South Beach Diet - Friday's Fanfare!

Good morning, Chickies, and TGIF!

This has been quite an exhausting week for me, but next week is promising to be better since the girls will be at camp all day, every day. :D We don't have a thing in the plans for today, but we'll either go swimming or perhaps have some friends over for a playdate.

I'm looking forward to a lazy weekend. Tomorrow is my grandson's birthday, so I'll have them over for a little celebration, but the big party is next weekend to combine both his and his big sister's birthdays together.

It's another early morning, as I have to be at the farm by 8, so I'm going to tuck into my oatmeal with blueberries & cherries.
I hope you all have a fun day planned to celebrate the end of the workweek!

Good Morning Cottage:sunny: and all yet to arrive

It has been a wild week here, too. Today is my day to tie up loose ends here and we will head over the mountain passes tomorrow as we count down Kirks trip to Alaska. Our garden self waters here, so I think Ill just buzz over once a week to pick tomatoes and pick up my CSA food. Moms raspberries are ripening which means we'll be picking a gallon a day here soon.

Food plan is good and everyone happy and healthy.

Cat, I hope you're feeling a bit better this morning. Thank you for sharing photos. There are actually some really nice ones. Your son is very handsome.

Good morning and trumpet fanfare. It's Friday after a long week!

Yesterday was wild and today is shaping up the same. Glen Pyper showed up at 7:30 and we moved plants. Gotta love men with muscles. I did my running around with the rest of the morning and then made my big beef stew for today's lunch.

I went down to the Pypers' cottage for dinner - chicken legs and ONE cob of corn. I must say I was pretty creeped out driving home at midnight. Their cottage is a good two miles back in the woods and on a cliff overlooking the Lake. The road has grass in the middle and brush touching the car on each side. It was foggy and rainy too! The road is scary in the daytime but the fun evening was worth it.

Today? I will take my crockpot and stew over to the office and try to make my escape early. It rained off and on all day yesterday so receipts ware way down. :( Today doesn't look much better so there will be a lot of gloom and doom over there. I'm sure glad I'm not the Treasurer anymore!

I've got deskwork to catch up on this afternoon plus the Church bulletin but am hoping for a nap. I do not function well on five hours of sleep two nights in a row. I suspect Glen will show up again all gung-ho to move more plants if the rain stops so the rest may not happen.

Hope your Friday is worth a fanfare! :lol:

Good Morning!

Hi Cottage, I love oatmeal, but can't have it for breakfast. Protein is the only way I can make it to lunch without eating my way there. ;)

Debbie, When we lived in Colorado, I remember playing in the irrigation ditchs. It was big fun.

Ruth, I'm glad you got home safely!

Me, It's going to be a CRAZY day! The 5 year olds from our home visitation program who are going to Kindergarten next month are having a graduation picnic. We're expecting about 100 people. I'll be helping with that, and should be back to the office by about 12:30. At 2:00 we have a forensic interview with a 4 year old. For Heaven's SAKE! Do we need to put up billboards that say, "It's NOT okay to have sex with your children!" This will be the youngest child I've ever been a part of interviewing. Hopefully, she'll be mature enough to give a statement. Bless her heart! I'm going to need a glass of wine by the time I get home! Heck, I might need tequila! :)

Hope you all have a great Friday!

Good morning :coffee2: It rained all night but it's supposed to be on and off during the day. I sure hope we get a few breaks.

Cottage - A quiet weekend sounds like the perfect thing. I'm just sitting down to my 5 grain cereal with blueberries & raspberries. Must be the day for it :)

Debbie - Enjoy the trip over the mountain passes. I've always wanted to get to Colorado but haven't yet. Made it as far as NM a couple of years ago and loved the mountains though I had quite a wave of altitude sickness at first.

Ruth - :crossed: hope that nap works out. Sounds like another really busy weekend. When do you start retirement?! I've had a couple of ears of corn this week. I have to admit that's one thing that I really ration now but still allow myself an ear when it's fresh from the field ( I was famous for all you can eat corn dinners).

Chelby - When I was a preschool teacher I was part of the child interview process more times than I care to think about and flagged concerning behaviors several times. The tequila may be the thing tonight, after hugging that cute little guy of yours. Hope you have a fun weekend planned!
I couldn't eat grains in the morning for about a year but now I can as long as I add some protein. I like a scoop of extra crunchy pb in mine.

Today is the first day of my weekend, and usually the busiest. I've got a To Do list a mile long. I'm also doing a couple of hours at the Co-op to get our discount back. I can really use that 8%! We are tossing around something fun this weekend, just debating how much time to devote to it.

Allowing myself veggies in the afternoon seems to really be working. I'm totally back on track and my weight is holding. I made a summer squash and bean salad that I can snack on today if I want it. Used the spiral cutter of course ;)

Hope your day flies by and into the weekend

Dashing out to have an adventure. We decided to get out of Dodge for the day and go check out a plant nursery about 40 minutes away and go eat at our favorite lakefront breakfast place. Son called last night and is doing fine.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Good morning chicks!

Cottage - Happy Birthday to your grandson. Lazy weekends are the best

Debbie - I love raspberries, I have found memories of picking wild ones as a kid.. I don't think we ever got any home as we ate them as quick as picking them. LOL

Ruth - It tires me out just reading all the stuff you do, you are busy busy busy. :) Hope you get some more sleep this evening

Chelby - Are you a social worker? I'm sorry I'm not up to speed on what everyone does yet. What an awful world we live in when children are being subject to such horrible things.

Cyndi - hope you get everything on your list taken care of easily today.

femmecreole - Hope you enjoyed your breakfast out, and I'm glad to hear your son is doing ok.


It's just a few minutes before I have to get ready to head to work, switched shifts as a favor and have to work 1200-800.. yuck. Of course I have to work tomorrow too so no big deal really. Have a nice lunch/dinner packed just have to get the day over with. Hope everyone has a splendid Friday

Good morning,

Cottage - glad to hear that next week will be easier. Enjoy your little guys birthday party.
Ruth - No time for retirement, eh. Corn. I love corn and am five minutes away from a road stand. Will have one this year. The best one I ever had was someplace in the states - called silver queen.
Debbie - your garden sounds wonderful. I expect to have tomatoes when I am away. Oh well, rather see my grandson.
Chelby - yes, have a glass of wine. How sad some things are in this life.
but enjoy your weekend but your work aside for a couple of days.
Cyndi - your plan for snacking is good. I gave up on the veggie spiral for now since the one you have costs $49.50 plus tax and shipping in Canada. Maybe I will see one while I travel thru the states, Northern Michigan, Montana, South and North Dakota, Wisconsin, I think not.
Femme - have a nice visit at the nursery. What a way to relax.
Oops - hope time flies by for you.

Me - nothing much on the agenda but then those kind of days seem to get busy. My blueberry muffins with whole wheat flour were so so, I love to bake but somehow everytime I bake something with whole wheat I am disappointed. Any suggestions?
take care
Sophie
p.s. lost another lb. that makes 4 so far this month

Oops, I'm not a social worker. I work as the secretary in a Child Advocacy Center. I take dictation during a forensic interview. A sheriff, DHR, someone from the DA's office, and a therapist are all in the interview that is recorded through closed circuit television. That way, the child only has to tell her story once. If it gets to a courtroom situation, the child still has to sit on the bench and face the accused. That's a bad law, IMO.

Sophie, Silver Queen is yummy, but my favorite is called Peaches and Cream. It's white and yellow and delicious!

It's 9:45 and we've made sandwiches for 100! We're excited for a picnic! My MIL is bringing Auston to me so he can play with the other 5 year olds.

I am so excited! Don and I leave on the cruise on Thursday. I think four nights away will be the relaxation we both need. He hurt his shoulder badly yesterday moving a shed so we hung out at the hot tub for awhile and then went by Costco and I got my own membership card. We got some wonderful grapes to split and I'm going back there today to compare the price of the burgers and buns I need for the staff pool party I am hosting tomorrow. I still need to finish filling out our boarding passes but I don't have his passport information so I'll have to get that later.

Time to go clean house for this party.

hey ladies-quick flyby before i collapse after successful final day of tween summer camp!
i wish everyone an awesome relaxing weekend and hope the weather in your corner of the world is summery, sweet and redolent of mojitos.......

Barb - You sound very excited about your cruise. Its so nice to have unexpected nice things happen. Hope you take pictures. Four days sounds great. I love Costco and always stop to see a new one along the way. We have one close by that caters to the Indian community and there are some awesome spices to be bought.
take care
Sophie

Hi All:sunny:

Back from swimming. Gave my bike a rest today.
Ruth, I enjoyed your description of the drive back from Pypers cottage. It must feel very mysterious at night like that
Cyndi, I wonder if you'd do better with the altitude now that your health has improved? Glad your food is back on track.
Chelby take care of yourself today. Fortunately, you have the weekend ahead of you. It is fun for me that you know about the area where I am. When we were kids we played in the irrigation ditches, too. I think they're really beautiful.
Cat, hope you enjoyed your impromptu trip. Greenhouses are one of my favorite stops.
Oops, I was really glad to hear from you today. Glad to hear you're planning your food. It makes it so much easier to succeed.
Sophie, it sounds like you're feeling better and the scale is moving, too. The banana chocolate chip bread turns out really well in the p2 thread. I don't add the chocolate. I'm sure you could make muffins. I just tried a recipe for peanut butter energy bars with WW. Let me know if you'd like that recipe. My WW stuff has turned out pretty well lately.
Barb, I'm excited that your excited!
Janet, good to hear from you. I've been missing you.

Me, I decided to make my hubby to Alaska plans. I have an appt. for a lymphatic massage at 1 and I ordered the sunglasses I've drooled over for a year. Girls gotta have fun, too.

P.S. I love Costco!

Back to work.

Got to love an adventure! We ended up heading in the opposite direction and going to a place on the river road near New Orleans we had seen on the Food Network, The River Shack (http://www.kodakgallery.com/femmecreole/main/river_shack?) (I think it was diners, drive-ins and dives) Luckily I of coarse had my camera! I had a fantastic seared tuna salad and my husband got a heart attack on bread (pastrami, roast beef and corned beef!)
Then, we crossed the Mississippi River and went to the nursery and ended up coming home with a big Candlestick tree and some assorted herbs.

nice day, nice adventure!

Debbie - I will check out the banana bread. I have some frozen bananas. Please post your energy bar to the board, I would love to have it for my trip. I also remember that yesterday, Cyndi was interested in it to.
Off to roast some cauliflower and zucchini for supper. Got to go off line, there is thunder in the neighbouhood.
take care
Sophie
Wbve

Happy Friday everyone! :)

My morning started out pretty busy but the rest of day I'm on auto pilot. :) I do a few chores here and there as the weekend will be dedicated to that, as well as packing, last-minute shopping, prepping meals for my oldest who will stay at home, etc.

May you all have an awesome weekend! :)

Today's forensic interview was exhausting. The 4 year old was very hyper and immature. We didn't get any useful statements from her. It's very sad.

I have some advice for all of us:

1. We have to teach our children the difference between good touch and bad touch, and we need to start teaching them early.

2. If our children disclose that they've been touched in a bad way, we CANNOT have a big, emotional reaction. When the girl told her mom what happened, her mom fell apart -- crying, cussing, yelling. The girl was terrified! Today, any time the investigator broached the subject of her father, the girl acted out -- changing the subject, jumping off the couch, leaving the room. I think the girl will have to be in therapy for a while, really getting to trust the therapist before another disclosure will be made. Hopefully, she can give a clear statement then.

Anyway, I'm glad today is over. I absolutely earned my wages. Where is the wine? :)

Sunshine, Thanks for taking the time to post the BBQ recipe. I'll try it soon.

You're welcome! :) Enjoy...

Chelby, my heart just breaks for that poor little girl. I hope she has an expert therapist to help her cope with that devastating situation. You must be pretty strong to be able to listen to those interviews. :hug:

Debbie, could you PM me your peanutbutter energy bar recipe, too, please? It sounds like something I'd really enjoy. TIA!

Sophie, I sometimes have disappointing results using WW flour, too. I've discovered that I get much better results using WW pastry flour, garbanzo flour, or spelt flour. ;)

I got home to discover my internet was out AGAIN. :mad: But at least this time the tech-support guy told me what I can do on my own to get my internet back up again. But, why does it keep going out in the first place? :dizzy: The wine I decided on this evening has a nasty, bitter aftertaste, so I'm doing without. I could open a bottle of white, but just decided to settle for hot tea since we just had a big storm go through and cool things off quite a bit.

Chelby :hug: Add to your advice - teach your children the correct words for body parts and make sure they know that they don't have to let anyone (even family friends and relatives) touch them if they don't want to. We make our kids hug people when they don't want to and then wonder why they don't think they can say no to inappropriate touch. Sorry to rant - I've seen more of this over the years than I care to remember. Thanks for what you do Chelby.

I needed something lighter for the end of the evening. This is the "please take your camera and go away" look. I don't think the polite bit is part of his thought process ;)

Cyndi -- What a great cat! Love their attitudes! :)

Speaking of correct body part names.... We had a 10 year old boy in an interview. We all rolled laughing when he called it his "Oscar Mayer".

On that note, I'm off to bed! Good Night!