***Welcome To The New Cruise Countdown Club***

Sharon, so my friend should have been in the hospital last week. She has a phenomena, and is not doing too well. Hopefully she will get the care that she needs.

I guess I got confused with all of the stuff going on. So she has 2 son's here and 2 there. I remember that 1 of the wife's did not like her staying with them here. So hopefully her son will get here and drive her back. It will be a breath of fresh air once she is gone.

Very heavy thunderstorm last night. I guess we are all finished with them now. We leave tomorrow at 9:30 and now it looks like we will return home Friday morning at 5:30. That is at O'Hare.

From what you have told me about your sister, I doubt very much that she will go to e-bay and order the caps that she needs. At least you have given her the option. Out of your hands now.

Kathy

I think my sister has pneumonia too, her cough is terrible, coughs till she gags (and me too). Has almost lost her voice but continues to keep talkung, almost just a whisper and expects me to be able to hear her.

Have a great time on your trip, safe travels!

Sharon

Sharon, we are leaving at 5:15 for a 9:30 flight. I know I said are you kidding me.

So once we land it will be 80 degrees, a far cry from what it will be here. Then in the 70's , but warm for us but cold for them.

I hope your sister can get out of her and not to cause you any further problems.

You may not here from me until I get back. I am bringing my lap-top with me but I do not know how the connection will be.

Be safe,

Kathy

My sister's son got in, she did find her way to the airport. I got home about 8:30pm, we had a nice visit and then all went to bed. I got up around 5:30 just because I didn't know how early he would get up. He got up around 6 and I made breakfast for him and me, my sister didn't get up until about 7. They left about 8:30, planning on stopping for the night tonight and tomorrow night and being home by Friday sometime.

It's nice and quiet again here.

I called for another estimate for my furnace and they came out very quickly, measured everything and said they would send me a quote.

Hope you had a smooth flight,

Sharon

Sharon, we landed today at 11:30 and was home at 1. I went to work as soon as I got home, as not to have a big mess on Monday. Going there were only 5 stand-by's who got on and we were the last 2. It was a long 4 hour flight going. We got up real this morning to catch a 6 am flight back. We were the first 2 to get on this morning.

It was very bumpy coming back and the seat belt sign was on for most of the flight back. We saw a comedy show last night that was real good. When we landed on Tuesday morning the temp there was 80. However it was colder this morning and much warmer here today. All in all it was a nice break away and now back to the bump and grind. We return there for 5 days at the end of September.

So your sister should be arriving back in FL today. I'll bet it is nice to have your piece of mind back. I wonder how long she will have the car before she breaks it down.

I can't believe how warm it is just now. How long is going to last.

Enjoy,

Kathy

Glad you had a good time and arrived back home safely. Good you got a jump on your paperwork too so Monday won't be so bad.

My sister called about 7pm tonight, the car did fine and she is home. I hope it lasts a long time gor her. I told her to make sure and change the oil every 3000 miles. She said when they got home her son checked the oil and it was so clean. That was because I just had the oil changed before I gave it to her.

It was a beautiful day today, first good one since you have been gone. Maybe you brought the warmth with you.

Went out for fish dinner with the church group tonight, won the 50/50 raffle $37.00. Not alot but fun to win.

Now up to 7 pounds lost at WW this morning. Slow but sure I hope it keeps up. I ate way too much at dinner tonight, still feel stuffed.

Welcome home, Sharon

Sharon, good for the both of us. You of course doing so much better than me. I did loose 1.6 last week. But with what we have been doing this past week. I can only hope for the best next week.

I agree that when we landed it was very warm. But the wind shifted and by evening the temp had dropped some 40 degrees. Went to bed with much thunder and lighting. Woke up this morning to much rain. When Bill goes to bed early and before me, it means he is either sick of just really tired. Since we got up yesterday at 3 am, it was because he was just real tired. I heard that we have a lot more rain coming back for tonight into tomorrow. But at least it is not snow.

It is good that your sister got back OK. Since I do not eat fish I can not go to those fish only events. Hopefully your sister will take good care of the car, so it will last a long time for her.

Kathy

Well I have been doing WW for over 2 months so I am not doing so good. But as long as a little comes off its all good.

Awful day weatherwise today, rainy and cold. But I did get out to use my Kohls 30% and my $15 coupon. Got a couple of tops and a pair of sketchers shoes. Then went with one of the Wed night gals to the Wed night place for one of the owners birthday. They had a band but one of the guatarists played so loud that he drowned out the singer. We only stayed about an hour and got home by nine.

Did your friend get out of the hospital? Was thinking about her the other day.

Church tomorrow but no other plans,

Sharon

Sharon, yes she did get out 2 days ago. I was calling her from LAS checking up on her. So shortly I will be picking her up for church.

I agree that this weather is not so good. But at least it is not snow. This is 1 reason our flight was so bumpy with all of the storms we were flying over. So it rained most of the day yesterday and it is raining now. I guess there is rain in the forecast for most of this week.

I saw on the news yesterday that there was a shooting on the strip yesterday from someone shooting from a bus. Lucky that we were not there.

I do not like loud music either. So the main reason you did not stay much longer. But at least you were able to get out for awhile.

Have you noticed here that they are 1 hour off. I have e-mailed them and usually they respond. But not this time. I wonder if they are going to fix it?

I know if you have to get a new system for heating and A/C you will spend over $7,000. We are looking at a home warrantee system and that would only cost you about $375 for an entire year. As we are going to have to replace ours soon as well. A considerable savings.

Kathy

I saw that about Las Vegas, not only a shooting but an unrelated burglary of a jewelry store in one of the hotels. Good thing you left when you did!

I got a second quote and it is about a thousand dollars less. Seems the first one was quoting a furnace and a/c for a house of 33,000 sq ft. My house is not near that, more about 2,000 so didn't need such big powerful equipment. I have not notified them yet but will go with the second quote even though it means paying the $220 repair bill for the furnace when the first people came out a few weeks ago. They had said if I went with them they would deduct it from the total, if I didn't I would have to pay it.

I went to the show this afternoon, saw Life. It's about a spaceship that picks up an alien form of life and gets it on board. Didn't turn out too well for them needless to say.

Will get back into the routine tomorrow and go to zumba, even though it probably will be foggy again like it was this morning. At least it seemed to warm up a bit this afternoon.

Going to bed early, tired and not much on tv

Sharon

2nd Post tonight

I just checked the time and the time on here is an hour earlier that the time we have. Maybe it;s eastern time.

Sharon, I'll bet you were watching DWTS last week with all of the stars they had on.

I agree it has been damp and poor visibility. This morning fog again but not as bad as it has been, we had more visibility than other places. I heard we will get morn rain this evening.

Yes, that was crazy a man shooting from a bus and the robbery. We were at both of those places.

It will feel good to get back into your routine today. We are still looking at service places that will offer the best service contract. Paying $350, versus thousands of dollars sounds good to us. But if you are happy with the place then go with it.

Back to full time today, at least it is not as bad as it would have been today if I did not go back on Friday afternoon.

The time is an hour off and we have all of our setting correct, so it should have changed. So they are having some sort of problem as it is not at our end.

Kathy

Yes, watched DWTS last Monday and again tonight. Waiting to see who id eliminated tonight. I think maybe Mr T, but the comedian from Sat night Live is not very good either.

Just got another K1 form in the mail today, called the accountant to see if there is time to mail it to him or fax it. He had the taxes pretty well done and even though he needs the form it will not really change anything. I asked him how it was looking, he said a refund on Fed and a hundred or so I have to pay the State. Glad to hear that, was a little worried I'd have to pay more.

Got a laptop computer, never had a laptop before. Ordered it from HSN, 8 gb ram, 2TB storage, touch screen and regular, 17 1/2 in. Now have to figure out how to set it all up.

Glad your day went well,

Sharon

Sharon, another not so nice day today. Cold and windy around here. Then I heard tomorrow night rain and Thursday and Friday.

This was the first year in awhile that we got our taxes finished and back early. It is always nice to get all that stuff behind us.

They said one reason the flights were so full was because various areas with spring break. Around here they all do not go at the same time. We have 1 school on break this week. Then the other schools do not go until towards the end of April. It is hard to believe that April is here on Saturday.

I have a laptop and I used to take it with traveling. But it just got to be such a hassle and also to big to be caring around. So I do still have it but rarely use it. At home I use a desk top. I now have an I-Pad and that is lighter weight and much easier to carry it around.

I finally heard back from the site administer and they are aware of the time problem. So they said it will be fixed very shortly as they have been working on it.

Kathy

I would like to get my taxes done earlier but I have several stocks that issue a K-1 form and they don't have to get it to you like the 1099's. The accountant said last year when I gave it to him it was stamped received 3/26/16 so guess getting it on 3/27/17 this year is right on schedule.

The sun came out this afternoon and it was so nice to see it. But I guess we can't complain too much with the bad weather that is affecting so many people. My granddaughter put a video on facebook of the large hail they had a couple of days ago and now they are predicting another bad storm around 2 to 4 am this morning. Scary storms too!

Went to dinner with some friends at another friends house. I had met them once before and they were very nice. One other couple joined us. We had lots of wine, cheese & crackers and conversation then dinner. After dinner we had dark chocolate with almonds, angel food cake with blueberries, dried fruit, fresh fruit, and ice cream. I am stuffed and trying so hard to be good for WW. I think I really blew it tonight though.

I know spring breaks hits all different times for the schools. The ones here have not had theirs yet.

I haven't set up the laptop yet, but like you when I travel I will probably just take my tablet, it can go into my carryon and be handy when I want to use it.

Sharon

Sharon, you are absolutely right about other parts of the country that are getting hit hard with bad weather. I did see where hail had damaged many car windshields. But I also heard that tonight into Thursday & Friday we are getting lots of rain. We have not seen the sun around here. This morning woke up to dense fog. It is starting to burn off now.

Well for me at WW I am staying the same. I was surprised as I did not gain or loose. So after the schedule we had in LAS I guess I did OK.

Yes, really crazy with the spring breaks. Of course it is the colleges that really determine on what happens with all of the crazy behaviors that they do all over the country. We have 1 school off now but the rest of them will not go until the end of April. I just thought that was a real gap.

They still have not fixed the time clock.

Kathy

Got in bed last night and realized I did not post, was going to get up, but fell asleep.

Yesterday did the zumba and then went to the pool that Bill and I used to go to all the time. I bought a pass several weeks ago and this was the first time I was able to get there. I sat in the steam room for about 10 minutes, showered and went in the pool. There were 3 women throwing a big beach ball back and forth between them and taking up most of the pool. I stayed along one side, and floated around. Then quite a few people started coming with little kids. Was getting pretty crowded so go out and came home. Then got together with the girls, talked awhile and did a little dancing. Guess I got worn out.

Today rain all day and really bad wind. I wanted to go uptown to the bank but didn't go anywhere. I had went to a presentation on Wills & Trusts last week and was reminded that I should check my beneficiaries. So yesterday I went to two of the banks I have accounts in and changed them, I had Bill on them. The last bank wasn't open on Wed afternoon so was going back today. But will have to do it tomorrow. Then today I was looking for my will and the last one I could find had my sister as the executor. What in the world was I thinking!! I will have to make an appointment with a lawyer pretty soon and get that changed. She would be the worst one to give money to, it would probably be gone in a year or less.

WW tomorrow, I think I will have gained a little, have not done too good this week. I would be happy to just stay the same at this point, for this week.

Sharon

Sharon, I cannot remember but I stayed the same for WW this week. Did not gain or loose.

Wow, you were very busy the past few days. Agreed the weather has been real bad. We are floating with all of the rain. When you see worms on the sidewalk because the water is pushing up from the ground you know we are flooded. It is not a very good today either, and I heard that next week is mostly rain.

That was good advice about checking all of your beneficiaries. I was laughing when you said you had your sister as executor. Yes, what were you thinking.

We are going to a comedy show tonight in a few towns over from us. Two of Bill's former cast members are performing in the show.

Stay dry, they still have not fixed the time clock.

Kathy

I gained .8 today, not too bad but would have preferred to lose.

I love comedy shows when they don't get too dirty with language. Been to some that are funny and some not so much. With your acquaintances in the show it should be good.

Went up to the last bank today but didn't get the beneficiary changed, couldn't do anything without a death certificate since it had been a joint acct. So have to go back tomorrow again.

Had a friend call and ask me to go with her tomorrow to a luncheon at a nice restaurant tomorrow. Sounds like a good time so I said yes.

Went tonight with the church group for fish. We had 30 people and the waitress made one check for the dinners and one check for the drinks. Also added $2.00 for each person for beverages which no one got, not even coffee, none was ever offered. I have never heard of a restaurant doing that and also added the gratuity. So for me the fish fry was $18, and the glass of wine $6. A very expensive dinner just for fish. Will never go back there again. The pastor had to figure it all out per person and collect the money from each person, ridiculous!

Decided on a furnace and air conditioner, going to cost me around $6700. I went with an 80% efficient furnace since that is what I had and a 3.5 ton air conditioner. Took the mid range options. Will probaby get it installed some time next week. The water heater installed and relocated is $940. Lots of money but have to do it.

Sharon

Sharon, I figured you would be paying big bucks. That is why I suggested getting a home warrantee plan that would cost you about $375 versus that huge payment. Bill is talking about doing that but he has to evaluate our system to see if we need 1 this year or next year.

I agree that is ridiculous paying that kind of money just for fish. There was going to be something that they were going to do 1 check and that never works out. I think is was something with the theater group and we did not go for that very same reason. Someone will pay more and other's will pay less. It never works out.

So we had fun last night at the comedy show. It was 2 hours and only cost $6.00 pp. It was called No Limit Laughs. It seem like most use language to gain the laughs. But it was not too bad at all.

So you get the death certificate and you can go back and get everything all lined up on how you will want to now.

At least no rain and temps today in the 50's with sun that we have not seen for a very long time. Next week the rains come back.

Don't let any April Fools jokes get in your way today.

Kathy

That was a very reasonable price for the comedy show. Glad you liked it!

I got the last bank account beneficiary changed this morning, now to change my will. Must make an appointment soon.

Went to the luncheon, was to meet my friend at 10:30 inside the hotel. She called my cell on the way up there but I did not answer it because I was in IL and I was driving. So when I got there I called her back but got voice mail. I waited a while and tried again, same thing. So I sat down and waited. When it got to be 11 am, I texted her that since I hadn't heard from her I was going home. Just as I was walking out the door she pulled up. She said she had been helping to sell girl scout cookies at a boy scouts pancake breakfast. I was a little irritated that she couldn't let me know instead of having me just sit there and wait. So the luncheon had about 500 women, 10 to a table. There were silent auction items lines up on tables all along the walls. They did a funny thing to start, they said turn over your program, that was at each place setting, to see who has the one with a sticker on it. I happened to have the sticker and everyone thought I had won. But then they said pass the sticker around to the third person and that person won the gift bag on the table. But it was a gag prize, April Fools, really bad flavors of jelly belly jelly beans. Then they said now pass the sticker back to the original person, you have won the flower center piece. I also won one of the silent auction items, a bottle of wine, wine glasses, tablecloth and napkins. Really I only wanted the bottle of wine. Maybe if something comes up for donations I will give it away.

Beautiful day today, love the sun!

Sharon

Sharon, yes it was all good and we had a lot of laughs. Today I took that lady friend to the bank the one who was in the hospital. I did not want to do to much as she has only been out of the hospital 1 week.

Wow, that was a lot of women in 1 place. Perhaps she was calling you to tell you that she would be late. All in all it sounds like everything went well. You are always so lucky in winning and getting great discounts.

I agree that today was nice with 50 degree temps. Also the sun that we have not seen in a great while. I heard that next week mostly rain. But at least it is not snow.

Yes, many April Fools jokes today. I am sorry to hear that you gained and not lost. I cannot figure out how I stayed the same. As I felt that I did not have a good week. But surprise.

Kathy

That is nice that you take your friend places, I'm sure she wouldn't get to go without your help.

I went to church this morning but then pretty much wasted the rest of the day working on a puzzle. I got it from GoodWill so each time I can't find the piece I am looking for I'm sure it's probably not even in the box. Hope I'm wrong would hate to spend this much time on it and then not have all the pieces.

I was going to cut down some of last years flowers but the deer have been eating my tulips so bad thought I'd leave the old ones there to kind of hide them. I found some deer and rabbit spray, smell like urine and I wetted them all up good, will see if it helps or not. It started raining this evening so probably washed it all off.

Got my quote for the furnace and a/c, they had told me 50% down and 50 went done, but the invoice says the whole amount is due now. Will have to call them tomorrow, not going to pay without having it finished.

Happy Monday tomorrow,

Sharon

Sharon, yes happy a very wet Monday today. I doubt that the Sox will get their game in this afternoon in their home opener. It also started raining here last night. But the real heavy stuff is starting just now.

That is nuts. I would never pay the entire amount without them completing the job first. If they insist in full payment, then time to look for someone else.

My suspicion is if you got a puzzle from Good Will then most likely someone had some pieces missing. That is a cruel joke to play on people. Why can't people be like you and once you have finished a puzzle you donate the puzzle complete.

Well the bad news that I have been waiting for is in. I gained .8 this afternoon at weigh-in. I knew it was coming.

Kathy

Well that is the same amount I gained last week, you can get that off by next week, at least that is what I'm hoping to do.

I called the heating company this morning and told them I would not pay the whole amount up front, he said that was a mistake on the invoice, it should have said 50% now and the rest when done and satisfied.

It is a nasty day again today, so much rain and now I heard there could be snow showers on Thursday. Mother nature is playing games with us.

Got a new cell phone, a track phone again. But it is much improved over the last one, the only bad thing is you can't transfer anything over like pictures or names and phone numbers. I spent quite a while retyping in the names and numbers and just ordered a "picture keeper" to try and put my pictures on.

Watching DWTS tonight, always fun to see that, not much else good on tv anymore.

Sharon