Steel Magnolias -- #43

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  • Good Afternoon, Flowers! I noticed that my post would probably roll over to page #2 so decided to start a new thread. It is another foggy day with periodic mist/rain going on in my corner of the world. At least we don't have to shovel! I feel so sorry for the people stuck in CO! I made a WM run this morning and now have to make a grocery run later this afternoon. The people who don't know how to drive will be out this afternoon so I may wait until evening to go.

    One of the teachers called me this morning and said the principal had sent out an email this morning requesting that teachers not abuse HIS semester exam schedule and leave the building in order to take more that their alloted half hour lunch (we actually only get 27 minutes). During semester exams the lunch break is an hour long and students are allowed to leave the building if they are not restricted. Basically today is just a make-up day for those that were sick or have projects/papers left to work on. There are very few in numbers and they have to be with an assigned teacher and not on the loose in the building. He is being so petty! I had her check my email and see if I got a reply back from him and I didn't. I think I will go in for an hour next week to make copies and not go in on the 3rd. I can be just an oppositionally defiant as he can. I want a new principal and a new asst. principal for Christmas!

    Maggie -- I forgot to congratulate you on your terrific 3.2# loss! You are doing great! This is a hard time of year for me and I'm hoping to maintain. I had to laugh at your cute elf and reindeer. Your graphics are so cute! I don't think I have any program like that, but I'm going to check just in case.

    "Gma" -- I don't think you have to worry about our principal coming to TN! He has a daughter and grandchild in Mpls. plus another daughter and grandchildren here. His son is in college here also. He really wants to go to MN. He is no dummy but he has a Dr. Jykell and Mr. Hyde personality -- you just never know what mood he will be in. Lately he's been 100% crabby . . . too many kids are failing classes and he blames the teachers! Don't get me started on that one. I love your hat! I noticed YOU weren't modeling it for us.

    I have a couple gifts to wrap and then I can put away my Christmas wrapping stuff. Hope you all are having a great day and the sun is shining on you!

    Jean -- in Iowa!
  • GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

    have been having fun today using my mini breadmaker. First off I made a batch of roll dough and then flattened them out and put a BBQ pork mixture in the middle and gathered up the edges and sealed them in balls. Baked them and now have some delicious little hand sandwiches. Then I noticed that I had a couple of bananas that were getting rather ripe so I am baking a Banna-Oat loaf even as I type.

    EAN The smileycons program I have ~ you can download a trial issue and then if you like it ~ doesn't cost much at all. Your principal sounds like he doesn't want to be there at all if he is crabby all the time. He needs to get out of there for himself and for all the staff also. Sure makes it hard not to have a supervisor that isn't decent plus the caliber of kids you have to work with. Sounds like the only good thing is that all of the teachers aren't acting like him.

    ILL is almost finished with that half size saddle and it is sooooooooo cute. The lady that will get it as a present will be jazzed for sure. He will have it done before Christmas but I don't think the man who ordered it will be back in town to pick it up till after. No matter ~ it will be here and it is for his mother so ...

    Have a wonderful evening Magnolias.
  • Good morning ladies! Well it took me long enough, but I think I know why I seem to continually have mild to moderate allery symptoms all the time....the YARN! I noticed yesterday when I was unraveling some stuff I had started and didn't like that when I would get it close to my nose (I had the skein under my chin holding it at one time so I could use both hands) that I would start coughing and coughing. Our dd and sil popped in yesterday afternoon and I didn't knit last evening because I was talking to Jack then went to bed really early and I noticed my nose didn't run at night like it usually did. I guess I am going to have to take some meds when I knit and see if that helps. I don't take prescription because mine is moderate at its worst times and usually just a nuisance like a runny nose.

    Maggie: If you had steamed those little sandwiches you would have had Chinese pork buns (wellllll not if you used beef! ) I haven't made those in a long time and they sound pretty good. I usually used beef in them anyway. I am sure all your good baking is perfectly yummy. I made milk chocolate fudge, rice krispie squares, choc chip cookies and frosted Christmas cookies yesterday morning for the kids down at the hotel. Jack had to taste test the frosted cookies. I swear I think that man could eat frosting out of the can. I ask him if they were any good and he said, "The frosting is." Actually, I cut a lot of corners. I bought the Pillsbury sugar cookies that come in little nuggets and took two nuggets and formed them together to give me a bigger cookie so I just made a dozen. I used canned frosting and then used the few cookie cutouts I had and placed them on top of the cookie and sprinkled stuff inside it to form the shape. I hate making these type of cookies and always have. I hated it when I was a little kid. Mom used to make us frost and decorate Christmas cookies and I hated it so I don't do it now, but I made some for Thomas. Of course, he spent the whole afternoon with his dad's sister making cookies yesterday so he is probably sick of them.

    Jean: You go girl, be a radical and defy the masses!!!

    I have started a really pretty soft yellow baby blanket for the baby. It will take me awhile because I decided to branch out just a bit and do some fancier patterns so we shall see. It is considered intermediate work, but the pattern doesn't look that hard. I am continuing on my handbag too, but I like to have a couple things going at once because I get bored with one project.

    Everyone have a great Saturday. Off to do morning chores and then fix a nice breakfast.

    Faye
  • GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

    t is a bright sunshiney day here and in the 40's as I type. I think this day I feel strong enough and have my focus to make that one point a square inch fudge recipe I have. I have had all the ingredients but haven't felt like tackeling it before now. I don't want to sabotage myself since it really doesn't have to be made. But I thought I would wrap each piece individually and take it to my next WW meeting and give each member there a piece of yummey sweet. I am sure they will all thank me.

    It has come to the point where we just have to keep our eye on Ragg Mopp when he is outside or he just has to go visit his live stock. I get such a kick out of him though. The guys over at the ranch don't mind if he visits as much as we do.

    AY I too have a light case of alergies and don't want to deal with taking those meds. I always keep a tissue handy. I have gotten a lot better now that we took out the carpet and replaced it with that wood type flooring. That yellow blanket sounds so nice and soft and cuddley. Does it have some cable stitching in it? When I learned how to do cables I tackeled one of those Nordic type sweaters that had cables all on the front and back. That is how I learned. Nice sweater ~ I ended up giving it to a gal in Minnesota after I outgrew it.

    I am going to go now and do something constructive. It is just past noon and maybe lunch should be made. Bye for now.
  • Happy Two Days Before Christmas, Flowers! The sun is out, the sun is out!!!!!!!! After several days of thick fog, mist, and rain it feels like an early spring day outside instead of a winter day. I made another WM run and hit the grocery store for what I forgot yesterday. Then went into town again this afternoon -- I stopped in a new men's clothing store looking for black socks for Jason and found chili beer bread so bought one for Jason and Will. I happened to walk by a health store and saw a palm candle with a palm tree on the glass container so stopped in there. Amanda's mom and I always exchange small gifts and I couldn't pass that up. Actually I had forgotten to get her something, but they do Christmas in January so I still had time to check my list twice. I'm done shopping!

    Maggie -- Your food always sounds so delicious! I wish I liked to cook. It seems like it takes so much time to prepare and then it's gone in a matter of minutes. This principal has been interviewing for the past few years and no one will hire him for whatever reason or he would be gone. He does want to go to MN. He wants to teach again rather than be an administrator; maybe his strong personality comes out and the hiring people don't want to deal with that. Several of us would help him pack!

    "Gma" -- I don't know why it is, but I can think of all kinds of things I would like to say to both administrators however I never get a chance to get the job done. The Spanish speaking aide they hired in Oct. has moved on (surprise! -- Bob thinks he is an illegal and went south after the packing plant raid). I doubt I would get fired simply because they couldn't get anyone to interview for the open positions last fall and I see there is an ad in the paper again. Of course they want bilingual applicants to apply.


    I've got to keep moving. Once I sit down for very long I've had it. Having it dark at 5:00 doesn't help me either. Have a nice weekend!

    Jean -- in Iowa!
  • I've just sat down and will take advantage of a few minutes and say to you all Merry Christmas]& Tomorrow will be a rather easy day as I have been invited to youngest daughter's on Christmas so no cooking! I like that. Our oldest daughter, who lives in town will drive and that is even better. It will be a fun day. Got all gifts and baking down and only have to give the gifts to the neighbors and that will be it.
    I will wish you all a Very Healthy New Year. Gloria
  • The animals disturbed me and I couldn't get back to sleep so thought I would peek in here and wish everyone a


    MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
  • MERRYMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
  • Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a !

    Jean -- in Iowa!
  • GOOD NIGHT MAGNOLIAS

    Just checking in to see if anyone had posted any Christmas news or woes. I am soon heading for bed ~ I am tired and my eyes are drooping. Tomorrow is back on program for me! Ate a bit more than I had planned.

    Catch up with ya'll later.
  • Good morning to you all! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas holiday! We had a nice time, came home yesterday morning early and ate at IHOP instead of more buffet stuff and it was the only restaurant except the Chinese places to be open. I would have liked Chinese, but Jack is not keen on it.

    I have all the laundry done and put away from the trip, but it is back to reality and starting housecleaning chores again today. I did finish my big ole felted handbag though. I took my knitting to the hotel with me and got a lot accomplished and finished it up yesterday at home. I felted it last night and then did all the sewing last night and this morning. I am including two pictures because the one hanging up is a little harder to see what I did. It is lovely deep purple.

    I also have a new avatar! He sure is growing, isn't he? He had a lot of fun. We went swimming and that was fun and he loved his gifts. There are some issues with his sweaters, but those are best left alone and not discussed. All in all he had a great time and we enjoyed ourselves.

    I'm with you Maggie! I am working this week on clearing out every piece of junk or unheathy food in the house and going shopping this weekend and getting all good stuff in the house for us to eat. I am getting myself on an exercise schedule as well as getting Jack on one too (he agrees with it I am not bullying him lol) My smilies won't load this morning so going to just resort to computer acronyms I guess!

    I hope everyone has a great day! I need to get the day going and get some stuff done!

    Faye
  • Hello, hope all the Magnolias survived the Christmas. We had a lovely one, if quiet. Our friends came up from North Carolina and it was great to see them. We also talked to a lot of old friends in Ohio.

    Faye, sounds like you have a plan in place for your and Jack. I've got mine ready for January 1 as well. I think it is particularly portentious of success since January 1 is also a Monday and that is the day we all begin a new diet.

    Jean, I know you are enjoying being away from the school and it's inhabitants. Enjoy your time off.

    Maggie, won't be long and you'll be at your goal...way to go!

    I'm really enjoying Curves. This will be my third week and I've been going 4-5 times a week so I'm getting my money's worth. The girls are all so nice and it's a lot of fun.

    Definitely cutting back at work beginning January 2 - 9:30 am until 3:30 pm - and I am so ready for it. In June I'll cut back to 20 hours a week and be a real lady of leisure.
  • Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly . . . still no snow which is fine with me! I've been vacuuming crumbs and doing laundry that I put off over the weekend. I really should be ironing after I finish here. We need to take Zowie's table and chairs over to her, but I'm not sure if we will go today or later in the week. The horse went home in the back in Beth's van last night. Kolby will have to grow into it, but Maddy thought it was pretty cool. One of my gifts was a Nativity set . . . the characters are cats, no less!

    "Gma" -- I'm glad your Christmas get-away was a good one. The great picture of Thomas shows how much he has grown up this past year. They do grow up much too quickly for sure. You certainly were a busy gal when you got home! Your handbag is beautiful! Maybe you should think about selling those along with candles. It seems like you knit so fast and get your projects done in short order.

    Maggie -- I hope you are enjoying a nice day today!

    Susan -- I can't remember if you said you would be back at work today. If so or not, hope you are having a good day wherever you are!

    Gloria -- If you peek in before the new year, I wish you and your family the best in 2007!

    Gail -- Where are you? Hope your holiday has been enjoyable for you and your family.

    I hear the dryer buzzing so had better keep moving. I need to sort through boxes and gift bags to see what I can recycle for next year. Have a nice day and do something nice for yourself!

    Jean -- from Iowa!
  • GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

    Well it is after a weekend of festivities and I have been taking stock of what I want to accomplish this coming year of 2007 and that is to lose a chunk of this fat that must go.

    Since we are not drinkers and don't plan on attending any parties this New Years eve we will celebrate with a bottle of non alhol bubblie right here in our little space. Those of you who do go out please do be careful.

    Type at ya'll later.
  • Good morning ladies! It is a bit nippy out this morning. I took out the trash and my hands were cold by the time I got back in. We are lucky with the weather this year so far, nothing that would cause catastrophe in this town.

    Maggie: We don't go anywhere New Year's Eve living here. There are too many drunks and irresponsible people driving cars here sober for us to get out on the road. We may use Jack's Christmas gift of movie cert and go in the afternoon or early evening if we find something we want to see, but we usually turn in early. We are going to be shampooing rugs this weekend anyway and I have lots of food pitching, cleaning out and restocking I want to do. I am with you that I MUST lose at least 100 lbs by the end of next year. That is a smidge more than 2 lbs a week, which is what they consider safe. I always get a big jump start when I do so it would all work out.

    Susan: Nice to hear you had a nice Christmas. I am glad you like Curves so much. I have heard great things about it. It is also great to know that you are going to be able to cut back at work soon. Sooner or later, us older ladies just can't keep up the grueling schedule we did at 20 somethings. I can't make my sister understand that. She is a legal secretary and I have been begging her for years to quit borrowing from her husband's 401K because neither of them have a pension plan at work, that will be what they have to live on. She says they will never be able to retire and I keep telling her when she is 65 or 70 she is not going be to able to type 95 wpm! Physically it becomes impossible to do that sort of thing.

    Jean: Have fun on the time off. Glad the horse got delivered and probably the table and chairs by now. I have to say I have never heard of a cat nativity set but I bet it was cute. I put the few Christmas things away out in the box in the garage. I cleaned out my Christmas stuff last year and bought the huge size of Rubbermaid boxes with the locking lids so I now have a place to put more decorations when I get stuff every year. We exchange gifts with Tom's parents every year and she got us this adorable little star shaped boxed tower that had some kind of goodie in each one. The boxed are connected at the lid so they don't slip around, but the lids come off so I can use it at Christmas to put candies or whatever in in I wish. It is decorated in blues and greens with Snowmen and it is really cute. I got them a Knotts Berry Farm gift pack of syrups, jellies, pancake mix and biscuit mix. Anyway, my point was that I now have room for gifts given to me that are specific ornaments or whatever. I got a baby shoe from my son and dil!

    Well, the bathrooms upstairs are calling my name. I got the whole downstairs finished yesterday and decided I didn't like the pattern for the baby blanket and ripped the whole thing out and started over! Since Kelly's shrug was too big, I am going to get yarn and knit her a sweater I found and then tear the shrug down and make a summer sweater for myself in a smaller size to encourage me to stay on program for vacation next year in August!

    Have a good day everyone. I actually don't have a knitting project done to show!

    Faye