VSG Maintenance Group
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Just came back from another 2.5 hours of wandering up and down some cute little side streets. More well SIL did not come again because she has a terrible cold. Hoping less well SIL and I don't get it!
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
Diane, thanks belatedly for this info. Roses are so specialized these days. Ditto hydrangeas, which we also love.
ANN 5'5", AGE 74, HW 235.6 (BMI 39.2), SW 216, GW 150, CW 132, BMI 22
POUNDS LOST: Pre-op -20, M1 -10, M2 -11, M3 -10, M4 -10, M5 -7, M6 -5, M7 -6, M8 -4, M9 -4,
NEXT 10 MOS. -12, TOTAL -100 LBS.
It is July already! Just one more night in this apartment as we move to the hotel near the wedding tomorrow. And DH arrives around mid-day tomorrow. Yay!
We are using an app called Splitwise to keep track of expenses and split them up. Anytime one of us pays an expense for the group we enter the amount and check off who is splitting it and it keeps track of it all. Really helpful! To use the free version each user can only add 4 expenses per day but if you start it fairly early on that should be plenty.
I did take a long walk on my own yesterday (2.5 hours). I tried a walking tour I found online which started in our neighborhood but it kept me more in the neighborhood than I liked. This is a safe, sort of middle-class area but there is a lot of trash thrown out on the sidewalks to walk around which gets a bit disgusting. So I walked up to an area I had been through previously and walked streets fanning out from there. I also found a newer way back to the apartment which was more pleasant. I found what is supposed to be the world's largest Primark store and bought a lightweight dress for walking around during the day. Most women wear long flowy skirts or dresses here - they do also wear pants and shorts, but dresses/skirts are more prevalent. Yesterday afternoon I went with DSD to a few art stores to look at prints. I got one but she didn't find anything.
The Flamenco last night was fantastic and we enjoyed our dinner at the world's oldest restaurant. Hmmm...oldest and largest - seems like Spain likes to have the mostest LOL. The dinner at the restaurant was good but expensive. Our waiter was a bit cranky and seemed annoyed if we didn't make decisions quickly. One of those kinds of places where they want you in and out quickly to make way for the next group.
We are somewhat getting used to later dinner hours as most restaurants don't open until 7:30 or 8. The wedding on Thursday doesn't start until 7:30. Dinner is at 9:30 and the first bus back to the hotel is at 2 am (the last at 4 am). These Europeans like to stay up late.
This morning I want to walk back to the section we were in for dinner last night and explore. This afternoon we have a private tour of the palace booked where we will push SIL around in a wheelchair. Dinner TBD with the 6 of us (nephew and niece arrived yesterday and were with us at dinner last night).
Have a timely Tuesday!
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
They did that a lot in my old neighborhood in Florida. We also had screens on our garages, so people could sit in the garage if the bugs were out. Which was weird to me because we all had lanais in the from but we were among the few who actually used it. But we also had a completely shaded and very private lanai because of the vegetation growing in front of it. It blocked the light from the house but made the lanai a great place to sit.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
Sounds like a nice apartment! Do they have any outdoor space?
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
Your weight will probably bounce around - I fluctuate in about a 2 pound range these days without much rhyme or reason as to why it is up or down a lot of the time.
I don't think I will want anything with ham for a long time after this time in Spain. There is ham on EVERYTHING (it is actually more like prosciutto but not always thinly sliced as it is in the US).
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
I am afraid to ask if your DH has made any progress in removing the crap from the guest room and if so is he just shifting it to yet another location? Good luck with that.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
That neighbor sounds like a pain in the you-know-where but maybe he will move away at some point. Unfortunately a nasty, cranky drunkard is not likely to change.
Yes, my SILs are 5 years older than me. The less well one was just as active as me until about a year ago when she started getting multiple fractures in her back. She is all bent over and in pain all the time. It appears to be due to osteoporosis which was possibly aggravated by her cancer treatments but her oncologist wants an MRI of her back (she had one about 6 months ago too). My other SIL is just not fit because she is about 50-60 pounds overweight and doesn't have much physical activity in her life.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
My former neighbor was a driveway lawn chair sitter, and he had a nice deck in the back. And yeah, he was the best source of neighborhood gossip. People in the Midwest also like to hold parties in the garage. Why? I know you have rooms in your house. Why can't you entertain me inside?
I understand it if you are supervising little kids. Driveways are fun for drawing with chalk, and riding trikes.
We have a genuine front porch. Its not huge, but I love it so much. We have a deck in the back, and it is bigger. That's where the outdoor dining table is, so that's where we entertain if we're dining al fresco :) But for paper reading, the front porch has the cushiest chairs.
on 6/30/25 3:42 pm
Productive day! My house is very tidy, the laundry room that had become a shameful repository of detritus is totally cleaned out, I met with the house watcher to give her my key (she's so nice), the electrician came and found a way to put a plug in the ceiling for my new cat patio screen, I went to the post office, gas station, and a quick stop for a loaf of bread at the store and I had a laundry triumph in getting old blood stains completely out of a mattress pad cover (my dad's skin cancer handiwork). Also did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, vacuumed, cleaned the dishwasher filter (
)... A good day!
On the porch question, we are always intrigued by how often people in Michigan don't use a porch or backyard, but bring camp chairs out to sit in front of their open garage. Then neighbors come over and more chairs are brought out. My dad and Claudia often wonder if there is something great about it we're missing and we should give it a try.
I feel like I should go find something to do while I still have energy. These spells so rarely last.
Take care all!
