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Post by karen54171 on Aug 26, 2019 11:48:44 GMT
Whether you are regular poster or a lurker, we encourage you to talk with us. We do talk about books, but also about our lives, and Weight Watchers. We are women who are spread around the country, and eventually you will learn you we are, and what books we like to read. Don't be intimidated, just pop in and tell us who you are, and what you are reading now. We will make you feel right at home.
This is a thread we had on the WW 50 Year old board, so even though most of us have moved beyond our 50's, I am keeping it here. Some prefer to post on Facebook, but for those who may also like to post on something that resembles our old format, I decided to start this. Although we were brought together by our love of books, and we love to share our ideas about books and authors, our friendship has grown, and we know a lot about each others lives. We are spread across the country, and that adds a bit of interest as well, learning about other people's way of life through the "book" they write on the thread.
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Post by karen54171 on Aug 26, 2019 12:07:24 GMT
Good morning. Dreary looking day, it has rained, and supposed to rain again later.
Robin, your job sounds wonderful, if you can take off whenever needed. My whole working career was in very structured positions, that you had to apply for a week off, way in advance, and there was no way we could take off whenever it suited me. There was 1 one time, when we had a snowstorm overnight and into the morning, DH took the 4x4 to work, I had a front wheel drive car, and with all the snow then the snow plow came thru and plugged us in, I left for work, and of course got the car stuck at the end of the driveway. My boss was so mad that I was telling her I could not come to work, even tho there was no one else off, our dept was not short handed at all, but she was a very nasty woman, and insisted I come. Well I didn't, and forever after, I was on her you know what list! So glad I am out of that profession! No, we are not thinking of moving. We are well settled in here, I wish we could meet some of our neighbors, we have met the couple that lives directly below us but that is it. People really keep to themselves. We like our apartment, being on the 2nd floor it is more private. We got new phones last year, up now to the Iphone 7. Did you get a phone?
Pinky, I will always dream of living in Minocqua, I even dream, when I see job postings for up there, that I could do that job. I would definitely get a job, to support my addiction (haha!) But DH is so against it, it will never happen. Did you get more lawn work done yesterday, or were you getting rain? I think I heard yesterday that there were storms in South Dakota.
Gareth, Carol and Marsha, hello!!
We ran out the the neighbor's house, that lives next door to our old house, yesterday. DH has his ice shanty parked there, till he can haul it to DSIL mom's house. He wanted to get some things out of there, plus check the hunting tent he has in the woods behind the neighbors house. It was fun, the neighbor is in Nashville, so nobody was home, and we could check out the old house, without anyone seeing us. Some minor differences in the back yard, but you know, every time I go by there, they have all the blinds down, on every window. I could not live like that! I see some people around here are the same way, always have the blinds to the patio closed...then you have to turn on lights during the day. First thing I do, when I come out into the apartment in the morning, is open all the blinds from the 3 windows (patio door included).
Going to the Y this morning, then just some odds and ends around here to do. Have to get the crock pot started soon for Swiss steak.
Reading California Girls, almost a too light read.
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Post by gareth on Aug 26, 2019 13:06:34 GMT
Cloudy morning again for my walk. Feeling like Fall more all the time. It's staying dark later now in the morning. I noticed last night that it's getting dark earlier and earlier too. Finished The Art Of Racing In The Rain. I've started The Accident now. Back to a thriller again.
Karen, I'm like you in the daytime I want the blinds open. DH would keep them closed if up to him. Sometimes he'll go around shutting them all too early in the evening and I'll follow behind him opening them again. When it's dark then I want them closed not before. Our next door neighbor's blinds are always shut. In the 19 years we've lived here I've never even seen a window ever open. I like when the weather is nice to get fresh air in the house.
Robin, busy week ahead for you.
Gotta think about getting ready for work.....
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Post by RobinS811 on Aug 26, 2019 16:19:44 GMT
Karen, when I worked in our family business, there were some days I absolutely couldn't take off, but I had flexibility too. Then when I was a loan officer, I was a commissioned employee, and there might have been 2 times that there was a meeting that I could not miss. So I suppose in that regard I have been very lucky. I know you said your DH did ice fishing, but I didn't realize he brought his own little shack. I know there was a movie, I think with Jack Lemmon, where they did ice fishing. I have seen them in New Hampshire also when I used to take my DS's up there skiing.
I like to have my blinds closed because I don't like people looking in, and I don't want to go around closing all the blinds when I leave the house. We have a large bay window in front that I really don't like left so open. My cleaning woman likes to open the blinds and it annoys me. Right now they are open and I really have to get them closed.
I finished a book this morning that I thought was going to just be a junkie romance, but really it was women's fiction. About a mother, her 2 grown daughters, and a 16 year old granddaughter. It was How To Keep a Secret by Sarah Morgan. I am not enjoying The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek as much as I thought I would, but do like it, and am hoping to finish in a day or so. I was able to renew 2 books I had, one was for book club. I will try to finish. The other is Song of the Jade Lily, which I thought would be more interesting than it is, but I would like to finish it.
Gareth, how did you like The Art of Racing in the Rain? I had it on my kindle for a long time before I ended up reading it, and I absolutely loved it. It looks like it might be out of the theaters here very soon, if it is not out already, which means I should be able to get it On Demand.
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Post by gareth on Aug 26, 2019 16:32:18 GMT
Robin, I loved it second time around too. The reason I reread it was because of everyone here that’s seen the movie says it’s every bit as good as the book. The movie has been out here for awhile.
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Post by carol2 on Aug 26, 2019 16:46:33 GMT
I open some of the blinds and curtains during the day. Like Robin, I don't like to keep the curtains open on the large front window. One of my friends hated to have any curtains closed. We were eating dinner in her dining room which faced the street and she had no curtains on it. I felt really exposed. I think some people don't open them because it will be after dark when they come home and people can see into their house. One thing that bothered me in The Woman in the Window was how everyone kept their curtains open all the time.
Yesterday turned out to be busy. Church, then lunch and then a housewarming party for a couple from church. We stayed at the housewarming longer than we intended.
I think DD has had enough togetherness with her MIL. She understands why she stays so long when she comes since they live so far away, but she is ready to have her house back. One thing I noticed is that her MIL is real concerned about DGS's poop. That seems strange to me. They got him some prunes. DD & DSIL put up with it because really it's no big deal. My grandmother blamed every illness on poop problems. Her remedy for everything was milk of magnesia.
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Post by mikendanni on Aug 26, 2019 17:03:00 GMT
We are back from moving dd to school and it really went much better than expected. Between using the vacuum bags to compress big things so we had more room, and dh thinking to bring a cart so we could haul everything in fewer trips, it really wasn’t that bad. We got everything up to her apartment in 3 trips (as we observed other families doing trip after trip carrying one box at a time), then dd and I sent dh to the hotel so we could work on unpacking what we could. We picked up a bookcase at Target (which she assembled after we left) and ordered a desk from Wayfair (that’s going to be a much bigger assembly job than the bookcase) and we need to go back with a dresser, probably in 3 weeks, so she couldn’t completely unpack but we got it started. Our Target run wasn’t fully successful as the store had been pretty picked over by the time we go there. She can wait a few weeks for what we were missing and I’ll go to target here at home. We took her grocery shopping Sunday morning and got her started. (well more than started – I spent as much on her as I would have spent on the 3 of us for almost 3 weeks). So all in all mostly a successful and uneventful trip. Her apartment is very nice and her room is actually bigger than we expected based on the pictures we had seen. And I liked that it seems to be a very secure building. Key to get in, key to access the laundry rooms, key to get into the room where the recycle dumpster is… And they are on the 2nd floor so no need to worry about people at street level.
Karen – if not Minocqua, how about Eagle River or Rhinelander area? Enjoy your getaway. Funny comment about opening the blinds first thing in the morning. When we go to dd’s apartment dh opened her window blinds right away. Her building is U shaped and she is in one of the arms so she is looking across to another apartment, apparently boys, so she has to remember to close the blinds when she dresses. Our house is a cape cod so her bedroom window at home is recessed in an alcove and she doesn’t have to close the blinds to avoid the window.
Carol – my cousin visits her son and ddil a lot since they moved across the country and had a baby and she stays for a long time. I often wonder how her ddil can stand to have her mil there so much. Even my mother thinks cousin’s visits are excessive.
I finished The New Girl. Excellent, as the Daniel Silva books always are. I am starting the latest Cormoran Strike. I am listening to The German Girl which I am enjoying. It’s a holocaust story but I think it’s more of a prewar Germany story and back and forth between 1939 Berlin and 2015 (or thereabouts) NYC.
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Post by carol2 on Aug 26, 2019 18:16:12 GMT
I think what makes it more tolerable for my DD is that she works so is gone during the day. DMIL keeps the baby at home so he is not in daycare while she is there. I would have gone crazy if my MIL came for 10 days, but I was a stay-at-home mom. DD and DSIL keep their house neat, but not spotless. I think her MIL likes it cleaner than they do so when DGS naps, she cleans. I think MIL makes home-improvement suggestions-not repairs, but changes they could make, but can't afford right now. We were out in the backyard and when MIL went back into the house, DD asked her DH "is there something wrong with our yard, too?" There haven't been any blow-ups (so far).
Marsha, I forgot you were taking DD back to school. It sounds like things went well. How many roommates will she have? I remember making Target & Wal-mart runs when moving kids back to college. DS and DDIL still use the kitchen table and chairs we got for him in college. They both got a lot of their kitchen things at dollar stores and thrift stores.
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Post by Anngie on Aug 26, 2019 20:25:40 GMT
We’re having beautiful weather today and the rest of the week too. Just love the 70’s and no humidity. We spent the weekend up at the lake and it got quite cool. We’ll be up there next weekend for Labor Day as well.
Karen, congrats on the 2.2 mile walk! Was it painful during the walk or only by evening? I can’t help to think it is feeling “fallish” here too. I can only hope we have a nice, warmer than usual, fall. I read CA Girls also - you’re right, it was a nice easy read - but not spectacular!
Robin, one week to go! I’ll bet you have so much going through your mind that it’s hard to concentrate. It’ll be lovely, I’m sure. If I remember correctly you were able to post a picture or two - I hope you can do this again. I have never bought a phone without seeing it for the same reason, I want to know the size of it - I definitely do not want one of the “bigger” models. Too cumbersome for me. Carol, nice of DH to stop and help with the tire. I’ll bet many drove right on by before he stopped. I had to smile re DD’s MIL. Ten days for anyone to live in anyone’s house is a long time! What does DSIL think of his mother’s long stay? They seem to be handling it well, though. I remember reading that part of The Woman in the Window!
Pinky, yard work is hard work! I remember preparing our lawn for seeding and thought I’d never do this again! lol
Gareth, I’m with you on leaving blinds/shades open till the bitter end. I just love daylight shining in - especially during the summer. At night I want them all closed!
Almost done with Heart and Soul. Although I’d recommend the author, I wouldn’t recommend this one to start with. I have Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks waiting on Overdrive and just picked up A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. Has anyone heard of it?
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Post by Anngie on Aug 26, 2019 20:31:50 GMT
Marsha, realized I missed your post. Glad to hear DD is back at college without any packing/unpacking issues! Target has nice things - is it the dresser they were out of - I wonder if you could order it online to be shipped to her local store? Of course, that won’t help if she doesn’t have access to a car to pick it up. The German Girl has been on my list.
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Post by RobinS811 on Aug 26, 2019 21:18:03 GMT
Anngie, glad you had such a nice weekend, to be followed up by another. I loved Every Breathe. I had not heard of A Map of the World, but I see it was an Oprah pick. I have liked a few of hers, but to me they are not like Reece Witherspoon's picks, which I usually love. I don't make a point of reading from either.
I was able to get over 20 pages read of my book club book while I was walking the dog. The actually book must have larger typeface, so the pages go a little faster. I have about 100 pages to go, so if I keep it up while walking the dog I will finish before we meet, just by doing that I think.
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Post by mikendanni on Aug 26, 2019 21:43:58 GMT
Anngie - it was more the conventional target type things that they were out of. Like her face cleanser (which we found at the grocery store). But funny story - we were looking for a mirror that has the hooks so you can hang it over your door. They had it on the website but we couldn't find it in the store. We checked with a clerk who looked on his hand checker thing and said there should be one in the back, I'll go check. Came back a while later and said there was 1 box with 6 mirrors and 5 were broken so here is the one good one. DD carried it around the rest of our shopping trip since she knew it was the last one. We ordered a desk from Wayfair which will be delivered Wednesday I think. 80 pound package so she will have to enlist the help of her fraternity boyfriend and his buddies to get it upstairs. Then she has to put it together, it says moderate difficulty. She put together her bookshelf we got at Target and said it was easy so now she has her confidence up. I told her I want to know how long this desk takes. It's a corner desk so lots of parts.
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