TUESDAY AND PART II ON THE WAY!!

[Nasoosie]

GOOD MORNING TO YOU ALL!!----Part 2 of the Great storm is on the way! I looked at the radar last night and need to check it today to see if we will see any of the white stuff from latest storm. I sure hope we do, as if winter is to last for a while longer, and I know it will, I would love some new snow to ski on.

Temperature is about the same as it's been in the mornings at about 5 above zero, and we did get another couple of inches of snow last night----maybe more. I will have to take a look at today's latest radar to see how things are moving. I just hope you all have power back on by now so you can face this new onslaught in warmth and with light and water!

I am getting observed today---my annual observation----period seven---IF my student (the girl who tends to be comatose for the first four periods of the day) shows up. I will just be reviewing the science notes as she will be taking her first exam for this marking period the following class period. My day is so varied (and harried!) that finding a time to actually observe anything I do is very difficult to schedule. We shall see how this goes, and where I can find a quiet spot to review.

I cannot believe another guy was pulled ALIVE from the earthquake wreckage last night----nearly a month after it happened. Now that's just mind boggling! I haven't heard the details of how he survived yet, but I am assuming he must been near some sort of food on shelves in a store, with something to drink close enough for him to reach.

Latest weather forecast for us is to miss this new storm again, but NY City and Philly will be in the direct path again. Batten down the hatches, you all!

I got my two guitars back from the music shop yesterday, and the cheapie that I am taking to school for the kids to learn on turned out to be GREAT! All it needed was to have its strings raised up a bit to keep them from vibrating when plucked or strummed. And my old, favorite guitar got a new tuner assembly, new strings, and a part glued back on----it feels SO GOOD to have my old stanby back in shape! My fingers are sore this morning from using it last night.

Time to get some fresh coffee and read other posts and my email. C'mon in and tell us about your day! Happy Tuesday!

[mitch5252]

..

And here we moved to Tennessee to get away from the nasty Chicago winters!
The first round had just yesterday melted away...

[BirdbyBird]

I guess everyone is hiding out from the storms. The inches are growing outside here in SW OHIO and the electricity is still on. Now is the time to be satisfied with a warm cup of tea, furry pups sitting at my feet and a computer. When the computer review is done I will move on to difficult things like...reading a good book. Just let three of the dogs in from a short romp. Remi came in looking more like a snow ball. He shook some of it off before I could get the camera. Good thing I cleaned the hair out of his ears yesterday. I always need to watch how much moisture stays in his coat, it supports those fun ear infections. We have a small scraper on a small tractor. It sure does help the driveway cleaning. Well hope everyone has heat and electricity to make it through to the sunshine. Izzy may not make it out of OH in time for her Thursday show time.....we are just sitting back and waiting to see where the snow bands go and how slow or fast they move. It does look so pretty. And at least I don't have to go out to walk dogs in it. Just open a door and they are off. Take care.

[Echo]

GOOD MORNING SISTAHS!!!

Dang but it got chilly last night before I went to bed. Thermometer in the car on a trip to the bathrooms said 50f I think? Sure felt cooler. Shade and I snuggied down under those blankies and that was it! We were out. Temp now is 53f and sure does feel a lot warmer! Things sure have been quiet around here. There are quite a few empty spaces in the campground. Have no idea where they all went? Maybe they were waiting on openings in Q and have moved there? Or off on some other adventure somewhere in the southwest.

Kelly and I are both now using the free wifi that the campground/parkoffers. YEEHAW! I had seen it pop up on my laptop but thought it was a pay-to-use internet. Finally asked about it when I was reading a review on the park and saw "free wifi". Happy, happy as now both of us can fool around on our laptops. After using her's for so long I kinda miss her Vista. It hasn't given her or I any problem and it does have a couple options that my laptop with XP doesn't. Oh well Vista has bit the dust and been taken over by the new Windows 7. Sometimes I like 'new and improved' but sometimes it can be a B&*^$ and mess ya up. Just ask me next time they do a 'new and improved' update on XP like they did last night!!! Grrrrr took some monkey farting around to get Firefox to load and then to bring up a page. Have no idea what I finally did to make it work??? Didn't dare ask Kelly to help this morning as she was a super grumblie, snarly, snapy bear and had already about bit my head off this morning! EEEEEK!

Going grocery shopping today in Parker and we need to deposit some money in our BOA accounts to pay a couple of bills. Before we go tho I need to clean and wipe out the 12v cooler. Nothing has gone bad in there but it doesn't smell good! ewwww Actually still have a little bit of grocery in the cooler which is surprising as we are very careful to not over buy anything that needs to be kept cold. Kinda wish I had another 12v cooler like this one or a small fridge with a freezer. Then we could buy frozen veggies instead of canned.

Ok, I still have coffee to share come on in, sit down and have a cup. Let us know what your all up to today. Even if it's sitting on your duffs and watching the snow flakes pile up!!! But remember to be safe and careful in all that you might do!!!

Love to all

[bluepinecones]

Good afternoon, sorry I missed morning today.

The temps edged up just enough yesterday to change the snow to rain in time for me to keep my doctors appointment. I took Nicky along for the ride just in case I couldn't make it back home. One element of my test was missing so lab had to take more blood. The foreign protein doctor is watching was only up a tiny bit and she says it is not enough to be too concerned about at this time. They promised to put a rush on finishing the other check and to my surprise called me with the results just a few minutes ago. No problem there. Overall a little unsettling but generally very good in that no further sign of the cancer. I am so very lucky and thankful for that news.

By the time I left doctors office, the cold rain had changed back over to sleet but with only one minor skid, made it home safely.
Mitch: Love your snow pix; much prettier than ours. The north and west side of town got 4 inches. No telling how much there would have been had temps dropped by only a degree or two. Oh well, I am getting a lot of good use from the long johns I bought for the FL trip. While our weather is so much better than that much of the nation is enduring, it is still a big deal around here. We have another chance for more snow by Friday and into the weekend.

Have been watching the reports of snow in D.C. and being very thankful I no longer have to worry about getting to work there. I remember being on the last flight they let land during a snow storm in the '80s. I waded thru 16 inches of snow in open toed high heels for four blocks between the Metro and hotel. Didn't think my toes would ever thaw.

Tina; Tell Izzy I'm hoping the weather in Ohio warms up enough for her to get to the dog show. Am sure she could steel the show

I'm trying to talk myself into doing some bookkeeping this afternoon. Seem to be sadly lacking in ambition to do much other than play on the computer or perhaps take a nap.

Stay safe and warm.

[ali1257]

Good afternoon ladies...thought I would drop by and say hello.

It got real cold last night and froze but the sun is shining today. I slept in till 9:00 this morning...that was so nice. Then had some quiet time and then off to work at the church. Was there about an hour and then headed back home. Nothing much is going on here. I did start working on being able to pay bills online through our credit union. I think it will work great for while we are on the road. Some bills I already paid on line directly through specific companies.

Things are coming together as we prepare to start our new jobs. We donated 20 boxes of books yesterday to a used book store here in Blaine. She was glad to receive them and we were glad/sad to get rid of them. We love books but realize they are not doing anyone any good being stuck in storage. Today Ron is making a run to the dump and the local home store. Tomorrow afternoon we plan on doing more work on the big storage unit. We need to move stuff around so that we can get our bedroom set (furniture not mattress/box spring) and some other boxes into it. We want to just have one storage unit instead of two. This new job is the motivation behind us getting to work on the storage units.

Don't know much else so will get off here for now. Take care and hope everyone is having a great day.

[jemek]

Good afternoon...
We were up bright and early...5am and out of the house by 5:40 to head up to the border..
This is why....

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3730#p42848

It was so amazing and cool.

[Nasoosie]

Bluepinecones---I waited all day to find out how the doc appointment went, but never dreamed you would have results already! CONGRATS on the GOOD NEWS! I am not sure what kind of cancer you are dealing with, or why you would say this:
Overall a little unsettling but generally very good in that no further sign of the cancer.

Why unsettling if no sign of cancer?? Sounds like GOOD news to me!

Anyway, I am happy for you! And glad to know you made it home safely before the roads got any worse.

One more day of school for me, and then 5 days off! YIPPEE!

[Liz]

What a neat slideshow, Kristy, and well worth the getting up early for. Cool!

Praising the Lord for your good test results, Sarah! Glad you made it home safely, too.

Soos, how come you have 5 days off? Mud recess? Seems like we used to have that back in Vt when I was a kid.

Ali, I know those books were well received...how nice of you to donate them.

Echo, glad you discovered the free wi-fi!

Mitch, your snow is bootiful!

It rained hard here today, as I had to travel to Tampa area to help my dd do her taxes. Discovered an extra tax break I didn't take advantage of on my own...something new..."Making Work Pay Credit"...don't overlook it on yours.

[bluepinecones]

Soos, I had the tests a week ago, yesterday's appointment was to get the results.

I'm being monitored for a rare form (only about 20,000 new cases/year in US) of blood cancer for which there is currently no cure. When tested last summer,I was classified as having MGUS (Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance); basically • Monoclonal protein present but • No underlying disease state.
The slight increase in some of the readings this time put me borderline for reclassification to Smoldering/ASYMPTOMATIC MYELOMA • Higher level of disease
than MGUS, but still no symptoms or organ damage.

Even tho some of the readings have increased, there is nothing I can do or any treatment to be offered at this point. I just have to keep doing the tests routinely. Maybe it is just me, but I find it unsettling that until they detect immune system, bone or kidney damage nothing can even be tried to slow down the progression. Think I'm just having a bad attitude day with all the gloomy weather lately.
On the much brighter side, in some people the progression can be very slow or simply stop at some point on its own. I'm working on convincing myself that I am going to fall within this latter group.

[Echo]

Liz? What the heck is a "Making Work Pay Credit"???

Sarah! Might be a little unsettling but it's still good news!! I know what ya mean when ya say you feel that it's unsettling. One way or another you want to KNOW what is what. The waiting to find out what 'might' or 'might not' happen is enough to drive ya nuts!!! Hang in there gal!

[VickieP]

Liz? What the heck is a "Making Work Pay Credit"??

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,, ... 47,00.html

[Echo]

Liz? What the heck is a "Making Work Pay Credit"??

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,, ... 47,00.html

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what that is telling me. I'm a real dummy when it comes to reading anything that pertains to legalities at all. I am about as far from an accountant as you could possibly get.

The only thing is that I'm guessing at? Is if it's gonna make it easier or probably screw me up? It'll happen. ~sigh~

[JanetA]

'Cones,

I would think that the news you received would point you one direction...that is to enjoy your life to the fullest and get out there and see the USA in your.. 'whatever you drive'.

love ya and stay positive. Perhaps this is like you said,, "just you". Long as you feel ok and can get out and about....

best regards,,,

Janet

[Liz]

Echo, "Making Work Pay and Government Retiree Credits" is a new tax credit you can claim this year ($400 for individuals, $800 for couples). You complete Schedule M and enter the amount on line 40 of your 1040A. For those receiving Social Security, the amount is reduced by the $250 "economic recovery payment" we received in 2009, but $150 is better than nothing.

I'm planning to file an amended return so I can claim it.