The New Water Cooler
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glad you made it back safe! I haven't heard yet if sister and niece were able to get back from West Virginia through the gas drought.
Have a relaxing day!0 -
Relaxed yesterday. Today I painted some trim pieces, visited my brother and dug up an overgrown garden on the driveway island. I will get some plants and transplant a few there.
Beautiful, warm day today.0 -
A perfect weather day today. My sister, her friend and I rode our bikes 24 miles on a beautiful trail. I'm trying to lose weight before the wedding so I'm drinking a ton of water, trying to be more active, and eating 3 meals and 2 snacks per day that are high in protein. I'm trying to stay away from junk food too.
I visited my brother yesterday. He wasn't feeling well and looked awful. I hadn't seen him in over a week due to our trip. His skin looked yellow and he looked clammy with sweat. I feel so bad for him. His quality of life sucks, he's dying a slow death, and it has to be so scary. I'm guessing his liver functioning is off.
Hope you are enjoying the weather.
Jenny
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My sister and I went to funeral home to preplan for Steve when he dies. We did this 12 years ago for my Mom. We ate lunch out on a patio afterward. Hot here! We turned our AC on. The house was so humid. I visited my brother this afternoon.
Tomorrow Russ and I are going to buy annuals and some perennials. We are having another couple over for dinner Saturday eve.
TGIF!0 -
I'm so sorry you're brother is suffering. I will pray for peace.
It's quite humid here, I have had my a/c on.
I can't believe the whole week is over. Zach is back at work and put in his 40 hours as well. Already knee deep in IT projects. I'm glad he enjoys what he is doing. He got bumped up to $16/hr. Wowz! He is making almost as much as I do. That should bode well for him being able to support himself well in a few years.
I bought a few flowers last weekend. I should get them in my pots tomorrow.
TGIF!0 -
Well, I did work on my few flowers yesterday. Very sweaty. And I may have waited too long. They looked great in the garage all week until yesterday. I'm not sure they will survive. Now it's wait and see. I have not a green thumb.
Zach and I went to church last night. It was Zach's first trip in well over a year. Caleb was still at work or I would have had the 'dream' of the three of us together. Bernie is still struggling with whatever had infected the house a couple of weeks ago. Caleb was feeling unwell for nearly two full week, I had about five gross days and Bernie's seems to be lingering like Caleb's did. Fingers crossed, Zach seems good. Not sure that will last - Bernie doesn't usually do a good job of keeping germs to himself.
It was sad to read of Starla's mothers sudden death. I didn't realized she had been living with them taking care of the baby during the day. What a tremendous blow. Very sad. We just never know. I wish I was better at staying in the moment. I just worry so much about things really not worth worrying about.
Caleb has two and a half more days of school. Then officially a senior! We have a visit at UNL tentatively scheduled for 7/16. And I just reached back out to school of mines for a June visit. Boy did the hotel rooms jump in cost! Yikes. Even though he isn't interested in USD (his claims) I still think we should swing by it on the way up to Rapid City just because we need to get more visits under our belts and Caleb doesn't have many schools he is claiming interest in.
Pancakes sound good. Do I have the ambition to make a mess?0 -
We have our AC on too. The humidity is too much for me and I hate sweating everywhere I go.
Z is going to do well in life. Rory got the call from the MPLS electrical union. He applied over a year ago and then COVID happened. He starts as an apprentice in mid June and will work towards his journeyman's electrician license. He has decided not to use his B.S. degree from University of North Dakota.
I finished planting my island garden. I put in mostly perennials (daisies, daylillies, a prairie grass, and one other) and then tipped over a pot on its side and filled with potting soil spilling out. I planted bright colored annuals in and spilling out of the pot. I hope it all grows and blooms throughout the summer. I also hope the perennials come back next year. I want to buy some bulbs and wildflower seed to do some random plantings on our acreage in the wilder parts we don't keep up.
I'm so sore from planting. Being out of shape and this aging thing doesn't help when trying to get things done. Today I'm taking it easy and will go buy annuals for my pots tomorrow. I plan to put two on the front porch and two big ones by the garage doors. I hope bright flowers will distract anyone driving up from seeing how overgrown the landscaping is. That is a work in process.
Our dinner we hosted with the couple (she was in my class in high school) was fun. Very low key, talked and ate out on the deck. Russ grilled burgers and made potato salad and his calico baked beans. Kathy brought a cherry cheesecake dessert. It was our first time hosting someone that isn't family since we got here.
Happy Sunday!
Jenny0 -
Bleh - my flowers look so sad today. I'm always so excited to pick up those pretty little pots, and such a sad disappointment when I yet again kill them.0
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Oh - and electricians are very in demand and should be setting himself up well. Always plenty of work to do. I hope he enjoys it.0
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I'm betting it is a matter of days before deer and rabbits eat my blooms on my perennial garden I planted yesterday. Charlie went straight for the prairie grass and peed on it. Yes, lets kill it day 2!
I've relaxed all day. Tomorrow I'll plant again and then hopefully be done with that project. Russ will do the hard part of pulling out old bushes and killing down the weeds, etc.
I need to visit my brother tomorrow too.
Have a nice Monday,
Jenny0 -
Capstone concert tonight. Last choir concert of the year - obviously. Hopefully the last one we have to do masked up - and the last one they have to perform in wearing masks. Most places here completely dropped all pretense of masking and all other guidelines. One press release about vaccinated people not needing to mask up outdoors and they are just done. I'm annoyed that in a few weeks there will be an anniversary celebration at Behlen and they will have a crowd and 'dignitaries' and we will all have to be packed into the outdoor tent for the mandatory self-congratulation speeches. And I bet only half will be vaccinated. Whatever. I guess we have reached our limit on caring about other people.
Hope your brother is having a good day.
Peace.0 -
We portaled with Jeff and Karah tonight. Miles has backed on the baby weight and looks different from even a week ago. He is so cute and huggable! He has chunky, baby rolls now on his legs, neck and arms. They are going to FLl in June and going to check out the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. They would like to move there but want to know the area to figure out where to buy/build a house. I guess we will be snow birding in FL near them in years to come if they actually move there.
I went to Meijer's today to their garden center. It's like a big Walmart. They had beautiful flowers and tons of pots that were already arranged with annuals. They were more than $30 cheaper than the other places I've been this week. I decided I would spend more on pots, flowers and dirt than what those pots cost so I bought 4 and saved myself the time and soreness. They are really pretty. I put two on the front porch and one on each side of the garage doors. Now to keep them alive. I even bought plant food which I usually forget.
I'm riding on the trail tomorrow with my sister and her friend. I hope we go at least 20 miles round trip.
I hope your concert goes well. I know what you mean about the masks. I think it is weird that one day we need to wear them and all of a sudden we don't. I have a feeling that we will have another surge of COVID late summer/Fall.
Enjoy the singing,
Jenny0 -
Good bike ride with my sister and her friend today. We rode 18.58 miles. That makes my total for the season over 6 rides at 99 miles. Not bad and it isn't even June yet.
My brother arrives tomorrow from AZ to visit my brother with cancer. Russ and I will host a family dinner sometime this weekend so Steve can come over and get out of his assisted living environment. I've assigned what my sisters need to bring to contribute to the meal.
It is really windy today. I think a storm is blowing in tonight. We could use the rain.
Any special plans for Memorial Weekend or Memorial Day?0 -
Weather went from hot to cool overnight. We had a lightening, thunder and rain storm last night so cooler temps blew in. Still windy today.
I visited my brother this morning and have been relaxing all afternoon. I talked with my DIL and son from AK. We are planning to spend a few extra days with them after the wedding in November while in GA. We are looking in to driving to either Tybee Island, GA or Panama City Beach, FL to spend a few days at the beach eating sea food, walking the beach, relaxing... Tybee is only 18 miles from Savannah so we may go there and spend a day in Savannah checking it out. They will go back to Atlanta to fly out and we will head home. That way we get more time with Halen too!
My brother should be here by now. He is visiting my other brother and then will head to my sisters. I imagine we will see him tomorrow sometime.
Russ must be bored. He spend the day re arranging the pole barn. I really need to start painting my furniture out there and opening up boxes to see what I find in them. A good load to the thrift store is in order in our future.
Hope you are having a good week.
Jenny
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I'm not in a great place with how I feel about work. There is a new 'team' member who is absolute poison and I just want to quit. Michele knows most people hate her, but she didn't hire her she was given her and has to keep her. But Michele also doesn't understand how bad she is due to her (michele's) travel schedule. She is rarely at her Columbus desk to really get a feel for it. I am trying to like her, but she talks constantly, loudly and is always insulting someone (me included). She has only worked there for less than six months but acts like she knows it all and can barely do the one thing. I just HATE it. I don't think I have ever such strong negative feelings, and I can't share them with Michele just because. Sigh. I'm miserable.
Poor C kid. He expected his physics grade to end up an 'a' after all grades were finally input - and it is an 89. Teacher didn't do all grades until after school was officially dismissed and now is claiming it's final. The kid has an email that states his grade would be up once everything was updated. Such b.s. Kids can't fix things when teachers don't do THEIR work. I mean I have so many examples of their tests and assignments getting entered wrong and the kids have to point it out, but they have no recourse when they don't do their work until they turn it in. Azhole
I hope your other brother makes it safe and you have a good visit.0 -
And now I'm in an email *kitten* war trying to get him to do the right thing. I am so tired of hearing - well it's too late and that's just the way it is. I have spent years listening to other parents and students talk about how they got grades changed after it was supposedly final.
They just got after the teacher and it magically happens. I've always been too - I don't know - don't rock the boat, to do that. EF it all. I'm rocking the damn boat. He won't have Townsend again and if teachers make adjustments for some, they can do it for all.0 -
Another battle at the school. It seems like there have been a few over C's high school years. Some teachers take the easy way or won't back down. In my experience with my boys, administration backs the teacher, not the parent. Good luck! I hope you get the grade changed.
Brad arrived and has been spending time with Steve. The hospice nurse called my sister today after she saw Steve. She thinks his liver is beginning to fail due to the jaundice in his eyes. I noticed the yellowed, sallow skin color two weeks ago but my sister convinced me he was getting sun outside and it was the beginning of his tan. He is also very swollen with fluid so I would question if his kidneys are also beginning to fail. Without blood being filtered, organs are going to fail. I hope for his sake, it happens fast. Unfortunately, my family members who have faced death, go slowly.
What is C's job this summer? Is he still at the restaurant? I'm sorry you have a bad coworker. That makes the work environment so unpleasant. My guess is she is insecure so she is louder and attempts to get attention by being a know it all. Maybe she has a history of not having friends so she acts superior as a defense to others. Or...she is just an egomaniac.
My sister had to cancel our bike ride tomorrow due to work. I hope I can get out on the trail on my own in the morning. It's chilly here now but I can't wait for consistent nice weather. I'm not sure it is going to happen.
TGIF!
Jenny0 -
Our family dinner we are hosting on Sunday has grown to 11 people. I invited two cousins. I'm glad I asked each attendee to bring a part of the meal. I will do a light cleaning tomorrow.
Today I am attending a visitation/funeral for my former neighbor in Traverse City. We lived there when I was in 4th-7th grade. Her daughters were my friends and she was a wonderful Mom.
I ordered Midwest Wildflower Seed Mix to plant around our acreage near the house where it is more meadow. I will reserve some for when we get some landscaping done so we can attract butterflies, hummingbirds, etc. I also ordered myself one of those gardening benchesk which allow you to sit and kneel while weeding/planting.
Well I better get dressed and get ready for the funeral.
Happy picnicing if that is on your agenda.
Jenny0 -
I'm sorry that brothers health is failing. I really understand that hope his ending is on the faster side. Watching loved ones suffer is another level of pain, that doesn't make any sense.
I hope your meal goes well and you enjoy the time together.
Caleb is still at Runza and will be working there as much as he can this summer (his choice). Surprise, surprise we actually got Caleb's grade amended to the A he was told it would (and should have been.) I actually didn't think it would happen and I really feel gross on the inside because I feel like one of those entitled parents that 'not my kid' but there have been a lot of years of pent up anger (hello turning their back on Zach when he went through his black period) and Caleb actually had earned the A. In my mind it wasn't trying to get him something he hadn't earned. Anyway. I'm sure at point it we will face a backlash from somewhere. Nothing ever works out for us that smooth.
Happy Saturday!0 -
Caleb's Runza and the Arby's are currently the only local fast food places able to keep their dining rooms open in the evenings. At last look all the others are unable to staff and go to drive through only for most of their hours or even have closed for part of the day. Sad. We have over a hundred open jobs, Bernie's plant has around a dozen. It's just nuts.0
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Similar employment issues here. Lots of for hire signs but not enough people can afford low paying jobs and be able to live here. Housing is either seasonal weekly rental or very expensive. Houses selling fast too. I'm guessing high school kids have sport stuff all summer and not all can work.
Put up my hummingbird feeder and not 5 minutes and one came to check it out. Yay!
I'm glad you got the grade changed. You were right to fight it. If he hadn't earned it you wouldn't have done so.
60 and windy today. Chilly wind. I am becoming a weather wimp.
Jenny0 -
Just having a lazy day. I got Zach to go to church with me again last night (Caleb was working). Picked up pizza. Have been eating like garbage since Friday night. I know my waist will make me pay for it, but the stress is coming through with the anxious eating. Of course I haven't done what I said I would do - get my resume officially updated. I have spend some time on the department of labor site, but the posted jobs are mostly manufacturing and I really don't know what I would want to moving to. I might be miserable, but it is the 'devil I know'. I think a job would have to have something special sounding to really get me to pull the trigger. I'm so sad - not brave enough to try to find something happier. Meh.
Bernie got himself a smoker grill and has been busy smoking meat for the last few days. He also had to go help my dad on the farm. Sigh. That's never going to end. Dad can't do it - it's such a pain to have to drop everything and run up there (two hours each way) and then it's yet another day/weekend/ week/month that my projects don't get done.
I am very much looking forward to my Monday off. It's one of only two guaranteed each year Memorial and Labor Day.
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Russ wants a smoker. I'm all for it but he hasn't shopped yet.
We hosted a family dinner tonight. My brother with cancer requested it while my other brother was here visiting. A cousin was also in town so we invited 9 people besides us plus my great niece. My brother called early afternoon and said he wasn't feeling well and didn't feel he could come. I could tell he was upset about it. He sounded very emotional. We are all waiting to see if he is at a turning point in his cancer journey. His liver may be starting to be compromised amongst other organs. I feel so sad for him. It's a slow and painful way to die. I don't know what we can do for him but be there when he needs us.
Tomorrow my sister and I are going on a long bike ride. It will be good to burn some calories. I'm going to pack us a lunch and we will bike to a beautiful beach and eat, then bike back to our cars. It will be about 22 miles or so.
I am so tired tonight. I should go to bed early and get up early to pack lunches and fill my bike tires. We are hoping to get on the trail by 10 or so and possibly avoid the other cyclists. Busy weekend here in the county with lots of tourists.
Have a relaxing Memorial Day. It's a good idea to update your resume so you have it if you ever see the right job that interests you. It is scary to make a change in mid life and mid career but change can also be rejuvenating.
Jenny0 -
My brother still isn't feeling well today. My sister said he sounds weak and his voice is breathy. My brother went to spend the day with him and they requested hospice make a visit today to check on him. This really could be the turning point...
My sister and I rode 26.71 miles today along the national park trail. I hadn't ridden that part of the trail. A few miles of it is a covered with tiny gravel on top of hard packed dirt. Too much gravel made it treacherous. My tire got caught one time and I almost lost control. My joints and muscles were really sore last night after everyone left from the dinner at our house. Cleaning and setting up put me on my feet more hours than normal. I didn't feel well and got in bed at 9:30 last night. Today I woke up still sore but thought the ride would help my joints get lubricated. It was the first ride where my knees were sore the whole time and my hands hurt too. When I got home I soaked in an Epsom Salt bath for about 45 minutes and then took a nap in the recliner. We just ate left over brats, beans and coleslaw and now I'm relaxing.
Russ made our reservations for the night in Mpls before we fly to AK and for leaving a car near the airport. I had to remind him this morning that he needed to do this.
I hope you had a nice, long weekend.
Jenny0 -
Heat wave coming on Saturday. It is suppose to be in the 90's the next week. Too early for such high temps.
Different hospice nurse saw Steve today. Confirmed his jaundice and beginning of liver failure. I will visit him tomorrow afternoon.
Haircut in the morning. Then I'm picking up sandwiches at a deli and taking my friend lunch at her shop. We will eat and chat on her break.
Russ cleared another area of old plants and shrubs. We have some perennials to transplant and new shrubs and hosts to plant.
I want to kayak during this hot weather.
Jenny0 -
Heat is here too. It is over 90 today. After it was like 58 over the weekend. Bleh. I am not a fan of the heat.
I'm sorry your brother is in decline. You are all in my prayers.
So far the plants I was worried I had killed by waiting to plant seem to be hanging in there. A couple of them actually may be establishing. I'm not sure the begonia will make it, but they are not as hardy and I knew that. I think the petunias and geraniums will be ok eventually they are pretty sturdy. Plants at my house have to be resilient.
I had an eye appointment today so I left early. I ordered new glasses. Pretty nervous, first off trying on glasses with the mask was super hard. They look really different with the mask on vs off (I pulled it down a couple of times) and I was shocked by the change. I don't normally struggle so much, but I did have in mind to go with the plastic/resin type frames that are popular now without the nose piece type pads. I haven't had frames like that since high school and it's probably a mistake, my prescription could make them too heavy to stay up. But I think they were cute, maybe, who knows. I'm committed and with the bifocals and no line they are pricey.
Tomorrow Zach and I will do a half day, he has a dentist appointment and then his second shot. I am going to hang with him. I sure hope he doesn't feel as horrible as Caleb did. I hate putting them through that.
Less than three weeks until Caleb senior pictures. I need to get him shopping - want to get him some new dressy type clothes for his dressy picture. I think I have the shorts and shirt/hoodie for the casual.
Hope you are feeling better from your big rides.
Take care dear J.0 -
Beautiful,hot day today. My sister and I rode from the last town on the peninsula to the northern tip where there is a state park and lighthouse. It was a beautiful ride along Lake Michigan and cooler than if we were inland on country roads. We did a round trip and ate lunch in Northport outside on a picnic table. My Biking Northern Michigan: Lower Peninsula came today. So many great ideas for rides both locally and north of us to the Mackinac Bridge. The author included trips on road ways that have a wide shoulder and very little traffic. Nice to know those routes.
Russ worked on the landscaping today. He has one of the front areas by our front sidewalk to the front door cleaned up and put mulch down. It makes a big difference on curb appeal. I will be glad when we have the whole front done. It's the most visible and the worst to look at.
Chantrelle, DIL, and I are choosing a beach front condo in Panama City Beach for November so we can spend some laid back time with her, David and Halen after the wedding. It's a 5 hour drive to PCB. We will have 4 nights there together and then take them back to Atlanta to catch flight to AK. Russ and I will head home from there. I'm sure spending in November will break the bank so Christmas will be minimal.
Nice that both your kids will be vaccinated. Rory is our only.
Stay cool,
Jenny0 -
I transplanted some spider wort plants. Russ weeded and put mulch down in front of house again. Two more front areas to go and finish under tree on island. Looking better already.
Jenny0 -
The last time I saw Z a few hours ago he was doing good. I'm praying it stays good. C kid was so sick after his second shot.
I got really emotional last night/today. Bernie had been on the phone for awhile last night and eventually he came around to talk to me about who it had been. It was one of his guys from work, older guy with his own health problems, getting close to retirement and his wife apparently had just had a major stroke and been life-flighted to Omaha for treatment. I said all the appropriate, empathetic things, listening to B go on about this guys situation and realizing he has been listening to this guy before and it just hits me. I ask B a bit later, why can you spend a huge chunk of time listening to, and offering a shoulder to someone you work with, but can't do it for your wife. It just hit me like a tidal wave. I haven't had my sister to talk to for weeks due to the new toxic person situation and other things and I just lost it. Just washed over me how alone I am. Honestly, I've never had a husband to lean on. He's just too damaged from his upbringing and I'm just too stubborn to give up. But I've always had Michele to talk to when I really needed to unload and now I have no one. And it just smacked me between the eyes that Bernie CAN listen and be a shoulder - to other people. He just won't for me.
Ah well. God doesn't promise us happy. I still have a lot to be thankful for. I have to refocus on that. And I will. Just not today.
Hope you are staying cool.0 -
If it is any consolation, Russ listens to others before me. My ideas are usually wrong or ignored but if a guy friend says the same thing it's good. He typically discounts what I say or puts it back on me rather than reflect that he could be wrong or at fault. I've had other friends tell me the same thing about their husband's. It's very demeaning and frustrating. Men don't value women as they should.. Maybe he will think about what you said. If you ever want to talk directly, call me at
763-350-8910.
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