WW Clubs and Groups - Feisty & Sexy 50 & 50 year olds #201

G'day all,

We are having a cool day, last night it was almost back to winter. The fires in and around Sydney are horrendous, they are even worse than the fires around Christmas last year. Many homes are lost, thank goodness no life.
When you watch it on the news services, you wonder how the fire fighters keep going, a special breed of men!
DH was 500 km from Adelaide in the Outback watching the eclipse, he will be home tonight again.

Ann and Peggy You are both a couple of musical stars :D, sounds like a lot of fun in between making jackets and table runners.
On the spelling bit, yes biscuits to us are what I think you call 'cookies'. On this site you will find a recipe for some very traditional Australian Anzac Biscuits, well worth giving a go.

http://www.gigglepotz.com/caustrecipes.htm

I am surprised the American gals (that still remains such a foreign way for me to call you girls!!!!) did not notice the different spelling of Canadians and Australians.
I don't know about Canada but here in Australia many people are very sensitive to words being spelt the American way. A big bone of contention is the fact that all spell checks are American and hence wrong in a number of instances. :dizzy:
I personally think there are more important things to worry about.
To the Canadians gals ;) , I understand that part of your country speaks french, does that mean that many Canadians are bi-lingual????

Off to lunch with a friend today.

Have a great day all

Cheers
Maria

:grouphug:
Hi Everybody
Maria The poem your daughter wrote is just lovely. With your talents on the computer, what do you think of getting some lovely paper, typing up the poem, and printing off as many copies as there are guests at the wedding. You could then roll each up like a little scroll and slide one of those gold bands on it that you find in bridal/craft stores. :)
On the news DH and I saw a whole group of people all set up in tents (I forget how many they said were there to witness the eclipse). I told DH maybe your hubby was one of those people. :)
I don't mind whether people use the Canadian way of spelling words or the American but both my DH and son (in business) insist on the Canadian spelling. Canada is truly a melting pot of all different kinds of people, so you will hear many languages being spoken here. I went to the web address you gave us and printed off the Anzac Biscuit recipe and will try making it within the next day or two. Thanks for passing that on.
Karen I was thinking about what you said about your DD having a larger home. Sometimes, because it is larger it's EASIER to keep clean, because you have more places to store stuff. :s:
Ann good for you for only gaining 1/2# that's great! I have been making a real effort to get back to goal so I know how hard it is to maintain.
Peggy we went to the Dominion Republic in Februay of 1999 and stayed in a place called Delta Dorada Club Resort in Puerto Plata. We were not going to go away on holidays that year but friends of ours (the gal I see every Wednesday and her husband) wanted us to go with them and said it really cheap and it was one of those all-inclusive holidays so you know exactly what your holiday will cost you. It was just great, and it was CHEAP. The resort was not the best in Puerto Plata, but it was good enough. When we got there they up graded our single room to a suite which was just great (not that we spent very much time there). :cb:
Well time for me to do something about din dins.......:chef:

G'day all,

Where is everybody:?: :cry:

Guess you are all busy getting ready for the festive season.

Slavika I will ask my future d-i-l, I think it is a great idea to print out the poem for all the guests.
I will be very surprised if you don't like the Anzac biscuits, they are very yummy and very 'moorish'.:T
DH found the eclipse 'awesome'. The other unique thing was to have so many people in that part of the country at the one time. The three towns in that area are virtually dying, one town has a population of 23, another of a little over 200 and the other is now where we have a (very controversial) detention centre for illegal immigrants and very little else.

Met up with a former colleague for lunch yesterday. We were always mistaken for one and other. Her hair looked great and she had about 3 blonde and not so blonde colours in her hair. My hair is now very light, some of it chemically and some just plain grey:D. I got the name of her hairdresser and I am having my hair cut and coloured at midday. Still enough time to change it before the wedding if I don't like it.

The fires in Sydney are not abating, no doubt you have all seen some of the devastation on your news services.
Having lived there the past 7 months, a lot of the places mentioned are places which we have driven through. This morning there is a concern for the leafy surburbs of Sydney as close as 15 km to the city centre:eek:

Have a great day all
Cheers
Maria

Maria I will have to try those Anzac biscuits. Love anything with oatmeal in it. Went to a thing Sunday called Christmas in the Country. It was a little town that had Welsh roots. One place had samples of Welsh Cakes. They were plain but good. I have to look and see if I can find the recipe. We awoke this morning to 4 inches of snow. That is the most we have had in years. My dh had fun using his snowblower. He has had it for 4 years and only used it once. One neighbor gave nice warm chocolate chip cookies. Yummy!! I am leaving in the morning for my weekend. It is soo cold. Didn't get my jacket finished but it wouldn't have been warm enough anyway. Don't have any boot type shoes either. Hope that the cabin is warm. Have a nice weekend and I will see you all Monday.

I came across this web site and really enjoyed. Hope you gals like it too.
www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup2.html

Maria Canada is a bi-lingual country. English and French are the official languages. It is more important to speak both languages in parts of Ontario, especially Ottawa, our nation's capital. Further east to the Maritimes, most of the people just speak French. The Maritimes mostly English. The further west you go, the less French you will hear. My DD went to a French Immersion High School and took grades 7 to 12 in French. We didn't know if she would ever need it, but thought it couldn't hurt. My cousin had a job at our University, when she moved to Ottawa she was unable to get any position at all because she only spoke English. She works at a store that sells used clothes on consignment. Most of the Ottawa elite wear a garment once or twice and then sell it.

Speaking of food, :chef: Slavika introduced me to homemade Caramel Corn made with Popcorn Twists. I made up the recipe today and can honestly say it is a keeper. She always comes up with a new and tasty treat. :T

Bye all...

Trudy thank you so much for sharing that site. I am not particularly religious but that site was just wonderful and so true.

Interesting to learn more about Canada.

Peggy all that snow, wow! Enjoy your weekend and keep warm!

Cheers
Maria

Slavika, Trudy, and Maria - Isn't it nice to learn more about each other's countries? We can get so focused on our own that it is nice to get a kind of perspective of others. And Slavika, I certainly understand your DH and DS wanting to spell in Canada the way Canadians spell. Everyone needs to keep their own culture intact, but with the global community, I am sure that can be a challenge.

Trudy - I would like to go to one of those used clothing places, but I bet that the prices for used clothes might be a surprise. I minored in French in college. I love that beautiful language and would so have loved to be "immersed" in it. I believe that is about the only way to really become fluent.

Peggy - Stay warm. We have ice and snow, but haven't lost electricity....yet. Enjoy your side trip. We are going to a church play on Sunday called "Two for Gallilee". It will have live animals. I am needing help getting into the "Christmas Spirit."
Glenda

Maria I received an advertisement from my Bernina shop and it shows a picture of the Artista 200E. Is this the machine you have your heart set on? I quote "The revolutionary new artista 200E is the only sewing and embroidery system that's Microsoft Windows Powered." It looks fabulous.
Slavika took my hubby and me to Costco today, and she also provided a treat to eat while we drove there.... what a gal!! :lol: She made the Australian Anzac Biscuits. They are delicious. I will be making them as well.
Glenda did you read that My Big Fat Greek Wedding nominated for the 2002 People's Choice Awards? I think everyone liked that movie and wouldn't it be great if it is nominated for a Best Picture Oscar? Thanks for the tip on Solaris, I was thinking of seeing it. I just hate it when a movie is over and I have no idea what the heck it was all about. :rolleyes:
My cousin who works at the consignment store is dressed impeccably all the time, she is quick to snap up anything she likes. The clothes have be in perfect condition, labels intact, dry cleaned, and in current fashion to be considered for sale.
Peggy hope you have fun on your weekend. Enjoy the snow...:)

Bye for now... :grouphug: :wave:

Just dreaming about sunglasses today. We dropped our temp to the 40's. A big change from yesterday.

When we lived up north in New Yoirk State, we were right on the St. Lawrence river, just across the border from Canada. We went often to shop. We went to Kingston a lot. We didn't hear much French there, but in the times that we went to Montreal, we were not always happy, because clerks in the stores would ignore one, if you didn't speak French. It was expecially annoying, as you know that they all understood and spoke English.

Ottawa is a lovely city. I enjoyed watching the changing of the guard at Parliament.

I will have to try the Anzac cookies, too. and Slavika what is the recipe for the caramel corn? How does it fit into the point system?

Have made 3 runners, and working on the 4th. When that is finished, so am I for the time being. Have too many other things to do. Like cards, and decorations, and getting packages wrapped and mailed. And two shows in the park. One on the 9th and one on the 16th, as well as carolling around the park for out shut-ins. Never a dull moment. :D: I love Christmas. I just wish there were a few more hours in each day.

Peggy: Have a great time. Your trip into the Welsh settlement sounded interesting. I am always interested in the Welsh, as that is my family background.

Glenda: Does snow help you to get in the Christmas spirit? I have had to find something other than snow to get my spirit roused up?

I think it would send a real message to Hollywood if Greek Wedding got the Academy Award. People really want some 'nice' clean fun movies.

I'm not going to weigh in for a couple of weeks. That is one of the benefits of being a lifetime member. I just have too many rehearsals on Sat. Just too many other things. I will have eo be especially careful.

Maria: Have been watching all the pictures of the Sidney fires. Really bad. Must be scary for all those residents so close to the fires. There are always fires out in California, and many homes lost. Also in Colorado this summer there were so many fires from lightning strikes. I heard that some of the fires near Sidney were deliberately started. Some 'sicko'.

Hi Trudy, Lily, Karen

Have a great weekend, all. :wave: Ann

G'day all,

Just came for a quick visit before we go out.

Trudy Yes, yes, yes that is THE machine I would like:) or the Pfaff which does very similar things but is slightly more versatile. I haven't seen the latest Artista. I have had a Bernina for over 30 years and I think it is the best machine so I always lean towards the Bernina. When I finally get to buy my 'dream machine';) , I will again compare the Bernina to the Pfaff and then make my decision.

I am glad you liked the Anzac Biscuits (not cookies Ann;) )

Glenda I have learnt heaps about your country and Canada since meeting you all here. It never ceases to amaze me how different we are yet still the same, if that makes sense.:dizzy:

Ann I so agree re 'My fat Greek wedding'. Has it been nominated for the academies??? You are very busy with your singing, making table runners etc. etc.
Interesting what you said about shopping in Montreal. DH and I were in France many years ago and he really disliked the french because they made no effort to try and understand him. I spoke a bit of school french and I found the french to be OK.
I have to say that Paris is one of my favourite cities......well it was 30 years ago, goodness knows what the place is like now!

Well I must be off to a house warming party of friends who have realised their dream by building their retirement home right on the beach, the sea is but 10 metres from their front door :eek:

Cheers
Maria

Maria: I must ask what is desiccated coconut? The Pumpkin scones look good. So do the Anzac Biscuits. I have never really paid attention to the spelling. Maybe thats why it never bothered me. I know people spell differently around the world and we are from all over here!
Slavika has a wonderful idea for that poem!
Your new do sounds like it will be fun. Sorry to hear about the fires. You are having a draught to so I Assume that makes it worse.

Slavika: Now thats funny about the larger home! We came from a 1 bedroom apartment into this house that is 4 bedrooms 3 baths. I told DH he was not to put anything in the "Guest" bedroom closet. Well 15 years later guess what he has the closet filled to capacity with a bunch of crap :)
Should be in the garbage, but no its useful dont you know. HA!!!!


Peggy: Your Christmas in the country sounded fun. If you find the recipe share! Hope you have a great weekend!

Trudy: I have seen that site before. It is excellent! I had forgotten about it. Thanks for sharing it. Alas a new treat. Make Slavika share! Sounds really good :)

Ann: Boy you are really making those table runners. Are any of them in the mail to us by chance ? :lol:
Yes Calif does get alot of fires in the summer. Not fun when it gets really bad. The air is awful!

I have been swaped at work so havent checked in. Its usually slow this time of year, but not this one! Going to put up decorations tomorrow for Christmas and get the cards done. We make a day out of it. My favorite day to as I love to decorate the house :)

:grouphug:
Hi Everybody
First off, thanks Maria for giving us the web addy for the ANZAC BISCUITS. I made them first on Friday and that was the day I passed a couple on to Trudy so that she could taste them. In Canada we do not measure out things the same as you might in Australia. so when the recipe called for 4 oz. of butter, I thought that was probably 1/4 of a pound of butter or 1/4 cup of butter, but weighed it out on my WW scale and that seemed to be about right. I found that was just not enough butter for that recipe. The mixture failed to stick together so I added more. I then decided to see if I could find more "different" versions of the biscuit on the web and did acome across a few. I made the biscuits up again today and I think if any of you gals are going to make the recipe you should either increase the butter by a little bit or decrease the amount of flour and the oats by as much as 1/4 cup. I did find a couple of other recipes that had the same amount of butter as this recipe but only called for 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup oats, rather then the full cup of each. DH had gone to our son's house last night to babysit the grandchildren so I had him take over all the biscuits with him, so he was happy that I made more today. :) I just love these biscuits. They are crispy and light, and I think a lovely treat. (Please note everybody, I refer to them as biscuits, in this post, so that I will not upset "you know who".) LOL :lol: I did not have to bake mine for the 20 min. indicated in the recipe so watch the time when you bake them. I also baked mine on parchment paper.
In looking up different Australian Recipe sites I learned that ANZAC stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps" which of course Maria already knew. ANZAC day is celecbrated in Austrailia on April 25th. The one web site said that on this day in 1915, the ANZAC's landed at Gallipoli and suffered the worst defeat in Australian military history. The fallen soldiers of all wars are now commemorated on ANZAC DAY. Some of the sites said the biscuits were made to send to the troops in World War 1 when there was a egg shortage and another site said these biscuits were were sold to raise money to help returned veterans.
Lily I have always just thought that "desiccated coconut" just meant, "really dry, or thoroughly dried". The recipes for the biscuits I found at other web sites simply asked for "flaked coconut", and didn't even specify whether it was to be sweetened or unsweetened. I think if you use the sweetened, then cut back on the sugar.
Ann The recipe for the "caramel Corn" is found on the back of the package of Old Dutch Popcorn Twists". Unfortunately mfg. do not have to list the calorie count of their products in Canada, so we have some stuff that shows it and lots that don't. The package of Old Dutch Popcorn Twists does not show the calorie count and I tried to find it on the internet, but couldn't. In fact if you would, I would appreciate it if you would check on that in your Supermarket. Here's the recipe:

Old Dutch Caramel Corn
Place contents of one170 gram ( I think that's 6 oz) bag of Old Dutch Popcorn Twists into a large roaster pan. Next, in a 2 qt (2 L) sauce pan cook together for 2 minutes the following caramel sauce ingredients:

1/2 lb. (227 g) butter (not margarine)
1 cup (280 ml) brown sugar
1/2 cup (140 ml) light corn syrup

Add 1 tsp baking soda to mixture. This will cause mixture to foam (that's why the 2 qt saucepan is necessary). Allow the foam to cook down slightly, then stop cooking the mixture. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn twists and stir until mixed. Pace in 250F oven for 45 min. Stir at least every 10 - 15 min. Remove from oven and pour IMMEDIATELY ON WAX PAPER. Allow to cool sightly and break apart.

I don't think the popcorn twists count for that many points but the Caramel sauce works out to 72 points for the whole recipe.

Maria, in looking at a number of recipes I see that a few contain Macadamia Nuts. Are they grown in your area?? I saw you could even make the ANZAC biscuits and add macadamian nuts to the recipe. Once again, thanks for the recipe, and I even learned a little history. :)
Peggy I hope you are having a lovely weekend and that it warmed up a little.

Happy Sunday all,

I ran the biscuit recipe through the Recipe Builder on the WW site . It turns out they are 1 point per "Biscuit". So that made up my mind I will be trying them today. I may even share the recipe with all of the member in my groups. Along with some of the history that slavika so nicely provided. Thank You very much!

I have a cold. I may even check in with the doctor tomorrow just to make sure it is nothing more. I don't have time to be sick . It stared with the grand kids and then DH caught it and now me.

Was out to my DD new place again last night. I had picked up some new Valance's for the living room and dining room of her new house. She wanted Navy blue so that's what I found. They really look nice. She wanted to put them up right away so thats what we did. We do need to make some better tiebacks. Right now I just found some brocade trim to use. But it is not wide enough so need to make some. The drapes are White and I wasn't sure how Navy valances would look but it's beautiful. We are now calling DD "Martha". So far she has been able to keep up with the house work. But like she said it took almost 2 hours to vacuum the whole place and she said she really worked up a sweat. You have to know she has been buying and decorating this house in her mind for 10 years. She has had to buy little now because she had it all and it is still new because her other house was too little to do anthing with! She is a funny girl. Her DH and friends got the back Deck put together yesterday. And on Friday They got the Front porch built. Well I guess I'd better go and get some stuff done while I still have some energy.

Karen:)

G'day all,

I am in a rush this morning but thought I would quickly post this site for you to help with conversions.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/

Talk to you later

Cheers
Maria

Maria that is a neat site. I am still having problems converting to metric. Many years ago Canada changed over to metric and it hasn't been easy for some of us the change our way of thinking.
Slavika I made the caramel corn again and this time added about 3/4 cup of broken pecan pieces, and I think it tastes a lot like Poppycock. Karen maybe you could run this recipe through Recipe Builder at the WW site to see what the points are like.
Ann Quebec and New Brunswick are really beautiful. The people make is difficult. Most of them really don't know much about English speaking Canada. They are called a "DISTINCT SOCIETY". They are determined to keep their heritage and knowing too much about Canada outside their boundaries is a threat. Too bad. We really enjoyed our visit when we were there.

I mailed out my cards, and wrapped all the gifts. Now I have to do some baking. Anybody have their tree up yet? Maybe I will do that next weekend.

Bye all..

Trudy I will need the nutrition information for the Pop corn twist because the WW data base doesn't have it . What I need is calories, fat and fiber per serving if it is listed. Then I can run her through for you. Also how many servings does the recipe make??

Yes my tree is up. Only because DH was helping because i just don't really feel good.

All - yesterday we went to see a really good movie. It was "The Emperor's Club" with Kevin Kline. We went to OKC to see it because they only get truly awful teenage movies here. It is about a teacher in a private school and how he teaches his kids the values in life and is just a really good movie. Last night we went to church in OKC to see "Two From Gallilee" which is about Jesus' birth. It was quite a production with some truly talented people and got a lot of us in the right frame of mind for Christmas. My older kids and my sister's kids and families all went. They had camels, donkeys, and horses. Lots of fun.
Glenda

G'day all,

I had a very busy day yesterday. Went out to my nephew's factory (the one I am doing the website for) to take some photo's for the web site. He runs his business on his own and he sure works hard :( Afterwards I went to see my sister and then by the time I got home and 'fiddled' around a bit, the day was gone.

Lily according to my the Australian Oxford dictionary, desiccate means: remove moisture from (esp.food - desiccated coconut) I have always noticed that the coconut I buy is 'desiccated' but never stopped to think what it actually meant.
Ah......so much to learn, so little time;)

Slavika I am impressed with all you found about the Anzacs! Macadamia nuts are grown in Queensland where it is quite tropical, too cold for Adelaide and Melbourne.
Seeing you are such a cook, you may like this recipe site where my very favourite dessert is Pavalova.

http://www.att.virtualclassroom.org/vc98/vc_38/culture/ausrecipes.htm

I am not good at making 'pavs' but I love them, beautiful with fresh fruit and cream :love: :T . A slice is probably about 100 points each :(

Karen Sounds like your dd is having a wonderful time in her new home. Sorry to hear you have a cold.

Trudy we (australia) also went metric but there are still many recipes using the old imperial measurements, hence the site I posted I find quite handy.

Glenda sounds like a good movie, thanks for the recommendation.

Well I haven't posted any cards, no Christmas tree up, no nothing!!!!!
I will get around it to it in due course, I think the Xmas tree is up in the roof somehwere:dizzy:
DH is in Sydney this week and guess what.........he rang this morning to say that India may well be back on the agenda again for January:rolleyes: :shrug: :censored: What can I say what these little smilies have not already conveyed as to how I feel about that!

Have a great day all
Cheers
Maria

Just a quickie. Had a nice post yesterday and lost it 'poof' so quit in disgust and went to bed. Two musical programs down and one to go. I was a hit as Cinderella tonight and they had a surprise Prince Charming for me. My Dh came running down the center aisle, in a horrible costume and with a mans old shoe painted gold, He gave up trying to make it fit, gave me a kiss and escorted me off. A lot of laughs. :D: We are having a lot of rain. Rained all day and forcast is for it to rain all night too. It seems to be feast or famine. More another day. Good night . Ann

We sure are an eating group. I am going to make up the Anzac "Biscuits" this weekend. Maria I will not call them cookies even if they look like one. :D Slavika what is a popcorn twist? Is this in the popcorn section of the store? That sounds so good too. Trudy you are lucky to have a friend who makes all these good things up and then shares them with you. Had a great time over the weekend. The cabin turned out to be beautiful. http://www.mcginleyvacationcabins.com/ridge.html We had no problem getting 20 people in there. But then I got to share a bed and not sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. We stopped at an outlet mall on the way down. I got a pair of Easy Spirit suede boot shoes. They are so comfortable and only $29. Great buy-so good that about 6 other people got some too. We shopped in town on Saturday. www.browncounty.com. We all met for lunch at the Artists Colony. Out talent show was fun. It is video tape. Good blackmail for our local "teacher of the year". Ann you sure do have fun with all the things you do in your park. Now should we all be looking for our table runners to come in the mail:lol: or did they get lost like the tree skirts Slavika sent? We could all go visit Lily since she has all those bedrooms for us. Wouldn't that be fun? When I have been looking for used clothing for the snow brats that I am making I take a turn around the the adult things. I have found all kind of almost new "treasures" that are designer things. Just got an almost brand new Eddie Bauer wool coat for $7. Some things still have the new tags on them and this is just a thrift store. They have different color tags on things and every day 2 of the colors are half price so sometimes you luck out and get a real deal. And on Monday seniors get another 20% which is when I don't mind being a senior. Have a friend who got a full length ultra suede coat for $4. I took Spanish in school and wish I could remember more of it now that it is almost like a second language here. Karen how fun for your dd to have you help her with all the decorating. We can call you the decorating diva. Hi Glenda, Yes the snow does help with the Christmas spirit. Have to go get ready for work now that I have my December job. Bye for now,

G'day all,

Peggy I don't know if it was wise to post the sites that you did!!!! The cabins looked fantastic, I want to go! The shopping site I also loved and I have sent them an email to see if they ship their stuff to Australia. There were some unusual gifts there that I rather liked:dizzy: The history was interesting, I was surprised to read that panthers were in this area. 'Brown Country' will have to be on my list when we visit America, fascinating.


Ann You made me laugh about your musical, I bet it was a lot of laughs. Did you know thatyour prince charming was to be in the musical?
How annoying to have your post just vanish:mad: Isn't it always the best, most thought out posts that this happens to.

A cool day here today. Still messing about and fine tuning nephews website. I also need to tidy our computer room/office, especially now that dh is in Sydney.
Sydney had a lot of rain yesterday and finally all the bushfires are under control. Unfortunately some 40 something homes were lost in the fires, the rain didn't come early enough for those people.

Have a great day
Cheers
Maria

PS

I just heard about this website.

http://www.toniatodman.com/index.php

I think most of you will like having a bit of a browse. The best way for me to describe Tonia Todman is probably that she is the Australian version of Martha Stewart, not quite as wealthy though :D. She has just launched her website, free to register and lots of interesting recipes, craft ideas, gardening hints etc. etc.

Cheers
Maria

Maria glad to hear that rain came to help put out the fires. Now I know that you are a true shopper since you emailed shops in Nashville. What were you interested in? We call it Little Nashville so as not to confuse it with Nashville, Tennessee. I looked up your pavalova recipe. It sounds similar to what we call merangues. Probably spelled that wrong. I saved the Tonia site. She already has better hair than Martha. I want to give her a new "do". Ann here is a site for the recipe for welsh cakes. http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/welsh_cakes.html I tasted them just off the griddle without butter. They were very plain but good. I don't have to work today. People are slow in their mailing this year. I have lots to do and shopping still to do. We were supposed to have a big ice storm last night but so far it has missed us. Glenda I thought that movie looked good and glad that you saw it to give us your take on it. Got to go get the day started.

Slavika: Thanks for the info on the coconut. Wasnt a word that was familiar to me :)

KAren: Your DD's Cutains sound beautiful! Im sure she is enjoying decorating the place. I did what she did, when we knew we were buying a house I started buying things before we got here and just kept putting it away until we did get here. MAde it alot easier once we did move in. Still had to buy alot but I had the basic's and the other stuff wasnt could take awhile to buy as it wasnt essential.

Maria: Great site looks like she has some nice crafts! Yum that Pavalova sounds good to! :) Thanks for the the diffinition (?) of that coconut! Glad to here the rain came. Sure its going to help some of those fires.

Trudy: Funny, we tried to switch to Metric but it never caught on :)
No tree yet here. But shopping is done! Hope to get tree this weekend.
Tried to last weekend but it was raining. :(

Ann: That Cinderalla story was so cute! I bet everyone oned it! How sweet of your DH to agree to do it. I know mine wouldnt :)

Peggy: Wow you go to the greatest places! Looks so peacful and quite!
I think our table runners got lost in the mail also. Some people out there have them just like the tree skirts Im sure :( :lol: about what you said about Martha! Im with you!

Best get going, still crazy here. :(

G'day all,

Out to lunch today with some other former work colleagues, should be fun!

Peggy there were quite a few things that were just that little bit different on the shopping site you posted and seemed to be reasonably priced :) I haven't heard from them yet, I guess it depends on the cost of shipping it here if it is going to be worth my while.
I was particularly interested in the 'shag bark hickory syrup', I have never heard of it, the bottle looked great and it would be a very different gift! Have you tasted it?
I checked out the web side of the Welsh cakes, they look good, nice for a morning tea.

DH is still in Sydney, still no news on his future. I haven't heard back from some of the jobs I went for, I guess I was not successful :(. In January I will be a bit more pro-active!

How is your dh Lily, has he found a new job? I know it would be easier for me to find work in Adelaide than it would be for my dh, his skills are very specialised and not a lot of positions that require his skills hence we hope we can hang in there with Lucent.

Have a great day all,
Cheers
Maria

I just received this little piece of logic!

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter. "What are you doing?" She asked. "Hunting Flies" He responded.
"Oh!, Killing any?" She asked. "Yep, 3 males, 2 Females", he replied
Intrigued, she asked. "How can you tell?" "3 were on a beer can, 2 were on
the phone".

:grouphug:
Hi Everybody I have a friend who had her bladder lifted on Monday. The surgery now is a much simpler procedure then it used to be. They made two tiny incisions low down on the tummy and then "feed" a band in through there that lifts the bladder up. I think if anybody with any medical knowledge reads this they may not be too impressed with the way I explained it but that's what my friend told me. :D
They did the procedure on her on Monday morning and she was released from the hospital just after lunch the same day. I took her some lunch today and a tray of baking and spent a little bit time with her. I left her place and then my grandkids other grandmother and I went over to the school for our grandchildren's Christmas Concert. My little granddaughter was very excited that we were going to be there but my grandson told me that I didn't REALLY have to go and see him because all he gets to do is stand there like a DINGBAT :lol: :lol: He was a shepherd and wore a towel on his head....and he's right he did just stand there. hee hee.
The little princess though that was a different story. The school was doing The Nutcracker and she was a Sugar Plum Fairy, along with about 10 other little girls all wearing little pink tights, and fairy wings. My dil had "crimped" her hair and put a little of that "cheek dust" on her face and she looked so sweet (well the other Grandmother and I sure thought so). At the end of the little routine she left the stage waving, flashing the "I love you" sign and blowing kisses. You would of thought she had the lead role in some major play. Watching all those little kids just makes for a great day. There was one little group of kids that wore cardboard petals around their little faces (they were flowers). Well one of the little boys, by looking at him, you could tell he would rather have been anywhere in the world but up on that stage with blue flower petals around his face. :joker:
LILY....I think when Canada decided to go metric they thought that the US was going to too. I forget now all the talk that was going on then, but I bet TRUDY remembers. MARIA...thanks for the web site on Tonia. I just clicked on it briefly, but will have a better look later. ANN....sounds like both you and your DH are good sports and have lots of fun. Good for you. PEGGY...the cottage you gals stayed at looks really nice. That was a good idea staying someplace like that.
Talk to you all later.

Hi all: My DH as Prince charming was a surprise to all. He was a well kept secret, except he had to tell me, so I had to act surprised. But actually i was surprised, as I didn't know he was coming with my glass slipper( a mans boot painted silver) So we all had a lot of laughs.

Peggy: A great get -a-way cabin. I can see why your family vacation was a success.

Maria: Tonia seems to be quite an interesting lady. Hope she doesn't get caught up in the stock market like Martha. :D:

Peggy: Will try the Welsh Cakes. sounds interesting and I vaguely remember visiting some relatives and having something that could well be similar. A bit rusty memory.

Slavika: Your school concert sounds like a lot of fun and of course two proud Grandma's would think the Princess was the best. I miss having things like that to go to now. All our kids are too old, too far a way, or too young. Interesting aabout your frineds surgery. I can remember when that operation meant a weeks stay in the hospital.

See you all tomorrow. Got to finish those runners.:D: :wave: ann

Slavika cute story about the Christmas pageant. Your gd is a little ham. Little kids are always so cute-hope someone caught it on video tape. Maria I have never tried that syrup but now I have to go look it up. Went to dinner last night with my friends at out local winery. Lots of singing going on and we did out annual 12 Days of Christmas song. I got to be 4 calling birds. Got to go get ready to go to work.

Hi all,
I've been really sick this week . Did 3 of my meetings with no voice then was able to divy the rest between some other leaders and on receptionist. Still not up to par . I think it's called the Minnesota Crud!! I wonder where all that junk you caugh up comes from. No wonder you feel sick to your stomache first thing in the morning.

My Neice just had her first baby and they have posted her pictures on the web http://klomp.n2k.sk In case any of you want to take a look. You know that makes me a Great Auntie. Now I am sure I am old. Know I am going back to my sick bed.
Karen

Karen: what a sweetie, and Mom is a pretty young Mom. Great Auntie is sort of like Great Grandma. Lets us know we've been around a while, or maybe we were just child brides.:D: Do you resemble your sister(the grandma, I assume is your sister). sorry you have been feeling so miserable. Maybe some strain of the flu. Speedy recovery.

Hi everyone: We are once again having big RAIN. Just pouring.
Got the last runner finished, for now. Maybe will try to do one that is not a Christmas one, later.

Slavika: I think I may have asked this before, not sure, but what is popcorn twist? I can't seem to find anything like that in our stores?

Actually a whole day of 'rest' tomorrow. Hope to get some shopping done, or cards, some of the Christmas chores. Had a great candy recipe in our newspaper today. For Christmas Bark. Think I will try it. Let you know if it is any good. Uses white chocolate, craisins and nuts. sounds easy.

Good night for now. Ann

Ann, That is my brothers wife. She doesn't really care for me. So we just stay away from each other. I have no sisters. The new mom is 23.

end of the week, time for yet another new thread!

See ya there,

Maria