Getting the Lard Off Progress Report – 12-6-2018

Chicago Tribune

30.6 pounds and 30.05 inches so far.

My husband and I have kind of settled into raw veggies and dip for lunches (I add a hard-boiled egg or string cheese, and my husband adds barbecued chicken with no bread) and a main meal salad for dinner, so we’re awash in Nutrisystem entrees right now. (My husband received his frozen and non-frozen this week. I received my frozen and should get my non-frozen soon.)

I called customer service today to see if I could delay our next order. Raphael couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. He was encouraging about our efforts to date and we agreed to delay our next order for 90 days. If we want to order a la carte before then, fine. If we want to shorten the delay, fine. If we need to delay it further, fine.  No muss, no fuss, no problem.  How wonderful is that!?!?!

Our only complaint is that they no longer offer pulled pork. My husband really liked that, and it almost derailed us on our weight loss efforts. They DO offer barbecued chicken, so he has substituted that, and I make him pulled pork and we freeze it into individual portions for him.

Our son is coming to visit Monday, planning to stay about 3 weeks. We’re really into the plan now, particularly since we can have ‘flex’ meals, so it shouldn’t be a problem for everyone to eat what they would like.  We’ll go grocery shopping as soon as he likes and get what we don’t have.

I’m feeling good about the progress my husband and I have made. He’s down about 30 lbs., too, and has lost almost 6 inches from his waist. He was wearing 38/30 jeans when we started and is now ALMOST comfortable in 32/30’s now. :0)  He is trying to do sit ups, something he hasn’t done since he was in the Marine Corps from 1961-65, so I’m proud of his efforts. Even more important is his effort to cut out as much sugar as possible, since he’s a Type II diabetic. His blood sugar reading this morning was 96. (100 or below is NORMAL).  I’m doing more exercise than I have done in many, many years – doing yoga and abdominal exercises one day, and the elliptical trainer the next. (Today is the elliptical). I’m feeling stronger and a bit more flexible.

So, we’ll keep on keepin’ on, and we’re pleased that we are on a program where the company will work with us.  My goal is to be ordering at least one – if not TWO – 10 lbs weight loss NS bears with our next order! :0)

Merry Christmas tooooooo Meeeeeeee….

My husband’s cousin’s wife, Murray, lives in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Every time we can make the time, we have gone to spend as much time as possible there. Several years ago Murray took me to a wonderful shop called Old Estate Art Gallery.

I fell in love with something and bought it on the spot. Each time I’ve visited Murray has taken me there to see what they are offering, and they have never disappointed me. A couple of years ago, I asked them if they had an online store and if they could ship things. At that point in time, they weren’t in a position to do that. That has now changed!

The link above takes you to their page on Facebook. You can look at wonderful things they are currently offering. I found my Christmas present to myself there just a few minutes ago –

I fell in love with the gray “Cool Rat” at the bottom right part of this picture.

I messaged them via their Facebook page, asking if they could ship now. They answered my message very promptly saying that it depended on what item I wanted. I asked them if the gray “Cool Rat” was still available. They replied yes, told me the price, and confirmed they could ship him to me USPS.

I called them and confirmed that the rat HAD to be mine. Karen, the nice lady who answered the phone, went to grab him for me before someone else scooped him up and will call me back with the final price when she knows the shipping amount.

It was a pleasure doing business with her, and my Christmas present will be on the way to me soon!

This is a wonderful store with so many items you won’t see elsewhere. When you have some time, visit their Facebook page.

WARNING:  You may be like me and become addicted!

Home Security System

As I type, we’re making the final arrangements for an ADT Security System for our home. We called when we got an ad offering a promo and arranged for the installation man to come today.

So far, I’m impressed with the installation guy. We went over all the doors and windows before he started, and we had several questions. When we were in agreement about these, we discovered that because we didn’t have prewired doors and windows, we had to go for Option 2.  This means that instead of being able to use the standard system out of the box, we get credit toward the purchase of the equipment we need. After a lot of talk (questions/explanations) a major consideration is whether our Internet system will qualify for the lower monthly charge, or we have to ‘upgrade’ to the use of a sim card in the control box at a higher monthly charge.

This is not a typical bait and switch thing, or if it is, it’s extremely well done. The communication between the ADT people and our system is cut and dried. If it works, we get the lower price each month. If it doesn’t we choose whether to pay the higher monthly fee or blow off the whole thing.

We ARE considering some add-on equipment, since we have more doors and windows than they were covering, have two stories, and I like the idea of the personal emergency thingie I can wear around my neck in case I fall on my head unexpectedly. Even though I’m not alone, our house absorbs sound really well. I have been in the position of trying to yell for my husband’s help and he doesn’t hear me.

So – as soon as the test results are in, we’ll make the decision as to whether we put the system in or not.

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Okay. It’s quite a while later. The ADT system couldn’t communicate with our CenturyLink modem, so the lower monthly price is off the table. My husband said no to the higher monthly price with a contract for 3 years. The installation guy is trying a last-ditch effort to get the price of the equipment down enough to mostly offset the higher monthly price. If he can do that, maybe my husband will go for it. Fingers crossed.

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It is again later in this saga of home security system. We have made a deal and he is installing the parts now. I’ll update this a bit later, as I need to be available for him.

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There is a keypad that’s the main part of the system. We’ll have an extra keypad for the second floor, a motion sensor, a detection sensor on every door and every window, 2 keychain remotes, and a personal emergency pendant I’ll wear. On the keypads there are panic buttons for police, fire, and emergency.

Important considerations for us are that our system can be active and we can open our bedroom window to use the attic fan when the weather allows. We can also let our doggies in and out without triggering anything.

I can’t say enough about the installation guy. His name is Roderick McCray. He is knowledgeable, pleasant, put up with Amber, and worked with us to make our home security happen. He started his day by driving to us from Little Rock – a 2-1/2 hour drive. He’s been here since before 11:00 this morning, jumping through countless hoops to make this day good for both of us. He faces the drive home once the system is finally in. He has taken no breaks.

I will feel safer knowing there is someone on the other end of this system that may be able to help us in case of emergency.

 

Shoes and Meals

I found what I think is a really good store. It’s called TheVeteransSite.com and I found them through an ad on Facebook. I ordered a couple of pairs of sandals I liked and received them this afternoon.

The deal is that part of your purchase goes to feed Veterans. You get neat shoes. Veterans who need them get some good meals. Win/win.

They’re having a sale right now where you buy one pair and the second pair is free. I’ve had on the shoes below all afternoon. Usually, I kick off my shoes first thing when I’m in my chair in the living room. I kick them off and put them back on several times a day. I don’t have the need to kick these off. They’re really comfortable. And I think they’re HAPPY looking shoes! They do have adjustments so you can tighten them a bit or adjust the strap that goes across the back, but I didn’t need to. My big thing is needing plenty of room for my toes, and these are wonderful.  It may be that I’ll be happy to take them off by the end of the day, but signs are good so far.

 

My husband even noticed that I didn’t kick them off, and said he thought they were ‘good-looking shoes.’ We talked about the cost and the fact that part of the purchase goes to meals for Veterans (3 meals for this purchase) and he said, “Why don’t you get back on the site and order a couple more pairs?” Not being a stupid lady, I dived in and have two MORE pairs on order!

Check out this website when you have the time.

It’s Official

household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com

We now have clean, repaired gutters with screen covers, plus no more huge dead tree limbs hanging down over the driveway, ready to fall on us as we pass!

Yesterday Ryan Edwards and his partner from Edwards Gutter Cleaning, 479-462-2663, spent 4 hours in 97 degree (heat index 108) heat, getting us fixed up. I provided bottles of cold water and a bathroom, and they handled everything else. Surprisingly, we actually HAD screens in part of the guttering! He repaired one end of the guttering in the back, where it was drooping at the wrong angle, replaced some of the screens that weren’t tight, cleaning everything out and making sure all was working well. They took a ‘break’ at one point, cutting down the dead branches from the mimosa tree at the bottom of the driveway, then came back up to continue work on the gutters. They found almost nothing in the guttering that is the closest to the few large trees we have around the house. Mostly they found tiny gravel from the shingles.

We had agreed on a price for the guttering and branch removal, but he cut the price due to the fact we already had screens in part of the gutters!

When he finished, I told him and his partner how much I appreciated them. I stressed that I was pleased that he did what he said he would do. He called to keep me informed of when he would be here. When he was delayed, he called to tell me that. He treated us like real people who might have a life and plans that didn’t include waiting around for service. He did a beautiful job, leaving everything clean. I told him that I had already written about him on my blog and that I would do so again. He was really happy about that. :0)

Ryan Edwards is an honest, hard-working man you can depend on. He doesn’t try to gouge you on prices. He doesn’t pressure you. He listens carefully when you’re explaining what you would like estimates for, and gives them straightforwardly. He doesn’t try to sell you anything you don’t want. He takes pride in a job well done. I recommend him highly and will call him whenever I have outside handyman type work. I hit the jackpot on great companies!

 

I Love This Company!

gift from Chewy.com

My friend Stephanie Youmans Wilson shared this post by Laura Waltenburg on Facebook recently. Since this is yet another reason to love Chewy.com, I wanted to share it with you.

 

“My sister and brother-in-law tragically lost both of their dogs this past weekend. After this happened they received two 40 pound bags of dog food that they had ordered from Chewy.com. My brother-in-law sent them an email requesting permission to send the dog food back for refund minus the shipping cost. They responded with unbelievable kindness. They credited their credit card for the full purchase price and asked them to donate the dog food to a local shelter. They sent a second email requesting a picture of one of the dogs to put in their memorial book to honor her. And then today my sister and brother-in-law received these beautiful flowers from Chewy.com. I wish I could tell everybody this story. This is the kind of story that needs to go viral. This is an incredible company.”

Shameless Plug for Chewy.com

Chewy.com

This is a shameless plug for the website Chewy.com.

I’ve bought about 6 things there since we got our new puppy.

• First, it’s easy to order from their website.
• Second, their delivery time is amazingly fast. You feel almost as if you just ordered it and it arrives.
• Third, their quality is great.
• Fourth, their customer service is outstanding. I just discovered this today.

I had ordered a collar for Amber. I meant to order a regular 1″ wide nylon collar with a snap closure. What I actually ordered was a martingale collar, which was a choke collar competitor, which wouldn’t work with our setup.

I called customer service. I got right through, didn’t have to go through a phone tree, didn’t have to press ‘1’ to continue in English. I told the man I wanted to return an item.

The man asked me, “What’s wrong with it? I told him flatly that, due to my own stupidity and sloppy reading, I had ordered the wrong thing and needed to return it. He laughed, telling me he did that all the time. He told me he would give me credit in the full amount of the item, tax, and shipping, credited to my credit card, which would take 3 to 5 business days. When I asked about returning the collar I had received, he just said, “Please give it to a charity or someone who might enjoy it.”

I sat for a moment, dumfounded. I told him that I had ordered 5 or 6 things from Chewy.com and had just found ANOTHER reason to tell people what an outstanding company it is.

If you have pets or know people who have pets, please spread the word to give Chewy.com a try. I rarely give shameless plugs for companies, but this one is outstanding.