Hi Everyone!

Hope u all had a good holiday. Ours was quiet, just the two of us but we had a nice Chinese dinner. *S* Sort of a family tradition.

We have almost 2 ft of snow outside now. Son went out onto the patio to take the timer off the Christmas lights today and he could of used snowshoes. *LOL* I got him to look for the suet feeder that was hanging out there on the tree, but looks like it got knocked off the tree and is now under snow, so I will have to get another one until April when the snow melts.

I also found out why the bottom strand of lights on the new tree weren't working. Wilbur chewed thru the wires! Son is coming back today with his sodering gun to fix it. Good thing we bought him it for Christmas eh? LOL

I will be taking cuttings from the fushia soon, as soon as the decorations are all put away and seeing if i can start new plants from those. I haven't brought up any amaryllis yet, am going to have to keep them in the cellar longer.

Stopped taking my arthritis meds before Christmas because of the heart attack risk and am now walking around using a cane some days. Haven't been able to track down the doctor to give me another presciption either. I didn't know a person could ache in so many places. *LOL* I thought some of these places fell off over the years. LOL

Well take care everyone, hope u are all well and keeping warm.
Debbie :-)

Hi Debbie N, seems quieter than usual around here. About Dr Phil, I am also thinking of going on that plan. I do not have the book either but i got the Rapid Start menus from his website. Also, hubby just bought a cheapo elleptical thingy yesterday and its looks OK and not too big! We are putting it in a spot where we will not be able to ignore it...

As a new years resolution, I promise to be better to my houseplants and water them more than once a month! I used to be so good, then Real life interferes and plants get pushed down the priority list...
Bye for now
Nicole

Hi Deb,
I noted your comment about arthritis. I started taking Glucosamine Sulfate and Cod Liver Oil, both food supplements,in November, out of pure desperation. The arthritis was making me wild with pain every winter and seriously affecting my garden time in the summer. While not completely pain free, I am better this winter then I have been for several years. I bought both from Wallmart, very inexpensive. It might be worth a try for you.

Hi Debbie. You said you took a psychology course through Laurentian. Did you take it by correspondence and if yes you would have taken it through Dr. E. Levin. Yes, I do love to decorate the office doors at Christmas time. That's about 20 doors.

On January 3rd, I quit smoking and started the Atkins diet. So far, I've been successful at both. I've lost about 5 to 6 pounds. And I'm also going to the gym 2 or 3 times a week and make it a point to do 3 miles on the treadmill. I have to get in shape for gardening. I have quite a few pounds to lose but I think that this time I can do. I will need all that extra energy if I'm going to have a beautiful garden.

Well, I have to get ready for bed since I have a busy day tomorrow at work. Can you imagine working for 21 psychologists? They're enough to drive you crazy.

Ta ta for now.

Hi all, and Happy New Year! Santa bought me three tiers of plant lights from Lee Valley for Christmas, thinking I would like that in the basement. But my basement is too yucky for something so nice, so now they are in the dining room filled with all of the things I had rescued and put downstairs last October. Doesn't do much for the decor, but makes me happy!

I too take arthritis meds -Mobicox, not yet recalled *sigh* My DH takes glucosamine with chondroitin, in liquid form, but his hip is so bad that it seems only a replacement will give him relief. He's probably about 5000th on the waiting list..

I have been working for the last 6 months on starting up a Horticultural Society in a nearby town. Our first meeting is next Monday, and we are really excited about it. A lot of work though. I have a little garden club here in the village but it is kind of dormant this year, as we lost our free place to meet. I am trying to resurrect it now, but it is hard to do all the work myself. But I will give it one more shot I guess.

My whole family has been down with a terrible virus this week - on Monday night DH, DS, and DGS were all vomiting at once! I called my daughter, who is a volunteer firefighter and a 911 response officer for the police. She took one look at her Dad and brother and called an ambulance. The paramedics made all four of us go to the hospital by ambulance - it was a little crowded in the back *LOL* But Grandson thought it was pretty neat - his whole family in there! Daughter followed in her truck, and drove GS and I home after a few hours, then went back later for Dad and Brother. We are still recovering, and boy are we tired!!

Looking forward to Spring already - it was 10 C here today, just like summer was coming, and 18C in the greenhouse. I will be moving some chairs in there tomorrow so we can sit in there and enjoy sonme sun for the rest of the winter. We usually start that in February.

All in all, our winter hasn't been that bad, although the alternate freezing rain and thawing is probably not good for the garlic I planted in November. Can't do anything about it anyway, so I'll just wait and see.

Take care all!

Julie

I'm not posting because i'm crabby. It's been freakin' COLD all month and this morning there are -50 windchills. I need a cave or something! >:( Grrrrrrrrrr!

I can sympathize with the meds. Celebrex hasn't been recalled, has it? I only take one a day, so i think it's okay. The doctor told my mother-in-law to take Tylenol Arthritis when she needs it, so maybe that's what you can do, Debbie.

K - i need to get back to work.

Jak - i'm not talking to you because you have spring. Pout. (kidding, you know that!)

Marcia,
in a winter rut.

Hi Everyone!

It has been cold the past two days here
-37C with the windchill. The days before that snow, snow and more snow. We have about 3 ft now. Not much gardening going on around here. Even the leaves on my fushia plant have started to die back, can't figure out what is going on. I don't think it has bugs.

Hi nicole Welcome! I haven't been to Dr. Phil's website. Did u have to pay for the recipes or were they free?

Hi Freezengirl... Welcome! Thanks for your comments about the pills. I have been taking Cod Liver Pills for over 20 years now, but I don't know the other pill. Is Glucosamine Sulfate
a calcium pill? I have to be careful as I'm on so many other meds.

I am back on my old arthritis meds, I went to see the doc last week. He has cut me back though, I'm only taking 1/3 what I was taking before and that is cut in half twice a day. I was on new meds for one day but there were a bit too many side effects so he put me back on naproxen.

Hi claubill, yes I had elizabeth levin. That is great u have lost so much weight already! Good for you! And NO I can't imagine working for that many psychologists. *L*

Hi Jak, sounds like u were a very good girl! *BS* I love my plant stand, that is where I start all my plants. Works great! I have mine in my family room your right, too nice for the basement. *S*
Sorry to hear about hubs hips, I have two bad ones myself, though they are feeling much better since I started back on my meds.

I'm sorry to hear u lost your free space for your garden club, that is too bad. Have u asked at any churches or your town hall? We use to meet at our town hall, but now the society have moved into a church's basement. Good luck getting the Hort. Society going! There is a lot of paper work involved with one. I use to be the Corresponding Secretary for ours and it kept me busy!

It sounds like your family was really sick! Are u sure it wasn't food poisioning? I'm glad you are starting to feel better now, but it sure sounds like u went thru a terrible time.

Sounds like u are having nice temps.. 10C? I wish you'd share some of that with us.

Marcia..... -50C???? YIKES! It's no wonder u are crabby! That is very cold for you! You don't want to go into a cave though, as they are cold and damp, u need to go to a nice warm place. Hey isn't Gale going somewhere warm? Get her to pack u in her suitcase and smuggle u along. *G*

My doc told me if I didn't want to take the naproxen or other stuff to take Tylenol. I didn't know it was an anti inflammatory.

I'd better go I'm going to try and bake some rhubarb/strawberry pie and I have never baked it before, so it's going to take me a while. I'm just stewing the rhubarb now and I need to go and make the pastry and get it ready for tomorrow when I bake them.

Take care everyone and keep warm!

Debbie :-)

Hi Buddies!

Yep.........it's FREEZING out there and LOTS of snow!
Good thing we got the snow with these temps.

I wish it was Feb. now, so I could be in Florida and miss this...lol
I'm so jealous Julie gets to experience SPRING temps and sit in the GH. My GH has 3ft. of snow surrounding it!

I've potted up 37 brug cuttings and have them under my lights now.
Also started a few seeds and storing them in the coldroom for the WS effect.

Been looking at the seed catalogues that are coming now, and am trying not to go ahead and order anything! Not sure if I'll get around that!

Finally got DSL in my area, so hooked up yesterday and what a difference!Now, we just have to attempt to hook up a wireless router so Mitch can share it with his computer downstairs. That should be interesting getting that working.

The kids screwed up my 'puter again last week...ended up buying a second hard drive that just slips in and out of the modem, so their stuff is on one and my bookwork on the other. That way I know I can always use mine 'cause it won't get buggered like they manage to do it.

Now I've been busy getting all my programs back working...and of course, lost all my e-mails and addys again......grrrr.

Anyhoo.....life here is just putting up with loads of teenagers hanging here all the time, hibernating and looking forward to Florida next month! Still have lots to organize for that as well and make notes for my Mom who will be staying here with the animals..(the dogs take glucosamine and vitamin E daily for their joints too)

Just a quick hello to EVERYONE!
~STAY WARM~

Talk to ya'll later, Gale (crabby like Marcia...lol)

Hi again,

Debbie, the Dr pHil menus were free.

Thanks for the welcome, am actually a longtime member, but i haven't been around in looong while.
Nicole

Hi everyone

Hi Gale! Glad u got snow cover this year, that will mean your well will have water in the spring too right?

I heard something about those wireless things can get hacked by people driving down the road and hacking into them, hope Mitch puts up a good firewall. I would love to have wireless so I could take the laptop into the garden and chat. Now that would be heaven to me *LOL*

Gale it is going to be so nice for u to be down in Florida when it is so cold up here. Does hubs know about the surprise yet?

I have taken some more fushia cuttings and spraying them twice a day and have them under a hot cap thingy under the plant stand. I hope they will root for me. I hope u can control the spider mites on your brug cuttings.

Well time to get moving here......have a good day everyone!

Debbie :-)