Fashion

[KonaKat]

Good morning, shopping friends. It is in the 50s and it is pouring the rain. What a contrast to the temperatures of a few days ago.

I did go to the city for the MRI yesterday and also had lunch with a friend. I resisted going into any stores despite ads and promotions I had. We ate at the Olive Garden, where I had the soup and salad which saved me a minimum of $10 off my usual meal. Although it filled me up when I ate it, I was hungry by the time I got out of the MRI. Insufficient protein in the meal compared to the 20g of protein I have in my usual lunch bar for 180 calories.

Today, I've been working on reorganizing some things in the kitchen. I'm not doing this but I read a decluttering thing that said to take all your kitchen utensils and put them in a big box and pull them out as you use them. After cleaning, replace the used utensil in the drawer. At the end of the month, any utensils in the box that went unused should be considered for elimination.

Oh, I did love the Joan Rivers jacket Leah was wearing this morning. I gritted my teeth and put it on the wish list. I am trying to get through this month without making a want purchase. I'm a jacket-holic so I have a great supply of jackets. Enough said!

As far as the water contamination problem in our state, the company that leaked the chemical of unknown side effects is in deep trouble. Hotels outside the contaminated area have offered to let people use their unused rooms so they can take showers. Some hotels are offering reduced rates for those who just want to get away from the mess.

Off to have my mid-morning snack of Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurt. Have a great day! Shop wisely!

[KonaKat]

I put that Body Blade thing on wish list. I don't want to order until I hear what the orthopedic surgeon says. I know it is used to help with rotator cuff problems. First, I need to know exactly the nature of the problem.

I'm off to fix lunch. I've accomplished a lot this morning, so after lunch, Midnight and I will retreat to bed to finish a mystery I'm reading on my Kindle. After the break, I'll see if I can get into something else. For some reason, I'm unusually motivated!

[LindaLatte]

Good Morning/Afternoon! Thanks for getting us started Jean. Glad you aren't dealing with snow, and also glad you aren't in the affected area for the water problem. Sounds like a terrible mess. Hope they figure things out soon and people can get back to a more normal life. Nothing like hot running water is there?

Glad you had the MRI taken care of yesterday and enjoyed lunch. It is interesting the differences in how "full" you feel when you eat different things. Sometimes I feel like I am a bottomless pit -- hungry and more hungry. Thank goodness I don't have a weight problem or I would be in trouble!

Good for you with the organizing. I am making some progress with my papers, but there are many more to go. I was just talking to DH (who really didn't have a strong opinion) about throwing out old utility bills. Our electric company, etc. have things on-line, and even have a graph in the bills showing what you paid last year. Anyway, I'm strongly thinking about shredding rather than filing my 2011 and maybe 2012 bills. Any opinions ladies?

I didn't see Leah -- was she wearing the Joan's Moroccan jacket? I purchased that jacket last year and love it. Get compliments from strangers, etc. It was certainly not a need for me, and I am sure it isn't for you either, just FYI.

In answer to Kathleen's question -- yes, it was the smoke detector that I had forgotten we had. Thank goodness no more chirping around here.

I couldn't stand not checking out the sidewalk sale at the boutique yesterday, and I am so happy that I did. While some of the things looked nice, nothing worked for me. I walked away empty handed and happy with myself. Small victory, but.... It was nice that two of the shop people came out and talked to me -- one remembered my name, and the other said that I was the "talk of the shop" since I wore things "out of the box" for me and looked nice. Now I'm sure I'll return there someday, but hopefully control my impulse purchase gene.

We heard from DH's DD and DS, and now we know their desire for his estate. It will entail another visit to our estate planner, etc., but that should be doable.

I have my regular Saturday laundry and financial stuff to do, and I purchased a whole chicken to roast. I haven't done that for a while, but they had a very good sale at the grocery store.

Waves to Kathleen, Sonya, Arlene, Susan, Marijane, Rosa, LindaR, Nancy, Karen, Val, Gayle, Kathy, twinny, and all of our posters and readers.

Have a good day everyone!

Hugs,

Linda

[PAlady]

Good afternoon ladies, hope all is well.

Jean - Thank you for starting us today, hope the MRI is a success and you find out what is wrong with your shoulder. Keep up the good work on the decluttering and organizing. I need to get back to that next week. I am going to make an effort on it, it is starting to drive me crazy the stacks of stuff in the extra bedroom. I have a feeling 95% of the paper "stuff" is going in the garbage. I love the Olive Gardens soup and salad, I usually do pretty good after it and not feel hungry. That is nice that hotels are offering use of unused rooms to shower in and reduced rates for those who want to get away from it all. I would take the room just to get away from it all (of course the dog would have to come also).

Not much on the schedule for today, we are going out to dinner with DH's son and wife and then to see Larry the Cable's show. This should be interesting, I like Larry the Cable Guy in small amounts, we will see how a whole show of him is.

We are having warmer temps today, but it has been raining since this morning, and for some reason this morning we lost our power for about an hour, of course I just got done washing my hair. Needless to say I had to re-wet it so I could dry it so I did not look like some wild woman.

Well off to get some caffeine and iron a shirt for tonight. Hope everyone has a great afternoon.

[PAlady]

LindaL - I would pitch the old bills, or maybe keep the last bill from last year for a reference, I think utility bills are something you just keep for the year and get rid of. Sorry you went home empty handed, maybe next time you will find a treasure at the shop.

Have a good day.

[FunkyHulaGirl]

Hi girls!

Well, the plumber was here - I was picturing a huge, burst pipe, given the amount of water pouring out, but no, he showed me the piece he replaced and it was a small split in a 2" section of pipe. I'm now waiting for the water company to turn the water back on, as it's an old meter and valve and they shut it off to tightly this guy didn't want to force it and chance breaking it when he wasn't able to do it. I was on hold for over 10 minutes; pipes are burst all over the city; the plumber said he's done about 35 repairs to burst pipes in the last couple of days. He brought his little boy with him, who was a real cutie - I asked him his name, and he said, "Superman!" He's three years old, and his dad was taking him to play in a basketball league he just started for 3 & 4 year olds.

Yesterday the HVAC guy cleaned out the unit and said there was no charge, as he was going to put it down as a second opinion call. He did say the heat exchanger has to be replaced, as there are holes in it (he took pictures that he showed me), but he took down the serial number and said that he's able to use it to check and see if it's still under warranty - I hope and pray it is; that way I'd just have to pay for labor.

Jean, that was nice of the hotels to do that - after 3 days with only sponge baths (I filled the tub before the water was shut off), I'm soooo ready for a long, hot shower!

That kitchen gadget organizing idea wouldn't work for me; I have a lot of specialty baking items that I don't often use, but are really essential when I do need them. I did manage to get rid of a bunch more stuff yesterday - a family's home burned down, they had no renter's insurance, and a neighborhood group is collecting everything they need - they have four little kids and lost everything.

LindaL, I've done that, where I just had to check out a sale, and found that there was nothing I really wanted, but just the act of looking satisfied me and I wasn't left wondering.

It rained all night and was supposed to continue on through today, but it's gotten quite nice out, and - thankfully - warm, with temps in the 60s.

Well, I'm going to take a nap while I wait for the water company - then it's going to be time for a shower, laundry, running the now full dishwasher.... I learned over the past few days that one of the advantages of having dogs is, if you put a dish down for just a couple of seconds it'll be licked clean, so not being able to rinse my plates off wasn't a problem!

Have a blessed day, everyone!

[FunkyHulaGirl]

BTW, LindaL, I get all my utility bills electronically, so I don't have the problem of saving them, although even when I got paper bills I tossed them after they were paid - all the bills have a chart showing using for the past 12 months, so there's no reason to keep more clutter.

[Genny1]

good afternoon ladies! a very rainy and foggy day here but warm.53......yesterday we had about an inch of unexpected snow and Tuesday was 5 below.....what crazy weather,but I will take the rain and not complain. I guess we don't realize how much we depend on water,electric etc till it's not there. I hope the water situation gets settled Jean. That sounded like a good idea about putting all your kitchen stuff in a box and see now much you use. Enjoy your show and dinner tonight Susan. It would make me crazy if I didn't go to the store LindaL and see what they had....it sounds like you had gotten a good deal on the items you purchased at the fashion show. I do not save any utility bills,phone bills etc either, when. I pay them out they go....the only thing I do save are the monthly bank statements and now that cancelled checks are not sent back it's very little paper to save. Hope you get your DD all moved back to school Kathleen! before you know the semester will be over and she will be back home for the summer,it seems the times flies when the kids head off to college. Not much going on here, college basketball is on so will be watching some of that. I hope everyone has a nice afternoon . prayers still going your way Karen. Hope your rib is improving Val. Marijane.

[Genny1]

Really crazy weather now.......thunder..lighting...teeming rain....still very foggy, Marijane.

[kmcshopper]

Jean- When I heard about the chemical spill, You're the first person I thought of. I pray you're ok. I hope you have bottled water to drink.

I hope 2014 will be a wonderful year for all my friends on here. Other than some siatic pain, I really can't complain. Josh will be going back to Rutgers next week. It's been so nice having him home. On Dec 1st we lost our cat clips to a heart attack. So sad. Now we have Tuffy & Sundae left.

Have a great weekend everyone!