wedded bliss with Matt. What month did you guys get married? It sounds like so many things are similar on our jobs. I think this guy's procedures will be like that - far too long and complicated to be useful. Good luck starting your project. Did you have nice weather for a walk tonight? I am taking off Friday too. I can hardly wait. We did go to Olive Garden but I didn't see that wine listed. Marty ordered us some merlot.

We had a short day at work. Marty and I decided to take off early and left at about 1:30 to 2 pm. We didn't really have any special plans so I suggested we go play golf. Marty was pleasantly surprised and said "really? you sure?" and I readily agreed. I rode around in the cart and enjoyed the peace and quite while he playing 18 holes. We had a drink at the club then went to Olive Garden for supper. We split a tour of Italy and brought enough of it home for lunch tomorrow. I even ate a few bites of chicken which reminds me I need to go take some food allergy meds for that. We split some chocolate raspberry cheesecake and then went and wandered around Sam's Club. I want a 55* Samsung TV now. We have the 42" Samsung right now and love it. It is certainly something I don't need but it would sure be nice.

Well, I am off to find my meds and start getting ready for bed. The wine made me sleepy.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone! I am excited to be starting my 4 day weekend. Sweet.

We grabbed fast food tonight then looked for RV batteries. Epic fail! We looked at 55" Samsung TV's again too. Oh no! Bad idea to get in my head.

Tomorrow I am running errands, taking in lunch to Marty and a friend at work so we can play cards then I guess my weekend truly begins.

I hope you are doing well and being healthy.

Later
Marcy

 

[deegee]

marcy - sounds like we live in similar sized towns! Charleston has about 55,000 in the city and 300,000 in the surrounding valley. I'm in a teeny tiny town of about 7,000 in the valley. The nearest big city is either Cincinnati or Columbus, Ohio, and it takes about 3.5 hours to get to either one of them. Matt and I got married in January. We were going to get married in December while the church was decorated so beautifully for Christmas, but Matt did our taxes and decided we'd owe big time, so we waited until January. Matt bought a 50 inch Samsung plasma tv last year that he absolutely adores. He has it in his man room, and considering how he has the room arranged with his sectional, he wouldn't want it to be any bigger! He spent out the wazoo on a fancy-schmansy Sony tv with the newest technology, and had to have it repaired a few times while it was in warranty and then something major went out on it right after it went out of warranty. He found that the Samsung 50 inch cost less than what he'd have to pay to fix the Sony, so he bought the Samsung. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

It was so nice having yesterday off! Matt and I headed to the outlets in Ohio, which takes about 2.5 hours to get there. They weren't having great sales so I didn't come away with much. I bought a few pairs of cropped pants for work (the kind that fall closer to your ankle than your knee), a few pairs of my favorite khaki's in black & a grey/brown color, jean shorts (I love jean shorts on the weekends), and a purse at the Coach outlet. I tend to buy the plain leather purses so this one looks a lot like the last one, although Matt promised me it didn't look like the same purse. The last one was a Zoe in pewter, and this one is a pebbled leather duffle in silver. I can't bring myself to buy accessories because I spent too much on an LV wallet & makeup bag a few years ago and I'm determined to carry them until they fall apart! I think they might outlast me. We stopped for dinner at a tex-mex restaurant on the way home. I had the inside of a chicken burrito, rice, beans, and a big beer. I don't love bread that much, so I always eat my burrito without the tortilla. We're heading to Cincinnati tomorrow for a Reds game and then to visit Matt's family afterwards. We'll stop by my parents on the way home on Monday for a cookout, and then the long weekend will be over. I'm sad already! Have a safe weekend!!!!