Golden Oldies, July 2010

[Doingthis4me]

Good morning. Sorry I'm late but I slept till the last minute and had to get ready for work. There is a woman down on the sidewalk on the corner, I just went to lend whatever assistance I could till the police and ambulance arrived. Lucky for her so many were helping her. She said she has MS but seemed very out of it.

I had a transaction alert of 2 charges from the hotel we stayed in over the weekend. One was correct, the other was for an amount that was higher. I just called my credit card company and they said the charges had already been reversed. Will have to keep an eye on that account to make sure.

Donna, glad Alex had a good time last night. Sounds like more fun this weekend. Oh, to be young again with your whole life in front of you. (sigh)

Linda, sounds like a very dangerous dinner. You are so close to onederland. Maybe eat meat only before you go to offset all those carbs.

Jim someone must of scavaged our trash as the old rug cleaner was gone this morning but the trash hadn't been picked up. It doesn't work, maybe they were just looking for scrap metal.

What I need to do is have a huge yard sale. I have a lot of stuff that I could get rid of but since it still works or is in good condition I feel guilty throwing it away. We have a local charity place as well, what doesn't sell I can always donate. Just no way could I even begin to think of having a sale with some of the remodeling stuff that is now taking up residence in my garage.

Work this morning and then going to a friends to swim this afternoon.

[dama]

Good morning all!

D4me we were lucky in that my dad is a drywall contractor he was able to get his other contractor buddies to do the carpentry, masony, electric, etc work at either a steal or as a trade, the problem was we had to wait for when these guys had time.. often after 5p or starting super early. despite all that, we were able to finish the kitchen in 28 days - from demo to cooking again. of course the contractors house is never quite finished - we completed in sep 2008 and to this day there are still two sockets where plugs should be, theyre wired and capped, but no plugs. it took 8 months of nagging just to get pop to install the under cabinet lights. sliced my finger bc of poor lighting, the whining and blood convinced him to finally install the lights. contractors!

Patty I hope you're having a safe, uneventful drive and that you have a lovely time at the party this weekend.

Donna glad you all had a nice time sure was nice of alex to stick around long enough to spend time with family ;) i remember benig in a big hot fuss to go out dancing, as soon as possible. thankfully once she finally goes dancing shell realize its not much fun and that'll cure her... for a while.

Jim you can smoke, vote, and die for your country at age 18, but cant have a beer til you're 21. backwards, isnt it? kids that live near the canada border like to cross bc their drinking age is 18 or 19.. mmm canadian whiskey !

Linda ive always been curious about the tipping situation on cruises. do they instruct you how much to leave, is it a set rate, does it depend on ship size, cruise length, etc?


I live about 2 mi from work so I have been either walking, jogging, or doing sprint-then-walk intervals to work lately. i went to sprint tuesday and got the nastiest cramp in my quad muscles/front of thigh. took it easy. today i went to try to sprint again, same thing. i jogged instead. annoyed. i normally would eat a banana for muscle cramps but wont bc of carbs. ive read that avocados are good instead... anyone have any suggestions?

i linger at 190.8. cant seem to slip into the 180s, still hoping i can make it to 188.5 by aug 8th. damn plateaus.

[gooch]

Tips are optional, but the people who work for them depend on them. They have a suggested amount, usually $10-12 per person per day, that is divided among all the crew members. We usually also tip the people we are most in contact with a little extra. That would be the person who takes care of the cabin and a server and their helper if we have the same one each day.

Tipping is a sore subject. Tipping is just not the norm in some countries. Others complain that the cruise lines should pay their people a living wage so they don't have to depend on the tips. I personally would prefer that they just add it to the price of the cruise.

On some cruises like our Princess cruises the tips are automatically added to your account but you can have them reduced or even eliminated. The "gotcha" with having them eliminated is if you do give money to your cabin steward or waiter, then then have to add it to the pool anyway. But if you leave the automatic tip in place, they can keep any extra they receive.

[Doingthis4me]

We have always left our tips in place and like Linda, extra to those who take good care of us. The cabin steward usually gets a tip up front because I usually have a few special requests. And no Linda, I don't do it as a bribe! She'll know what I mean.

I think I am a pretty good tipper. In a hotel I always leave at least $5 on the nightstand for the maid, I usually tip 15-20% of a restaurant bill, bring us a drink and we usually give a dollar or two. The cruise line actually saves us money because I know we would lay out more than $10 a person per day on tips if we tipped as we customarily do.

[dama]

Tipping is definitely a controversial subject. I was a server 'waitress' for many years during college and you cant imagine the controvery and debate stirred up by discussing tipping. I feel incredibly strongly about it, clearly. In other countries where servers earn a living wage, france or something, and tipping is not expected, I dont tip perse but still give a little extra. i was living in the netherlands and always tipped for each drink at the pub and my bartender said look dont do that, its ok, you dont have to. i was shocked! i know americans can be perceived negatively for tipping when inappropriate in other countries (ostentatious) so when traveling i always ask my hotel whats the norm and go from there.

its funny, when living in NL i was surrounded by kids from all around the world also studying abroad like i was. we could discuss religion, politics, war whatever. but bring up the topic of tipping and then the contensions ran high.

my spanish friend felt strongly about it. til she came to san francisco for the summer and the only job willing to hire her was a spanish restaurant as a busser. she changed her tune ASAP!

[more4less]

We are safe and sound in Michigan.

Just went out to my sister's house to gab for a bit. 4 of the 6 of us were there along with a few nieces and and grand nieces and nephews.I am guessing that tomorrow at the party willl not be a good time for chatting, with all 46 of us there....

Meeting sister and her Dh for breakfast in the morning. Tehn off to the party and finally back home on Sunday. Our drive home had better be better than the one here. Chicago was a traffic nightmare with lane closures on the interstate.

[Doingthis4me]

Good morning.

Patty, glad you made it there safely. Hope the party goes well and the drive home is uneventful.

We have a shrimp boil to attend tonight. I am trying very hard to stay on plan but it's hard. I hope when I weigh this morning the scale is good to me to give me some incentive to keep on track.

[gooch]

We only ran into one bad traffic jam on our 2000 mile casino odyssey. It was just north of I-270 near St. Louis. I-57 I think, maybe I-55. We considered that amazing. Took us about an hour to clear it.

Good morning. Beautiful weather here. Highs in the 70's today. Might have a shower, though. I can live with that.

I gained .6 from the noodle dinner. Most of that is probably salt. They had really good green beans, but they were very salty. Makes me suspect that the rest of the meal was salty, too.

Don went off to work today. School opening is coming up fast, August 25. He isn't getting the help he expected from our DIL. She is supposed to work 4 hours with him and 4 hours on some financial stuff. Well, the financial stuff is all she is doing. I should probably volunteer to go help.

Nothing on the agenda today except finish the China videos. I'm up to Day 14 of the 17 day trip.

[allemrackie]

Good Saturday morning everyone,

Can't wait to see the China videos!

D4me, I would think a shrimp boil would be atkins friendly. Have a great time.

Patty, I'm glad you made it there safely - 13 hours is a long time in a car and then it's compounded with traffic. Hope tomorrow's trip is better. Happy Birthday to your mom! 90 years is certainly something to celebrate.

I've been to my dad's this morning and it wasn't too bad. Now, I have to go out in a few minutes to show some condos. I don't think it will take all afternoon since they are all in one community.

DH and I may go to Cityplace tonight to hear the band. We'll see.

[more4less]

Holy cow!

We just got back from breakfast with my sister and her family...Certainly an eye opener. DH and I eat mostly low carb and we really don't eat out much any more. The number of carbs on our table was astounding with her family of 6. I think her one 17 yo son ordered three potato dishes and then had a pancake order to go. Granted, he is a slim thing but wowzers.

Here is some irony for you. My sis is over weight. She had lapband surgery of some type and is still overweight. She ate just as much food as the rest of the crew but it just takes her twice as long to eat it...so much for having a smaller stomach.

Our quick breakfast took us 2 hours, waiting for her to finish up. I must have had a gallon of ice water...

[Donna58]

Good morning!

Nothing going on here. Not feeling well this weekend...lady stuff.

I'm glad your trip is going ok Patty. Happy Birthday to the mom! We hardly ever eat out as it is so hard to resist all the tempting carbs. That's annoying to have to wait that long for someone to finish eating.

I went over to Kelsey's yesterday to see how the girls' night out went and to see little Nubs. Hadn't seen him in about two months. He is still so tiny compared to our monsters here. He's got a problem though that Kelsey is in denial about. I noticed right away that his back end is wobbly when he is walking or even just standing. He just can't seem to control it completely. He is playing, eating, pooping and looks very healthy so I just told Kelsey he must have some kind of "special needs". She was upset that I said that but I told her at least he has a great home and someone loves him so much. He certainly hops around and plays up a storm so I don't think he's in any pain. He is so adorable. If I wasn't married, I'd be the crazy cat lady.

[Doingthis4me]

Good morning.

I did not do good eating wise at the party. Not total out of control but not low carb either. It's pure weakness on my part, plain and simple. I will not continue to slide today. I have bacon and ribeye in the ready for good eating today. Have to stop these slips though.

Donna, it does sound like the kitty has some type of a problem. I hope it's nothing that gets worse as it grows. I adore animals too. I would be the crazy dog lady if I could.

[gooch]

Hello. No, I didn't just get up. I am obsessed with these China videos. The weather was so rotten that I am having to use Photo Shop and "enhance" just about every photo. It takes a lot of time.

Going to a birthday party at 5:00 this afternoon. My brother's grandson is 5 today. Sophie's 7th is coming up at the end of the month. Hard to believe. I started Atkins and posting here a couple weeks before she was born. Seven long years. I should be a fashion model by now!

[allemrackie]

Hi all, I didn't just get up either - been busy cleaning up and balancing my checkbook. It's amazing how things add up when you let this little job slip for a few weeks. Also, my electric bill was $185 for July - that is almost double what it should be. That means when Ter and Chris were here, my A/C never took a break and neither did my washer/dryer. Oh well, it doesn't happen often.

Donna, sorry you are not feeling so well. Nubs sounds like he's adjusted very well anyway that's good. How is Kelsey doing in her own place?

Speaking of cats, our little visitor has adjusted to us too and I just told Carla (who may drive over to this coast tomorrow) that she can visit with MY cat. She laughed and said she knew I wouldn't want to give her back. I said no worries, she can have her back, I still don't particularly like cleaning up after a cat,

Happy Birthday to the little grandnephew. It's hard to believe how fast the kids are growing up!!

I'm making dinner tonight - a rare occasion in this household lately.