Sudokuaholics Anonymous 10

Judy, I was surprised to read that blackberries are considered a weed there; they are SO yummy! My mom used to make blackberry jelly and blackberry pie (if we found enough). I guess a weed is just a plant growing where it's not wanted or appreciated.

Nola, so glad you could pop in! Thinking of you and your sister and hubby!

Theresa and Cyn, enjoyed reading about the games your grandies are playing!

June, it's too bad some trees came down on the farm, but you're right that they'll make good firewood when dry! It just takes work to get them transported to where they need to be and cut to the right size!

OMG, I left the page to check on Suzy's page to see the branch that came down. Luckily, when I got back to this page, I hadn't lost my comments! Someone was looking out for me!

Theresa, just reading about food for the feral cats. Do you have Target stores in Canada? A friend told us yesterday that he had just bought 120 pounds of dry cat food for his cats.

June, I just read your comment that blackberries harbour snakes. Yikes! I'm glad I didn't know that when I was a kid and our family went out to pick blackberries!

Heading to page 143!

The best time of your life should be today; what’s past is past, and the future holds no guarantees. So find joy in every day, no matter what.

(Guess who wasn't paying attention to the comments counter!)

June, what a lovely quote to TOPP page 143! Thank you for sharing! {{{{{HUGS}}}}} Thinking of you and your friend! MizT provided some good advice - that all of us should keep in mind for when we might need it! I'm so glad your friend was able to get some rest! Hoping for the same for you!

Heidi, I'm so glad you got all of the hay loaded into the barn! Great news that Robert was able to give his 30-day notice for his apartment!

MizT, I enjoyed your explanation of how farmers can make blackberries a cash crop (and avoid rodents and snakes) all at the same time!

Mamacita, the outside excitement with Mama Duck and her ducklings sounded like fun. However, your inside excitement with the smoking pan of butter wasn't so great. I'm so glad there was nothing worse than smoke that needed to be cleared!

Rolanda, sending positive thoughts for S#2 and phase 5 of the interview process!

Time continues to march and it's now past midnight. I must bid you all adieu and good night! Sending record amounts of , positive thoughts, prayers and {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for everyone and special additional thoughts and prayers for those who might be able to use extra!

Hi folks,
Haven't been able to get on to the internet until now. Had a huge gripe to make about you know who, but after reading June's post it seems so trivial that I will keep it to myself.

Thought I posted this a couple of hours ago.

June, thinking about you and all of your family. All the time. {{{{{hugs}}}}}

My friend Sue's Dad passed away this afternoon

RIP Sue's father. Pass on our best wishes to her Rolanda, we have followed his journey with her, and we feel her pain ♥

Rolanda - sorry to hear that, but I guess it was expected and he is at peace now.
Suzy - have your gripe - I think it diverts June, even if only temporarily from her own constant worries.
Missed Julie again, we seem to both come in here during our afternoon but seldom at the same time.
Mama - glad your house was only smoke-filled, could have been worse.
Hugs to all who need them, especially June.

Thanks.. yes, they are greatful, that he has finally passed away, no more pain, no more suffering, at peace.
He lasted much longer than they said he would, on Sunday they said 3 hours.....
RIP Mr K ♥

Home again, friend had another lymphatic massage today. He uses an instrument called a 'scenar' which was developed by the Russians for their astronauts. You could just see the fluid flowing from her arms and legs. She can now flex her fingers and toes and move around much more freely.
She has two recliners but now needs to sit completely upright. We have thought of a hospital bed and the district nurse talked about it today but while she can manage in an ordinary bed it is much better for Laura. At the moment she hates anything to be changed in the house. She has also Bean told if she gets breathless to take two mls of the morphine. A different girl this afternoon.

Rolanda, sympathy for your friend. It is always hard to say that last 'goodbye'
Pleased to hear all is going well for your son.
Suzy, please give us your news and gripes. Although I may not always comment I do like to read and know what you are all doing.

Blessings June xoxo

June, so glad the massages are helping. I understand about not wanting to change to much for Laura right now. She has enough ahead of her, no need to rush it!

Rolanda, sorry to hear about Sue's dad. He is now at peace.

While I was without the internet this morning, I wrote an essay on my notepad - withdrawal symptoms do you think? Since you asked, I will share it with you

Alie brought a huge pile of clothes out of her room - things she's never going to wear again - she might actually be able to put her clothes away now! Anyway, I was sorting through them to make piles - rubbish, Vinnies, family services (which have to be washed before they are sent) and found - 2 towels, a pillowcase, a shirt of mine she borrowed - with the tags still on it!, a T-shirt Dana gave her from when she went to that all day concert thingy, a pair of shorts with the tags still on them... and I still managed a green bag each for Vinnies and family services!!! Not much went into the rubbish.

MizT, thinking of you and Al and hoping the biopsy and results are over soon.. and that they have good news!

Theresa, how are things going with your inlaws. When do you look like might be heading over their way. I bet they don't have internet access! Can you get a prepaid dongle thing like we can here?

School holidays here and Alie is meeting a boy over town today. She has lots of groupies these days and I have to remember to ask her what year in school each one she is talking to is in before I say she can meet them...This one is cute, but he's younger than her. He also lives in Sydney but that wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't younger than her!?

I knew it! Dana is living next door!! She just called me to ask if I could give her friend a ride to work - yeah, real grown up! That was fun. She was fine until Alie got out of the car, then I got snotty monosymbols or silence when I attempted conversation. I stopped talking and waited until we got out of the car and told her that if she couldn't be as polite to me as she would be to a stranger, not to bother asking me for any favours. She started saying she was sick, and I just said 'you would NOT have been rude to a stranger'. For something who was feeling deathly ill she sure managed to move quickly in her high heels!!

And Don still blames me...

Sorry for that.

Suzy :((

Another day of getting not much done.. Peter will be impressed NOT!!

The Outside House Painters are finished.
Tomorrow have my BIL coming to do the Garden.

and I guess it is time I told you what is really happening at Hotel Rolanda

We are going to put the house on the Market (aim is end July), and downsize to a smaller house.
In fact, we have buying a Block of Land and going to build a new Home.
A narrow built, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, Study, 1 large Kitchen/Dining/Living Room, Alfresco under the main Roof.
No back yard, (close to the back and side fence boundaries), what there is will be brickpaved with garden in pots, little garden at the front NO LAWN!
Room for the caravan down the side of the house behind locked gates, a good size shed for HIM to tinker in.
While the house is being built, we will be renting..

large locked Double Garage

We probably had all guessed that you were going to be downsizing. The new place sounds wonderful. Do you know what the timescale is for the building and did you have any input into the planning of it or is it an 'off the peg' design?

about a year Brenda. it is home already designed by a reputable builder, we have modified it to suit us.. ie delete Bed 4 and make Alfresco bigger, delete Theatre Room ~ make the Kitchen/Dining/living area longer, make the Garage longer, and put in a Store Room in its place. Peter will do the Kitchen, Bathrooms, Laundry Cupboards...
After looking at established house, and not finding what we are looking for that ticked our criteria list...
We found the design first, then found the block of land in the area we have decided to live, small enough to fit the house and caravan and have no back garden.

We will be downsizing without Compromising on Space. Still a large home, just not so many rooms.
Do not need 2 living area, do not need 2 spare rooms, do not want large garden, do not want Lawns.. I will still have a sewing room (about the same size as the one I have now), The main bedroom much the same size as ours, the Guest Room bigger than the boys rooms.

((HUGS)) Suzy. I have been there and done that regarding the pile of clothes which will never be worn again, including the brand new stuff being discarded. What we did was give them an allowance from which they had to buy EVERYTHING they needed including clothes and personal hygiene requirements. If you could work out roughly how much you would spend on her in a year and maybe split it into three payments and tell her to budget, maybe then she wouldn't throw out perfectly good clothing.

I assume it is all on one level Rolanda. It does sound really nice. Hope you sell your present house quickly and get the price you want for it.

Yes one level...

Rolanda - I had guessed also - how is the real estate market over there? It's pitiful here, we would get $50k less these days than we would have got 18 months ago. Trouble here is there are many new developments/estates in the same area, mostly with spec-built look-alike homes all shoddily built from what we hear, on small blocks and their price new is comparable to what we all would expect to get for our 10-15yo homes on larger blocks, established lawns, gardens, pools (not us), aircon etc. Young people don't see that - new is best to them.

Same here CynB..
we are doing our best to make the house as presentable as possible.
and price it according to the times!
We figured if we wait till the market is up, then the costs of buying a new home ( be it established or new new) will be higher too! So no real advantage to us in making more $$$ on this house.
We are building with an Excellent Quality Builder, our new home will be well built.
We have been in this house over 17 years, no reason why Him and Me will not be in the next house that long, before a much smaller retirement home will beckon us.

oh Air Con in the new house too, Insulated, Roller Door on the Garage.. all inclusive..
when we built this house, we had to get all that months/ years after we moved in when we could afford to do so!

I'm in a Natural Disaster Area! Funny thing is that apart from the fire, I've seen a lot worse here during normal August winds, that now happen from July to October...

Oh Dear Suzy are you to become a refugee because of the natural disasters?

Suzy....
((((HUGS)))), Life with young folk that think they are grown, but still act like little kids can be so very difficult!!! Glad you decided not to hold onto the upset...its far better to spew your bitterness here where we can commiserate with you, than to have it poison your system for any more time....most of us have experienced these hurts and understand..no need to feel apologetic for being human!
Rolanda, the house plans sound wonderful....continued good wishes to s#2 as he moves forward. This may sound crass, but isn't meant that way, but I was glad to hear that Sue's dad had died even as the news also saddened me. He is at peace, and as you said, the pain is gone...may he rest in the arms of his God.
June...so happy to hear that friend was in better spirits after the helpful massage... hard to deal with constant pain and to hide fear at the same time...hope things hold fast for a good deal longer than before and joy can again be found, even in small doses.
Julie, nice posting as always, but I too was glad that your comments weren't lost when you went went to the other pages...its so hard to not sorta want to check things and forget to copy...and ever so maddening to lose a long post..you can never seem to recall all that had been said..someone indeed was looking out for you.
Ladies, I'm off to check that other site after I do the jigsaws...see you later...Be good to yourselves...you deserve it! peace.

I am back. IH neglected to pay the phone/internet bill and our service was shut off yesterday afternoon. He got an ear full when he got home late last night.

We're having a thunderstorm right now, and a bunch of dogs are freaking out. Poor things.

Suzy..... You have my permission to give Don a swift kick in the hiney. He should be supporting you 100%. Tell him I said so.

A bit cool here this morning. i fed the cat so might go back and have a bit of a sleep in. Friend does not have any appointments today.
Cat thinks she should have more rump steak this morning as that is what she got last night!(I bought a whole rump at the wholesalers last week for $6 kilo)

Suzy, like others been there done that. Except hubby never blamed me.
Rolanda,that all sounds exciting. Good luck with selling the house.
Pleased you are back with us Heidi. Can you program something into your computer to remind you to start getting at IH when the next bill is due?

Hello all. I'm not feeling well today - the doctor added a medication for me and it's making me nauseous and shaky. I've spent most of the day so far in bed. The pharmacy said this is common for this med, and it should pass within a day or two, and try to stick with it.

Beautiful day here today, high of 26C with low humidity and a nice breeze blowing. I think I will make a cup of coffee and sit outside. I tried drinking a coffee first thing this morning but it just didn't taste right. Hard to imagine, coffee not tasting right. Hope to be back later and catch up on the reading.

Suzy, we found out today there will be no biopsy at this time. It has gone from difficult to impossible to schedule tests when there is no insurance. The oncologist, who thinks this is probably scar tissue, said they would just follow him, and if they noticed any changes, we would tackle the impossible at that time.

OK, sort of medical and could be unpleasant for some, skip this paragraph if you want, I will never know
When there was cancer there, so many things were different. early on, Al had a sore throat, and a raspy voice, and also very bad breath. None of that present now. He cleared his throat constantly, cause of a tickle, that is not there now. His throat hurt, he took a lot of over the counter pain meds, then narcotics, he is not taking pain meds now. He lost his voice entirely, but he is talking now. So there are a lot of things I can see if they change. Then there are things the docs can see. We will watch him closely. Al is very happy with this decision. When they did the Laryngoscopy, I think that is the right name, with the flexible scope, I saw the area in question. The camera projected the images onto a laptop computer screen and I had a good view. Just a little bump, healthy pink skin. We can have that exam done again if there are changes, that exam can fit our budget.