What's Happenin'

[Jo6]

smiles and chuckles everyone. Well, don't really feel like smiling, much less chuckling, but thought if I wrote it down it would give me a push in the right direction.

I try to keep reading and taking everything in that is going on with everybody, but my memory is lacking these days, so what's a gal to do? I'll send my love to all of you

What is going on with me. Very depressed these days. Probably the short days, cloudy skies and rain, but I'll be thankful for the rain. The lakes are way down below full level. We will have to have a hugh amount of rain to even start filling them back up. So, I'll have to do my little rain dance and see if it still works~~~~ K is working down in his electronic shop day and night. Some days its a blessing, but nobody to talk to for days on end does make depression worse. I'm getting on my treadmill for a short time each day. I try to increase it each day. At least the treadmill is in front of 2 oversized windows and I can watch the world go by.

I'm working slowly on getting rid of the "STUFF". After 14 years everything in this house is mine. Well, a little is 's. Asthma is much worse, which makes COPD worse, steriods have made me gain 28 lbs. since this time last year. Wish I had not got on the damn scales. I don't eat much, but I'm not very active either~~there comes the lbs.

Depression is not easy to get out of. Maybe I need to talk to shrink, but I don't want to change or add meds. Take too much meds already.Besides, I think the shrink needs a shrink.!!

wishing for all a pain -free day, Jo

[Jo6]

just 37 days til Spring group! That should make us ALL happy.

[tic chick]

julia,

thinking of spring does it for me! although the almost 4 inches of snow we got friday kind of blurred my vision .

i'm glad you're going on the treadmill, that might ease some of the depression, also.

pati, i'm sorry about your friend's husband. i hope he is found and he is okay.

don't have much to say, i am buring the 2AM candle again, so still kind of a foggy afternoon for me, although i have the walls to do.

chris, i remember reading about the pantyhose method of growing melons . i always cut up strips of old panty hose to tie my plants to a stake. i used them one year when those darn tomatoes got about 6 feet high. nylon is incredibly strong, yet gentle to the plants and it's not really obvious, although a melon encased in one seems a bit suggestive . yes, that is my brain on little sleep.

i hope y'all have a good sunday!

thank you all for sharing and caring,
jeannie

[Beader]

Hi Jeannie,

Up till 2 am? What's THAT about? How did the date go already? The rest of us are desperate for vicarious thrills and chills. Spill it, girl!

I'm still in Major Itching Mode -- that's pretty much my day -- itch & scratch. Still seeing blurry post eyelid surgery & it's been about a month now. I flunked the Snap Test for lower eyelids, so now my lids don't meet, especially during sleep and face washing. Never heard of the Snap Test? Me neither, but they might have warned me &, ya know, TRIED it before the upper lid surgery. Gently pull your lower lid out half an inch from the center are and release. It should snap back into place immediately, not take 1-3 seconds to gradually conform to your eyeball.

Very strange disturbing dreams this morning along with all-night intestinal pain. Finally, the runs explains it all. Hmm... unwashed lettuce or too much magnesium?

Have a good Sunday, everyone. BTW Whitney Houston died yesterday, which was a headline I was not expecting.

[Buttons2]

well not a good weekend so far! now I'm recalling my bad dream & realizing it must have been related to my friends husband. my emotions are in overdrive right now. been on my computer for most of the morning.

snow! how awful!

I moved furniture around in the office after giving my son 2 chairs we never sat on. he's still planning the trip to CA but I'm having mixed feelings about housesitting. I'm doing my best to suggest any pet besides a dog. my doggie had fun running all over his yard but I'm somewhat concerned taking her with me for a week & the possibility she could find her way through the chainlink gate. it's a large yard & some type of yapper dog is on one side of the fence. I count my blessings everyday that Freckle's is quiet unless there's a reason to bark.

yesterday was news overload. the little boys killed by their sicko father were buried yesterday & that was bad enough. plus my friend's husband all over the news. THEN one of my favorite singers with the voice of an angel dies too young.

today is the anniversary of my housemate's wife dying from cancer. Tuesday is the anniversary of one of my dear friend's mother passing. I'm beginning to detest the month of Feb! and it's a leap year too!

I hope I can come back here & read something positive and/or funny real soon!

good for you Jo, treadmill should help with depression. invite some grandkid's to come visit! what happened to the idea of getting a Havenese(sp)? watch the dog show & you'll see how adorable they are!

yes Jeannie,what's the scoop with the latest date guy? I hear romance is in the air right now.

Sher,what's the time frame for better eye day ahead? my eye doc has moved in across the road from here. I really like him as a doc but suspect we are opposites on religion/politic's so have no desire to socialize with him & his wife. I've lived here about 14 yrs & have met few of the neighbor's. I'm known as the recluse of the ridge!

Chris,happy cleaning out the BR for Shortcake! and makes me smile to think of you being able to indulge in fancy shampoo,etc. if it keeps hair from falling out please let me know the brand!

[Jo6]

Well now you mention grandkids Pati, little Ryleigh came to visit us Sat. night. She is an angel. She picked up a picture of my mother, her great-great grandmother and slapped a big sloppy kiss on the picture, then hugged the picture like you would a doll. That made me smile, I said grandma is smiling down on you Ryleigh and she smiled back then gave her another kiss. Dad had to put it up a little higher, but she wanted to carry it around with her.

That did warm my heart. My Mom died February 12th at 5:20 p.m. 1996. I still miss her so, but I was thankful she did not linger on and on like dear Mary did. Mother had cancer, lived about 7 months after we found out she was sick.

Ryleigh will be 1 years old on the 20th! I can not believe that sweet child has been here for a year. Papa and I both adore her and we were very happy they brought her up. At first she cried when papa played peek a Boo! Then she warmed up to him. I promise I won't tell y'all everything she does, but she is precious

Sher honey, if it helps to moan and cry out loud you are allowed to do so. Scream if you want to. I have been known to cry and moan and even did some screaming. The little men in the white coats didn't carry me away in a straight jacket either! I've been doing some crying, well as Lot of crying lately. Don't know why, but tis true. I want a life, get out of house, do something productive and on and on.

Spring does sound good. 36 more days? thats not long. I've got about that many Drs. appointments. I want to get them out of the way and enjoy warm weather.

To all of you I wish you a Happy Valentines Day. Ken brought me a box of candy and a silly Charlie Brown card last night.
Wasn't expecting anything, but it was a nice surprise. I can not eat all of the candy. I am determined to lose the 28 lbs. I'm lugging around. Maybe Israel will come by later and have a few. lol

Talked enough, I hope all of you will feel better. All my love, Julia

[LaBella]

Happy Valentine's everyone. I am good, busy and stressed but good.

I have been trying to keep my head and spirits up but the stress level is big, betwee B being sick and my fight with the Mortgage company i am going crazzy. We have been trying to get BOA to do a loan modification since September, we fell behind 2 months. And they have denied us everytime because they want us to provide my hubby's DEATH CERTIFICATE, I do not know where they have gotten the belief that he is dead but here we are fightin foreclosure becuase of some stupidity from someone who sees pay stub from him but still wants a Death Certificate. I am trying to deal now with Fannie Mae, who is the investor of my loan. And they seem to be more receptive. Tehy actually told me that "They are not surprised of anything BOA does, they have seen it all" there exact words, so hopefully I get good news within the next few weeks

Wish me luck. As for my daguhter, now the doctors think that her pains, might have to do with Cronic Migranes, those one that affect the whole nere sytem. The EMG was very painful but came back normal. So now e are waiting for more testing to be done.

See you guys later.

[Buttons2]

don't like Feb all that much

called my local friend today cause it's the anniversary of her mother's death. found out she just spent 3 days in the hospital. seems her inhaler caused an allergy to peanuts! so of course I did some research since my housemate uses 2 inhaler's. there were so many adverse side effects I finally just gave up.hopefully she will stay alive in spite of all her health issues!

put out the thistle niger feeder today.

Jo,if I could only conjure up a grandbaby visit everyday I sure would! she sounds a total joy.

Bella,don't give up on the mortgage mess-that is exactly what they are counting on. as for your daughter? hopefully someone with a brain will figure out the problem & make her better!

4 deer were here again,I always enjoy watching them. we are feeding a zillion birds now.

the sun is shining here today so I spent some time outside just putzing around.

day 2 of the dog show. made me want another Bouvier! housemate has a meeting tonight so I can watch it in peace! so far I'm rooting for the Dalmation. tired of the fru fru dogs always winning. and loved that last year's winner (Scottish Deerhound had lots of puppies last year) I want another big dog to win.

Pati

[tic chick]

hey everyone !

i love my friends.jpg
Happy Valentine's Day!

well. there is no romance in the air...lol!

when i started dating, one of my girlfriends was afraid that i wouldn't have time to go out with her. i gave her a hug and i said, "i might schedule dates around you, but i will never cancel a date with you to go out with a man!" my girlfriend's are my support. they have been and will be around longer than any man for me and i value them too much.

so, this date i was supposed to go on saturday never happened. i don't know why. we talked tuesday for about 2 hours about dogs and remodeling kitchens, cause he is buying a house and was doing his. we talked about tile. nice conversation. he said, "hey. can you meet me at greektown tonight?" i said i wish i could, but i'm going out with a friend for coffee and gossip. i asked him if he'd like to go out on saturday and he said that would be fine. even asked if he could pick me up. i didn't hear from him for a few days. friday i wrote him an email asking if we were still on for saturday? no response. then i wrote him saturday asking him if he had changed his mind about seeing me. i said, no reasons necessary, just say yes or no. no response. so, that's all the email's i sent. i am not going to waste my time anymore and i don't care. one conversation does not make a relationship, but now i know he doesn't live up to his name of "goodheart" on the dating site...lol.

so friday, i went to a girlfriend's. we watched a comedy movie and i brought some fresh strawberries that i had gotten from the market that day and i made a dip for them out of yogurt and low-cal cream cheese and cool-whip. i downed a bottle of white wine and she drank red. red wine gives me a crazy hangover and headache. saturday, i went to a play dowtown with another girlfriend and we stopped at this restaurant/bar and i bought her a birthday drink. this band was playing that played at our church social and they were on their last set at midnight, so i danced to about 4 songs. a young woman invited me over to dance with her and some guy she was dancing with, so i was dancing with her a bit cause he wasn't that good. sunday, i recuperated. yesterday i washed almost all the walls and and most of the ceiling around the edges. i have to go downstairs and get a ladder to finish the middle of the ceiling, cause i will not stand on the top step of that two step thingie without having anything to grab onto. after my christmas fall, i am crazy terrified of falling.

sorry about all the problems you are having bella, especially the bank thinking your husband is dead. i was just reading a story on the internet news about that. julia, how sweet about ryleigh! maybe when she is a little bigger, you can get a heart locket and have your pic put in it for her, you just love her so. i know you love all the grand's, but the babies are so special when they're that age. beader, just give yourself permission to get through whatever you need to and however you need to. crying is mighty good therapy and i know that from experience! pati, i was wondering if you were watching the dog show! yes, i want a hunting dog to win, also!

yes, spring is coming! we got some minor flurries this morning and it has been much colder this past weekend, but the calendar marches on. i'm looking forward to so many things this spring and sharing them all with you!

thank you all for sharing and caring ,
jeannie

[Buttons2]

my youngest son called yesterday to say he loves me. he was sober so had a pretty good conversation. got a card from housemate with a cute dog.

was disgusted the pom won last night! sure I laughed everytime I saw that black face buried in grey fur but the Dobie was beautiful & so was the Irish Setter! Dalmations have never won @ Westminster so was really hoping this was their year.

Jeannie,the phone guy may have had something come up by Sat. life can go from being very predictable to chaos in a second afterall. you have the right attittude! just keep going out with friends & having a fun time. keeping busy is always the best for the body as well as the soul.

didn't even call my parents yesterday. figured I'd end up telling them about my lifetime friend's husband & they've never had a good word to say about him (perhaps why I have never learned to keep my own opinions to myself??)

been taking my B12 for a week now. every single time I stop taking that little pill I let myself get too depressed. hoping my hair will stop falling out so much now. also hoping for a bit of energy! it's cold,dreary,and raining off on here lately.

the pot of red tulips are in full bloom. if I ever get to go to a store I plan to buy seeds. not as many as Chris but a few things I might actually get excited about.

[houghchrst]

Pati it's great that you got to talk to your son while he is sober. Great that he made the effort to do it sober. I thought the Peke won. I missed most of it. I too am tired of all the little pocket dogs winning. Not hard to look cute and graceful when you are less than 12" high lolol. I was happy that the Staffordshire placed. The Skye Terrier was just gorgeous. I love the big dogs, Pyrenees, Mastiffs, Danes, Neufies, Akita, Sheepdogs. I have always wanted a monster dog but they need a monstrous amount of room. No bed sharing here. I'd be on the floor lol.

Jeannie I am so happy that you are getting out and doing things. Really makes a difference in your life. No, no romance here. I bought CJ and shortcake a chocolate heart and a musical card. I got nada lol. I was teasing CJ about this and he said he had no money so I went into the ' Valentine's day comes the same time every year so you had plenty of warning' lol.

Sher I am with Pati on the 'money can't buy you happiness' crap. I have struggled my entire life when it comes to money and I can tell you that I am happy when I don't have to worry about how I can get gas money so I can pick up my child from school. At the beginning of every month do we buy food or pay the electric shut off. Going without meds cause I don't even have the dollar copay. How many months do I have before the government takes over my property cause I can't pay back taxes. After six years SSI has finally been granted and it is taking practice to not worry about all of that cause I have done it my entire life. No we are not totally caught up but now I at least know there is money coming in. It is a tremendous relief. So you are not alone and I'll pray for good things to come your way.

Bella BOA really has a battle going on with the general public's outrage at the way they do business, how many families they have ripped off, criminal activity really, that they have spent years doing and getting away with it. Fannie Mae is no better if not worse. You are one of the many unfortunate enough to have gotten caught in their web. I really hope you can find some resolution. Contact some local groups who help those like you who are in the same situation. Contact as many offices as you can and media helps too. See if you have a local Occupy group. Someone there may be able to advise you. Some places are more coordinated than others lol. I hope you can get some help soon.

Jo babies are just awesome. My princess and her hubby are starting to look into adoption. I am so excited. I made a comment to her about babysitting and she looked at me and says so seriously 'what are you talking about, you're gonna help me raise it' I was so stunned I burst out in laughter which of course set her off and we sat there like a couple of cackling hens lol. I guess I hadn't thought of it. I am trying to butt out and not over advise, ......er takeover, and let her go at her own speed. I just ask questions once in a while and she'll talk about how things are going at her own pace. I know how deeply all the medical procedures to try to get pregnant have affected her so I try to be gentle. Her hubby is a real piece of work. Does nothing but sit on the puter all day playing some of those wildly popular computer games with his other buddies who don't have children, sleep and work. He is a child himself so it will be interesting to see what happens. They want to adopt a baby. I do believe her words were 'as fresh as I can get' lolol. Makes me crack up. She has always wanted a baby. B and Shortcake are kind of her surrogates and she has always been referred to as their aunt. Plus she has her two kitties. I am so excited I could just spit and she has already said don't get overly excited and start buying things yet. She knows that every time I pass the baby clothes I ooh and ahh. Usually wishing I could get things for her. It is all I can do not to have started a secret stockpile. CJ usually guides me away from the baby department lol. He's not gonna be very happy muahahahaha. A baby just seems to brighten any moment.

So many missing, getting on with their lives.

Oh I have everything packed up in that room. Everything my brother owns fits in one of those closets with the double bifold doors. It is a damn shame that he is over 40 and that is all he owns. I am painting around a cabinet, dresser and mattress set. Well the mattress set just went in the basement for now. They and the rest of his stuff will go out to be stored in the garage. I have been taking pictures during this whole process of his things and the room so that if it ever comes down to it and something happens to his stuff that it can be shown where and what happened to it at my end. I thought about telling him that he forfeited his portion of the house by not paying his share of taxes. Maybe I would have to sue him for it. He may be able to get up enough from a friend and that doesn't help me so as long as he is afraid of me we are doing okay. The room was so gross that the thought of taking the wadded bedding off of that nasty mattress made me throw up. Still working on the smell.

So anyway, holes are spackled and I started putting up the Kilz and by that time I was in pain and it was late. So needless to say I am making a dent. Trying to bring a box or two to go where it belongs out of the garage so that is going slowly too. Today I did nothing. It was all I could do to walk to the bathroom. I think I may have over done it with the meds last night. I took a pain pill before I started to work, worked a bit for a while but last night the pain was kicking my butt so I took another and as it was trying to kick in my lower back started severely spasming. Pain med doesn't even touch that so took my usual 2 pill muscle relaxer. Within an hour I was so stoned I could barely keep my one eye open. Laid here with an ice pack on each foot and ankle and one at my lower back trying to watch TV. I went to bed a bit early for me while CJ watched a movie. When I woke in the night, sort of, I noticed the bedroom door was all the way closed and because CJ was up I had left it a crack open. So I got up to go see what he was doing, bit woozily I will admit, and checked the living room, the basement, and then as I am coming back through the house it hits me that he might be in bed and suddenly as I look in the door and see him laying there sleeping I remember spooning when he came to bed. Duh, I was sober enough to feel stupid. I had gotten out of bed, laying next to him, to see what he was doing. Must have been dreaming really hard lolol.


We let shortcake pick out his own color. J's paint.jpg This is what he picked out. It is called Glass Sapphire. I was afraid it would be too dark so we will do two walls and the inside of his closet in this then the other two and trim will be white. I also bought magnetic primer so I can turn a small wall into a magnet board and some chalk paint to make a square of paint and then surround it with trim like a chalkboard just above his desk for notes. I also plan to get some of those different size square box type shelves and paint them both colors and put the blue ones on the white wall and vice versa. He wants the ceiling to look like outer space when we turn out the light so I have been researching different techniques and sites for paint. I am so excited. He is apprehensive about moving, says he has already gotten use to his room and is not sure about changing. But I think he will love it.

Okay I have babbled on long enough. It is getting late so night all. Love yous.

[joy]

I have been so busy and not online muvh. I need to get busy as I am expecting my friend Donna tonight. We are going to try and oil paint and let the men go to fire department together. She is wonderful company. I am not a good teacher but if she will visit, I will try.

Things were scary when I did get to read today. i worry about everyone when I miss and sure enough, I had to hold my breath as I got caught up with everyone. I seem to have a problem with my anxiety and worry about people and that is one thing I know I cannot do anything about.

I have got to clrean off a table, LOL one has the paints from last week still waiting for us to paint tonight and I said if they would come eat with us, we would buy food so I must get the other table ready, LOL.

Keep Donna in your prayers. She is doing her best to fight this horrible cancer. Makes me ashamed at how much I take for granted. Her skin when she has to wear the patch for elimination etc the skin is so red, raw and looks so painful. Wish there could be anything better as that alone must drive a person to distraction.

[clouds z]

computer is slow have no time really

[houghchrst]

Joy Donna is lucky to have a friend such as you. Prayers for her to start feeling better soon. I am glad you two can spend some time together.

Cloudz I am sorry your puter is acting all funky on ya. I hope you are busy in a good way.

[tic chick]

hey everyone !

chris, what about the walls being a lighter blue or even a light silver with white trim? i love the dark blue, but think the white would be such a contrast that it would make it look darker. just my humble opinion from painting my house the last few years . beader knows a lot about color, too. maybe she'll weigh in with her opinion. ya know, we just gotta get in our opiniion's and help with shortcake's room !

joy, donna is a brave person for fighting this battle, but don't minimize your own pain. you have to go through so much each day also. we all only have today. the healthiest person might be gone tomorrow and the sickest might still be alive. you and donna can lean on each other. we all need friends...ones who know what we're going through, too.

pati yes, life can get chaotic quickly, but i'm not holding my breath after 8 days of no communication. yes, i do go out with my friends and i'm okay. i don't need any man, i want the right man. until that happens, i just go on with life . i'm sorry about your friend's husband committing suicide. i don't know if being in vietnam contributed to it. usually when people commit suicide, they're trying to fix a temporary problem with a permanent solution. maybe something had happened that you don't know about, families do keep secrets. it is hard to be with friends when their grief is raw. i don't know how close you are, but see if you can communicate with her while she's going through the next few weeks of grief, she's going to need her friends.

i finished washing my walls and i'm ready to put a coat of kilz primer on them to seal whatever little grease might be on them, which i know isn't much after i cleaned those walls with tsp. then i'm going to get some paint chips from the paint store and start messing with color .

i went to my hustle class last night and we did a new dance and i caught on right away. once you get the pattern down, you just have to remember it. i can't remember each dance from week to week, cause we rotate between about 6 or 7 of them, but i do have 4 of them down pat. once i go through it one time the next week, i remember the dance and the pattern. afterwards, my friend and i (i got a friend to go with me for stress relief and i think she likes it!) went to check out this bar/restaurant cause we're organizing a party for people that worked bingo with us. i worked at bingo for 8 years, every week for 4-5 hours. there were a group of us that worked every week, cause we got a stipend for working there, money off our kid's tuition cause it was a catholic school. so anyway, my friend wanted something to eat and i had a glass of wine. they were setting up for karaoke that night. i have had this desire to sing karaoke at least once in my life. so, i did it. i sang 2 songs. other people sang, too. i don't know if i'll ever do it again, but i did it and ever since my mom's gotten sick, i've had this personal policy that i will never let fear stop me from doing something i really want to do, cause i don't want to think 20 years from now, "gee, i should have done that karaoke song when i went to that bar after my hustle class back in 2012...lol."

so today it was overcast, but about 40 degrees. the snow melted. i went outside and shovelled 5 wheelbarrows full of that ground-up tree stump and root from the tree they cut in front of my house last week. i put it by the side of the driveway in front of my side door. i'm going to mix it into the dirt in my yard. it'll make it lighter and then as it decomposes, it'll enrich the soil. i also have more ground up stump and root from the tree in the back yard. my soil is gonna be so great! i am just itching to spread that on the ground. i got a pair of waterproof boots to walk around the yard in when it's muddy, cause i was tired of sinking into mud while wearing old tennis shoes. nora wanted to play ball so bad today. she was walking around the house with her ball. she goes by how warm it is, not by the mud on the ground...lol.

well, it's mid-february. one month or so until spring. the winter has passed by relatively quickly. we are all still here, problems and all, but WE ARE ALL STILL HERE and i can't imagine a better group of ladies and gentlemen to be here with.

thank you all for sharing AND caring ,
jeannie