[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
I am waiting for DH to finish his shower (he's been working in the yard all afternoon) so we can go to the new SUPER W M and get some more flowers and pots.

I am so glad this week is over and done with. Next week should be fairly calm as most of the kids have their assignments in . . . at least those that give a hoot and want to pass the course.

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend and a safe one if you travel anywhere!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Jean]

Just checking to see if anyone was out and about in the flower patch.

[Maggie]

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS


We just got back from a BBQ at a friends house. There were 5 couples there and the host sure knows how to do ribs. To die for. This is the beginning of summer and there will be many more just such meals to attend and host. These folks out here believe in getting together and sharing a meal. My potato salad went over well with every one. I actually believe it is one of the best one I have ever made.

I am tired and going to go to bed now.

Have a nice day tomorrow ~ the day which the Lord hath made.

[graybubs]

Here come the clouds, do do do do do, or something like that.

Maggie,
The Cauliflower salad was a success........so much so, that when I came home for lunch yesterday my son had finished it off I'll make it 3x/day if he'll eat it.

The clouds are gathering yet again We'd best get to the trail while we can. Worked on cutting back shrubbery yesterday......it's never ending.

Attended an auction also, it was the Greenbrier's excess china, glassware, table linens, etc.........over 30,000 stems of crystal! It was wild. It began at noon, and they quit at 7:30, although they still weren't finished. I got 12 of the old time dessert plates to send to my cousins as a joke, as they used to come down here to conventions pretty regularly, but don't now that they're retired.

Have a good week.
Bubbles

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
It's a beautiful day in my corner of the world . . . the sun is shining brightly, a cool 65 degrees, and just a light breeze. DH is painting dock boards and I am doing laundry.

We were gone longer than we thought yesterday. We went to Menard's to pick up a few more landscaping blocks then couldn't agree on the color. I insisted on one and DH said if we took them, I could bring them back when they didn't match. So we got the color he picked out and now HE has to take them back and exchange them for my color. They weigh 35#s each so I'm glad I don't have to lug them around. We are going to his little hometown for a Veteran's Memorial dedication so will make another run to Menard's while we're in the area.

Stopped in to see Beth and then headed to Jason's. Ian is just so funny! He gets up on all fours and then rocks back and forth like he is revving up his engine. He finally moves his hands and feet about two complete moves before he goes down on his nose. Then he looks around to see if anyone is watching. Gateway is studying the possibility of outsourcing their tech support and their customer service departments. They did that with security and that was why Beth switched to customer service -- the benefits were not as good nor did the seniority roll over. It will be interesting to see what happens. She's been there 5 years so will have a nice severance package if they let her go. Unfortunately, the job market isn't very good in the area right now.

The dryer is buzzing so I'd better keep moving. Hope you all have a nice day!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

So the web site had a power outage... but it is back once again in full force. It is 102 here as I type but the cooler is keeping me from dripping drops of sweat on my keyboard. Will actually went out and cleaned windows this day... sure looks good but you wouldn't get me out there in this heat. I have been buzy trying to find a lost file that my computer needed to operate a windows point finder. Seems that sometimes those dll (dynamically loaded library) files just vanish at times and we have to go fetch them back. I found a web site that has all the dll's that folks lose so we can download them for free and put them back where they belong. When I tried to open the calulator I got a message saying "can't find vbrun300.dll." Yikes I said to self, what in the world is that. I went on a quest and found out and downloaded it. Alas, but the message still showed up when I tried to open the calculator. I finally decided before I got too awfully frustrated that I would place the file in several places and then maybe the calculator program could find it in at least one of the spots. Voilla! It did and I am so happy now for now it works. I don't have a clue at which place it did find the file so I am leaving it tucked in those places. Usually when those types of files get lost is when programs are dumped or shifted around. I hadn't done any of that on this computer - YET - so I was without a clue at which point it chose to vanish.

We are having folks in later this evening and so I think I had better go start an early dinner. We had a couple here for dinner last night and had a great time. Will grilled pork chops and I made some augroten potatoes and a green salad and of course grilled garlic french bread. Served that WW Key Lime Pie for desert and all was a big hit. Good food even if I do say so myself.

Weigh day tomorrow ~ and the beat goes on.

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!
It's been another nice day here except for the wind blowing every which way. We packed away most of the "stuff" in our classroom today so it's looking pretty bare. Tomorrow we have a "ladies only" retirement luncheon for one of our teachers who has been there for 31 years. I need to run some copies for the first week of school in August and then think I am officially done. I HOPE!

Maggie -- I wouldn't have the first clue where to go looking for a file or what to do with it if I found it! I do well to get into my email and post on a couple of forums. Your pork chop supper sounds good -- do you marinate them in anything?

I need to go to the grocery store. We are having an end of the year get together tomorrow night and I am taking a salad. It is being held at the teacher who adopted my latest orphan and I am so anxious to see him again.

Have a terrific Thursday, Flowers!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

No JEAN I didn't marinate the pork chops in anything this time. I sprinkled them lavishly with garlic powder (not salt) and lemon pepper. That really is our favorite way to cook those thick lucious chops. Somehow he gets them cooked to perfection ~ done and not too dry and yummy the way pork should be cooked. Sounds like your "do" tomorrow will be a food fest. Have a good time at this time of the year winding down the school year. BTW if your computer loses a file just go to one of the serch ingines such as Google or Jeeves and ask where to find it. You would be surprised at all the answers that come your way.

[Jean]

I am officially DONE with school for the next 10 1/2 weeks! Now which project should I start on first? Think I will do a me, myself, and I day tomorrow then regroup for next week.

Maggie -- I don't know what the secret to grilling pork chops is, but ours always seem dry. Maybe I'll give the garlic powder and lemon pepper a try. I'm looking forward to our pot luck tonight because there are teachers that I never get to visit with beyond student related issues.

Where are the rest of the flowers? Some of you have been MIA for much too long!

Hope you all have a great "rest of the day!"

Jean -- in Iowa!

[graybubs]

Oh Jean,

What a happy day for you! One day was never enough time for me to "veg out". Our graduation is tonight in the state fairgrounds grandstand, with a 70% chance of rain.......something a little new and different We're all feeling moldy along about now. Mike and I are working Project Graduation tonight.......from about 7PM until 5AM..........I think I've lost my mind. Actually, this is the last class I actually taught or had in home room, so it will be good to see them again. It's amazing how the kids who were real pains in the butt in Jr Hi have a way of maturing and becoming neat young adults...........thank heavens!

DS ordered a large dog crate yesterday, so it looks like there's a puppy in our immediate future..........black lab/golden retriever mix. An "oops" litter from one of the girls he works with. I havent' dealt with a pup in almost 40 years, so it'll be like starting all over again. She's a female, so hopefully she and Jimmy will be buds.

Lost 2.8# in 2 weeks.........wasn't there last week as I was in the prepping process for the colonoscopy............and have to do it again in a couple of weeks, as the prep wasn't complete.......my friends all say that was pretty predictable, as they've all known for years that I'm full of it!

Off to launder my lovely thigh highs...........yuck!

Love,
Bubs

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
It is so windy here that they have issued a wind advisory for the rest of the day. Not a nice day to be outside even though the sun is shining.

I went to get my nails done and made a trip to Super W M -- their grocery line leaves something to be desired when I have to stop at the grocery store because they don't carry shredded cabbage and green onions. I'm glad there are two other grocery stores in this town.

Bubbles -- Enjoy the graduation festivities . . . I know you will! I've never done the puppy routine so I would have to get a "how to do it" book first. CONGRATULATIONS on the great loss! You are on a roll now!

Hope you all have a nice afternoon/evening!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

What grand and glorious weather we are having. I love living up here in the mountains with all these different kinds of trees. We have been planting some flowers and are going to do a lot more later. This coming Monday we are making a quick trip back to where we moved from to pick up a TV a friend got for us. We have to be back by early Tuesday evening so it will be a quickie. We will spend the night at my folks house and scoot out early Tuesday morning.

BUBBLES what a fun type graduation for you to be able to see those kids you taught when they were younger. Congratulations on that weight loss. Looks like a good cleaning out did you some good but I don't recommend repeating that before each weigh in. A puppy! I still want a puppy ~ Old English Sheepdog puppy. They are expensive and I have to save my pennies for that isn't high on the list of "need" things around here. Furniture, need furniture.

JEAN hope your wind had died down by now. WOW don't remember the last time we had one of those warnings. I think it was when we were living in MN. Seems now days we can't do one stop shopping either. Never are able to get everything we want at one grocery store like we used to.

Have a good weekend ya'all.

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is a beautiful 88 right now as I type. Not going to get into the triple digets this day. I was able to put to bed my 24 point day yesterday and today is a 19 point one. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican place here and now I am going to have a smoothie for dinner. That will work for me and a bowl of popcorn later to end it all. I have my extra high point day set for Sunday now since a lot of us gather at a great eating place for a meal after services are over each Sunday. They serve great food and things on the menu fit nicely in a high point day.

Have a good weekend ya'll. Keep your FOCUS now.

[graybubs]

Good Afternoon Flowers,

We did, indeed, have fun last night. I went to school around 7PM to help them finish setting up. DS appeared around 10, dressed in his tux, minus the jacket.........said if he was going to be "the dealer" for blackjack, he might as well dress the part. The kids loved it.

I had to give in around midnight, as my left leg was beginning to talk to me. The veins have done so well, I wasn't about to push my luck. There were lots of parents there, so I didn't feel bad about leaving. Mike got home around 4AM..........said his head told him he'd had enough of the loud rock music........he is getting old! Actually, I never had to endure the rock stuff, as he preferred classical and jazz, thanks to a phenomenal band program and a director he thought walked on water...........actually, he comes pretty close He's now the principal at the HS, and the kids love him. Typical of him, he made a point to come over to give us both a hug and thank us for volunteering.........and I'm sure he did it for others as well.

We've had rain off and on all day.........surprise! Poor Jimmy freaks out whenever it thunders..........hope he doesn't pass that on to the pup, but he probably will. I'm going to take him for a quick walk while the sun's shining.

Happy Sunday,
Bubbles

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
It's a cool 72 degrees here today! The temperature dropped 25 degrees yesterday so shut down the windows and pulled the blanket up last night.

We are leaving for MN tomorrow morning. Our relative who had the heart/kidney transplant last summer died and the funeral is Monday. He got an infection of some sort (not heart nor kidney related) but one led to another and another. He just didn't have the reserve built up to fight them off.

Maggie -- You seem to do so well with your high and low point days . . . you inspire me! I need to get going and back OP.

Bubbles -- My head hurts to just think about the noise that the kids make when they are having fun! Our neighbor cranked his music up the other night and I was about ready to call and ask them to turn it down when someone else must have. All of a sudden they all went inside and slammed the door shut.

I probably should have visited my favorite doctor with this sinus/cold or whatever it is. Now I am coughing whenever I try to lay down. I'm hoping it will go away soon but know that it can hang on because others at school have had it.

Have a special Sunday, Flowers!

Jean -- from Iowa!