Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

What a strange race! Maximum Security cut off another horse during the race and has been disqualified! One of the longest shots in the field, Country House, has been named the winner!

No matter what yesterday was like,
Birds always start the new day with a song.

Wow, I'll bet there's a few punters not happy about that happening. Although those who bet on Country House will be pleased!

I think my husband and I have just gone over the top! For many years now we have had a 3 piece leather lounge suite - a 3 seater and 2 recliners. Now, his recliner barely works and won't close properly. Mine is not as bad but getting older. Yesterday we went looking for 2 new recliners, similar to what we had, as long as what we bought would match with the existing 3 seater.
What we ended up buying was simply over the top. It is a leather 3 seater with recliners on each side, and is electric powered. The middle seat, when not in use (and never will be) folds down into a marble bench with drink holders, room for books, plates, remotes etc. It has power points and USB points; it has cup holders, which light up, in the arm rests and they lift up to reveal storage compartments. Basically it has all the bells and whistles and is completely self-indulgent! And we paid twice as much as we had agreed on in the first place.

Suzy, your friend sounds like a true and understanding friend!

DOrA, the swimming sounds like good therapy. Wish I had a pool to go to.

Heidi, I didn't have time to watch the Kentucky Derby, but have heard some comments about the outcome.

Cyn, that new 3-seater/2 recliner sounds amazing!

I need to get to bed, so sending healing energy, positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, prayers, and

I barely had time to get here today. Tomorrow looks pretty 'iffy.' Take care until I 'see' you again!

The rain has finally stopped!!! Now I can get to work and start getting the barn ready for the Alpacas!

Cyn, I LIKE the ''TOPP'' post.

Reminds me of a song - Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. Great wake up song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LanCLS_hIo4

Julie, the pool is about a 60 mile drive, each way...

I'm behind on getting ready for the alpacas. I'm having problems with an intestinal bug.

A couple of friends helped me on getting the alpaca area ready today. Tomorrow we'll mow it. Then all I need to do is get the feed for them.

DOrA- love the story of your brother - how many of us go into a hardware or supermarket store and come out with so much extra! Hope the hound is doing well.
Suzy - you certainly are lucky to have such a close friend. Was the air show good? I remember going to one and really enjoying it until they came down close, that was enough for me and my mother (she lost her pilot fiancee in WW2. His plane wasn't found until the early 60's in mountains in France). Hope Alie likes her new job.
CynB - you new recliners sound fantastic. After what you guys have been through, you deserve a bit of luxury. Is your daughter still with you?
Heidi - how wonderful to get your alpacas so soon - having them will give you a new interest.
Julie - busy busy as usual. Hope you get to take some time out for you.

Just viewed the Kentucky Derby on YouTube. What an incredible race! Hard to believe those horses raced in such mud and slush at such good times.

Dental checkup, yesterday. Hygienist told me not to change a thing about my 'brushing routine'. Then the dentist came in, looked at my x-rays and told me I need a crown...

I have an appointment with my bariatric surgeon tomorrow. With any luck, I might be given the go-ahead to eat some solid food.
As it is, I've had a bug the past few days. I hate throwing up!

I told ya, Heidi, ''don't be eatin' no bugs''...




Hope you get to feeling better soon!

The surgeon was thrilled with my weight loss... 40 lbs in 6 weeks... and my diet has been changed. I'm now on a soft food diet. That means anything I can cut easily with a fork. I'm even allowed a little fresh fruit, as long as it's skinless. That's things like watermelon, pealed apples and pealed pears. No added sugar, of course. I plan to celebrate by going to a chinese restaurant and getting carry-out pork egg foo yung.

That is a fantastic weight loss Heidi - all of your effort is coming to fruition and you must feel pretty good. What a weekend you will have, new diet that is more satisfying and your new woolly babies.

One of the best things about the weight loss so far is that it has already taken some of the stress off my back. I can now walk to my mailbox and back without collapsing from uncontrollable back pain! The distance down to the mailbox is a furlong: an eighth of a mile, so down and back is a quarter mile. It has been many years since I could do this! The surgeon was very impressed with this news. And this is just the start!!! I will be losing a LOT more weight. I think bariatric surgery is the smartest thing I've ever done.

I messed up. More than 20 years ago I crocheted a blanket that both looks good and is perfect for winter. Just it and a comforter is enough to keep me warm on the coldest winter night. About a week ago I “lent” it to Alie for the night because her room gets cold. I think I’ve lost it for winter! As an aside I made it in America and the yarn cost me $5 or $6 a ball. The blanket cost over $100 to make, not counting the hours and hours it took. The same yarn here cost $12 a ball 10 years ago, who knows what it would cost now! Anyway it looks like I’m going to have to find a new way to keep warm this year, especially since I’ve lost my living electric blanket. Hubby threw a lot of heat......

It sounds like you used alpaca yarn, Suzy. It's 3x warmer than wool, yet light weight. Why not just ask Alie to give it back to you? You need to stay warm, too.

What Heidi said. There is no 'incentive' to get your own things if you can get a long term loan from parents. Yeah, I know it's hard decision, to stop unlimited parental support, but you quit breast feeding, didn't you? At some point children need to leave the nest and fend for themselves.

They don't call it ''tough love'' for nothing...

I think I'm ready for tomorrow. The pen for the alpacas has been cleaned up and mowed, and fencing repaired. The hay rack is full. The water tank is full. I have a seperate feeder for each alpaca, and a good stock of the same feed they're used to. My trailer is freshly washed out, and hitched to my truck. And the gas tank is full. I leave at 9 AM to get the alpacas. It's an hour and a half drive to their farm. And the address is programed into my GPS.
On the down side, I don't have their indoors pen ready. But there is a shelter in the holding pen where they'll be kept for the first month or so. It's just big enough for 6 alpacas.

Glad to hear that you are ready for the alpacas, Heidi, but even happier that you have lost so much weight and are feeling much better and able to do more - like walking to the mailbox. Good news that you can add more to your diet as well.
Onward and upward!!

I agree with DorA, Suzy! Take your blanket back. Being the mother of a daughter myself, I know how they can manipulate to get what they want. Just stick to your guns. She can buy plenty of warm blankies for herself. Tell her she'll inherit it!

That said, I'm trying to practice what I preach! In the next weeks my daughter will be moving back in here for a while. She is already manipulating me about TV programs - I told her to get the Foxtel streaming app and watch her programs in her room! And she likes my expensive brand of shampoo, 'can I borrow it when I wash my hair?' - No, buy your own!!

Onya, Cyn - Stand Firm!

A really nice thing to do with ALie is to teach her how to crochet / knit one for herself. Maybe you can do it together in squares and then sew it up. It is surprising how quickly you can do it. I used a very large size wooden crochet hook and made large blankets for each of mine and it took no time - used that fluffy wool Lincraft sell for scarves.

I leave in a few minutes to pick up the alpacas!!! I'm so excited that I couldn't sleep last night.

I'm back home with 6 lovely alpacas!!!

Good idea Midge! Teach her how to crochet. Assuming that she wants to learn and completes the task.
I have so many 'crafty' projects unfinished. I started another mosaic table, decided I didn't like the pattern and left it while I decided how to fix it. Meanwhile 2 years later...
Also have several squares of a knitted (not crochet) rug that I started a few years ago. Got the wool, just have to finish it. One day ....
Then there is some decoupage, several paintings etc. All to be completed.

Glad the Alpacas have arrived, Heidi!

Gosh, where is Julie?? Her last post was on May 5th. I hope she is okay.

It's quiet in here, this post is almost 24 hours after the one above.

I wish I had a contact number for Julie, but I don't. Missing for neatly 8 days is unlike her.

Hope Julie didn't get the virus too. I too have many unfinished projects, and want to take on more. I think I have a problem. Hope your newbies settle in quickly Heidi and your collies get on well with them. Mothers' Day here yesterday - another excuse for retailers.I went to visit an old friend of ours in hospital and was appalled to find out his so-called 'family' got power of attorney and have robbed him of $327k, his car and most of his house contents. His solicitor is trying to get as much back as he can. He will be 94 in a couple of weeks and he is mentally alert. So sad for him, his wife was a good friend too and she passed 11 years ago from Alzheimers. Money makes people do evil things.

Hi, Everyone! I'm back! I've missed all of you, but have been extremely busy! Following is a brief synopsis. There's some medical discussion about hubby, so feel free to skip the rest of this post, if you'e so inclined. (CynB, I've been thinking about Col and his eye issues a lot over the past couple of weeks.)

Hubby had been experiencing some decreasing vision for the past month or so, which he attributed to a medication he was taking. April 26 in the evening, he couldn't see anything with one eye. We left a message for his ophthalmologist Saturday morning, who eventually got back to us, seemed concerned and asked if he had a retina specialist. (He doesn't.) He saw hubby Monday morning, and he said the lens implanted after his cataract surgery 3 years ago was no longer held in place and said we needed to go to a specialist in Cincinnati (about 300 miles away) to get it repaired.

The doctor he recommended was initially going to do the surgery on May 14, then wasn't available due to a sick child and didn't have room on his schedule until mid-June. Then we were called that a different surgeon could do the surgery May 7. Hubby couldn't drive, and I can't drive that far, so we had to purchase last-minute tickets to fly, and scramble to find a way from the airport to a hotel (about 35 miles on busy interstate highways, again with neither of us able to drive). We had to find a hotel that provided shuttle service back and forth between it and the eye institute.

We found out that there were some tears of hubby's retina from the lens and supporting ring moving out of place and 'banging around' in his eye. So the surgeon did laser surgery last Monday afternoon to do repairs, then on Tuesday afternoon did the surgery (about 1 1/2 hours) to capture the loose lens and ring, clean it up, and replace it. He told us he had to insert a gas bubble in his eye (about a week to dissipate) and he couldn't fly for 2 weeks because of the pressure.

So we had to cancel out return flights and find a way to return home. With help from the general manager of the hotel, we bought tickets to take the 'Megabus,' which got us back to Chicago. We had arranged for a cab driver we have been using recently to pick us up in Chicago and drive us home (about 40 miles), but he had to take his daughter to the Emergency Room for an injury. Luckily, one of our children had taught us how to use Uber, so that's how we got home. (A commuter train wasn't a possibility because we had 2 suitcases and 2 large bags for medications, plus my C-PAP machine, and hubby isn't supposed to lift more than 5 pounds

Hubby had a follow-up appointment with his regular ophthalmologist Friday, and has another appointment in 2 weeks, so no driving and LOTS of drops until then. Interestingly, hubby had similar problems with his first cataract surgery about 15 years ago. (His regular ophthalmologist says he has the worst luck medically of anyone he knows.)

Well, so much for a 'brief' synopsis. My apologies, Everyone!

It looks like I may continue to be busier than usual for the next couple of weeks since hubby isn't allowed to drive. I'm supposed to be doing a major review of all the cello music I've learned in the past 7 years, but it has been almost 2 weeks since my last lesson, and I haven't practiced once. Hubby isn't even able to put in his own 3 eye drops 4 times a day because of problems with the other eye. Thank goodness we were able to 'retire' from being membership chairpersons for our woodturning club a few months ago! I can't imagine we would have been able to continue with all that is going on.

Suzy, your warm blanket sounds wonderful! The suggestions to have Alie return it and have you teach her how to crochet her own sound fantastic! I wish I knew how to crochet, but I don't think now would be a good time to get started.

I enjoyed reading about the other craft projects some of you need to finish. I admit to having some of my own, including some embroidered pictures I had started when my sister had her first son 38 years ago. (Yes, I just checked to see when he was born, and I'm really embarrassed.) He now has 4 children of his own, and I STILL didn't get them done for any of them.

Heidi, I'm SO excited for you! You have done wonderfully since your bariatric surgery! Keep up the great work! Enjoy eating some soft 'real' food! And enjoy your new alpacas! I hope all of your animals will get along with each other, if they have any occasion to interact.

Cyn, as I mentioned, I've been thinking about Col as hubby has been having all of his 'eye adventures.' The specialist confirmed what his 'home' ophthalmologist has told him: he will need a cornea transplant in the eye where the first cataract was removed 15 or so years ago. (We didn't want to hear that.)

Cyn, I hope everything goes well when your D moves in for a while! It can be challenging, especially when your child is now an adult with set ways of doing things. DOrA is right! Stand firm! (I would certainly need that kind of advice if any of our children returned at this point of their lives, especially since all of our grandchildren are 13 and under, so would need to be with us, as well.)

DOrA, I hope both you and the hound are doing well! How often do you need to make the drive to the swimming pool?

I hope MizT is doing well and finally finding some pain relief. I haven't visited Facebook in nearly 2 weeks, so I don't know if she has been able to post there.

I've also been thinking of saltie, and didn't notice any posts from her on this page. I hope all is well!

It's time for some eye drops, so I'm off! I apologize for leaving everyone with no way to know what was happening. We didn't have computer access while we were gone, and I don't use my phone for internet, so we were only able to keep in touch with our children,, not even with my siblings.

Sending a couple of weeks worth of healing energy, posit

OOOPS! That post ran over. Here's the rest:

Sending a couple of weeks worth of healing energy, positive thoughts, , {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and prayers. Take care, Everyone!

WARNING: We're getting VERY close to a new page - maybe 2 more posts.

Oh My God, Julie!!! What an ordeal!!! When will you know if your Hubby's vision has returned?
((((( HUGS ))))) to both of you.

Oh dear Julie! I can sympathise with everything that has happened regarding your husband's eye. Although Col's problem was from an accidental cause, we have or are still to go through all the things you both are dealing with except, luckily for us, we didn't have to travel such a long distance away for treatment. The closest hospital with an opthalmologist department is about 36kms (only 22 miles) from us. Until quite recently I have had to do all of Col's eye drops, he just wasn't confident to do them himself but he finally tried a few months ago and does it all himself now. I hope the treatment your husband has had will help him see again. I'm here for moral support if you need it while we both wait for our husbands to get some decent eyesight back.