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Post by holly2007 on Dec 13, 2019 0:57:52 GMT
Hi all,
The semester is a wrap. Just need to turn in final grades for the library classes that I’m teaching.
They will finish the touch ups and clean up for painting tomorrow. Once I get everything set up, I’ll post pictures. My parents got a tree and then realized that it was too small, so they are trying to sell it to me. 🙄 Should start decorating this weekend. The house has three bedrooms, two bath, and is all one level.
One of the downsides to working in academia is that the end of semester rush eats into the holiday season.
Look forward to a week and a half of nothing but knitting and reading. Just started Lost in Shangri La, which is pretty good.
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jmg44
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Posts: 938
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 13, 2019 3:47:42 GMT
Sorry I’ve been absent—you know what happened—studio opened up! LOL. Monday I went down and in two hours I threw the two best bowls I’ve ever done—larger and thinner and not heavy bottoms! And I was cleaned up within those two hours! That’s a record for me. Today I went down and trimmed the bottoms and the outside edges from the bottom part way up—and I didn’t mess anything up—-no holes—they look really nice! Saturday I will take a wheel class and they are making birdhouses—you have to make a cylinder and close it up at the top! Yikes—may be a bit of a challenge for my skill level but I’m going to give it a try!
I’m excited—they put in a load in the kiln and it will be done and out by Monday at latest—DH’s big license plate mug is in there—if it turns out it will be his first total surprise gift in a long time.
I have asked the girls to get me a couple things for clay work—a banding wheel to use when building and I asked DD in CA to design me a signature stamp and order it made if she can. I ordered myself a gift—a wheel apron—it has a split front so that your legs are covered cause throwing is messy!
Tomorrow is last gym class for two weeks while they redo the floors. Ugh—will have to walk a lot!
Iron infusion is Monday.
I knew you would be doing the diet soon, Sue—but you look so good—as is—I guess it does assure you of having a bit of a cushion though. I started tracking on My Fitness Pal today—I’ve just been a bit out of control with all the partying at the studio and then lunch out with 28 gym people yesterday. And when I eat wrong then I snack for several days—I really do have an issue with my self control!
We only have two gifts purchased—yikes.
Tonight I made ahi tuna for me and chicken for DH—I did the tuna just right this time and it was so good—saved a couple ounces to put on my salad tomorrow.
JoAnne, so glad your TG turned out well—that’s such a big group! And glad you are feeling better!
Holly, hope you have the beginning of a nice calm season starting Monday—before and after pictures pretty soon?
I ordered a pair of my Brooks walking shoes from Zappos—OMG, was so excited they finally came out with my style in an all black pair—I’ve wanted this for a while—I can wear them in New York to walk to plays or whatever and not look as dorky as wearing those colorful versions I have. Also it gives me an alternate pair for walking during the week—something I’ve always heard you should do with walking distances.
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jmg44
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Posts: 938
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 14, 2019 1:14:01 GMT
Wow, Holly, the kitchen before and after is really amazing—you did a great job!
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Post by holly2007 on Dec 14, 2019 19:06:01 GMT
The changes in the kitchen are really striking after looking at the before and after photos. Since it had been under construction for so long, I forgot how different it looked before.
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Post by nov21987 on Dec 15, 2019 0:00:15 GMT
Hi!
I think I have most of SO's presents bought. Just a bunch of small things, a couple of shirts, electric wine bottle opener (we had one that broke a few years ago), airpod (for our trip). He is so difficult to buy presents for. I usually get my sister and BIL restaurant gift certificate, but this year I got her a Roomba. I've been spending a ton of time online.
I think I have most of new clothes figured out, returning more than I'm keeping. Today I went to a couple boutiques near my house and bought 3 tops, 1 is a really nice (expensive, but on sale) white shirt that I can wear with leggings. Splurged but it is so nice, I got it at Erdem.
Holly, lol, these days I'm either barefoot at home or in sneakers at the gym. I'm going to have to go on FB to check out your house!
Joan, hope the infusion helps! I've gained about 10 lbs since I finished culinary school, that was just 1 1/2 yrs ago. My weakness is breads/rice/pasta and alcohol, love my martinis and wine...so bad!
Jojo, glad your Thanksgiving dinner turned out so well. I'm also a control freak and would be totally stressed with unplanned guests!
We depart Miami, then Key West, some Caribean islands, Aruba, Columbia (I'm skipping some places), cross the Atlantic, western coast of Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Kenya, Capetown (a few other places around Capetown), Seychelles, Maldives, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, Malysia, Indonesia...end up in Singapore (where we've been many times) and we'll fly back from there.
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jmg44
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Posts: 938
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 15, 2019 3:48:01 GMT
Sue what is the name of your ship on Seabourne? Did you know there is an app that tracks every ship on the ocean—even cruise ships? I might be able to see you out on the deck! LOL—
Took a wheel class today—was so hard—they were throwing either a birdhouse or bird feeder—you had to throw a tall cylinder and then belly it out and then close up the top—that was the hard part—I had to cheat a bit on mine but it worked. Would like to try that again and will on my own. I didn’t like the shape of mine so I turned it into a luminaire for a candle—it is shaped like a bouquet of flowers so I stamped some flower impressions in the clay and carved some stems==it actually looked relatively cool when I got done but was not the instructor’s concept of the bird. House. Monday morning I’ll have to go in and carve a hole in the bottom for a candle and clean up some roughness on the carvings—it was just too wet to deal with today.
DH and I walked this morning and then went out to our favorite locals place for breakfast—just sat at the counter and found it really easy to talk sitting next to each other in spite of background noise.
Tomorrow afternoon we go to a trio of one act plays—one is written and produced by our nephew’s daughter and her mom acts in it. Will be fun to see.
Sue, I wish I could see Madagascar with you—I love those awesome trees there—of course, I’d love to see any of those places!
Hoping to have DH’s big mug back from firing by Monday when I go—am getting so anxious about how it turned out. I will wrap it up and make him wait till Christmas Eve to get it—he doesn’t know about it at all—just hope it turns out pretty.
I wrote a poem for my dance class and then raffled off a piece of my pottery—for free—next year I’m going to give everyone of them a piece of some sort—the poem was kind of fun—about my delusional thinking that I’d be able to do that this year!
Holly, I love my white cupboards==did you put on new doors and have them refinish the other parts? Tell me what you countertop is made of.
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jmg44
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Posts: 938
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 16, 2019 18:06:32 GMT
Getting ready to have a quick early lunch before leaving for the iron infusion—walked this morning for 2.5 miles as usual—was only 35º so I wore gloves and put my hood up over my scarf on the first half of the walk. Now it’s turning a bit breezy so am so glad I got that in early!
I am roasting beets—figure after all that iron I’m going to need some fiber big time—
Holly, your living room looks so good—so glad they got this work done before Christmas for you!
I’m so excited about the kiln getting unloaded today—keep wondering how the mug turned out—and I will be so disappointed if it’s not all shades of pretty blues, DH’s favorite color!
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Post by holly2007 on Dec 16, 2019 18:28:19 GMT
I had the doors redone and the rest was just painted. The top cabinets are in pretty bad shape, but I can’t afford to gut the whole kitchen. Hopefully down the road I can do an oven/microwave combo.
The countertops are quartz. It is supposed to be more durable and less maintenance than granite.
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jmg44
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 20, 2019 4:00:25 GMT
Jordan got his wisdom teeth pulled—only the bottoms—turns out Medicaid would not approve the top two—seems really dumb to me as they are large and will have to come out. Within the next couple years I am sure; Oh well. Spent the whole day running or meds, getting food, taking him, getting more food. In the morning I will go again and take mashed potatoes and brocolli cheese soup to him. His older brother works all day and the middle one doesn’t drive/. Luckily a friend came and stayed with him while I ran the errands—he was so woosy from the anesthesia—omg, he was funny—but very unstable. His brother had not gone to work yet when we got back luckily as he helped him up the stairs—I’d have been really uncomfortable doing that.
Tomorrow I go for a walk with the gym dance group—walking for an hour and then having a pot luck at one of the group’s houses. Should be fun. Roasted some butternut squash chunks and made quinoa and will throw a salad together in the morning early. Made the dressing yesterday.
saturday we leave on plane for Sacramento and the Nutcracker with DGD15 as one of the main ballerinas. We come back Sunday and then drive back on Christmas Day—wild. Not quite ready for Christmas at either place—need to get a couple things for two of the kids.
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Post by holly2007 on Dec 21, 2019 19:36:28 GMT
Hi all,
This is the first full break from school and work that I’ve had in a year. Looking forward to doing some things around the house, reading, and knitting.
We are doing my dad’s side of the family Christmas tonight. My bf is going and he will meet most of the family for the first time. I’m glad we’re doing it at my parents’ where everyone will be spread out a bit. There will be 23 of us since a couple of others are bringing their significant others.
I have gained a good bit of weight this year. I don’t feel uncomfortable with it really, but just need to get back into exercising more so I can tone up. I think the weight gain is due to the anxiety med. My doctor said that anxiety burns a lot of calories.
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Post by nov21987 on Dec 25, 2019 17:19:06 GMT
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Been so busy getting ready for our trip. We are flying to Miami one week from today! We're going over to my sister's house soon to celebrate with my family, all the nephews will be there.
Hoping you all have a great day with your loved ones!
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jmg44
Transcendent Member
Posts: 938
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Post by jmg44 on Dec 29, 2019 22:56:25 GMT
Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We are nearly home from our third round. We are about. Miles outside of Vegas and so thankful we left early this morning : The traffic was not as bad as we had expected. While we were gone the pass between NV and CA was closed several times so we timed our driving days just right. There was so much snow on Mountain Pass right on the border that tons of cars on both sides were stoped and allowing kids to play in the snow which still has not melted. I guess they had about. Or. Feet of snow and had to close the road almost one whole day and then another two partial days.
We saw a Star Wars with DD and DSIL last night which is becoming a tradition whenever a new one comes out. I’m not a huge fan but I figure I better keep watching so I know what they are all talking about.
I’m looking forward to getting home to some routine and some healthful eating at last.
Holly, so glad you were able to include your BF in your family Christmas, how did that go?
Sue are you doing your super low carb diet routine these past days? Hard time of year to do that.
I’m anxious to get back to gym and clay studio as I really miss both. It was nice to see the girls though again and even though DD had to work, we managed to get in a fair amount of visiting, a card game, and one art museum and a little shoppping.
Happy New Year everyone; not sure we will do anything and wishing it wouldn’t go by so fast from one year to the next.
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Post by holly2007 on Dec 31, 2019 16:21:53 GMT
Happy New Year. Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Hard to believe I have to go back to work on the 2nd. Did manage to get the house more settled. Need to stop spending so much money haha.
Joan, it went well I think. There were some other SOs there who were able to commiserate with the overwhelming feeling of meeting so many (20) at once. I get overwhelmed by it and I grew up with it, haha.
Sue, safe travels!
Jo Anne, hope you enjoyed your Christmas with family. I didn’t get much knitting done this time, unfortunately.
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Post by nov21987 on Jan 1, 2020 1:21:00 GMT
Happy New Year! Can't believe how fast the last year went by. Just sitting and relaxing now today. So much going on past week, busy with Christmas, then had condo neighbors over for cocktails (help to get rid of some stuff in my fridge and freezer), SO bought me a new laptop and have been setting that up (spent hours on the phone today with an outlook issue), got a new wifi hotspot and it didn't work today so spent more time on that with help online, freezer has been leaking lately we thought it was ok then it leaked again today. Also tried to keep volunteering, but did not do so this morning since I thought it would be too much for me day before departure. Good thing I didn't considering everything that happened!!! It will be better tomorrow when we are in Miami and there is not much I can do other than call the refrigerator guy again (I called today and left message). My neighbor and condo concierge have a key to my unit so they can help with monitoring repairs. Ugh!!! Can you guys tell I'm stressed?!!!! Sitting here now with a martini Catch up with you guys when I'm on vacation when I will have more leisure time!!!!
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jojowo
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SHORT AND SWEET GODDESSES
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Post by jojowo on Jan 2, 2020 3:01:26 GMT
Hi everyone, I would swear I posted since Christmas but maybe not. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at DS’s . DDIL, her mother, and I all put together a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Was good and relaxing to have only the 8 of us. The kids opened one present that night and DH read the Christmas Story aloud to all. Was nice. Then son’s family all went for Christmas Eve service at church. We went home as we had attended our Christmas service at our church Sunday night. We got there the. Next morning,Christmas, for brunch . We always have a laid back day on Christmas.
My Dsister and her SO arrived Saturday for a few days; so I spent the time between Christmas and then cleaning house and raking my yard to get ready for them.
I was sick with some 24 hr thing (as was DH) on Sunday. Then New Year’s Eve we had a “cousins’” lunch with all my cousins. We had 12 there and had a great time. We have decided to be more intentional about getting together more often. The oldest is 80 - the youngest is 64.
I am really enjoying my renovated downstairs!
BTW , I got all my knitted sock gifts finished for Christmas and my sisters loved them.
I have started a knitted sweater- light weight- since I don’t need a heavy sweater in this climate. It has been almost like Spring weather these last weeks here!
Sue have a great trip!
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