Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

Fellow Sudokuaholics!

Rolanda, wish we could have sent you some of our warmth this morning for you cuppa with vdV, Mary and her hubby! Otherwise, it sounds like a perfect time!

Heidi, I hope the visit from your hubby's brother is thoroughly enjoyable! Just think, you have 2 weeks to prepare, plan menus, etc. Have you heard from Robert? Have they scheduled surgery yet?

Sorry I missed your fly-by, Steve! I'm glad you're enjoying your visit! Is it for business - or fun - or both?

Broni, I hope your days will soon be a bit less busy and you can soon say your final good-byes to D & D and the new employee, D!

Theresa, you and your hubby are so conscientious to be trying to go more green and do without air conditioning. It's quite a challenge you have set yourself, especially on a year with such record highs so early in the summer. I'll be trying to send some cool breezes your way! (Well, at least I'll be thinking cool thoughts for you!)

Hubby and I are going more green this summer by raising the thermostat so the air conditioning doesn't have to work so hard or long. Neither of us is willing to completely give it up yet. The D who came in this morning lives in Texas, so she also hasn't given up the AC, though also has raised her thermostat. She needs to get some repairs done on a musical instrument, so we picked her up at the airport and went directly to the repair shop. While repairs were made, we went to the Art Institute for a while, then had an early lunch. We're home now - resting, since we were all up early this morning. We will meet one of my brothers (who lives about 35 minutes away) for dinner (pizza) tonight.

Suzy, so glad the Lions Changeover was a success. What an honor for the woman who runs Pride - to get the Melvin Jones Lifetime Achievement Award. (I also had to visit Mr. Google.) Congrats to Ally and the other Pride girls! Good for them! They fill all of us Sudoku Aunties with . . . Pride!

MizT, that was quite a long post you typed. I hope your hand is feeling OK today! Please remember to pace yourself! I'm also so very glad that you do your checks every 6 months! I would hate for something to be missed! Better safe than sorry!

I wasn't paying attention. That's a surprise TOPP for me!

I've noticed that there's a new member "The Phantom" from Not The Opera. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's our old friend Ian from Boston. He seems to be obsessed with sneaking back to this site.

Morning all!
MizT, I'm so glad it's a BCC if it has to be anything. I seem to be running on a 2 year plan with my spots. I agree, it is about time the US insurance agencies started trusting doctors. I have never known them to be wrong when they assess a 'spot'. I suppose there is the possibility of abuse, but surely the cost of that would be lower than the cost of paying for return visits all the time?

Theresa and Julie, a friend of my mothers wouldn't run her air conditioning because it was just too cold. One of her kids changed the thermostat (it was set on 16C/61F) and she said it was much better after that. I commented that she would save electricity too having it set on a higher temp - I will? she said. She is not a dumb lady, just someone the modern world seems to have passed by.

Julie and Heidi, when Sal (the Pride lady) was presented with the award, one of the comments that was made was that it was unusual for someone to earn the reward after such a short time with Lions. She has only been a member for 6 years. But in those 6 years...

Last night she was asked to organise the second Carols again this year. The sad part about that is that she will be slandered big time by her 'enemies'. Long story, but the little township the second carols will be in weren't going to have them last year due to violence problems the previous year. There was a community uproar so 2 weeks before the date Council decided to do something. Nobody would take on the organisation with only 2 weeks to do it in. Sal did. She pulled together people she knew in the area, plus borrowed some acts from the bigger carols that were going to be on 2 weeks later. They said it was the best carols they'd ever had... The people who had run it in the past caused all sorts of trouble - even though they had been asked and said they couldn't do it in 2 weeks. Sigh. It's the 'industry' I think.

There was another fun award last night. My next door neighbour (turned 70 about a month ago) apparently puts in more hours than the majority of the Lions, probably more than 2 or 3 of them combined. You name an event, he is there helping. He also drives the community bus 3 days a week. But he refuses to become a Lion! He got some kind of appreciation award along with a lot of teasing.

Hi all!
Suzy that sounds like a great night. Congratulations to Ally on her award.
Big hugs to you and your hubby for the way you have helped three on his way to independence from his parents. It is inspiring to see people who react without judgement or prejudice and just want to help in any way possible. It's people like you who are the unsung heroes in our communities and never receive (or want) recognition. Well Done!!
Heidi, great news about the visitor and the sunroom.
Therese, don't melt! Remember - winter will come again. Blow going green. Turn the aircon on.
Gotta run again. We are still really busy at work. End of the Financial year and setting up the new website doesn't give me much time to even get on the web without doing puzzles etc.
Hubby has been starting work at 8am, so I've been taking him to the station at 7:15 and continuing on to work - there goes my early morning sudoku break.
I will be back! Hugs to everyone!

Vicki, how dare your hubby take your early morning sudoku break away?!! Bills, responsibilities - pphhthht, sudoku and SA come first!

I have a heart warming story from last night. Three (and hubby) had to wear a suit last night. Luckily he owns a suit and tie - though no shirt to wear under them. He wore a short sleeved shirt with surf emblems on it, that he had picked up off the floor and wore unironed and joggers instead of black shoes. BUT, when we dropped him off at the house last night the care worker immediately commented on how nice he looked in his suit and asked us all to try the desert he had made the previous night that had turned out so well. There are some nice people in this world...

Another heart warming story from last night. A young man was elected to our local council a few years ago. I personally think he is a little too young for the position and so contradicts himself regularly. eg. Council is spending too much money too freely/Why won't council provide $100,000 to fix the clock? BUT, his election is remarkable as he is albino with 6-60 vision and is classified as legally blind. It turns out that when he started high school Lions purchased a piece of technology, some sort of closed circuit TV thingy, that enabled him to magnify print to the level he needed to see it, and so to gain the education he wanted.

Morning everyone.

MizT.. :( about the scrap and Burn.. better off. At least it is not a cut and stitch - like the ones I normally have!!

umm forgotton what else I have read. sorry.
Got to rock and roll , have Dr appt this morn.
Later Aligaters

Suzy, sounds like Three might be on his way to a better life. The people where he is are willing to help, as are you and your family. I wish him all the best and hope you keep posting the stories of how he is doing.
I have read the posts and have no idea what I have read. I will be back tomorrow and try to reread.

Loving reading your stories everyone, sorry I don't get to stay and play much.

Quick update on the oven issue...we bought this oven not many years ago to replace the existing one that the previous owners had left, which was a bit old and scrappy. The replacement didn't cost a lot, as ovens go, and was really only supposed to be a 'tide us over' one till we truly decided what we wanted, stick with the kitchen the way it is, or redo to our heart's content.
Anyhow, to make a short story long(!), the oven would often pop the breaker when turned on. Now, to a normal person, this would have signalled a problem, but to us, it was something to think about later...MUCH later!
One day when hubby and I were off at one of his many appointments, Hannah had a day off from school and was going to use the oven to warm something up for lunch. Of course, this was one of the random occasions that it popped the breaker, so she switched everything off and found something else for lunch. When we got home, she told us and hubby went to the fuse box to flick said switch, and then we all left the kitchen to do our own thing. Thankfully, a short time later, hubby went back there for something and found the oven RED HOT! Nothing was turned on, it had done that all by itself, and it would seem the thermostat no longer knew when enough was enough! So, since then, the breaker switch has been turned off, and the oven has become the elephant in the room that no one speaks about...

Gail, your oven sounds worse than mine. At the moment mine keeps turning off if you try to set the timer. You then have to reset the whole oven, clock etc. This can happen up to a dozen times when you try to start the oven.
I've given up on the timer but the other day everytime I changed the oven temp it cut out and had to be reset.
I think it's time the repairman was called - but the oven is 15 years old and the only electrical appliance in the house that we haven't replaced in the last 12 months. I'm thinking it's days are numbered.

The beasties have minds of their own Vicki!

my oven rattles.. cleary the Fan part of the Fan Oven is going kaput!!!

No oven complaints here.

Everybody.

(Attempt #2. The first try vanished into thin air.)

Oh, and the fan rattled when we got it! When the oven heated up, the casing over the fan expanded and rubbed on the fan blades...

So, now we use, and cope with, a tiny toaster oven, which incidentally, cooked the nicest, moist roast chickens I have done in a long time.

Well had to replace an element ($100AU) on the oven that came with the house about 15 years ago, still waiting until I can afford the kitchen reno, so pretty cheap really.
Sorry HI! to my friends, sounds like no major dramas in all your lives, so hope it stays that way.

Morning all.

Julie, it's not that hubby and I are so conscientious about going green. Our air conditioner died and we decided to try going without. Hubby is not minding at all, but it does bother me. I'm not sure if I'll last the summer if we have a lot of hot, muggy weather like we have now.

I don't know the history of Ian from Boston ... was this an obnoxious person who was banned?

Suzy, love your heart-warming stories!

Gail, I guess the malfunctioning oven is disrupting your menu plans. That's not good. Your meal plans always make me drool ...

Yes, Ian is probably the most obnoxious person ever to set foot in Sudokuland. And if you're reading this, Ian... He seemed to have a split personality, or even multiple personalities. Some were nice, some were obnoxious and at least one was too vulgar for this site.

They're putting the final touches on the trim outside on the sunroom today! I'll then have to move the birds back inside (I've had their cages out in the sunroom ever since the roof went up, so they could enjoy the sunshine.) so they can put up drywall and paint.

Today is going to be a scorcher. It's only 78℉, but it feels a LOT hotter. I was dripping wet after only 15 minutes of standing outside doing nothing.

Another scorcher here too, Heidi. High of 33C, but feeling like in the low 40's. Not much of a breeze out either. What will your next project be after the sunroom?

To relax and enjoy it. No more projects until next year. Then will be the big one. We're gonna knock off the north side of the house and triple the size of the living room, plus add an office upstairs for IH. I will actually MAKE him contribute some funds for this project!

Heidi, maybe you could start collecting from IH by charging him a hefty toll every time he wanders into YOUR sunroom!

Hi all, I've managed to read everything I have missed but the brain is like a sieve and forgotten most of it.
We have had some really hot weather too, but today has been nice and cool. Supposed to be getting hotter for the weekend.
Hope those with oven problems get them sorted. We had nearly a year of managing with a combo microwave and a gas bbq with side hob. Richard tried to fix the grill on our cooker (it was only 18mths old) he did such a good job that the whole thing refused to work again :-) We had a complete kitchen refit. Though I too need a new oven now, but that will not be very expensive.

Hello lovely people.
It is a pleasure to be back and catch up.I had a read and glad that most of us are fine.
Off to play a game or 2 and I will be back.

I think it's about time for Bean to make an appearance.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Good Morning all!
Heidi, I'm beginning to think our Phantom is an Aussie. Last night's comment about the Cockroaches and the Canetoads clicked. There was also something else the night before. I'll have to go back and look.
Hubby is taking himself to work later today so I have a bit of time on the computer this morning. Yay!
Nothing too exciting around here at the moment. I'm dropping Shaun's girlfriend Aki off on my way to work today. It's her birthday in August but I'm going to buy her an early present. She gets really cold and I'm going to buy her a pair of Ugg boots (real sheepskin - not fake synthetic). I thought we would give it to her this weekend so she had some use of them before it gets too warm. Chances are that it will warm up again by the end of August.

OK, I've been back and checked. On Phantom's first appearance he/she talked about a RAAF F111 and the next night said "It's goodnight from her and it's goodnight from me" and finished with a goodnight. Definitely strikes me as an Aussie.

Now I must finish my sleuthing and go and have some brekkie. Have a great day!

Phantom is one of the two Ronnies? Lol. If it is Ian it is sad.

Oops, Morning all!

You topsiders are having some nasty weather! Your temps aren't too bad, it's the 'feels-like' temps that have me glowing in sympathy!

Watch out Vicki, you'll go for copyright infringement!! Only in Aus can you now get away with calling them Ugg boots unless they are made by the American manufacturer. I found that the weirdest thing. It was like copyrighting pies, sausage rolls or ice cream...

I won the air conditioner battle ... hubby is going shopping for one tomorrow! I can't take this heat and it's only early July. He works in an air conditioned building and the car has AC, so he doesn't realize what my life is like at home. My daughter has air conditioning and today I spent some quality time at her place just to cool down. YAHOOOOOOOOO. But with this heat wave, let's hope they're not all sold out.

Fingers crossed Theresa that your husband manages to get you a new aircon unit. We don't have aircon here but our house stays cool since we had the cavity walls insulated. This seems to keep the heat out during the summer and in during the winter. Fortunately our patio doors and the kitchen windows are north facing so we don't get any direct sun through them, so they are open most of the time to get air into the house.

The insulation is now installed in the sunroom. Tomorrow they install the drywall on the ceiling, and around the inset floods. The next day will be the walls and fixtures. After that, paint, and it's done!!!

I don't know how the human race ever survived without air conditioning!
Theresa.

Theresa, I hope you get your a/c tomorrow and the stores are not sold out. I can not imagine living without mine. It runs almost year round. We get about 2 months, if lucky, when we can turn it off and open the windows.

My oven is fine, I want to replace my refrigerator and washer/dryer. I am also getting a new laptop this summer. Not sure when I will be able to replace appliances. They are working but I am not sure how long they will last.

I have yet to live in a house with air conditioning. Maybe one day. On really hot days we try to go to the library - they have the best air conditioning in town. Shopping works too, but the air conditioning in most shops doesn't seem to cope with extreme heat so it's only marginally better. Hmmm. I grew up with an outdoor toilet and a water tank that most people now wouldn't consider big enough to water their gardens. We didn't get a phone until I was 14. We had a dishwasher when we rented an apartment in Torrance, but until we put this one in a month ago I have never had one at any other time. Our heat is supplied by a fire and/or blankets. Other than computers coming before everything else in the house, I think I belong in a different time!!