Support Groups - Around the World again with the friendly Chicks # 6

I am having a very hard day emotionally. I had an email from my Dad. He is very hurt. This is the first time in my entire life he has ever talked about anything of significance/depth with me.It shook me up. In a way it is a blessing.
Did some gardening, reading, talking with DH, biking and cuddles with the kiddies.....
I feel in a way I am mourning because I know that things have shifted for my family. I know it is what is best for me but it is sad.
Meadow~ I dont think we really have the disorder going on but it was helpful to see the "roles " we play. Mine especially and how I can change it.
I have a lot of esteem issues tied in with my Mom and with bringing things to the surface( which no one has ever done before, me included) has changed the dynamic. I feel different. I honestly am not eating to comfort or stuff feelings. I do think it was a habit from old issues.At mid aft i sit and eat and eat when kids are quiet, and I eat and eat at night. I am just not doing it. Maybe I dont feel as empty inside. Maybe taking control of this issue has been empowering.
I have been feeling very fulfilled in my life in almost every way but I have been having odd feelings, getting odd signals from the extended family for a few months. I have stopped it.
I was shocked to see today is was 5pm and I ate breaky at 9am . I was feeling true hunger. I did not over eat(binge). It was great. I know I should eat lunch but it is such a change from consatntly thinking of food, the next meal, grazing because I feel empty.
Wow~ that got deeper than I intended. That is how an apple carried through the aft.LOL!!

Nae~ you sound wonderful!!!
Shad~ be safe!
Linus~ HUGs, happy you popped in.HUGS to your boys, Hubby and Bump!!!!

HI Chicks!!

So it is the end of a productive weekend. I'm feeling pleasantly tired and will not be too long out of bed tonight.

Today, I have assisted the young guy to service my car. Not that he needed much help but I fetched and carried and went for the pre-requisite drive before and after and absorbed much information about filters, carbies, oils, radiators, hoses airbags and onboard computers that I really don't need.

DS2 arrived on time at 0800 which was a real surprise. The mechanic was late. No surprise. Then we got to work jacking up the ceiling and screwing in the plaster screws. The ceiling has risen about 1cm or 1/2inch. Now all 'I have to do' is to putty up the holes, bang in the hanging nails and then sand and paint - oh yeah. With my fussy reputation, I have the feeling the finish ceiling could be weeks away yet and more than a few cricks in the neck. Still the job is now done. Another one to wipe off the list I guess.

I've planted out some lettuces, picked some roses, weeded some gardenbeds and done loads of washing which is now ready to be folded up and put away - with a bit of ironing in the middle. And all I have left of the list to do is the ironing and folding and the dishes and packing my weights bag for tomorrow night. It'll be another busy week at work with no doubt some long hours involved.

Oh yes and my eldest brother DB1 who is a complete luddite electronically, has bought a computer. At least DSIL has been out and bought the thing. Now they need help in how to use it, install programs, get email, use XP, virus', well just about everything really. So I have promised a couple of hours on Tuesday as long as they feed me. It will make my day incredibly long - leave home at 5.30, train at 6.00, work at 6.45, leave work 4.30 or 5.00pm, drive to DB1 place and leave there around 8.30 to get home around 9.00. Arghhh I'm whinging again.

Meadow, thanks for the concern, but spiders are not my problem. Mice and rats are tho. However I am happy for spiders to haunt my attic and around the outside of the house. I'm not fussy about them taking up residence inside. They are so big around here too, but spiders eat flies and other nasties that eat my vege - long live the spider. I'm pretty good on joists and beams if I say so myself. I have this vision of getting drowned in the insulation up there so I watch what I do very closely. Some time back I took up some wide flat boards and screwed them into the top of the joists so I have some solid walking and sitting space up there. I am probably the only one in the family who can stand upright up there. The others are too tall.
So you are out of the cookie jar and now have to keep your hands off the cheddar. I think I might use them instead to throttle the DH and the builder probably in that order.

Roseblush - age is not that relevant, if he is nice cultivate him. If he is smart then use the brain power. Such men are hard to find, generally they haven't yet taken their brain out of the wrapping it came in. Brain power makes for good conversation and intelligent use of the hands mostly. They need cultivating. Hope you have a good visit and many more.

Holly, I'm sorry you are having such a hard time with the family. Your dad sounds very concerned. He probably has not picked up on the unspoken vibes and is confused with the whole issue. I would simply keep up the contact with him to reassure him that you are happy and well content with your lot and stuff the rest. You have done well by yourself, you are not dependant on any of them and give thanks for that blessing. Surround yourself with more positive people.

Okay, no word from happy this weekend? She must be flat out busy.
And I need to go do the dishes, write a couple of emails to friends I haven't heard from in a while and go to bed - a domani.

Morning everyone,

Shad - I'm not in Greece quite yet - I head off first thing on Tuesday morning. I did the airport run late last night though to pick my mother up as she's come over from Spain to go to Greece with me (I promise it makes more sense than it looks from that sentence!).

this morning was :tread: and more :tread:. I set a new PB for 5k on the treadmill, I'm getting faster pretty much every time I try it which is encouraging. I'm also within a smidgen of hitting 2 1/2 stone lost. I've almost nailed that extra pound, but not quite.

Oh dear you lot are just so sad! Talking about Christmas already!!Heaven help us, I haven't had my summer holiday yet!! :p

I had to ring the emrgency vet last night as Holly had a funny turn. I'm still not totally convinced as to what happened but I was getting in to bed just before 22:00hrs and Holly jumped up to get on the bed as she always does...but this time she didn't quite make it. When she hadn't tried to get up after a couple of minutes I got out of bed to see where she was. She seemed to be having trouble with her back end so I got her on to the bed and she sort of "flopped" and seemed all disorientated so of course I panicked and rang the emergency vet for advice. Whilst I was on the phone she got a bit better...typical!! Its like when you take someone to the doctors! The condition has always improved by the time you get an appointment!! :o Anyway the vet was great and said leave her for the night to rest and get in touch with him in the morning if I was at all worried. Of course today she is as sparky as ever but I might take her for a check up in the morning just to make sure. Can't have her being ill and collapsing in an untiday heap whilst I am in Scotland... :(

I'd better empty out the utility room cum back porch this afternoon as the builder is coming in the morning to knock a large hole in the interior wall, behind which used to reside the old shower. He is going to brick up the existing entrance and so enlarge the porch. Hmmmn :chin: I hope I like it when he is done...I can't put it back again!!

Mel I am trying to ring you so get off the phone or the computer and stop being engaged!! I am making Ghoulash tonight.The recipie is out of that great recipie book "Pasta Recipies" you sent me. Last night I made a great dinner out of the book but unfortunately I put too many crushed chillies in it!!! Aaaaaaargh!! I forgot there is a big difference in taste between crushed and powdered chillies which I normally use!! I got through 2 glasses of water during the meal!! :^:

YP have a lovey, lovely time in Greece. What time is the flight? Where are you flying from?

Hello to Shad and Happy (where are you this weekend? Hope all is well), Meadow, Hollyhock, Linus , Tig and everyone else I haven't specifically mentioned! Hope all is well everywhere and have a lovely Sunday!!

Teel - Poor little Holly. I hope she is okay. Sometimes they fall awkwardly and get a twizzle in their spine. Keep us posted won't you.

It wasn't me mentioning Christmas - perish the thought. I have perfect weather here for the next 4 or 5 months - why should I want the cruddy Christmas weather back.

Hope the builder has been and gone and done his thing for you. You must be tired of sweaty men in the house by now.

YP - only hours now before you go to Greece. Hope you have a wonderful time. Just don't forget to come back and tell us all about it will you.

Been a busy day on the work front. I got up real early this morning and got to work at 6.30. Been flat out ever since but packed up and left at 4.00 because I had just had enough. There are some stupidities around and I get fed up with them from time to time. Happens in just about every implementation. I hope that when they get around to the next revenue stream, they have ironed out some of the bugs that we keep finding. While I'm on that subject can someone tell me why the flaming trainers always seem to find the bugs. What happened to testing, user acceptance, and plain old lets see if this works in the design stage??

Lunch time I went out and sat in the sun with a book again. It was nice and soothing. Tomorrow I must go and do a bit of shopping and see if I can find some more T's and shirts to wear. Maybe a pair of trousers as well. Many of my trouser are getting too big.

Went to the gym after work and did a 45 minute workout on the weights and resistance. Definitely getting stronger in the upper body as I can now support myself on my arms for much longer periods of time. But I am so looking forward to seeing some results. It just seems that nothing is happening. Hopefully all things will get it together shortly. I'm failing in the water department I think. Food is not too bad tho'

So now having been to gym and am all hyped up, I better go do something while the energy lasts. By the smell of me, a shower might be a grand idea. Few dishes to do and maybe some ironing. That should fix tonight. Early morning again tomorrow. It's good to have an hour or so under your belt by the time the rest get there. I can more done in that hour than for most of the rest of the day.

Be good. See ya

Please excuse my abscence... was a very very busy weekend that was over in a flash. Can't believe it's time to head off to the showers and start another week already - a week that I'm on night support duty too :(

I'll try and catch up tonight. Sorry to hear about Holly Teel, hope she will be alright...

YP~You are doing great with your losses. Keeping me motivated to keep up, or down should I say. Have a wonderful trip.
Shad~your job sounds involved and complicated to me. It must challenge your brain tho. I admire you for the work you do.A book in the sun is just about perfect!! Thanks for your comment, it means a lot to me.
Teel~ hope Holly is on the mend and all is well. I am partial to smelly workin men, I married one.Hope the reno goes well. You are having a LOT of work done.
Mel~ is doing well, from her journal!!! You behave young lady and keep the healing process going!!!
Nae~ how was lunch with Bill, do tell?
Meadow~ lots of relaxing for the holiday today, I hope.
Linus~ take care of yourself admidst all the busy-ness.
Where is Suzi?? WHo did I miss. it wasn't intentional. Hope all is well and happy for everyone.
Oh, Happy~ hugs!!!

Feeling a lot more Hollyhockish today!!!
Out of my head and back into my life. Holy processing stuff batman!
I am feeling good about how I have handled myself and the things I have said. I WAS honest and sincere. The people who really “know” me get that.

We have been having a really nice cosy family weekend.
Dh and I have puttered aroung the yard and have gotten lots of piddly jobs done, all the grass cut. The kids have been playing well, have had playdates with friends and friends dropped in here. Had a lovely glass o wine with a mom midaft.
We had a “party” with the 4 of us last night. It got quite cold so our friends didn’t come for the fire. We had chips and dip and iceceam cones and roasted marshmallows. The kids swung,played tag, chased the shop cat all over the yard.
No trouble getting them to sleep. I watched Desperate Housewives and went to bed to read. I slept in til 9am!! Decadent!!
I am feeling calm and peaceful. I have still been eating small amounts of food. Even with the “party” food last night. We do not normally have that stuff around. Big treat for all of us.

I am enjoying the day off today.No plans at all!! I may even lay about and read.Shocking, I know.

Have a relaxing day!

WOW!!! YOU LEAVE FOR 2 DAYS AND LOOK AT ALL THE POSTS!!!
I woke on sunday and realized the hip/waist pain is gone. I can feel the strain but not the pain! :encore: funny how it just disappeared overnight. Now all I have left is the back but I am getting used to it and managing my day accordingly. The bookkeepers were here all weekend so that put a bit of a crunch in my plans. they e-mail or IM me everytime they need to get into another office. (the phone system is switched to an ans. service on weekends and nights) All the rush is for the tail end of an audit. My fridge and freezer are ready and I started another 6 week challenge on the other website. Hope I can actually finish this one!!!

Teel~ Hope Holly is OK and all is well in your corner of the world. sorry about the phone but the PC is the men's only way of getting me....God forbid they should ring my doorbell downstairs! :rofl:

Holly~ I was going to post a Xmas thing but was afraid someone would sart throwing things at me!!! LOL "Growth" can sometimes be a tough thing. Hope it all works out and hang in there. We have so many roads in our lives and they are not always pleasant but they must be travelled nonetheless. good lucK!

Happy~ Hope the week is a better one and not so busy. Getting any pool time in with the umbrella drinks?!?! :rofl:

Shad~ I was a good girl and rested in between all the chores. Iof worse comes to worse, I will end up using my "Dragon Speaking" program but I am not overly fond of it cause it makes mistakes and you need to type anyway!!! LOL Hope your ceiling stays in place now! :yikes: Because you love spiders so much, am shipping some of ours over. They are much smaller but maybe in your climate they will grow like their Aussie brothers:rofl:

Linus and Bump~ Glad you are both well and kicking!!!! Take good care of each other. Hope the house and moving work out and go smoothly for you. Missed your humor! Hugs for you and the whole family(((((((HUGS)))))))

Meadow~ Cheddar cheese! One of my favs!! While in the freezer I realized it didn't come with a shelf but the holes are there....I hate trying to stack things up and have them tumbling down. Somehow when I read your post I remembered they sell shelves for just that thing! :rofl: the mind works in mysterious ways!!! Hope you are going to have a great week! Be good to yourself!

Nae~ I am glad you are excited about company. I too love that feeling when it's someone you truly like spending time with.
Hope it was a glorious day and the week at work is good! Say hello to the elk for me!!! :rofl:

YP~ Good to hear you are so close to your loss! Congrats and good luck! Hope the trip is wonderful. Have a good time.

I was the last one?!?!? Where is everyone else?!?!?!? Has 3fc lost our posts?!?!?!? This cannot be right! Anyway............
Yesterday was a good but wasted day. I futzed around with small things and blew the entire day aw3ay! :faint: Maybe I needed it? I think it's the dingy dreary weather.
Getting back on plan felt good and I hope the scale moves this time! :rofl: Have a very Happy Tuesday and take care!!!

Yesterday I wrote a nice long email..... and my computor went stupid on me so I see it never made it to the thread. Oh well!!! I am having some mixed emotions right now my van is in serious trouble and I am without a car for the week and the holiday is here next weekend and it looks like my plans are going to be blown out of the water..... I just pray that fixing the old girl keeps it running for me for a long time..... I am sick of worry about what I would do for transportation if it becomes a burden to keep it running.....
I am riding my bike.... it is a never pedal practically all the way to work because I live on a mountain...but the ride home is something else..... why should I complain...instant exercise right????
My weekend was great...my weeds got sprayed and Bill came for a nice lunch it was fun. I guess I will be just staying home and working everyday... my mental frame of mind may need some coaching because I was meeting friends up north this weekend to play and party and bike and hike..... don't I sound the boob!
Hope all is well.....
Peace,
Nae

HUG Nae!!!!! Hope things iron out with the van and your plans can go ahead. We have old vehicles too.Focus on the good stuff!!

Mel~ you sound like you are realy on the mend. Have a great day!!!!!

NO drama, moderately dull life!!!
Weeheeeeeeee!! No nasty phone calls or emails. A blessedly beautiful long weekend with my husband and kids!!!!!!!!!!
DH started work last Thurs wiht the family business who did our roof a few years back. The Dad/grampa is the owner, sons and grandsons work but they need an extra. The owner has always respected DH as a equal(which he is) I am hoping there is enough work for at least the whole summer/fall. This has been the slowest and worst spring he has ever had. We are feeling the pinch but we will also be okay.
I am thinking of selling Avon. No one in this community does.I will research it today.
My weight is still 225.Very happy for that. Aiming for 220 now!!!!! It’s been 7 years.
I am feeling incredibly blessed with the friends I have here at 3fc and with my sweet little family. Love to you all!!
__________________

And a good afternoon to everyone!! :D

As I write, the nice workman is really busy filling in the original entrance to the shower cubicle , having knocked the interior wall out yesterday. The space is wonderful! I now have a utility room that is about 5 foot by 7 foot, very roughly guessing from the look of it. The freezer and the washing machine both fit in the new recess perfectly and so leave the whole oroginal porch area absolutely clear for keeeping the mobility scooter, all plugged in and charged up for zomming round the countryside. Bob, ( I just realised, he is really "BOB THE BUILDER!!!:lol3: ) suggested that I put up a couple of kitched cupbaord units either side, so I 'll have so much storage space it'll be absolutely gorgeous!! I bought some more floor tiles today and they are a beige-fawny colour, so I'll have to go and choose the paint colour at the weekend. Not sure what colour...something bright and clean looking...at least to start with!! I have taken a few photos so in time you'll all be able to see what a transformation has taken place in my humble abode!!

Oh and I also changed the garage door paint from blue to MONACH, which is a lovely royal red..not scarlet and not mahogany either.

What else can I tell you? Oh the mini skip has just arrived...now that is servive for you...I only rang about 4 hrs ago! I have got the smallest skip imaginable but it cost £85..WHAT?????

MEL ...sorry I didn't get to speak to you at the weekend but its really good to see you back posting!! Mind how you go now, please...and I am SO pleased that the pain has gone...don't go and overwork your muscles and joints and start it all up again!! :^:

HOLLYHOCK I am pleased to see that you are at least sounding better..one day at a time, my friend!! You must be feeling a heap better if you are considering commiting your services to the Avon company...good luck!!

YP I guess you are on your way over Europe to Greece right now, if you are not already there, that is. Have a lovely time!

SHAD, Holly seems to be perfectly fine now, after the scare she gave me, and probably herself, over the weekend! Coo I was extremely worried, to say the least!! I'm releived I didn't call out the emergency vet, afterall. That would have been a bill for about £70 before she even set paw on the table!

HAPPY hello to you!!Hope you have a good week without too many call outs during the night!!

ROSEBLUSH...goodness me, this Bill sounds like he has some good tales to tell. He seems to have done remarkably well after all his heart surgery...what does he like to talk about? Is he any good with cars?! When are you meeting up again?Do please kepp us informed aboyut any prospects...we'll need to vet him!!:lol3:

Ah well as usual its to the ironing! Not too much but I need to keep on top of it, especially with the amount ofd dust flying round the house at the moment...be back soon.....see you!!!

Well the cookies didn't bump up my numbers on that evil contraption scale thing. I weighed after lunch so technically I may be down a pound or two because I didn't do the first thing in the morning/empty tummy check :o I need to exercise, I want to exercise, I just need to DO IT! I think I need to have special clothes designated for sweating in so that I'm not making excuses like I can't get these all smelly because I have to go pick up the kids. I also make excuses about it will wreck my makeup, I will have to have a shower and it will make me late for picking up the kids from school. Excuses are rife in my head, need to give it a shake and get this show on the road again. :crazy: :bubbles:

Mel-I'm glad you are feeling a bit better, funny how our body's just get better while we sleep:) Congratulations on accepting a new challenge, fingers crossed this one gives you the extra boost to move from that plateau. Although you know I think you look great at this weight and would be thrilled to bits to see your number on my scale :p

Rose-so what was lunch really like? Did you arrange to meet another day? Hugs for the wrench being thrown into your plans for a biking weekend with your buddies:bike: Give the van a good tire kick to vent :p Maybe Bill could come round to ease the boredom :chin: :yes:

Teel-wow, new space to play in... there are some lovely cream colours out in the paint stores, I had a blast choosing for our house. Enjoy the process, nothing like a noodle through paint chips to spark all sorts of decorating ideas, you may even get new curtains, possibly sheers with little flowers embroidered on them (I have been eyeing some :p ) Can't wait to see the photos. The choice of garage door colour sounds terrific, good for you going bold! I was wondering how much those skips cost, I see them on the garden programs from Britian all the time, good old Alan Titchmarsh and company. The ones they use are huge :eek: Good to hear Holly is none the worse for her tumble and full of spark again:D

Holly-congratulations that your hubby has got himself a job with good people. Fingers crossed for your weight shifting downward, it isn't easy. My body is holding on for dear life to every fat cell :rofl: :tantrum: I spent all day yesterday doing laundry, it sits now waiting to be put away :s: I'm ignoring it:p

Shad-You are such a busy camper! The frustrations you face at work would do in a lesser person. Don't let them see you twitch, stay strong, make them fear you:p the goof off artists need a good dose of inimidation, let them know you are smarter than them and not afraid to use your power to squash their lazy tootsies. Big hug for all the hours you are putting in :goodvibes:

Happy-are you still in your pool? Dry off and come back:beach:

A little reminder (http://www.scottstratten.com/movie.html)

Morning all.

Sorry I didn't get around to posting yesterday, it was more or less the day in which everything but the sky fell in.
Discovered that half of the programming I need to do lessons in a 7 working days time is not done, that I have no training identities in the system and that the only way I can get data into the system is to do it myself. Lemme see thats 20 training id's who need 7 lots of data to start with - that's 140 transactions, then there are other bits and peripherals that I will need to think about to get the job started. Ho hum. Started on the job, got 21 transactions done, got very bored. Did some other stuff. Then it was onto the DB1's place to belt in some knowledge about computers. This... is... a... mouse...... I am talking slowly because you don't listen very fast!!!!

Left home at 5.30am, got in at 20.30pm, watched a tv program and went to bed with the furry crittur who will insist on sleeping between me and the edge of the bed and complains loudly when I turn over and she falls off. Go figure cat.

Got ready in a real hurry this morning as I spent too long in the shower and now find I have forgotten my gym towel. So lunch time today will see me humming along to meet a friend and going to buy some towels. Actually, I need some new ones for the bathroom as many of mine are at the getting tatty stage - and besides it is so nice to have some new things once in a while.

DS last night informed me that I am the sole executor of his will and that his brother and sisters are to be the main beneficiaries. Since his estate will be substantial, I will have a job to do. I don't like thinking like this. He is only 2 years older than me. On the whole I wish he hadn't told me. Still I guess he had to do so some time. His wife is not in good health, so why do I get the feeling she will outlive the lot of us. I know why he is doing this, I just wish life could be different. Sorry TMI of the family variety there. Just had to get it off my chest.

Mel - sometimes a fartsy sort of a day is just what you need. I tend to waste a lot of Saturday. I used to beat myself up about it, but have finally worked out that the most patient of all things is work! It will sit and wait for you all day, all week if necessary. Today may be a bit more energetic for you. But hey, you are doing some exercise, cooking and traipsing after the bl**dy auditors what more do you need.

Nae - sorry to hear about the vehicle. They are such a pain when they don't work properly - just one more reason why I buy new ones. It is expensive to start off, but it sure pays off in the long run. I never used to have new. I always got what the exDH didn't want and the things used to break down frequently especially when the boys started to drive them. Then DS1 and I got hacked off with it and pooled our pennies to get a loan and a new car. I've not looked back since. This one will be 2 years old come December, time to start thinking about something else. Anyway, hope it doesn't cost too much for repairs. Cycling to work may be fun, but not if the weather deteriorates or you don't feel well. Hope you do get to go away for your weekend. Glad the lunch went well - are there plans for another??

Teel - Don't put Holly in the skip!!!! Glad to see Bob the Builder is doing a good job and actually making suggestions that will help. Gotta have that storage space. The garage door will be unmistakeable next time I come to visit :lol3: Mind you, I would have liked to see the expression on the neighbours faces if you had painted it pink.

Holly - glad the DH has found some employment and that for a while you will be flush for cash more or less. The hardest thing about contracting or casual work is trying to provide for the times where you are not working. Even harder when you have a family. Avon? well they have some good stuff and it's not always that expensive. I used to use it a lot. Hardly ever wear makeup now - and never wear nail polish because it turns my nails brittle and they break all the time.

Meadow, you are sounding a bit more upbeat today. Go grab the oldest clothes you can find and get into the exercise early after the children have gone to school and while that first load of laundry is buzzing around the machine. Then shower and forget about exercise for the rest of the day. It's the only way I get through it in the weekends. During the week is has to be at night, so I talk myself into it all the way from the station to the gym. Most times I succeed. There is the odd trade off. I must admit that it must be a strange sight as this woman sits in a car and talks to herself all the 13 or 14 kilometres to the gym. What a wally!

Okay, gotta go and get some of these transactions done - then put out a notice to tell people not to use them. Touch 'em - you're dead buddy!!!!

:scooter: :bike: :moped: WOW!!!!WHEN DID WE GET ALL THESE NEAT SMILIES!!! THANK YOU 3FC!!!! AND THANK YOU MEADOW CAUSE I SAW SOME IN YOUR POST AND WENT TO INVESTIGATE!! IT'S MADE MY DAY. Little things make me happy :lol3: :lol3:
I am going to throw a :tantrum: if I don't get out to ride my :scooter: soon!! I am tired of the cold and :rain: and want to go and sit in the :sunny: and :beach: !!!!

Ok I did my :ebike: and I am hoping to :mag: a good loss on the :goodscale Monday!! Anything over 1/2 lb will be a big deal for me! :rofl: Been doing very well with the diet bits and haven't gone back to Clara except to fill her needles up. She is stubborn and makes me a little :crazy: !
Just been doing for Mel. I feel good but am very sluggish yet. My spring seems to be broken! :rofl: Maybe when the sun comes back to New Jersey I will be happy! :flow1:

Shad~ Have a good weekend this coming one. It sounds like you could use a wee rest yourself......or at least to destress! Love how the govt. works and wastes it's almighty dollar!! Enough to make a girl crazy!!! :dizzy:

Nae~ I am sorry about the van and keeping my fingers crossed..... maybe Bill can help you out!!! (sorry, couldn't resist! LOL) good luck and keep us posted. Can someone pick you up for the weekend with friends or are you all too scattered about to the four Winds?

Meadow~ Thanks for using the smilies! They all gave me a good laugh when I went in search of yours! LOL Hope yopu get that body up and exercising soon!!! :cheer: Sending gooooood exercise vibes!! :ebike: :wl: :tread: :coach: GO MEADOW GO!!!

Holly~ glad the day was good and keeping fingers crossed for the DH and the job too!! Hang in there. Tough to chew when the $$ is short but family is so much more sweeter.
Don't stress too much but I want to say one thing. :soap: AVON??? Don't you have enough to do already?? Pardon my butting in but being too busy can cause anxiety and stress. I know you're trying to supplemenmt the lack of funds but aren't you already wearing enough hats without adding another and burniong yourself out?? Ok I'm getting off the soapbox but I have been in your shoes and wish someone had warned me of the consequences way back then. good luck.

Teel~ Glad your :scooter: has a home of it's own now and you'll be out the roaming around:moped:!!! Don't you love the smilies!?!?!? We need a Holly dog now!!! :rofl: Your decorating sounds wonderful and I love the red door idea. I see it all the time on decorating shows. let's your house stand out in a warm and friendly way! Enjoy all the new changes!

Guess I have played long enough and best get going!
Hello :wave: Happy and Linus and Bump!!!

I must go and have a look at these new smilies - when I get stressed enough to have to have a laugh. Not talking about the idiotic decisions made here in the last couple of days - it's enough to make one think about taking up begging for a living.

Had a horror run to the station this morning and just about every light went red as I approached, not to mention a couple of people who drove more like they were running horse and cart. Got to one intersection and could see a train at a station 2 stops down from where I normally get on. Holy smoke Batman, that's my train. Reckon I was just about airbourne down the hills and through some very orange lights. Got to my station and parked in the parking bay just as the train pulled into the station. Sprinted to the train and threw myself in as the doors were closing. Bit close for comfort that.

Mel, there is a policeman down below, he is hiding behind one of the pillars smoking. It's obviously either an illegal activity or he is desperate. You should see the drags of smoke he is taking into his lungs. If he goes much deeper he will explode. Nothing exciting about this uniform I can tell you. He is out of shape - well I guess pearshape is a shape - going bald, smoking as if it will be his last and to complete the comedy he is also flat footed. Some woman must love him I guess, he is wearing a wedding ring. Yes I can see that far!!!! There is another policeman over the road wearing baggy overalls, he is standing on the steps of the copshop and puffing on his fag. He is not in as bad a shape of the first. Maybe I will put on my gym shoes and step out, commit a burglary in front of them and see if they can catch me. Could provide some excitement for today I guess.

Got all my transactions done yesterday, 154 of them and not 140 as previously stated. Forgot that trainers also have to have stuff!! D'oh silly me. Today I have to ensure that all is in readyness for the knowledge transfer to other trainers and next week I have to get out there and train the trainers in something I know little about. Times are tight, just hope it all comes across at the right time. Osmosis - soak it up - get thee into my head, how's the dementia coming along? Sorry, ranting as usual.

Had lunch yesterday with a friend from the old Tradelink days. She is finishing up next week to prepare for her coming baby due at the end of June - Jelly Belly it's called. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent card that doesn't state the sex of the baby? Suggest you go to the local card shop and check it out!

Gym last night was 45 minutes of cardio circuit. I was sure sweating at the end of it. One of the new machines at the gym is set in miles and not kilometres. I was wondered why I had to run at a speed which is normally a slow walk. Anyway - leave me alone long enough I will figure this out. Then I had to do sums in my head to convert the miles to kilometres. That took care of quite a few of the 15 minutes on the next machine. Conversions and maths were not my strong points. What do you mean were? Are not my strong points still.

Okay, time to go do something for which I get paid. See you

Mel~ I had the same thoughts, but I sold Avon about 15 years ago and it is not a lot of work.In a small community a couple of flyers at the store and people will come to me. the profit is good and we really do need the income. Neither of us have steady income all the time, benefits etc. If it is too much I will quit. I do know I tend to heap on too much. Thanks for the input!!!!

Hi to everyone, for now. It is the kids first baseball practise tonight, game tomorrow night. I LOVE baseball.Gotta fly!

PHENOMENAL WOMAN
by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I’m not cute or built to suit a model’s fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I’m telling lies.
I say
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It’s the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say
It’s in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It’s in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me.


Nice day yesterday. Ended up with a sinus headache from allergies.
I made spaghetti casserole( family fav) using ground turkey and LF cheese. Still yummy. Leftovers for tonight.
Both kids started baseball last night, on the same team this year.DD’s shirt hangs past her knees, cute.First game is tonight.
DS ha s a BIG trip to African Lion Safari tomorrow. He is very excited.
Saturday they are each going for sleepovers with friends and hubby and I are throwing a mattress in the van and going up north to see some friends. Weeeeheeee. Last time we were out together was last July, before that was the previous Jan. Man, we are dull.

Hope everyone is having a phenemenal day!!

:cofdate: Hope we are fine and dandy!!! I sound better than I feel but it's the dreary weather and rain!!!! Tomorrow the sun is actually coming here to NJ!!! I hope to go food shopping and stay dry!!!:rofl:
Not much is new. Getting things switched around and stocked up while the kids will be gone with his 2 young ones..... they go back to their Mom the first week fo July.
Guess I better start the day....I hear Andre Bocelli singing Time to say goodby and now I feel tears. I just cannot listen to him without crying! :rofl: And he's singing to and WITH Elmo on Sesame Street! How funny is that!! I should be laughing! :lol3: let me get out of here!!!

Shad~ try the smilies, you will love them! :scooter:
silly things really!! I think this one may become your fav this year :tantrum: !!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great day!

Holly~ good for you! And good luck then! Hope the kids have a great time and you and DH have the much needed time alone! Enjoy!

Made it this morning with no fuss - not like yesterday. TGIF That's about all I can say about today. I'm leaving early as I am out of hours again and the boss lady tells me she thought I was on top of it. Yes I am, because I put in the hours! :tantrum: I am not giving away free hours. My time is as valuable as the next persons.
:tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum:
There I feel better now.

Anyway, next week I intend to keep more reasonable hours (famous last words) and then let her know what has not been done. It is not her fault, she wouldn't herself mind if I worked 17 hours a day. She is getting it in the neck from the budget police. There is an email on my desktop this morning requesting information on lessons to be delivered in a couple of weeks time. They seem to think I am some sort of god who is well able to be delivering training on the 13th level and creating training lessons on the 2nd. God preserve me from the twits of this world. :spin: :spin: :spin:

TGIF - oh I already said that. :dizzy: I'm actually even looking forward to the dentist tomorrow simply because I won't be here, but sitting in some other chair collecting pain in a different way. A bit of shopping and home to the housework and painting. Getting there, getting there. I should have been going out on a boat cruise on the river sipping and tasting wine. However that will not be as there is so much other stuff in my life right now.
:hyper: :hyper: :hyper:
Gym again last night - weights and resistance. The only night off the gym this week was Tuesday. Funnily enough after whingeing about the gym and talking to myself, last night I was actually looking forward to being there. Didn't even have to talk to myself. Maybe one day will see the end of all this flab, but hope is fading on that front. At least I am strong and healthy. If I never lose another kilo, I can say that at least I am healthy. Biggest problem is they (the kilos) are piling back on again at the moment with monotonous regularity and I can't figure out why. Some of it will be to do with the lack of water, some with the lack of body 'regularity' (sorry about that) but then my food is good, and not too much, so I shouldn't be putting the weight back on. So why? I suppose someone is going to say that I've answered my own question there. Enough, it's depressing me and it's Friday. Not allowed depression on Fridays.

Holly, good poem. Glad to hear that you are having some quality time this weekend. Every marriage needs that away time, just as every marriage needs some me time for each partner. :love: :love: :love:

Mel, Andre Bottecelli (sp) (is he of the angels fame?) has a wonderful voice. I love it to bits. Mind you I really love the music of tenors - Jose Carreras and 'Some Enchanted Evening', Pavarotti and 'Nessun Dorma', Placido Domingo, I can go on and on and on and on................................. Bryn Tefyl (sp- Welsh tenor) and on and on. :cloud9: :cloud9: :cloud9:

That's about it. Time to hit these lessons again. I must have this one finished today. They think it is already finished - hey what about seeing whether they have learnt anything afterwards - what about a couple of questions during the lesson - what about making sure they understand the lesson - what about, what about, what about. I guess today is going to be an obsessional day. I am going on and on and on.............. :soap: :soap:

Mel-I love that song, Time to say goodbye, it is like a hug that music. I have the instrumental version http://www.wtv-zone.com/ladyl605/midis/timetosaygoodbye.mid :) Be weepy Mel, it is alright to allow the stress to flow out of you... it is a song that touches people deeply. Did the weather clear so you could go for a ramble around the neighbourhood?

Shad-They have no idea! Make them appreciate you. Tell it like it is and wait to see what happens. Don't take it all on your shoulders, you are one person. Show them the plan and tell them to show you the money :rofl: Hugs for your frustration. Must make your days seem awfully dis-spiriting to do all you do and them still expecting even more.

Happy-Isn't Maya Angelou a marvel? She is strength personified. Such a wise, wonderful individual.

I have been drinking sugary Good Host iced tea and not exercising. I'm trying to think good thoughts about myself because Ralph Marston made me smile with his post and well I'm worth it:p

It is so hot! Supposed to go to 31 C today (87F) Total beach weather if I was a beach type of girl :p I need to buy suncreen for the kids, they are going to cook if this keeps up and it is just Spring! Seriously contemplating hooking up the sprinkler for them this afternoon, if they even want to be outside, they do have a tendency to avoid the hotter parts of the day, how did they get so smart?! I guess the rest of you are out enjoying the day :D I think this is a first for me posting two days and being the only one here. *Peers out into the world, you ladies alright? Kind of quiet in here :^:


http://www.stitchability.co.uk/to%20the%20beach.jpg

I am here!!! I couldn't get onto the site this aft. 9 kids all day, 4 left. DS is just home from a trip to the Lion Safari.He is just glowing with happiness.
Chicken,parsnips and asparagus for supper.DD had gymnastics.
I am doing GREAT. Feeling freespirited.
DH and I are throwing a mattress in the van and heading north for Sat night. Kids are going on sleepovers, woooohoooooo!!
HI Meadow, dont be lonely,lol!!!

I see Meadow has changed from the cookie monster to the Butterfly Man. Love that picture Meadow.

Keep them kiddies plastered up with the sunscreen, doesn't have to be burning for young skins to get damaged, or older ones for that matter. Last time I went to the skin clinic there was a man there whose face was a real mess from skin cancers caused by the sun. He was missing bits of ears, nose, eyelid from one eye and had holes in his hair because they had taken bits out of the scalp as well. Poor man. He says it is the result of not worrying about sunburn way back then (he was probably 75) when it wasn't fashionable to admit to pain or be pale.

I thought I was supposed to go to the dentist today, but on looking at the calendar, that is next weekends fun place to go, not this weekends, so I will be back to the gym again as per normal. Was going to go gymming last night on the way home from work but was just too tired and came home, made some pumpkin soup, hung out some towels and went to bed at 7.30. Such an exciting life I lead.

Speaking of gym. I have tried so hard with this new regime and all I seem to have got for it is more weight. Now I wouldn't mind that so much if I could see smaller body. It's not getting any smaller and I would think that all my measurements will be up again at the end of the month. I am getting very, very frustrated with this. Admittedly my food has not been as good as previously. Working in town is really not agreeing with me much - too much food on view - and I seem to be getting in more exercise than ever - and I keep wanting hot food because the weather is so much cooler. So either I give it all away and stay at where I am or get larger again or I change tack and try for something new. You know the books and the pundits always say, cut back on food and do 3 lots of 30 minutes exercise per week and it will go away, even my doctor said that! Well they are wrong, it doesn't work that way at all. Life just doesn't understand that logic.

I'm thinking about what is next to try to jolt this body into something different. Probably a good trip away from what is too close to me would do the trick. Time to start thinking about something else.

Speaking of something else. I have a feeling that my DB2 has gone off the rails again. I tried to ring him last night. Haven't seen him for a month. Thought he was back at it then but he swore he wasn't. Last night I tried to ring and the voice told me his phone has been disconnected. Hmmmm. Don't tell me I have to put up with this all over again?

Before I get grumpy about the things going wrong in my life, I should count my blessings and just get on with the day. It will be time for gym shortly and I am still hanging around in my pjs. See ya.

Well, the van isup and running againand it wasn't as expensive as it could have been. THe part was reconditioned so they tell me that is just as good. I am still being a little pouty about not going out of town. get over it! There is soooo much work to do around here I need some of Shad's resolve to tackle everything!
Hope everyone is safe and well this holiday weekend... take good care everyone and let's hear from ya!
Miss Mel how are you doing...is the rain stopping this weekend????
Peace,
Nae

Enjoy your weekend Shad, forget about the grumpies!!
Hope the Americans have a great holiday weekend!!!!!!

On the road again!!!!!
In my former life as a really cool chick I went on road trips almost every weekend.
I LOVE road trips. It used to be to festivals and concerts etc with other groovy people but a bday party in the woods with good friends is okay too.

The kids PUMPED about going on sleepovers with their friends. I must confess Mom is pumped too. They are fed and 1 is in the tub, 2nd to follow, bags to be packed and then bye,bye.
I will have a few kidless hours at home to putter and then up to huron county we go.
We dont need to be back til lunchtime tomorrow. I am hoping to plant the veggie garden tomorrow aft.
Oh, I signed up to sell Avon yesterday. I did some networking at the gym. I am the queen of networking!!!!LOL!! Look out town, you are next!!! Weeheee!!!!!!!
I bought and ate a chocolate bar last night. Weird for me, yummy, and it wont be repeated.I was super tired, maybe I needed the boost. An apple would have been better.
Oh well, best go tend to the kids. 2 1/2 hours til semi freedom.

Miss Meadow....2 posts in a row must be a record!!! I had that same thing happen ;ast week! :rofl: Glad the new pic is the AB man! Love it!! Get yourself under the sprinl;er too! Great to be a kid isn't it?!?!? maybe we should take "kid lessons" as we grow! LOL good thoughts your way and YES YOU ARE WORTH EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY NIT TAKES FOR GOOD HEALTH!!!

Shad~ is the dentist's office the "IN" place to be now for weekend excursions?!?!? :lol3: I will have to remember that! :rofl: Hope the #'s on the scale jump for you soon before you use up all the :tantrum: smilies between the scale and the job!!!! :rofl: Have a great weekend my friend.

Holly~ I forgot to say the wors of the other day were lovely and thanks for sharing. Hope you are on your way and having a wonderful time!!!

I am going to clean a bit and do the things I have been putting off for 2 days while I ride around all over town. Ran into a LOT of "suits" yesterday and they were all surprised to see me out and about. Hope that will put to rest any leftover rumors about my general health and ease Willy Boy's burden of being a Mellie Killer! :faint: Poor sod. We were both laughing when food shopping. He is acting is usual self but a tiny bit more reserved still. Not sure why. (sigh) Time to worry about Mel though.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and take care! :D

Morning - the sun has arisen and so must I. Yesterday was really a me day, today I had better try for some results around the house.

I went shopping to replace some of my toys stolen in the great shed robbery. Told the lady at the toy shop all about my troubles. She gave me a small discount on the quote and asked me if she could use the example of my Insurance company policies to jolt her other customers into securing their goods. Apparently much of their repeat business comes from replacing stolen 'toys' like mine. But she had not heard of the the lock rule or the fence rule before - we swore a lot together about insurance companies. We then proceeded to start the two gadgets (edge trimmer and hedge trimmer) and had the shop customers (mostly male - shake heads, touching wood etc. all the things macho males do in what they consider they are in their rightful domain :dunno: :crazy: ) transfixed at the sight of two 50 something year olds giggling :dizzy: their way around the features of the toys making sure everything worked. Anyway, considerably poorer, I took my gadgets and left. Further shopping included food for the cat, a couple of t-shirts which will do for work, fruit and vegetables and a new orchid. (which I will take a photo of later today so you can share)
The yard is now edged, but the hedge is not. That will be part of todays job. I still await the cheque from the insurance company and will probably not replace the water blaster since there are now strict water regulations in force thanks to our ongoing drought and they are one of the things which are a no no. Besides I can borrow one if I see fit to break the rules.

As well as the shopping, I got the laundry back under control and did some cooking for the week - the beetroot are ready and I steamed some last night. Tonight they will go into a salad of some description as the lettuces need to be used up. :eating2: I'm also going to try putting the beetroot leaves in the salad. Tried one last night and it has a nice flavour - different from the lettuce and those lovely bright red stalks will make an impact. Tomatoes are taking off and I see a couple of flowers appearing on some of them and the new lettuces I planted will be ready in the next couple of weeks, meantime there is the existing lettuce and the spinach to eat. I never seem to do too well with the capsicum though and will have to check their requirements before I plant any more. They are weedy and the fruits are small and misshapen. When I cut the biggest one open the other day, there was a brown mould type stuff inside. Not pretty. I must be doing something wrong there.

Todays agenda is:
More plaster and paint - down to hardware heaven for more paint - top coat this time. And with a bit of luck I will get the scotia boards and the windows finished.
Hedge trimming - I'd like to get the top done today before it gets to 12 foot tall and I can't reach.
Cleaning in the bathroom and loo will be a bit of a priority as well.
And some down time in the hammock with my old Wilbur Smith book (Diamond Hunters) - read it before and now re reading it again.

Time to get on my :moped: and get on with it.

PS Mel, I suggest you don't ride the moped too often - see how it jolts the body up and down and the head leaves the neck.

hi all ive not gone again just getting snowed under and ,running out of patience with certain sisters of mine ,and buying decorating stuff for the new house but ill let you know more when my blood pressure comes down !!!!!!!
love to all
kirsty and bump

good to see Miss Linus and Bump checking in. Kinda figured moving was taking it's toll!

Shad~ Hope the checque soon arrives! (like the spelling? LOL)
Glad you have some new toys and use them wisely on any trespassers. WHEN YOU FIND ANY..........
May the Force be with you!!!! :rofl: :lol3:
I cannot say enough about those orchids you posted in the journal. Unbelievable!! Hope some to do list got done or amother day for Miss Shad!

I am going out for a ride later and maybe listen to a book on tape. My eye and face are "blooming" again. I think the allergies are setting them off. The soda on Friday didn't help either.
Well I will just have to keep putting the drops in and see what happens. I hate living on Zyrtec for the allergies....all I do is sleep!!! It also dulls the senses and I have to be alert when outside playing in traffic!!!:yikes: A day in the backyard is looking ever so better....:rofl:
:moprd:Hope everyone has a great Sunday!!!

Good time had by all.
It was fun and relaxing. Got pleasantly drunk in the aft, laughed lots. Had a yummy free range grilled dinner(including caribou) with salads at 9pm,campfire, more laughter, in bed by midnight and had a peaceful sleep.
Weeded the veggie patch and then DH tilled it. Went to pick up DS, went to a garden centre and then for groceries, came home put groceries away and then went to pick up DD.
The 3 of us planted the veggie patch. They want to grow pumpkins and corn this year.
Apparently BIG is in the plan. Pumpkins take up a ton of space.LOL!
Tacos for dinner, baths and soon to bed( for all of us I think).
Hope everyone is having a great day!!!
Life is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!

Antonio art, big, huge :D http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/ab-contemplation.jpg

My husband, ever the optimist, put up the pool yesterday, it is overcast today, didn't stop the kids from hopping into the pool. I have a couple of dolphins you know ;) I thought about exercising today, looked in the mirror, said a couple of encouraging words, then sat down with a cup of coffee and watched a decorating show :?: Not sure what happened, tomorrow is another day! (twirls hair around finger and looks innocent)

Mel-good to hear you got outside and had a good run around town:spin: The neighbourhood was probably all abuzz about seeing you, were your ears burning :listen: Sorry that your allergies are giving you some trouble, fingers crossed that whatever is making them flare up will blow away soon :)

Shad-So you are going to be the poster girl for a bit of anarchy against the insurance people? How fabulous! I hope they lose a few customers! The buggers!! Mmmm, tomatoes :drool: That is really something, cooking for the week ahead. Organization, what a concept :p Is that my problem? :rofl: don't answer that, I have so many others higher on the list :lol3:

Holly-ah, doesn't your campout sound like fun. Caribou on the barbecue must have been delicious! Fancy you getting pie eyed and giggly, must have been some good company :lol: Hope the video camera was broken, you never want drunken conversation to come back and bit you :s: So you are working on the great pumpkin growing spree? Bag of manure and stand back, they are hungry little orange monsters, be afraid, be very afraid :fr: :yikes:

:coffee2:Linus-Whee! decorating!! Commiserations on the family argy bargy, feed them cookies to keep them sweet :yes: :T

Rose-:wave: Hope things are coming together and you are planning a nice bike ride somewhere. Don't try to tackle everything at once now, pace yourself...

Hello to all the readers who are silently tsking or nodding to our posts. Yeah, some of us get it and some of us are still striving to flick that switch in the brain that pushes our energy button to get moving :lol: :devil: Mine has a cookie overdrive which kicks in whenever I think too hard about just how far I have to go... got to disconnect that one ;) Just managing 10lbs a year is a bit disheartening by anyones standards :rofl: I'm so not good at this!

600ml down and counting.

That's water.

I've decided that my new month resolution is BACK TO BASICS so to that end, I have to make sure I move, eat properly and drink water. Yesterday I was extremely good and as a result got back some of the energy which has been lacking over the past couple of weeks. Yesterdays list was completed and I have already started on todays list. Today I also caught a later train in to work and have every intention this week of working less than 45 hours. Weight this morning was stable and holding - still bigger figures on the scale than I had hoped, but at least things are not getting higher and higher as they did last week.

My windows have had their first top coat of paint. Yahoo. By this time next week I may actually have some blinds in the lounge room. Don't know if I can stand the luxury but hey, I'll have a go.
My new toys are working well. I need to get some more fuel for the gizmo to finish off the hedge. It ran out about halfway through the job. I think there is some in the shed but didn't have time to go look yesterday. So I sanded, painted, pruned, trimmed, swept and washed and still had a bit of time to relax with my book in the sun.

Must get back to work. I have a mountain of it here in front of me and will never get through it today if I don't move it somewhat. Taking some time in the sun to read my book at lunchtime. I think I would go nuts if I didn't get out in the break. Don't dare go to the shopping precinct. I've spent more than I should this weekend.

Oh and by the way - apparently I can't get through to DB2 because he RAN over his mobile phone in his driveway and crunched the thing!!!!!! You gotta wonder!

Greetings chickies...
I thought after the beginning of this year, things would settle down a bit. Not so. It's been quite the busy week or so. Had some visitors to the house, some planned, some impromptu. Being on call wasn't too terrible, only 2 calls but once you get woken up in the middle of the night, you spend the rest of the week on edge :hyper: waiting for that phone to ring. So work and home life have once again kept me from posting here. Oh and we have a raccoon -- soon to be trapped and relocated in the farms of the next state if I have my way. Apparently the little beast is not happy to forage the bird seed in the yard, no.... he had to rummage through my tomato plants in the garden and ripped all the tomatoes off of 2 plants including a small tomato (my first) that was a few days from picking. :mad: :tantrum: :censored: :headache: :bomb: :hot: :rollpin: Finally, I did not heed Shad's advice about the sunscreen. Worked in the yard last weekend and got myself a nasty sunburn. It had been so long since I was out in the sun for any length of time that I completely forgot about putting some on even though it was right outside the door on a nearby shelf. Took 5 days before the redness eased up and now of course I am peeling. Me and the sun don't do well together. :nono:

So that has been my week...

Shad your latest orchid is just breathtaking! One person commented in your journal that it looks like a sunset - a perfect way to describe it. I hope it's very happy in it's new home. Enjoy your new tools and I'm glad to hear that you are trimming back on the work hours. I know all too well that they expect you to perform the impossible and then they won't pay you for it. Besides as we both well know, long hours at the office makes for shortchanging yourself in your personal life. I also like your back to basics concept for June. I may adopt that myself.

Meadow, I think that if your DH filled the pool yesterday and your children were in it already, then they are more penquins than dolphins! Brrrr. Water must be freeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzing! Brrrr. I think our water will be warm enough by the end of June. It's in the mid 80's here but it doesn't feel that warm. And it cools to the 60's at night so it's holding the water temperatures down. I'm thinking I should do like DH says and just dive in and do my laps. He says I'll get used to the water, I think not but it may make me put double the effort into getting those laps done quickly :lol:

Holly, your camping trip sounds like you had so much fun. Wish we could have been there with you. And talk about a BIG garden. Whoo hoo, I think you'll be having a mini farm with corn AND pumpkins. Fancy you'll be growing one of those 300 pound prize winning pumpkins there? Good luck and have fun tilling.

Mel, hope you got out for some fresh air, maybe a bit of listening to a good book and perhaps just a bit of an afternoon snooze. Has spring hit the Jersey shores yet? I watched the movie Jersey Girl tonight and thought of you.

Kirsty, good to hear from you though you always seem to be on the run - I think bump will be born with racing shoes if you don't slow down! You should be in the new house soon, eh?

Hellos to Tig and Teel and Rose too. :wave:

It's past my bedtime - way past it, so I'd better go find my pajamas. Tomorrow's a holiday for us in the states, besides a 4 day work week, I'm off night support call duty after 9am tomorrow - yippeee. Well at least for 6 more weeks. Thought I'd just pop my head in and say hello.

:wave: Tig and Nae and Linus and Teel must all be visiting each other!!! :wave:

Yesterday was great but so many people outside that the book tape never had a go! I'll save it for another time....maybe today.
I had my weigh in and I am down 1 lb....almost 2...to 171 and lost 6 inches. I knew I was holding water. I have some new lung exercises to do starting today and can try to drink more water BUT he gave me some warnins and I bought a measuring cup!:rofl: I'll mark it well so it doesn't get taken OUT of the bathroom!!!!:lol3: :lol3:

Happy~ good to see the old sense of humor is there despite the trials and tribulations of work and home and garden....and Rocky racoon! :rofl: This could only happen to you!!! Shad has her lizard and you have Rocky! I don't have any tomatoes but I have birds! Hope you get some time for yourself fit into the schedule. I know the feeling of being "on call". Once a call comes I lie in bed waiting for the next one......usually there never is! LOL Hope the week is a better one!

Shad~ glad the DB only broke the phone and hope all is well?!?!?
That was some load of work you did and I thought about your hammock while I was outside....and also Happy's poolside drinks. i could have used one yesterday with the throng of people out there. maybe it's a good thing you ran out of petrol or you'd have been working well into the dark hours!!!:lol3: Hope the week is going well and you DO work less!

Holly~ The day and the gardening sound great. Glad the kids get to pick too. Jen always wanted pumpkins and anything edible....not big on flowers then. :rofl: Continued peace at your house!!

Better get the day rolling and do the breakfast dishes so I can cook a bit today. Take care all and stay well.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!

HAPPY SPRING BANK HOLIDAY!!

Spring Bank Holiday?????? :?: :?: :?:

Geez, some people will do anything for a holiday :rofl:

Whatever you're celebrating, celebrate it well. I'm off to clean out the upstairs master bedroom which has become holding area number 2 for all the things we didn't know what to do with quite yet. Time to get ready for company - my family will be here in 4 weeks. I can't wait. Just as excited about visiting as Linus and Teel I'm sure. I have forwarded the on call cell phone to the next unlucky victim in line so I'm off support and the day is MINE!

Hope you enjoy yours too!

Ooops, almost forgot - congrats on the loss MEL!!!! :dance: :dance: :dance:

Happy-:wave: Nice to see you! Yes, my kids were bright red and as cold as ice cubes when they came out of the pool but they were smiling. They went right into a warm bath and all was well. Fancy a raccoon moving in, must have heard you were wildlife friendly and needed a few stones washed in your pool... he will be in it, they love water :p Sorry he was being a naughty critter and attacked your tomatoes, they are so michievious. You need to get a moisturizer with sunscreen in it that you put on every morning after washing your face, that way it is taken care of. Get out the aloe vera and be kind to your sore, red skin, ouch :^:

Mel-so the neighbours were out in force yesterday and talked your ears off? Hope your holiday has some outside time involved in it. Congratulations on your weight loss, that is terrific! six inches!! golly, do your clothes still fit? I'm going to drink more water, hydration, H20, go, go go!

MEADOW!!! I KNEW I FORGOT SOMEONE!!! And it was your post that gave me an idea too! :rofl: I have been wondering about my rosacea and read Shad's post about sunscreen but then promptly forgot again till this morning when I read about the kids.......so I went into the bathroom and got the new sunscreen out and put it on the chair I take for the rides. There will be no forgetting the sunscreen now!! Sorry I left you out! Hope the kids are not as pink or purple or you either for that matter! LOL Love the AB pic you posted the addie to. Is he sitting there thinking of us?!?!? Hope so!!! Good luck with the water drinking!! "Time to move, Time to make it happen!!!" <------your own words coming back!!!

Happy~ I am sorting the junk again too. Where in God's name does it all come from?!?!? :faint: More for the trash room/gargage man! Bet you're looking forward to the visit and hope you get time to spend with them!!! :rofl: good luck!

Well I finished cooking, finished Jen's short visit with kids in tow, and now need to clean and get ready for food shopping tomorrow.
Can't go out with a dusty chair!!! :lol3: See you all tomorrow and have a great afternoon.

The Ode of Remembrance from the Ode to the fallen by Binyon.

"They shall grow not old. As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".
They shall not grow old..."

May Memorial day be special to you all.

Have a great day. Mine has turned from reasonable to lousy and getting worse by the minute. So I'll be back late tonight with the tales of woe and the weigh in from this morning as well - which wasn't as bad as feared. (That's the only reasonable part of today)

:grouphug: Shad,This has been a rough go at this job for you. Sending you peaceful vibes :cloud9:
:cheer: :twirly: :wave: Cheering everyone on and waving Helloooo!!!!

Oh Shad, this job has been quite the pits for you, hasn't it? I'm sorry you are suffering the trials of the imbeciles, but to be quite honest with you, hearing your stories makes me realize that my place is... um I guess ... "normal / typical / what you can usually expect" in the SAP world. Good God in heaven. :rolleyes: At least I know it's not me that's crazy and there's some small comfort in that.

And that was a nice quote. Very fitting for a Memorial Day. We await your day's adventures, while those of us facing the dark side of space dream of a peaceful night's rest :sssh: :faint: :cloud9:

Oooooh and tonight I tried some sockeye salmon - it was much redder than the artificially tinted pink atlantic salmon I usually eat. I've heard they recommend that you eat wild salmon now. Why? because it's twice as costly? Have they farmed all the nutrients out of the other salmon? Anyway it was delicious :eating2: the fresh brocolli was good, crisy fresh cold veggies and a bowl of strawberries and monster sized blueberries for dessert - with just a dollop of whipped topping. Umm umm ummm. I picked up some shorts for DH today and they literally fell off his hips. He said he has lost 20 pounds since we've moved into the house. I'm sure it's alot to do with all that sweaty yardwork he's been doing. Why can't it be that easy for us???

It's not so much the job that's the problem - or at least the work that I am doing, it's the weird and wonderfulness of the way the project is planned. They have been working on this for nearly three years. Sure it has to be right - tax payers, the Government, users have to be confident and happy. For three years they have been paying these tech heads big bucks, there have been two aborted attempts at go-live and now they still haven't got it right 5 weeks from the third go-live. What the .... have they been doing? And there is no money left in the kitty for paying overtime or printing manuals. Yesterday was supposed to be a day where the two main trainers were to sit together with an expert or two and figure out how we are going to train the main General Users course next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Tuesday. So what happens. The first expert is caught up in data conversion 'bugs' and the second, third and forth experts arenot available because they have meetings all morning (yep double booked their calendars) and more meetings all afternoon. The other trainer is told that she must finish something by 9.00am and is given more 'extreme emergency' stuff halfway through. I'm left high and dry and wondering whether to start something else or not.
Finally they all show up (together) and whinge about having to sit around waiting for a trainer. That was about the time I lost it.
Funny thing about all this is, it happens on just about every project, but not to this extent. Usually there is a start and end date not just going on and on and on and on. Interestingly enough - I happen to think SAP is a wonderful program. I am probably one of it's best advertisers. Yes it is expensive, very expensive, millions of dollars expensive, yes if not used properly it is absolutely frustrating and more expensive. And what happens when the system goes live, the trainers finish up, the tech heads are still there, still getting big bucks and still not getting it right? Well we blame the trainers of course because they were supposed to train the system to the people! Now on Monday I have to say to these people. This will be your new system. Don't click this, it doesn't work. Yes the Activity Partner, the Business Partner and the account holder are all the same person - don't let's worry about conformity here. It's to see if you are awake. Let's not say the hyperlinks cause a major disruption to the Portal, lets not say, don't click the back button on the Intranet because it will freeze the system and you will have to shut down and reboot. Hello :wave: frantically - is anyone out there enjoying this lesson?

Tutai, tutai, tutai.

Anyway, I'm over it now. Went out at lunch time and gave the plastic fantastic a bit of a meltdown. Bought myself a new ring. Gold filigree with peridot and citrine. I'll try putting it on the scanner tonight and see if I can show you my latest bit of jewellery. Now I really will have to start pulling my financial wings in if I want to go on holiday next year.
Went to DB1's place last night and introduced him to the joys of the internet. He really is enjoying himself with his new computer and good on him. It's nice to see such enthusiasm and yes I suppose one could call it glee - old fashioned word, but he is really happy. Won't be able to stop him soon. He's already talking digital camera and scanners and printers etc. His photos of his orchids will be all over the net. Just watch out.

Best go prepare my running sheet for Mondays lesson. There's a few things that need changing around, a few more exercises to go in, etc. Not feeling so good this morning, thought I was getting cold or flu yesterday - today the lungs and ribcage hurt but I can't afford to be sick until 9.30pm on Friday and then only until 7.30am on Saturday. It's all the down time I have at the moment.

Oh yes, weights and measurements

Weight 71.5/ 72 Up .5kg
Upper Chest 36/ 36 Same
Bust 40.5/ 41.5 Up 1 inch
Lower Chest 33/ 33 Same
Waist 32.5/ 32 Down 1/2 inch
Upper Hips 39.25/ 38.5 Down 3/4 inch
Lower Hips 39/ 39 Same
Top of Arm 12.25/ 12 Down 1/4 inch
Top of Leg 20.75/ 20.75 Same

All in all considering the bad couple of weeks, it's okay.

Back to basics challenge for June - to lose 2kg (4.4lbs) Anyone want to join.

Thanks for the vibes, hugs, and cyber sympathy. It all helps.

Happy-sockeye salmon, my favourite, it is expensive here too but probably not quite as dear as in your area. Bit of dill and lemon, tummy is so happy. Lucky hubby with the shrinking waist, yes, it isn't fair at all ;)

Shad-:goodvibes: Yikes! Disorganization to the nth degree or what?! Do you have one of those stress balls to squeeze while you are trying to communicate with these people? Wow, I don't understand it all but I get the idea that things are going backwards instead of forwards and that everyone is scratching their heads and wondering why :p sigh, you can only try:D

I rode on the bicycle for 20 minutes or so while watching House Doctor last night, that Ann Maurice is a hoot! The way she slaps beige and neutrals all over the place and stages the homes, fascinating! For a clutter bug like me she is like an preying mantas going to chomp me up :rofl: I think drinking water/herbal tea and staying hydrated helps me exercise, maybe my brain needs to be drowned out before my body can move :lol3:

:wave: Hey all you chicks in the world, how is the weather? It is buckets of rain here and not due to let up till the weekend. Isn't that a cheery notion?

Yum. I like sockeye salmon too!!!!!!
Cant wait to see the ring Shad!!! I LOVE semi precious stones. My wedding ring is garnets set in gold.
Meadow!!!!! Great riding!!!! Beige is NOT a colour.LOL!!!
Happy~my DH needs to eat up to 4000 cals a day to MAINTAIN 140 lbs. ARG!!

OUr weather has been 20C and sunny with a light breeze for 2 days.Pretty much perfection!!!

Ended up with 5 kids today and spent the whole morning outside. Did some digging and weeding.
DH worked late. He got a call from an employer from 10 years ago with an awesome offer. 3 weeks ago would have been perfect,sigh. He is really happy with his new situation. The other may have more of a "future" but it is all a crap shoot. He decided if it aint broke, dont fix it.
Puttered around. Quiet night here.

Shad~ Sending love and hugs to get you through the week and the "cold".......it should only be that simple huh? Maybe some day govt. agencies will listen to KNOWLEDGABLE people and save some time, $$ and aggravation on the rest!! Good luck and hope it gets done! let us know if DB posts his orchids and you your ring!!! Wear it in good health....you deserved a treat!

Happy~ My DH was the same way. He'd go out and mow the lawn and lose 10 lbs! :rofl:Happy sockeye eating! :faint: can you tell I'm NOT a fish eater! LOL

Meadow~ RIDE?!? Did I read right??? LOL Good for you. I just got an idea....I could tape the Designer Guys and watch them while pedaling.

Holly~ Don't it stink when offers come in after the deed is already done?? Life and it's little jokes. glad he likes the new one so much! good luck!

It's dark and dreary and I feel like going back to bed. The new exercises were too much for me. Had to go and get more xrays. I'll be glowing in the dark soon. Nothing was wrong and 8 hrs later they said I could go!!! :yikes: Now I'll do it my way and start off one at a time and a LOT slower than they suggested. What do they know anyway?!?!?......they're not IN this body of mine. Feeling good but could use a nap.:rofl: got up around 6ish cause the cops needed to get into a womans apt. She had fallen.
She's OK but i lost my dream time!!! LOL
Happy Wednesday!!

Hello everyone, I'm back :dancer:

Not too much time for personals, so just an update on what I've been up to (shamelessly copied from another thread for those who don't hang around there, apologies if you do :o )

Very very good holiday. Summary, to be split into the good, the bad and the cheese...

The good:

Our studio was in a typically Greek village on a cliffside. This meant lots of steps, hills, a nice walk to the main town along the cliffside (downhill going there, very much uphill on the way back). Boy did that work my legs. :tread:

Walking up volcanoes. Also good for working the legs. I was one of the first of our (big) group to make it, and very proud of myself. :tread:

Ditto walking up to mountainous headlands to see ancient Greek remains. :tread: Admittedly we parked at the end of the road and only walked the rest, but that's because I was with my mother. I was up for walking the lot, but I can't kill her off just yet. She has many medical conditions and wasn't exactly as keen on the exercise as I was (she didn't do the volcano either).

My thighs. Not even the tiniest bit of rubbing on the days I wore skirts and dresses. The first time I've escaped that on a holiday since I was about 12. Admittedly I mainly wore shorts if I was walking a long way, but one day I must have walked for over an hour without any rubs. And I swear that when I looked in the mirror they almost looked as though they didn't touch under my skirt.

The bad:

Beer. Ouzo. Wine. :beach: I went with a vague idea of only drinking in the evening and drinking water until then. Well, that didn't work then. My resolve crumbled within the first 24 hours. Oops...

Not drinking enough water. See above.

The size of the swimming pool. I say swimming pool. I mean jacuzzi. We were on a cliff side. Just about the only thing they had space for was a tiny little dipping/jacuzzi pool. You could touch both sides at the same time. Not exactly going to get me much exercise. In truth, it wasn't really swimming weather. Lovely and sunny, but more walking around sunning yourself rather than needing to cool off every 30 minutes. So my idea of swimming lots while I was over there kind of didn't happen.

Birthday cake. :hb: Not a Greece thing, although it was my birthday while I was over there (cue Greek birthday cake). But this morning I had to do the buying cakes for people at work thing. Why did I choose cakes I really like? It struck me later that the sensible thing to do would have been to buy cream cakes which I don't really like eating rather than little chocolatey bite things from M&S. Then I wouldn't have been eating them all day.

The cheese :hungry::

My nemesis. Feta cheese and bread (my other holiday nemesis) for breakfast. Peppers stuffed with cheese for lunch (well, at least there was some veg there...) Fried cheese (saganaki is one of the most wonderful foodstuffs on earth. Shame it's essentially fried cheese in batter :nono: ). Baked cheese. We went to one taverna quite a lot (mainly due to the quality of its saganaki :hungry: ). They noticed we liked cheese (my mother would have cheese sauce on her meat. I wasn't that bad). So instead of the little glasses of sweet wine at the end with the bill. They brought us a slice of cheesecake. This cheesecake was seriously the most delicious cheesecake I have ever eaten. Ever. And I've eaten a lot of cheesecake. :hungry: So we had a few more slices over the course of the week. I think I ate more cheese in a week than I have done since Christmas. A lot more.

The damage:

2lb on this morning. I'm quite pleased with that. I reckon I must be retaining some water as I've been drinking nowhere near enough of it (trying to persuade myself that anyway!), so I'd steeled myself for about 2lb of fat and a bit more water. So no worse than I expected, and possibly a bit better if there is some water there. And I trust myself to get it back off again, which is why I let myself do what I want in the first place rather than trying to diet on holiday.

Madcat, Hollyhock and I have a June challenge called Back to Basics. What we want to do is to accept that to lose weight we have to eat within our range, exercise frequently and drink the water. That is what helped us before and no doubt will again. If anyone else wants to join - you'r welcome - I'm up to lose 2kg this month.

The stress here at work is not helping however I am just going to have to rise above the madness. Afraid things are a bit awry with the good folks in this asylum and as a consequence I go home eat and go to bed and am letting myself talk myself out of exercising and eating the good stuff. So it's time to get tough.

I looked at my contract last night and can't get out of it before September or there will be penalties, so I might as well relax and go with the flow. Ultimately, it won't be me that suffers, it will be the system users, so why should I care - probably because I was reared with the saying that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well. I'm too old to change my ways completely now. I can accept the new and it is not all bad, just to my way of thinking not good enough for the working people. I've said it before and now wheels are starting to turn in the back of the brain. It may be time to move on to something completely new.

YP - good to see you back and so glad you had a great time. I'm with you 110% on cheeses. I just love them. I would (if I could) have them with every meal. But.......

Hiya Mel and Holly and Happy and Meadow. Where are Teel and Tig? Evening Linus + bump


Gotta go. Have a test this morning to see if my training is going to be good enough. Better figure out what I am going to read from the OnDemand board. One no longer has to know ones subject - just read it from the online screen documentation and then get the good folks to do the same. Should get plenty of practice on the enter key.

I was in Tucson, Arizona last week for a conference. I learned that I don't like Tucson. I have cactus allergies and they were in full bloom. I did wake up at 5:00 AM and go running so that was the saving grace of it all from the weight standpoint.

This past Saturday was a 5K and I came in third in my age group. It was an extremely hard race for me - hot and humid after getting home from the dry desert. I ran only the first mile and then ran and walked the second. The third mile I walked more than ran. My slowest time in a very long time. Drat. Still. I got a medal so No Whining accepted. Reat.

The weekend was great overall. Slim and I went for a ride on his Harley and had a great time. We went to a Harley Art event in the local park one day and felt very Bikers. ;) We went for a ride down the beach highway another morning and had breakfast at a new place. I love breakfast. And we went to the movies. Twice! We saw the new Star Wars and the Kingdom of Heaven. Great weekend!

Hurricane season officially starts today so Slim went to the store to stock up on batteries and water. He also replaced some of our ailing gas cans. Hopefully we won't need them as frequently this year as last. Every area has its challenges. Arizona is too hot for me. Maine is too cold. Kansas has too many tornados and California has too many mud slides. And that's just the USA! :D

The thugs had a glorious time. Slim had evidently painted The Fort the appropriate camouflage. The thugs buried each other in the sand box right before they were supposed to leave to go home. I hosed them down before leaving. Of course, one of them thought he might return the favor and hose me down. He forgot that I raised his father. The water line was redirected to the other hose. :lol:

Shad ~ I so much commiserate with where you've found yourself on your project. I've grown so weary of the project that I am on and the daily nonsense and posturing. You can do it until September, though. Keep pressing that <Enter> key. Use whichever finger is appropriate.

S'Mel ~ aka GlowWorm ~ you are right that you are the one that knows what you can do. Take care, Dear One. Don't make me come up there! :rofl:

Holly ~ it is so hard to know what to do when the 'Awesome Offer' appears out of the blue. Okay, I'd take it. But we're all different! And so are our circumstances. Actually, I am in awe when I read about all the kiddos you have at your house. I'm good with kids, but not when they outnumber me QUITE that much!! :lol:

Meadow ~ House Doctor? Beiges and neutrals? For real? I actually have no style sense at all. I can make beiges and neutrals clash. :encore: Oh, and about AB. Isn't there a new movie coming out?

happy ~ there is something about farm salmon having PCBs, I think. We were supposed to stick with farm salmon because the wild salmon were being fished out, but now the farm salmon has chemicals. Whatever. I love salmon. My favorite sushi is salmon. My favorite dish that Slim makes is Thai salmon. Yum to salmon.

linus and bump ~ {{{{HUGS}}}} Keep well. Stay well.

teel ~ Glad you had Bob the Builder to work on your shower. Now, I've just read that sentence. No comment. Are you all packed for traveling?

blush ~ glad the van's back on track again, so to speak.

Yp ~ Congrats on all the hiking! It will definitely make a difference in the pounds (and not meaning money) department!

FINALLY caught up. If I left anyone out, please forgive Old Age and the Failing Computer Battery.

Miss Tig! So good to see you here again. sorry about Tucson! I would have come and picked you up in the race with my :scooter: We could have ridden the last mile! :rofl: If you do come up....bring the marmalade! :lol3: glad the thugs liked the fort. They can defend it every time they come!
I just heard about the huricane season over the weekend! 5 tornadoes the other day! Welcome home!

Shad~ Too bad about the contract. You know things could be worse.....I could be one of the students! :rofl: :lol3: Hope it all goes a well as possible. I have great faith in your abilities as yuou know! LOL Hang in there. Good luck with the back to basic thing!!! Me too!!! :lol:

YP1~ Welcome home to you also! glad the trip was so nice for all that hiking. Loved the post. so informative and made me hungry too! :rofl: do you have any photos?!?!? I am always asking that question.....I'm an armchair traveler! :rofl:

Well chicks.....I did the food shop but it was a quick one. Seems I had a cyst in my eye and it broke. Never even knew it was way up under the eyelid!!! :rofl: Is this NOT my year?!?!? so much for the Year of the Effing Rooster.....must not be my animal!!!:rofl:
I feel fine now after the drops and willy came inside the store and checked my groceries and packed them on the self serve. Getting all kinds of attention!!! Loving every minute of it too! :dance:
I am gonna do some cardio and pedal for awhile. I am in a challenge today for a POP day. also joined Shad and the rest for Back to Basics!!! Hoping to lose one lb a week and do all my assorted exercises:D Nothing too aggressive....just the basics!!!Have a great night to all!!!

I just love it when I am right!!!!!

This is a Shad loving session. Tune out if it gets too cheesy.
Yesterday we had a session where the trainers had to put on a demonstration in front of their peers. Demonstrating the training strategy.
Trainer numero uno (by his own admissions) took centre stage and executed a flawless performance if you were an accountant - the one that was there understood everything - no one else understood a lot including me. Sure it was easy enough to do because the training tool took you through it and if you didn't know an answer you simply hit enter and lo the answer is forthcoming! But no one could do the transaction in real life - apart from the accountant.
Then another trainer came in and hummed and hahhed his way through the transaction but - at least I understood what he said and we could do the transaction in the system with the aid of the training tool. Then oh blessed sound, the fire alarms went off and we all had to evacuate the building by the stairs - from the 12th floor. So down 12 flights of stairs we went and then had to hang about while the fire person got his breath back (yep totally out of shape, sorry MEL) and told us we were too slow getting down the stairs. Considering the Fire Wardens were in the front we had no choice about the time we took, they dictated the speed. Most of us could have gone a lot faster. Then it was back up in the lift to carry on. Unfortunately we had run out of time. Oh how sad. So the boss trainer decided that since I was the 'least' experienced I still had to do mine. No problem. The HR people had gone. The big bosses had gone, I'm left with a proper training class and a bunch of trainers. So I went through my spiel, had a few jokes, made them do things they didn't want to do and for my pains scored the highest marks of the day. 5's all round (top mark is 5). So there put that one in your pipe and smoke it. Management has left me an email this morning asking me to do it all over so they can see what I did. Sorry no can do, tied up with meetings most of the day and going over my running list so that I can do the real thing properly on Monday. Don't have time for posturings and criticisms - I might yet get to like this contract.

Good to hear from Tig again. Sorry you had an ordinary trip to Tucson. But good that you kept up the running and exercise. Maybe I was lucky in Arizona, I went to Chino Valley and didn't find the heat too bad at all. My sinuses went somewhere else and I could breathe. Oh happy day. Maybe I should move there. They aren't performing too well here at the moment either.

Weekend will be busy again. Painting, sanding, cleaning up, etc etc. The roses are coming into bloom again and Mr Lincoln is outdoing the lot. Lovely red rose that. I'm about to go look at my time sheet for the week. It should be around 40 hours. I've just been packing up and going home regardless at 4.00pm. Next week will see it rise again no doubt.

Back to basics is working okay but I've run out of food in the house so will have to shop after the dentist tomorrow. Today's food will be bought (very carefully) in the shops. I've decided that gym will be 2 nights on and 1 night off as it becomes very hard to do a full days work and a work out every night of the week and it is tough on the body. Maybe I am getting old.

I owe, I owe so it's off to work I go. See ya

hello my freinds ,sorry to be an absent poster but life is just mayhem just now and something had to give ......and the computer was it !!!!!! if you are looking for a nice cheery post dont read any further.................... well dont say i didnt warn you !!!!
i have the house ,we veiwed on wednesday ,its lovely a bit small but bigger than what weve got ,i have a large back garden {well big for here}its 20foot by 35 foot at least ,the dogs will love it ,cleos been in the bad books all week !! we are chipmink sitting for mum and cleo has decieded that they are breakfast :o i am hoping that she will still have beasties to come home to {at this rate she wont} and there is at least 2 dents in this very large{4ft/3ft/2ft}and very expensive cage with the dog trying to headbutt her way through the bars :mad: ,andys going to try and knock them back out ,benjy is going to have to go to the dentist for a dental ,he hates having his teeth done and gets very upset when i brush them ,so i think hes got at least one to come out ????
craig has finished his exams :cp: amnd now we just have to wait 10 weeks for the results ,hes lined up a summer job though so he is trying {very trying actually} andys still not 100% hes still got this very strange rash and is having problems with his asthma just now too {boy have we picked the wrong time to move}
me well ???? im still being really sick all the time terrible heartburn and still not sleeping ,and ive spent a week shouting at people without actually solving things !!!!!! my sisters are all still at each others throats ,but one has gone to blackpool with mum and step dad and her kids so im getting a mini reprieve ,ive spent 2 days arguing with the council about the new house and the electricity and gas supplier ,they wanted to leave me with no gas and electric for 2-3 weeks unless i wanted to pay off the previous tenants debt in the token meters and use them till they could come and replace the meters :fr: :stress: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: i wont repeat what i told them its not for delicate ears so after 13 phone calls and numerous telling them to go take a flying f*** and then telling them to shove there house i will have gas and electricty for monday ,now all we have to do is buy a new fridge and seperate freezer and a new kitchen and well be fine :tantrum: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :faint: our new kitchen has one sink unit ,one top unit and 4ft of worktop????? at the mo i have 7 base units 3 top units and 20ft of workspace ,so we need to knock down some built in cupboards ,and get under worktop fridge and freezer and hubby is putting me in a new base unit 8ft of workspace and 2 top units ,so that i have a kitchen to move into :wizard: , so all andy has to do from monday is too >>>>>>> paint the livingroom,lay the laminated flooring,put up the new light fittings,curtain poles and curtains,paint both bedrooms,lay the carpet in both bedrooms,put up curtains and curtain poles in both rooms,demolish the built in cupboards,bulid and site the units for the kitchen fit the work tops ,and move us in ...........all in 6 days :wizard: :tired: :tired: :tired: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :faint: :faint: :faint: ill let you know how far we get lol
but for now my nice warm comfy bed and c,s,i {las vegas } is calling so ill pop back as i can and keep you all posted and every one keep well till i get back
kirsty and bump
ps ,holly you had me in fits ,reading your post i was flicking through and thought youd wee'ed on your garden :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: made my wek thanxs

Linus!! Glad to hear all your news. Sounds like it will be well fixed up for you!!
The kids and a shop cats piddle in the garden regularily. I usually make it to the bathroom.
Shad~all 5's is not news to us!!!! Good for you for showing them!!!!!
Oh Mel~should we fast forward to 2006 and get it all over with?? 205 days til Christmas!!
Tig~ nice to hear your news too. It is nice how much you enjoy the Thugs!!

Oh guess what - just got presented with a huge bunch of very sweet smelling flowers, thanking me for all my efforts. Not just me but.... all female trainers got flowers, men got cuff links.

When I got back from food shopping my left eye went bananas. Dry eye, rosacea all over the lower lid and allergic conjunctivitis all in the course of one hour Where were the warning signs? Or was I just ignoring them? Mama Mia! I am sick of being sick!
You must get tired of hearing of the Perils of Pauline<-----gonna change my name now!
The good news is that THIS TOO SHALL PASS AND..................
Today is eye drops and indoor sports. It’s crappy out anyway. Very dreary out today and tomorrow so it fits right in with my plans! I'll have to catrch up with you all another time. Stay out of trouble!!
Happy Friday!!!! and I will be back Monday(hopefully)

Woohoo Shad!!

(((((((Pauline/Mel))))))))

I did yoga yesterday and now I am achey. I guess I woke some muscles up.
I will do it again today.
Allergies are quite bad. I am very bleary in the mornings til the meds kick in and then by 9pm I am grumpy. sigh.
I had an Avon meeting yesterday with my supervisor. She adores me , lol! My sales are so good I will be receiving a $100 product bonus!!!!!!! Weeheee!!! She was also looking for a place to hold training workshops. I recommended our church.The church is in desperate need or income. Lots of back scratching going on and everybody is happy.I rock!!
I bought frozen FF yogurt cause I am craving icecream. I ate 3 serving throughout the day. Sigh. It could have been much worse but I promised myself I would have 1- 1/2 cup serving and that is it.
Bowling/pizza party for SS tonight.
No “plans” all weekend!!!!!!
We will host a 30th Bday party for a friend next Friday night.
House is tidy, bordering on clean??!!! Madness. Not sure what i will do with myself.
Soak in the tub for starters. Then yoga.

Have a footloose day.

So I have riden the bike twice, watched "Once upon a time in Mexico" the second time, AB eye candy, so I rode for a good 30min ;) Been out gardening a bit, pulling weeds, my hands are all dry and sore now and full of slivers from who knows what! My daughter's class came to our backyard today and released two butterflies which they had watched grow from caterpillars, very well behaved bunch of grade oners :D

Mel-:goodvibes: Jeepers, it just never stops! I wish I could give you a hug, it must piss you off bigtime to have your body thwart you this way. I hope you have a beautiful weekend and some lovely scented lotions to pamper yourself with.

Shad-aw, flowers, how divine! Don't you love acknowledgement of your efforts? You are such a star!! I don't care how many other people got stuff, you are the one that deserved it the most :) The lady with the power to connect the dots and cross the "t's" You are the trainer with the mostest!

Holly-aren't you the lady with all the connections?! People are going to expect it of you and come to you from now on when they have a dilemma that needs fixing. Yoga huh? I tried the Raquel Welch yoga tape, I couldn't even do the head arched back breathing thing, so I don't watch that any more :p Good for you if you can do the stretching and reaching and deep breathing, bet it feels good when you do it right.

Linus-Congratulations and how wonderful that you got the better of the power company, what shiesters! How are you managing on so little sleep? The little traveller must be enjoying all the awake time :smug: I hope all the fixings get done, sounds like a rather exhaustive schedule of activities, I can't even get sinks moved :s: I have bad builder karma :lol3:

Tig-nice to hear from you Biker chick! How early did you start your ride if you were stopping for breakfast? Aren't you and hubby a couple of early riders. The "House Doctor" program is on the Wnetwork up here in Canada, I think it runs on the BBC-America channel too down in the USA. She is a home stager from San Francisco who is in Great Britian to neutralize all personality out of their homes so that buyers can "see themselves" living in the homes and not just the bad decor choices of the current residents. It is a very funny show, the host Alistair Appleton is a blue eyed cutey with a fabulous wit and the chemistry between him and Ann Maurice "the house doctor" is hilarious. They are often comparing the way Americans do things, with the way the British do stuff. Like my favourite how do you say "mirror" the British pronounce every sylabble where the American pronounce it like "meer" They go on about silly stuff like that all the time and it is just too cute!

Dentists + my bone structure = big money
So I go to the dentist today to begin the root canal work on my poor little stubby tooth (which I might add I broke while eating chocolate - dangerous stuff that).
He gives the injections etc. He lays out the instruments of torture and puts a mouthful of steel into my mouth and a rubber sheet thingy that was supposed to keep out the bugs and then asks if I am okay. uh uhhh uhhh hooo says I.

He drills, he prods, he pulls, he pokes and he can’t get through the calcified layers which my body has laid down to protect the top of the tooth to find the second nerve. Yep I have two on this tooth apparently. So in the end he has to fill the hole and recommend me to a specialist who has the different levels of torture - uhhh sorry equipment. At this point in time I am trying to understand what is going on and end up with a couple of choices - a bridge, an extraction, an implant. The extraction is the cheapest but leaves a gap in the mouth, the bridge means that I can also get the tooth behind it done if I wish which would mean a stronger couple of teeth (might last 20-50 years and not 5 or 10. Looks like I am up for a couple of grand for the bridge or about 4k for the implant (which is about 97% successful)

So at the very least I will probably get a bill for around $600 for the specialist consultation. Here we go again.

Following that, I did the shopping, found the DB2, made arrangements to watch footy together tonight and here I am. Washing is done, I’ve made a big batch of pumpkin soup for lunches etc., and a big bowl of fruit salad for breakfasts, not much in the way of housework though, and my trip to the gym will need to wait until tomorrow. Food hasn’t perhaps been the greatest, but water was okay.

Go Holly - the Ding Dong Avon Lady calling - isn't that the slogan??? Yes, the product mostly sells itself, but it has to be out there in the marketplace before people will buy it. I don't know of anyone who actually goes to the trouble to find an Avon lady.
Good on you too for the Yoga.

Meadow, 2 days on the bike - well done. Do 2 days again this coming week. You're on the way again.

Linus - I need your new address so I can post this parcel over. That way, it should get there around the same time as Teel does, you can open it together.

Talking of Teel :genie: get back in here woman!!!!

Mel, I knew that red eye was going to mean something - too many comments, that's what did it!!!!! We did try, Madcat, Raven Toy and I.

DB2 came over for the footy tonight. The bloody POMs beat the BOP boys. Teel will be pleased.

Hellooooo!!!

Sorry I haven't been on site for a while but with the study filled up with everything that is usually in the back porch, its been very difficult to get to the computer desk!

We are at the painting stage now so one wall is a lovely bright "lemon tropical!" colour. Its going to look fab when its all finished. Bob is also going to hook up an electricity supply to the garden shed so I can keep the scooter in there.. :scooter: and my utility room will really be the utility room it is meant to be.

Oh the rain has just started to pour down and the sky is black...:rain:

Sorry to not talk to everyone specifically but hello to you all!!

Dp you like my new siggie??

Yahoo Meadow!!! Keep riding sister!!!!!!
Well hello Teel!! I am very fond of yellow!!!!!It will always brighten your mood!!
Shad/Meadow~ I LOVE yoga and it scomes naturally to me. I dont go for the bouncy cardio stuff although it is what I need more of. Yoga is good for the soul too.
Gaiam has a good series Meadow, you can get them at walmart, there are 20 min beginner tapes.

My angels are outside taking kittens for rides in the wheebarrow!!
What can I say.....another perfectly beautiful day!!!!!!
No plans at all.
Ds got up by himself this morning, made a toaster waffle, put on cartoons and let us sleep in. He was VERY pleased ,as were his parents!!!
The bowling/pizza party went on til 10pm. Both kids had a blast and were actually well behaved. Hubby was at a friends. Both kids went to bed without problems.
I unfortunately was asked to bring home leftover pizza, so I ate it!!! ARG!!
I just has veggies at suppertime so I could have pizza later. I did NOT need the extra.
I farted around the house and the read til 1. Slept til 9:15!!!!!
The last week or so I have been experienceing these bursts of euphoric happiness. Like walking to the mailbox, feeling the sun on my face and hearing robins sing and I just about burst with joy!!! Last night the little kids were playing tag with the minister. My daughter ran up and smacked him on the butt. I laughed and again felt pure joy.
I am just plain happy, all day, every day. Delightful!!!!

At least it will be one day when all the renovating, gardening, building and fixing is done. At about the same time pigs will begin to fly to the moon, and all weeds will be eradicated from this world.

I went to the gym - before I could find enough words to change to my mind and talk myself out of it. I’ve done treadmill, stepper and bike. I shed loads of sweat and worked out my daily tasks while stepping it out. So this post is being done while I drink my breakfast cuppa (ginger and lime herbal tea) and eat the last of my toast (Sunday is always big breakfast day and normally I don’t bother with lunch because breakfast is big and late)

Today I’m up for :
Cleaning the bedroom and changing the linen
Painting the ceiling of the front hall
Painting the window surrounds in the lounge
Plastering the ceiling in the lounge.
Trimming some more of the hedge
Doing the linen laundry
Ironing
Visiting DS2
Getting my lunch and breakfast ready for tomorrow and packing the gym bag for tomorrow as well.

That should keep me busy for a while and that will just about be my weekend done.

I think I will have to do some budgeting for a new lawnmower. DS2 tells me this one (the communal lawnmower) is just about on its last legs and will not be able to be fixed too many more times economically anyway. So I’ll just have to go and buy a new toy. Drat. Maybe it will last until after the teeth - maybe not. Maybe I need to hire a horse for a week.

Neat siggy Teel and good to see you back and posting. Don't leave it so long next time ok?

Okay, hello to everyone else - probably snoozing their way through the night. It's okay, I'm not going to ring anyone to find out. It's time to hit the bedroom, change the bed, sweep the floor, dust anything else that stands still (the cat is down there trying to blend in with the bed linen (bright blue and gold - don't think so somehow) See ya

Howdy chickies,
Sorry I haven't been around. Family will all be here in less than 3 weeks so there's lots to do. I have to make like Shad I guess. Hmmm :chin: and she has time to do all that AND post so what's my excuse :dunno: Well actually I do admit to proscrastinating in front of the computer when I really should be doing other things. And I've been tired lately so I don't sit up late at night and post like I once used to. :comp:

They said we'd love April and May here. And it's true. Was in the mid 80's temp wise but you'd never know it with the low humidity. Well come the first of June and I walked outside and BAM! we're living in the bloody tropics here! All I did was go out and weed the garden a bit and you'd thought I ran a marathon. At least it's now warm enough to go in the pool. I have started doing laps yesterday and will continue to get some exercise in.

Not doing too badly on the Back to Basics Challenge. I am watching food carefully, trying to get my water in but need to step up the exercise. Must have been the week for fire drills Shad as last Monday we had one too. Guess I can't complain as I only had to walk down 10 floors, not 12 like you. And I did feel it in the calves for several days. So the rest of the week I played a game. I'm on the top floor of the building and I would ride the elevator / lift as usual. However, I would ride as high as the highest floor button pressed and get off on their floor and take the stairs the rest of the way - except of course if I was loaded down with purse, laptop, carry bag and lunch bag. Been lucky as the most I've had to walk up is 3 floors so far but it's a good habit to get in some extra exercise I think. And I always park at the far end of the parking lot. But with this growing heat and humidity, walking will have to be done in the cool indoors.

DH is going to buy a pellet gun today. The blackbirds are invading the feeder and chasing off the other birds - bird gangs we call them as they travel in packs. Also we bought a trap yesterday as the raccoon has ravaged my garden once more and for the last time. We put bacon in it as suggested and saw the devil last night reaching into the case - not stepping into it to set off the trap of course. Twice he was successfully able to get the bacon without entering the cage. (We both think the trap tho sized for raccoons is a bit too small.). Not about to spend $100 for a larger trap. Fun, fun, fun.

Love your new signature Teel - it's very colorful, very you. Sorry to hear about the dental work Shad, I know where you're coming from, we just paid off the dental bill for me. Ouch for the work, ouch for the expense! Good on yah for showing them just how training should be done. Holly, I like the Gaiam series exercise tapes too. I like Susan Deason for yoga and Ana Cabon for Pilates. Just dug those out last week as a matter of fact. Pedal away Meadow- you can have races with Miss Mel who is pedalling her way across the map to visit each and every one of us. :ebike: How's those peepers doing Mel? Tig I hope you have a quieter storm season. After last year I'd be freaking over the words "hurricane season". Hellos to Nae and YP1. Guess I'd better get running, DH is calling and I promised to unpack at least 5 boxes today.

Enjoy your day... and Teel, I've sent you an email (thanks Shad for the message).

Good morning 3FC and a sunny morning it is. I was doing well over the weekend but was on the pc yesterday. Jen fell while up at the trailer and they e-mailed me all day. Guess the eye couldn’t take it and we’re using the phone now! My eye looks like ground beef this morningand is killing me. I’ll be back next week hopefully. The Drs see 5 fractures in her arm but cannot make up their minds whether they are old or new We’ll know more in a few days. Take care and stay out of trouble till I return....I wouldn’t want to miss anything

Healing thoughts to you Mel and for Jen. The poor dear.Take care!!!
Hi Happy~ we have many critters here too!! The shop cats actually help keep many at bay.
Shad~ my days of rest are much like yours! Hope your work week is positive!!!
Ding Dong!
I entered my first Avon order last night. It’s over $400. I will earn 40% of that!!!!!!
Not bad for 2 weeks as a rep and I have spent a total of 2 hours working at it.
Yesterday was purely delightful!!!
SS was nice. When I got home I finished the last part of the basement floor.
Dh and DS went fishing. DD watched a show.
DH went to town to watch a race with the guys. The kids and I went to a bday party.
I love our friends in town. There were about 10 kids and all their parents. The kids swam, bounced on the trampoline and played ball.There was much laughter and festivities. it was 31C here and humid. I had a few beers. It was sooooo relaxed and lighthearted. We are all sunkissed!!
5 kids today.Another hot one!! I will get the sprinkler out.

I am wearing tshirt from 2 summers ago when I was down to 226. Last year I popped back up and felt gross. My XXXL tshirt is falling off my shoulder and looks like a tent. So I am in 1X and 2 X tops!!! I feel pretty good.
DH cut the grass in the eve and then we had a wonderful summer thunderstorm. This morning everything is twinkling in the sun and bright green and fresh. mmmmmmmm

Have a grand day!!!

My aplogies for lack of comment lately ladies - we have begun training at the lunatic asylum and the inmates are in deep shock!!! Seriously. yesterday was the kick off for training in the new system to be implemented July 4 and although I was already working 9 and 10 hour days, yesterday turned into 12. Don't know who dreamed up this course I'm doing but the timing is way, way out. Such fun!!!!! Not.

Tonight after the asylum, I go to the DB1's place to give some more instruction on how to.............. Tonight I think we will look up things on the internet, install Quicken and Office and run through Word in a hurry. That should paralyse his brain for the coming week.

Gotta run. Try to find some more time tonight or maybe during the day as I am not expected in the training room until 10am (beats 9.00) and should be able to finish around 5ish hopefully.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :cry: :nono: :listen: :fr: :fr: :fr: :stress: :stress: :stress: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: that just about sums up my day
take care all
kirsty+bump

HUGS Shad!!! Hope all went well.

Linus!!! dear Linus. I am not sure a hug is quite enough!! I will send one anyhow(((HUG)))) and peaceful, harmonius energy flying across the ocean!!!!

Linus, better start doing yoga or something before you squeeze "bump" out from the sheer frustration. See what happens when you have to endure 9 months of no beer or a glass of wine to calm the world down... Tell the family to be nice to you, just for one day... Hugs to you...

And to you Mel of the tender eyes. :cool: Hope Jen will be ok. 5 fractures - sounds like quite the tumble. Owwwwwwwwwwwwww.... stick with the phone, rest the eyes and try not to be too worried. Yeah, right, huh?

Holly, holly, holly - yeah for the smaller shirt sizes, yay for the great Avon order. Sounds like things are looking up for you! :cp: :cp:

And my poor friend Shad - 12 hour days :yikes: thought they were limiting you on the hours? Sounds suspiciously like the government to me... When I was between jobs I took a temp job working for the 2000 Census count. I was doing all the coordinating and much of the training for the whole regional area. It was a job that was a minimum 65 hours a week at least. More as we got into the actual census operation. But being the government they planned late, delayed with red tape and stopped paying you after 40 hours. Took a miracle of God to get overtime approved. They play on your sense of duty and responsibility to get the job done without proper pay. Don't burn yourself out, don't give away all the milk for free either. Sounds like you are in the jaws of the lion right now.

I've not been sleeping well myself. More than half my daily water seems to be at night and we all know what that means **sleep walking down the halls every hour it seems***. Feeling achy too. I'm going to try cutting out sugar as I suspect that might be the culprit. Easier said than done. I like my sugar. Even if it's just sugary fruit like watermelon. I guess I am a carboholic after all...

Ah, washing machine has finished the cycle, pop the load in the dryer and I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams and happy Tuesday to you...

Mel gave my daughter an eye infection :p She is on Polysporin eyedrops today and tomorrow, if it doesn't clear up... off to the doctor. She was at a free for all birthday party yesterday which is where I think she picked it up, a place called Crash Crawlies where the kids run riot in big cages while the parents sip coffee in the lounge below. Not me of course, my heart is in my throat desperately trying to keep track of mine as they travel from one end of the building to the other in the rafter cages :dizzy: Not doing much, had barbecue chicken and burgers for dinner, scalloped au gratin potatoes. Nothing beats chicken done on a barbecue, slurp, so tender :eating:

:goodvibes:Mel-Good golly I hope Jen isn't in a cast and imbolized. Your family needs to get a exorcism done on your space to stop all these bad things happening. When you are out and about go light a candle at the local catholic church, I always see people in Mexico doing it and it seems to make them feel protected from evil. I like rituals anyway, I would like to take a little bit from every religion and just revel in it all. I like the budist thing of lighting candles and incense and chanting, omh. Fingers crossed for your eyes feeling better soon. My daughter says her eye feels hard and is sore. I guess yours is much the same :hug:

Shad-what are you going to do with these people? Do they honestly think you don't have a life? How can you work 12 hour days? that stinks! eight hours is enough for anybody! you negotiating for time and a half? I'm sorry you are being put through the wringer trying to get everything clicking over and helping these people function at a useful level. I bow to your great patience and intellect which must surely dwarf all!

Holly-wow on the Avon order and your cut! Do you get money or Avon products as that 40% Great to hear about your twinkling days and sun kissed bodies, I may have an AB pic like that :p I am jealous of your smaller t-shirt size, but then you have been putting in the exercise where I have not. Note to self "just do it!" :lol:

Happy-how is our resident mermaid feeling today? I bet the flowers are blooming a treat around your southern climes. I'm sorry the water intake is giving you nightly up and downs, best have that bottle hooked to your hip starting first thing in the morning with a sipper straw so that it isn't all concentrated into the evening or maybe go to sleep later :^:

Linus-OH! that post looked scary... have they droven you around the bend? are you off to the spa for a rest? Tell the buggers you are pregnant and are not to be upset. Tell them to take their bad energy elsewhere, you and the little bundle of joy must be relaxed and happy. Tell them to stay out of your space if they can't behave. Tell them you are going to pack up and not come back till after the baby is born if they don't smarten up and back off. Tell them you are a woman with raging hormones and they better stop messing with you :D

Teel-love your new siggy, too divine! I hope the weather has cleared and the paint has dried. Phone Linus will you, the buggers are getting up her nose and she needs a good vent ;) :dizzy:

Meadow~ your post make me incredibly happy!!! I am not getting a lot of extra exercise.I never quit moving on most days. I am eating a LOT less and I am happy and sleeping well. That is the difference!!!
Happy~ get that water in early!!! I have realized I couldn't work out of the home cause I pee constantly. I drink 2 coffees in the morning and 20 oz of water. Then I have another 60 oz throughout the day.Needless to say my plumbing in clean.

The 40% is cash profit but I do get a $100 product bonus for having a first order over $400!!!!!!!!! I am dancing in the street and everywhere else.
Have I mentioned I rock at networking. It is so effortless. I feel so ME!!! I basically earned $80 an hour for 2 hours work!!!!!!!! yeehaaa. DH thinks he is going to retire soon.LOL!!
I am getting boring with all this good cheer!!
Yesterday was marvy!!!
I put on my brown shorts from last summer that were tight across the belly and crotch and now they are baggy right outa the dryer. Weeeheeeeee!!!!!!
My weight loss is very slow BUT if you compare back to last summer there is a noticable difference in the right direction!!!!!!
I made 2 salads last night.
I am “catering” the school council dinner/ meeting tonight!!
We were going to go out for dinner but not enough funds so for $6 per person to cover costs I am making pastistio, greek pasta salad, cucumber salad, broccoli salad and cheese herb biscuits. A Dad/friend is doing desserts.We actually make an awesome team. We have done this before.
I had an annoying exchange with Mom through email. She got a couple of snotty digs in.I have cut out the weekly phone calls. I thought a weekly email would be okay but it still hurts me so it looks like I will go biweekly for now or just wait it out and let her do the contacting.
There is a 2nd cousin getting married this weekend and it would seem the folks and the aunt are hosting a bunch of family. No one has talked to me for a month so i didn’t know. Hence the snotty comments. Apparently besides being beautiful and clever I am psychic also. Whatever.
4 toddlers today. Lots of cooking happening to get ready for tonight.
We will also be doing a close to final edit of the parent handbook. I have received wonderful response from the kindergarten teacher!!!

Have a spectacular day!!!

Hello everyone. Busy, busy busy!

Still losing, still exercising and eating well, and still running round after family who keep on coming to stay with me.

just a wee quicky post ,the family are behaving themselves{yes even craig}we are just having ww3 trying to get someone to admit liability for the new house having no gas ,gas central heating ,gas hot water ,gas fire,and i have a gas cooker but NO GAS ,so after 28 phone calls 10 hissy fits and gooodness knows how many boxes of tissues we know who is responsible and what happened just not when they are going to fix it !!!!!!!! so we dont know if we are going to have gas to move in with ,apart from that everything is going good ,the living room and 2 bedrooms are painted and the carpets come on thursday ,my new fridge and freezer will be delivered on friday and when the gas board get there finger out the flooring will go down in the living room too ,hopefully ill get this fixed tomorrow ill let you know
love to you all
kirsty+bump from mental central

:coffee: Mornin Chickies,
Well we discovered night before last that we have not one but TWO :yikes: raccoons invading the yard. DH tried to shoot them with his pellet gun but all they did was run over the fence and peek over waiting for us to go back into the house. We set a trap, they ate all the bait without stepping on the gizmo that springs the door shut. Last night we taped a piece of bacon to the "gizmo" so that they'd HAVE to touch it and it's still there this morning. I have a nice little crop of baby tomatoes and I swear if they hit the garden again I'll sit out there all night with a baseball bat! :rollpin: Crafty little buggers they are... I told DH maybe we should put up some chicken wire around the garden patch. That sure would look ugly after we spent time renovating the whole yard but what can you do? :dunno: Guess we have to stop feeding the birds but that's not going to happen I can tell you...

Other than that, work is busy but I at least feel like I'm keeping my head above water. (Barely). Been getting caught up in what I'm working on, leaving later and later. By the time I get home and eat, it seems time for bed. Work really interferes with the better bits of life I tell you.

Linus it sounds as if the house tho full of frustrations is coming along nicely. Soon this will be behind you hopefully and you'll be enjoying your new place. Holly I'm sorry that your mom and family seem to carry an attitude. I thought that was the in-laws job! :lol: Good of you not to let it get under your skin. Meadow, hope you daughter is feeling better. I second that motion on barbeque chicken **toasts Meadow with a drumstick** I love it too.

Well it's time to run and take a shower and get my day started. Perhaps I can get in to work a bit earlier and leave a bit earlier. Think so? :no: probably not the way I dawdle in the mornings. Have a good one all.

Well, I have been keeping up with you all just not feeling like talking as I have been so upset lately. Just the trials of Motherhood and it never ends or the worrying and disbelief at their choices sometimes. Anyway, I know they must make their own mistakes.
anyway, the weather has cooled off and we have rain and snow. So the yard is looking good. and I worked hard to get all my new trees covered with wire to keep the deer away. I am still weed control on 5 acres is never never ending. Watching and enjoying my birds. The nest of 4 baby robins left the nest on Sunday just before a huge wind and rain storm but I hope they make it. THe little kill deer at busy on the driveway every day. Soon it will be another batch of babies on the way in every nest.
I am getting some company this weekend which will be nice and an extra hand for me to get some work done.
My thoughts to all of you for each of your struggles and trials. Each day is our challenge to try to do better and to continue on this journey set before us.
Many Blessings,
Peace,
nae

HUGS Nae~ sorry for your troubles!! My warm thoughts are with you.
Happy~ cheers :cofdate: I will join you in that morning coffee, MMMMM! Nothing quite like it!
Sorry about the coons. We have skunks issues too. VERY smelly some nights.Glad you are getting on top of work. Sorry it is cutting into home time.
Give that hubby a big hug tonight.
I am missing my guy a bit too. He is working longer hours, I was out last night.
Linus~ glad you are getting things ironed out. It never seems to go smoothly with a move. Rub your belly and say hello to Bump for me.
Dinner last night was a success.Less people than confirmed so we have leftovers for dinner tonight.
The meeting went well. Wrapped up yearend stuff. We have a parent training conflict resolution workshop next week, Wed to Fri. I have booked off from babysitting. We will finalize the parent handbook next Thurs evening.
Got home at 9pm last night. Didn’t go to bed til 1:30.
First I kissed my angels goodnight and flitted about tidying, did a load of wash and folded another. Gathered the trash.
I watched some of the Brad Pitt interview. MMMMMM. I adore him. Besides being the sexiest man alive, I love the way he speaks and processes his life and sees it as a gift and journey.It is not really about his looks but I love the way he moves and carries himself. It was the icing on a delish cake of a day. Later I watched Canadian Idol and thought through the events of my day and then I read for a bit.

Today I need to “design” a flyer for Gala Days/Turtle Races to go out to the local schools this Fri.
I still have pots to wash from all the cooking yesterday.
4 little people here today.

Have a peaceful day!!!!!

A quickie post~ jen is wearing a padded/steel reinforced cast. The fractures may be old but to heal she needs the arm immobilized during the day. The pain is minimal and she is feeling much better. She says we're not allowed out till after the year of the rooster is over:rofl: I went to the dr and it's the rosacea again. New drops and meds! (sigh) it's like going from the sublime to the ridiculous! I will try and get someone to read for me or do a bit each day. But not till the drops begin to work.
It's so bad this time that they are blaming the accident for the trauma/stress. they gave me a list of things I cannot eat till it goes into remission. Nothing I didn't already know! :lol3:
Hope everyone is well. I miss you all. Such is life....or at least MY life! LOL Take care. Love, Mel

Well my daughter has pink eye so she was wisked off to the doctor and got the good prescription meds corteosporin drops. She is back in school and not feeling like she has a rock for an eyeball anymore :^:
*don't read this next little bit if you are feeling waffley in your motivations*
I'm off the rails again... this time it is Deliah Smith's fault. (I am totally to blame, but I like dropping celebrities names :cool: ) I was watching her summer series of cooking recipes and she made this lime cake with lime glaze icing which just called for me to try it. OMG, it is so yummy. We already had the limes sitting in a bowl on the kitchen table and so, you know, that equated cake in my twisted, calorie chasing brain :p Cup of tea and lime cake, slurp :s: My hair is frizzy too :o :p

Holly-big hug for all your happy moments and busy life that keeps you away from the food. Brad Pitt huh?! I think Antonio stole scenes in a movie with him in it once :p :devil: :lol:

YP1-:wave: good that all is clicking along in your little corner of the world, drop in more often and give us some details:)

Linus-Gah! about the house stuff. Fingers crossed that it all comes together soon and you will have a nice cup of hot tea in your new space with a bright light shining and all cozy warm. We are set to go up to our new abode to paint the doors and trim and other odd bits like hang the curtains and make lists of what else needs doing :?: :dizzy: Trick will be to occupy the kids while we are trying to get all this stuff done, I have suggested we take the vcr and some of their videos but that will only hold them for about an hour unless we buy them some new ones. :^:

Happy-Those raccoons sound like they need a trapper to make coon hats out of them. Rotten little marauders! Do you have deer too? They will eat the trees. How about bears? They will eat all the fruit from the trees. How about squirrels? They will chew up your bird feeder and scatter all the seeds everywhere. We have a skunk that lives down the back of our yard. Only smell it on the odd occasion that something spooks it. My husband saw it waddling down our driveway the other night. We have raccoons too but they just attack my kids foam pool toys and rip them to shreds. Don't let the job dictate your life, it isn't what you will remember in the later years. Try and pace yourself and allow some things to sit overnight, it will still be there in the morning when you are happy and well rested to start at it afresh;)

Rose-aw, your family must surely adore you. Bless you for worrying about them and their choices, you will be there when it all goes pear shaped, but you are right, they have to make the mistakes for themselves :) Don't you just thrill to the sounds of baby birds? There is a tiny bird's nest in my rose bush with babies in it. The nest is a big ball with a little hole for them to get in and out, they are really tiny birds, sparrows maybe.

Mel-YIKES! Hugs to you and Jen and a big roll of bubble wrap! So you are on a strick regime of foods till this clears up? How is that working with your new plan? Don't get drepressed about this now, it is just another blip, you will see the other side soon. Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

Shad-how is it going? Are they getting it yet? Are you calm? Are you feeling encouraged? Do you need a quote too? * Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.
Saint Francis de Sales


PERSEVERE!

Oh Mel!! So glad you popped in!! Hope you are both on the mend. We could cook the rooster and eat it!!!!

Meadow~ I thought we might have to wrestle over the Brad/Antonio thing.It was Interview With a Vampire and I will admit Antonio stole*those* scenes.

Lime cake???? :listen: LIME CAKE SHE SAID????? Lime cake???? *** sticks fingers in ear while rocking head going la, la, la --- on second thought, better tape mouth shut too*** :tape: Meadow, I am glad that cake is far, far away from me --- it sounds divine. I could not be trusted with an entire cake in my house. :lol: :T Gosh I remember having pink eye as a kid- mom would soak cotton balls in something - not sure what as our eye lids would get stuck together overnight and we couldn't see through the crusties. Poor little kid, hope she feels better.

Nae, I'm sorry you are a worried mom of late. As one of those kids who had to just try things for myself no matter what... sometimes you just have to look the other way and mutter a few prayers for them. Some of us only learn by doing things ourselves, no matter how scary the choices. We have some new people who started at work - fresh faced and right out of college. I look at them and wonder - were we ever that young??? Baby robins sound cute, snow on the ground in June does not. Brrrrrr.

The heat is on. All the printers crashed at work late this afternoon. I took this as an omen from God that I was meant to go home 20 minutes early as I was unable to do any more testing without being able to print. I really didn't get home any earlier as I hit the worst of the traffic and the town's big horse show is on this week - only one road to get to the fairgrounds and that's between my house and the office. Every night for the last 2 nights I have made the turn on the road, gone about 500 feet and then remembered that I was SUPPOSED TO GO A DIFFERENT WAY TONIGHT. Sit in stalled traffic for 20 minutes taking deep relaxing breaths and keeping my hand off the car horn lest the police decide to make an example of one inpatient yankee. :devil: :D Did get home about 5 minutes earlier than usual. Had a quickie dinner planned so there was plenty of time to go in the pool for a swim. The water is cool at first but if you move around it's not too bad. I bought all sorts of pool things I remembered from water aerobics classes. Did my upper body lifts with the dumbells, did several leg exercises, a bit of swimming laps and finished it off with sets of water jogging - sounds easy but it isn't. 1 minute of racing like mad in place in the deep end of the pool. Good thing the dumbells float as they held me up. I did 6 sets of the 1 minute jog. Plenty of room for improvement and stamina building. All in all I got about 45 minutes of a workout in. Not bad. And I had the metabolism revved a bit right before I ate rather than right before bedtime. Before you know it, it's time to dry off, make dinner, clean up, read a few posts and it's almost time for bed.

I am making a list of things that I keep forgetting to get done as the evenings fly by. I'm trying to get back to Fly Lady good habits again and take care of at least 2 small To Do tasks along with doing some sort of daily exercise. Those are my priority items. Wish there were more hours in the day, don't we all?

Holly, I do feel for you with a skunk problem. We had them at our old house, one night I found one right on our front stair eating some birdseed we had left for the winter creatures. Guess skunks will eat anything when they are hungry. Between the moles and raccoons and pesky blackbirds and burrowing squirrels, I sure hope we don't have to deal with skunks too. Ok so fess up, what's the Gala Days and Turtle races all about?

Mel, sorry to hear the peepers are acting up again. Does this mean bland diet time again? Glad to hear Jen is feeling a bit better tho it's not easy having to keep your arm immobilized. You too take care of each other!

Meadow, I appreciate your sincerity in "don't let the job dictate your life" however companies today expect that you give and give and give until you drop. Get the work done with more work, less people --- better, faster, cheaper in today's marketplace. Gone are the posters and talk of a balance between life, work and family. The more you give, the more they expect. It is a sad commentary on how far things have detiorated. Ok, ok, I will get down before my giant soapbox rises from the middle earth. :lol:

Speaking of which, Shad I hope you got home at a more decent hour tonight. Those long days and nights at work wear on you quickly. 10pm???? Pretty late for an early to bed, early to rise kind of gal. I'd wish this was temporary but I know better - will wish it for you anyway.

Time to do a quick tidy up, finish the dishes, do a few crunches and off to bed. Been waking up at 5:30 about 30 minutes early. Was thinking it would be perfect to get in some early morning exercise.

Ok, I'm off - will see you tonight in my dreams - having tea on the veranda with a gentle breeze blowing, good conversations with you all :gossip: and just the teensiest taste of Meadow's lime cake :coffee2:

Caught an episode of "My so called Life" a series from back in the 90's about a teenager and her angst. Just thought I would take a cursory glance on the internet to see what kind of quotes from this show were out there and found these few which I rather like :)

"Sometimes it seems like we're all living in some kind of prison, and the crime is how much we all hate ourselves. It's good to get really dressed up once in a while and admit the truth -- that when you really look closely, people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually beautiful. Possibly even me."

Sometimes someone says something really small and it just fits into this empty place in your heart.


"This life has been a test. If it had been an actual life, you would have received actual instructions on where to go and what to do."

"So I tried to be invisible. It's surprisingly possible. You just sit in
the back and keep quiet and let the boys shout out the answers, which they
will, even if they're wrong. Boys are less afraid of being wrong."

"But there are sometimes in my life where being me, right now, where I am, is just like, enough. "

Hiya
Not sure what to write tonight since I feel almost totally stonkered. It's been a big couple of days and I'm really looking forward to the long weekend break. All I want to do is shut up, no talking, easy listening music and some quiet. My tinnitus is particularly bad tonight. I'm going to put myself to bed shortly just to get away from the noises in the ears.
Life is slowly settling down in the asylum. I was hoping to get away early tomorrow night but in true spirit of the place, they want to have a daily wrap of the training done. Fair enough but I reserve the right to be quiet all through it. Tomorrow I must get back to the gym as well. I haven't been since Tuesday. Last night it was going to the DB1's place and tonight I didn't feel up to it and also I had left the cat inside and didn't want to risk the consequences any longer. So instead of being good and getting on with the housework, I've just been lounging around vegetating and yawning.

Good to see everyone posting - how are we doing on the back to basics challenge??? I must admit that I am just holding my own. Not drinking enough water and probably not eating enough either. My weight seems to have gone back into a holding pattern. Not going to to the gym frequently doesn't help with the problem either.

Lime cake - Meadow. Oh that does sound good. I would just love to have a slice of that, a long drink of lime juice and water and either a soak in the bath with scent and candles or a swing in the hammock with a good gentle book. Not that I would be awake long to read it.

Hi to the everyone else, soory I can't go through all the posts. I'll be better tomorrow I guess!!! - are Tig and Teel having communication problems or something??

Happy/ Nae~ I was one of those kids too. Although In didn't get much direction form the adults in my life either. I do think the love and caring ,Nae, will make all the difference in the world. I am counting on it with my own babes.
Shad~ get thee to bed!!!! Hope your weekend is VERY relaxing!!
Meadow~beautiful quotes, how true!!!
I LOVE lime anything!!! So refreshing!!
I have a couple of small grumbles today!
It is not all good cheer today LOL!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday was delightful!!!!!!
4 kids all day yesterday. It was peaceful. I did ALL those dishes and relaxed a bit.
We went down to a neighbours to swim all aft. 31c and steamy hot here. It was glorious. Came home and heated up leftovers.Back down to the neighbours so DS could swim too. I am such a nice mom. Dropped the kids at home, went to the library and picked up an Elmore Leonard book. I keep hearing about him but have never read any.
Spent a couple of peaceful hours hanging out with my hubby. We were up late again.
Here are my minor gripes, #1-I aked DH to bring in the garbage pails and clear the dinner table and he did neither. I just did them while I was getting the kids packed up and ready for school. I was a tiny bit irritated.
Gripe #2- LOL! My good friend’s neighbour asked us to host a bday party for my friend and I gladly agreed.It was supposed to be about 20 eoeple for a fire& festivities, byob and very casual. It seems to have grown from what I have heard from people planning on coming( yikes). My angst is that my house looks like a bomb went off. I have 4 kids today, 6 tomorrow we have baseball tonight and gymnastics tomorrow followed immediately by this gathering. When the heck am I going to get this stuff done!!!!! At least I am not preparing any food.

What I want to do is put together the fort under the stairs in the basement for the kids!!!! The paint is all dry!!!! I will probably do that first and satisfy my creative juices and then do some cleaning at nap time.

That’s about it in my exciting life!!!!!

Have a cool refreshing day!!!!

( thank god for central air)

Good afternoon to all!
It looks about to storm here as the sky has gone a dark grey ...I suppose we could do with the rain and I don't mind as long as it is late on in the day and doesn't spoil the sunshine too much!!

Well the news of the week is that mum has been in hospital 60 miles away with heart failure. She found it very difficult to breathe on Sunday night and was whisked aay by ambulance early Monday morning. They took a long time to decided whether she was suffering from a chest infection or heart failure (!) :^: but finally decided it was the latter and kept her in till Wednesday afternoon when the consultant said he would let her go home if she promised to come back to the clinic for further tests!! Of course she was off like a rocket! ;) When I rang her on Monday night she was so delerious and didn't know what she was saying but told me not to ring her in hospital and so on. It turned out she had a fever of 38.2 degrees centigrade so no wonder she was delirious... :hot: :headache: Anyway she is safely home now and looking forward to a peaceful night's sleep in her own bed where she can throw the covers back.

Meanwhile Holly has been sick a few times this week. I starved her on Tuesday and she seemed completely better yesterday but I have just got home from the supermarket and to my horror she has been sick again :barf: :barf: all over the kitchen carpet (washable, thank goodness!!) and also on my nice clean new lino in the porch...aaaaargh!! :tantrum: :tantrum:

But the good news is that the new utility room is all but finished and looks tremendous. Its all painted and the freezer and the washing machine are in place and the flooring is laid. All I need now is a base unit cupboard to finish it off. I have bought a couple of machine washable rugs and a couple of new lampshades for the ceiling. Now we have to put the electric supply to the garden shed so I can keep the scooter in there :scooter: :scooter: , paint the garage door and finish decorating the corner of the spare bedroom where there is a new wall and where I want to put a broom cupboard and another base unit. LOADS of space!!!!

YP how was the holiday in Grrece? Are you nice and tanned now? And full of Ouzo and feta cheese and olives??

Linus I do hope the house sorts itself out really quickly. I just cannot wait to see it. And I am sure the dogs will love the garden and the gnomes!!

Happy enjoy the swimming! How gorgeous that sounds after a days work!!

Shad I am sorry the tinnitis is making life awful at the moment. Its a real nuisance and can be difficult to get rid of without feeling as though you are boked in to the local asylum. [[[[[HUGS]]]]] to you.

Hello to Hollyhock...you sound very good at the moment! Hooray for that!!

Meadow...lime cake and Delia Smith!!!! I have watched some of the series as well and its a good job I don't do the baking scene!! Hope DD 's pink eye gets better very soon.

Mel oh Mel [[[[[HUGS]]]]] to you and Jen too. You have all gone through a very tough time recently. Hopefully a sofetr time is ahead.

Hello to anyone I have missed. Tut tut smacked hands for Teely....

Only 3 weeks minus 1 day till Scotland.....start playing the bagpipes!!

This is my oldest friend.We were quite the pair the early 80's.LOL!
She is an artist and her hubby is a music producer.
We get to enjoy lots from our very different lives. It is so nice. I love hearing stories like, how Ron Wood( Rolling Stones) has garlic breath.
Anyhow she was hanging out wiht my *LOVE* Kalan Porter from Canadian Idol. listen to him every day. He looks like my highschool sweetheart.
I adore him LOL!!!!

I am so dorky!!!

Morning all - its Saturday here and I can't thank my lucky stars enough. Last night I came home - my feet ached, my throat ached, my legs ached and my brain was lit up with a thousand endorphins. Wired for training I guess. The week has finished on a high note in that I got a note from the board thanking me for a totally professional, totally knowledgeable and thoroughly enjoyable training session from one of their numbers. Didn't even know that I had one in the class!!! Thought he was just a fairly normal sort of member of the Office of State Revenue. Premier Pete (Queensland State Premier and our fearless leader of the so called 'smart state') signed the note along with 4 others from the board. Glory be, I'll be an honorary Australian next!!
Next week may be a different story since Wednesday I'm doing a new course which I simply haven't had the time to prepare for. I may just have to take a trip into town sometime during the weekend and find the paperwork to do some study at home.

I have so much to do today and this weekend. It's lucky it is a long weekend. I may even get to finish some of it. I'm also hoping for a bit of downtime to rest and recuperate before next weeks courses begin.

Teel - good to hear from you. Isn't it nice when you see some of the home projects coming together and all that is left is the clean up bit. I'm hoping to see some of that myself this weekend. Hope Holly is okay - she hasn't been investigating some of the workmans glues or paints has she? Could be making her a bit nauseous. I'm so sorry to hear about your Mum. Please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Gotta go, I'm talking to Teel on the phone and can't do two things at once.

Hi everyone, sorry I've not been around for a while, hope you're all well.

I'm still losing away quietly, and I've just hit a very big milestone that's not showing on my ticker. All the machines/scales in the gyms are in kg which I then change to pounds on here (it looks like I've lost more!). Well, I started at 118kg, and I'm now at 99.7kg which means that I'm in DOUBLE FIGURES :):):) I'm so excited about being able to put 99 into those machines soon! (I'll only let myself do that once it's past 99.5)

:coffdate:Good Morning everyone! Hope you are well and happy. I will read some posts later and try and catch up. Baby steps.
Jen is improving every day but is still with the padded/steel velcro cast. My eyes are better too but borderline. I really need to just accept this as normal and move on. Tough though.
today is cleaning and cooking tomorrow. Did nothing all week and the apt. looks it! :rofl: jen offered to come home and help! :lol3: :lol3: this is like Keystone Cops here!!!
Clara is a bit put out with me as I cannot help her for so many weeks. Getting outright demanding!!! But I found someone to fill her needles for the mont. Not sure what we will do next month.
Other than this....all is well, weight is holding at the same 171. seem to be stuck there for 2 years now! :rofl: OH I MUST TELL YOU THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE BUS.......Willy's BD was yesterday so I put a sign on the office window wishing him a Happy one and everyone saw it. Then I treated him to lunch and we all ate in the conference room. We were hugging and smooching in the office and lobby so all the neighbors could see. Seems like I finally put a smile back on his face and the tenants gave him cards and tips when we went food shopping! Poor Willy Boy has been through the wringer. I even stayed in the lobby and office a bit all week. (couldn't go out too much with the eyes and humidity) It was time well spent with him and letting the others see how much we care about each other and our families.
Just thought you would like to know Willy is smiling an also looking forward to his family vacation at the end of the month.
Well Chickies.....have a wonderful weekend and by the sounds of the journals, it's off to a great start! love to you all. Missed you tons and tons!~Mel:scooter:

Morning everyone,
We've awoken today to a greyish overcast sort of day. It may brighten up later on, but there is plenty to do inside so it's not a great problem. The BOM (Bureau of Meteorology or the weather forecasters) have promised us some rain next week. As far as keeping promises goes, they are worse than politicians so I'm not expecting a lot out of that statement. However, there have been some good rain falls in New South Wales, South Australia and parts of Victoria so the farmers are doing a happy dance at the moment. They say it is the best rain they have had in years. Naturally they want more and more and more.

I bought myself a new lawnmower yesterday, it mowed the front lawn quite happily, but the back is another story. It spat the dummy over the lushness of the lawn and the then refused to start again. I rang the place and told them I was a little unhappy about this and was there a trick to starting the sucker?!!!! No there isn't and try this and this and see if it starts. If not bring it back. Well the @#$%^&* thing didn't start and I will have to ring them next week and take it back when I can. I'll give it one more go this morning in case it has just decided it needed a rest yesterday afternoon. Grrrrrrr. Boys toys!!!!! Seems this has gone all male on me as well!!!

Back to gym this morning for another round. Although after yesterday I am wondering why I bother. Yesterday I weighed in at 71.5 and this morning - after 2 rounds with the lawnmower, nearly 2 hours of gym and a good food and water intake for yesterday I am sitting on 73.5. What is going on here??? It would have been impossible for me to put on 2kg or 4.4lbs in one day with the day I had yesterday. I'm really getting tired of this yo yo effect.

So today is more of the same. Gym, round 3 with the lawnmower, painting, ironing, laundry and a bit of me time.

Time to get off here. Catch you all later tonight.

Evenin' Ladies!
Shad~It is nice to be appreciated for the work you do!!!! I avoid boys toys when I can, lol!
Miss Mel~HUGS to you and Jen and Willie. Glad your were here wiht some baby steps. we miss YOU too!!!!
Teel~ How is your Mom doing?
YP~ you are doing so well. Congrats on the mile stone. I am holding at 225 but you have breezed right past, keep going!!
I do love my airconditioning but yesterday was a LOOOOONG hot day with 8
kids coming and going. I was feeling sick from the heat outside but the
kids wanted to play in the sprinkler.
All I ate all day was a piece of chicken and an orange. By suppertime I
was famished. Dashed into the city for McD's( we go like 2x's a year),
gymnastics and new shoes for ds. He has outgrown the new ones from
march!!!! Dashed home and people started to arrive for S's party. Dh
entertained outside while I tidied and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.
A guy friend brought fireworks and sparklers.
The kids had a pop and chip party in the house.We set off a few fireworks
for them at dusk and they pleasantly went to bed. Then the real partying
started.Much booze, dancing , good music and laughter ensued for many hours.
I dragged myself to bed at 3am. DH fell in at 5am.Then the stragglers went for
a swim at a neighbours in town!! weeheeeeee!!! This was a wonderful
celebration for S's 30th bday.Feels like a new beginning for her after
losing her hubby and twin bro in car accidents within a few years. It was
joyful!
Up at 8am and the kids and i went out yardsaleing! Our whole town has a yardsale once a year. DS got a golf bag for his clubs,$2.
DD got some new sandals. I found some old window frames for $1 ea that I
will paint up and put mirror in!!!!! Very excited about that!
From 1-5 we swam and R and T's , their son is in
DD's class.I went and picked up pizza. Soon it will be baths and bed for
all of us!
Feeling sunkissed and blessed!!!

:moped: just rode in to say hello!!! The sun shone for about 30 minutes :flow2: and it looks like more thunderheads are flying our way. Rain is on the agenda for the next week with bits of sun in bewtween. may work out to my advantage! I could use the rest and the house could get cleaned!!! I finally read all the posts. Weren't as many as I thought!!!
Nae~ sending (((HUGS)))) from one Mom to another. I know the feeling. Jen is 37 and I still feel that way! :rofl:
Have a great visit! :dancer:

Shad~ Dental $$$$! Ouch! Hope it all goes well. Thanks for the talk! it was grand to laugh not only at the world but myself! congrats on the letter and recognition! :cheer: You of all deserved it!:encore: Hope you won the battle with the lawnmower!:tantrum:

Holly~ a big round of applause for the Avon sales!! WTG JOLLY HOLLY!!! :woo: Sorry you still have the "Happy Families" game going on. ((((HUGS)))))

Meadow~ Exercising to AB!!! :ebike: Has to be a good incentive huh?!?!? Get those pedals going!!! Send me an exorcist ASAP please!!! :rofl: and NO more cooking shows for you!!!! Lime Cake indeed!!!:rollpin:

Teel~ I love the siggie. The bird is beautiful. :chicken: Glad you got so much storage space now and the :scooter: has a home of it's own!!! Hope Holly feels better. I am so sorry to hear about Mom. Sending good thoughts her way and hope all is well.

Kirsty & Bump at Mental Central :dizzy: ~ OMG!!!! I am afraid to ask WHAT'S NEXT!!!! You guys are as bad as us!!! I told Jen to be careful what she wishes for till the black cloud passes over!!! :rofl: Hope the house and family are fine!!!

Happy~ your raccoons are either multiplying or he's bringing friends to share the bacon with.....HEY GUYS, I KNOW THIS GREAT PLACE WHERE THEY SERVE BACON APPETIZERS!! COME ON AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS
Good luck with the trap! and the heat! and the humidity! Gotta love the great South!!!:lol3: :lol3:

YP1~ I never noticed the 40 lb avatar! Congrats on those lbs and the latest ones too! DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! Welcome to Onederland!! :encore: :dance:

I think I got everyone! Hope so. jen is doing well and recovering nicely. The last opinion was 'old' fractures. She's just having a hard time fending for herself but the kids are helping her. she offered again to come here and help......I laughed so hard she almost hung up!!! :tantrum: ROFLMAO
All is well in my little corner.....at least for now!!!
I am off to :ebike: and get my cardio out of the way!Have a great day and a lovely week!!!

[QUOTE=Shad] Glory be, I'll be an honorary Australian next!!

Waltzing Joy Clover....waltzing Joy Clover.....!Hee hee hee!! Good to hear from you Shad, thank you for the phone call. It was most welcome.. :listen:
Well done with the member of the board who had snuck into your IT class...good job you were not too hard on him!!

At last I have been able to get into the internet. I couldn't do a thing a couple of days ago when I tried which was most frustrating...:sumo::rollpin:

Mum is much improved and is pleased to be at home again although is getting in a bit of a muddle with her new tablets as the medics have stopped a few and changed others. She really does seem to be hospital phobic and gets SO distressed and disorientated when she is on a ward. I am not sure what I can say or do to help her other this but I really do feel as though another stay would be quite literally the finish of her. Let's hope not.

I must say that I heard from Linus yesterday and I am totally of the impression that it never rains but thunderstorms in her place!! Thursday night poor old Craig was rushed into hospital with suspected appendicitis and on Friday morning was taken to theatre stat as it had ruptured and so of course the surgeons had to clean up the peritonitis as well as do the appendectomy. I hope she will get in touch again this evening and give me an update on his situation.
In the middle of all this they moved house!!! :stress: :stress: :stress: :faint: And its only 2 1/2 weeks till my holiday.

Oh Holly is better too. I took her back to the vets yesterday for another check-up and she had a second antibiotic injection. The head vet palpated her abdomen and said she was no longer tender so that was a good sign, and she was a LOT more fidgetty and anxious to get off the table whereas the previous day she was very passive..(Holly? Passive??!) So all in all I think she is over the worst of whatever it was ailing her, too. Thank goodness for that... :o ;)

Well I had beeter bring this to and end for now. Hello to all. Take good care.
Byeeeee.

Healing thoughts for Craig!! Housewarming thoughts for Linus and the family!!

Teel~ glad your Mom is feeling a bit better. You sound good too.

Mel~ you are sounding like your chipper self!!! The thunderclouds have just rolled in here(4pm) but it was sunny and stinkin' hot all day! Still sending you and Jen healing vibes!!

How is everyone else?????

Another sunkissed day by the wading pool. Church was HOT but nice this morning.
Next week is our last SS class with a big potluck brunch. I picked up lots of nice fresh healthy groceries.
Next Wed-Fri I am doing a Parent Training course at the school. It will be a nice break from home and all the kids!!
There is much tidying to do but I am feeling lazy. Just want to lay around and read. Who said that??? Not ME!!! LOL!! A lazy Hollyhock, hee hee.

To quote Effie from one of the local tv shows. The lawnmower goes! I put it in the car and took it for a jaunt up to the mower shop yesterday. I didn't know they were open on a Sunday and rung them just for the **** of it when the mower didn't start yet again. Bring it in they said. So I did. This young blond god took a hold of it and pulled the start handle, nothing happened - well hallelujah! Give it another pull and it spluttered into life only to snuff it again. Hallelujah once more. He then says, is it out of petrol (gas to the the Americans) - no I say, the young man who sold it to me, told me he had filled it up. It mowed the front lawn fine and then wouldn't look at the back. So we had a peek at the petrol tank, still some sloshing around inside - not out of petrol? Well yes it is out of petrol, there's enough in there to get it to start but not run. How embarrassing. Thank goodness there were only 1 other customer and one staff in the shop at the time. Brought the darn thing home, mowed the back yard. Thought dark thoughts about toys.

The rest of the day was all about cleaning the house and giving me a bug free environment to live in. Which may be a good idea as the sore throat is not going away and I feel a bit blurk today. Not allowed to be sick, not allowed to be sick, not allowed to be sick. My new mantra. I'll try to sweat it out at the gym this morning.

Teel, thank you for the adaptation of Waltzing Matilda. That song in itself is probably the most compelling reason why I'll never make a good Aussie. I become very irreverent when I hear it being sung, particularly by a football crowd. Sums up the average Aussie aversion to law as applied to the person or persons. No maybe I shouldn't say that, there are degrees of lawlessness - put it that way.

Good morning to Holly, Mel, Meadow, Linus, YP1, Happy, Tig and Roseblush. Not such a good looking morning here yet. But it will improve. I need a bit of breakfast and then down to work. Lots to do today - including washing the poor car. It must feel neglected. Then some paint on the walls, some grout in the bathroom, some ironing and maybe a bit of cooking for lunches etc next week. Weight is back down again. It has to be salt and water retention. Back to reading the labels. Fresh is always best - even if smoked salmon and cream cheese with roasted red pepper and rocket is my favourite sandwich.

Have a great day. This is the last public holiday apart from one, in this State before Christmas so I have every intention of making the most of it.

See ya

Shad~hope the young blonde god was worth the trip!!!!!
Enjoy that holiday!!!!!!!
Slept in!!!
Power snooze!! Went to bed at 10, fell asleep reading in minutes,woke at 5 when DH was getting up, dozed off, woke for my alarm, dozed off, scrambled outa bed at 8 to dress&feed kids,pack lunches and toss them on the bus. I am HOT and sitting for a moment.
3 little people today. My Avon order arrived. 4 big boxes. Feels like Christmas.Hey Mel~194 days til Christmas!!
Yesterday was delightful. I went for groceries and errands all alone. it was nice to putter and browze.Kids splashed in the wading pool all aft. I whipped and quick supper.DH’s cuz stopped in with kids in tow. Squirt gun wars ensued!! Fun!
Today I really must tidy. Sort Avon!!!!!! Collect my $$$. I am going to save all my profits and use it for something big and exciting someday.

Be cool, dear chicks!!!!!

Evenin' all you folks in chickie land,
Another busy weekend rushed by. Spent most of Saturday in the yard helping DH clean up. Then it rained over night and true to form Sunday morning it looked as if we hadn't done a thing. :rolleyes: but DH said at least for a while it looked nice. And he said working out in the heat several days a week for a few hours is good for the weight loss. Sunday was an inside day, lots of washing getting ready for guests. Went grocery shopping hungry and spent way too much money but I have lots of good healthy stuff and the menus for the week have been planned out. I was able to get a good workout in the pool after work tonight. Will be nice when the pool warms a few more degrees, I would love to take an early morning swim even if I did have to get up at 5am or 5:30. It does feel good to be stretching those tight muscles and bones after all this time. More interesting to take a swim after work than to dig out the DVDs and do a round of Pilates. Working on getting that water down too. So for today to copy Mel Food :) Water :) Exercise :)

Big hugs to you Linus - will the adventures never end? :dizzy: Sorry to hear about Craig, hope he is feeling better. Ok, actually a little magic dust to go around to all - Shad, Teel's Mom, Mel's tired eyes and anyone else needed a bit of the good stuff. :wizard:

Good one on the mower Shad :rofl: easy enough to do tho. One summer DH blew his back out and we had just purchased a new mower. Everything was in working order (or so I thought). He had used it about twice before I took over the lawn keeping. I diligently mowed the lawn every weekend through an unsually hot and dry summer. As the weeks wore on, I had a harder and harder time starting it. By this time DH was no longer able to stand upright for any length of time to check things out or fix anything much and I just attributed the difficulties to excessive dust. Had to prime the mower with some sort of spray that was highly flammable and scared the daylights out of me everytime I had to use it. I have great respect for electricity and fire. Finally it gave up the ghost a week or two before the last cut of the season. After DH had surgery and was able to check it, turns out I used the mower all summer with NO OIL in the engine. Guess engines are particular about wanting to have their parts lubricated. Needless to say, that mower only lasted one season. Not my fault tho :no: I never professed to being an engineer :dunno: and it seemed to be in good working order when I took over. :chin: All I can say is good thing you didn't leave them a colorful message on the answering machine.

Sweet dreams chickies, I'm off to bed now.

Oh and for heaven's sake will you STOP all this talk about Christmas - you are freaking me out. :eek: :nono: :fr: :stress: :sssh: :tired: :yikes: :crazy:

Holly~ I got in the mail an advert for a Xmas arts and crafts book!!! I had a good laugh and the people in the office demanded that I shred it immediately:rofl: :merryxmas:

Shad~ At least you had a good look at a blond God!!!
Still laughing in NJ!!! :lol3: :lol3: The water is warmin up at Happy's so lets get out our little umbrellas and go!! :scooter:

Happy~ NO OIL!!!! OMG!!! :lol3; :lol3: Did you get to see a blond God too?! If so maybe I'll go out and buy myself a mower!!!
Nice exercising!!!

Teel~ I am glad to hear Mom is home and doing well. Hope Holly is too. So sorry to hear about Linus and Craig. That black cloud must be ping ponging back and forth from my house to hers and back again! :yikes: Hope you are well and happily decorating!

Went to the mall and bought stuff for my shower,lemon verbena, and the much needed can opener and new pillow. Spent all my BD money and had a great day. I even brought my lunch in a bag so I would stay OP for the day. Taking today off cause the arts and crafts class is tomorrow. Learning to moderate my time with others and save some for me. Tomorrow I am showing them how to make a 4th of July wreath. Lots of glue and glitter! More will be on them than the stars that need it!! :rofl:
Have a great day!

I don't really see the purpose of grass, a nice gravel path with lots of trees and flowers is much nicer. Get rid of the lawnmowers, they are evil men tools! ;) :D

Mel is spending money on "herself", good gravy, I think I feel faint! Lemon verbena sounds like a lovely scent. I want a new pillow too, a really squishy one that I can ball up and pound to fit. Don't turn yourself into a disco glitterball during your craft stylings tomorrow, all that reflected light can't be good for your peepers :lol3:

Happy-Have the raccoons been in your pool yet? I would rather swim than stomp around too. Glad you are making time for your exercise, very important I've heard, haven't managed the routine myself :^:

Shad-How goes the training? Congratulations on getting the good feedback from the high mucky mucks, how does it feel to have your cleverness acknowledged? Gas just doesn't go as far as it used to does it? You'll always remember to check that from now on won't you? Seems there is an oil section too, according to Happy, best give that a peek too.

Holly-Splish splash! How hard is all that Avon stuff to sort? Do you have a list of those who are supposed to get freebies? I remember ordering some Avon stuff and because I didn't say that my order was supposed to come with a hair scrunchie gift or something, I didn't get it :o I'm not an organized person so all that stuff would probably make me go dololly! Glad you got some alone time to have a good putter at the store, keeping track of kids and shopping seems to be a real drainer on the old pysche :yes:

Teel-Hugs for your mom. I don't like hospitals either, they are busy, scary places full of sick people :p I'm so glad that Holly is full of energy again and ready to bark at everything she sees out the windows. Our pets are such a worry when they are ill.

Linus-Golly, good thing Craig got to the hospital! That sounds awful, I hope he has a lovely scar to be proud of and is feeling alright now. Remember to breathe, tricky having kids cooking inside and ones needing hospitalization outside. Buy some flowers and put your feet up, you deserve a break.

Both my kids have pink eye now, my youngest is going to the doctor today to confirm, but I have been dosing her with her sister's eyedrops over the weekend so maybe it will not be evident any more :p I crawled around the floors of our house painting baseboards over the weekend, the builder decided that painting "before" they went on wasn't prudent :?: :mad: Have I mentioned how much I don't care for this guy? :s: I have paint globs all over my skin, as the clothing I wore wasn't paint repellent and soaked through as I cleaned up the plops that seemed to keep missing the tape and landing on the tiles! :dizzy: Yes, I was using my clothing a paint rags :devil:

Meadow~That builder does sound like a knob!! The Avon sorting is fun.I am responsible for ordering the bonus stuff not the customer, sheesh! I have painting everything ,even socks and undies. It is a full contact job!!! HUGS tothe girls, it is uncomfortable.
HI Mel!
Happy~ I am a water baby too. Much nicer way to exercise!!
I have been tired but I think it is the heat/air quality. I had a good solid 8.5 hour sleep last night and woke up refreshed.
8 little people today!! 3 are napping right now. DS is home in an hour.
3 kids are crafting and the others are toddling about.
No plans tonight!!!! I am off from babysitting all the rest of the week for a 3 day parent training workshop through the school. I am looking very forward to it. I have 4 hair appts to do in London tomorrow evening.
Not much else going on around here!!

hi all ,thanx for all the kind wishes for craig hes out and feeling very sore but at least hes eating and sleeping {both of which he wasnt doing in the hossie}he had his op done keyhole so not big scars but hes very upset that they shaved his belly and his nether regions but only on one side :lol: hes gonna have fun when it starts growing back {itch central}me and his girlfreind were having a right giggle about it and he wasnt amused lol
house is in chaos just now the living room is all done just need 2 new lights ,so teel will at least be able to sit down :lol: we are awaiting the new kitchen,hall floor{upstairs}bathroom floor and front door so the decorating has had to come to a halt but we are getting there slowly but surely
well ladies im being kicked very painfully bump must not like the fact that ive sat down for so long so im going to go and ill come back tomorrow night as now we have the new wireless network fitted i have internet lol be back soon
love kirsty +bump

A little chuckle.

John & Marsha decided that the only way to pull off a Sunday afternoon quickie with their 8 year old son in the apartment was to send him out on the balcony with a Popsicle and tell him to report on all the neighborhood activities. He began his commentary as his parents put their plan into operation:
"There's a car being towed from the parking lot" he shouted. A few moments passed.
"An ambulance just drove by".
A few moments later, "Looks like the Anderson's have company" he called out.
"Matt's riding a new bike....."
"The Coopers are having sex!!"
Startled, Mother and Dad shot up in bed!!! Dad cautiously asked, "How do you
know they are having sex??"
"Jimmy Cooper is standing out on his balcony with a Popsicle too."

Hiya,
Managed to get through today okay. Haven't killed anyone although there is a tech head or two that I wouldn't mind having a go at if I get the chance.

The rain has abated somewhat however it has been quite cool today and I'm sitting here in my woolly housecoat following a shower after the gym. I'm ready for bed I guess. Well that is, I will be in bed after I have cleared the dishes, done the folding and ironing and cleaned out the fridge.

I seem to have missed something. What happened to Craig?? Will this year not give up on bad news among this thread? Better go back and check it out I guess. Okay, got that sorted out. Poor Craig, maybe that was also part of the problem that he had some time back? One has to wonder. I haven't posted your box yet Linus, it will probably be next weekend now. I promise it will get there before the bump does.

Teel, good to hear Holly is back to her normal self again. That's a weight from the mind, I'm sure.

To everyone else, Holly (nice joke pal) Tig (where are you??) Happy (glad there are others around as silly as me), Mel, Meadow,YP1, Nae, Linus, oh heck, who have I forgotten? Anyway, have a good sleep, good morning, good afternoon, pleasant day. I'm off to have a good sleep.

Mornin Chickies - I'll whisper so as not to wake up Shaddie. :sssh:

The temps got up to 95 yesterday. I rushed home as quickly as possible so I could get in a good swim after work. I have introduced DH to the wonder of styrofoam "noodles" - long tubes that aid in floatation and various water exercises. He likes them as he doesn't seem to possess the ability to float on his own very well :rofl: In turn he gave me a pair of webbed swim "gloves" he found in the pool parts bin. Great things they are, really gives the arms a good workout - even better than with the water dumbbells I was using. So I got a good workout in, and we had a quick dinner of grilled chicken afterwards. Did 2 loads of laundry, watched a bit of TV and that was it to the evening. I've been taking my vitamins, getting in a good water workout, watching the sugars - tho I did admit to eating more than a few caramel Werther's chews at work during a stressful afternoon yesterday. :devil: :o But in general I've been good, feeling less stiff and sore too. Though I do thing I messed one leg up a bit with the trot down the stairs during the fire drill 2 weeks ago. All the more reminder why it's important to exercise and get this weight off.

Raccoon is still lurking about - DH is chasing him off on a routine basis but thank goodness he is leaving my garden alone. DH is focusing now on the rounds of blackbirds that chase off all the other birds and empty the feeder. Bird gangs...

Cute joke Holly :lol: I admit I would have a hard time myself playing with all those samples from Avon. Used to love to confiscate the little lipstick samples and the cologne patches. Never used them really, just collected them in a drawer because why? :?: -- just goofy I guess :dunno: I'm not sure I'd make a good Avon lady -- would probably spend my commission in products. :D

Mel, no blond god's in my life here - DH is a brunette! :rofl: Not so sure I like blond's anyway - particularly when they have blond eyelashes and have that sort of squinty look like something's a bit off. :mag:

Crikey, look at the time, off to the shower with me. The sooner I get to work, the sooner I can come home to the pool. Can you tell I'd rather be on vacation? Soon, soon, soon, just a week and a half more... counting the days.

Have a good day chickies...

Oh Happy~ You make me really laugh sometimes!!! :rofl:
a friend of mine brings sneakers and leaves them under her desk for firedrills after she almost fell down a flight of stairs! :yikes:
Enjoy the pool....I am too via your posts! :lol3:

Shad~ Glad to hear there has been no blood shed as yet!!! Thye don't know just how lucky they are! :rofl: Hope the rest of the week just rolls on by!

Holly~ Hope the class went ok and you had a great time!! Must have been a real treat to be out sans the little rugrats!!! :lol3:

Meadow~ maybe I should come up and knock the builder over....drag him over hot coals....or just verbally abuse him!!!
Hope the house gets done before you do any of the above! :rofl:

Linus~ Love to Craig and Bump!! You too! :encore: Hope you and the family get to settle in a bit before the big Teel visit! She'll be helping you decorate! wish I could help with the new baby stuff!!!
I can almost smell the baby powder from here! :rofl: Take extra care my friend.

I am bushed. The class of arts went well and they all made the 4th of July wreath very nicely. Not too much glitter anywhere either. asked them to be careful cause it can be dangerous in the eyes....Meadow, thanks for the reminder cause I took my glasses this time...I took no chances! :rofl: next week some who missed this chance will come and do theirs. I gave mine to a spanish woiman who just couldn't do it. she is in heaven. Went for a ride but the sinus weather is a bummer this week. Came and showered and will watch my new Deanna Durbin movies from loooooong ago!!! I bought her "SWEETHEART PACK' and it has a set of 6 movies. I am in heaven!! From the 30's and 40's!! Bob Cummings was just a kid then. (sigh) Love the Oldies.
Have a great night and I am off to exercise now that I have cooled off! LOL Good morning Sunshine! :flow2:

Howya all going.
Not training today or tomorrow - or even next week! Such a nice change. I have every intention of leaving here today around 4.00. Earlier if it can be managed. I have 4 hours to charge for from last week. Did 46.5 and only claimed 42.25 so today took an hour for lunch and only told them about 1/2 hour. Will leave tonight 1/2 before I say I finished as well. They are not getting 4 free hours out of me.

Went out at lunch and bought myself a new steamer and saucepan - since I managed to demolish the old the other day boiling the bottom pot dry and causing smoked beetroot instead of steamed. This lot should (by the price of them anyway) last me the rest of my days. I was looking for some new shoes as well, but as usual they eluded me. I'll not find them until I empty the bank account I think.

They are a strange mob here. Watch this person I am told, only to have problems from another direction in the same class. This one is a troublemaker they said. I found no problems with him at all in fact I found him very helpful in class. A couple went to sleep in class on Monday. Now one of them has a problem with his training. Don't you just love it? Good job I am even tempered and patient (insert witches face here jumping up and down and beating them about the ears with the broomstick).

Weekend is looming already. Lots to do again. Hoping to get the hall painting finished and get ready to install the new flooring. I think I am going for the wood laminate rather than tiles. The soft yellow makes me think of a rosewood type timber. But that may be too dark for the entire house. Samples are required.

Right better get back to work. Time to get on with it again.

It's summertime in Florida and the weather has definitely been keeping up the Florida reputation - hot, humid, with afternoon thunderboomers. Slim and I have been running at dawn. I've been trying to work on my speed.

Work has been remarkably awful. I've been working a lot of overtime and I'm mostly exhausted by the time I get home. ugh.

Slim and I have been getting some Harley time in. We went for a short ride Tuesday evening to a Harley meeting that was preceeded by dinner. The dinner was surprisingly clean. Pulled pork or BBQ chicken, cole slaw, yummy beans and bottled water. There is a ride next week to a town about an hour away to a restaurant that has blues on Thursday nights. I love the blues.

We're having a party next Wednesday for one of the consultants that is leaving the project because he has completed his assignment. Slim is thinking about making buffalo wings. Wings 'n' beer. Wine for me, of course. :cool:

Yesterday was liquid diet day and today is the colonoscopy screening. I'm not really hungry just slow with the low blood sugar. Not the most glamorous procedure, but worth getting out of the way.

I have been lurking and keeping up with the news. Here's hoping for a smoother trail ahead for all!

Tig~ Happy Trails to You, Until We Meet Again....la la la.....
I could use a Happy Trail! :rofl:
The rides sounded great. I should try that sometime and end my ride at a restaurant! :rofl: Tell slim I want wings'n'Pepsi!! Ice cold please and with a lot of ice!!! maybe a cherry too?! :lol3:

Shad~ I see your weekend plans are already taking shape! I wish I could get rid of this carpeting and do the laminate floor thing!!!
Have fun choosing! I always liked that part of decorating. Samples and decisions. The end results are always rewarding....I like the feeling of 'look what I did'!

I am off to clean and get back my life since the lay up. I was soooo organized and want it back. Because I WAS organized, it allowed me lots of rest time but the wash is still piled up and I have only made a dent!!! The Senior craft went well. Everyone Happy. No glitter glued to precarious or private places:rofl: 9 more signed up for next week. I didn't have to take them but I want to encourage others. Next time it will be ONCE for the craft and they better show or no fun for them. I think my last post sounds like this one so I'll leave!!! Already 10 and I'm not yet started!!! Happy Thursday to all!

Hello all.
Well today at some point I reached the old age of 41!!! I say at some point 'cos I don't know what time I was born into this old world of ours, but I started the celebrations at about 08:00hrs, with proper coffee :coffee: and coissants for breakfast..hot and straight from the oven.. :T :T
There are 4 in a tin so I had 2 for brekkie and 1 for lunch so I have 1 left over for tomorrow :ink: :ink: :hat:
Tonight 2 friends and me are going to The Angel Hotel for a meal and then on Saturday 4 of us are going for a great Indian meal in town. Nothing like spreading the celebrations over a few days, what?!!!!
Don'tknow what I am going to wear yet but its very muggy out there. Perhasp we are in for a thunder storm tonight. Hope so. It'll clear the air.

Anyway I'll be back tomorrow hopefully. I have had so much trouble getting an internet connection latelly.... :tantrum: :tantrum: :sumo: :rollpin: :dunno: :kickcan: :kickcan:

OMG!!!! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!! I HAVEN'T GOT IT ON MY CALENDAR!!!! I AM SOOOOO SORRRRRY!!!9hanging head in shame)
:joker: :hb: :gift: :cb: :cp: :hat: :dancer: :flow1: :woo: :queen: :wizard: :balloons: :lucky: :encore: :cheer:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TEEL
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Hope the day is a grand one and you celebrations for many days to come are wonderful!!!!:dance:

Teel! I'm writing Happy Birthday high across the sky in hopes that you might see my message before your actual day is over :D Fingers crossed that your celebration with your pal was full of laughs and merriment!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/teel-bday.gif

oh my oh my oh my :o :o :o

I forgot too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEEL, LINUS and NAE!!!

CLICK ME PLEASE (http://www.happy2bme.com/happybirthday.htm)

Happy Birthday Teel!!!!!

And Linus and Nae!!!!!!!!!!

Happy I loved the fireworks. Played with it for a loooong time.
Teel your plans sound devine!!!! Enjoy!!!

I have discovered I do not Love being gone from home for 8 hours a day. Well, yesterday was 13 hours. I almost cried when i saw my day lilies had bloomed while I was away.
The course has been wonderful. Very emotional issues came up and it was amazing to see the facilitaor use the skills we have been learning with a real person with a real issue. Very powerful.
DS had baseball. DD spent the day at a friends i went and got her at 8:30. then I returned calls and emails.I am slowly winding down.I did some yoga.
The house is super messy and dishes are piling up.People who do this all the time must have a very organized routine to keep up. I was putting away laundry at 12:30 am last night. sigh.
My friends Mom dropped off a whole bucket of perennials for me. I will come home at lunch and plant them.I am blessed.
Food was wacky yesterday .Today was better but not great. It is not the content so much as the timing etc.
I am looking forward to Saturday!!!!!

Hiya,
Weekend is here at last and I forgot all about Teel's birthday. Naughty, naughty me. Maybe I should go get the broomstick out for myself. I can even see a message on my computer telling me about Teels birthday. Yikes!!!!
:hb: :hb: :hb: :balloons: :balloons::balloons: :woo: :woo: :woo: :gift: :gift: :gift: :queen: for the day.
Hope you have a lovely night with friends. Certainly doesn't seem a year since you were talking of going to Salzburg. I remember the Angel Hotel. We went there when I came over to visit. Is the ivy still clinging to the walls?

Love happy's fireworks. Well done Happy.

Oh dear Tig - work has been remarkably awful. Doesn't it just make weekends sooooooo worthwhile.

Nice picture of the night sky Meadow.

Didn't know we had three birthdays this month. Happy birthday to all. Shall have a look tomorrow to see if I can work out the days.

Trying to get a lot of housework done tonight to give me a clear run up the ladder tomorrow for the ceiling plastering. Have a couple of other little jobs to get out of the way as well.

So forgive me for not talking to all individually, I'll return tomorrow with any news, views or gossip I can dredge up.

Birthdays - Teel: June 16, Linus - June 18th and Nae June 29th.

Hope you had a lovely one with friends Teel, hope you have a grand and uneventful day tomorrow Kirsty and I have time to send good wishes to Nae yet.

Running behind as usual - catch up with you all later. Make it a good one!

Happy birthday to Linus - shhhh she is probably asleep and coming slowly into her birthday, but for once I wanted to be on time.
:hb: :hb: :hb: :hb: :hb: :hb: :gift: :gift: :gift: :gift: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons: :woo: :woo: :woo: :woo: :queen: :queen: for the day.

Nae's birthday is on my sisters birthday. I remember now. Hit me about the head with a piece of 4 x 2 and I'll remember anything!!

Too cold to sit around here this morning. Gotta move.

OMG IT'S LINUS AND NAE'S TOO!!! WHERE IS MY HEAD AND WHY DON'T I HAVE THEM ON NOTES LIKE EVERYONE ELSES!!! SO SORRY MY WORLDLY SISTERS!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINUS AND NAE!!!!

HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAYS ARE THE GREATEST AND ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

I have had a tough few days. fights with ins. companies etc over the bus thing. My govt. ins. is refusing to pay a dime for my hosp and dr debts. told me to go after the bus's ins. company! Spent part of the week and all today doing just that! Each time I tell the story, when I hang up I cry. Don't know why this is still going on a month later...it was May 18th. My eyes are all red, swollen and scratchy so I am taking the weekend off AGAIN AND WILL SEE EVERYONE ON tUESDAY. mONDAY i GO BACK TO THE EYE DOCTOR FOR A CHECK UP!!!! I CAN IMAGINE WHAT HE WILL SAY!!! SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS AGAIN BUT IT GOT TOO BLURRY. LOVE TO YOU ALL AND I WILL THINK OF YOU WHILE LUNCHING IN THE PARK AND FEEDING THE SQUIRRELS! :ROFL: tAKE CARE AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. :SCOOTER:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/Linus-bday.jpg
Have a beautiful Day with much good energy and happy faces! :D

I hope you had a great day and a terrific new year ahead. I hope you are feeling well and ready for you trip soon! How are all the new cupboards and improvements working out for you? Is the internet connection getting any better? Mine has been awful and so frustrating to try to do anything on here lately. How did the evenings out go and was the food delicious? Well, I say you just keep celebrating the birthday all month..... you deserve it.
Many Blessings,
Nae

I suppose it is already over with the time difference but I do hope you had a good day with family and friends and that you are feeling grand! You need to rest even between all the activity you have going on over there.....How is everything shaping up for you in the house? Hope the family takes some time to pamper you and make you queen for the day or week or month, you even deserve the year treatment! Thinking of you and wishing you all the best!
Many Blessings,
Nae

MEL~ rest those peepers!!!!
Nae~ so nice to see you here.
HUGS to all!!!
Yeah!!!! Saturday!!!!!!!!
I am sooooooo happy it is Saturday.What a loooooong week.
I am feeling very validated in my choices as a wife, mother and homemaker. Our life would be AWFUL if I worked outside of the home.
I had no idea how much I love my home and garden and how important they are to my happiness. I feel completely disconnected from my hubby. He is grumpy and snappy.

The kids are worn out too because we have done a lot of running around in the evenings.We have not sat at the table all together for a good meal in 4 days.
The upside is that the course i took was amazing and I am very glad I was part of it.
My weight is okay because I haven’t been eating right, LOL! No junk just odd and not enough at the necessary times. Lots of water but no time for exercise.
We have a family reunion in Sarnia this aft. It will be fun.I was feeling overwhelmed last night about it but today I am feeling like I can cope. I need to bake a ham and slice it and bake a cake.
I will make a nice omlette for my crew in a few minutes. I love my family soooo much.
Housework will happen when I can squeeze it in.
Hugs chicks. I missed being here too!!!!

Happy Belated Birthday Teel!

Wishes a bit late but none the less sincere. Hope you carry the celebration throughout the weekend!

:spin: :spin: :spin: :cb: :cb: :cb: :hb: :hb: :hb: :cb: :cb: :cb: :spin: :spin: :spin:

And then a HAPPY CURRENT Birthday to you Kirsty!!!

Hope you have a great day with bump and the whole family in the new house.

:hat: :hat: :hat: :gift: :gift: :gift: :balloons: :balloons: :balloons:

Ok girls and a one and a two and a three - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CHICKIES, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU... and many more!

:gossip: :gossip: :hb: :hb: :gossip: :gossip:

Ok, I have alot of house to clean and boxes to unpack and things to get ready for company in one week! I can't wait. It's kind of lonely here. I've made friends with 2 people and they both moved away. (I don't think I DROVE them away but the did move to other states far, far, away :lol: ) But I miss my family --- alot. So it's time to get the "Bed and Breakfast" ready for guests.

Have a great and productive day, I'll get back here tonight.

It's almost getting time for a new house again. Where shall we move to this time? A Russian Dacha, or a Polynesian village of Bures beside the blue water, or a Swiss Chalet? Italian Villa somewhere up in the Tuscan wine region? Spain, near the Sangria vines? Think about it. Aaah I know Mel and I are thinking of moving to Queenstown in New Zealands South Island - there's mountains and water and wine and fabulous clean air. We're moving in right after we win lotto. If you are not into winter sport, bungy jumping or heliskiing then we can try a summer place as well.

Good morning to all the birthday month girls. Nice to see you posting Nae. Seems there are a lot of people having problems with internet lately. Mines fine, but some friends are having more trouble than its worth. Funnily enough they are using the same service provider. Work that one out.

Yesterday I spent two hours at the gym. One on weights and resistance, one on Body Balance class. Hasn't made the slightest difference to my weight. I think I am destined to be this size for ever and ever. It can't be exercise, so it has to be water and or food. I'm holding steady at 1300 calories and may try dropping to around 1200, and maybe the water isn't enough but for heavens sake I spend almost as much on loo paper now as I do on the cat. The exercise I get just running to the loo must count for something extra. Enough whinging.

Okay somemore whinging. My mobile phone died yesterday. I suspect it is just about out of contract although I can find my copy of the contract to check it. So today I will need to go get myself a new one. Drat it all. Although the thing has been showing signs of imminent departure. They sure don't last all that long do they. About 2 years seems to be the life span - just about the length of the contract plan I guess. I really don't want to spend big to buy something where I won't use all the features. We'll see what they try to palm me off with when I get to the shops this morning. It is an expense I could do without.

House wise, yesterday I finished cleaning (no I didn't get that far on Friday - sat in a chair to watch something on tv and never woke up for a couple of hours) and chipped another tile off the floor in the hall. Only 9 more to go. Today will be 1 hour at the gym, shop for phone, put the second coat on the walls and make a start on the scotia boards, clean up the painting gear, put up the blinds which I have been promising to do for a week or more and try to find some time in the garden. The roses need a prune and dead heading and maybe some fertiliser. Some of the pots need replanting and the whole thing needs mulch and water. That should take care of my day.

Fruit, mushrooms and bacon bits on toast for breakfast coming up - right after the chicks on the forum and journals have been checked. Coffee nearly done. It's now 6.30am on Sunday. We're belting through June at the rate of knots.

I vote for Spain ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/ab-sunshine.jpg

I am feeling keen on Nova Scotia Canada but it is not as exotic as the others. Spain would be nice.

Can you see the difference? I can see the difference!!!
The family reunion yesteday was wonderful. The wind was cool but the sun shone all day. DD even swam in the lake. She was cold and whiney after but it was worth it. I sat in the sun on the beach watching.
My SIL who has been avoiding the family for a year came with BIL and niece.We had some good conversation.
The food was brilliant. There were a lot of unique and wonderful salads.mmmmmmmm. I made the standard really healthy chocolate cake, LOL!!! The pan was scraped clean!!
Okay, the before and after victory!!!! There were photo albums of pics taken previous years. The reunion is every 2 years. there was a pic from 2003 of me with my cousin in law. I am smiling and happy but the difference in my appearance from then til now is remarkable.I am 18 lbs lighter now.My face looks different.My belly stuck out as as far as my boobs. I am thrilled with the changes I saw. Yeah, NSV!!!!!!
Our last sunday school is today followed by a potluck brunch. It is for Father’s Day too.
I am going to CLEAN all aft!!!!!! I want to CLEAN all aft!!!!!!!!

Have a glorious, peaceful, light and airy day!!!!!!

:write: I vote for New Zealand. Lush greenery, cascading waterfalls, clear waters, blue skies. I'm into camping and could use the exercise so someplace that has some nice (but not too steep) trails would be good. Gentle slopes for Mel would do just fine.

Except I'm not wearing no native islander sarong -- got it? :no: :rofl:

Oh and if you could arrange it - would prefer not to have bugs the size of dinner plates. :df: :df: :df: Am I asking too much?

After a day of working around the house, DH and I went shopping for a few things around the house. Got some nice oil Tiki torches - they give just enough light and do seem to keep most of the bugs away in the evening. I sat out for quite a while last night - almost like camping. We went to dinner too - I had grouper (fish) for the first time. It was delicious. Grilled with some veggies and some light seasoning instead of a heavy sauce. Just perfect.

Well DH has his wish, he has a kitty cat now. Seems the one of the neighbors 4 black furry kitties has decided to check out life on our side of the fence. Lo and behold she found some cat friendly people who just happened to have a few cans of cat food. (Sorry Mr. Raccoon). It's the perfect arrangement, kitty visits and amuses DH and allergic to kitties me doesn't have to listen to DH whine about wanting a cat every time he sees one on TV. Kitty also seems to chase away the pesky squirrels and blackbirds. Of course the other birds we like are sitting high in the tree wondering who invited this intruder into their yard and why are the "big human things" making her feel welcome? :?:

Shad I have to ask you - what is it about you that makes you want to be a certain weight? Do you feel extra flabby or large? Reason I ask is that you seem to be getting more than a good bit of exercise (2 hours at the gym!!!) you eat pretty clean and are good about the waters. And still the weight won't budge. Perhaps that's where you're intended to be. I know for myself, being older, my goal weight is a good 20 pounds more than it would have been when I was in my 20s as things have shifted a bit. Just a thought for you as you seem to be doing all the right things. I would be happy to be in an American size 10 - whatever weight that would be. I doubt I will ever get into my size 3 wedding dress again. Heck, I'd be happy to get the flabby fingers smaller so I could wear my original wedding rings again :lol:

Holly, glad you had a good time at the reunion. And that you got the moral boost to see yourself looking better. Yes, even 18 pounds makes a big difference. Meant to tell you Meadow that those were beautiful roses you posted. Nice to hear from you too Nae, hope your life has settled a bit.

Well like Holly, I am off to clean the house. Things are coming into shape. A week from now it will be all fun and relaxing so all the work now is sooooo very much worth it.

I'm off to put on the jazzy move it lady music and dust, dust, dust! Have a happy Sunday ladies...

Happy, maybe the below bit will let you see why I am interested in getting below the 72kg mark. 60 may be the goal, but I'll settle for a bit more.

Let me go back to when I was young and probably stupid. No lets be honest and upfront. I was a young mother with 2 kids, a cat, some birds, a husband, a business and a house with huge mortgages, no money and not much of a life.

Bear with me, I may get to the point sooner or later.

In those days we were broke but happy. After the birth of each child I went straight back to pre birth weight within 4 or 5 days. Then as now, good wholesome food was expensive and the not so good stuff cheaper. We ate lots of bread, lots of potatoes, sausages, the good old Sunday roast, mince etc. etc. My father had a big garden and kept us supplied with a lot of fresh veges too.

The new house was on the side of a hill and I walked everywhere and tried to clear the block as well. For example I would take the kids to swimming lessons. Bus over the hill, train to the pool, swim and then walk back to the bus. We couldn’t afford to train both ways. It was probably about 7 or 8 kilometres. I pushed the kids in their buggy - two of them, one 2 and the other 21 months younger. I was in shape. There wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere. I weighed 54k. Money got tighter, I lost more weight and got to 47Kg. I was then too thin and got sick. I’ll never forget how bad I felt. The husband was useless in the kitchen, useless in the garden, and not much chop around the house. There was no way I could lie around feeling sorry for myself. I struggled on. Dr diagnosed malnutrition - huh?? To cut a long story short, the only way to make things better was to give up the evening job I had, find a full time job and help husband out with the business. Eventually I got back to 54kg where I stayed for the next 10 years or so.

All of the above occurred before I was 35. Since then we have moved to Australia, separated, the kids have grown into good solid citizens and I am a fairly successful self-employed, well travelled person. Unfortunately with the move and the prosperity came the weight. I went from 54 to nearly 80 (that’s what I was when my father passed away). Went to Townsville where it is exceedingly easy to gain weight because it is too hot to do much else apart from drink and eat in the summertime at least.

I got the weight down to 75kg and thanks to a gym membership from DS2 a couple of Christmas’ ago, it is now at around 72. I say around because it could be 71.5 or even 71 or it could be 73. Those fluctuations I live with. I have lost inches. I have achieved. I am happy about that. However.........
Now we are stalled again despite increased workouts. I begin to wonder whether I should stop putting pressure on myself. I wonder whether I should just learn to love myself at this weight. I know I am never going to be stick thin. I never was, so how can I change that. I know I am not going to ever be 54 again. I was aiming for 60 but right now this just seems to far away to comtemplate. I can feel the muscle there it is rock hard - just 2 inches of flab between the outside skin and the muscle. What do I have to do to get rid of it.

I’m beginning to believe that the tribal side of my genes has kicked in and I am destined to be short and square with short fat paddles for feet for the rest of my days.

There are days when the struggle seems to much, days when no achievement is possible. Days where it would be so nice to simply pull up the covers and tell the world to take a running jump (or words to that effect).

In the days where I was President of the local weight club, if someone said to me - how can I lose 10K in a hurry I would reply - chop off a leg. My dad has been dead 11 years now and I have lost just 8kg. Not even a kilo a year. Am I not trying hard enough?
I am healthy enough. No problems there - all the medical insurance places around town might not agree with me. I don’t get sick, rarely even get the common cold and since menopause have not had more than a day or two off work in 10 years. I count those blessings every morning.

Sure the inches have come off. Screeds of them - but even so I have only moved down 1 dress size. I must have been wearing clothes awfully tight previously - either that or the manufacturers have devalued the sizes again. A pox on all manufacturers.

Such a dilemma. What should I do? Get horribly hacked off and give up in disgust. Nope that’s not my nature. Just maintain as I am - after all I am a superb maintainer, I can do it with my eyes closed. Or carry on much as I am and wait for the miracle in which all becomes clear (or smaller in my case).

I’m off to ponder the questions of life. Just as I thought I began to know the answers to life’s questions, the b*stards have changed the questions.

Holly - so nice to hear that you have had a good family reunion. They can either be fun or a PIA.

I found a couple of places in Nova Scotia and Spain that should suffice for our use as both summer and winter homes. Thanks to cyber space, I can add an NZ backdrop and all the sun on snow or heat in winter we require. I'll work it out at home tonight.

Now I had better stop feeling sorry for myself and get on with doing some work for which I will get paid.

Oh and while I think of it - they don't wear the sarong in NZ. The Maori wear the Piupiu - woven top of flax (primitive form of linen) and skirt. The the grass skirt over the top of that. The weave and patterns on top and grass skirt denote the tribe and the position of the wearer in the tribe. Islanders wear sarongs. Although many islanders also wear a grass skirt type thing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/eating-gif.gif
Meadow pops another strawberry jam laden pankcake into my mouth as she reads about Shad's dilemma of the stubborn exercise resistent pounds. Says to herself "will I ever be there?" "Will I have a pinch of flesh that bugs me hanging around one day?" Sure would be nice to feel muscles that are rock hard on me or someone else for that matter :p I admire your dedication Shad, there are lots of ways to travel forward, I truly hope that your journey involves lots of occasions were you get a chance to enjoy the view before you move on ;) I am on your side always. Big hug for the past , your future is bright and shining , onward weight warrior princess!

Meadow~ your graphic is hilarious. HUGS!!
Shad~ thank you for sharing your story.

Have I ever mentioned that my husband is a real life MacGyver? (remember the show where the guy could make a bomb out of a gum wrapper and twigs?)
Most of our tools and electronics have been refurbished in some way including the step ladder.
So, I had picked up this pretty windchime at the dollar store and decided to hang it.I place the step ladder along the side of the shop and send DS on a quest for a nail.
I am on the ladder hammering away and the ladder decides to fold up with me in the middle of it. So, now there is a a large redhead hanging onto a nail with one hand and clinging to the side of the shop, spiderman-like with the other with both legs completely twisted into this ladder. My brave 6 yo son pushed down on the bottom step so I could wiggle one foot out and then unfold the ladder. Needless to say my right leg is scraped from knee to ankle and my body is seriously aching from being yanked and twisted .
Never dull around here.
I got ALL my cleaning done yesterday and i am enjoying it thoroughly!!!!!
I was a lovely day. The SS potluck was warm and fuzzy. I made smoked porkchops and lazy cabbage rolls for DH for supper. DS gave his daddy a book he made in school about the things he loves about his dad. It was very heartening and touching to see the ways DH has brightened DS’s world.
5 kids today. 2nd last week of school. I am sad about that. I will miss everyone there.
Baseball tonight.
I need to focus on healthy balanced meals today.

Have a radiant day.

hi chickies ,this could be very long winded as i refuse to get off the comp until i catch you all up on whats been happening in mental central !!!!!! :lol:
well start with the house
the remaining parts of our kitchen {2 wall units and a 6 foot lenth of worktop}will be fitted on thursday so we will officially have a kitchen :cool: :coffee: and we actually might be able to unpack the last 3 boxes of kitchen stuff???? a tip for all of you who might be wanting to move house do not move from a kitchen with 2 double and 2 single base units ,4 wall units and 20ft of worktop ,to a kitchen with one wall unit and one base unit and 4 foot of workspace it doesnt work and your poor goldfish will have to go and live with granny till you get a kitchen :shrug: :fr: :stress: :tantrum: :censored: :yikes: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: so all we have to do in the kitchen is decied what quarry tiles we are having and what colour we are painting it and the kitchen will be done
the bathroom floor and the hall floor are to be replaced on thursday too ,they are very smelly {the previous tenent was an alcoholic and didnt aim too good either did his dog} :fr: :fr: :fr: and the over bath shower will be fitted within 8 weeks as will the tiles and rails and extractor fan and then the bathroom will be finished the front door is a pvc one which comes complete with frame sills and ledges and has had to be ordered and then fitted as one so we cant lay the rest of the laminate flooring down or decorate there either but the door will be here within 3 weeks now ,so the house should be finished by the time the baby arrives
the garden is another matter :dizzy: :dizzy: :dizzy: or should i say jungle hubby bought me a new digi cam for my birthday{very expensive and bewildering }so when i work out how to use it ill post piccies ,it will take a long time to get on top of the garden but i love having one again and am looking forward to pottering
now the kids conner is just good old conner gotta love that kid always smiling always happy and just one complete star i love him so much ,craig has chosen to go back to school to start his 5th year instead of waiting the 6 weeks recommended by the hossie as he will be on summer break in 2 weeks ,he has promised to be carefull and not run about and he was so bored ,there is a very good reason the kids so thin !!!!! he doesnt know his backside is for sitting on :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: ,but i think hes looking forward to getting his teeth into his new subjects ,physics,philosophy just to name 2 of them {and no i dont know where he got his brains from }right my body wants to soak in the bath so ill come back and finish this in half an hour -ish
bye for just now
kirsty

Hello Worldly chicks!! so we are moving soon?!?! Good....I could use a change of scenery and SHAD...don't forget to pick me up a few puipui!!! and some skirts!I'd like to dresss native style. do I need knickers under those skirts?!:rofl:
Today's eye newws was not good at all. if I cannot get the rosacea in the eyes under control I must take the antibiotics for at least another 6 months. I don't think my stomach, female region or water retention could take that treatment again!!! So I'll watch the pc, get rid of spices etc and do the drops and washes and hope when I go back in 2 weeks that there will be improvement. It's up under the upper lid this time and they say it's worse than the last time. Most are agreeing it's the aftermath of stress from the bus thing cause it came on so suddenly. (sigh) I think I will take a more permanent vacation off the journals and spend quality time now on this forum and my weight forum. Everything I do is with these eyes so something has got to give. Also telling Clara I cannot help her for an indefinite amount of time. Cutting back on anything that doesn't help ME!!! :rofl:

It was a long day today. also just got home a short while ago and in need of a shower and jammies!!! They always make me feel so much better. I did get a piece of good info....we all talked about my weight loss and now the lack of it. Most agreed this may be what happy was just saying....my body's sitting weight. also my "potbelly" is mostly from being a shallow breather and they develop bellies or so they all said. It's the lack of muscle tone in that area that cannot be fixed in someone like me. so I am feeling more vindicated as I had thoughts of this nature and was wondering. I will continue my "healthy" lifestyle and see what happens. I just said all this a few days ago in the journal and it seems i and a few other drs were right.

Hope you are all well...sounds like it. take care and have a great night....Good Morning Miss Sunshine:flow2:

I vote mountains and wine.

I ran again this morning. I'm improving my time, even in this heat and humidity early in the mornings. I'm hoping the first race for the running club is in September. There is another lady whose birthday is in October who will move up to the next age group that I move to only if the first race is after her birthday. Come on September! Not that I'm competitive... :rofl:

Spain, Mountains, Wine, Water, Sun, Sea, Forest, Nova Scotia, grass skirts - you lot want it all. Okay, well I will have to see if you can have it all.

Linus, I posted your parcel today. Lady tells me it should be there in a couple of weeks. So maybe it will be there at the same time as Teel???? Who knows. Enjoy it anyway.

I'm posting from work again, trying to get things done here is a bit like scraping your nails down the blackboard - can you feel the aggro building??? Anyway, I can't hang about, I have 3 or 4 more Exercise workbooks to write. Figure out the subject, figure out what data is required and enter all the data (so far today 90 business partners and 90 tasks. Still not finished. More to go. Meetings from 3.00 to 4.00 oclock and first training session of this stuff on Friday (today is Tuesday). The impossible I do straight away, miracles take a few minutes longer.

Good onya Tig - wishing evil on the competitors. Just love it to bits. Not that you are competitive - no way.

Linus seems to be having fun with the new house. Maybe I should have sent over some garden vouchers instead. Take it easy. Life happens.

Loved Holly's story on the ladder. I thought those sorts of things only happened to me. Thank heaven the DS was there to help.

Gosh Meadow you do come up with the greatest graphics. And get out of the pancakes. Tut Tut

Sorry to hear about the eyes MEL. Look after them. You wont miss a lot on the journals - I'll let you know if some excitement happens there.

Gotta go. Catch ya

Hey Shad, get off the computer and go write those workbooks :write: :rofl: I see your little light shinin' there.

Quickie drive by for me tonight.

Now that you've explained it Shad, I understand your dillema and frustration. Sounds like you did compromise a few pounds upwards but given the level of effort, I'd sure expect to see results. By all means, DON'T go by the clothes sizes in the stores. Don't know what they're drinking when they are making clothes lately. For the last 2 years or so I've had to try EVERYTHING on. Was frustrated because I had to buy some good work clothes for this job - and found a pair of black pants that were quite suitable. Tried them on and they fit just right. Decided to get a second pair in the same size, same color. Got them home and the second pair is tight! Same rack, same style, same size. Argggghhh. Whatever you do, don't give up in the least. Keep plugging away. If nothing else, you are mega healthy and you know that's money in your pocket at the end of the day.

Oh Mel, I am sorry to hear about those pesky peepers of yours. Wish there was something that could be done - I will read to you once a week if you like - DH is cutting me back on the electricity (air conditioning) and long distance phone calls. Guess my free spending days are coming to a close :lol: Feel better tho. Hope the rosacea clears up proto. Interesting to see that belly fat develops from shallow breathing. Guess that's why I have a belly now that I gave up smoking - not a deep breather any more! Wait till I tell DH that one :rofl: I'm also glad that you put off Clara, sounds like she was getting a bit demanding and you have to take care of yourself first.

Good heavens Linus, by the time you get done you'll have an all new house there! Sounds nice you must learn how to use the camera by Teel's visit AND we will expect pictures of Bump no less.

Meadow, I have snatched your strawberry pancakes and fed them to the jaws of Holly's bendy ladder. :cbg: Owwww. Glad you're ok Holly, it was a funny visual of a red head hanging by a nail but it could have been a terrible accident. Glad you managed just a few scrapes and that you're ok.

I did manage a quick swim after work. DH put more water in the pool so it was a bit cool - well actually more than a bit. But I went really, really fast which I guess is the point of a good cardio workout. Today really dragged at work. I want the days to go fast but JUST for this week. Then they can DRAG by very slowly next week. Yeah, like that will happen ;) The question is... will she get everything that needs to be done by Friday in time for guests? Answer: probably not. I'll probably pull an all nighter Friday evening rushing around like an idiot. But it will be worth it.

Got to go get my beauty rest now - even though up to this point it hasn't been doing much good. :D G'night all, g'day Shad.

What a gorgeous day!!!!
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING......LA LA LA LA

One load of the mountaneous wash is done. Went for a ride/walk with the maint. supervisor. He needed some "space" too and asked if he could join me. good for him cause he's diabetic and overweight....needs some exercise. Love the coolness today at least till this afternoon! Getting my ducks lined up in a row for some kind of regimen with all my needs. Might just buy a watch too.....one with an alarm!! :rofl:

Shad~ What a life we have led huh?!?!? lucky we only have weight issues and not living in mental institutions! :lol3: :stress: :dizzy: :jig: :faint:
For the life of me I cannot figure out what the problem is. But I think the gene thing is the closest. I look like my short, stubby Welsh grandmother. I think the skinny years were brought on by nerves and over-doing everything. maybe undernmeath it all we really ARE sisters! :encore:

Happy~ Hope the visit is a great one and the time goes slow while there! have fun and enjoy! :hat: Funny but MY beauty rest isn't working either. :mouse: maybe my contract ran out:rofl: How is Rocky?!?!? Catch him yet????

Meadow~ I am thinking of pancakes now! LOL How goes the exercising?! :ebike: Any luck? I get cravings for things like that and keep the boxes in the back of the cupboard. I tried throwing them out but NOT having them there made it worse! :rofl: How is the new home coming along!? Any bloodshed yet?! :drill:

Tig~WOW!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! :cp: For an OLD lady....you run pretty fast!!!!:rofl: :lol3: Can't wait for September to see how you do!!! Wipe her off the road!!! :cb: :dance: How are the Thugs doing?!!?(I laugh each time I see that)ROFLMAO

Teel~ Hope Mom is OK and are you ready for the vacation?!?!? You lucky devil you!!!! :cp: kiss Baby :bb: Bump for me!!! or give Bump a wee pat!!!How is the decorating?

Linus~ Sorry the house needed so much work and at your stage too!!! Glad you got the house though. Getting some rest in between?!?! :rofl: Best not to answer that question or we'll all be over there giving you "what for" :rollpin:

Well Chicks....gotta put the wash away and get some lunch....... love to all.

Morning all.
I'm back again for another stint at work. Working hard as you can see. I'm hoping to be out of here for 3.30pm today since I have no meetings and no training and yesterdays thumping of the keyboard produced so many questions to which there appear to be no answers !$^#%# Go live date - 4th July. Should be fireworks spectacular I suspect. Might also turn out to be a whimper. I should not presume. Never presume! Also turned up a portal defect of showstopper proportions - and I did not deliberately do the action, it was something anyone could have done and should have been tested for - tech heads have been working on it most of the night so I am told. Tough hey?

Tough workout last night at the gym, but achievements were made. When Jason gave me my new workout list I could not use the ChinHipDip thingy - could only hang there and count to ten twice before I ran out of upper body muscle - mostly shoulders and arms. Let me explain better. This contraption expects you climb on the footrest and reach up to rest your forearms on the pads you then take your feet off the footrest and are supposed to swing the legs out and up while holding oneself on the frame with the forearms and hands holding the gripper thingys. Now I'm short so it takes an effort just to get into the right position. Anyway I started off with two hanging session of 10 seconds each and worked up to 7 or 8 and then 10. So then I thought I would try the kick bit and managed one x 10 kicks. However having persevered through the aching muscles of the shoulders, arms and neck I now find I can do 4 x 10 kicks and space it out with 4 x 10sec hanging. Anyway to cut a long story short, last night I was kicking away there and hanging on for grim death and counting the seconds when all of a sudden I encountered resistance. Humpphhh - open screwed up eyes to find I have kicked the large and well muscled butt of a man. Quite hard too I think. Hop off the contraption, apologise profusely to this giant bloke who laughed and said that the first time he tried the contraption, he kicked his trainer squarely in the jaw. I am impressed and in awe. I don't think I will ever be able to kick high enough to get anyone in the jaw!!!!!

Wishing a quick week to Happy, better sights and times for Mel (keep up the walks with the super - it's good to have a companion. However...... do not go so fast that you give the man a heart attack or stroke or whatever....... you've had enough trouble this year!!!! Hope Holly is okay and hello to all. Have a grand day.

now wasnt that some bath ?????? sory i got out and fell asleep,was trying to get on earlier but andy and craig are doping the battle of wills again with me in the middle!!!!!! teel says hi she is playing at a concert tonight ,and will be on soon ,ive got my health visitor coming tomorrow morning and the kitchen and bathroom and hall to be done on thursday so im off for some beauty sleep
bye for now kirsty+bump

HI, i have been here reading off and on today, thought I posted. Still achey from the spiderwoman escapade. Doing gentle side twists. 9 kids most of the the day. BUSY!!
Just 3 tomorrow AM and then just DD for the aft!!! Nice!
Off to relax a bit!!

Oh Shad, I am IMPRESSED with your progress on the chin dip thingy. WOW!!!!! I know just how hard that is to master and the strength it takes. Good on yah woman. And strong arms and neck too. whoo hoo. Guess who'll be wearing a muscle shirt next summer.

Let's see animal update... Rocky the raccoon is still lurking about. I think he snitched new Kitty's food last night. I think we're down to one raccoon from two. Progress? DH took a walk tonight down to the neighbors. Took new visiting kitty with him. Neighbor said yep, it's their kitty but would we like her? (They have 4). DH got all the history from friendly neighbor but told her that he had an agreement with me - I don't smoke, he doesn't get a cat INSIDE the house. Both parties agreed that nameless kitty can visit any time she likes. As if we could stop her. I was in the pool after work and she peeked over the fence top and came and joined me at a safe distance from splashing waters. Then she jumped the fence and a pair of mockingbirds were not happy with her and were divebombing her. Birds 1, Cat 0. I just hope the cat is not stupid enough to go after the raccoon, it would tear her apart as she is mostly fluff and long hair. Neighbor said they try to keep her in for the night.

Now there is something new and mysterious bleating in the night airs around here. Started up about a week and a half ago. There are 2 of them and sometimes they sound close, sometimes they call to each other. I am a city girl and I don't know animals. First night I heard them I thought they were baby somethings in distress. None of the neighbors know what the sound is. DH and I took a walk around the neighborhood but could not pinpoint the exact location of the sound. There are several horse pastures here, I said it sounds like baby lambs or goats. DH laughed and said I wouldn't have the slightest idea what lambs and goats sound like. So... well yes... but... I'm allowed to guess for a fabulous prize, eh?

I can't wait until sister gets here. Found a nursery that in addition to plants and garden things has these incubators with live baby chicks and ducks and turkeys. We're in the city but actually not too far from farms and rural areas so I guess there is a market for young poultry. Anyway, sister and I will gush over the baby chicks until our husbands are asked to take us out of the store :o But they are used to that. :rofl: I'm sure DH was mortified when I rushed over to see what the peeping was the first time and then started talking to the chicks and trying to pet them. When he came by me, I begged to be allowed to buy a few for the yard. :chicken: :chicken: :chicken: But he just said :drill: :no: :nono: Party pooper!

Anyway... you can imagine a fun time will be had by all. I am trying to behave myself diet wise. Getting some exercise in, muscles are sore today. Am practicing portion control and only eating half portions and being satisfied I must say. Water is pretty good but could be improved.

Eeek, just peeked at the clock, almost midnight. Best go before I turn into a pumpkin!! Nighty night all...

hi all ,just about to start emptying the kitchen bathroom and hall so i thought id pop on here first,the kitchen and floors get done tomorrow so two more things out of the way its also the day for the old house inspection and then im done with there aswell :D ,had teel on the phone her ankle is really playing her up!! :( :cry: :stress: im getting very worried about how shes gonna cope up here i mean we are built on the side of a volcano ,so lots of steep hills not very wheelchair freindly :rollpin:
HAPPY if you were over here id say your strange animals sounded like foxes,cause thats exactly what ours sound like children crying ,glad hubbys found some feline outside company {i wont tell cleo}
SHAD your always so energetic and busy dont you ever just want to stay in bed???? :yawn: :bravo: :strong: im knackered just listening to you honest im looking forward to my parcel arriving thankyou very much
MEL aww hunny those peepers arent half giving you jip hun ,you take more you time you deserve and need it
HOLLY aww hunny is your legs multi coloured yet???? id have hung him up,my hubby trying to help painted the kitchen ceiling ,unfortunatly apart from missing all the edges he didnt cover anything not even the dog bowls or take the clean dishes out the rack !!! :cry: :rolleyes: :mad: so now i have a speckled cooker and micro and toaster wouldnt mind but they started silver :cry: :nono:
NAE any plans for the birthday????? hope everything is okay with you
MEADOW ill send my conner over to you he eats anything with sugar in it before youd even get a sniff best diet ive ever had
TIG well done on the running thing you do so well
to everyone else enjoy your day/night and ill speal soon
love kirsty +bump

Morning, afternoon or evening all - strike out that which is not applicable.

Looks like it is going to be another superb winters day here and I shall be stuck inside looking outwards. I shall have to get me a job on a building site or something. Anyway it is very cool out there. When I left home this morning the thermometer in the car read 7.0c and by the time I got out onto the main road it was down to 4.5c. That's very cool for here. It was absolutely freezing standing on the station - wind chill might have had something to do with that I guess. The natives are freezing their buns off and complaining like mad - as if that will do any good. I keep saying that the temps are good during the day when the sun is up, count your blessings, but they don't seem to understand that there are places in this world that rarely get above 7.0c for the ENTIRE day during the winter. And the other blessing is that the bugs are gone - gone, gone, gone. Scarcely a fly left standing. It is sooooooo nice. Heat dust and flies will come back far too soon. Actually I have to admit to feeling like LindaT does in the journals. She is feeling the cold since she has lost so much weight. Muscle may be fine and good, but the fat was insulating. My almost non existent butt is continually cold. So are my legs for that matter. The places with the least amount of fat seem to be complaining this winter. Wouldn't it be nice if when losing this fat, it redistributed itself so there was a thin layer (thin fat layer?????!!!!) all over just to keep us toasty.

Silly me, I am losing my mind somewhere. I got to the station this morning and as per normal rearranged the bag - took out all the gym gear and left it in the car and put in the good shoes, book, water bottle, food - errrrrr where's my lunch, breakfast, morning tea and snack???? Yep okay it is on the bench at home. What a dope.

What I find I am also having since these muscles come to pass is the need for hot food in the winter. Salads just aren't cutting it so much at the moment, so I am going to have to think of other ways to get the nutrition without the fat. Interesting thoughts go through my head at times like these. Soup is one of them. However I make a big pot of the stuff and then waste it. Like I'm bored with it after a couple of times. I can freeze it, but once frozen I tend to forget it is there. Besides which my fridge has only a smallish freezer now and I tend not to be able to put a lot of stuff in it. I do like variety. Not sure that I could do the LindaT thing and have alternating fish or chicken for a whole week. I need to work on my food I think.

Linus - please make sure you do not get in the way of fumes and paint stuff - it won't do you or the baby any good. I'm sorry Teel is still having problems with that ankle. It won't be easy going up and down the hills of Edinburgh. I well remember my walk up the Royal Mile. Yes UP - I'm from downunder, I caught the bus down and walked up. I think I need counselling. But I know she has a couple of tours booked, walking around Urquhart Castle might be a bit of a challenge too, even though there have been some work done to allow people easier access, but I think she can rise to the occasion. Act helpless, find a bloke! Shad advice. Two fat ladies, a bump and a wheelchair. Could be interesting?

Okay best go find out if the powers that be have made up their minds about things yet. What things I hear you ask? Well I don't know, when I left here last night, they were still making their minds up.

Nothing much to say... we are having pizza for dinner tonight... "7 days without pizza makes one weak"... The perfect lover is a man who turns into a pizza at 4am"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Skylarkca/pizza_man.gif

Shad-I hope you kick start your metabolism and get satisfaction from all your efforts. You sound great to me but if you aren't content, onward! Can I feel your muscles? I'm cold even with all the insulation. My body, sheesh!

Mel-I want to give you a hug :goodvibes: you have had such a raw deal with all the health stuff, may healing come quickly and you see brighter days soon. Meadow kicks the huge pile of laundry and screams wash yourself!! :devil: :p

Holly-get a new ladder! With all the painting you do, you should have proper tools. I hope you get some free time to indulge yourself and forget about those poor bruises.

Happy-My husband says we are going to put our pool in the garage at the new house :lol: I might be swimming laps along with you if I had all that privacy.

Linus-I'm going to be joining you in the box packing business soon. Our house got its final inspection and passed so we can start moving in. I'm glad your kitchen has come together, ick on the paint speckles everywhere... What was he thinking? That the roller doesn't splatter? MEN! I guess you will be spending much of your time in the new place using your fingernails to scrape off the little blobs.

Tig-run on! Do you take water with you? Running in Florida must be sweat central, I bet you lose pounds of fluid that you need to replenish or you would get really dizzy. I would be talking myself out of it, good job on dedicating to improve your time.

Teel-your poor ankle! I hope you are taking it easy and will be fully functional for when you visit Linus. Fun motivation, be kind to yourself so you can really go at it in Scotland!

You girls give me a giggle and make me feel soooo much better! :rofl:
The trials and tribulations of Pauline-Mel continue! :lol3: Getting into a routine with all the meds, washes and soaks. maybe some day I will learn that to keep things at bay, one must be "vigilant with the regimen' or so Dr. Clogs has told me on several occassions! I can never remember his italian name so nicknamed him Clogs......he wears them all the time. I will not see him anymore as he is graduating into a "real" doctor as I told him.
The crafts day went well yesterday. We finished the july 4th wreath now. On to painting birdhouses in September. I got the ok to have it every 3 months and a $100 budget to boot!:encore:
N ot much new here. Jen is improved very much and driving now regularly. all is well in my corner of the world.....trying not to brag and thus invoke the jealousy of the Gods! :rofl:

Happy~ Glad the raccoon is one now and cat survived the bird attack. Poor Kitty! :yikes: I have seen a bird attack the cats here. He sits all day on the highest chimney and mimics everything he hears. looked on the internet and think he is a mocking bird...surprised to find them in the city though. He's brown and white with a long tail that stands up most of the time. Calls to the cats and then attacks them when they get close! :faint: Sadistic little thing! :rofl: Better your kitty is a visitor....no poop, hair or furballs to clean up! :rofl:

Shad~ good thing you didn't kick the guy in the privates!!! :rofl: :lol3: I near cracked up when I read that!!! Surprised you didn't hear the guffaws all the way in OZ!!!! :rofl:
Goon on ya for the hanging exercise!!! LOL I have lots of hanging bits but they don't get much exercise! Just kind of hang and look unattractive!!! Good luck with work and the 'blokes'!!!
Patience dear Sister! LOLOLOLOLNow there is a real oxymoron!!!!

Meadow~ Wash 0, Mel 3!!! About 5 more to go!!! LOL
Hope the pizza was good cause it looked and smelled great!
Thanks for kicking the wash....when they move on their own they're so much easier to handle! :rofl:

Holly~ Hope the week and stretching twists are going well and the little rugrats too.

Linus~ Give Teel my love and hugs. Hope she gets better soon with the ankle. Hope also that you pass the muster of the inspection and you guys can settle in soon as the work is all done. Men love to butt heads so be careful you and Bump don't get in the way!!!! :faint: Stay well my friend.

Nae~ Hope everything is OK and sending good strong vibes your way also!!! This too shall pass.....or so I keep telling myself! :rofl:


Well Ladies(and I use that term looooosly) Hope the day is bright and sunny and cheerful!!! I am clearing and airing the house out. Gonna get ready for the hot and steamy weather that is predicted to start today! YIKES!!! CLOSE THE WINDOWS MEL AND BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!

HUGS Mel!!!!! You are sounding like your usual funny ,happy self!!!!
HIYA CHICKS!!!!

ill make this short and sweet as im in a lousy mood :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: i have a kitchen but the very stinky floors still remain ,i even told a joiner to f**k off today i am at the end of a verrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy long tether and it aint nice :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: so im off for a nice hot bath {when i take the contentss of the bathroom out of said bath}and enjoy my nervous breakdown in peace
love to you all
kirsty+bump

Following on from yesterday mornings weather report, the following occurred during the day and overnight. It’s only interesting because I live in the Sub-Tropics on the east coast of Australia.



Yesterday, on the plaza at the bottom of the building that I work in, the powers that be had a morning tea and seminar on the joys of State Government superannuation. They put out tables with bunches of balloons and edible goodies like sandwiches and buns etc etc.

Yesterday the wind blew, and blew and blew and blew. Don’t anyone ever tell me about NZ’s windy Wellington anymore.

As a result of this cold wind blowing, the seminar shifted indoors, but not before the wind picked up enough strength to blow the sandwiches clear off the plates and into the air. We were watching bits of lettuce and other unknown foodstuffs floating through the air and past our windows. The wind was so strong that it picked up one of the bunches of balloons - which were weighted down with little brick thingies and they too floated past the office windows.

Of course winter here in the subtropics means cool nights and mild to warm days - but yesterday it didn’t get passed 18C (if you need a quick formula for conversion to fahrenheit - double the temp and add 30.) And that wind was just the pits. Once the sun left the sky, the temps plummetted again. Somewhere in the inland sub-tropics snow fell yesterday. First snow that far north in 46 years. Mind you the Canadians would have called it dandruff not snow, but the kids were having a wonderful time of it sliding down the slopes on their skateboards minus the wheels.

Last night got very cold and the drive to the station this morning was more than a tad chilly. In fact the little information screen on the dash started a 7c and went down as far as 2.5c. After 3.5c little snowflake diagrams started to appear on the screen warning me of ice outside. ICE - we only use that in our drinks!!

I remembered my lunch and breakfast today. So yesterdays bad eating is now a thing of the past - ha ha. And although I was bitterly cold and missed my usual train home last night due to a meeting running overtime, I talked myself into going to the gym for the cardio circuit (15 mins ea on Treadmill, bike and stepper last night) and felt better for it - or is that my conscience taking a well earned break?

Tonight I am going out to dinner with the brother and the niece and nephew and then home to start preparations for the weekend. I have a rowdy bunch of footy fanatics coming over to cheer on the All Blacks against the British & Irish Lions tomorrow. I have decided to serve comfort food (for the British of course) such as lamb shanks and mashed potato and carrot. The kids love them slow cooked in wine and stock. There’s some NZ beer for the boys (the Brits will just have to make do) and a nice Spanish red for me and the niece. Following the footy we will spill out on to the patio and toast some marshmallows etc over the barbecue and I will put a good old favourite of rhubarb crumble in the weber for comsumption. By that time we probably won’t feel the cold. Later is the Australia v Italy test and we will all have to watch that as well no doubt. It should be fun.

Meanwhile back in the office, I have to prepare for 3 training sessions of 1.5hrs each. Kate - our administrator is hoping to make the 3 into two so we can all go home early. Good onya Kate.

Back later to read the posts and comment. Looks like linus is having a small tantrum there.

Good morning ladies,

Sorry I don't have time to sit and chat. It's getting down to the wire now. Family shows up tomorrow afternoon. Lots to be done between now and then. I hope to get out of work a bit early to get a jump start on things.

While Shad's freezing, it's supposed to be sunny and hot here - upper 90's for temps. Good pool weather. I hope so, not much else to do here.

Hope you all have a great week, I will try to stop by sometime later.

Linus~ it must feel good to get all that frustration out!!!! I hope it all settles down for you!!!
Happy~ you must be getting very excited!!!! Wishing you a happy, lighthearted time wiht your family!!
Shad~Sounds like you are getting some Ontario spring weather. It keeps you active to stay warm, LOL!! Wear some heavy boots so you dont blow away!!!!

I have been busy. Last week of school stuff. A lovely retirement party for our principal. I adore him!!

The downstairs is a MESS cause i have been cleaning out stuff upstairs. It's bugging me!!! 2 more piles to the thrift shop. Yowza!!! I have been unloading stuff all spring!!! Tons of stuff. Now it is getting a bit more personal. Unloading memories. Very freeing for my spirit.
I called my Mom yesterday to get permission to give away the bassinet she bought when my angels were babes. We ended up having a natural and normal conversation. It was heartening.
I still have the christmas stuff to go through and then ALL the closets and storage spaces will be completely sorted and minimized!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will dust, vacuum and wash the windows tomorrow!!!!!!!!!
No plans all weekend. I really want to relax around the house and putter in the gardens!!!!!
Gymnastics tonight.
School council meeting last night was GREAT!!!! We are a wonderful team!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!

Onward with my day!!! It’s gonna get hot again, 32C.

Have a carefree day!!!!!!

HOLY CRAP I LOST MY POST!!! WELL THE LONG AND SHORT WAS....4 INSURANCE COMPANIES SAID IF I HAD A LAWYER AND WAS SUING THEN THEY WOULD PAY THE MED BILLS FOR THE BUS THING. AFTER CALLS, FAXES, ARGUING AND MEL'S TEARS....I LEFT THEM ALL TO SORT IT OUT. MONDAY IS ANOTHER DAY! LOL MONDAY IS ALSO MALL DAY FOR MEL TOO AND SHE WON'T BE HERE!!! IF IT GETS ANY WORSE THEN I'LL CALL A LAWYER AND GET THEM UPSET TOO! LOL
HOPE YOUR DAY WAS BETTER THAN THIS! POOR SHAD IS TURNING INTO AN ICE POP, LINUS IS HAVING A FIT, HAPPY IS FALLING ASLEEP AND HOLLY IS DELIRIOUS WITH HAPPINESS!!!
LOVE TO YOU ALL AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. OURS IS SUPPOSED TO BE VERY HOT AND HUMID AND I AM STAYING IN AN TAKING CARE OF THE EYES SO I CAN SEE SOMETHING AT THE STORES ON MONDAY!!!! :rofl:

Hi Everyone, I just got my computer back and caught up with everyone...... wow..... I missed hearing from you all...isn't is weird.... some of you have had the pleasure of meeting each other. But for most of us this is our contact and connection and during the day at different times I thought about each of you and wondering how life was going in your neck of the world!!!! Friendship and care comes in so many different forms.... you know girls... if anything serious every happened to any of us, we should have someone in our immediate circle know how to access our corner of the world on this medium and let us know....... just a thought.
Well, so much has been happening but the difficulty with my oldest is now out of my hands in a way.... about time.. but the sadness in all of that is he has not once contacted me...... I think mostly out of shame..... so he is going to face many things without me.... good.... I have started a letter writing to my sons... only telling them of my weekend excursions... the nature I see and my thoughts on all kinds of stuff..... no questions in the letters at all... not even a how are you..... a chance for them if they care to see a part of me as a person and how I experience life for myself.
My little dog Teeka is not quite up to par.... I won't go camping in the wilderness tonight because she isn't up to it... but I will go down river and join the group for the hike along the ridge and to the hot springs......
Planting tress and flowers but don't know if the water will hold up to keep them going.... wish you all could join me on my deck.... with a bar b q and drink and a float on the pond...... just taking in this spectacular scenery.......
Miss you all.... wish you all the very best..... and to your loved ones..... Many blessings and will write more later...
Take good care,
Nae

Oh Nae, you have inspired the most beautiful pictures in my mind. I can feel the calmness of the pond. Enjoy your hike!!! Peaceful thoughts for your woes with your son.

Nae~ I should be ashamed of myself for not sending a note sooner to find out WHER you were! I have been so wrapped up in my own dilemmas. Hope the letter writing make YOU feel good and they can learn who Mom really is.....a real person. Good luck.
Sorry to hear about Teeka. I know she means so much to you.
Sending healing thoughts her way. I have given Jen a phone book with Joy's number in it. I just didn't want to fall of the face of the earth without someone knowing about it. I had the same thought as you did about our little 'family'. ((((HUGS)))) to you too cause you sound like you could use them!

I am feeling better about yesterday and of course much better having had an ice cream sandwich!! :rofl: But today is back to plan and getting this house organized. It's beginning to look like the insude of my MIND! :dizzy: Jen and the kids were here. They went to the $1 store and the kids bought me Coca Cola plate, bowl and cup. makes me want SODA NOW!!! :rofl: The kids were so loud playing on Pogo.com that Jen had to take them back! I forgot that kids cannot do anything quietly except SLEEP!:faint: Part of me was glad to see them leave. The birds and I enjoy our quiet time more and more every day.....we're getting old and set in our ways together! ;lol3: :lol3:Well.......Best get the day going and get out before the heat comes. Already cleaned the birds and bathroom so it's time to go for a ride. ;dance: :scooter:
Have a great day!!! :flow2:

Hello everyone, I've been really naughty and not got round to posting on here for ages.

Anyway, I'm still losing and getting a lot fitter. Would you believe I ran 10k on Tuesday and 5k on Thursday and this morning? I can't! The scale and tape measure are both looking much better almost daily so that's good.

Anyway, I'm off travelling again so I won't be about for a week or two. I'm off to visit my parents in Gran Canaria, and popping over for a couple of days in La Palma while I'm over there. The hotel has a gym and everything so I'm even taking my gym stuff if I can fit it in my case. This dedication is scaring me!

I just wonder what my mother will say if she sees me eating salad. I think she'll die of shock!

Hello all...I am returning like the prodigal!!
I have had so much trouble getting internet access just lately....DOH!!
Anyway I shall write without looking back to your posts so I can do the update-ing later!
Only 3 days till I leave for Scotland...nearly time to start the packing....yipee!
Hopefully the sun will shine and I will have some spare time to write to you whilst I am either at chez Linus or when I find an internet cafe...:comp:
Its been a bit of an hectic week...hairdressers one day, psychiatrist's the next and the usual blood test the next...and shopping today!! Tomorrow I will meet a freind for coffee so I can give her an early birthday present as she celebrates her big day whilst I am away...gosh I have been so organised!!Well I thought I was until I was just talking to mum on the phone and she wanted the address where I would be staying...and I couldn't remember and I couldn't find where I had written the details!!DOH!!!!again!! I thought I was going to have to ring all the guest houses in the street (the name of which I could recall....)and ask them all if they had a booking for Ms Monk! And then I found the bit of brochure I had cut out with the details on it.. So all is well with the world although there is definately NO HOPE for the bit of brain matter that I thought I had left!
Anyway, as I said, this is a very quick postie so I will now go read pages and pages of news from your good selves....
I hope to get back on site before I go but if not, I will be in touch from Scotland...och aye!!!!

sorry girls but a wee short quickie from me too !!! been in the garden all day trying to tame the jungle ,andy and craig did most of the work i picked up grass and emptyed the bucket :o well they shout at me everytime i do anything else :nono: but we now sort of have a lawn , andy has promised to show me how to resize my pics so i can send you all some photos ,the usual before and after shots sort of thing but you might have to wait a few years for the finaly looks like a garden shots :rofl: :rofl: anyway time for the bath and tv routine so im off bye for now
lots of love
kirsty+bump

Yep well definitely not OP this weekend. Last nights dinner turned into a feast - both of Rugby and food. We danced our way through the courses and the games and the resultant scale watch this morning is not pretty. Lots of water, lots of movement and lots of good things for the body today.

The Brits here (unfortunately we couldn't find any Irish) were a tad quiet towards the end of the game. Would have been a better game without the French referee, not that he did anything bad, but he certainly gave the pea in the whistle a good workout. And I was delighted to see that apart from the usual pushing and pulling, there was no fighting or violence in the game. I deplore violence in what is supposed to be 'sport'. I've even been known to put pen to paper (actually fingers to keyboard) if there is too much violence in sport. It gives a bad name to the game, whichever game it is, and sets a really bad example to the young. Not that many of them need an excuse really.

Anyway, we didn't get the rhubarb crumble for dessert, simply because I could get any rhubarb. None in the shops and we can't grow it up here. It's a temperate to cold weather plant. However the rest of the meal went down well. Judging by the number of bones piled up for the cat!!??? it was appreciated. Cat by the way only picks at bones once in a while, I will have to go rescue the bones before they are swarming with ants. A few bottles out there in the rose garden as well. No doubt it was too thorny to try to pick them up!

So today it is back to the painting, sanding and chipping of tiles off the floor. Only 7 more to go of those. I really should have hired a jack hammer but it seemed like such a small area to go to those lengths. Maybe mow the lawn as well. Lets just see how the day pans out. Siesta might be fun too.

Good to hear from you Teel. I was about to put the feelers out for you this morning then checked the time and thought - um no, I'll not do that again. You should have been in bed long since.

Linus, don't wear yourself out on the garden. Hey, you will have lots of time when bump metamorphisises (not sure of my spelling here) and you can sit in the garden together and pull the weeds and plan the next years Edinburgh Flower Show. Such fun setting up a new garden. Is it big - long and skinny like I see on the British Ground Force shows???

YP1 good to see you back. I really envy your tripping around the continent. We are so far away from most places that it takes hours and hours to get anywhere (9 to Singapore and 13 to LA). Can't go there for the weekend. I was just thinking after your Greece trip that the time it took you to fly to Greece was the same amount of time it takes me to fly to Cairns and I'm not even out of the Queensland State!!!!

Have a good day everyone. I'm off to enjoy my Sunday now. I'll be back later to start a new thread. Think I have the front and backyards about right now.

Holly-I found this quote for you ;) "There are, of course, several things in Ontario that are more dangerous than wolves. For instance, the step-ladder."
~ J.W. Curran, The Canadian Wildlife Almanac, 1981
:D Be careful on that thing!

Mel-Did those dirty articles sort themselves out, or are they still laying around making work for you? Get wet and use plenty of soap you limp fabrics you :bubbles:

Shad-sounds like your evening was energetic and fun!

Teel-Hey :hug: good to catch up with you, I hope your visit with Linus is a blast and you two get lots of nattering time in :D

Linus-so are you getting the yard ready for all those lovely evenings Teel and yourself will be spending outdoors enjoying the air and each other's company? Take it easy now, let the guys do all the heavy stuff.

YP-Hello happy wanderer! I hope you have an excellent trip and fingers crossed the gym clothes do get out of the case and you come home fitter and with a big grin on your face.

Nae-I hope your sons appreciate your efforts to connect with them on an adult level. It can't be easy for you but I hope you get a good response, maybe a few details about their lives written back :)

Our barbecue was attacked by Mother Nature last night. It was a beautiful sunny evening and just as my husband took the last of the hamburgers off the grill a black rain cloud drifted over, dumped a deluge for five minutes and drifted off and it was sunny again... but in that short period of wet the glass blew out of the barbecue like a bomb! Good thing the kids were inside eating their dinner. The entire front of the barbecue is gone and glass everywhere inside and out. We need a new barbecue now just when we started using it again :p

Go to the new thread. Click here (http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=883150#post883150)