Shiela from MI

Shiela, bless your heart! You are all in our thoughts and prayers--that's a long tough road, but glad all is progressing!
XOXO,
CaliGirl (Ruth)

We tend to think not much can go wrong during childbirth these days in developed countries, and yet there are still some major risks involved. I'm glad to hear your niece is recovering, even though it is a slow process.

Shiela, I missed the posts about your niece! I'm so sorry for her loss and her illness. Sending belated thoughts and wishes her way!!!!!!

Oh Shiela, I am so sorry for your niece. To lose a full term baby is heart breaking. All the dreams that you have while pregnant shattered, my heart aches for her. Luckily for her though she may not feel it is the love and care of her family. Tell her that we mourn along side her and that she is in my prayers.

Well, good for you, Shiela, milking your birthday for all it's worth! I'm glad you prolonged the fun, especially since chaos reigns with your home renovations. At least you'll have something else to celebrate this weekend--your new wall! I've found it's much more productive to enjoy each step, even though they may be baby ones. And isn't it great that Nigel is being a trooper through it all? Give him a big pat on the head from me. We've got a new counter guy, who came within two days to template for us. His soapstone is beautiful and we're so relieved we've finally gotten what we wanted without having to settle; installation could be three weeks away though, but meanwhile, we've got our new back door installed, as well as a new (old-fashioned) window, so that's something nice to look at. And I've selected two out of the three fabrics for our window seats and cushions, so slowly but surely we're moving forward, and lucky to have received our money back from the original countertop crook ... um, businessman. Dodged a real bullet there. Too, I okayed drawings for the drawer inserts for the kitchen, you know, so not everything gets lumped into one place; our designer and her husband construct these things out of wood, so no more searching for the vegetable peeler or cutting ourselves on a paring knife. These little things keep us realizing how wonderful it will all be when it finally comes together (which I now estimate to be another five weeks!) Anyway, keep me posted on the latest goings-on with your new room, and Nigel. Have a marvelous weekend, and try to stay comfortable with the humidity that's headed our way.

Dear Shiela
Thank you for your warm welcome and the message you sent me on my birthday. Have a nice day.
Marjan

my hair.. haha.. lets just say I had to return to the beauty shop to fix what I did.. I didn't totally ruin it.. but it's better after some professional help .. hehe haha... thanks for checking in :):)

Shiela....Wish your hubby a very happy birthday and you keep right on spoiling him girl...Have fun doing it too.....a nice full body massage maybe????

Mr Shiela!

Hi Shiela and Nigel, and a belated Happy Birthday to hubby! How many walls do you have now? Are things clipping along on the renovation front? Hope you don't have too much dust; I'm ignoring mine.

Shiela, thank you very much for your kind comments about my photos. When this batch is finished, and it must be near then end now, my contribution will gradually fade into the distance because I haven't submitted a new photo in months now. My travel patterns have changed with less overseas travel and hopefully, more travel within this great country of ours. The future is a bit unsure.

Sheila, thanks so much for the birthday greeting. all the greetings from all over the USA, and the world have really made for a great Birthday for me.

hi Sheila, thank you so much for the birthday wishes, hope your day in Michigan is as lovely as it is here in Illinois! I have a sis who lives near Holland, whereabouts are you? hugs,

Hello Shiela, I have actually lived in Detroit myself for a couple of months many many years ago....hated it there! The western side of the state is definately more beauteous! Have a great day!! hugs,

Glad you liked the Koalas Sheila. I saw them on a walk in the National Park with my sister and we counted 25! I have only ever seen 2 in the wild before this so I was very excited.

Hi there, Shiela! Yes, each step along the way now is cause for celebration! Appliances arrived this morning--some are in the kitchen but the rest are in the living room. Cabinets are going up (slowly) and my window seat cushions also arrived. Tomorrow, more cabinet work and the butcher block top for the island will make its hefty appearance. In the midst of the madness, I managed to make decisions on the window and door trim and moldings. And it's just past noon! I have a feeling there will be wine with dinner tonight ...
Glad it's quiet at your place; I hope that's a good thing! And give Nigel a cuddle for me and tell him to have courage!

hi Shiela - thank you for your birthday wishes for my daughter and myself! But I did notice you didn't have time to do the riddle in all the excitement! Come on!!!

Hi Shiela,

Thank you for the very warm welcome. No, Mom did not know I surprised her. Have a great day!

Thank you Shiela. I feel like I have 2 families. The ones I see everyday, and the ones scattered all around the world in Sudokuland. We had a nice relaxing dinner at the restaurant of their choice. They came back yesterday from a week long tour of Canada, including Niagara Falls. My parents celebrated their 50th last October. My husband and I feel truly lucky to still have our parents alive, healthy and still together. My father turns 80 in about 2 weeks so there will be another small party.

A new grandie on the way! Isn't that wonderful news. Congratulations to you and the parents Sheila!

Congratulations Shiela.
When are you due?!

Well, you know, every so often it's "Professor Plum" who's the culprit.

Just checking in and am reading the last few posts--what wonderful news have I missed? Sounds like there's even more news to celebrate at your end ...
Hope your reno is going well and that Nigel continues to tough it out. We've now got countertops, cabinets, knobs, and the plumber's hooking up the faucets, sink and dishwasher today. Electrician comes next week with the cabinet guy to complete that end of the job, but believe it or not, there are a few glitches with some cabinets/also crown molding has to be ordered and neither can come until August because the cabinet place shuts down for the last two weeks in July! Still, we should be up and functioning with an honest-to-goodness kitchen by the end of next week. (Which of course means moving everything into its place and cleaning the rest of the filthy house! What fun, huh, Shiela? ) Here's wishing you and yours a very happy July 4th--celebrate it in style!!

Shiela, very many thanks for your birthday wishes, they were much appreciated.

I meant to add - sorry, no photos; just eating, drinking and enjoying the company of my family.

Congratulations on the wonderful news about a grandchild on the way!! You must be thrilled, and you barely out of high school yourself ...
A pox on the carpet place having the audacity to shut down--don't they know you have needs?
Naturally, our new faucets and pot filler look gorgeous, but they are also leaking! Plumber returns today to see to the problem, which also necessitates removing the beadboard backsplash and the replacing of the same by our contractor. I'm compiling a list of all the crazy things that have gone wrong ... should make for amusing reading. Here's hoping you've already begun your Fourth of July celebrating and that you've found a few wine glasses that are dust-free!!

hi! thanx for the info. i figured it had to be something simple. i kept looking for a respond section in the tool bar...to no avail. my sis lives in novi,ann arbor area. she hates the winters. thanx again,deltz

Furniture shopping--that must be the fun part of the renovation (though not shelling out the money ...) We enjoyed picking out counter stools, faucets and all the details that are serving to personalize our kitchen--hard to believe we started that part of the process in January! Anyway,I'm sure your new room will be just beautiful and well worth the upheaval. I hope Nigel is still coping well. Our Spike, Holmes and Arthur are trying to make the best of this humidity and so far are doing fine. Can't wait to see their reaction when we finally allow them free reign of the house again. Maybe I should start searching for a feline psychiatrist ... Have a great week, Shiela!

Shiela, tried to reply to your message, then saw that it wasn't sent. Then tried to send a private message and got bounced out because it wasn't under 100 characters, so here I am. Yes, the oven doesn't fit in the island! We're supposed to be able to move into the kitchen tomorrow, but somehow, I have my doubts, yet again. We actually made up a lie about hubby having to hold an important meeting here on Monday night to give these people a tight deadline to shoot for; in reality, someone else has already held the meeting, but poor hubby has had to postpone the thing twice and wasn't about to look like a fool a third time. I just wish everyone would go about solving these problems and only tell me what I absolutely need to know. I'm starting to feel like the project manager and everyone's sounding board, which is stressing me out. So I commiserate when you tell me your builder won't be around for a few days; delays are hard to take. Take heart, my friend, you're not alone! (I bet you that your addition and our kitchen will be completed at the same time ... let's keep comparing notes). Keep smiling, and we've got plenty of beer and wine here to share with you!

Hi Shiela
Now you have exposed your knowledge of Welsh on Medium, people are asking..... how do you pronounce cwrw???

Sheila - hey! Thanks so much for the warm birthday wishes. It's pretty cool getting so many greetings from all across Sudokuland.
Here's a bit of b'day cake for you to enjoy...go ahead - no calories!!!
Blessings to you

Catalina was awesome. Of course I was responsible for 200+ HS students...but I still really ejoyed myself and miss that camp.

Shiela, Anne's parents moved to Wales when they retired so we have had lots of opportunities to visit them over the years. They have now passed on and are buried in a lovely little cemetery on the side of a hill between Aberdovey and Tywyn overlooking the golf links.

Both Anne and I love Wales and the Welsh people. I cannot speak the language but know enough to be able to navigate my way around the countryside. One evening, while refuelling at a garage in Machynlleth, I met an English tourist who was complaining about the road signs and not knowing where to go. His destination, though, was a place I knew quite well and I was able to give him fairly concise directions on how to get there. Then the irony of the situation struck me - an Aussie visitor giving road directions to an angry English tourist about how to find his way around Wales!

We have fond memories of our time in Wales, it is beautiful, picturesque countryside and the people are gentle and friendly. I envy you your trip there.

Wow Shiela! And they say English is a hard language to learn!!!

Shiela, yesterday (Friday) a photo of mine appeared of Sudoku 'Medium' of St Cadfan's church in Tywyn, Wales. In that page I sent you a note explaining that the map on the site I mentioned was wrong. If you are still thinking of visiting Tywyn, you should know that I have been in touch with the people who published the map and it is now correct.

Oh, Shiela! You have my sympathy! Dry wall dust ... hopefully, your crew will use a wet sander which will alleviate some of the crud flying around the place. Hoping Nigel is still doing well through it all. We're currently in a drama with our appliance people--the installer didn't hook the dishwasher up properly, nor did he level the fridge right, so the doors are askew and the thing isn't sitting properly in its place. Don't know how this will be resolved (replacing the fridge seems the best solution) but we've got our irate calls in to our designer, saying how completely fed up we are. My list of "things that have gone wrong" is up to 19 items. And we're not done yet. The plus side? The kitchen is stunning, and the space functions well. But I miss having our friends over, especially after the rotten year we've had. I'm keeping you in my thoughts as you undergo your reno--give Nigel a great big belly rub for me! And cheers to you; I'll leave you a bottle of pinot gris from a local winery ("Organized Crime") to get you through this yucky stage.

Thank You, Shiela for making my birthday special. With so many sudoku friends around the world it made the day truly wonderful.

Oh Shiela, doesn't it all just go on and on? Just make sure your builder has really underestimated on the materials rather than something else i.e. underestimating on the number of hours he thinks the job will take, etc.and isn't trying to recoup his costs that way. We're going to be involved in a similar squabble with our contractor whose final bill has come in with an extra four hundred dollars added which we didn't agree to. Completely unethical to add on after work has been done ... On a happier note, our weekend at our friends' cottage was sublime, and there will be no one tramping through our house for another couple of weeks (until crown molding and other missing bits arrive). So I'll be able to get some work done! with your builder and I'll keep my fingers crossed that all continues smoothly. Big hello to Nigel, the wonder cat!

Thanks, Shiela, for the cheery birthday wishes! So nice that, amid the chaos at your place, you'd remember little old me. Your thoughtfulness and friendship are so appreciated!

Dear shiela

Thank you for the birthday wishes. I am sorry I am so slow getting back to you, but I haven't been on sudoku for a very long time. from Ally