Everyday Chatting & Waffling {2025} Let's get to know each other!

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Happy Tuesday. I've now at least 'read' everything - so up to date in that department.

Off to the bank. Our phones aren't connected to the bank. Let them figure it out.

back later.
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I'm back. About me.
We live in Florida since I was age 8. Married to Bill soon to have our 43 anniversary. Two daughters; Two sons in law; 3 g'kiddo's.
Retired teacher a total of 40 years worth. We love to travel, attend baseball games and dance performances. My hobbies in addition to scrapbooking include: crochet; knitting, embroidery, and sewing. I dabble in photography. Sadly using the iPHONE more now than the big one. Its become more trouble lugging the weight and the lenses.
My user name came from my daughters friends and students. It was easier for them to go go with msbrad. They also used msB.
The 'm' I sign off on most everything came from when we moved to Florida my teacher did not care for nicknames [I was called Shelley] - only your given name. Well, I didn't know how to spell Michelle! After her constantly returning papers to me, I gave up and just wrote 'm'! Yes I was in trouble for that, so for extra homework, I had to write out Michelle. I think a thousand times but that is probably not correct.

We are back into the busy baseball and dance 'seasons'. Actually, they stay busy all year long. But that's ok.

I completed the temperature blanket I was crocheting for 2024. NEVER AGAIN! It ended up being 110 inches long! It fits nicely across our king size bed. Now I need to add a much wider border to it! I will scrap it - eventually.


Congratulations Carla for the soon to be arriving grandbaby!

Carla- I love that phrase in your siggie.

Shana- wow on the travels!

Ane- I've been to St. Louis and across to E. St. Louis

My prayers to all going through difficult times.

I will try to keep up better this year.
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msbrad said:
I completed the temperature blanket I was crocheting for 2024. NEVER AGAIN! It ended up being 110 inches long! It fits nicely across our king size bed. Now I need to add a much wider border to it! I will scrap it - eventually.
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I tried to do one a couple of years ago, but I thought I'd be a genius and do daily instead of weekly, plus a row of extra if there was any kind of rain or snow....... Yeah, March 31 I was done with a queen sized blanket....
 
dorannmwin said:
Sherri, I know what you mean about that fear of falling. We had a pretty big winter storm over the weekend and since then my mother has not left the house because she is so afraid of falling. I mean there is quite a bit of ice outside, so I get it, but it gives me a feeling of knowing where you are coming from.
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when I was hospitalized in the rehabilitation ward, many of my fellow ward mates were there from falls. Traumatic brain injuries, or physical injuries. It’s scary. Part of my rehabilitation was how to “fall” more safely. I’m still scared.
 
breoni said:
Good morning, all! It's still cold in Kansas. LOL.

Ebay has been fun, but also it takes a lot of time. It's a rush when things sell, but the majority of what I've posted hasn't had any views at all. So I'll give it some time and then will probably end up just donating the entire lot to a local charity shop. Ha.

For those who would like to see my completed Shutterfly book for 2024, here is the link. I also threw together our Walt Disney World photos into existing templates at Shutterfly so I could get that book done super fast, and you can see the Disney album here if interested. Now I need to get to work on the album for my nephew's high school graduation!
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thank you for sharing both books, I really enjoyed looking at them.
 
I am so incredibly over this cold weather. Paul went back to school on Monday and my nephew has his first in person day tomorrow. So, at least that is somewhat getting back to normal.

Back in December Paul had a run in with a curb. As he says he is 0 and 1 against curbs because he did quite a bit of damage to his car. He finally got the car back yesterday, at the cost of $3100. I was absolutely sick when he told me the final bill as they charged him over $1000 more than the original quote. And he financed it with me as a cosigner. It was not until I saw the final email about the financing that I saw how predatory it was. They want him to pay $100 a week for the next two years. So the $3100 repair would end up costing him $10,000. Luckily, I joined a credit union last year and applied last night for a signature loan, today I was approved, so I will be paying off the original loan in the next couple days, which is saving him $6000 over two years.
 
dorannmwin said:
I am so incredibly over this cold weather. Paul went back to school on Monday and my nephew has his first in person day tomorrow. So, at least that is somewhat getting back to normal.

Back in December Paul had a run in with a curb. As he says he is 0 and 1 against curbs because he did quite a bit of damage to his car. He finally got the car back yesterday, at the cost of $3100. I was absolutely sick when he told me the final bill as they charged him over $1000 more than the original quote. And he financed it with me as a cosigner. It was not until I saw the final email about the financing that I saw how predatory it was. They want him to pay $100 a week for the next two years. So the $3100 repair would end up costing him $10,000. Luckily, I joined a credit union last year and applied last night for a signature loan, today I was approved, so I will be paying off the original loan in the next couple days, which is saving him $6000 over two years.
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Yikes!! That is so not ok of them!!
 
Happy Friday everyone. We've had a very chilly January in Florida for us.
Have a wonderful day and weekend.
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And to add insult to injury on the Paul's car saga. He got it back on Tuesday and tonight he managed to wreck it. The child really wasn't in a state to be driving as he had just been informed that his grandma passed away very unexpectedly earlier this afternoon. He had gone to talk to a friend about what was going on and was on his way home. He said someone brake checked him, and he rear ended them. The person that he rear ended took off after Paul told them that he doesn't have insurance (he does have insurance, but it sure says a lot about whether it was an intentional act when the person that got hit didn't stick around to talk to the police).

I am absolutely sick, both over the loss of their grandmother and over Paul's car. That child tries so hard and just keeps getting dealt blows.
 
Country Music Festival is in full swing in our town this week and, whereas mostly the weather is really really HOT, this week we have had a sudden cold spell where temps have fallen to low 20C (68F) with lower windchill factor, but not to worry, 38C and over are expected to hit again in a day or so. I hope the riverbank campers brought jackets and blankets this year along with the normally required sunscreen, hats, water bottles, insect repellent etc.
 
dorannmwin said:
And to add insult to injury on the Paul's car saga. He got it back on Tuesday and tonight he managed to wreck it. The child really wasn't in a state to be driving as he had just been informed that his grandma passed away very unexpectedly earlier this afternoon. He had gone to talk to a friend about what was going on and was on his way home. He said someone brake checked him, and he rear ended them. The person that he rear ended took off after Paul told them that he doesn't have insurance (he does have insurance, but it sure says a lot about whether it was an intentional act when the person that got hit didn't stick around to talk to the police).

I am absolutely sick, both over the loss of their grandmother and over Paul's car. That child tries so hard and just keeps getting dealt blows.
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Oh no!!! I'm so sorry on both counts!!
 
Jill said:
Country Music Festival is in full swing in our town this week and, whereas mostly the weather is really really HOT, this week we have had a sudden cold spell where temps have fallen to low 20C (68F) with lower windchill factor, but not to worry, 38C and over are expected to hit again in a day or so. I hope the riverbank campers brought jackets and blankets this year along with the normally required sunscreen, hats, water bottles, insect repellent etc.
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Sounds like a lot of fun!



So here's a fun thing- I had noticed recently that I was missing some pictures. And by some, I mean like everything before 2015 (so the birth of 5 of my 6 kids). I've been sick over it.

Well, I found a hard drive tonight that has the photos I've been looking for (well, the old ones, I'm still missing a lot of newer ones). Anywho- also on this hard drive, digiscrap kits from a decade ago!!! I even have a Gingerscrap folder, though I don't think any of the designers are still at this site. It just made me chuckle!
 
Ane: Keep up the exercise. You will feel so much better. I walked over 10,000 steps a day for over a year and it made so much difference to my health. Although I have not been walking much recently, during our trip to Washington, we walked over 30 miles in three days without any fatigue.

How is school going? You shouldn't have to do indoor chores if you are working on schoolwork! I have that awful cough too. It is going around.

Carla-not mini: Congratulations on the great-granddaughter. Post pages that you do in this thread so we can all see her and commont on your page.

You do eBay?! I have a feeling I have given away so much stuff I could have sold.

Carla-mini: When IS your birthday? How did your paper-crafting event go? I love in-person paper crafting events. I have a friend who is exclusively paper crafting and she has a fabulous craft room. Every once in a while we have a crafting day.

Dorann: I am so sorry about the car, and him wrecking it again the day he got it back. How sad about his grandmother. You have gone through so much in recent years. I hope things settle down and I certainly hope the two graduations don't end up clashing. That is so rough.

Jill: The country music festival sounds like fun. I don't know how I would feel about being outside in Australia. I hear the spiders are as big as cars, the crocodiles wander freely and the kangaroos thump you if you talk back to them. Do they all attend music festivals?

LilyAnn: I have always wondered, why “A Fish Design?” Do you love fish? Are you all settled in your ‘new’ home with all the construction completed? Time flies, it seems just yesterday you were talking about moving in. I am glad your (insert a long name for your post-shingle thing here) is not as painful as it was.

Michi: It is great to see you back. You have been so busy lately. I can't wait to see pictures of your temperature blanket. Have you been cruising lately? You are another one who has been so busy.

Rae: have you done any pages on your jewelry? I have missed them if you did. I love all your nature and bird pages, they are amazing. Your Facebook dump of a million pages took me forever to look at. They were gorgeous.

Robyn: it is lovely to have you here chatting up a storm. I love your avatar photo, I smile back every time I look at it. That Spiced Caramel Apple Drink sounds amazing. I worry about my pictures a lot too. The kids all have copies, so I think we will be okay for the most part.

Shana: could you reenact Eskimo mode and take some pictures? I, too, am an exercise Goldilocks. The dinner theatre sounded like... fun? You are so efficient. I get home and I am never sure what to do. eBay! My goodness. Your books are awesome.

Sherri: I am glad things are a little better these days. I know your health is still fragile, but it is lovely to see you here and chatting. I follow Alexis on Facebook and I love her adventures. She is a warrior.


ME:
I keep telling myself things will quiet down, but they really don't. I need to borrow some of Shana's energy to get me through all the stuff I am working on. I think that "After <insert month> I will get a chance for a break!" It doesn't really happen. The days and weeks and months run into each other. I sometimes think I will have a chance to work on things when I am babysitting and homeschooling Bruce, but that never happens. Either Bruce is using my computer for school or I am playing with them. I adore them, but they are exhausting.

Lately, the fires have affected my free time. As I mentioned earlier, I serve on a state board for a nationwide charity that supports several retirement homes. One of our homes was on the border of the Eaton fire. The home fortunately did not experience fire damage, although there was quite extensive wind damage. A large tree came down which had to be removed There is also damage to a couple of roofs, the worst of which may need a roof replacement.

One of our Chapters is based in Pacific Palisades. Of the 21 members, 11 of them lived in the city. Six have confirmed their homes are destroyed, three have confirmed their homes are still standing, but they are uncertain as to the condition since they have been unable to return to them. Two don't know as their addresses have not been assessed by the fire department.

I am helping to organize a nationwide collection for the home to pay for the tree removal and the roof repairs/replacements. We can't help the ladies who have lost their homes directly since we are a 501(c)3 charity and none of the money taken in can benefit our members. We are working on other ways to support them through local charities. It has felt overwhelming. These are all older ladies with other issues. One of them has cancer and her husband is recovering from a bad fall. One of them has a husband with Alzheimer's. It is heartbreaking.

I have a dreadful cough and cold, courtesy of my granddaughter. She has learned to share. She is adorable, though. I was having a coughing fit and she came up to me and said "You okay?" She is only learning to talk. I can't believe she is almost two. Bruce wrote his first 'essay' today. He didn't want to practice writing today, so I asked him to write about otters. He loves videos of two otters called Hana and Kotaro on YouTube. He wrote (word for word, out of his own head!) "Bruce likes otters. My is Hana. My baby sister likes otters. My name is Kotaro. They are cute. They are silver. They have hair." His spelling is fabulous for a five-year-old. His sentences aren't quite right, but I think that is very good for such a little boy. He didn't put any spaces between most of the words. We will work on that. I think I will write little stories about the otters for him to practice his writing.
 
Oh goodness, I forgot my fun news! Did I mention Karen got engaged? She did!

She has set a wedding date for 25 October 2025. Her favourite number is five it is perfect fives - 10/25/2025 (or 25/10/2025, depending on where you live!). She is so thrilled. She is working so hard on her wedding :) I am thrilled. I am making her wedding dress (EEK).
 
Is anyone else getting auto-logged out from GS? I don't know what is going on, but all of a sudden, I am getting logged out, sometimes when I am in the middle of posting. It happened when I was typing my long response up above. I am baffled. it might be the browser, but I couldn't see a setting that would cause that.
 
FormbyGirl said:
Is anyone else getting auto-logged out from GS? I don't know what is going on, but all of a sudden, I am getting logged out, sometimes when I am in the middle of posting. It happened when I was typing my long response up above. I am baffled. it might be the browser, but I couldn't see a setting that would cause that.
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I have been having the same trouble - been happening when I upload my layouts the last few days but it could be our internet as well. Saw two guys working in the pit down the road but also we have had loads of rain last few days too
 
FormbyGirl said:
Carla-mini: When IS your birthday? How did your paper-crafting event go? I love in-person paper crafting events. I have a friend who is exclusively paper crafting and she has a fabulous craft room. Every once in a while we have a crafting day.
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WE ALL need Shana's energy Lynnie!

February 25, exactly two months after Christmas. Don't know why I always include that, but it helps hubby remember it. LOL

My weekend was WONDERFUL!!! About 15 ladies there and we all get along famously. Surprise of the weekend! Amy's (our fearless leader) son informed her that, "tonight" (Friday night) while he was "grabbing" his fiancé, in Alaska, to transport her to his new duty station in GA, they were going to get married (by a JoP) and was that okay with her? They have a big wedding still planned for Sept '25, but wanted to be married before living together. She and her hubby were overjoyed. Something they'd actually been praying for. So, Amy left us for about an hour to go watch the live stream with hubby, down at the school where he brother is the principal. They gathered as much of their family as they could from in town to have a little watch-party! While she was gone, we made her a CONGRATULATIONS card and everyone there signed it. She came back all red-eyed and blotchy. It was AWESOME!
 
Sams Scraps said:
I have been having the same trouble - been happening when I upload my layouts the last few days but it could be our internet as well. Saw two guys working in the pit down the road but also we have had loads of rain last few days too
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My browser used to log me in automatically, that stopped happening and then I would regularly be logged out, sometimes in the middle of a post. I have fiddled around with browser settings, hopefully that helps.
 
Carla minicooper452 said:
WE ALL need Shana's energy Lynnie!

February 25, exactly two months after Christmas. Don't know why I always include that, but it helps hubby remember it. LOL

My weekend was WONDERFUL!!! About 15 ladies there and we all get along famously. Surprise of the weekend! Amy's (our fearless leader) son informed her that, "tonight" (Friday night) while he was "grabbing" his fiancé, in Alaska, to transport her to his new duty station in GA, they were going to get married (by a JoP) and was that okay with her? ...
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That is so wonderful, about the wedding. It is very touching.

Happy birthday coming up. I have a daughter and two sons who are in February :)
 
Mercy! I am so far behind keeping up with you ladies! However, I come with a photo of my Great-granddaughter!! Born January 12, 2025, 8 pounds!! Alana posted a few photos on FB, so I figured it was ok to share this one with you all!

Elowynn Faye
FihF7O3.jpeg
 
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FormbyGirl said:
Is anyone else getting auto-logged out from GS? I don't know what is going on, but all of a sudden, I am getting logged out, sometimes when I am in the middle of posting. It happened when I was typing my long response up above. I am baffled. it might be the browser, but I couldn't see a setting that would cause that.
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This has been happening to me for a few months now, but it has been worse (mid-post, yes) lately. So I now copy/paste my posts before hitting "reply."

Carla (mini), I'm glad you had so much fun at your retreat, I could really use something like that!

Carla, your great-granddaughter is so precious!

Lynnie, I wish schoolwork exempted me from chores, but I know if I don't do some things, they won't get done. School is going well, with 2 classes done, I have a 4.0 and hope I can maintain that. This term my class is on the Renaissance, which is proving to be fun so far.
 
Lynnie, it’s good to see you back and active on this site! And yes, I’ve had issues with being logged off. More so on my laptop than when I’m on a desktop, but no clue if there is any correlation. Sometimes, I can hardly stay logged in enough to post a layout. Other times I’ve had no issues.

Dorann, so sorry to hear about the car saga. Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me that someone would intentionally cause an accident to collect on insurance money. In our industry, we’ve installed cameras for all our fleet vehicles just to have visual proof in situations like that.

Carla-Mini, ha… I spent all my energy and took the entire weekend to do absolutely nothing. It was marvelous! What a fun wedding story! <3

Carla, what a cute baby! Thank you for sharing the photo of your great-granddaughter!

Ane, how are your classes going?

Jill, it’s difficult to imagine the heat wave as I’m bundled up with a Disney spirit jersey with a fuzzy zip up vest on top of that. I’ve broken out my three-layer squaller jacket to wear when I step outside. It’s just so dang cold! Happily, while I was hibernating at home over the weekend, the ice that coated our streets finally had the chance to start melting. It’s not completely gone, but it was a lot safer to drive to work today.

Robyn, so glad to hear that you’ve found some of your missing photos! I had one external hard drive crash on me where I lost everything… so now I have backups for my backups! LOL! However, I know that many years ago, we had all my grandfather home videos that he shot on 8mm film converted to a DVD… and I need to find where I carefully stashed that. LOL! I think I have an idea, but to get to the box in question, I need to have dear hubby clean out the storage room (I’ve been asking him for two years). Wish me luck.

Most of the businesses in town are closed today for the holiday, but our office is open. I couldn’t sleep at all last night and woke up at 4:30 a.m. So I got up and got ready and came to work by 6 a.m. I have an offsite meeting later this morning, and I may just head home after that wraps up. I have a feeling I’m going to need a nap. Ha.
 
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Carla, Elowynn is beautiful! She is truly one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen.

Ane, The Renaissance! What a wonderful topic. What tyhpe of work are you doing with it? Exploring writers?

Shana, (and Ane), I don't know what I did on my browser, but I haven't been logged off in the last few days. I do suspect an update to the browser caused it. I am on Firefox, what are you on?

I managed to scrap three layouts the past few days. I am hoping to squeeze in the time to do more soon.

Tomorrow I have a meeting of my Daughters of the British Empire. It is our Annual meeting and pretty busy. The following day I am driving to Santa Monica to meet with ladies from the chapter that has suffered with so many home losses in the fire. Then back to babysitting Thursday. I still have a cough, so I am tired, but I love everything I do, so haven't found a way around the juggling.
 
Shana- hey there! I am taking one class at a time because that's all we can afford, but I'm not sure I could handle more than 1 at a time. Grad work is hard! This current one is going pretty well. 2 weeks in and I have an A (that could change in the next few days as I had a writing assignment due last night).

Lynnie, this week we are studying Renaissance poetry. Last week was philosophy and I think next week is religion? Typically it's a lot of reading, although there are a few educational YouTube videos thrown in. Every weekend I have a short essay on the weekly topic due, and I have to start a discussion in our class forum as well. The forum thing is consistent with every class, but the work has varied from class to class.

I'm still having problems being logged out randomly. I use Chrome and suppose I should clear the cache. That is supposed to help, I think.
 
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