IT'S SATURDAY......WHAT'S NEW????

Good Morning all!  I get to go quilting today!! A friend of mine built a new home and the basement is set up for quilters to come and go.....she even bought a pool table so we can lay out our quilt pieces!!! Just kidding, but it does come in quite handy!

It is snowing here in northern Iowa.  Yesterday when I went to Faye's home to quilt I had to come to a complete stop on the highway because of momma and baby deer!  And my husband is sitting in a tree waiting for them to come to HIM!!!!

I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat.  Hope it goes away.  We have a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine this evening and then next week I will be training AGAIN on our new software doing the utility billing....there is NO WAY tht I can be sick........guess the world won't come to an end but........guess I am too dedicated to my job!  Been there for over 20 years.  Have excellent benefits even though every two years there is a different set of "bosses"!

WEll, off to get ready for the day.

Hugs and blessings.........V

Ok, ok, I know I've been AWOL long enough. Don't really know what my problem is. Kind of have gotten out of touch and just lazy.

Busy, busy, busy here trying to still get settled enough in the new home to have company next week! Guest room has a bed, but it's covered with pictures, boxes, assorted "treasures" that I haven't figured out where to put. It also houses my computer which is currently on a small roll top desk which is definitely not big enough. CPU is on the floor, printer is on the floor, cords are everywhere. Does not look very welcoming at all!

Today's task will be to make it more presentable. Have looked and looked for a corner computer desk. Found a couple that I like but don't want to pay the price. 

Also want to post a new avatar, but haven't taken the time to pic out a recent pic. Also, have tons of new pics of the twins. . . . I am so NOT a multi-tasker and this gets too overwhelming to me. I find myself going in circles and not accomplishing much. I need someone here to point and direct. I am a great follower but right now am kind of like a dog chasing it's tail!!

It's windy and cold. Think I'll go sit by the fire, have a cup, and read the paper for starters. You all have a great weekend.

Aloha and good early morning Janet and my OFF family!

It's 4:30 a.m. and I'm dressed and ready to go to the hospital to test "my babies." I have been bad about posting lately, and have filled you all in "in my mind" but not on my computer...Ha! I do come in and read as much as I can, but life gets in the way, donchaknow!!

Janet....I'm following your progress closely, and you seem to be doing just fine after your surgery. That gives me hope. I haven't been thinking too much about my panniculectomy which I'm having on Dec. 3rd, but suddenly I'm getting those little butterflies in my belly that tell me that my time is coming very soon and I'm nervous. I go to the plastic surgery forum and that really spooks me! But you, Karen and others have had much more extensive surgery than I'm having and you survived beautifully so I'm hanging onto that. I'm a big wuss!!

We are being told that a big storm is on it's way, but I'll believe it when I see it. It hasn't rained on my side of the island in MONTHS and the hills are brown and dry as toast. Yesterday it was 84 degrees! We so need a good soaking and I hope it comes today as it is supposed to.

Tonight I'm going to a Cecelio and Kapono concert at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center with some friends. C & K are our favorite Hawaiian singers and we don't ever miss a concert they give on Maui. I'm wearing a long slinky black dress and a light black and teal green wrap. The thing that amazes me is that I used to be so uncomfortable in the seats at the MACC......squeezed in to the point of pain. Now I have room on both sides....and that is a double whammy WOW!!

I hope you all are surviving the crazy world we are living in these days. So many are losing their homes, their jobs, their security. At least the cost of gasoline has gone down for you on the mainland. Here, it is still $3.50 a gallon! Outrageous!

Time to get going. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday.

Aloha nui loa,

Maui Karen

Maui Karen, no worries on your surgery.  It's not a picnic on the beach but it's manageable.  Please take any and all help that is offered you. It's priceless.  No need to be a martyr until you are through this.

I've really not been in any pain and have only taken half a dosage of pain medication at all times.  I am still in disbelief that I can see all the way to my ... oh, wait...

Enjoy your concert tonight.

Janet

How soon you forget! I well remember our arrival on your beautiful island on Dec 7th last  year, right after a nasty storm that left things in a mess. It's that time of year Island Lady! Oh how I'd love to see Cecelio and Kapono live. Perhaps on my next visit. I now have almost 60,000 frequent flyer miles thanks to appliances, furniture, television for the new home. We paid them off as soon as the bill came in so nothing to show for the damage except a couple of free trips. I think it takes 40,00 Alaska miles to get me to Maui and back from Seattle.

I so identified with your post about the concert. Friends would ask me to go and I'd often make excuses not wanting to tell them the real reason that I couldn't go. Torture being squeezed into those seats and even then I couldn't get all the way in. You'll look lovely. Have a wonderful time. Gotta run.

Well, here's the poop today, Janet and my OFF family:

There's no poop on the floor! Yey!I firmly believe it was Diva that was pooping diarrheal poop because I saw what she deposited in the litter box yesterday ... I may get some pumpkin and some canned food and see if that helps her. I may also call the vet and see if Benefiber would be good, too. I know the cats will love the canned food again, but I cut it out when I went into bankruptcy to save money. Oh well ... with gas going down, I can put that extra money to canned cat food. I wanted to put it toward bills.

I was pleased with my meeting with my editors, although I was told not to discuss with coworkers ... all I told anyone was it went well. Vague enough. I told "the big guy" that I couldn't take the buyout and why ... was too young to retire, no money, no job prospects at my age at another newspaper in this job market. And I love the newspaper business. It's really all I know. At one time in my life, I consider becoming a paralegal (actually, twice). I took a career survey at the employment to see where my other interests might lie ... it told me my strengths were in communications. Which is what I was in. I just had to switch gears from sportswriting to editing, find another place to use my skills. My editor at the time knew that ... I didn't. I'm grateful that Cindy (my editor in South Dakota) was wise enough to open my eyes to the joys of editing and paginating (which I thought would be boring) ... I love this now, more than I ever thought I could. I enjoyed writing and sometimes it consumed me ... but I was burnt out. I began to hate going to games, hate the athletes, and that wasn't right. Now I love sports again because I don't have to write about them. And I love writing again. It's not a chore anymore.

Paulette and her husband, Earl, are coming up today with a used lift recliner for me. So I don't have to get a new chair before my surgery. I'm so lucky to have so many wonderful friends that I found on OFF. I don't know what I'd do without all of you. My handyman is also supposed to come over and check the leak around the base of my toilet. Then I have to go to work this afternoon. So busy day today.

Have a good day. See ya tomorrow or later today. It's always kind of slow on Saturdays at work.

Well I started off the day cooking as I am making 'unrolled cabbage rolls' for our church anniversary pot luck tomorrow.
While doing this my son and grandbaby arrived to install our new carseat in our car.  Grandbaby graduates to a front facing for her birthday on Dec 4.
so now I am babysitting while he goes to put snow tires on his car and my DH went to help him.
So Elizabeth and I just had lunch (sure is handy that we eat the same now, I am on soft foods).  She has now gone for her nap and after I finish here I am going to join her.  I still tire easily.
Sheri

Hi Janet and friends! No "poop" but here's the scoop! Been so busy for about a month or so. Haven't been around much. During that time I had my 3-year surgiversary.  Bone density has started going down; slight osteopenia so I might have to go on Evista. Up to my primary who I don't see until Jan 2. Otherwise everything is A-OK. BMI still 21!!

Major doings at work. I and my group will report to a different sr director in the same dept on Jan 1. I am very glad; it is a good thing; presently I report to a parallel director who is located in France! Communication is hard due to the time difference and she is so busy traveling all over Europe for the other responsibilities she has. Never has time to really listen to the issues we have here in Deerfield. Now at least I and my group will be accountable to the director in charge of all the workflow that leads up to our responsibilities, and we'll have a bigger voice at the table - or at least we'll BE at the table. My group had their usual selfish reaction; too bad they have such a resistance to change instead of seeing it as an opportunity for more involvement.

Well, my foyer is chock full of packages delivered this week. I am going crazy ordering new Xmas decor. Last year I didn't decorate at all since I had just moved in the new house and had a thousand other boxes to unpack before finding the holiday stuff. I can't use my big tree from the old house so I'm doing small trees in many of the rooms, 4 footers on tables, others in urns, various styles and colors, etc. And window candles in all the windows. QVC is making a mint from my purchases, LOL. So much fun. Can't wait till next weekend. Taking an extra day on Mon, the 1st, so I'll have 5 days off to get into the holiday spirit.

Later today will be taking little Sadie to the beauty shop for her haircut, bath, ears, toenails, etc. That's all that's planned so far for this weekend. I added 2 recent pix of dear Sadie to my profile.

Have a good one!