Sunny Sunday
Woke up to a beautiful day after a tornado watch & a lot of thunderstorms yesterday. Hope to take advantage of it despite my still aching tailbone!
My thoughts & prayers remain with Vickie & Butch. This has been a long road for both of them. I hope it ends soon...the human spirit can only take so much & Vickie has to be totally exhausted.
I am hoping Connie & Eileen are feeling better, Carla slows down...always on the run...lol, Mary gets her grass cut, Jeannie is staying warm, that Christine pops in! congrats to Yvonne on the weight loss...yoo hoo! & getting the car fixed! Judy, don't even know what to hope for with you...maybe new tenants & peace from your own & others medical problems for a minute? Monique, hope you are enjoying that California sunshine...are you close to the ocean? And Trish, I love reading your FB posts...we are on the same page in so many ways!
As usual, I know I have forgotton a few of you, but you can bet as soon as I get off I will remember!
Everyone have a good day!
Kathy
I was going to let you know I was in Virginia... on the other Coast. Yesterday we were under a tornado watch also most of the afternoon. There actually was one that came a little too close for comfort, between the Hanover Municipal Airport and our subdivision, so about 1/2 mile from us 
Did not do any damage though. It stayed in a pretty rural area.
I hope everyone on this board is doing good or better. I admire Vickie for her strength, I don't know if I could be this strong so long!
I have been in and out all last week, my BIL is in the hospital and I run to Fredericksburg to take care of his dogs when no one else can do it. He had part of his pancreas removed about a month ago (pre-cancerous) and cannot hold food down. He had a problem with diabetes 5 years ago, was in the hospital for a month. He was supposed to stay on a diabetic diet, but he did exactly the reverse... ice cream, cookies, chocolates etc. so I feel his present problems are self-inflicted!
Big Hugs to you Kathy and to all on this board 
Monique
Aloha Kathy.....I'm in bed reading my OFF sisters comments. It is a beautiful sunny morning in California, and I am grateful to be alive and a long time member of this amazing group!! Once upon a time I came in here weighing well over 300 lbs!!! Today I weigh HALF of that, and feel thankful for losing A WHOLE PERSON!!
Vickie I too think of you every day and admire how you are dealing with Butch's end of this life.. I love that you will spend time alone to walk on the beach. The ocean has always been my healing place and I miss Maui so much and having the ocean in my back yard. Sending you a cyber hug right now..
well it looks like I have a job!! Friday I walked into a senior center in Santa Cruz and dropped off my resume and a letter of introduction. I was applying for a receptionist position. As I was walking to my car, a woman came running out shouting "Karen!" I went back in, was interviewed, and hired!! I spent the rest of the day being fingerprinted, drug tested, and being given a thorough medical checkup!!! I'm told that as soon as that all comes back I'll come in for training!! Wow! From being a clinical psychologist, to being a newborn hearing screener to now working in a senior center.....I've come a long way baby!😄
Monique, glad the tornadoes stayed away from you. We really are not used to them here on the Atlantic coast...worry more about hurricane season. And snow! But I won't go there now!
Sorry to hear about your BIL. The pancreas seems to be an organ we are blissfully unaware of until it gets out of whack. He was lucky to find out it was pre-cancerous as I thought that was one of the cancers seldom diagnosed until it was too late. I can understand him feeding on sweets...for now...that's where stress always took me!
Karen, I am so envious of you living out there! Sounds glorious, but I can imagine Hawaii calls to you! I thought your career path sounded interesting. After I recover from my WLS I hope to return to the workforce PT. However, I am looking for something low stress & solitary...am thinking of a driving-type job. Congrats on being hired SO QUICKLY! You must have really impressed!
Kathy
Good Morning Ladies!
Hey Kathy - Hope your tailbone is healing - I expect "I Feel So Guilty" Jim is taking good care of you!! :D Poor guy, must feel bad. I fractured my tailbone years ago when I went to an indoor skating rink and fell on my backside within five minutes of my arrival. Indoor skating was a lot different from skating the streets of NY! Of course, the 20 years difference in age may have contributed to my fall.
Sounds like you've been busy taking care of your BIL's dogs. "Ice cream, cookies, chocolate, etc." .... sounds awfully familiar to me. :( Like your BIL, I have to blame myself for the situation I got myself into by making bad food choices. No one forced me into the choices, but I do regret them.
Karen, Wow, amazing -- going from dropping off a resume one minute, and hired the next! You don't hear of that happening these days! How fortunate. Congratulations.
Thinking of Vickie - how exhausted she must feel. I hope her vigil comes to a peaceful end soon.... everyday I expect to hear that Butch has passed. It sounds as though he is at peace..... My heart aches for Vickie.
I am glad to say I got my lawn mower back and I gave it a workout - and it passed with flying colors. I was just going to mow the front lawn, but I keep mowing and got the sides done too.... once it stops raining, I'll be able to get the back done. I always feel so proud when I come in from mowing -- something I never was able to do in the past.
Tomorrow, we meet the liver doctor and nutritionist -- hopefully, we'll get lots of information and get the full picture on Jim's situation. We've both got to take a more active role in his care. We have a lot of questions for both!
Since it's raining outside, I'm going to get some paperwork done today, and also pick-up the living room a bit.... lots of stuff needs to be put away.
Hope everyone has a good day. Prayers and good wishes to all!
Mary
HW: 380 SW: 324 GW: 175
Ladies,
Today I take the grandkids home. I always hate that long drive but worse, I hate saying bye. Next weekend, I have some plans with old friends so we are not getting the kids and the next week, we are going out of town so it'll be three weeks before I see my babies. I will surely miss them; I already do.
Other than taking the kids home today, I have very little planned. I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom yesterday and did a little deep cleaning all over so today I am resting. I am doing tome laundry. I made these really cute capris and they are a little too big and before I take them up and risk messing with the way they fit int he crotch, I am washing them in really ho****er and hoping they shrink a bit.
Vic, I am still wishing you guys peace.
Hi Kathy and my OFF family:
Didn't get a chance to read or post this weekend ... too busy! I was so tired when we got done running around, but it was a good tired. Gary likes to go, go, go, even though now he is feeling his age, too (he's older than me). Friday we looked at apartments and found one we both liked; Saturday we tried to look at a couple more ... went to the complexes and talked to the leasing agents, but they didn't have any to show, so they showed us floor plans and pictures. One we both liked but they weren't sure if there would be one available in September, so we decided to go with the one we both liked that would have an availability. Here it is: http://www.thebrickyardapartments.com/
We will have the Prestige floor plan (not the lakeview, unfortunately).
Saturday, I had breakfast with Gary at his hotel (free hot breakfast ... eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, waffles, etc.), then we went to the Franklin Street Bazaar ... a nice street fair, farmers market, crafts, etc. While walking around, I found a winery (OF COURSE!) but it wasn't open then. So we looked at a couple of apartments and then drove back to The Brickyard because Gary wanted to look at the specific unit to see what our view would be from our patio (we look out at other people's patios). Then we went back to Franklin Street and the winery tasting room (the winery is elsewhere). We could taste six wines for $5. We did that, then I bought a glass of wine for each of us. I also bought four bottles of wine and a souvenir glass.
While we were driving around all day, we got to see the air show above ... the Blue Angels and other acts were performing in the skies above Grand Rapids. So cool! Loud, too!
Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. You would think it was the only place to go. We got there just about 3:30 p.m. and it was already a 15-minute wait. By the time we left, they were lining up outside. We drove by the Greek place we ate at the night before, and there was hardly anyone there. Now, really, Texas Roadhouse was good, but the Greek restaurant was much better.
I got my car from the hotel and Gary came back to my place and we watched a movie off Amazon Prime, "Words and Pictures." Cute movie, romantic comedy.
Oh, and the other news was we got an acceptable offer on mom's house. So it seems to be sold, if all goes through. The money she gets should be good to get her through for awhile.
Hope all is well for everyone. I hope Vickie and Butch are finding peace in their journey. We had thunderstorms on Friday but it was gorgeous Saturday and equally beautiful today. Unfortunately, today I have to go back to work.
Have a good day.
