phyllser

Sorry for such a bad day with Court, Jackie! Hope things are going better now! Nice pictures, Janet. I saw them on FB first. So glad you could go. Bought Wii Fit Plus today after PT and I really LOVE it. Updates the software, so all your old stats are there, all the old games plus a bunch of new ones and feature that lets you customize your workout. It calculates calories burned and you can enter your food, too. My favorite tilt table is there, but there's a new one, too and it is quite challenging. I think I got four levels and couldn't figure out how to make the balls go in to the holes on the 4th. There's a snow ball war, segway ride around the beach going off ramps and breaking beach balls for points. If you already have the Wii Fit, it's only $20 and well worth the price. About to move in to very close quarters and Earl is driving me nuts! Got in a fight with renters upsairs because they woke him up from his afternoon nap.. they are very heavy-footed except for the dad and it really does get quite annoying at times. He was polite the first time... but then the mom came home and daughter must have told her about his "visit" and so then they started really stomping around just to annoy him so then he went up again and it was not pretty, he said. I was not home. But then when I got home he decided to call the owner of the unit... they had already called her so she immediately started yelling at him.. that's when I left and went next door to see my neighbor! I am so tired of him always being mad at someone or critical of someone.. yelling at the TV, pissed at other drivers, pointing out everyone else's frailties ALL the time! Give me some peace and quiet!! Can I go shopping again???? by myself???? :thumbup::biggrin::cursing:

Hope everyone had a good Monday. Things were going well here until DH got into a p.....ing contest with the renters upstairs because they woke him up from a nap pounding around on the floor. Dad is light-footed, but mom and two teenage daughters are NOT. But... I keep telling him.... we picked a condo and we picked a DOWNSTAIRS condo. Have to learn to tolerate these things. But then he called the owner of the unit and got in to a shouting match with her on the phone about her renters! Beam me up, Scotty! I went next door during the phone call and visited with my neighbor and watched her eat her dinner! :thumbup::cursing: Good workout at PT today. I will have sore muscles tomorrow! Then went to Target and bought the new Wii Fit Plus. Tried it out for about 20 minutes this evening and I LOVE it! Updates your software and imports all you data and then you just use that disc from now on because all the old games are there plus a bunch of new ones. Tilt table has always been my favorite and there's a whole new set of advanced tilt table. I think I only got through 4 levels. It's quite challenging and tricky. One I got stumped on I couldn't figure out how to bounce the balls up to where the target holes were. Then there's a snowball war, segway that you ride around on the beach jumping over ramps and breaking beach balls to get points. Been thinking about Great all day and praying for her. Hope we hear from her in the next day or so. Anxious to know how everything went.

Would love to have your FF soup recipes! Had some good soup last week at a place called The Cabbage patch and their signature soup... Cabbage Patch soup, was basically chili... but thin like soup, and had cabbage in it along with some burger and tomatoes and kidney Beans. It was very good!

Sounds like exactly what Tracy went through with their older dog two weeks ago! Results were inconclusive, so they decided to go ahead with surgery to have it removed. Then it got infected. Now there's a little nob there again and they're hoping it's not coming back. Text message from Steph a little while ago. She said please let LBT know... taking Michael to residential care facility this afternoon. Told her she had our support. It will be hard. Down 3 lb today, but last week I was up. So, I'm back to my lowest weight now but still not under 200 quite yet!

Great.... you will definitely be in my thoughts and prayers tomorrow! You will do GREAT!! We're all with you in this.. all the way! Apple, know how you feel! I get very sad when we leave our winter getaway every spring. In fact,, it gets a little worse every year! The more time we spend down there, the more friends we make and the worse I feel when it's time to leave! But this week, I'm feeling sad because we're having to say goodbye for the winter to our two girls and their families! I'll be back in Feb. for a few days. Meredith, so glad you found a new realtor and a house you're happy with!! How is your Grandma?? Julie.. so sorry about your shoulder problems. Hope you get some relief soon, and that it doesn't interfere with your travel plans! Okay... that's all I can remember! Don't know if Janet has checked in, but she's back from her weekend in Texas for her aunt's funeral. Sounds like it all went fairly well.

Bought my husband a bike last summer and he couldn't stand the seat either... even though he has a skinny butt. So I found a wide seat on Amazon.com and he loves it. I think it was 20 bucks. Before it came he had a huge piece of foam wrapped around the seat and secured to it with DUCT TAPE!! Of course, what else! He's a guy!

Glad you're back and had an okay weekend. Yeah, we'll be on our way down by this time next week. Well, actually before that. We'll leave here on Thurs, but not leave the area until Saturday morning. We'll be down south spending some time with the little ones. And you can turn the wind off any time after mid-October!! Yeah, Earl is going to drive me nuts! And how much you want to bet we will still forget stuff, BUT, the OIL WILL BE CLEAN!! At least this year we WILL have the remote for my digital photo frame!! Didn't have it last year... forgot it, couldn't find it! Don't know where he finally found it but it was a couple of months ago. I was driving for the first time since knee surgery last Monday when the odometer passed 97000 miles!! That's a LOT of miles. Besides that it probably has at least 60000 towed miles. You don't insult me one bit by offering me clothes!! Heck, since surgery, I've been buying a lot of clothes at Salvation Army! But I know what you mean. We have a huge amount of clothes to take over there this week that are all too big. But I had a few things that were favorites or so nice that I would rather give them to friends, but it's a very awkward situation. I took this Lands End fleece pullover... really nice one, to Primetimers Wed and gave it to a lady that I thought it would fit and she promptly told me that someone at the Tent City homeless camp would probably be glad to have it! Well, if I'd known she was going to do that I would've just put it with the Salvation Army stuff! I have two nice dress outfits that were $100+ new and I am reluctant to offer them to a couple of friends I think could wear them! But... to get back to the issue... I'm wearing mostly XL tops now. I may have one or two 1X or 2X that I can still wear, but most of the plus sizes are too big now. Of course, I wanted a Halloween top yesterday at WalMart... and the XL was too small and there weren't any 1X so I ended up with a 2X. Sizes all run so different. Pants are a nightmare. I have everything from XL (16-18) to 1X to 22 that I'm wearing now. The 22... definitely too big, but not ready to give them up because I haven't found a good replacement. If they're relaxed fit, I can wear an 18 or 20. But then... some of my 20's are baggy now and I have to wear a belt to keep them up! It's nuts trying to find the right fit because I am so short and my thighs are so big. I don't wear shorts, so I wouldn't want you to send those. The Lane Bryant jeans may or may not fit! It's been a long time since I've ordered anything from Lane Bryant. What fits me best is relaxed fit, cropped pants, low rise (because most pants are too long in the crotch), petite in 18 or 20! So it's up to you.. but because of my weird shape, chances of things fitting me are not good! Pretty much have to try things on before I buy. That really clears things up for ya, doens't it!! LOL! But, it'll take about 3 weeks for us to get to CA anyway. We're S-L-O-W..... but we enjoy the journey!

Gee! Feel all warm and fuzzy reading about all this.. because I lived in your basement for a few days so I can picture you down there working on your quilt, and burning your arm on the iron, :smile: and walking Twiggy to Tim Horton's! There coffee is good, but that breakfast sandwich I had... oh, my! It was SO good! Earl is going to drive me nuts until we're actually moved in to the RV. I have very FEW clothes left in the house. Today he wants to take my back-up drive! It's Sunday. We're leaving Thursday! He better not try touching my laptop! I didn't walk or do many of my exercises yesterday because every spare minute was spent sorting through STUFF and deciding what was going and what was staying and throwing stuff away. He wants to pack the Wii tomorrow after we do our Monday morning weigh in! The water tank has been sanitized... he put clorox in, let it sit a few days, flushed it out a couple of times and today he plans to fill it with fresh water. We're going to Tracy's for lunch, so I managed to talk him out of one more trip over there with STUFF last night! I can't wait until we're actually on the road! Then I can relax and the frenzy will stop! The man is a fanatic about oil changes and the CR-V is going to be a couple of hundred miles short of his routine oil change schedule! I think it's every 3000 miles. He says if he doesn't get it done before we leave then it's going to need an oil change on the way to CA and he CAN'T get it done in an unfamiliar place!! Give me a break! We're dragging the fool thing to CA and it will hardly get driven on the way down except a little bit in Mountain View!! It has 97000+ miles on it! It can probably handle a few more than 3000 miles between oil changes this ONE time! NO... he will be getting that done in the next few days, too! OKAY.. enough of that! Linda, so glad you had time to drop by. So sorry about Mindy's situation. Probably a good thing in the long run. He doesn't sound like a keeper! Hope you can get the health issues resolved. That is NOT a good BP!! Karla, that girl needs a strong dose of reality!! Let her worry about her teeth! Sounds like she's set her priorities! Don't bail her out! Better get off the laptop and hit the shower. Need to get ready for church. Then a quick stop at Costco and to Tracy's for lunch. We usually go out for salads after church, but they have two of their little grandchildren today and Mom said if the youngest doesn't hit her bed by noon we will all be sorry!! So we're having salads at Tracy's today!

Kind of quiet here, too. At least for a few minutes! Earl is at the hot tub! He is in a constant frenzy over packing the RV!! He's making me crazy! I have barely enough clothes to wear for the next five days! I'm working on sorting through odds and ends that have to go.... pens, pencils, stapler, stupid stuff like that. Started sorting through all my TOPS stuff.. need to consolidate it into one small bag instead of the three its now in! Finally found a pair of black pants today... at Walmart... $12!! But I still had to take flack because I bought too many things yesterday! Yeah, right! I just ignored it. I bought a halloween shirt.. scoop neck, 3/4 sleeve black.. with pumpkin appliques and sprarklies! And I found another of my favorite bras in the right size!! I'm going back to front hooks and they are hard to find but Walmart sells one style that I like... Playtex 18 hr with flex back. Very comfortable with good support.. better than underwire, I think. Well.... I think I'll go do a few of my exercises. CBL!

Very good news! Walking... is GREAT!! It will help her feel better faster. You will probably want to fly in to Seattle. Unless its cheaper (LOL) to fly in to Vancouver BC.. but it's at least a 3 hr drive. ICE CUBES!! LOL!! That is SO funny! After the first week of running across the street to Albertson's for bags of ice for my electric ice machine after the knee surgery, Earl decided he'd make his own ice. We don't have ice cube trays! So he used little bowls.. which made huge chunks of ice. So after a couple of days of using these huge chunks of ice... the machine QUITS!! Not designed to use big chunks of ice. We called the doctor's office we bought the thing from and fortunately they replaced it, no questions asked, because it was under warranty and we paid $125 for the thing! But... NO MORE big chunks of ice!! He went back to running across the street for bags of ice. Heck... why would you only be able to drink Sangria in warm weather??? I like champagne... don't mind the bubbles, but you know I prefer my red wine... merlot, or something pretty dry. In fact, at the moment I"m trying to drown the headache I've had since Monday in some .... merlot or cab or something red and dry. It didn't work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, but Friday is a new day. Who knows!!??? LOL . Just a dull headache, but it won't go away! Retirement.... he will relax after a year or so. It's 6 years for us now and Earl is delighted that we haven't had to tap in to our IRA by now! Usually have money left over at the end of the month. I think he's going to take it hard when he gets to 70 1/2 a few years from now and is forced to start withdrawing funds! Hmmmm... we have left over pork roast from last night. That sounds like a good way to use it!! Except I don't have any left over spaghetti sauce! I cooked some oysters a few days ago with disastrous results. They are still in the refrigerator.. haven't used them yet. Want to make fish chowder with them. I sort of incinerated them in the oven!! SO... I went shopping with Tracy today for quite a long time with NO scooter!! It was a big adjustment for Earl! Poor guy fell in to a deep sleep in his recliner after we got home. Then he woke up and decided maybe he should go take a nap! UH... what was that 30 minutes of snoring I heard. So he went and took an hour nap! I bought a couple of long sleeve tops, a burgundy corderoy shirt/jacket, and a pair of twill pants....$58 price tag on sale for $5.50 and then I got another 20% off! But I was pretty excited about all that shopping without the scooter. We had a great time! First we went to downtown Snohomish and watched the high school homecoming parade. She could never go see it when she was working there because she had to stay in the health room in case anyone got hurt. So she was happy to be able to watch it today. Then the three of us went to lunch at a place we will have to hit if you guys come here next summer. Really nice soup/sandwich type place- Cabbage Patch Restaurant. None of us had ever been there before. Earl said it was the best chicken pot pie he ever had. Tracy and I split a chicken salad sandwich and then had a cup of soup. After lunch we sent Earl on his way... asking a few more times, "are you SURE you don't need the scooter????" Then we went to JCPenney's where I got the jacket and long sleeve tops. Then we went to Kohl's. DIL wanted a Seahawks Santa Gnome... which was also 20% off and I should have bought one for us, too! Then I agreed to let them reinstate my Kohl's card and I got a scratch card for the 20% off my total!! Then we ended the afternoon at our favorite coffee stand and got a latte! To freak out Earl, I called him just as we were driving in to our parking lot and told him he needed to come outside and help me carry my stuff in!! LOL!

Safe travel, Janet. We'll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers this weekend.

Don't know what dates you gals want to consider for our next summer Lucky #7 reunion, but I just looked at Holiday Inns in the area. I found a pretty good rate at a Holiday Inn in Marysville.. about 10 miles from where we live. Rate was about $30 a night less than the one in Everett with basically the same amenities ($104-108 per night for 2 queen beds) and probably a little better location. Indoor pool & hot tub, exercise room, complimentary breakfast, microwave & refrigerator in room, free Wi-Fi, 32" flat screen TV. Dates I looked at July 22-26, 2010. There is a LARGE casino/hotel in Marysville, and a huge outlet mall right next to it. And, of course, lots of other attractions in the area. I have sent an email to the Busy Bee quilters of Snohomish WA to see what activities they might have scheduled for July 2010. I have told you that I am seriously flirting with ONDERLAND! I made a declaration to Earl today that I thought that deserved another REWARD, and I choose a COACH PURSE! I have a knock off... but I want a real one! There was only a very quiet, pathetic groan in response, so I may be purse shopping this weekend!!

That is so sweet! Courtney sounds like a real sweetheart!! I know... she's on drugs!! LOL! But...when our defenses are down... sometimes we're more free to express our real feelings.

Cut my 1/2 mile walk from 25 minutes to 18 minutes! Maybe because it was raining!! LOL! No.. I'm walking considerably faster than I was.. and with a more normal stride. No pain. Down to 1-2 pain pills a day. Took one yesterday before PT an one at bedtime because my knee was hurting after about 20 minutes working out on the Wii Fit. None today, though.. Feeling really good! Have a pork roast in the oven, and some sweet potato strips. Yummy! Glad to hear everything went so well with Courtney! We are making great progress with our packing.. if you don't listen to Earl. He is always stressing about something! LOL He's agreed to go to lunch with Tracy tomorrow. That's good! High school she worked at before she was laid off has a parade every fall and she's always missed it because even though hte kids all left for the parade... she had to stay in the health room in case of any incidents. So she's looking forward to being able to watch the parade. So we're going early to get a good place to watch, so we'll have lunch first.

GREAT NEWS!! Now relax, Mama!!

Steph... we are here for you... all the time, any time. And whatever you are going through.. whenever... it IS important and worthy of our "ears". Wish I had some wise advice though! All I can do is pray..... Michael sounds like a BIG challenge. I really can relate because in the mid-80's.. my full time job was trying to keep our youngest son in school and out of trouble! He did a lot of "stuff", believe me. And he about consumed us for a few years. You just do the best that you can do.. and if you need outside help, then do whatever you need to do. As for the food issues, my best suggestion would be to try the 5-day pouch thing... Can't remember the detaisl but you can google it. I think it's two days protein drinks, two days mushy, one day hard... but all protein... no carbs. You might have to stretch it out.. maybe ten days... to get back to where you can eat hard protein and veggies. But you have to get off all that sugar and junk food. Jackie... will certainly keep you and Court in my prayers tomorrow. And so glad the firing thing is behind you. Tomorrow a new month, new start for Courtney! God's blessing.. a new start every morning! Karla... that is a horrible health plan! I don't like the health plans currently being proposed for so many reasons, but your story is certainly a perfect example of what needs to be changed. Hard working people such as yourself need to have health care plans they can afford and that cover their needs! But I don't think we should be providing for those who choose not to work or for illegals. If a person can't work because of health issues, then by all means. We have a huge problem in this area and I don't think anyone knows how to fix it. Don't mean to get in to politics. I know this is a touchy issue, but makes me mad to hear that a teacher would have such lame health insurance! Hugs, Gals! I need to go to bed!!!

Janet, Yes it will be nice to be able to walk on this cruise. Earl says we're taking the small scooter, but I"m betting I may be able to change his mind by then. Plan to continue to work on my endurance. Right now... the 1/2 mile is about my limit. Knee is getting sore by the time I get back. But when the soreness goes away, I'm sure I'll be able to continue to build on the distance. I definitely won't be using the scooter around the ship this time. And I don't think I'll even need it onshore. Heck, it's four months away! I logged exercise after all tonight because I just did 20 minutes on the Wii and worked up a GOOD sweat! Can do some of them without the cane now. Not using the cane at all, really, but some of those balance exercises... to get any speed you have to put all your weight on your toes and I'm still working on balance with the new knee! Interesting... when you do the weight and balance on the body test... balance was always fairly good, but I always favored the right leg. Now with the new knee, I am favoring the left leg already! PT noticed that today in one of the exercises she had me do. Stand on one foot and lightly touch the floor with the opposite toe... 12 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 6 o'clock with the right toe. I did fine with that.. standing on the left leg... one with the new knee. But when I put the weight on the other leg.. balance was no good and I had trouble with it. Have to remember to practice that one. Janet... know this will be a sad trip, but I think you will have some "warm fuzzy" time with new found family and those you didn't know very well before. And you'll all enjoy some sweet remembrances of your aunt with them.

Wii Sports come with the Wii when you buy it so I'm sure your son has that already. The Wii Fit things.. you have to buy that because it comes with a balance board that you stand on for a lot of the exercises. You don't use it for the walking in place, but you have to buy the whole thing.. can't just get the disk. Wii Fit is an additional $89. They probably don't offer that at the library. They just dropped the price on the Wii to $200.. $50 drop, but I sort of doubt they'll drop the price on the Wii Fit. Then there are two new things I don't yet have... Resort Sports and ... Active something or other.. EA Active, maybe. It comes with resistance bands and some say it gives you a better workout but the resistance bands are wimpy and you're better off to buy stronger ones. Someone who actually has them may want to offer further advice/comments.

Quilt is wonderful!! Love the spider webs! Not my thing, but GREAT!! Our DIL does machine quilting. She made us one last Christmas that she had kids & grandkids draw/color squares for. We LOVE it! Canadian quilters... friends at Sky Valley... had pictures of it emailed it to their quilting club in B.C. by Christmas day afternoon! They really liked it. So is NO & CA going to be part of this trip or another one?? Karla... so no healthcare plan where you work??? or you just can't afford it? That's awful. I'm sure you explained it to us before, but I'm old and I forget stuff!! :) There has to be a way to get this taken care of.. you definitely need surgery! Bathroom scale -- which is not completely reliable... was weighing me between 199 and 202 this morning! That's a couple of pounds lower than two days ago and seriously flirting with "ONDERLAND"! So what do I do?? Totally blew it today! Primetimers served Kiebasa and macaroni and cheese! I took two small pieces of the sausage, but one would have been plenty... and macaroni and cheese, and some steamed veggies that seemed to be swimming in butter. A few bites of baked apple... more butter and lots of sugar... gave most of it to Earl, and then these big thick cookes with all sorts of stuff in them... white chocolate chips, cranberries, etc. It was WAY to sweet, too.. so I broke off a ssmall bite and gave the rest to EArl. Then tonight he heated up some mashed potatoes and gravy, two small chicken drumsticks and some cole slaw. Way to may calories for one day, I'm sure! I don't even want to try to add them up. Did have 35 minute workout at PT, but most of it fairly passive exercises, except for 5 minutes on the bike. Oh well, back to basics tomorrow!

Yeah, the walking in place is kind of fun... you follow a trainer, and there are other people running/walking with you, and towards you, and dogs, etc. and you run around an island so the scenery keeps changing.. I enjoy it.

My reward when I got to 100 lb loss was diamond earrings! (they're not quite that big... LOL) Great has some GREAT suggestions, too! I like the Coach purse one especially! I'm about to hit "ONDERLAND"!! Maybe a Coach purse should be my reward for that!! But... you've got the right idea, shoes, purse, manicure, pedicure, massage, CASINO, (LOL), how about "Girls' weekend" with friends! WOW! A SUITE!! I LOVE it! It pays to be a volunteer, huh! That will be so nice. When we went to the joint replacement class they told us that we could go down the hall to the nurses' station and request a private room... so I did, and I got one! It wasn't a suite, but it was a nice room with a beautiful view of Puget Sound and I had my own bathroom, too. When I had my partial knee surgery I remember having a roommate who got irked with me because I would channel surf! This time, I don't even remember if I watched any TV!! There are a lot of things I don't remember. Like I was surprised to find that photo on my Blackberry from the day after surgery.. sitting up in bed with my Blackberry around my neck and my laptop in front of me. Have only a vague recollection of that!

That is SO exciting!! You will LOVE it and then you will definitely want to retire.... and buy a bigger RV!! I hope you don't do it before we get home from CA!!! You will want to spend some time in the Seattle area and we would LOVE to spend some time with you! If you can get by with water and electric only, maybe you can park at Tracy's! She lives 7 miles from us and has 5 acres. We store our RV there in the summer. I think Steph is having some Michael problems since she got back from her tests. And she's stressed out because tests didn't show what's wrong. Yes, Linda must be very busy!! Hugs on the firing issue, Jackie! Candice is right... lady didn't do her job... and you're just doing yours. Earl had someone like that who was never at work... always sick, or some such excuse. It took him several YEARS to get rid of her... and LOTS of paperwork!!

I like the soccer game, too. Last summer I got my scores on the advanced up to 105-110m but this summer can't get that high. But... early in the summer... knee worse than last year, and then I had knee replacement. I think I have recovered sufficiently to start doing all that stuff again... and start adding things I couldn't do before... like the step aerobics. I can only do the standing yogas, too. Yeah, I like the sports stuff.... bowling, golf, especially. boxing is hard... can never make my punches go where I want them to. Baseball, tennis, so-so. But my all time favorite is the tilt table things on the balance exercises. I LOVE that!

Glad to hear you're doing so well. I like the Wii Fit, too. Which of the exercises/games do you like best. I tend to do a lot of the balance games. But have a new knee now and think I can start doing some of the others. The step games would be good for me now.

Good Morning! Gloomy day today.. but not raining and I thought it was supposed to. I walked in the drizzle yesterday, but right after that it started pouring. Good timing. Did I already post that I booked us a cruise yesterday...?? Mexican Riviera... same one Janet took last March except we're on Norwegian.. same ship we went to Alaska on in May. Got a very good price and it leaves out of L.A., so no plane fare. Looking forward to it. DIL in CA called this morning. I have an assignment.. go to Kohl's and see if they have a Seahawk Santa Gnome. Guess they have Raiders in the bay area so she's hoping maybe they have Seahawks up here. So I can look for pants while I"m there. Primetimers today. Earl thought today was Tuesday. I bugged him yesterday because I had all this stuff ready to go to the RV and it sat there all day as did he! I'm not sure he went out of the house all day except to the trash bin! I was all over the neighborhood before it rained. I took the scooter, went to my latte place across the highway, then to RiteAid to check on Rx, Albertson's... bought two rotissiere chickens, then to the next shopping center and got him 2 of his favorite hard rolls and a pepperoni stick from the deli. So I had a great time before the rain started. He sat and watched Fox news and slept all day. So today he starts loading up the car to go to the RV with all this stuff. I saw what he was doing and said.... "UH... we have Primetimers today!" He insisted it was Tuesday! No dear, it's WEDNESDAY today!! So, he's making a quick trip to Tracy's to unload the stuff and we will be late to church. Oh, well. No biggie! First hour is just sitting and visiting.