Yea!! its finally the weekend. I wolke up at 6am. YUK! Drinking my first coffee and have read the paper.

POOKY, I need you to come to my house and hang wallpaper border in my bathrrom today....or any of you other home improvement types. I am afraid I am going to screw it up!

Not much else planned here today, I have a visit to SUper Target planned. I am sooo exciting.

So..I told you I got the job, well I though my bos would be a real pill but she was pretty good until the time she told me I needed to give her a month's notice. Her last bit of control I think...anyway I told her I would think about it and I did and I am not. She will probably skin me alive. But.......oh well.

Hope you all have a great Saturday!!!!!

Happy weekend, Chickies. Was up at 5 but just in here now - must be getting old. Actually, Lucy has made me change my morning routine - meadow romp, doggie breakfast, my breakfast, doggie potty, DH breakfast, kitchen cleanup and THEN onto the PC.

Scooby2, if that boss lady gives you any trouble, just call in the Chickie Brigade! We'll fix her! I get the impression you don't really owe her anything!

Men cooking - a mixed blessing! DH cooked again last night and makes a huge mess. He did a steak marinated in balsamic vinegar - in the cast iron frying pan, not the BBQ or the GF - and some fancy dancy fried rosemary potatoes for himself. So this morning I had a greasy stove (and floor and wall) to take care of plus two greasy pans. I know - should have cleaned up last night but it was late and we had wine and ..... bed looked good.

This morning I need to go to the Office for a bit and then go for my pedicure. If you hear giggling and screaming, it'll be me when they touch my feet! After that I will go tiddle up the Church for a Christening tomorrow. We have a contractor coming to measure and do estimates for a fenced dog area so my babies can go outdoors to play without Mommy there all the time. I might have to work a Bingo tonight because the scheduled money person has a very sick father. Just my luckk to have to work a Bingo the night the time changes! I'll get home at one and set the clocks to 2. Oh joy!

Tomorrow will be a me and DH and the dogs day after the Christening breakfast. I just might go out and see if my new arm can do any garden stuff - like pulling out dead stuff or pruning a clematis! So nice to know I can now use the arm even though it hurts - in fact, using it will strengthen the muscles. And yes - I will take it easy but I need to get out there.

Have a great day, Chickies.

Good morning!

Rachael -- Congratulations on the new job! Hope it's all you want and more. Try to be nice to the old boss (although I wouldn't give her a month's notice either). I have found from past experience that it's not a smart thing to completely burn your bridges.

Ruth -- Gardening? Sounds like fun! I have a teeny, tiny flower bed in my front yard that has some yellow-leaf bushes (can't remember the names) and three different types of rose bushes (one for each of my kids). This year I'm planting Tiger Lillies on the side of my house. It's just the right environment for them so they should take off. I'm also going to do some container gardening (bush-style tomatoes and green beans, and strawberries). My youngest wants to plant pumpkins, too. I have a small patch in the corner of the yard that I told him he could use IF he helps me clean it out (lots of weeds). Gardening isn't only great exercise it's a form of stress relief. I didn't garden at all last year (except to maintain my little flower bed) and I never reached that relaxed feeling all summer. This year I know better! Hope you enjoy your gardening as much as I do.

TOM has just about left me so I'll finally get to do my first weigh-in on Monday. Not a good thing -- just necessary. I haven't been perfectly OP this week but I have eaten a lot better than usual so I guess I'd consider this a "fair" week. How have the rest of you done?

Well, gotta go. I want to get dressed and start cleaning up the parlor and dinning room (look like tornadoes went through them) before Shane (youngest) gets up.

Morning
It has been a busy few days for me. I had lunch with the 93 year old grandmother and a friend the other day, been out shoping for a leather coat, ( they are on huge discount right now) and I am off to a bridal shower today for a woman I have met once. The groom is a friend of my husband. The wedding is memorial day weekend in Washington DC and it is one of those 4 day kinda things. I thought it might be a good idea to meet some people now as there will be some planed events and I want to know a face or 2.
So that is my big plan for today. We had a little celebration for older son yesterday afternoon, this sounds so silly but he spelled CHECK instead of CHEEk on his spelling test. So it was wrong. He was so upset to have had a second word wrong this year that we had to make light of it and we celebrated his mistake. He is a very academic kid and a little party for the wrong word made him feel better and realize that it is mot a huge deal to make mistakes. Sometimes I think if he is this tough on himself at 8 what is going to happen when he really has a failure, maybe a bigger party .

have to do the hair and makup thing today, and I think the kids would like some breakfast. Have a good morning and a great weekend.

Ruth have you loked into the invisable fence? Lots cheeper and they work very well.

Scooby, congrats on the new job.

jdoneil1 good luck at the weigh in.


-L

L144 - checked out the invisible fence several years ago. I know it works - have seen it in action with a friend's pooch.

Problem is the dogs would have to wear collars and that ruins their neck fur for show. Also, people can see that you have these gorgeous dogs and we have had too darn many dog-nappings around here where the poor pooches end up in puppy mills! (I sure could tell you some sad tales and tails.) During the summer we have a transient population of campers, cottagers, carnies, fair goers and general drive by losers so ....... we just can't trust everyone even in this little rural backwater.

So we will be going with a non-see-through fence on the street side and open fencing for the rest which can't be viewed. They will have a run that is about 50' by 70 feet with a garden and a loafing pool so don't feel sorry for them. They also can be in the meadow behind the barn with supervision. It's a dogs' life!

We looked into those invisible fences also. Our neighbor's side of our stockade fence fell down and they can't afford to replace it. So, rather than replace it ourselves, we considered the electronic kind. Only problem with them is that they don't keep other animal or people out. We have several neighbors who ignore the leash law in town and let their mutts run free. I don't feel safe letting my six-year-old out in the backyard without supervision because these dogs run through too often. (Yes. I'm a bit overprotective but that's me.) So we'll be replacing that part of the fence this summer (funds allowing).

I can't believe how many of you have posted already on this early Saturday morning. I am up and at 'em because I have to go do a bunch of softball scheduling, softball banking and softball recruiting. Can you tell it's softball season?

Rachel I am so happy for you about your new and improved job! And there's no way in Hades that I'd give a four week notice. I did that once and it was a big mistake. People's attitudes toward you change since they know you're a short-timer and things just get wierd. I'd give the standard two weeks. No more, no less. Oh yeah, the wallpaper border is pretty easy and it goes up quick. No problem, you'll do fine and we'll have to start calling you Pooky2.

Hey L (Gee, that sounds a little like the above mentioned Hades!) I wish someone would throw me a party when I make a mistake. There'd be a lot of celebratin' going on around here!

Sooner, my Sweetness I was thinking about you yesterday when I drove by the house with its Christmas lights still a-blazin'. As I laid on my horn, I wondered if it was time for me to untangle myself from this string of blinking lights yet, which got me to wondering how things are in your neck of the woods.

Ms. Juicy and Fuzzy Peaches My Rockies bombed last night, big time. It was very painful, and here we are in only the first week of the season. Hopefully they got that out of their systems! Are you able to get tv coverage? I was reading (in Sports Illustrated no less) about how so many people can't get Yankees games on tv. What's up with that? Thanks for your pm and I owe you one when I have time to sit for more than a couple of minutes!

I'm with you guys on the gardening. I can't wait to get out there and get dirty. I've been studying books lately on garden design because I'm going to try and actually have a plan this year. Every year I spend way too much money on bedding plants that I buy because they are pretty, with no thought at all as to how they would fit into the scheme of my garden. See, the books are working already - I just said scheme of my garden!

Oh yeah, I love our invisible fence. It's one of the best things we ever did for ourselves and our dogs. We live in the country though without too many neighbors so their dogs aren't a problem. Our problem is the deer and elk who break the wires every year. We can't bury all the wire because it goes around three acres and there are a number of places where burying is out of the question.

I guess I just made up for being scarce this week with this long post. I must have "type-arhea". Ewww!

Chickadee

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

I'm feeling particularly affectionate toward you all this morning. What an amazing phenomenon this is -- to come to like, admire, and dare I say it? -- even love women from all walks of life in all parts of the world simply because we're all looking for a solution to the oh-so baffling problem of weight! I would love to pm each and every one of you personally -- but I'm so slow at this writing thing that it would take me so many days to finish it that dh would lose what little understanding he has about my 'puter time and we would probably end up in divorce court and then I'd have to go find another kind of board!

Anyway -- Chicadee -- I LOVE your idea about the garden design book. I am so -- what's the word?-- ******ed? when it comes to garden design. Really -- it's just baffling to me. We live in an 80+ year old American Foursquare home (think Iowa farm house) in a tiny town in Iowa and I would love to have a flower garden that is typical of the time the house was built...but one that would look good throughout the season. Right now we have lilacs (I transplanted -- from my mom's), peonies, rose of sharon bushes (even more precious to me now because we transplanted them from my grandma's yard), and columbine (that is original to the house, I think). I've planted iris, daffodils, tulips, glads, hostas, and hollyhocks (trying to get those going -- not having much success) -- and there is always some bizarre daisy looking mess that comes up every year along w/tiger lilies. But it's chaos! Our problem is too much shade, I think -- I usually end up spending about $100 every year planting double imatients and those other ones I can't remember the name of in every shady spot that isn't occupied...

Anyway -- this brings me to the point that I've been thinking about since yesterday. Why can't there be house and garden planners that we can hire the same way brides hire wedding planners? (but for really cheap and they sell everything you need to do your projects at their cost! ) I'm so overwhelmed by the unfinished projects and needed re-dos in my house right now. I try doing the flylady thing they never put "put on the second coat of paint for the room you started last year" on the list...

Maybe if I spent a little less time posting?

Nah!

Have a great one!

Morning Everyone!! It is a beautiful day here in IL! Sun is shining and you can just taste spring! All on a Saturday no less! Didn't get to post yesterday-things crazy at school and home (more than usual) My DS's track meet on Thursday was cancelled because of the cold--the other school didn't call to cancel til 2:30--I had already left my school early to head out for it and was half way there when my cell phone rang and DH said "Turn around, it's cancelled" I guess those Athletic Directors don't realize people make special arrangements for these things. Heck, anyone could have told all day long that it was too cold--sheesh. Anyway, yesterday was another story. They had the HS Girl's softball first homegame and dedicated the new scoreboard to the girl who was killed in the car accident last Thanksgiving. The girls sent off white balloons with messages attached and the whole boy's baseball team attended in full uniform. (The girl's dad is their coach)It was a very emotional moment--the girls also had a come from behind victory to beat "the big school"-which made it all the better. Today is quiet, housecleaning, of course, exercise tape--have done the "Walk Away the Pounds" 2 mile tape every day but one this week--thought I might try the 3 mile today--we'll see Then DS asked if I would take him up to the track so that he can work on his long jump. They finally put down the mat and he wants to get his mark etc. down perfectly. We are "supposed" to have a home meet on Monday. (weather permitting)He is very dedicated to his jumping and feels he hasn't had enough of a chance to practice it during their regular practices. He's a bit "type A" like his mom I'm afraid. I figure I can walk the track while he does his thing. I am really trying to get into this exercise mode thing.I have also had about a 85-90% OP week--which for me is amazing.

Ruth, enjoy your gardening--glad the arm is doing so well. Be careful.

Scooby, Congrats on the new job and phhhht to your old boss--nobody gets more than 2 weeks around here.

Jd, good luck with the weigh in--I find closing my eyes makes it a lot easier for me.

L, as a 3rd grade teacher and as I said before, mother of a "type A" I think your celebration is a terrific idea!!! Have fun at your shower.

Chickadee, sounds like you have a busy schedule to keep up with--hope you get it all in.

Sooner, don't feel bad--this IL girl is also "garden impaired". I love to plant and spend too much each spring, only to gaze with envy at everything everyone else has done. I like your idea of the planner who works for cheap!! Have a good one.

Hello to all who follow and have a great Saturday!!!!

Just got back from the zoo with dd and her friend for life, Chloe. What a great kid! She's amazing and smart and has this beautiful red hair and these green eyes and freckles across her nose! Tommie wants to be just like her, unfortunately. She even wants to dye her hair!! Anyway, they had a blast, and the 2 moms are exhausted, so I'm off for a nap. We're meeting for a picnic at a playground nearby this afternoon so they can play together. Then, I hate to say this, they may not see each other for a loooooooooong time. Her mom and I have this on again/off again relationship. I'm so terrible!

Hope you're all taking a little time for yourselves this busy weekend! Talk to you later!

I went out into the garden today! I got dirty! The sun was shining and the birds were singing! I raked and prepared some beds! My bulbs are coming up! I have a crocus in the garden! I saw two robins! Hallelujah, it is SPRING!!!!! Was outside for 3 hours and loving every minute of it. Oh, it's gonna be so great--planting season is upon us--time to start those seeds!

Scooby, I would love to come and help you--but then who would take down my Christmas lights?

Ruth, I don't envy you going to work a Bingo--I can think of other fun things to do on a Saturday night!

Joanne, good luck on the weigh in!

L, your son sounds like myself at that age--would have been mortified to learn I spelt a word incorrectly! Good thing I don't care too much now--I have dyslexic fingers!

Chickadee and Sooner, go to garden.com, I think and they actually have a computer assisted design thingie you can do--if not there's plenty of software out there that can help you design the garden of your dreams!

Oh Annie, very touching for that girl's father to witness, what a wonderful tribute to his little girl!

Jenny--you mean the Messy Fairy lives at your house too!? I alwasy wondered how my house can look like a bomb hit it and we haven't been there all week!

Good, sounds like you had a nice day at the zoo--enjoy the picnic!

Have a great Saturday night everyone and for all those it applies to--remember to turn your clocks ahead!! "Spring forward, Fall back"

Well I'm back to the board!! It feels like forever since I was last here and boy oh boy did I miss lots!! Had tons of reading to do

Well, all of my crazy foster kid crew has left the building!!! YAHOO!! Now to wait to see what they send me next I had to ask for the one girl to be moved due to AWOL and suicidal ideations .. She wasnt really suicidal but one can never be too safe. Mom kept feeding into the negative behaviour which in turn caused a snowball effect. So thats what I have been up to .. took a trip to crazy town and back It has been nuts here so it was really hard to get online.

So happy to hear that everyone had a wonderful Easter and that no one slipped into a sugar coma!! It sure was tempting here but I was able to restrain myself

I fell off OP but I am going to really focus on keeping myself on track .. WW is beginning to look really really good .. that way I have to accountable to someone other than myself! Plus .. if I put out the $$ I will feel that I have to attend meetings. Who knows maybe I can meet some new people That would be great!!!

Have to run .. chat with you all soon
Love You Guys
Laura

Welcome back, Goomba. Nice to see you posting and to learn that you've made some changes in your stressful situation.

Well, I survived my pedicure without shrieking with laughter - just one bad moment when she was doing the "sloughing" which is exfoliating and hit the tickle spot! My feet are now the prettiest ones in Leeds County - complete with pink polish already. I even
did the socks and body lotion thing last night.

The fence guy came and will give me an estimate Monday. He sounds like he might be able to do the job next week which would be great. Now I need to decide which perennials to move out of that area. Hershey is very good with staying out of gardens but Lucy may decide to destroy something precious. I am so blessed to have so much space for both dogs and plants.

We have a Baptism at Church this a.m. I sure hope they remembered the time change! We are invited to the party afterwards - a sort of brunch - and then will spend the rest of the day at home.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Good morning ladies and Happy Sunday!

Have showered and I need to get ready for church. The tooth fairy came here last night for my almost 5 yr old. He lost his first tooth. It was hanging by a thread and I went to the store and Daddy pulled it while I was gone...the little guy was so excited.

Got the bathroom almost done, have not been brave enough to tackle the border, maybe today, Pooky, I will take your lights down if you hang my border!!!!!

Got a lot of yard work done here yesterday, planted some pansies in my flower boxes, picked up sticks and did some general cleanup.

Had a lovely evening out with DH and another couple, however we hurried home due to the time change(WE ARE OLD), had to get to bed.

Hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!