WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2015

fanncy0626

Chicken Pox! I thought that was pretty much nonexistent! Great nephew got it of course Mom's gone...so, his DG, my DSis took sick leave so she can take him to Dr if needed. So, I drove 4 hours home. Just got in after midnight. Lots to do to get ready for DMIL 90th birthday party! It gives me an extra day.

Cynthia - that horse is great.

Selena - there is a thread under general diet and weight loss help on page 4 called: suggestions for sagging skin after weight loss, I started reading it the other night and there was something in there that was supposed to help, I don't have time to remember what it was but it sounded good! Check it out!

Lesley - what is creatine?

Drkatiebug - let me know how the glucosamine and condroidton works. I have a lot of joint pain. Good luck with your job. I taught pre-algebra and miss that. Hated subbing too!

Barbie - I think I love Jake! You are a lucky girl!

TNToni - you are so brave, I love storms but only if I'm in the basement!

Michele in NC - score! Great buy!

Pip - loved the pic of you and your hubby!

Katla - I'm glad you feel better!

I hope to be back to normal, what ever that is, after my DMIL'S party this weekend. Although bad news her DS#2 just informed her that him and his wife would not be able to make it! Long story, but he made his mother cry!

Have a great night everyone!

Mary from Minnesota

jmkmomm

Oh I had such a wonderful night's sleep. I think I must have stolen some of from Sylvia and Allison! It was a good full 12 hours. I know my cat came up to my head a couple of times and meowed in my ear but I ignored her. My girls were worried about my 'funk' but I told them how good I was today and that by self analysis I realized I was just plain exhausted and needed a good night's sleep.

Barbie, I love your wonderful attitude about everything in life. All of us are lucky to have you as a friend.

Mary in Minnesota, how does your family react when they see you do your Zumba and kick boxing. I hope that 9 year old boy is properly impressed with you. Way to go Grandma

Terri Milwaukee, I just read a story tonight of a hit and run last night that left the pedestrian critically injured. this very drunk truck driver after swerving quite a bit, hitting signs and trees hit this young man. Anyway, a witness followed the truck driver until he went through a sign that was blocking people from access to a flooded river. He went through that sign and ended up in the flood waters. He dragged the man to safety and the guy was arrested. All because a witness became involved. It sounds like your son in an overachiever. I don't know a lot of 14 year olds but he sure is a busy young man. I have a 13 year old grand daughter and I know she spends most of her time doing home work and then has her nose stuck in a book until bedtime.

Sylvia, you do such a good jog with your grand kids. You teach them so many life lessons. I hope they pick up some pretty serious dietary habits from you also. How old is the oldest one? If old enough, that one could go to the grocery store with you and try to do some basic cooking.

Katla, Librium for colitis. Is he serious? Or was he thinking it was all in your head???? That is just rediculous.

Janet, thanks for the support. Sometimes I think, well I know, that me being an RN is dangerous for me. Especially since I learned about colitis so many years ago. I quit in 1999 and I know I left surgical nursing in about 1985. So my knowledge is quite old and outdated. When I mentioned things like colostomy to Charlie, I was just trying to scare my husband into trying to understand what his future might be like if he didn't make some changes. He told me today that he was just worried about hearing that big C word and really didn't listen to anything else.

Chris, congrats on the shopping trip!!! You are a thrifty shopper. And then by smart thinking you got a job interview right afterwards!!!!! Yes, it will be good practice whether you get this job or not. See, you are tinking like Barbie now.

Heather, I was kind of hoping no one would remember about those memoirs. Trying to transfer what I had written on my iPad note section to any kind of document so I could make revisions just totally confused me. But it was so good to think about my life and talk to my family about it. I really enjoyed it so it did serve a good purpose.

Vicki, I worked with some wonderful doctors, but I worked with some awful ones also. We used to have a doctor that would call us from the outpatient treatment area and would want us to transfer his patient and chart down there to him so he wouldn't have to come upstairs. There was a small exam room there so it would be in private but that was just so lazy of him. We had one doctor that got so mad at us that he took the chart and throw it. This was back in the days when the chart was those kind you see on General Hospital, you know those flip charts. Well this person had been there a long time and it was FULL. So papers were flying. We called the nursing supervisor to ask how to handle it. She said to let the hospital grape vine to handle it and the next day he was on the next day we were to take the chart and strew the papers all about! So he came and asked where so and so's chart was and we pointed to all the papers on the floor. We knew nurses from the other hospital in town and they even knew what we did! Of course that made us have to clean up and organize the chart twice but oh was it worth it to see the look on his face.

TNToni, my dauhgter used to live in a trailer which my SIL had to repair homes in the floor quite frequently. Well one morning as she was preparing breakfast she opened the silverware drawer and there was a momma possum and her babies all settled with the silverware!

I also love storms. I love lightening and thunder, husband doesn't like it that I love to keep the curtains open to watch. But it is such a glorious display of God's power and beauty. When I was a teenager I was babysitting just so parents could go out to eat. Well it stormed and they rushed home just frantic on how the kids were doing. We were all sitting backwards on our knees watching the storm on the couch, telling stories and singing songs. The kids had been scared before because that's what they learned from the parents. My 'girls' are super droopy. I used to have a dear patient that said she used to have 38 C's. Now she has 38 longs!!!!! I loved to take care of geriatric patients!!! I was listening to my Christian music station today and they were talking about teenagers and a study that had been done on poorly, pretty good and well adjusted teenagers. The poorly adjusted had 2-3 meals a week with their family, the pretty good had 5 meals and the well adjusted had 7 meals with their families. There were no cell phones or electronics, just talking about their days, friends, work situations, money. Kids learned about ways of handling things either good or bad. Parents listened to them. I guess my original thought in posting this was to say that when my girls were teenagers, the cell phones were pretty much out of the picture. I remember the first cell phone we got was for our oldest for when she went to college and it was on a plan that she only had a small amount of minutes and if she needed more we were the only ones who could authorize them. But we wanted her to have a phone for when she was driving back and forth to school. But what a huge phone it was!!! Pedicures??? What are those??? I have had one manicure in my life, and that was because it was a gift and no pedicures. When Christina was a teenager and having such terrible headaches along with her very heavy and very crampy periods, her doctor suggested birth control pills. She was aghast. She was a virgin and didn't want to be on birth control pills. She said if any guy ever found out that he would think that she was 'easy'. So no BCP. But her periods were awful for all of us to go through. I'm glad her daughter is OK with hers.

OH, I am very wordy tonight!!!! It's almost 2 AM and I'm still not very sleepy but I guess I need to try to go to bed.

Joyce, Indiana

cityjaneLondon

Hi, just a quick post as I'm running off to my fasting bloodwork.

Lesley and drkatie - I have read, or heard on the BBC, that the glucosamine and chondratine that everyone recommends for joint pain has NOT stood up to independent trials. I used to take it. It is expensive. Apparently it is not useful. :ohwell:
I have recently read that trials in Denmark on rosehip extract has shown a drop in pain of 25% as it seems to be an anti inflammatory. Of course, pain is enormously subjective and trials can be biased, especially as regards funding for them, but I am giving the rosehip capsules, which I got on Amazon, a month's trial of my own. Sometimes my joint pain keeps me awake at night, though I am ok in the day.
So, just thought I'd offer up that nugget of information or misinformation! ! ! ! ! :laugh:

Joyce - I just typed all mine out again. Luckily it's a short novel! ! ! ! :laugh:

Plum tree is flowering! :bigsmile:

Heather in WARM Hampshire UK

yanniejannie

Hi everyone; awake since 3:20 again, but feel pretty rested and can take a nap later. All caught up on reading...........

Cynthia......wow, that horse dances SOOOO much better than I do!!!!

Toni........I see your storms on the radar.

Belated, I know......
Margaret....... I am sorry for that rude child and glad you had a better day since then. One of my favorite little boys who went through elementary school with my DD was killed in a knife fight at a party when he was 20, heartbreaking, he was a gorgeous child with a constant twinkle in his eye. Hadn't seen him since 5th grade but it hit me hard.

Beth......I will try your chicken dish; sounds delish!

drkatie......Oh dear, this job has suddenly turned into more time than you expected! Good luck; hope all goes smoothly. YAY for your DS!

Janet........Good thoughts for your quitting.......many, many years ago when I quit I found the book "You Can Quit" to be my key........don't even know if it's around now.

Sylvia........Sounds like the dr office from He!!.

Mary...........Chicken pox????? Oh.my!

Terri.........Congrats to your DS!!!

Rita........Smooth closing to you!

Chris..........Fabulous buys on the interview clothes!

Vicki......Hope those BS's come down for your mom. Sorry about all the impending extra hours at work.....

Katla.......How's the horse doing?

Heather......Too bad about your friend hurting her ankle. Continued success getting that book birthed!!! I'm loving seeing all the flowering trees at this point in our season......the cherry trees are already passing bloom stage and are green at the tops in our park where I take Gemma.

Best to everyone else; have a good day!
yanniejannie
mid-Atlantic, wide awake

cityjaneLondon

Yanniejannie - I have sent off for a proof copy. It is printed in the US so with priority post it will be with me next Tuesday. I want to see if my two spaces between sentences looks weird or not. When I learnt to type 45 years ago that was what I was taught. If anyone knows how I can alter it without having to go through it again sentence by sentence, please let me know. I will probably let it ride. Gives me more pages anyway! ! ! !

When I got back from the bloods I had breakfast and decided to go for a walk as it is such a beautiful day. The spring flowers along the lanes are breathtaking. DH came with me although he had only just finished his 600 cals exercise. That man is FIT! MFP gives me 230 cals for the walk. Unless I do more today I will have to restrict cals.
We could hear the baby lambs bleating. I counted wild violets, primroses, celandines, wood anemonies, bluebells, campions, daisies, dandelions and a white flower I will have to look up. Hawthorne blossom, cherry blossom, wild plum. You know that poem?
"Oh to be in England, now that April's here!" My favourite time of the year.
I wilk say though that the fields looked very dry. I expect the farmers are praying for rain.

Today I will do some work on the marketing aspects. Amazon has so many things to fill in, it makes you dizzy. Never know what to write. :ohwell:

DH is off tomorrow to go and look at the venue for his 70th in October. His sister and her boyfriend are also checking it out with him. It's about 2 hrs drive away and he may stay overnight with her as he has football the next day in North London. I am not going as I know what will happen if I get too involved. My perfectionism will kick in and the planning will become a full time job. I have assigned myself certain tasks and will help him plan, but I am "trying" to take a back seat. (I have already bought disposable cutlery, plates, glasses etc for the pot luck supper on the Friday night :sad: ) When he has seen the place we can send out proper invitations by email, though I think everyone knows about it.

Love to all. Heather in sunny Hampshire UK

CynthiaT60

Good day, everybody!

Katla: Thanks for your good wishes! I'm not going to the meeting this afternoon. The whole thing blew up because of a mail one of the committee members sent this morning about how the whole job thing had gone. There were untruths in that mail. I answered the mail with the truth and the announcement that I was not going to be humiliated by having this discussion this afternoon in the group, WITH the new people present, and wished them well. I would have liked to have had the last meeting on a positive note, but I am not going to sit there and be humiliated. Too bad I've been treated this way after almost 14 years. I don't deserve that.

Heather: there must be a way to do a search-and-destroy to substitute one space for two. In Word, it's easy. Not sure about your publishing program, but you'd think it must be possible. If I can help in any way, let me know.

Now to figure out how to spend my afternoon; I stood up for myself but that doesn't mean I feel great. And the drilling etc. in the apartment upstairs doesn't help.

Hope we all have a good day.
Cynthia :flowerforyou:

peachstategal

Good Thursday Morning! Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Carol ~ GA

barbiecat

TNToni, I understand your frustration at not being able to do your favorite exercise. I am that way about walking.


Michele, you did an awesome job of ordering in the restaurant. It shows that it's possible to not be a victim in a restuarant.


Katla, the only time I notice how old I am is when I look at my profile page on MFP and see the number.

Cynthia, thanks for sharing the line dance horse video. I've done that dance but never with a horse.

Heather, I remember reading how much Gretchen Rubin went through finishing her book and getting it published and she had professionals helping her. Be kind to yourself as you complete your project. Gretchen says to take care of yourself as lovingly as you would a toddler and make sure you don't get too hungry, tired, or uncomfortable.

Joyce, congratulations on your good night's sleep. I don't think I've ever slept that long. My cat walks all over me when he thinks it's time for me to get up.

Barbie from beautiful NW Washington----headed out to walk poodles in the dark

peachstategal

Heather ~ your walk along the lanes sounds wonderful. I can just imagine seeing all those lovely flowers and hearing the lamb bleat.

naiomi2015

Good Morning Everyone,

Getting myself together for a full day of meetings. I expect them all to be reasonably positive and I'm looking forward to seeing the folks who will be attending.

I've been exercising with the elliptical on a higher resistance setting. I will need to build up my time again. Right now I can do about 15 min at a time-was up to 45 on the previous setting.

I can see the improvement in my stamina. Yesterday the group with whom I was meeting decided to walk to lunch. I was able to keep up without being winded.(2 of the men play baseball in. A town league) that was a huge nsv for me.

(In October I was exposed to mold while participating in a volunteer construction project. As a result I could not walk a city block w/o coughing and being out of breath.)

CynthiaT60 glad you were able to stand up for yourself. I know a conflict resolution specialist who says e-mail is a good for relaying information like dates and times or procedures. Because it can not communicate tome of voice, or body language it is best not to use it with anything that is of a sensitive nature. I am sorry that the sender of the e-mail you received did not act with courtesy. It makes a difficult situation all
the harder.

Naiomi2015 in 52F and sunny Massachusetts

grandmallie

morning ladies~ did some errands this morning.. went up and witnessed papers for dad, now i have to back and pick him up and run a few errands with him... least i can do.. will check in later.

DamitJanit

Call me crazy but I love to see other people happy and succeeding.

Good Morning Ladies,

Chris, how exciting to get new clothes and feel great. I’m sure you will do good at the interview and if it’s not the job you want, like you say, it will be good practice. Thanks for the encouraging words and a big congrats on your year anniversary!!!!

Heather, good job on the repagination! And I love having you on my shoulder, whispering in my ear with that British accent. Thanks.

Pip, you are 10 years my junior, so at least it’s something I can give you a hard time about. I’ve never been one to pay much attention to age, but dayum 68 is sounding old all of a sudden, with my birthday only a week away. But I’ll get over it. Just glad to still be around and feeling better all the time. And I certainly hope none of us act our age, but we love you just the way you are.

Vicki, I can’t believe what you are putting up with at work. Your new boss doesn’t want to work a 40 hour week? Is that not expected of her?? Anyway, I hope it doesn’t get to hectic for you. Thanks for the prayers, I need them.

Selena, glad to have you back. Have you not gotten the message as I whine about losing so much weight from my boobs? Of course the shriveled up old party balloons are drooping! Lol Love your description. Do you remember the exercises some of the girls did back in HS while saying, “I must, I must, I must increase my bust.” I’ve been wondering if that would help?

Toni, I hate you can’t get in the pool for a week but hope the surgery helps. Thanks for the prayers; they are much appreciated. So happy for your friend and her visit.

Michele, good buy on the sweater. You sound like me when I shop, deciding if I like something X number of $$ worth. It makes a difference for sure.

Barbie, you hit the nail on the head when you talked about gratitude. We have to look for it, but there is always something that certainly could be worse. Love you and your attitude.

Katla, glad you and DH are feeling better. I hope you both can Keep it up.

Cynthia, glad you didn’t have to go to the meeting. Is there any reason for you to keep working there? If you wouldn’t lose anything by leaving, I’d have to consider handing in my keys and saying good bye. Good luck, whatever you do.

Naiomi, great NSV with your walk to lunch. It’s amazing the things that all this work helps us with. Keep it up.

Welcome to any Newbies that I missed. Come often and join in the chat. This thing works!! Please sign your post with what you want to be called. It makes it easier for us to respond to you. Also a location is great, be it specific or general. We are happy to have you join us.

Carpet cleaners will be here in about 1 ½ hours. I’ve put away everything that I wanted to get off the floor and just have time to grab a shower. The not smoking is going okay but I sure want to eat if I can’t smoke. But so far I’m staying within my calories. I just feel so weird, not puffing away all day. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.

I hope you all have a fantastic day and stay healthy.

Thought for the day.

Failure is not the opposite of Success,
it's part of Success.

Words I live by:
Savor. I have to slow down and savor every bite.
and
Opportunity. Each day offers new opportunities for good health and happiness if we just look for them and choose them.

Janet
Myrtle Beach, SC

Katla49

Joyce: The college doctors weren’t the best and nobody knew very much about lactose intolerance in 1969. I’m sure the "doctor" thought it was all in my head and that I was stressed out. He probably competed for shortest time spent per student/patient.

Leslie and Dr. Katie: I took glucosamine chondroitin for a period of time but came to the conclusion that it didn’t help ME at all but made a nice profit for the drug company. Yoga helped me, and so did MFP. Shedding pounds, getting stronger and more flexible has worked miracles. I still get aches and pains, but not the chronic pain I had then. Gua-sha is very effective against muscle pain. DH does it for me when I ask. Check it out on You Tube.

Yanniejannie: I haven’t had an update on the horse lately, but we’re planning on getting back to lessons at the beginning of May.

Heather: If your typed your book in a word document, you should be able to format it easily. I’ll see whether it is as easy as I recall right this minute. For this I went to formatting palate, alignment and spacing, and chose 1.5. Silly me. My formatting was lost when I entered this into MFP. It is still on my word document, though.

Cynthia: I’m sorry you’re being treated badly at work. It sounds like you may have an enemy.

Naomi: I’m so happy that you’re noticing improved stamina. It is a fabulous NSV!



I’m starting to wonder whether I’m enabling DH. He sits upstairs in the sitting area, enjoys the view and expects me to wait on him. Text: coffee? Text: coffee? Text: coffee? I know his health issues are real, but I would like him to do more for himself.


Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon


“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


April Goals:
1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Cardio exercise at least 3 days a week. Work on flexibility and back
strength.
3. Have fun every day.
4. Drink at least three glasses of water daily, preferably more!
5. Eliminate alcohol.
6. Monitor sleep. Try to average 7 or more hours of sleep nightly.

cityjaneLondon

Cynthia has been helping me understand Word. Many thanks! Just waiting for the proof copy now before I make changes.

Janet - I'm still there.

DH and I went out to buy some veggies etc for when he is away. Also bought a shoulder of lamb for Saturday night. I cook it very, very slowly in light beer and rosemary and thyme.
I know I will have some problems with food while he is gone so I have bought spinach, zucchini and broccoli to make a big green curry for Friday. That should fill me up for just a few calories. Janet - how about you sitting on my shoulder while I cope with feeling lonely? I promise you all that I will only have ONE alcoholic drink on Friday night. Any more sets me off on an eating binge.

Must add my shopping exercise cals!

Naomi - WTG! I bet that felt great!

Heather UK X X X X X

fanncy0626

Good morning everyone!

Yanniejannie - how are you doing? Cherry trees sound lovely. I don't know if I have ever seen a picture of Gemma?

Heather - I was taught to type that way too. I cant believe its been that long for me also! Boy, I am getting old! Your walk sounded beautiful. What beautiful scenery. I like the way you prep and plan for your time alone!

Barbie - what a cute alarm clock!

Naomi 2015 - congrats on your NSV! I have a hard time keeping up with my DH.

Janet - You can do it!

Katla - my sister has an adult foster care home and her philosophy is the more you do for them the less they will be able to do and that is detrimental to their health talk to your husband and let him know that he needs to start doing more for himself to retain the health that he does have. She has in 87 yo woman that uses a walker to put things on to bring to and from her sitting area...

I had just a little extra time and wanted to touch base with some of you wonderful ladies that I have been neglecting. Have a great day!

Mary from Minnesota

mollywhippet

Selena, you made me laugh! I went from an overflowing 44C (with an extender on the back) to a 38B, in it's smallest hook, which is not quite full. They sag like the party balloons you described, and when I lie down I don't have anything at all. But...I LOVE IT! It's so much easier to move now, and hubby doesn't mind. I guess that particular feature has never been too high on my priority list. I used to think I liked the look in a sweater, but now I think I like the look of collarbones and an actual neck much better.

Heather, somebody posted on facebook that you could tell if someone was over 40 because they put two spaces after the period. I do, and can't (won't) stop. I like that it separates the sentences better. With one space things seem to run on. It's easier to miss a period and keep reading as if it's still the same thought. I get confused easily. I don't understand why it matters, or why it changed, for that matter. It's not like that extra space costs anything in cyberspace. Maybe in print it does because maybe it takes a little more paper.

YannieJannie, how are you feeling lately?

I didn't sleep again last night. My son called about 9:30 and said that his "future ex-wife" had him take her to the hospital. She was in emergency and not doing well. So, the kids were at his apartment with her son (age 13) babysitting. I went and sat up in the apartment waiting till he got home about 4AM. They kept her in the hospital. He said her pancreas is failing and she has a blood clot. He was really upset. We don't know what's going to happen. He's a real drama queen (must be hereditary) so I can't be sure if it's as bad as he says. Anyway, the kids went to school as if nothing ever happened. I don't think they slept very well either, though.

The oldest granddaughter has a field trip today to the science museum in Kansas City. She's been eagerly looking forward to it for weeks, so I'm glad she didn't miss it. (Science is her favorite subject.) Maybe she can sleep on the bus. Tonight is swim lessons. Maybe I can sleep at the pool. Stretch out on a bench and put a towel over my face. The kids could roll me off into the pool when lessons are over.

Well, I have to go to work. Have a great day.

Sylvia

pipcd34

morning peep heads:

katla - glad to hear it... acting young helps :0)

jmkmomm - i love storms too, when we used to live in indiana, that was awesome to hear. they are not like that here in washington :0(

naiomi - keep it up!! you'll get there.

damnit - 68 is not old!! we still plan on riding at that age

rode in to work from the gym for the 1st time this season/year, 11.3mi, nice crisp, clear sky day... didn't push myself or try to go seriously fast or anything, got more calories burned though.. by the time I ride when I go home, I don't think i'll get to 1000 calories, but may get 800 or so..

pipcd34

I take that back, with the ride in i'm already at 778 cal. so I might might just hit the 1k mark...

and as far as the sagging boob, that initial comment cracked me up!! no one told me about that either. I went from a 36 or 38 DDD to 36DD, and now I teeter on a 32 to 34 D, I dunno how i'm still a D anything, was hoping for a C but oh well...

margaretturk

Good Morning,

Sylvia so sorry for what your family is going through. You are still healing yourself. Prayers.

Mary I agree with you encouraging actually all of us to do as much for ourselves as we can. My dad died at ninety two and he made a point of keeping his body moving. My mom did not have such an attitude and she is wheel chair bound now plus I think it contributed to her fracturing her hip about five years ago.

When I remember I like the two space between sentences too. I also like to indent a paragraph too. For this site I think putting space between the paragraphs or thoughts makes it easier to read and skim.

Thank you again for all your kind support. It is important to remember all the successful students we helped along the way.

Staying home with a bad cold. Over did the gardening yesterday. An easy thing to do this time of year even if it is great exercise.

Today is the day College Hunks come to finish cleaning out my mom's house of 65 years near St. Louis. When I was down there I cleaned out some and over the last five years I went through her home with her and would take things home with me. I have many things to help me remember my family. I offered to come back and help out but my brother in charge thought better to just let them do their job.

Unfortunately my other brother hoarded in her home, so it is difficult to go through things at a leisurely pace anyway. I just hope the brother who hoarded in her home does not cause too much difficulty when they cart away his things. Ninety percent of what is there is his anyway. We gave him three months to clear out what he could. He has hoarded there for at least twenty years. Parts of her home look still like the show Hoarders. Now that she is in the Nursing Home my brother is charge say the house needs to be sold to help pay for the nursing home.

MNMargaret

nccarolb

Good morning! (barely)

RE: saggy girls...I don't think mine were ever perky, but they were always large. I went from a 42H to a 34 HH. Thank God for underwires and UK made bras!

RE: two spaces vs one...We were taught to leave to two spaces at the end of sentence while typing so that there was an opportunity to correct a spelling, if needed, in the sentence. With word processing, two spaces at the end of sentences leaves rivers of white running through a page that is unattractive and distracting to the reader. Since I was an early user of computers, I learned many, many years ago to use only one space. Heather, you should be able to use "Find and Replace" to correct all of the spacing issues with one command.

Michele - You would be proud of my shopping prowess last night! I went to Kmart to use up some Shop Your Way rewards points that were expiring and I couldn't get the website to tell me how many points I had available (I hate mobile websites that don't work!), so I went to customer service first to check my points balance. When she told me how many points I had, she told me that I had $30 worth of points on a $40 purchase that could be used only at Sears! Needless to say, I went shopping at Sears last night! Unfortunately, they had practically nothing in the misses sizes. Is that not ironic!! After years of complaining about the lack of selection in the women's sizes, they had more larger sizes than small. I came out with a sweater dress from clearance to put up for next year, a pair of bermuda shorts for myself (they may go back for something else when I have more time and energy for trying on things), and a pair of shorts for my son. They applied the rest of my points (another $6+) and I ended up writing a check for $7.13 for over $40 of merchandise.

I needed that shopping bonus to help stave off a fit of despair because my debit card had been compromised and someone has spent over $400 online shopping. Luckily the bank caught it and called me, but, in the meantime, I have no debit card, $7 in cash, and no opportunity to visit the bank to withdraw funds until tomorrow. The bank said it would take a few days to get my money credited back to my account.

Well, I got my "produce box" on Tuesday. It was not what I thought I was getting so I still don't have a good representation of what it should be like. I ended up with three pears, a tomato, two enormously long cucumbers, a bag of what I think is spinach, a lb of strawberries, and a bunch of what I think is kale (it's green with very curly leaves). I did not get a rutabaga. I will probably try it again to see if I can get a better representation of what comes in a regular box.

I suppose I ought to get some work done. I don't really want to. I WANT to go home and take a nap!

Hope everyone has a great day with lots of good choices!

Carol in rainy, dreary NC