Pot Bellied Stove / Water Cooler

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  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Sheryl, the new washer and dryer look great! Love the light inside of the dryer too. I sure can relate to junky stuff that needs to go.

    I took another load of Christmas stuff, and Mom's old sewing machine to the Goodwill this morning. The guy there asked if we planned to replace the stuff. Yeah, right. Trying to get rid of stuff.

    Later today I plan to continue purging the stuff in the spare bedroom closet. I'm getting close to getting it done, but still have a little ways to go.

    On my morning outing I popped in to Hungry Hollow (a local breakfast joint) and got a breakfast sandwich and a side bowl of fruit. They know me by name and hadn't seen me for a while and wanted to know where I've been. They also commented on the weight I've lost. Within the last year it's been about 50 lbs.

    Just got a load of laundry done and have three more to go. Will do my weekly cooking tomorrow. Need to vacuum the house too.

    Cisco decided to sleep with me last night. Hugged that dog throughout the night. Makes me sad that one of my neibors lost her dog recently. He was found dead in someone's pool yesterday.

    Well, Happy Easter everyone!!
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    It appears I've hit the halloween decorations Mom saved over the years. My goodness! Tons of stuff again.
  • arobed53
    arobed53 Posts: 2,004 Member
    Good Friday service was very good. Hung around and visited for awhile afterwards. Today I've been at home except for lunch. We went into Potwin and ate at a fundraiser meal. 8th grade girl has stunted growth and very bad eczema and there's a doctor in Colorado who thinks he can help so helping to get her there. The rest of the day I did food stuff for tomorrow - fruit salad, deviled eggs, eclair cake, and bunny bait. I finished getting the plastic eggs ready, picked up some branches in the year and some other stuff. This evening my computer did another one of its blue screen shut downs. Fortunately, everything came back on. Hold my breath every time. :) My sister had given me some plastic tablecloths with easter eggs on them so put them on the tables. Tomorrow we have a "sunrise" service at 9 - will eat, sing songs and have a devotional and then on to church. Two of the kids and my sister will be here for dinner and I don't know how long they will stay.
    Found out my brother with Parkinsons was in the hospital for gout - he reacted to the meds for it and is now in rehab. He's still looking forward to having us come but location of get-together may change. They are hopeful he can get back to assisted living in a week or two.

    Sheryl, how nice the new washer and dryer look and already broken in. Nice that they take up less space - although now things can drop off. Were you able to clean behind them when they got the old ones out?

    Marcie, I can't believe the guy asked if you were going to replace the stuff. That's not usually the reason things are donated. Glad the Good will store is not too far away. So sad about the neighbor's dog. Congrats on the 50 pounds. You're doing great. Have fun looking at the Halloween decorations. Does some of the stuff bring back memories?

    In the morning, I need to get the potatoes in the crockpot, corn in another and ham in the oven. So far no rain. I hope it holds off - so much nicer to hide the eggs outside. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend.
  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited April 2017
    Hi All, I'm getting a late start today because Dan and I went out this morning and purged our fertilizers by putting as much on the plants as possible. The garage is much happier now with that stuff gone. It took several hours but the plants/shrubs will be much happier now. :) Dan likes going grocery shopping late Saturday afternoons better than Sunday so that is becoming our norm.

    Sheryl, the washer and dryer look great! Sounds like you got a great deal. Glad you decided to go to Bible Study after all. You need to get out as long as you can. It got to where my mom would start to worry about my brother and she'd go over to one of the neighbors or to the local little store and they'd call my brother at work so she would know that he was OK.

    Marcie, just how big is that closet?! So much stuff packed into it! I understand about getting rid of the snow globes. No sense keeping them if they're stored away. What shows did you end up deleting? We only have 27% on our DVR so we've been doing pretty well keeping up with them. Wow, 50lbs lost this year! That is awesome! You should be very proud! Spring break made the drive to work really nice for me too! I'm sorry they're going back to school next week!

    Anew, glad you're healing well. The planter boxes are coming along well. What a great team you and hubby are. You came up with the idea and he created the top. How weird to get a survey like that from the local funeral home. I wouldn't be too happy about it either. Hope your back feels better soon. Are you using a heating pad or anything?

    Debora, Ham for Easter sounds yummy. Yes, our tire got fixed. There ended up being a long line waiting for Costco to open so it took an hour and a half once we finally got up to the counter so we walked to a restaurant and had breakfast so it ended up being a somewhat expensive free tire repair! ;) What a great idea to give your uncle a photo album. I bet he'll love it! Thanks for the grape salad recipe. I'm going to try it when grapes are in season. I had a recipe sort of like it but it used mayo.

    Well, time to go watch TV with hubby. Happy Easter everyone!
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Happy Easter everyone!
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    edited April 2017
    Good morning everyone, it's a slow rain day today, it's 71 degrees and 98% humidity. I was hoping for rain to get some of my soils wet so I can do some more seeding this week.

    Over the weekend we did more work out there, hubby had Good Friday off. The 4'x4' garden bed that needed a new bottom was taken apart, and the good parts set aside for use later. All the cinder blocks the bed was raised up on were moved out of the way, and I moved all the onions, leeks and chives into the spot. This opened up the spot I needed to put up the cattle panel arched trellis so I could transplant (already did last evening) the cantaloupe seedlings into containers next to the trellis. I think this will work out well, I have a 55" wide path to walk through and I still can't reach the top of the trellis. Should be a good spot for growing vining crops on each side. This left me with one less potential planting bed of 4' square which I know I will miss but I can do more with a trellis than a flat bed. So, I guess that is a win win situation out there. The garden is coming along great.

    I hope everyone had a great Easter!

  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Good morning everyone.

    I hope you all had a nice Easter.

    I didn't do a whole lot yesterday. Didn't make a "pot of something". Just hard boiled the dozen eggs for the week.

    I'm getting close to being done purging that darn spare bedroom closet. I have another load of stuff in my trunk that I plan to run over to Good Will after work today. I was going to take it over there yesterday, but I figured they were closed for Easter.

    Our back porch is loaded with empty containers. Dad wants to hold on to them for now. He thinks he may need them at some point. If I had my way, they would be making a trip to Good Will too. Just stuff. Man.

    Last week I left a couple stuffed bunnies (from the spare bedroom closet of course) on the "free" table here at work. One of co-workers took them home and gave them to her neighbor's little girl. I'm happy they got a good home with a child. They were super cute and just in time for Easter.

    Started raining again last night and is dribbly/drabbly today. No hard rain. Just annoying sprinkling. Have I said I'm over the rain. I think I did, but I'll keep griping about it!

    I did do a little yard work yesterday. Our neighbor's tree has these little white flowers right now and they blow all over our yard. Swept up a bunch of those before they blew into the pool.

    Cisco decided to sleep with Dad last night. Him one night, me the next. Cisco did sleep with me yesterday though when I took a little nap.

    Debora, yeah, a lot of that stuff brings back lots of memories. Especially the Christmas ornaments. Kind of hard to let some of those go (I kept a few that Mom bought when she got married to Dad in 1964), but hopefully they'll get a good home. That grape salad sounds yummy.

    Isabella, I still haven't purged shows on the DVR and it's still at 70% full. Going to have to get that done!

    Sheryl, were you able to clean behind the new machines? They sure look nice. I hope all is well with you and John.

    Anew, that humidity! That's one of the things I really didn't like when we lived in Indiana in the early 80s.

    Well, if it wasn't raining I'd go for a little walk before getting back to work. Maybe I'll go down to the parking garage in the basement and do a couple laps down there. Have a great day everyone.

  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Mygnsac, your dad has the idea right. You may never know when you need those containers. When we had the bedbug problem I had to buy lots of containers and it wasn't cheap. That fiasco cost us at least $3000 to get it under control. Not to mention the pain I was in and the hours spent on cleaning laundry continuously and spraying, etc. I still have that other room locked up tight though. I will open it when I believe anything that could have survived in there can not be alive when I open the door. They can live for one year without food or water just waiting to start the process all over again. No thank you.
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Anew, yeah, you're right. I won't begrudge the saving of the containers. I'm just tired of stuff laying around. I sure hope those bedbugs are gone now. Wow!

    Hi everyone.

    Still a drizzly/drazzly day. Just sprinkling, but still annoying. At least there's no wind storm now.

    Traffic is sure back to normal. I don't think I got over 20 mph the whole way in to work. And, the route I usually go was blocked due to road work, so had to take another route. Ugh.

    Not meetings today...yet. Yay. I'll spend the day working on forms and website revisions. Lots of revisions going on around here right now. Nice easy day.

    I took that load of stuff I had in my trunk to Good Will after work yesterday. The guy who works there was amazed at all of the loads of stuff I've been bringing in. I asked if they would take old computer books (Dad wanted me to ask) and he said they would. Dad has tons of those books in his office.

    Cisco decided to sleep with me last night. In my arms all night long. He's sure my boy. I woke up around 2:30 am and took him outside to go potty, and then back to bed for both of us.

    When I was getting ready to leave for work this morning I noticed someone (I'm guessing the cat) threw up on a towel I had laid over one of the chairs in the living room. I was going to take care of it before I left, but forgot all about it. Just emailed Dad to put it in the laundry room. I just don't want my dog to eat it!!!

    Well, I guess back to work. Have a nice day everyone.
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Good afternoon everyone, it is sunny, warm at 82degrees and 67% humidity out there just after 12 noon. Supposed to get a little more rain today but haven't seen any as of yet. That is good, I would like a couple days between so the plants leaves can dry out real well. The cantaloupe seedlings seem to have survived the handling real well, seems the root has taken well and all four are standing tall. I'll seed some bush beans today over on the other side of the cattle panel trellis we just built because the bush cucumber is there. They like each other and the trellis can give some support to the bush beans, although they won't vine like pole beans would. They just need some support from the wind. I need to transplant a couple of tomato plants out of the one 3'x8' bed to allow for air flow. It's the one I planted everything in to protect from that onslaught of heavy rain we had coming a few weeks ago. They did great, and all survived but the final four are way too close to each other. When I do that, it will open the bed up for a lot more seeding.

    I ran across this awesome garden tower, I want one, lol. Expensive but it sure can grow a lot of food. Also can be used indoors as long as the lighting is properly setup for it. This would be awesome for a strawberry bed, or greens, herbs, or a huge mix of anything you want to grow. I can't see tomatoes being a part of it because they take up so much growing space. I'd rather have things that can use each planting hole.

    gardentowerproject.com/


    mygnsac-I store extra things like empty containers inside a trash bag and mark what it is. Then I can put them on the top shelf in the closet and it will be clean and ready when I need to use it. They also work great for organizing the closets to get things stacked and out of the way until you need them. I know you just cleaned the closets out, but those could help you reorganize what you still have and want to keep at the ready. If those containers are old, I bet they are made far better than the stuff you can get at the big box stores now.


    Have a great day everyone!



  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Good morning.

    Sheryl, missing your daily updates again!!

    Nice weather here today. Billowy clouds, no rain, no wind, lots of sunshine. I'm sure liking it. They say more rain tonight though.

    Did a load of laundry when I got home from work yesterday. Needed to wash that towel that Simon threw up on, so collected other stuff to wash too.

    About ready to go into another meeting. This one will be an hour. Have another one at 2:30 this afternoon. Then, hopefully that will be it on the meetings this week!

    Cisco decided to sleep with Dad last night, but when they got back from their walk at dawn Dad let him in my room. I woke up to a dog kissing me. Nothing like waking up to dog slobber!

    I just sent an email out to 500 people about some form changes we just made to our forms and forgot to turn off the return receipt options. I'm going to be getting those email receipts all morning! Sheesh!

    Just took a walk outside. Sure felt good to get up and move!

    As usual, traffic was awful this morning. Never did get over 20 mph the whole way in.

    Anew, I continue to be awe struck at your gardening efforts!

    Five minutes to my meeting, so better close and get to it. We are going to be reviewing changes to more of forms. Have a nice day everyone.
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Good afternoon everyone. It's a beautiful sun shining, 85 degrees and 50% humidity today, perfect day for gardening. I didn't seed the beans yesterday because we were getting some rain so I seeded about an hour ago. I planted nine holes and can succession plant every two weeks to keep them going for lots of beans through august. I plan to do some canning and freezing and fresh eating of green beans this summer. I will be planting some acorn squash bush plants tomorrow sometime and maybe moving those tomato plants if the rain will hold off long enough. Heading to big town with a friend to go shop at the one and only Sprouts or whole foods markets available around us. They have vitamins on sale for 25% off and I am looking for some more sublingual ones. I need more vitamin D3 10,000iu and I need potassium as well as a B12, if I can find them there.

    Mygnsac-I love to garden, it is something else to plant a seed and see it grow, then to eat what you planted. It makes my heart full though. Your drives to work don't sound like much fun at all.

    Have a great day everyone!
  • sannferris
    sannferris Posts: 1,432 Member
    edited April 2017
    Good Morning. My mornings are changing...since I am not sleeping well, when I wake up at 5 am as I usually do, I've been going back to sleep instead of getting up. Then, when I get up around 7, John is not far behind me, so I don't have my morning "me time". But that extra sleep sure feels good.

    First, I need to remember to answer a few questions. Yes, I did have a chance to clean a little behind the machines in the laundry room. At least I got the loose stuff, dust and cob webs off the walls and floor. It would have been nice to be able to wet mop the floor and really have it clean, but that was not possible. I cleaned the rest of the floor and got new rugs to catch the mud off our boots as we walk in the back door.

    John still has his problems with the woodstove, says that he can't understand it. He seems to enjoy it when I get the fire going, but he doesn't try to start a fire on his own which is just as well, I don't want him messing with fire when I'm not around. It's warming up now and we're using it less and less and soon, we'll stop bringing wood inside until next fall. Then, we'll start all over again.

    Monday, I got an ultrasound on my left leg to check for blood clots. I no longer have DVT, my upper and lower leg is clear. The technician said the back of my knee has "collateral veins", my body bypassed the clogged vein and made a new passage for blood there. Our bodies are miraculous.

    Last Saturday, John and I went to pick up a load of hay. I did not call first and when we got there, found out that they were all sold out of the hay we usually get. They had some really expensive hay still in stock, and I was going to buy some, but then, he said he expected a truckload delivery on Monday afternoon, so we came home empty handed. I stretched what hay we had til Tuesday and went back to buy our ton of hay. Got home and under cover just in time, started raining as we came into the house.

    Yesterday, I called the plastic surgeon's office to see if I could stop taping myself up. The itching is really getting to me and I was getting a rash on my right breast that I think is from the tape. I had originally had another follow-up appointment for last Friday, but the office called me to reschedule. I didn't mind except that they rescheduled it for in May and I decided that was too long to wait for answers. Anyway, the nurse told me to come in so she could check it and I now no longer have to tape up. Yay! some relief. I still have to wear the compression bra all the time, but that's not too bad.

    Another day of rain today, but the forecast for Friday is dry and sunny, looking forward to that. I got an email from my attorney regarding the drainage problem and he is going to the State Attorney General and submitting a writ of mandamus. I had to look it up and found out that it's an order from the Supreme Court to force a lower government agency (the County) to enforce the order. We'll see what happens, I hope it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

    We have the llamas in the front yard again...about the only dry ground on the property. Double win, they have new grass to eat and have nipped the grass down and now I won't have to mow.

    I hear John getting up so I'll close now.



  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful sunny 83 degrees and 63% humidity out there. I slept in late so just finished watering and won't be transplanting anything because it will be too hot for the plants to recoup before the heat sets in. Tomorrow is another day and everything looks real good out there.

    We have a vet appt today for the once per week fluids for Annie. I found a product out that might let us do it at home and not have to take her in. She hates the vet and to treat her it's hubby and I along with the vet or technician. She is such a pain in the rear to get things done there. I found what is called EZ IV Harness. I received it the other day and have been strapping it to her every evening, and she seems not to mind it very much. So, we try it at the vet's office today and see how well it does. Then hubby will learn how to get the needle in her because I don't have the physical strength to hold and push something like that with my arthritis. I hope we can avoid the vet in the near future. She does really well as long as she gets her fluid each week. Here it is.

    ezivharness.com/



    Sannferris-I think it's time for the news lady to come by and see you!
  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Oh My Gosh! I had to come back and tell you all about the EZ IV Harness and our experience at the vet today. It was so easy and it worked so well that we will go back next week and the vet will show hubby how to insert the needle so we can do the fluids at home. It was amazing, I'm still amazed at how fast it was, and the fight we normally have with her was almost totally nil. We didn't have to hold her down like a prisoner, I just held her close to me, she could move some and it was done so fast! Wow!

  • anewstart22
    anewstart22 Posts: 885 Member
    Good morning everyone. Been up since about 5:30 this morning and already watered everything, dead headed the marigolds and done with the garden with the exception of seeding and moving a tomato plant or two. I watered all the empty containers down again to make sure they are holding enough water for the seeds to go in.

    Hubby and I went to lowe's last night in search of a cover for the new garden cart we bought the other day at tractor supply. It has to stay outside and I wanted to keep the plastic bed from getting sun damaged. That cart is amazing, it's 1400 pounds tested and it's a dump cart too. Hubby said he took it full to the trash can the other day and it felt like nothing behind him. He can pull it behind the lawnmower too, this helps in unloading heavy things from the truck and bringing it to the back.

    https://tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-heavy-duty-dump-cart-1-400-lb-capacity?cm_vc=-10005

    Anyhoo, while at lowe's hubby spotted a watering wand we thought might be the ticket for me not needing to bend down while watering the tomato plants, so I can keep the leaves dry. It was perfect this morning, no pain in my back because I didn't have to bend for any of my watering. The only pain came from deadheading the marigolds, have to bend for that one.

    This is what I we found and it seems very well made, except I didn't like the connector that attached to the hose with the shut off valve. It felt like it was just that metal on plastic stuff that is so popular these days. So, we bought a good brass one to replace it with. The wand is just a shower wand. If I need patterns I can take off the shower head and replace it with my fireman's hose sprayer. This seems well made and should last a very long time, as long as it is taken out of the elements and put away when not in use.

    https://lowes.com/pd/Yardsmith-Yardsmith-33-In-Shower-Wand/50328329

    Then I replaced the shutoff valve/connector with this, even though it says the connector is brass, it looks and feels kind of fake.

    https://lowes.com/pd/Yardsmith-Brass-Restricted-Flow-Water-Shut-Off/50328301

    Anyway, fun in the garden again, have a great day everyone! :smiley:








  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Good morning everyone.

    Sheryl, good to hear from you. I too would sleep in if I could! Sorry that John is still worrying over the new wood stove, but best that he doesn't try to start a fire. A ton of hay. Wow!

    Took another load of stuff over to Good Will yesterday. I'm starting to purge my bedroom closet now. So much stuff in there too. What I took yesterday was mostly books, and jewelry box and a computer stand that I never used. Dad tacked on to that load a bunch of his hold computer books. I also have another load of books ready to go tomorrow. Probably more. I keep going through the stuff when I get home from work today.

    My appetite sure has decreased lately. Eating an egg sandwich right now and it's hard to get down, but I'm trying.

    Dad bought some dates while he was out and about yesterday that he's decided he doesn't like, so I'll have to eat them. They are good in a smoothie.

    It rained last night, but when I woke up with was nice and sunny again. They say it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees today. Yesterday were were able to open all of the windows and turn the whole house fan on for awhile. Felt good.

    Cisco decided to sleep with me again last night. I didn't even know until I woke up around 2 am, and there he was right next to me.

    Anew, good job on the new harness for Annie. I sure know what it's like to have a pet who doesn't like going to the vet. My cat Simon fights the whole process and yowls at me in the care on the way over there!

    Back to work. Have a nice day everyone.
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    Just got word that the state will be issuing a $2500 bonus (minus taxes of course) to us state workers next month. I knew it was coming, but wasn't sure when. Later in the year we also should be getting a raise. It's been a long time since I got a raise. I'm at the top of my pay range, and the cost of living raises just haven't come in years in this state.
  • arobed53
    arobed53 Posts: 2,004 Member
    Easter was a good day. Breakfast at church and Sunday School all together - learned about the resurrection plant. Church and then home. Derek's and Lori's and sister was here. Plenty of food - I would not have had to buy such a big ham but have been enjoying the leftovers this week. It had rained Saturday and started sprinkling so I hid the eggs inside which actually worked out well. I hit first for the three youngest - 1,2 and 3. Then for the 2 5 year olds and just turned 7 that day. And then for the 4 oldest. So I didn't have to hid as many at a time (48 was the most) so was easier to remember where I put there and with all the stuff in the basement lots of places to put eggs. I then hid two eggs for the two dads in hard places and they had fun hunting for them. Everyone stayed till about 5.

    Monday I straightened the house and worked on more of the usual. In the evening we had fun celebrating uncle's 87th at my niece's. His two sons who are 40 and 44 were there and I have probably not seen them in 20 years. My niece invited them and we all enjoyed getting reacquainted. She asked me to make a cake so did my usual - chocolate cake mix and chocolate frosting with his name spelled out in m&ms. Everyone seemed to enjoy though. She provided pizza and salad.

    Tuesday at Good News Club, our group only had 3 kids. They still got the story and all - just not as many to call on. We knew the group would be smaller but not that small. We have one more meeting and then our party.

    Wednesday we worked more on the Echoes. We are going through ones people have given me and filling in where we have gaps. So far we gone through the 50s and the 60s. And church in the evening. The girl I bring brought cookies and let me have the leftover ones. Yummy.

    Thursday morning I loaded up the recycling and took it to town. Then I took 18 dozen eggs to the school and hopefully the teachers will start buying. That night was Bible study - only we spent more time visiting and snacking - celebrating one birthday and one retirement then studying this week.

    More rain this morning - lots of mud - last field for corn will keep waiting. Got errands done this morning. Straightened the basement (makes me smile now). Did my packing list and started putting things together. Headed out first thing tomorrow morning to celebrate brother's 70th. So will be sitting in the car a lot in the next three days. When I get done here, I'll fix our pizza and salads.


    Isabella, yay on getting the plants fertilized. A weekend routine is kind of nice. You always manage to make taking care of things fun. Breakfast out sounds yummy.

    Anew, too bad you aren't up here - there would be no need to water but you also wouldn't have as much planted already. The garden seems to be growing well and giving you a lot of enjoyment. I enjoy hearing about it.
    I hope it works that you can take care of Annie at home. You are good at searching for things.

    Marcie, I want some of your energy. You work hard all day and then come home and get more done in the closets. Yay on finishing the one and starting on another. Keep talking about it. It might help me get going eventually. Even though the meetings at work aren't fun, they aren't all the time - a break from the computer screen I guess. Cool that you will get a bonus and eventually a raise.
    Hmmm, wonder why you're not hungry. I'd love to have the dates. You got nice warm weather and ours cooled back down to the 40s to 50s. Oh yea, I made my first egg muffins and I really like them. Might be new thing for awhile as long as I keep up with making them. They are really quite filling.


    Sheryl, if you need more sleep, I'm glad you're able to get it. Glad you didn't have to get expensive hay. I'm sure you'll call ahead next time. Cool that is okay now and that you don't have to tape anymore. Another step.


    Will check back in when I get home and see what you have all been up to.
  • isyvanek
    isyvanek Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited April 2017
    Good morning everyone, It's going to be a nice restful morning today. Then I'll clean the floors, boil some eggs, and soak some walnuts. I got a small raise this week (3%) which was a real blessing. So hubby and I are going to go to late lunch/early dinner. We wanted something casual and inexpensive so we decided to go to Pizza Rev. Dan hasn't been there before, I've gone a few times with co-workers. It is the type of place where you choose your crust, then go down the line and choose your toppings (kinda like Subway does), then they put it in the oven and voila! I don't know if you have something like this in your area? These are very popular here. Some other pizza places like this are Pizza Studio and Pieology.

    Something amazing happened yesterday evening. Dan and I were in the backyard admiring our roses when our neighbor popped her head over the fence and invited us to dinner next Saturday. The reason this is amazing is because this is the wife of "Mr. Difficult" who we had so much trouble with when we replaced the fence. Dan and I continued to be good neighbors and show them good will and Mr. Difficult (who is actually named Rahul) has now become Mr. Friendly. God is SO good! I really feel that our efforts at continuing to be good neighbors in spite of everything really turned the situation around and God "redeemed what the locusts have eaten" and restored the relationship. I am really proud of Dan also. It wasn't easy for him to let it go and continue to put his best self forward. She (Bindu) said not to bring anything although I asked a couple of times. What do you guys think I should do? I don't want to bring wine or anything because I don't know if they drink, etc. I also don't want to disrespect their culture (they are Indian).

    Anew, I just love hearing about your continuing efforts in the garden. I am living vicariously thru you. :) I totally understand not wanting to unseal that last room and risk going thru that hell again. The pet IV, garden cart, and watering wand were all brilliant finds! Nothing like finding things to make the job and our lives better! You are really good at it!

    We too are looking forward to the health and beauty sale at Sprouts this week. 25% off ALL health and beauty items and if you spend over $100 pretax they will give you an additional 10% off! 35% off is really wonderful so we make sure we spend $135 (not hard to do) so we get the full discount.

    Marcie, so neat that you were able to donate the stuffed bunnies right at Easter to make some little girls very happy. I love that! Your purging is really paying off in so many ways! I would keep the containers for a while too but would leaving the containers on the porch for too long cause the elements to eventually ruin them? Do you have them covered or is the porch enclosed? So very happy to hear about your well deserved bonus and upcoming raise! Will you do something to celebrate? New outfit or pair of shoes perhaps? :smiley: Yikes! How crazy that you forgot to turn off the return receipt on your 500 e-mails! Hopefully several people clicked the "don't send receipt". Were you deleting e-mails all afternoon?

    Debora, sounds like you had a great week as usual. How did your uncle like the album? Great that you got to see the nephews you haven't seen in 20yrs! Lots of catching up to do! Was it a large party where everyone walked around and talked to each other or was it small enough for everyone to sit around a table and really get caught up?
    Wow, 18 dozen eggs to the school?! Wonderful! I would be amazed if the teachers don't start buying them. So happy to hear that you have the basement fixed up to where it makes you smile. We are really encouraging each other to purge and let go of "stuff". :) How did your trip to your brother's 70th birthday gathering go?

    Sheryl, SO VERY HAPPY that you don't have to wear the tape anymore. I know several gals that got a rash from the tape. Also very happy that the DVT is gone. I agree that the human body is so amazing. It can really heal itself given half the chance and the right "equipment". Good that you were able to get the hay after all and got it put away just in time. What a relief. Win - win on the Llamas eating the grass in the front yard. You'll have to do that more often so you don't have to mow! ;) It will be very interesting to see what happens with the State Attorney General's office. So sad that this situation has to go to such extreme measures. Why can't people just do the right thing! It all comes down to greed as usual!

    Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week my friends! I am so grateful to have all of you to share our lives with. You all enrich my life and I don't think I tell you all often enough!

    Well, I'll close for now and go start breakfast and get on with our day. We're going to keep it simple today and just have a couple of boiled eggs. I like mine fairly soft and Dan likes his hard boiled.