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April's here...hopefully bringing warmer weather here to stay. This past weekend we were close to 70 degrees, yesterday and today in the 40s and barely feeling like it. It's supposed to be warm again tomorrow but bringing in some nasty weather with it. On a good note...a couple weeks ago hubby won $10,000 on an Ohio lottery scratch-off! No April Fool's joke, he really did!

Got to spend my Granddaughters 6th birthday with her. Such a blessing!!!

I'm back to work this week after spring break last week, with 5 more weeks of school left after this week. I always like to have productive breaks, and we did a lot of stuff, but no really big projects. But that's okay. We got 65 bags of mulch, and maybe about half are spread. But, I did get a new car! That really wasn't needed or planned, but sometimes things happen. I had picked out what I wanted, and planned to purchase in the fall. But then I saw that the factory started shipping a new color, and that's all it took. So I found one in my state with the features I wanted, and checked the site every day until it arrived. Then showed up first thing the next day! I didn't need a car, and I feel horribly guilty, but I love it.

I'm sorry to hear of all the weather related difficulties. Take care out there!

Ladies and germs... Black Friday has been officially cancelled for 2025, therefore us mods are deleting this site and everyone's account with it. ... wait, what day is it today???

Happy April! And to the original fool, happy birthday (my doggo turns 6 today)! I have been a cleaning, purging fool - it finally feels like our house is under control again. Now I'm ready to go out and plant some stuff but the weather just won't cooperate yet. I bought a tiny greenhouse at Aldi yesterday so that maybe I can get a head start. DS13 and I are also on the hunt for some more baby chicks, so far all of our local farm stores don't have any. I think we are going to try a hatchery, if they'll just sell us a few. DS14 turns 15 this weekend, so I guess he will be practice-driving next week! Stay off the sidewalks!!

Don't feel guilty! If the car works for you to fit your needs, and budget wise as well, you're fine!

Watch out for the fools today! My birthday month has begun (and that's no foolin')! The birthday reward emails have begun rolling in so I am starting to plan which ones I can (and want to) take advantage of. Aside from that, as the weather warms, I am starting to plan out what I intend to plant/try to grow outside this year. Romaine, leaf lettuces, spinach, dill, and parsley are back in the plan, as all have done well in my garden boxes these past two years. Cucumbers have been a struggle, as I've battled fungus attacks. However, I am enclosing part of an existing tubular structure behind my house to turn it into a greenhouse of sorts and will try again to grow some cukes, knowing that the dang fungus is airborne and the enclosure might help me fend it off better. (If anyone has any suggestions on the battle front here, I'm listening!) As for flowers, I had some solid luck with what I called a "red, white, and blue corner" last year - I intend to repeat that with similar color scheme this year - maybe reverse color order. Last year, I did short (height) red, mid white, and tall (stalk flower style) blue. Thinking short blue (purple), mid white again, and stalk red this time around. Front porch will once again get hanging baskets - not sure what flowers just yet - just going to see what strikes my fancy when I make my trip to my local greenhouse. Hope my GDer family has been surviving the severe weather that's been crossing the country lately. I know we're due for another round here tomorrow. Color me thrilled (not).

I had my most recent annual physical in mid December. At that time, my weight has been the highest it has been since before I started keto, my blood pressure was slightly high, and my a1c test for my type II diabetes came back over 7 again, which it has done every three months for the past two years, even with the diabetic and high blood pressure medication I am on. A couple of weeks later, around New Years, I started seeing the ads for the “natural Ozempic,” as one tends to see weight loss ads at the start of the year. I mostly ignored them, but my curiosity finally convinced me to watch one, which said there was a simple three ingredient recipe that could be easily made and taken daily to help weight loss and blood sugar. So, I watched it. Of course it was for a pill that was being sold, but I decided to do some searching and see if there was anything that could made at home. I had heard of the anti inflammatory benefits of ground turmeric in the past, so I looked to see if there was anything that could be made at home that could at least help. I found some articles which claimed the combination of ground turmeric, ground ginger, and black or cayenne pepper has been studied and found to be beneficial in some participants. I decided to add each to my two cups of coffee each morning. I started off with a quarter teaspoon of ground turmeric and an eighth of a teaspoon each of ground ginger and fresh cracked black peppercorn into each cup of coffee. This is in addition to the half a teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon I have put into each cup of coffee for the past decade or so. The combination is reminiscent of chai in my coffee, but it’s not totally unpleasant. I made no other changes to anything in my daily routine. At the end of January I had a follow up hematologist appointment, and was surprised to see my weight was down five pounds since my physical the month before. I seriously expected it to be up a few pounds, as had been the trend for the past year or so, as well as having just gone through the holiday season. The next week at the start of February I increased the amount of ground turmeric, ground ginger, and ground black pepper, basically doubling each, so I was now having a teaspoon of ground turmeric, and a half a teaspoon each of ground ginger and fresh cracked black peppercorn daily in my coffee, as well as the teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon. Again, I changed nothing else in my daily routine. Today I had a three month diabetic follow up at my primary care physician. My weight is down another seven pounds since I saw my hematologist at the end of January, my blood pressure was 113/75, and my a1c was 6.7, the first time I’ve been under 7 in a couple of years. I know, it’s very gradual and possibly very circumstantial, so I’m probably being silly to be hopeful about this. I need to stop the turmeric, ginger, and pepper for the next couple of weeks, as even western medicine admits that turmeric is a blood thinner and I have a procedure coming up the first week of April. But, trust me. Once the procedure is finished, I’m going to be adding them back in for as long as they seem to benefit me.

Baruch Dayem ha’Emetz Blessed Be the True Judge

Also checking in for April. Spring has certainly sprung here. Think I will celebrate No Mow May except an a space by the street! (Golden rod and milk weed are not weeds.) luckily- NO HOA

Checking in. I hope I checked in for March but , I really don’t know

Saying a prayer for your dear friend. What a blessing though, to be so loved. She must have been a very special person.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate!

I got an old car. Yesterday, I got my crappy Focus inspected. I was not willing to spend more than $1k getting it to pass inspection and not getting a sticker would have triggered a lot of changes in my life. Primarily, retirement. I would not have repaired the car, was unwilling to commute 18k miles per year in my F150, and was uninterested in any new or used car available to me at this time. The only recommendation of the inspection station was that I change the oil and rotate the tires. All green -- not a single yellow or red mark on their checklist. The service manager said I could put another 100k on the POS. I may. So I had the oil changed and rotated the tires. I'll have to find a better reason to retire than my crappy Ford Focus.

Congratulations, she's a beauty! As for guilt, nah, sometimes we just have to show ourselves some love. Good for you!

It’s April and it’s been showering all day here. Taxes are done except the painful part of sending them even more money. Not looking forward to work tomorrow. Think I need a couple of weeks off with nothing to do.

April, bloody April. April is always a busy month for me. Because I was born in April, I must inspect and register my vehicles. Because I drive cars until no one can, this is usually an adventure. April is also the month Uncle Sam demands his pound of flesh. This year was just a little bit worse because our regulator was on the premises last week and I had to deal with a recall on one of my vehicles that would necessarily delay its inspection by a week. Assessment went well. recall was uneventful, and I finished my taxes this morning. So, on April 5, I am done except for two inspections and a visit to the tax collector's office. I rewarded myself for this with a bloody mary, two slices of reheated pizza, Top Gun, and a nap. Having checked in here, I am unofficially off the clock. Happy Shopping!

It's April...that wonderful month when the soft-serve cones return from their winter hibernation.

Another month down!!! Ready to breeze thru April and into May. May is going to be awesome. I pay off my minivan and I turn 50!!!!!!!

The end of February brought me grand baby number 7. I'm so in love with her.

Just click your avatar. That will conjure your profile which includes recent posts.

Monday ugh... have a great week

I think I am out but Happy Easter anyway!

Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

I then started a Passover adapted version of Joanna’s Sausage Kraut in the crockpot for tonight’s dinner. I forgot to show the apple and dried cranberries in the photo above, so I took this shot before combining. Well, at this point I’m being limited on uploads, so I guess to be continued later…

April is going by fast. Almost Easter already! Happy Easter

Thank you!

Happy April! My luger and I are back in the swing of things since coming back from Salt Lake City last month. Kendall's second race there was the Norton Jr. National Championships, for sliders age 14 to 21. Kendall is one of the youngest on the team (she is currently 15), and raced against her teammates, as well as the athletes on the next level up, the Jr. National Team, where they are more experienced sliders, in addition to being older and bigger. Kendall managed a 6th place finish out of 17 athletes. The athletes ahead of her, except for 1, were all on the next level team, so out of those on her team, she placed 2nd. She finished 3rd overall for the season, so when she returns to Lake Placid for the summer (she will be training with the next level team for the entire summer), she has another medal waiting for her. The official team list gets released on May 1, though we already know what her placement will be, but we aren't allowed to discuss it openly until the list comes out. Today's video is of Kendall sliding into the finish on the 2002 (and 2034) Olympic track! VID_20250414_200821.mp4

Checking in for April!

Can’t fool me. It’s April

No joke...here for April....lol

Can’t believe the month is over.

March is going out like a lion in many places across the country. Hope April brings nice weather.

We have germination! I just got this set up yesterday, and even as compact as it is, it’s precariously balanced where I had room for it. Hopefully I can find a board the perfect width and length to give it stability.

We also have birthdays and travel planned for March. Good to see everyone still here!

So just how bad are these "ides" I hear about? Enough with the ides; I got enough problems already. Last thing I need is a trip to Wikipedia to see that "ides" are some kind of bad humors or some other medieval crap. On the bright side, I got one of those bird feeders with a camera on it so I see cardinals eight times a day.

Started the week with the news this morning that a dear friend has passed away. She's been in hospice at home for the last couple of weeks. She was like a mom/grandma to me, as she was roughly my dad's age (80+) so, while not a shock, still a loss. Doubt very seriously that we have enough room in our church to hold all the folks that loved her dearly. As I told another of our friends when we got the news today, that is a great "problem" to have (to be that loved). Her name was Linda. I was blessed to call her a friend for over 25 years.

Oof... As if last Sunday in my store wasn't wretched enough (we were supposed to close at 6 and be gone by 6:30 - last customers finally left store at 6:30 and we didn't clock out till after 8). I saw the email about the Torrid Cash "after party" going on this weekend and just wanted to punch a wall. smh LOL

I feel you. On April 2nd, my town of under 800 was hit with an EF-2 tornado. While it looked absolutely horrible with a mobile home that was just placed isn't even there anymore. Incredibly, there were no injuries or deaths despite the tornado warning going out after it had passed, the power going out 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, which caused the town siren to not activate (it was electrical powered from the 1940s and was set to be replaced next month). It was one of the earliest ones (around 8:30 AM) to hit the area possibly since the 1960s and the largest to possibly hit the county in 30 years. If I had to guess it passed around 500-1000 yards from my front door. If it didn't turn the first time, it would have went through the town. If it didn't turn the second time, it would have destroyed my uncle's mobile home (with him and my aunt inside). I think the timing helps prevent injuries since most of the kids were at school (who didn't even suffer a power outage), and a lot of adults on their way to work 15-25 minutes away. I have been near 2-3 tornadoes in my life, another which was a wind storm (I still believe it was a tornado) but this one was the worst. Usually I have a sense for bad weather, but I didn't feel like this one would do anything. Boy was I wrong. At least the community is safe and a cleanup effort was made today to help clean the fields and places littered with debris. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come this season. The week before wasn't much better with a water main break causing us to go 2-3 days with little to no water. So hopefully the rest of April and the year gets better.

Oh gracious how scary! Glad you are okay. We had another tornado hit our county this morning... 2 Mondays in a row now.

Well, I just lived through destructive tornadoes and massive flash flooding the last 4 days here in TN. The local meteorologists were on air for 18+ hours non-stop on Wednesday and Saturday covering the weather. It was said that the NWS out of Memphis issued over 100 tornado warnings last week. Unbelievable weather event that I don’t want to have endure again. My small hometown was hit by a deadly tornado 2 years ago, almost to the day, and another tornado hit in the night Friday/Saturday. There was damage but thankfully it was not massive and not deadly like 2 years ago. I am weather weary for sure. Otherwise Happy Spring to everyone!

We're having a rainy day today and tomorrow, with the potential for severe weather. Again. We had a tornado in our county a few miles from here on Monday, and scary weather a couple weeks before that. I'm about over it! Glad for the actual rain though. This week is our spring break. We have a list of things we want to do. We bought 30 bags of mulch today, and will likely get at least 30 more. Ugh.