Mac ALL The WAY TRIG!!!!!!!- More in the morning- been kicking out a paper!!!!!!! finger - need a rest- I will be up early

Good morning Ladies!

Urghhhhhhhh- Not ready for mornings! YES/ NIC/ TRIG- you are going to have to get those babes up for a schedule here really soon!

TRIG- Really hair is now TEAL????? How do you feel about nose rings and tattoos? Just a question - I am only asking because we had this IT guy into our office to set up the new phone systems. He got named nose ring- because of his nose ring. It wan't this little cute attachment. No- it hung out like a Bull. He had TEAL hair too. His was a a bright teal- sorta longish, and he most likely spent a great deal of time to get his hair to look like he just woke up.
Not comparing your kiddo to Nose Ring- just the generation. They are all trying to look "different"- but they sorta all look alike.
Remember the generation that all wanted to look like James Dean? BLUE would remember! She had a thing for him!!!!

Ya- you might want to consider a MAC. I had a real tough time going from a PC to a MAC- but now I wouldn't take a PC. Well I would TAKE it if it was GIVEN to me. But to buy another one? NO. Yes there is is a learning curve. But once MAC............ LOLOLOL

BLUE- I know we blend with the weather sometimes. It has been HOT and humid and rainy here. Not the pleasent rain you described sitting and watching. No the tropical kind that rolls in and you can't see though. It leaves the air worse - like a sauna.
But we are supposed to have a storm roll through- and IS supposed to cool us down.
How is the house packing coming along? Are you still tossing stuff like mad?
I am sorry your company that you got jobs from is seeming to implode!!!! The days of brick and mortar are going try the way side. Every the furniture I have shopped - they do not have inventory. It comes from a warehouse.
Did you say you wanted to paint your apt? Are you allowed to do that? I would love to paint my place- I however have vaulted ceilings. I would need to hire help. I also want to hire someone to help me get this hideous chandelier out and replace it with track lighting. I also want to put some lighting up on that ledge that runs across my living room. I want the type I can control with a remote. I think it would be very pretty. Lots I want to do- but in the everyday- it is all I can do to get through the day these days.

Lori- how did the rest of your game go? How are you doing these days. You have been rather quite!
------------------------------------------
I can't do any personal right now- I am running late. It's just all good- just crazy busy right now!
On plan-

Have a great day!

Jaz

Good Morning!

Not much going on here. I have been a lazy slug. I just love puttering around my house all day and am perfectly content. I thought maybe I'd go to a class at the gym this morning, but it seems unlikely. The cat had me up at 2:30AM and then ran and hid. She came back to our bedroom 5 minutes later and DH got up and came down and she finally went out. Anyway, I fell back to sleep and didn't even hear DH leave for work this morning. I was out! Consequently, I now feel like I'm in a fog. Kind of headachy and just blah. Maybe a couple more cups of coffee will wake me up!

Not sure if I told you girls that we are going to go to England 5 days before our cruise and stay with a friend. She is the one I rented a place with in Edinburgh. She and her husband are really athletes....her with running, biking & a bit of swimming and him primarily biking. She did the 1/2 marathon(13.1 miles) in Edinburgh. Anyway, I just heard from her and she has been "sick" for the past 10 days. The reason for the quotes is that she is not so much sick as in severe pain. The pain is in her chest and shoulders/arms. She only manages a few hours sleep a night because of the severe pain when lying down. Her breathing is fine even though she does have asthma. She went to a primary care Dr. and they gave her pain killers which made her sick(digestive). She now has a new prescription and an appt for a chest xray today and an appt with a cardiologist on Thursday. I'm worried sick. They think it may be pericarditis. Luckily, the cardiologist is a friend of theirs and she was able to "jump the queue" to get in or else she would have been waiting weeks and weeks for an appt. She is such a lovely, sweet person....I feel horrible that she is going thru this.

Sorry to tell you all about someone you don't even know, but I just needed to "talk" to someone about it as I just found out.

I must get another cup of coffee and sit here and worry about my friend.

Hi everyone!

Quick check in from me before I head out for my MoW shift.

Jaz- chicken lazone is chicken with a creamy sauce. check online for recipes. I will need to do that too. Don't remember how to make it!

Girl, an 86% is still just fine. In the long run you just gotta get through it but super high A's don't get you there all that much better. You're working full time! Just do the best you can and know you are reaching your goal regardless.

Blue- hahaha enjoy all this girlie stuff with me, ladies, bc it won't be coming around again for a while! Hair/makeup will be just me being me. Simple but nice enough. I did the same thing for my wedding- didn't want to be done up to where I don't recognize or feel like myself. I am a stick in the mud, or else I just know who I am. You pick!

Shoes- low heel, like maybe an inch and a half, a little chunky but not fully chunky, dark blue, peekaboo toe. Going with DD and her maid of honor for mani and pedi the day before the wedding.

Hang in there dear heart, with the food and the weather. You will get through this, I promise! And we will help you work off whatever you need to work off once you get to the other side. I feel that you will shed it all pretty easily once this stress is over and behind you and you have your glorious new digs, airy and bright and uncluttered. I think it will be an easy and natural thing for you.

Lori- I am so sorry about your friend and hope she gets all the answers she needs and quick relief. Sending you love!

Hi Trig!

••••••

On plan and doing fine. Scale inching down and pleased with that. People start arriving a week from today!

DS has his driving test this afternoon- heavy rain and thunderstorms predicted. Poor kid. He will do what he can and that's all there is to say about that!

Will put steaks in the sous vide before we leave and then I can just sear them off when we get home.

Have a wonderful day, all!

Hi gals!

Lori--- I love to putter too! Glad you have more freedom to do so, now that you've quit that job.

Wow, excited for you about your trip to London. Sorry to hear your pal is suffering pain, but she WILL get in and get some answers, probably by the time you get there.

Glad she had a connection, but just have to say, contrary to many beliefs that any form of national health care means you have to wait weeks for an appointment, is simply not true. Like here, appointment availabilities there are done on a triage basis.

If you have a serious condition, you're going to get in pretty fast, with or without a connection. Same is true in emergency rooms here, as you know if you've ever sat in one here with say, a gash that needs stitches, but is not life threatening. You'll wait for those with larger problems.

Getting an appointment/treatment/surgery here is no easier or shorter, unless you have a more dire situation. Lord, look how long your sister has waited and suffered waiting for her surgery? Months of discomfort and inability to do things as she normally would, but not life threatening, so she waits. I waited weeks to get and appointment over my sinus issues. It's all triage, here and there. It just costs more here. A lot more.

Nic--Ha. You have been very patient w/us over the details of your wedding ensemble, and totally get it won't happen again till your next kid gets married. Love the shoes you described. Very comfy, but that open toe makes it dressy and elegant enough to go w/that beautiful dress.

Agree totally w/you that make up and hair should just be you. I wasn't thinking of any fancy updo. Just maybe a pretty headband to pull your hair back and show off some pretty earrings. it can be an elegant look w/out being over fancy. But that's just the stylist in me, which I know you'll feel free to ignore.

On the driving test. My son's appointment for his came up on a blizzard day here. Hubby and I tried to convince him to re-schedule, but he was hot guns for that license and insisted on keeping the appointment. He failed the test specifically because of some of the decisions he made in a blizzard. And in the end, we thought that was a good learning moment, despite his disappointment. He went back and nailed his second test. Fingers crossed for your son, and hoping the weather doesn't turn out to be as inclement as predicted.

Also, so appreciated you saying you gals will be here for me when I'm ready to really give it my all again on the plan, and I know y'all will be. I keep up now to stem the damage and because I love y'all. It's a couple days on, a couple days off right now. But I agree w/you---when we are settled in our new home, I'm going to be ready to go after this like a terrier on a mail man's cuff!

Jaz---How's that paper coming? Remember pal, sometimes good enough is good enough. A valuable lesson I had to learn long ago.

See progress on your questions about house below. Oh, and also while I don't try to hide my age, I must say I never had "a thing" for James Dean, who was before my time for that kind of thing. My first love evah was Paul McCartney---at 11 years old, I felt that first "stirring" when I saw him on Ed Sullivan. LOL, and that's plenty enough in the "dark ages" compared to kids today.

Sounds like you are getting "stabilized" back on plan, and that is everything, imo.

Trig---

And on the Mac thing, Jaz had a hard time adjusting, as I would on a PC but she has learned to love it for reasons Mac lovers won't switch. From my POV, there is nothing easier than a Mac, once you figure out how it is talking to you all the time, and imo, it makes itself a lot clearer, and a lot easier than PCs. Dispenses with a lot of steps, once you get the hang of it.

For me, it was love at first click. I never did a PC, as in my industry all the creatives are on Macs. But whether a creative or not, I have simply noticed that those on Macs suffer much less with glitches and slowness and viruses for sure.

Just rambling thoughts, and in the end, may not be for you. But you can get a decent sized Mac laptop for about $900. Smaller one, about $700. Something to think about. And once you have one, unless you splash it in iced coffee like I did, it will last you a good long while. Does Rich know Macs too?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well gals, something switched over in me today. It was just like a light bulb going from dim and dragging to brighter and more promising. IOW, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a very small light right now, but it's light!

We are on a fierce schedule to get on the market by Sept 17 and we are determine to do so. Today we set out our schedule to do it all and it is going to be challenging. SO MANY PIECES INVOLVED> Things that must be done that you never think of till you sell.

But today I was just a machine. I got so much stuff packed. I am staging as we go, so what doesn't make the cut for that, gets packed up for the move, put in the alley, or bagged for Good Will.

I went thru a big built in I thought I'd already cleaned out, and got rid of half again of it! Felt marvelous. Cleaned out 3 closets I'd already gone thru,and again, got rid of another half of all of it.

And I felt energized and joyous to get rid of MORE and MORE, even thirsty for it. I have turned a corner. Yes, we will have a more spacious apartment than most I researched, and we could cram in a lot of stuff. But if it's one thing this has taught me, it's that I don't want to be floating in excess stuff ever again. I just want what makes a lovely home, only our absolute faves and needs, w/plenty of space around it to enjoy. I LOVED TODAY, tossing things out to the universe for others to enjoy. LOL, getting more brutal by the day, and feeling a real energy surge.

Seems like I've done all this for months, dragging butt. But today, my wings just lifted like crazy. And on that thing about the weather? It was cool and no humidity today. Man, made all the difference in the world!

Still, there are anxious things happening. Interest rates edging up a bit at a time, so on a Friday one might qualify for this house, but by the next Tuesday they won't. And then, it's fall and we have a short window. Realtor says things are definitely slowing down, trying to corral our expectations for sure.

So that's the scary stuff, but as hubby says, "Don't look to your right, don't look to your left. Just keep driving straight ahead, honey."

Heh, as often as we've been bickering and fighting lately w/all this stress, God, I love that man!

He passed!

Driving over there was TORRENTIAL rainfall. People were pulled off to the side of the freeway, waiting it out. I mean, it was raining HARD. He managed it really well and I was really pleased with him because that is some hard driving.

We had to wait a long time, over an hour and a half. My guess is that maybe during the really torrential rain they paused testing? I'm not sure. No one was going to complain before their kid's test!

I hid around the corner and watched him do the parking part of the test- I figured if he passed that he might be all right, and he was. It was raining lightly-ish for his test but nothing like it had been by a long shot.

NO MORE TEACHING ANY KIDS HOW TO DRIVE YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!

Crossposting with Blue--

Ha! I was about to say the same thing- just look ahead- and then I read that your DH said the same!

SO GLAD that you felt that lift and see that pinpoint of light! You are doing so great and before you know it, the time will be here and you will be moving and honestly, it will be bittersweet but I think you are going to be SO FREAKING HAPPY. I can just so easily picture you in your new space and the airiness of it and just the feeling of it being so LIGHT in all ways. And that will inspire you to be light as well!

Hugs and more hugs (and no headband!! )

Nic---BRAVO to your son! I'm sure he's in 7th heaven right now, and will be begging you to do driving errands for awhile. Take advantage of that! Sure, you can decide when and where, but nothing teaches a kid how to drive, more than doing it!

And I say simple errands, like picking up stuff at the grocery store, or at the dry cleaners or whatever, gives a kid a fair and fairly safe chance to learn when he alone is behind the wheel, and that's what they really need to learn, in the safest of circumstances you can manage, but also WITHOUT you sitting beside him.

It's scary to let go to this, been there. But I must say, they teach the kids SO MUCH BETTER in Driver's Ed, than they used to.

LOL, I remember being in Driver's Ed w/another gal and the football coach who was doing it for extra money. Shoot, she was going about 60 miles an hour down a suburban blvd, and that guy/teacher/Driver's Ed instructor, was just looking out the window, his mind on other things, while I sat in the back seat waiting for my turn, totally terrified by her driving.

Also, I really LOVE that these days they absolutely pound into kids heads the dangers of drinking or drugging while driving. AND, the consequences, especially for young drivers. Hard to believe, but never a word said about that to us...well maybe a word, but not much more.

I can say that as a result, my kid takes driving responsibly, IOW, sober, totally seriously and always has to this day, as do his friends. They either elect a sober driver, or they Uber. AND he understands what sober means, remembers it all from the Driver's Ed I never had. YAY PROGRESS

Oh, and LOL, I totally bow my silly head. NO HEADBAND!!! So get you, pal. Forgive me for my in my head styling dalliances. You are smart not to listen to me.

Good Morning Ladies!

Lori- I feel ya on loving to putter. I do too and plan for it. I have to write in on my calander to squeeze it these days! I feel bad for your friend! Hope she get care and cured real soon! Like Blue- I am hopeful by the time you get there she will be fine.

NIC- Wow- the boy PASSED!!!!!!good for him! YAY- that is a passage for sure. I know you are excited these days.

Blue- I really smiled when reading your post! you go GIRL!!!!! Let your wings FLY!!!! JAMES DEAN- HAHAHAHAH- I thought HE was your guy- my Apologies!!!! LOL- Now I will have to say Paul McCartney is a HONEY even now. I saw him up close last year- he was 75- and in FINE FINE FINE shape!!!!!! OH yes! He can still pull it off. he even has all his hair- and a swagger still! Oh yea!!! 75 or not I would not toss him out for eating crackers- or anything for that matter!
I know you will hit your goal of Sept. 15th- I see your house selling the minute it hits the market!

Trig- hope you are well.
----------------------------------------
If I wasn't so worried about my dogger she and I would have it out!!!!!! That thing ate my phone!!!! I'm really pisst about it. It was a brand new phone. She chewed through the glass- and chewed up the battery as well- it is in pieces. I am now worried because the glass shattered in her mouth- and she attempted to chew on the battery! So now I watch her! I didn't see any bleeding or anything. But she has been chewing everything lately. I mean stuff she have NEVER bother before. She is really acting out these days. She went for the TV remote last night. She is not used to not being the center of my world. SIGHHHHHH-
Dam- that phone was new. Ask me if I got the insurance on it. NO- so I get to go to phone store because the dog ate my phone.

I can't trust her in my yard right now either- she is eating dirt, grass, anything she can put her teeth into. She came in the other day- with moss hanging from her mouth- WTF is she doing?

I struggling with headache, low level just enough to make me feel crappy- not enough to keep me at home! Feel gross- I ate the entire bag of cheese last night. can't have it in the house.

Ok- gotta go-

OMG...it happened again. A long post almost done and I am typing away and I don't know what I hit, but *poof* gone. Let's try again.

Jaz....so odd about your dog chewing and eating all manner of stuff. Your phone!? Yikes! Just more $$ flying out of your account, right? It's always something. I wonder if the Vet can give you any guidance about what might be causing her to eat "stuff". Maybe she's lacking some vitamin or mineral in her diet?

Trig...hope you're settling back in and getting ready for the school year. Another dreary day here.....how about you?

Nic....glad your son passed his driving test on the first go. What a relief! I agree with Blue.....let him run all your mundane errands. Enjoy having more time for you!

Blue...sounds like you had a great day of clearing out. If I am in the right humor, I can make stuff fly too! Like Jaz, I think your home will sell in a hot minute. It just sounds lovely from everything you've said. How nice to have a beautiful apartment waiting for you. I can't wait to hear all your settling in and new experience stories.

I talked to my sister last night. She is just ready to have this surgery over with and be back home. Her procedure is scheduled for 11:30AM on Thursday. The Dr. told her it will only take about 1/2 hour. They take some tissue from her lower abdomen to make the sling that they screw into each hip bone to support the bladder etc. Hard to believe that will only take 1/2 hour! She is a bit nervous about the anesthesia as she hasn't been put under since her mid 30's when she had a hysterectomy. Her daughter & granddaughter are going to stay Thursday night in a hotel so they are there Friday morning as she hope to go home by Noon Friday. The hospital is only about 45 minutes from where they live, but they wanted to be close to the hospital overnight. I am first on the list to get a phone call from her daughter when it is over and Sis is awake.

Well, I should go to the gym today, but I just don't have much interest in doing anything physical lately, other than golf. Shaming myself and trying to force myself to go does not work. I sure hope my attitude changes soon! I think I need to sign up for a race so I have incentive to get moving!

Well, time for more coffee. Have good days!

Blue wrote: "Oh, and LOL, I totally bow my silly head. NO HEADBAND!!! So get you, pal. Forgive me for my in my head styling dalliances. You are smart not to listen to me."

Hahahahahaha!!!!
I totally guffawed with laughter over that and startled the crap out of both the dogs. That was really funny!

Yup, not only will I have him run a few errands but honestly, he did so well with his driving in the rain that I will have him drive to XC at his school the next couple of days and then probably let him start driving himself after that. I feel like he is attentive (please god let it be so!) and actually a fairly natural driver.

Jaz- OH NO!! That sucks!! Bella, what are you doing, girlfriend? Of course her counterpart over here was having to wear a diaper for misbehavior too for a while recently. They sense stuff- I think my Bella was mad that I had been gone or something. Just a thought but if the behavior continues, maybe see the Vet about a very mild sedative for her, just for a week or two. We did that with Bella for a brief period a couple of years ago and it helped her to calm down and break whatever habit she was developing. I am really sorry though, about the phone and just how she is behaving.

Do you have a new washer now, or did you decide to keep the other one?

Hugs on the cheese. We all have our trigger foods and man, they are sneaky bastards.

Lori- So just to clarify, they are going to use your sister's own skin to make the sling? If I am reading that correctly, that is fascinating and amazing! I thought they would use some kind of mesh sling or something. But it will be a rough recovery. Please remind us again if you can later tonight or early in the morning tomorrow. I really want to be thinking of her and of you because I know you will be worrying.

••••••••••••

Quieter day today.

DS16 has an appointment and then has to be at the school at 2:15 for a practice XC meet at another school (they go together on a school bus.) I reminded him gently yesterday that he has six days until school starts (including today) to read Tom Sawyer and get his Trig/pre-Calc math packet done. I am trying to leave him to do it and just occasionally remind him of the passing of time.

DS19 is home, again! Glad to see him but then again, he has been home a good bit this summer AND we had a full week together. He is here until Friday, then going to an overnight Friday for Fi's bachelor party, then we drive him back to UMD Saturday morning. He will be there for only one week before we bring him back for the wedding festivities!

As for me, I'll take DS to his appt and also to the school (well, he'll drive, I'll accompany) and then go to the chiropractor. Tonight's dinner will be chicken lazone.

Eats yesterday:
coffee/hwc/st-er
1:15- 2 quarter pounder patties with cheese (I have not done this before but tried it- you order 2 patties and 2 cheese and have them ring it up that way. It was only 4 dollars and change.. much cheaper than ordering as sandwich no bun. Also haven't had McDs in SO LONG but it was all I had time to do - I was so hungry by then!)
6:15- Half a large steak, 1 serving vanilla Rebel ice cream.

Hugs to all!

Nic....yes, they will be using DSis's own skin to make the sling. They don't use the mesh as there have been many problems in women who had the procedure using the mesh. DSis originally thought they were going to use cadaver skin(ugh), but in reading her pre-op paperwork, it appears they will be using tissue from her own abdomen. I will definitely be talking about her surgery in my morning post as it will be all I'm thinking about. All good thoughts welcome.

I am going to get out for a walk later this morning. I want to map out a route of a certain distance instead of just walking/running willy nilly around town. Maybe an organized route will help get my head in the right place.

Good idea, Lori. And yes, I had heard that about the mesh, I just didn't want to mention that if your sister was going to be having it!

Have a great walk!

Hi gals.

Sorry but going to take my post for myself tonight, and for Jaz. And it's all about our beloved doggers.

Our sweet thing started behaving very differently a couple of months ago, but not all at once. She seemed a bit depressed at first in that she didn't greet us w/her toys anymore. We figured, well, she senses there is chaos in the air, AND, boyo, does she know her fence is no longer there. And then she seemed voraciously hungry all the time, and drank a lot more water all of a sudden.

She used to take any treat as sweet as could be. A real lady. Then all of a sudden, she was about biting our fingers w/the treat. That hurts and at first it makes you angry w/your beloved dogger. But it didn't take long for hubby to diagnose that she just couldn't see like she used to.

His solution, feed her like you would a horse. Put it in the palm of your hand and under her nose. BINGO. That so works. Like I've said, hubby always amazes me with the things he intuits from his long experience w/dogs and his innate common sense.

This has all come on quickly, so I went to my pal google and read a lot of articles. Found one I thought really describes our dog's issues. Dog diabetes, in which dogs can go almost blind in a very short time.

Today he took her to the vet while I was at a work meeting, armed with the article I found. Vet agreed, diabetes might be the issue, and they will do a deeper blood work on her this time. Just 3 months ago, they told us her blood work was excellent.

Just have to say, docs and vets and almost anyone who considers themselves the expert at something HATES google. But I say, google your hearts out and learn what you can, because although we like this vet she didn't seem to have a clue about what could be wrong a couple months ago. Just kept saying she was perplexed, UNTIL hubby showed up w/google article and she nodded, and agreed, this might be the problem.

Fact is, your vet is probably only going to do the bare minimum. UNTIL, you educate yourself enough to ask for more. So we did that, and tomorrow we'll get the results of deeper blood work.

Jaz---Our dog has never been a chewer of things, like shoes or cell phones. And she still isn't. My instinct says this is anger stuff on the part of your dog. Like you said, you haven't had as much time to give to her. But then what do I know.

Ours does express her anger by dragging out the trash all over the kitchen if we leave her for what she considers too long, or just because she's bored, or just because she thinks she'll find a treat. Who knows? So we have learned to put the trash bags above her abilities to get to.

Again, she didn't used to be like this. She will be 14 this Thanksgiving. Our last cockapoo lived till almost 19, and only in the last year was she greatly disabled, her sight and hearing went slowly, and then she had cancer.

This time it's different. Our gals's sight has seemed to have disappeared over night. And all those other things I mentioned. Vet told hubby that if our dogger has diabetes she's going to need an insulin shot twice a day. How much will that cost? AND no matter what it costs, how can you say no to your beloved dogger?

If it weren't for how very busy and overwhelmed we've been, we'd have seen this even sooner. I am SO SO SO sad about it. Today it feels like the straw on the camel's back, but I will rally tomorrow, and no matter the news, we'll figure it out.

Oh gals, these are hard and challenging times for us. Every time I think it can't get more stressful, it just does. Tonight I am not doing so well, so worried about the dogger. So much loss threatening from all sides. Really struggling.

Oh Blue, I'm sorry. Our dogs are our children and your Dogger even more so because your only flew quite a distance away. If you are like me, you talk to your dog and she is your shadow.

Please keep us posted and in the meanwhile, sending lots of love to you and Dh and the Dogger. xoxoxo