good evening everyone. I have one more thing to take care of before I go to bed, but thought I would stop by the castle first.
Gramma, I forgot you might be in MD this weekend. Luckily it is not too bad here, but when we went out this afternoon it was chilly feeling. I was packing cards tonight and saw the card with the shade that you had asked about. OMG!!!! it is sooooo cute. It will be fine to send, although I hate to part with it.
I've been watching the weather in Deb's area. I hope she is ok. It seems like the worst is below her.
I worked most of the day on society stuff with Jim's help. Thank goodness for his ability to stay focused. My head hurt (sinus pressure) and everything just made me crazy.

Jim & I often talk about where we might retire. MD is not retire friendly. Taxes will eat you alive. But this is where the family is. No doubt we could do w/o nasty winter weather, but other than the cold this year (so far) we haven't had any real bad events. I am keeping an eye on Orko, (where are they getting these names from ???) , but I think we will just get rain from it, maybe a little snow mixed in.

Well, I need to get back to my last item on the list, so I can get to bed.

Good Monday morning to everyone. I'm a few days behind, I'll try and catch up.

Pat, I see the NE got hit really hard with the snow, glad you escaped it. Did you get that last item done last night?

Gramma, glad you were able to get out of town before the snow arrived, hope your house s OK, or did it not hit your area?

Renate, sorry you have to go back to work but I know you had a great time with your family.

Deb, sounds like you had a great time at the retreat. I'm not sure I would like the zip lining or not, it's a little scary. I'm getting more scary as I get older I think. Glad the tornadoes didn't affect you, that was really terrible, this weather lately has been so strange.

Jess, hope your day is going well.

I will be spending today getting ready for my trip to Ft. Wayne/St. Louis. We've been watching the weather and its looking pretty good so far, hope we don't get stranded down there though with this unpredictable weather. Actually, I'm more likely to get stranded in Ft. Wayne. I'm just not comfortable traveling in the winter months. I guess I'm getting a little paranoid since that awful 96 car pile up here and my last snowy adventure last week.

Better get busy, a beautiful but windy day here so far, temps are going to be dropping as the day goes on.

Greetings to all who enter the castle! We made it home about 3:30, left MD about 9. The weather was much better today driving than it was Friday. We had a great time celebrating DD's Bday with her and today she is celebrating the 8th anniversary of her 29th BDay. On a sad note their renter's/friends husband decided this weekend to tell his wife of two years that he was leaving. She is a very good friend of my daughters and that kind of dampened the mood a bit. I loved the weather shirt sleeve weather Saturday and Sunday both. Here at home its windy, grey, cold and rainy.. yippee

Deb, congrats on the zip line... Not sure I could do that with one arm... but I'd try if they let me! Glad to read your retreat was a hit!

Pat, I wasn't sure about that card like I said before. I'm glad it will work, but shutters are way easier than blinds. We thought about stopping for a bit (and a scone), but with the weather so iffy this time of year we decided to pass. We will get together again on one of our trips there.

Phyllis hope your trip goes well. Have a great time!

Happy Monday to Jess and Renate.

Hugz and warm wishes,
Gramma

Hello again, thought I would check in before I leave tomorrow morning. I will try to check in while I'm away.

Gramma glad you didn't get the snow. LOL on your DD's 29th birthdays.

Pat, you mentioned in another post about the taxes in MD, we pay through the nose here too but go just a few miles away and its about half what we pay, just not right.

OK, off my tax rant, just one more thing adding to my frustrating day. I need to get myself in a better mood before tomorrow. Long story.

Renate, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, I think we may come thru Indy on our way to St. Louis, not sure of the route. Hope you can keep that rested look.

Hello Deb and Joanne.

Afternoon, it is a soggy, wet day here....more rain in the forecast too....lower part of state might be under another tornado event.....I agree with the messy/crazy weather we have had.....

Hubby has again called the drs office, we have an appt Monday with our lawyer, just don't have a clue as to what is going to happen.....we are in a constant state of limbo it seems.....his blood pressure is way up too.....

Gracie is doing great, still trying to clear up the tear stains, but I know the teething causes some of that too...will keep working on it.....

Had a cake in the oven, oh what a mess....overflowed, made a huge mess on the foil in the oven, thank goodness I had that down....taste good but 1/4 of the cake stuck in the pan......not sure I will try it again....

Phyllis have a safe trip, how did the pup's nail get?

Pat did you get the 'huge list of email' folks done? My cards will go in the mail tomorrow, sorry I couldn't get more done to mail this time....the retreat 'helping' will dip into the scrap time....oh well....my hope is to get a bigger box with a couple themes in it....

Renate it was nice of your worker folks to say you looked rested....are you still rested today? Glad you had some visiting time with your DS.....

Jess how was your work day?

Gramma glad you had a nice visit with DD and her '8th visit of the 29th year of her birth'.....we held on with one hand going down the line.

Hello to Karen, Joanne and any else that might drop in.....

My tablet has continued to 'freeze up', battery will not die, unable to do anything, reset button doesn't help, no help online to assist.....my friend has taken it home with her to see if she can 'lay hands' on it . Was told that was 'common with that brand', sure wish they had told me that.....anyway, I decided to buy an iPad mini this morning....so I will have to spend some time tonight getting it set up, my friend helped me with a few things this afternoon, we even did 'facetime'....

Cooked an extra burger for supper tonight so I am headed to get that heated up and get on some comfy clothes.....later.....

Good evening! The MB must like me again, I got in twice in one day! Going to attempt a quick catch up!

Deb~Glad you had a good weekend. It seems like just trying to get basic info about MIL/situation is taking forever. No wonder H's blood pressure is up. Sorry your cake didn't do what it was supposed to do! My day was fine. Enjoy your ipad mini!

Renate~I'm glad you had a nice time with family. You are a trooper on your scanning project! Hope the work week is treating you well and you had no messes to go back to.

Pat~Hope you're head is feeling better and you've dealt with the society stuff. I sure hope your hard work is appreciated.

Phyllis~Did you have an okay drive? Will keep my fingers crossed for good weather for you!

Gramma~Good to hear you had a nice with with DD and family. Bummer about her friend.

I worked all weekend on stamp camp. I'm ready except for the inevitable changes. My SU! friends and I are going to try and do some shoebox swaps each month. We're each going to try and do two different cards. Start next week. Need to find time to get some together...trying to have some fun with card making rather than all work. Also need to do some serious work on the wedding invitations. Hoping for a good nights rest tonight. Don't have my hopes up, never seems to happen!! Have a great evening!

Jess

good evening.. society business is caught up and to answer someone's question, yes my hard work is appreciated. I am one who takes initiative and it usually pays off. So while I complain, I only do what I want to do.
I continue to also work on page kits for the crop next month.
Phyllis, I hope you had a safe trip today and that you will be able to check in while you are gone.
Deb, sorry your tablet gave you such fits. I am sure you will be happy with your iPad. So far (a little over a year now) I have enjoyed my Thrive. I know I could do way more with it than I do, but every time I just sit and play with it, I figure out something new I can do with it. Lately I have been downloading lots of free books to have handy when we travel.
Jess, what is a "shoebox swap"? Happy MOW tomorrow.
Gramma, a while back you sent me a card and some tea stamps. The card had a circle cut with a border edge. Do you know where the cut is from? I can take a picture of it if you can't remember. I've been trying to find a comparable one from my Cricut carts. Look forward to having you stop by for tea 'n scones on another trip.
I need to clean up my work table, so I can start tomorrow back on page kits. Had to get a new unit to send to. This one supports a large group. I will be packing the box as full of cards as I can.
Joanne, I see you just posted. I will be watching for your cards.

Good Wednesday morning....quick and painless trip to tax office this morning....what we get back will go toward a vacation we are planning later this year....every penny will help.

Pat the box of cards went in the mail this morning, should be there Fri I hope....these are spring and a few birthday.

Joanne good to hear from you, glad you enjoyed your concert....

I have my friend coming back this morning, I can't get email set up correctly on the new iPad so we will rethink the issue....told me I could not 'send' last night, now this morning it won't receive....but we will get it together.....

Hello to everyone this morning....I am off to get clothes in the dryer, unload the dishwasher and pray this headache goes away....must make it to church tonight to verify some info for the bulletin which I am helping with now....plus I need to figure out how to move it from MS Works to MS Word....later....

Evening, still having trouble getting my email account to work correctly on the ipad...my friend was here for a couple hours but we still didn't get it running....

Renate I made a Caramel Apple Pound Cake, using the recipe that our cooking teacher provided, either my pan was not as big as hers or I did something wrong......I doubled checked the recipe in two papers, so I think if I make it again some will be put in another pan....ingredients were exact.....

After a day of running around like headless chickens in the house, we were told MIL should have been dismissed yesterday, but no later than Friday...hubby has asked every day about the nursing home, think that fell thru the crack...anyway we thought they had a local bed, nope....now it appears she will go to the next county....we have to get her in the n/h from the hospital......so if I don't show up the next couple days, you know where I will be.....I was just about in tears this afternoon......and hubby wasn't much better....this has been so stressful and we had made some nice plans for lunch tomorrow...oh well....maybe next week......

Hope everyone has a great night, I am ready for some warm, comfy clothes....

Happy Valentine's Day in the Castle
Drizzly, thundery and a bit chilly here. Good day to just stay put.
Pat - the cards should be there tomorrow. I took them to FedEx yesterday. Glad that you enjoy your society work. You do not need to be doing stuff you don't enjoy at this stage of life :) I gave my Thrive to DH and he loves it.
Deb - I do so hope that things will get settled for all of you soon. This mess has not been fair to anyone. It took me awhile to get my email set up on my iPad also (I use Verizon). I finally called tech support and he talked me through it. I never did figure out what I was doing wrong, but it works fine now and I get both my verizon as well as gmail.
Renate - Ringling has a large museum complex in Sarasota that consists of a beautiful art museum, a circus museum and the mansion. We only did the art museum that day. John Ringling was quite an art collector. All the buildings and grounds are just spectacular. I am sure your DS will love the album. Um..Yeah... I still have DH's Iraq in a box.....
Jess - TGIF is coming soon. Hope you are able to keep the mumbling and muttering under control!! Yes, what is a shoebox swap?
Hello to Phyllis and Gramma
Joanne

Happy Friday! Have a fabulous day!

Jess

Morning, not sure what today will bring, visit to nursing home was pretty much a no go...nurse did not think she would meet the criteria, plus other things...nurse mentions assisted living around the block, she contacts the hospital social worker/since she can't come home per drs orders....right now we are waiting on their 10am visit to a$$e$$ her before we can do anything/then her bed, sofa, chair, etc have to be taken down...if that falls thru we will have to start all over I guess.....word of advice: get your affairs in order if they aren't......this has been a nightmare and isn't over yet.....every night I feel like a piano on my chest when I lay down....sad that this time of our life is so difficult when it doesn't have to be.......

Pat one of the girls that always came to the retreats had a baby late last year, she came to visit and that was the picture...we are a crazy group when that camera starts flashing...

Jess thanks for the info on the swap....sounds like a great idea....we did that a couple times at a friend's house....

Joanne sorry about the cruddy weather....it is cold here this morning...brrrrr.....

Hello to Renate, Phyllis, Gramma and Karen.....have a great day and I will let you know later what the day brings.....

Good Saturday morning.....well it has been a hectic two weeks.....but we did get MIL in the assisted living facility...

Pat I see my cards are in MD....maybe they will arrive today.....

I am going to try and catch up on all the household chores that have gone lacking, plus the apartment is in bad shape....it is going to take a few days of hard work and heavy elbow grease to get it in some order....you can tell I didn't do the cleaning the last 6 weeks.....my friend is going to come up and help me do some furniture moving.....want to get it set up for hubby to go out and watch TV while I am cleaning house and he won't be banished to the computer room .....

Have a great weekend and will check in later.....thanks for all the support you ladies have given during these trying days....love you all......

Good Saturday early afternoon,
it's in the 20s today and breezy. Pat, glad your snow didn't stay around so you can work on your to-do list. Winter is not over yet I'm sure, we have gotten some last minute punches in the past also. Have fun and lots of inspiration with your page kits.
Gramma, ditto on the snow, although at the moment we are snow free. There is some in the forecast though.
Deb, SOOO glad about the ALF news. Is this permanent? You and H deserve a big break, I hope you will have the belated Vday lunch and then work on the cleaning project.
Jess, hope you are enjoying your weekend and having a good SC.
Joanne, aren't you glad you were not on THAT cruise? Scary event.
I've had a busy day, laundry, started cleaning, went shopping and back to laundry and cleaning. I'm planning to do some purging in my clothes closet and where ever else is needed. Spring must be in the air although I never do official Spring cleaning. My laptop has been giving me a headache, something about not shutting down right. It's working ok now but a little slow. Might have to take and have it checked. I back up the few files I have on it but I also have a program loaded that I don't want to risk losing. Always something.
Well, back to my chores. Good day/evening to the castle, hello to all. Renate

Happy Saturday!
Had a good time in Paradise last night and am pretty well set for the three day crop next weekend. I'll have the two baby albums to work on and can always do some card tops if I finish or get bored. I will have plenty of scraps etc with me!!
Forgot to mention those manatees--- there were about four of them making baby manatees. Maybe we will have a new arrival next spring :)
Renate - Boy am I ever glad we were not on that cruise. The cabins and bathrooms are not all that big and I cannot even imagine how horrific it must have been. Our next cruise is in March with Carnival. Have my fingers crossed! That cruise line really needs to straighten up their act... Our big cruise is next October in the Mediterranean and then across the Atlantic. It is with Royal Caribbean. That is the one that we originally booked with Carnival and they cancelled it. It was a real pain to fix but I sure am I glad they did now!
Deb- so glad to hear that MIL got into the ALF. Will she be able to have her own furniture etc? Sorry the apt is in bad shape. All that cleaning might be a good stress release though. I hope you and Howard can do something fun for yourselves soon. <3 u 2!
Gramma - Haha on the sticky snow. Probably comes from the same clouds as that really wet rain!
Pat - glad the cards got to you okay. Yeah, I remember some of those nasty late winter storms up there. There were some real doozies too. Hope there is no repeat this year.
Jess - hope SC is going well. A shoe box swap sounds like fun. I think you could drive east through Indiana and Ohio with those cookies and then just take a right at Gramma's and hit all of us!
Hello to Phyllis - are you still traveling? Hope you are having a good time.
Joanne

Edited by user Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:19:29 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified