Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

Vici, hope you are feeling a bit better after your fall.

Vici, hope you are feeling better.
Suzy, Mitchell is only part of the team. There are 8 boys, 4 compete. He was an alternate but the sponsor made sure every boy got in at least once. There were 9 teams in a double elimination tournament. The two left at the end of the day will compete in the finals on January 27.

Mitchell's team is the only undefeated team and made the finals. They got to leave early for a good reason. One or two teams left early because of losses.

Just called Heidi and had a nice little chat with her. Now have to go fling food. Be back later.

Emily
Safe driving, Brenda.

Vici, sending a gentle back rub your way ♥

That was lovely of you Tami, to give Heidi a call. She is amazing, what a terrible time to be going through.

Sorry I have yet to give you a rundown of the last week. It has been sort of all go and a bit slow around here since I got back.
Last night, hubby and I belatedly celebrated our 27th anniversary, which was last Thursday while I was away. Plus yesterday we went to Bunnings (hardware) and bought some things for the yard and spent the afternoon repotting and digging, so I have not yet caught up on all the reading, nor really had the chance to tell you about the week, so here goes...

Yes, she cheered me up considerably. With the help of the male 3 ring circus she lives with. Those boys are a scream!

Bill was there to greet me at the airport which is always lovely, luckily he lives very close to Adelaide airport so it is never a drama getting to and from there. I arrived in the late afternoon, so we decided to go out for dinner rather than buy and cook, which was lovely.
The next day was Mum's anniversary...sure wasn't looking forward to that.
I was woken fairly early by the first of the mobile messages, this one from my sister in Cairns. It included a line from the song we sang at the funeral, "On the Wings of a Snow White Dove" so that set me right off. I went into the bathroom to splash water on my face because I didn't want to greet Bill with tears first thing.
He and I sat quietly reading the paper and not mentioning the obvious then we got a call from another sister, who was in a mess. Bill spoke to her first and when he handed me the phone I saw that he had tears rolling down his cheeks so that got me going. Sis and I howled on the phone together, but as I said to her yesterday, if it hadn't been for her call, we would never have got our emotions out. I think we all felt a lot better after that.
Bill and I went out to run a few errands and I dropped in to see Mum's oldest sister (86), the family matriarch, to pay my respects. She is frail too, so we know any time could be the last...
Yet another sister of mine was sailing a yacht back to Melbourne from Hobart, and she was going to scatter some of Mum's ashes on Bass Strait, so she was in our thoughts too.
In the afternoon my brother came out and we had a drink and toast to Mum.
As Bill said, "That is the last of the year of firsts, now we move on"

The rest of the week passed quietly, we went for some drives, had dinner at my bro's the next night, I caught up with some friends, that's about it.

Bill has a follow-up appt on Monday from the first surgery he had, so we will find out whether the doctor thinks he will have to 'go in' and finish the job, or if he thinks time will fix it. Bill seems to think things are coming good, but he has definitely had a few hiccups along the way. Fingers crossed either way.

Thanks for letting me share ♥

I just heard some strange local news.... but first a little background.... If you all remember, we named the lion on the Lions Club float after one of our most beloved members, who had just died. Ralph was an unique man. His wife, Charlotte, is in a nursing home with Alzheimers. Their son, Davy, visited her every day, and alienated the staff with his demands and complaints. She had been kicked out of several other nursing homes because of him.
Davy has just been found dead of a heart attack. The various churches around here, and the Lions club, are trying to take up a collection to pay for his funeral. While Davy was not liked, both of his parents were cared for deeply by the community. I think everyone around here will donate for Ralph and Charlotte's sake.

It sounds like you had a great time with Bill, Gail.

Good morning lovely SA people.
Brenda - Happy Birthday to Emily. Seems the weather over there is so awful. Suzy's right, we can't complain about the heat here.
Vici - what an awful fall. I hope your aches and pains go away quickly.
Gail - I'm glad you were with Bill and had contact with the rest of the family at this sad time. I guess Bill's right in his advice to move on.
Heidi - what a wonderful community you live in. They cared enough for the parents to do this for their son.

Thanks to those who wished Madeline HB yesterday. She had a great day ending in dinner at an Italian restaurant with all the family (both sides - 15 of us).

Just trying another avatar - this one should be Frangipanis.
You can tell it's ages since I submitted new avatars.

Belated happy birthday to Madeline and a happy birthday to Emily.
I have been reading the posts, but I have so much going on in my head, I forget as as soon as I read.
Gail, glad you had a good time at Bill's and hope to hear that he doesn't need another op.
I always have a good time when I call Heidi. My boys like to "entertain" her while I am on the phone. They can be very goofy and they save all the goofy stuff for when I am talking.

My grandmother had a frangipani tree. When my mother and father bought their first home, Mum took a cutting (branch) and planted it there. It grew. When they moved she did the same and gave my sister, brother and I cuttings to plant. I forgot to take some when I moved but my sister has moved 4 times and remembered to take cuttings. Hence she has a frangipani tree from the same tree my Granny had prior to WW2. I can get a cutting from my sis, but not the same as carrying on the chain myself. (My brother also still has his - thanks to his gardener wife.)

Cyn, you should have taken a cutting anyways. It is still keeping the chain alive.

I just heard on the news that there were snow flurries about 20 minutes away from me. Last time it snowed in South Florida was January 19, 1977. I was in 7th grade. And yes, I do remember the snow in Miami.

Another post from Bean, who's still experiencing 'pooter problems....


"Hi folks...what a crazy world...
Here we are downunder complaining about the heat and the extremes we are experiencing while the topsiders have snow [except Vici] and their pipes are freezing... It is VERY concerning to experience these extremes.

BTW Welcome home Gail...

Take care everyone.
Ciao "

Good maEn everyone! I have been reading, but of course, not remembering everything I've read.
CynB: sent you a pm! Hope it helps!!!
Hope everyone is doing well... Big hugs to those who need them.
Sitting here with my laptop, haven't used it in a while, have to let it charge up. Take care, lots of love to everyone! TTFN

I'm off to bed. I seem to be kinda out of it these days.

VICI, no more balancing on one foot to put on a sock. Do what a little old lady in my water excersise class years ago taught me. You back up close to a wall, and let your bum come in contact with it. Stableizes you to get those socks or even undies on when there is no place to sit to dress.

OK, did you feel the earthquake? I can find no news story on it, but read about it from a cyber quilting budy who was in it. Enough to shake all her whatnots from the shelves. they said Northern Cali, not s o sure how far north.

I am off to bed, at the moment all pipes are functional, but did have one frozen this morning at my vanity sink. It got warm enough mid day that it thawed. One drain also frozen, bathtub, and it thawed late afternoon. Glad I was not dripping water in the tub. I would have had a real babbling brook, or perhaps a nice rink for skating. Oh MY! How much more of this???

Afternoon all!
Nice family stories this afternoon. I'm feeling all mushy inside. Sounds corny, but I couldn't think of another way to say it.

MizT, I hope tonight is not quite as cold for you - ditto Brenda and any others suffering from freezing pipes etc. Tami, I can't imagine snow in Florida!

Heidi, I hope that is the last of the bad stuff for a while...

My family story: I have orchids that belonged to my grandfather. When my mother moved she left them with me because it was too cold where she was going. I begged her not to as I have a brown thumb! They had been unwell ever since a nasty wind blew them over and they haven't flowered for me, but all of a sudden they are sprouting new shoots! Who knows, this might be the year....

Repeat of my post on Easy just now -
I don't know if anyone is interested in this - the first photos/videos of the sunken Australian hospital ship - the Centaur. It was torpedoed off Brisbane in 1943 and until Dec 09, it's exact whereabouts remained a mystery.
I'm so sorry that my mother is so far into her dementia to be able to appreciate this story. It was always of great interest to her in particular as she worked in the Australian Naval decoding section in Brisbane at the time.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/10/2788961.htm

What I didn't say on Easy is that Mum also had a psychic connection to this event. The only psychic experience she ever had. At the exact time the ship went down, my mother awoke from a nightmare where she had seen a ship blow up and sink. Because my Dad and her 2 brothers were all overseas fighting, she was initially concerned that it related to one of them. When she heard about the Centaur and the exact time, she realised the connection - but always felt uneasy about the dream. If she was up that way, she would visit the memorial at Caloundra, north of Brissie - a very moving experience for anyone.

Shivers Cyn...

My mother dreamt my father's death. She had the dream on Friday night, told all her friends the next day what a horrible dream it had been, and it happened on Sunday. Freaked her out big time!

On a lighter note, 2 of my facebook friends have just posted the latest breast cancer post - they have size 10 and 12 feet!!!

Hmmmm! that will get tongues wagging on FB, Suzy!

Bigger shivers for your Mum's experience! How awful for her.

Vici, hope you are Ok after that fall.
Hope for some nice orchid blooms came spring Suzy.
Goose bumps with those stories Cyn and Suzy. Pleased Maddie enjoyed her birthday.
Hubby now 1/2 way to Bangkok. He will be gone about 10 days. Tomorrrow I have to do all the paperwork for the 'new' car. Tuesday I will go and stay with Belinda for a few days so I may not be around as much.
Heidi, thinking of you and the lose of your animals.
Has Gail found her cat?

No sign of him, June :(

May I ask what the connection is between foot size (albeit huge) and breast cancer? Or are those friends men?

I think I'll go back to bed. It's not even 9 am yet!

Good morning all. Stopped by easy today and actually got post #2. It is still cold here, at least by Florida standards. I am going to make a pot of chicken soup later. Have to wait until boys are home from Sunday school. Dylan likes to help.
Jerry put some funny jokes on easy.

Jerry usually does.

Good mAen. There is way too much info on this site for me to get caught up, so I'll just make a fresh start and try to keep up from now on. Just wanted to pop in and say Hi. Temperature here is -7 C, but I still find it cold! Oh how I wish spring were just around the corner instead of months away!

To SA 9A, Theresa.
Any time the temp. is below freezing, you have the right to complain about the cold.

I'm good at complaining, Heidi ... and I don't usually need a particularly good reason! Thank you for the welcome.

Good morning folks...

Good morning Bean. I have booked a flight to Melbourne, next Sunday. I will be in touch. Nice to see you able to get a post in but what are you doing up this early???