Best/Worse/What did I learn today? chat with friends old/new

That's a shame about Linda's back. Hope it heals quickly.
Happy to see you pop in Bev.
Susan, congratulations again and I love the name!!!
And I'm glad to see you post too Dianne!! Hope these dizzies are gone!!!!!
Going to try to actually sew today. I have finally got the sewing room in some kind of order. I have a stack of "projects" but first I need to catch up with my BOMs.
Is there anything you can wear "M" to keep those bugs away? They sound nasty.

~~~~Waving to all~~~~

This message was edited Jul 19, 2014 10:16 AM

Betty, did you ever go back to the Dr. and get your blood pressure under control? Funny your Mom has low BP, and yours is high!

M, this is my great granddaughter Amelia, she will be two next Wed. She and her parents live with us. She is actually cute but quite a clown and a terrific mimic. She will say and do just about anything you tell her. Her vocabulary is amazing for her age, but then she spends all her time with adults.
What happened here was we were mugging at each other and I popped my lower denture at her. This was her come back. We are endlessly entertained by her, love that we are getting this time.

Good morning,

Thank you for the birthday wishes and good thoughts yesterday..

Ended up going to Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua NY. Is out in Finger Lakes area
and where Shane went to college. We were never there when Gardens were open, so
spent 3 hours walking the grounds. Relaxing. Over all a nice day. Had dinner at Alex's Place in Batavia (right near where you stayed with the boys Betty).

Received the most beautiful card from Nate & Kyle that made me tear up with "Mom" on the front...and we don't tell you enough how much we love you and thank you for all you do for us.
with barnes & noble gift cards...and a BIG bottle of RC Cola! lol

Shane called at night also, was good to talk to him.

Susan, congrats on the new baby coming and connecting with family.

Sure hope Linda is well soon! AND same for Mama Fran and her BP.

Waving to all, enjoy your day.

What a beautiful place Debbie! Love your pictures!

Beautiful photos indeed Debbie, What a nice card, and Barnes & Noble gifties, my favorite. Ours has a used book section, I can fill a bag very reasonably.

Happy birthday Debbie. Beautiful pictures.
My youngest DD was 53 yesterday. I made her a earthquake cake. Soo good

What is an earthquake cake?

Always looking for different cake recipes .. wanna share some EARTQUAKE cake with us ^+^

Hung clothes on the line, NO rain predicted, well, we just had a 5 minute DELUGE !!!
Second rinse I guess.

OH Karen, Amelia is a doll .. and, love the fact she's a comedian.. means she's comfortable with herself :-)

Debbie, the pics are beautiful .. I had noticed Canandaigua on the map of NY .. plus I saw Olean, where my friend lives .. she worked in DuBois PA as a school teacher for years, just retired ..

Might take a run out here to Kakabeka Falls .. touristy place, but, has a grocery store ..

Dianne, how's the head today ?


Take care

~M~

I remember visiting Kakabeka Falls, geeze had to be a good 40 years ago. Drove all the way around Lake Superior one year for vacation. Went up at the Soo, I promptly got Scarlet Fever. Hubby was going to take me to hospital in Thunder Bay and just before we got there, my fever broke and I felt better. I spent the trip wrapped in a sleeping bag, crawling out to see the water falls then back to sleep. Only good thing, I guess because of the fever, I was the only one with no black fly bites.

That does not sounds like a good vacation!

What a darling Amelia is Karen. And a comic to boot!!!!! No way to spend a vacation though.

Deb - your photos are wonderful. What a beautiful place to relax.

Sorry about the deluge "M"...

Have Norm's nephew here overnight. Good to see him.....

Just got in, love the photo's Debbie, one year when I took the more easterly coast going to Florida I took the route that involved finger lakes ..what beautiful country Debbie..love to photo's, place to put on my travel list. Glad the boys made your day special.

Barb, now you can sew up a storm..bet norm and his nephew are are talking up a storm and laughing a lot, I'd think with him visiting you will not get sewing done..bet you feel great having done the purging.

Karen she is adorable, a comic for sure, full of hellery

Ohhh Liz I too would love to make an earthquake cake..mouth watering

Dropped in for a quick visit with Linda and Dave, how did I know that likely her ails were from moving furniture...her gift to herself re retirement was all new furniture, have all her rooms painted and new flooring..well, Dave was at work, furniture being delivered, truckers taking the old so she thought she would move the old closer to the door..she went to chiropractor, got a treatment, her doctor gave her muscle relaxers and tonight she was doing better..I told Dave to strap her to the chair till Friday morning..on the good side she did get a travelling wheelchair, so tiny when folded, smaller than walker so it's coming with us and I don't think she will argue about sitting in it and us pushing it all a go IF she doesn't do something stupid.

Had a nice visit with mom, she is gong Antarctic re excercizes, I was moving slower than she today..she lived the spaghetti, ate the whole thing at 4pm then went for supper. Lol

I am embarrassed to say I loss my cool today, even used the 'f' word, I just got so angry. On the good side I called her when I got home to say I should not have gotten so angry..gave me her blessings but I'm still upset about it.

Dropped into Coldwater, ran into aunt Muriel..I went to the apartment and put in mom's application for an apartment..doubtful it will be any time soon but I did my part.

Already laying down, need a pain killer then early night. I need to meet mike and Kim at 10a.m. To look at the retirement residency in midland..plans are to pay for mom to be there for a few months.

Waving

Why did you lose your cool Betty? Must have been pretty bad for you to do so!

Have you had a check up to make sure your meds are working? What is your blood pressure today?

Back home, sitting here having a cup of hot chocolate.
Betty, I think we all want to know if your blood pressure is coming down......

Earthquake Cake
spread 2 cups of coconut in 13x9 inch pan then spread 1 cup chopped nuts
over coconut. (I use walnuts)
mix German chocolate cake as directed on box, pour over nuts &coconut.
In another bowl ( I use same one) mix 1 stick soften butter & 1 -8 oz.package soften cream cheese and 4 cups of 10x sugar. spread over cake . Bake 350* 45 minutes.

You might see some "movement" of the cake and think it isn't done.but 45 minutes is it.
Enjoy.

Morning

Dull looking outiside, hopefully sun will decide to visit.

You asked about bp, this morning it was 128/67' similar to yesterday.

Liz thank for the recipe , now to see if I can find a German cake mix?? Don't recall seeing one before

Blow up with mom was do to my nephew who lives with her..he is 47, bled her and Jim dry since he was a teen, works an odd day to appease her..she has given him $$$ at least 5 times these past few years, pays 1st and last month month for him, fill house with food and he is back in a few months then the cycle starts again. She just had mike a few week ago give him $$$ to get a place so mike can put the house for sale, mike went over Friday and asked how he was doing finding a place as they want to list the place for 1st of September, well, things came up and doesn't have all the $$ towards new digs..mike and Bryan got into it, Bryan called mom and said mike was cruel to him, mom got upset with mike and Kim so both said that is it washed their hands of the entire situation.

I said I agreed with mike, time Bryan fends for himself, that she did him no favor all these years giving him money and the $5K is just the start, he would be at the door next month for another 5k and she would give it to him again, again, again.

She went on to say that he is the only grandchild who pays attention to her, other have never been close..I went on to say All other grandchildren never even got $5.oo it was Bryan Bryan Bryan and they were hurt beyond belief that they mattered not

So far so good, I was mad but didn't lose it.

She said if her $$$ is all we are interested in she will have a lawyer draw up papers and we won't have to worry about her $$$

I told her she can keep her 'f' money, our only concern is her, that she can live in a $3 to 5k a month home till she is 100 and have good care but ot when she supports Bryan and has to live in a dive

So upset not only with me but her as well..

I listen to my kids talk about her and you can feel their hurt..

So this mornimg I'm having coffee, getting ready to head to Midland to meet up with Mike. Am sure if he did wash his hands of it he will call to tell me he is ot coming.

Guess I will start to put a quilt on the frame just to get my mind off things. Big sigh

Sending you hugs Betty. Many hugs. ♡♡♡♡♡

Hazy. Hot. Humid. My front yard. Totally saturated air.

Dave decided our pink flamingos needed a makeover :)

Y'all have a great day.

Betty .. I am reminded of that fateful saying 'You can CHOOSE your friends, but, NOT your family"! And, how true that is, and, how very painful and heart breaking at times.
I'm sure ALL of us have 'lost it' on a family member .. I know I have ..

Walked into the kitchen at &am and looked out the east window, FOG, thick fog .. and, a doe and a fawn muching on clover ... will be a 'memory flick' as a camera would never had done it justice, and, had I moved towards the kitchen table, well, they would have noticed my pink housecoay I'm sure.
Anyway a nice way to start a day ^_^

Barb, is Norm's nephew staying for a while? Enjoy the visit ..

That cake sounds decadent .. will have to see if we have German chocolate cake mixes here .. can't remember seeing one, but, DH is likely going to WI and he could pick one up .. and, what is 1X sugar? Icing sugar ..

Karen, Kakabeka Falls (Niagra of the North) was just LOADED with American fishermen and their boats yesterday .. there were about 15 units parked at the grocery store .. MN, WI, MI, IL even one from TN!!
The Falls are a definite delight to see .. at one point this year, we had had so much rain the falls were just ROARING ... kinda scary !

Off to the reserve to get gas ..

Have a super day

~M~

Gosh the yard is beautiful! Is that a glimpse of water in the distance?

(((((Betty))))). How very hard this must be on you. Sounds like Bryan is a loser with a capital L!! Hope she comes to her senses soon. In her circumstance, she may never get to that point.

Foggy here this morning. I have a lot to do in the gardens. Need to pick cukes and zucchini for sure. Worked at Joan's on Thursday and Friday and she loaded me up with really neat plants. I need to get them in the ground. Just so much to do and back to Joan's I go tomorrow. Her second sale of the year is next weekend, so this is crunch time for cleaning the garden.

Joan gave me some tree frog tadpoles. I don't have tree frogs which is just crazy cause Bertie does! Anyway they're in a bucket with a tree limb leaning on a tree. Some are starting to get their little legs. So cute!

Hugs to you all!

(Debbie, hope your heart is healing and you're able to remember the happy memories with Izzy)

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 7:28 AM

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 7:28 AM

I'm surprised you haven't seen German Chocolate cake mixes, they are common here.

Betty so sorry, It's hard to see your children hurt by someone who should love them. Hubby's mom ignored ours all her life. Guess who were the only ones to see her after her money was gone? They did it for their dad's sake.

T I love the flamingos, my dad was a terror with a paint brush. If he had one and a bucket of paint, he didn't stop until every rock, birdhouse and yes flamingo was painted. They ended up blue. Our kids loved it. When he had his cancer surgery, they were all here to welcome him home and lined the street with flamingos.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 7:40 AM

Sorry to hear about y our Mom and Bryan! Sure hope he can get a place to move into soon!

1X sugar is powdered or confectioners sugar used for icing.

Love the flamingos Thunder. We have had fog like that this week too. Needless to say - I stay inside in the AC...

So sorry about Mom Betty. I sure do hope she wakes up one day and realizes how she has hurt your boys. No excuse for it..... Your boys have so much class to be as civil as I know they are with her.

Betty and M Dr Oakter (sp?) has a German Chocolate Cake mix or you could use his Black Forest Cake mix. Foodland cares them and I know No Frills down here does too.

Good morning everyone,

Another hot and humid day starting here. We had a long blackout yesterday. Made me miss my big poker game ($1,000 first prize). Outside was OK with a little breeze so I read and swatted mosquitoes.

Maria and I went to dinner at the restaurant of a friend of hers. Sat at an outside table, had a nice dinner and the electricity came back on just as we we getting ready to leave so I had a/c and fan for sleeping.

Looked online for a battery paowered fan as mine seems to have disappeared and it really helps during our all-too-common blackouts.

Having coffee and slowly waking up. NO big plans for the day but will work on a barrel planter if I am overcome with energy. Otherwise it's another lazy Sunday.

Debbie, I'm still hugging you.

Betty, too bad shanghiing is out of style. In books people get shipped off in big wood boxes but it sounds hard to manage.

Is there any possibility of having someone else appointed to manage her money? One the up side, she has come a long way in accepting some of her limitations and she might see the light about Bryan. Any chance she would listen to her lawyer? Sounds painfully familiar to me. My mother paid a high price for playing favorites. And I have several painful memories of her mother's nastiness to me. And one happy memory of finally screaming at my grandmother, refusing to play the hypocritical sweet goodbye game.

Being as your mother is still hospitalized, could someone have the locks on the house changed, hand Bryan a last chunk of $$ and move on?

Such a difficult situation. Hard not to loose it because what she is doing will come back to hurt her. Much patience is needed and very hard to come by.

Hugs to everyone, katie

Bryan.

Just got back from 750 Kimg st.
Paid for room for mom to guarantee it as of aug 1st

Mike/Kim quite impressed with it

Then off to Lorraine and Robert, brought her her bathing suit I repaired, just got there and key dropped in, Robert had asked him to put the boat he bought on Craigslist and kijiji, seems he doesn't like it..ask Kyle to drop in on his way home..need a few tings done that are too heavy for me.

Dizzy today, maybe I can move in until mom does.

Dropped into Walmart and bought a few totes to organize back shed, just took what was in the cabinet last weekend and put it on the floor when I took it to the roadside for pick up, now I can clean up my mess.


Grass needs cutting, looks like rain so I really should go do it then relax for the rest of the day..did put the quilt on the frame this morning so think I've accomplished (other than grass) all I hoped to this weekend.

Will look at metro tomorrow for the cake mix.

Got a hunger on for bread pudding, maybe I should whip up a batch just not sure I have raisins..

Katie, I'm staying out of the money part, not in me to take on that battle.

I will though talk to Sharon, it's her son and while mom can't drive she is the one on behalf of mom giving him $$$ from mom's acct. it's up to her as power of attorney to be a little more guarded, got to watch what I say there as well..I will do my best when mom is in Midlamd re visiting and running errors, best I can do

Betty sorry to hear of the troubles with mom. Sending you love and hugs Sistah.
did the skillathon and the meeting.
Tim gave me money ! to help out with other things. He also got all the kids school supplies..... he is being awfully nice.....??
not much going on this week..... a bit wondering...
started reading Fifty Shades of Grey.... eh ...... ?
one of my dearest childhood friends mother is in hospice. she has days left .... *sigh*.....wish i was there to comfort her.

Sue, great news about the extra help,will make life for you less stressful worrying about finances .
Sorry to hear about your friends mom, life sure gets overwhelming doesn't it.
Haven't read fifty sheds of Grey

Never did get anything done, been in bed minutes after my last post..
Kyle dropped in, asked him to do a few things for me which he did, I didn't even get out of bed.

Tomorrow. Is another day!

This message was edited Jul 20, 2014 10:34 PM

Hugs Y'ALL ♡♡
Sweet dreams.

Morning,

moving slower than normal, don't want the dizzies as I've much to do today!

rained last night, doesn't look too promising today, need that grass cut so hoping for sunshine which is the only 'to do' I didn't get done on my weekend list

always nice to see a quilt on the frame, now for quilting!!!

Already got my daily reminder from the gals that we've 4 more sleeps..hurrah, last week of waiting for the Roadtrip 2014.

Thunder in the distance, but, only because of the heat and humidity that has come to stay with us for a few days .. not used to 90+F .. takes some getting used to, then, BOOM, the temps plummet back into the low 70s .. sure does make life interesting ..

FOUR more sleeps Betty !! Sure hope your feeling better by then .. good to hear Linda got the travelling wchair .. it'll be handy , just be very careful when going over uneven (gravel) ground .. slow and steady wins the race safely.

Seems like the weekend just flew by .. didn't do that much, but, enough to keep outta trouble ..
DDinlaws Grandmothers service is this Wednesday .. like so many others in this arae .. cremation has taken place, and it's a Memorial service, with pics and videos and coffee and cake etc .. and meeting with the family ..

I apparently had a dandy nightmare last night, complete with tears and cussing someone out .. scared the dogs, but the humans thought it was a great time ! All I can remember is that I was not being allowed to board a plane because I had gotten my phone number wrong when they asked me it .. I was hopping mad LoL

Best grab a coffee and help Lorna out with her 'stuff' .. she certainly leaves here with lotsa equipment !!

TOODLES

~M~

Sorry to hear you have the dizzies Betty! Please take it easy!

"M", hope your day is better than that darn nightmare!

lordy, fog moved in with winds..what unusual weather!!!
gardens sure have a fall look to them.

My wish "M" is that when I die, that's it..NOTHING, nada..no ceremony
Kids can have my ashes or body put with Roger..tada-done

Feeling 100% better today..Mike just called, mom now isn't sure about the Midland accommodations..sitting here trying to figure out my course of action..

Tell her she does not have a choice, as she can't go home!

That would be a sure way to guarantee her going home

Think I would leave her with her thoughts for a day or two. You already know arguing gets you no where.

good morning - woke up to DG not recognizing me......?!?!
wouldn't show me my regular bookmarks of where I chat.........
had to change my password, and log in twice..... weird

Betty - do you suffer from (oh, can't think of the word - woke up late and I'm on the rush!!).....

Take care, everyone

I am so tired of all of this..

I called the home and cancelled arrangements

Sharon and mom are on their own..Sharon emailed me, said we should as we weren't sure when she is getting out and that likely she will stay home for a bit.
Spoke to mom, she said Sharon was looking after things so I told her that was ok 'ALL' be left to Sharon and so it will, said I had to go and cut it real short

Know she knows I'm mad

Holy cow ... talk about a 'shamozzel' Betty ..
I know your Mom is trying to cling to her 'OLD life style', but, it won't happen.
Taking her home is something that is going to require MEGA planning .. and, she is now a 'FALL risk'
Sure do hope Sharon has LOTS of time to be chief cook and bottle washer as well as secretary, nurse and physiotherapist .
I felt you did the right thing getting her alternate accomodationw with EVERYTHING there for her ..
Gotta be tough .. sending huge hugs ..

HANG ON TO YER HATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's going to be OVER 100F here today .. we are staying INSIDE .. Gord picked strawberries again early this morning, I'm about to make some diabetic freezer jam for him ..
Stopped to see Lorna, she's melting .. happily she can go into her truck and turn on the AC and cool down .. their building has NO air conditioning, and, the crematorium is attached to it .. she seldom goes in there ..

Best get to mashing berries ..

Stay cool everyone

~M~

Back in sec.

Hi...Oh My gosh Betty, so sorry to hear this news. I really hope you mom comes to her senses.
As for you, Glad you are feeling better.

(((((((((Debbie))))))))

Moonbeam, Did Jordan have the operation, How is he doing? Been keeping him in thoughts and prayers.

Well, need to answer Diannes question of long ago...The picture above is Jacob and his girl Emily.
They had a fantastic time in Tennessee and now have been to Summerfest in Michigan and laCrosse Wi and back. he is back in school.
So you will love this, The day after he got back, come sauntering this way and back with a bratty smirk saying, all the while beboopin how he did e v e r y t h i n g I would never let him do!! LOL Brat, I told him I know and thats why every day he was gone i was praying for his safty and common sense of good choices...So relieved he came back in one piece....He is loving his young adult freedom.
The second picture is of them lazing around (our yard), They love those hammocks!
...and for Karen, shaking my head, she don't lift a finger! They had a huge argument, the first i've ever heard, I will tell you, I am still biting my tongue and i just don't wanna see her lazy butt right now!

Sorry to see Dianne, you still have the dizzies...oh golly hope the meds kick back in for Duke...