***Welcome To The New Cruise Countdown Club***

[mstrc1]

Sharon, I know what you mean about the riverboat, as we had taken the very same one. It is all about making money and filling it up. But that is a nice area to visit and see the sights. If you were leaving about the same time you left here on Thursday, you will be getting up very early. You can nap on the bus.

 

Thank you for the wishes for Bill. The nice thing about a B-Day is the deals on eating out.

 

I hope you do not run into bad weather returning home. We have had rain all morning, but nothing real heavy. They said last night the heavy rain would be up north. Have a safe trip home, and I am glad you had a nice few days away.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

We didn't leave so early for home but got up at 5:30 anyway. Got on the bus at 8am. Started raining soon after we left, then the fog rolled in. But we got back home on schedule. Today busy getting some things done and had to go to Rockford to Penny's to pick up a bathing suit bottom I had ordered on line, saved shipping charges by picking it up.

 

Lots of water around here from the melting snow. We still have some big piles from snow plowed out of the driveway.

 

Had a killer zumba class tonight and water aerobics tomorrow. Feels good to get back to the old routine. We did have a good time though!

[mstrc1]

Sharon, I am glad you had a nice trip and that you returned home OK. Lots of rain over the past few days and many areas are muddy if you were to go onto the grass. The water just does not have any place to go.

 

Good to be back into the routine once again. Was tinker glad to you back? How was she while you were gone? Water aerobics today and you usually do get a real good workout with that class.

 

I have been lucky, as I have not had to cook since last Thursday. We have either ordered out or have gone out to eat. So tonight I will be cooking.

 

Very dark now in the morning with the time change. Good news, it will be staying lighter longer in the evening.

 

Have a good workout today,

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

Yes it was a good workout, then I went to Kohls, had the 30% coupon. I found several things that were on sale even 80% off. I also bought Bill a couple of flannel shirts since he likes those at $12 each before the discount. I ended up spending $98 with a savings of $264! I got a sweater for Easter that looks like two pieces but is just one, it is a real pretty purple or even lavender and even though it wasn't on sale I had to have it. It was the only thing I bought not on sale.

 

We are doing much the same about eating, last night after zumba I bought Italian beef sandwiches and tonight was corned beef and cabbage at the Rotary dinner. I went up to my stock guys business to buy the tickets and he gave them to me free, a $24 value. Thought that was nice of him. The dinner was really good too and they gave you lots of everything with either a cherry or apple slice for dessert.

 

We had almost a blizzard this afternoon, the car was completely covered with wet heavy snow, luckily the roads are ok, we also must have had snow over night because there was a new layer when we woke up this morning. This snow business is getting real old real fast!

 

Tinker did fine while we were gone and she is back in her routine just like we are.

 

What did you make for dinner?

[mstrc1]

Sharon, last night I made chicken tenders. I wanted to make spaghetti, however the meat that I wanted to go with it was bad as I left in the frig too long. So had to settle for the tenders instead.

 

We had the same here yesterday, with it coming down very heavy, but nothing sticking. I was watching last night on the news. Last year in March the temps were in the 70's and 80's, what a contrast to this year. Yes, these temps and the weather has been real flipit thus far.

 

You always do good at Kohl's. Last week I went to buy things and I went especially for the senior discount and I completely forgot to tell the salesperson and only remembered when I got home. I am really loosing it. Things have just been too crazy at work.

 

Your stock guy is really good to you, and he should be with the type of business that you give him.

 

Have a good day today,

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

Wow Kathy, you must have looked pretty good for them to not even offer the senior discount to you, I'd take that as a compliment! Too bad about not getting the discount but almost worth it.

 

Well this morning looked out and the driveway was completely covered with snow again, really, really getting tired of this. We saw the same weather show as you last night, we had much better weather last year.

 

I have a skin dr appmnt this afternoon, don't think she will find anything, at least I haven't seen anything suspicious. Then tonight the dr and the plastic surgeon are giving a seminar on skin and laser liposuction and wrinkles. It includes dinner so I am going and will pick up Bill afterwards and we will go to the End Zone to meet with the girls. Seems the week is flying by, have been so busy.

 

Hope your day goes well,

[mstrc1]

Sharon, on the same news last night they talked about how aspirin daily can prevent skin cancer. I don't know if you saw that as well? You always have to keep regular checkups as those skin cells can pop up anytime anyplace. So good for you to keep up with that.

 

Bill said the same thing about Kohl's to me. He was surprised that the check out person did not see me as a senior. He really did not have to say that. Especially when the GK's are telling me that grandpa is looking younger than Ime

 

There was no sign of snow this morning around here. However, very windy and cold. Things have been real crazy around here, as the jerk is trying to find out where $50,000 went off the book to avoid an audit, and this has been going on for the last 3 months.

 

Have a good day today and keep warm.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

I was right, no new spots to fix anywhere on my face or body, hooray! That means I don't have to stay out of the water for two weeks. The seminar was real informative, but I don't think I will be doing anything that drastic to my face for quite a while. It was all about the new laser they have and how they take off a layer or so depending on what they are treating, small wrinkles, deep wrinkles, sun damage, etc. It takes a while maybe a week or so to not be so red and even longer the deeper they go. So like I said not for me yet anyway.

They did have a good turn out and a good meal, roast beef, asparagus and wild rice with cheese cake for dessert. So it was worth it anyway.

 

Today had zumba and mailed some St. Patricks day cards. Also picked up the tickets for Sundays corned beef & cabbage dinner at a local restaurant, they have it every year and its pretty good.

 

Wow $50,000 thats a lot to be looking for, have any ideas where it went? Do you have a controller, like the gal from Dixon that was taking all the millions for herself!

 

No snow this morning but this afternoon had some pretty heavy flakes coming down for a little while. Sure is still awfully cold out too.

 

Hear today also that radiation after cancer can damage the arteries and blood vessels, glad I only had chemo which is bad enough, but some gals had both chemo and radiation so their risk is even worse. What are you supposed to do when thats what they want to give you!

 

Be nice to stay home tonight and watch Person of Interest, its our favorite tv show. Seems like we have been going somewhere or doing something ever since we got back.

[mstrc1]

Sharon, I am glad that all was good for your skin visit and the seminar seemed to give plenty of information for you to consider for down the road. Even though you may not need to have anything done just now. The information is useful in case you do have to have something. Also it will give you piece of mind.

 

I do not know what happened with the money. I am thinking it is an accounting error. I can tell you that there is not money like that in my bank account, nor do we have anyone else who would take the money.

 

Good to just stay at home last night and be comfortable watching your favorite shows. We never got any kind of snow yesterday. Although I did hear that many areas did get some for a while.

 

Today could be a day where I may just say to him, shove it, and walk out if he gives me any kind of trouble. This stuff has been really stressing me out way too much.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

Well how did the day go, are you still employed? Too bad he has to be such a jerk, you have put in so much time there!

 

We have had rain all day, melted some more snow but going to take more warm weather to get rid of it all. I bought some fake daffodils and was going to stick them out in front in the flower bed but the ground is still so frozen I couldn't get them to go in to the ground at all.

 

Staying home tonight, only thing planned for the weekend is the resort and then the corned beef and cabbage dinner on Sunday. Too bad the weather doesn't cooperate and get a little bit warmer.

[mstrc1]

Sharon, it looks like it was an online accounting error. Yes, it took months to find but I slept easier last night knowing now what the problem was. I did not get home until 7pm last night.

 

We got some rain yesterday afternoon and then it got foggy last night and cold. Last year, we had a string of 80's. We are going to Naperville to hook up with Bill's son and GS for a visit and then go out someplace to eat this afternoon. We do not see them too often and the last time was during New Years downtown.

 

The tub surround arrived yesterday and is inside of our house. They are coming on Monday to install it finally. Many people will be downtown watching the St Pat's Parade today. I heard that the Navy Pier Flower & Garden show is running form 3/9 until the 17th.

 

Enjoy the resort on Sunday and have a good weekend. Stay warm and enjoy,

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

I wanted to go to the Flower & Garden show but the trip we took kind of messed up getting the girls together to go. I really enjoyed it last year.

 

Good you found the error, thank goodness that was all it was!

 

Sounds like you have a nice day planned. I saw them talking about the parade on tv this morning, and they showed them putting the green in the river too.

 

We are going to get a bowl of soup, there is a small restaurant uptown that makes the best WI cheese soup, then go to look at a small refrigerator for the basement. Com Ed will pay you $50 and take the old one away through April 30th. The one we have down there now was one that was left here when we moved in.

 

No sun shine today but at least no snow!

[mstrc1]

Sharon, I would not want to be outside watching a parade today. But I guess there will be many down there who don't care about the weather. That is a good deal; to have your old appliance taken away. We had 2 in the basement and one stopped working. Bill called somebody who took it for recycle. If they are offering incentives to get rid of something and to buy another that uses less energy, then that is the way to go.

 

We do not get many chances to go out there to see Bill's son. It will take us about an hour to get there and we will be there most of the day with watching the GS basketball game and then going for something to eat afterwards.

 

I will be glad to get this bathroom stuff all finished and hopefully on Monday that will happen. The one guy's mother has been sick and he had to put her in a nursing home on Friday, otherwise they would have completed the work then. So hopefully his mother will do OK over the weekend so they can finish the work on Monday.

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and stay warm,

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

How is work going? Some times the rough spots smooth over a little and make it possible to deal with. Hope thats going on with you now.

 

We went for corned beef and cabbage again on Sunday but it wasn't near as good as what we had Tuesday night. The corned beef was like thinly shaved lunch meat instead of real corned beef.

 

Yesterday I bought the refrigerator we had been looking at. The best price was at Best Buy with free delivery. Other places had the same model cheaper but wanted about $80 for delivery. They are bringing it on 3/28, told them I wanted to wait until the snow stopped. Now I have to call Com Ed and make sure they will pay the $50 and pick up the old one, otherwise Best Buy will take the old one free of charge.

 

Today heard that it was -4 with the wind chill! It really felt like it too when I went out to get the news paper.

 

Went to the water aerobics this morning and was surprised to see my pet sitter and her husband there. She had expressed an interest in it to me about a week ago and I had given her the times and where to go in to get to the pool at the resort. Her husband said it was a good workout but she thought she could have used a little more. I think you get out of it what you put into it so maybe she didn't push herself enough. They also picked up the infor to become members before they left.

 

Thursday evening we are going to the Fireside Dinner Theater in Fort Atkinson to see Footloose. At least the roads should be good even if the weather is cold.

 

Did your bathroom get done like you had hoped?

[mstrc1]

Sharon, we are staying at the hotel once again tonight as they came today to put the surround in and it needs to dry overnight. So we will not be able to use the bathroom and the smell form the glue and caulk is too much to breath tonight.The 1 guy, his mother passed away on Monday and last Friday he was taking care of putting her in a nursing home. So he has had his hands full with his mother. Hopefully tomorrow all will be complete.

 

We are looking to get rebates form Com-Ed and Nicor for doing things to improve energy usage in our house. I know they promise a lot of things. So for you, it is good to really see if they will pay you first before you let the Best Buy thing go away.

 

You are right about putting in what you get out. If she did not put in enough effort, then she will not get the true benefits from the workout. It was just too cold and windy here today as well. It is hard to believe what the temps were last year at this time and that spring is tomorrow. We have a little wait for nicer weather.

 

Things are not totally complete with the missing money. It is a real accounting thing and still much to do. We had to leave real early yesterday to go to a foot Dr's appointment. With the icy conditions we had to take detours to get there as traffic was backed up on the expressway. We just got the freezing rain early and all rain later on. Where you probably got snow.

 

Last night had our usual Monday night 1/2 price burgers and tonight we will eat free at the hotel as that is what they provide Monday through Thursday. So another night of not cooking. I picked up corned beef at the meat market and cooked it on Sunday.

 

We had a good visit with Bill's son and GS on Saturday. A week from this Saturday we will go to my daughter's house for Easter dinner and then on Sunday we will just stay put and cook something simple while they all go to their in-laws places.

 

Stay warm,

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

Do you get some kind of free deal at the hotel, like stay 3nights get one free? That us nice that they have a free dinner during the week.

 

Bill's kids are getting a birthday party organized again for Friday night fish fry on the 29 th. His birthday is April 1 st. We are going to make reservations at a restaurant for Easter, just us.

 

Supposed to be really cold again tomorrow

[mstrc1]

Sharon, through points you can get free nights. Bill has a bunch of them accumulating thus far and he has been banking them for longer free nights down the road. It was nice going into the hot tub and pool last night to get rid of these tensions that I have been under. It is very cold out this morning and I guess today could be colder than yesterday. Hopefully they will be finished today with the bathroom work and I can get my place back to normal.

 

The jerk expects that I am going to get a years worth of mistakes taken care of with the snap of the figures. He does not realize that I need time to go over everything to see if all adds up correctly.

 

It sounds like you have some good plans for Bill's B-Day. We will be spending Easter by ourselves. Except the day before we go to my daughter's house for the dinner. I think I just might pick something up for Sunday, but Bill usually likes to go out and eat. So we shall see what happens.

 

Have a good day today and try to stay out of the cold.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

yes we will be eating Easter by ourselves also, I'm sure everyone will be gone back to their own lives right after the dinner on Friday night. Thats ok, kind of nice to have a quiet weekend once in a while.

 

Very cold today again, sure would be nice to warm up even to the 50's, I would like to get out and work on some of the flowers that need to be cut down from last year. I am going to plant some seeds in a little plastic green house I have and see if I can get anything to grow. Usually they start out good but then falter once they have a few leaves on them. They get long and leggy instead of nice and bushy like the ones you buy at the store. But I have the seeds so might just as well try it.

 

Glad you could enjoy the hot tub and pool, you should be able to go somewhere and spend several free nights with all the ones you have accumulated. Might be a good time to go somewhere warm now for a few days.

[mstrc1]

Sharon, with all of the pressure at work, I really need to get away someplace warm soon before I loose my mind. The first weekend of April we are going to Vancouver for the weekend to see some friends. But I need to go someplace warm.

 

It is was too cold today and yesterday it was cold especially with the wind. The ground hog needs another job, as the predictions were way off this year.

 

It is good to be away from everyone and doing your own thing once in a while. Since we are going away I will miss our usual bunco group. So the friend that I usually go to yoga with has her own group and she asked me if I would be interested in subbing for someone in their group this Friday. So I am doing that. They start and finish much earlier than our group does, and she lives close by and it is at her house.

 

I would like to go outside and cut down some of the old stuff from last season, but it is just way too cold for me just now.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

Well at least you will have a change of scenery in Vancouver, even if it isn't warm. I bet your Bill can find a place to use all those saved up hotel stays somewhere warm! Speaking of Bill, I saw they had quite a problem this year with registering people for the marathon. Sooo many people want to be in it, guess it just overwhelms the computers brains.

 

Good your bunco group is close and earlier, get to socialize with some new people too!

 

We had a good class at zumba today, with the new people that are coming from curves it seems like our instructor is becoming a little more animated. Today she did routines that were from a long time ago, a lot of us remembered them and like them.

 

Bill is coming home early today so we can get up to Ft Atkinson for the dinner before the show. Looking forward to it!

[mstrc1]

Sharon, I hope you had a good weekend. We went out to dinner with all of my kids to celebrate all of the B-Days in March. This Saturday we will go to my Daughter's house to have Easter Dinner with the family as they all go to their in-laws houses on Sunday. Since we will be all along on Easter Sunday, we will eat at our club for Easter Sunday.

 

We lucked out once again last night as it did not start snowing here until 8 and only lasted about 2 hours. Today we have nothing on the streets or pavement only a dusting on the ground. We had very high winds and it was down right cold last night. I hope we have seen the last of any snow for the rest of this season.

 

The jerk had me cancel his reservations to STL today as that area got smacked yesterday, with record snowfall. So I hope he will not come in today, but that would be too much to ask for me to have a day without him here. After today I will not see him until the middle of April as he will be going to Florida and other places for that time.

 

In 2 weeks will be going to Vancouver for the weekend. We will leave on April 5th and return on the 7th. Flying in and out of O'Hare.

 

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

wow don't know why I haven't gotten on here for a couple of days, usually like to visit at least once a day.

 

Sounds like you had a nice visit, we are having all of Bill's kids come Friday for a fish fry at a local restaurant. There are at least 4 other birthdays to celebrate also, so I'm just going to give them their cards that night. Then all of my sisters boys have birthdays in April and there are a couple of anniversaries too. Got to get lots of cards, already sent the Easter cards out and a furry little bunny to my GGrandson in Texas. I've got a little bigger bunny that hops for Bill's granddaughter who is 9 years old.

 

It was really nice today, sunny and not so windy. I was at the water aerobics and there was a million kids just like on Sunday when we turned around and left. But today the leader made them stay in the shallow water and only come half way down the pool so we would have room. It worked out pretty good. Not only is it spring break but the resort had a $69 deal rate going on in Goupon.

 

Hopefully they are right about the weather and it continues to warm up, we still have piles of snow, only got a dusting the other night thank goodness.

 

Good the jerk will be gone for a while, you can enjoy your job and look forward to your vacation in Vancouver.

[mstrc1]

Sharon, you must have been very busy lately. It looks like March is a popular B-Day month. Are you doing anything special for Bill's B-Day on 4/1?

 

My youngest daughter has real issues with her 2 year old. He was not behaving at all at the restaurant on Sunday and was crying and caring on. So my oldest daughter told her that she can't have him acting like that as he was disturbing other's. So my daughter got mad and just left. Terrible 2's, you know how that is.

 

Each day the weather should be getting warmer. They never finished totally the construction on our street. So Monday they started it up once again and it is set for completion in 6 weeks. They are all finished in front of our house. This continuing work is one block north of us. So another sign that good weather is here with construction.

 

It will be good now that the jerk is back in STL today and I will not see him back here until the middle of April. I only have to put up with his crap over the phone.

 

Many tings going on this week with holy week. Dinners on Saturday and Sunday to ourselves. It sounds like you will have a good visits planned with you families as well. They are coming on 4/2 to open up our pond for the season. Another sign of good weather coming. Enjoy,

 

Kathy

[timeormoney]

A few weeks ago we were at a restaurant and waiting for our food when a couple came in and sat across from us. They had two kids, one about 6 and the other about 3. The 3 year old wanted everything that the 6 year old had and kept screaming and screaming for it. The parents obviously were used to this behavior so they neither said or did anything to stop it. We finally asked the waitress to seat us somewhere else or we would have to leave. She moved us all the way to the other side of the room and you could still here they kid screaming and yelling. I don't know how the people sitting around them could stand it. You pay good money to go out and eat and you certainly don't want to listen to that. So I can understand your older daughter telling her that, in fact I would even say "good for her". But I hope they don't stay mad at each other for very long, sisters are a blessing (most of the time).

 

Yes it is warmer, at least a little. I took Tinker for a walk again this morning and noticed that the snow is slowly receding. Would have been better to have the sun out but at least it wasn't real windy.

 

Getting the new refrigerator delivered tomorrow and then next week com ed will come and pick up the old one. I think we need to get a new TV for the basement also. Bill was trying to hook the one we have down there, which was my moms console, up to the antenna. Two things wrong with that, first there are no hook ups for vcr's or wii's, and second the antenna is not longer working. It was up there when we moved in and several of the pieces have fallen off. So I guess we will have to find someone to put up a new one, its on a tower. We don't want to hook it up to the Direct Tv, already pay enough for that service.

 

Have a good day!

[mstrc1]

Sharon, didn't you purchase some things from editable arrangements last year? I saw them a few days ago and I was thinking of giving them as gifts and was wondering if you were satisfied with your purchases last year?

 

Another nice day here today with lots of sunshine. I guess it could go into the 60's on Saturday. I hope you are out enjoying these nice days.

 

 

Kathy