Good morning its Monday here in Az./

Oh Pat, you have certainly had your share of health issues.  Take care of yourself and know that we are thinking about you!
Margaret

Glad to hear you are ok now, Pat. Know you must be disappointed that gall bladder surgery had to be postponed but better later than sorry now.  Rest up and follow doctors orders...shopping always makes me feel better LOL  Even if I don't buy anything, I love to look ;-)  Take care and rest!
Hugs
Nancy aka Sunray

Hi Jan C. and OFF family,
Living in Ecuador with lots of banana trees...Wow!! Have fun on your small farm!!

It's rainy here in Michigan and it's suppose to be a wacky week of weather from warm, rainy and a little snow...that's Michigan...gotta love it!

I had a great weekend and babysat Holly Friday and Saturday cuz daddy was sick. Took Holly for a stroller ride and she loves it. I just love babies, I just love being a grandma and I feel so blessed.

Sunday after church I just chilled, watched basketball and did my laundry. I even took a nap!

I just went and got weighed for our weight loss challenge here at work, was up .2 pounds.
I hate the scale because it only gives one unit of measure. I'm working out with weights and building muscle so I know the scale hopefully will drop next week. I don't have a scale at home for this very reason. I can tell my inches are falling off me once again so I gotta put the scale crap out of my head. Hugs and prayers for all in need. Debbie

Jan,

How exciting. I can hardly imagine the garden you will plant in Equador. Oh my.. with your green thumb, the posibilities are endless.

Kisses
Annette

Wow Jan, what an exciting time this must be.  I will look forward to hearing about your new adventures in upcoming posts as you get settled in to your new life. . .  I have researched some "more affordable" places to retire in the hopes that one day I will be able to do so, as this country is not so friendly to folks *****ach their golden years without having planned very well for it and while I planned some, I lost a lot of that 3 years back and have not been able to afford to add anything to it, though I have begun again to participate in the 401k plan in place at the job I am in now.  Anyway I wish you well and hope all goes very well for you and yours.

I am enjoying my last day here in Florida before I return to my reality at 4 a.m. tomorrow when I get up to catch my 6 a.m. flight home, heading straight to work from the airport and working until 6 both tomorrow and Wednesday, so by Thr I should be totally worn out, but all for a very good reason. . .  I am loving being here and hoping to spend some time in the sun today.

Hope all of you have a good day wherever you are and wishing strength and peace to those of you facing more serious life challenges.

Hugs, Laureen

Sign me up!!! I'd love to visit Ecuador. However, I also longed to visit your beautiful gardens in Missouri! Mike and I loved the Tucson area. Have you been to the Kartchner Caverns and the Gallery of the Sun? We also drove up to Mt. Lemmon and visited the Saguaro Natl Park and High Desert Museum. Didn't leave many stones unturned and look forward to visiting the area again. It was wonderful to be there in February when it was still cold here. Did you fly down to Ecuador? Did it feel safe to you?  Can't wait to hear more about your adventures!

Karen Ecuador is very safe ,,,,maybe not in large cities but then it isnt safe in any large city anywhere i dont think....oh when you were at the Saguaro National park you were right across the street from where my daughter lives and where im at right now...in fact i can see the entrance to the park from her back porch lol ...

Good morning, OFF!

Jan, since I'm one of those "new people", I haven't met you before, but your new adventure sounds wonderful. Best of luck in Ecuador! What language do they speak there? Are there lots of ex-pats?

For everyone else, I have an announcement to make: IT MOVED!!! That dad-blamed scale FINALLY moved down a pound! Woo hoo! That was a long 12 days. I know I said I wasn't going to weigh again until April 1st, but after mowing the grass yesterday, I just felt lighter, you know? I decided to weigh this morning, and I lost another 1.2 pounds.

(I need to mow the grass more often, I think!)

Lots to do this week. My mom and I are going to take a road trip on Friday to go see my girls. So I need to look lively around here the next few days.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

Vickie

Ecuador questions ....yes it is safe in Ecuador, the people there are warm and loving and very sweet. Spanish is spoken there for the most part altho you can make yourself understood to most people. lol Weather there is the same temps year round ....in the area where we will be is pretty moderate temps nights 50s daytimes 70=80s ...two seasons wet and dry. lol  exact same amount of daylight and dark everyday   12 hours of each since it is right on the equator....the temps on the coast are of course warmer  and then on the other side of the Andes is the amazon jungle and it is hot and very humid....so there are three different areas in this small country the size of Colorado.

Money is the american dollar which i dont know about that but they changed to it a few years ago.
Health care for anyone over 65 is totally free, meds, surgery, doctors etc etc....even if you arent a natural citizen...and to anyone else it is really cheap....i went with a girl down there to get a crown put on ...cost her 150.00 if you need lots of dental work done a vacation down there would pay for itself just by having dental work done ....same with other surgerys....and they have state of the art hospitals and doctors trained in U.S for the most part.
The cost of living is very very cheap....elect bills for most everyone is around 10 to 15 dollars a month...no a/c or heat needed....most everyone has a small fireplace in the house using wood for any time that at night it does get chilly...the house we bought doesnt have so we will probably have someone come in and build one for us.

Lets see what else did you all ask...yes i already have some garden areas laid out in my head and on paper will have to get there to start them....flowers and plants and gardens grow year round ...plants that we grow as annuals here are blooming and growing all the time...like petunias and impatients and geranimus....marigolds and zinnias , anything that we normally plant in the spring are there all the time. can you imagine to a gardener like me it is paradise....Bougiville blooming and growing all over the place. if you have facebook i put a lot of pictures on there ...the house on the property is a small two bedroom house built by a young man as what he needed so we will have lots to do there also....we will probably be building on to it to make it larger and i know a big front porch so i can plant bougiville on it lol ....Joe said well i just thought i was done working , now my wife went and bought a place in another country so i have to start all over lol  not sure of anything else anyone ask ....

Well, Jan, wow, that's quite a big move. Congrats on the big change. I thought moving to La. was a big change.

Now I'm not doing too much. Day 3 of three days off. I had plans to do a lot today but didn't sleep well ... kept getting up sweating and in pain. Finally went to sleep about 3 and slept til 5, then woke up again ... got to sleep til 7, then up again; finally slept til 11 at that point. So much for doing a lot. Well, I still need to get some stuff done but not as much as I had planned.

I will get to the chiro today because my body is hurting ... day 2 of Cymbalta. I know it takes time to work, so I'm trying to be patient.

Good luck to you, Jan, in your new adventure. Hope you can log on when you get to Ecuador and let us know what's going on.

Have a good day, y'all.