Good afternoon :wave:

gzgrl22: Your quilting project sounds detailed! I'm so impressed that you're working from just a picture. My mom quilted so I can appreciate all the time it takes to create the blocks and align everything up just right! Are you preparing for a new grand baby? :bb:

Vladadog: You had a very successful July and August! Stacking for cords of wood might have something to do with it. As I've stated before, keeping the weight off is the the true battle. :bravo: to you!

Shaybelle: Welcome :wave:
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Today was day one of our peer "boot camp" and I'm surprised at how well it went. We were on Zoom from 8:30-12 and from 12:30-2:30.:eek: Way to long but it was either that or do an entire week of 2-3 hour days. We did revise the curriculum so that it was more manageable. The students were engaged and had great ideas. I can't believe I'm saying this but the day flew by! Day two tomorrow but I'll join the team late as I have back to back meetings first thing in the morning. I'm whooped so I need to eat some dinner and then relax the rest of the evening.

Have great evening!

Hello Everyone!


Absolutely Beautiful in Washington today. A LOT of city folk converging on my little town. The money is good for our economy, but so many places are still closed. All the RV parks are stuffed. The woods are full, and I am staying home. Got caught up on domestics, Making pressed apple juice this afternoon, it is really the best thing you've ever tasted. trying to get the root cellar ready and defrosting freezers in preparation for the fall hunt. OMG, 800 lbs of organic elk meat is just what I need for my diet! My friend found his first chantrelle (mushroom) of 2020 and I'm so excited. My adoptive Indian family is doing traditional fishing this year, I'm looking to spend some time on the river. I remember all the nights stretched out on the warm basalt, listening to the Klickitat roll. Oh ya, life is good. huckleberry moonshine drippin from the still, apple cider fermenting in the shade. Maybe fall is my best season after all?


Hey Vlad, nice work on the cord wood. Do you heat your house primarily with wood? I was born in AK and I can appreciate the amount of work involved. Very few things give me a sense of accomplishment like a well stacked wood pile. I kept a wood burning hearth in the kitchen, for those chilly mornings.


Say Hey Shay. How U do? We r the same age. Cant wait to get to know you Gamer Girl, what, no minecraft? Destiny? CoD? hehe. I know all about it cause I get on PS network to visit with the nephews and nieces. Just got mom, (grandma) all hooked up so she can visit as well. I'm so glad u showed up. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in Washington, we love our brothers and sisters to the north! Welcome!:hug:


Curv...Ya i'm alright, just a little sore. I dont remember if it was successful as I can't remember much past the searing pain and the flashing red lights. lol I wish we could party!


Martine, U are one tough cookie but I bet you look great in a dress! Remember, from Karate Kid..."mercy is for the weak" and "strike first, strike fast, strike hard!" It's always nice to have the DM in your corner, especially when they recognize your contribution. I can't imagine you leave much unaddressed. Your work ethic is IMPRESSIVE to say the least!


Gz, I draft my fantasy football team this weekend, Hoping for S. Barkley... Go Giants. I admire your artistic expressions, I can't think of a better gift/treasure then a home spun quilt. I remember my first one, my mother and I were able to replicate it and I sleep with the new one nightly. Its red and don't match anything...I love, Love it. Our latest project is a chair rail, only we are using old panel doors, painting them, and installing them around the bottom of the wall in the kitchen. We did hand painted stripes too, they are so cool. Mom painted a rug, complete with tassels, on the floor...Sick!


9\4 313.0 HECK YA! bye bye baby fat.

Hi Curvynotlumpy! :wave:
Hi William47! :cb:

William unfortunately Minecraft has that cubed 6 bit look...i dont like it. lol Call of Duty.. ..I'm finger 'tarded I hung up my console controllers after N64. No Destiny either. Now if it could be done with a joystick I'd rock the crap outta call of duty. :lol: I lived in WA state for a few years. It rained so much. That's the first time I got fat was in WA eating the mini donuts at Pike Place Market and the Sausage Man. BUT it was the greenest green I ever saw in my life like it was Photoshopped. It also had a wicked winter I wasnt expecting. Beautiful there. I enjoyed crabbing and fishing in the Hood Canal and fishing at Crater lake. I lived in Kitsap County and had my oldest child there. :)

Curvy are you a teacher?

Good afternoon :wave:

Shaybelle: I'm the director of our Transfer and Veteran Services unit on campus. Teaching is my background, and I still teach a bit every year but it's not my main job so to speak. Thanks for asking! Your Minecraft reference reminded me of our ongoing Minecraft game/activity :chin: that one of our peers set up for our transfer students after campus closed due to COVID-19. She thought it would be a great way to keep students engaged and have some fun during this time. She was right! Our students eat it up!

William47: I hear your concern about crowds! :yes: While there will be a small--I mean really small--number of courses offered on campus for the fall quarter, students are starting to move back into town and I know this is only the beginning.
We have a place in Northern California called Apple Hill and the fresh pressed apple cider is amazing! :drool:

Martine: Office shenanigans know no bounds! Had all this been settled before you found out or were you part of the conversation? Your DM definitely has your back.
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I'm headed out the door so I'll check-in tomorrow. Everyone have a great evening!

Happy Friday!

Good morning. Weight still not budging but I got a solid 3 miles in last night and will play the waiting/weighting game

Curvy - no new grandbaby yet---this was a challenge quilt for my guild. We all got a package of 2 1/2" strips and had to design a quilt around them. It was so much work I may hide it away for the next grandbaby because it is a lovely one and perfect size.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

William - your wainscoting idea and the floor rug sound terrific! I feel the same about my old quilts. I even have quilt squares my grandma did by hand but I have not yet made them into a quilt. On my UFO (unfinished objects) list

Shaybelle - hello! :welcome2:

Martine - Good for you on getting the Quebec territory. It is nice to have a DM who is actually thinking about his/her people

Hi gzgrl22

My dh decided to eat the way I do. :) I just went shopping yesterday and only planned for myself. Now I have to send him out again so I have enough low calorie foods for my down days since I'm sharing my meals with him now. This makes things easier. Now I wont have to smell him cooking food on my down days, which made the days harder. :D

I did some meal planning today. I tend to go off the rails if I dont have a menu planned out. The key is to get a few weeks under my belt.

Good morning :coffee2:

Shaybelle: That's wonderful that your husband has decided to eat your way! What a fantastic way to support your efforts.:cheer: I'm part of an ongoing health and wellness group. It's really the support/maintenance leg of a more formal group I was in two years ago. We meet every two weeks and on our last Zoom lunch meeting one lady had to leave early as her husband was coming home. He hasn't been supportive of her health and wellness goals and she didn't want catch grief for meeting with us. I'm happy that's not your experience. :)

gzrgrl22: What cool and creative challenge! I'm thrilled that the results of your work was a lovely baby quilt. :yay: Do you later "meet" to show each other your work?
***********
I hope everyone is having a good weekend. For some reason I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up around 2:15 and finally started to drift back to sleep around 4 a.m. but it was a fitful sleep. It never really cooled off last night so that might have something to do with it.

Yesterday I went to Target and actually found disinfecting wipes. :woohoo: It's been months! It makes me hopeful that we'll be seeing them regularly as the fall begins. I also took the step to switch dentists. My current dentist basically inherited me (and other patients) when my former dentist retired and sold his practice. She's a very good dentist and she's pleasant but everything is very clinical and somewhat cold. I never really feel comfortable.

Last week a friend of a friend gave me some bell peppers, tomatoes, and a watermelon. I'm going to clean and cut up the watermelon later today.

Wishing everyone a lovely Sunday!

Curvy - I was just surprised. I had decided when I started it that I wasnt going to make a big deal of it and just get it done. I guess actions do speak louder than words.Just when I got myself to the point that I was ok doing it alone. Disinfecting wipes. I remember those. LOL I stopped looking for them because they were always out. I'll check again next time. Thanks for mentioning that.

P
 

Good Monday morning and Happy Labour Day if your country celebrates this day. An extra day off from work is always welcome.

VickieLou :wave:

Shaybelle nice to have you join in :) My love of gaming stopped when everything went 3D. Super Mario 64 did me in. Sometimes when David plays I’ll give it a shot but I still suck. I think it’s wonderful that your husband has decided to join you in eating better. Extra support always helps.

William47 love those reno projects you are doing with your mom. And re-purposing old doors as chair rails is so “in” right now. How did your fantasy football picks go?

gzgrl22 I had an employee who was part of a quilting guild and she would bring pieces of quilts to work on during her lunch breaks. I was always in awe of all those tiny, regular hand stitches.

curvynotlumpy glad your boot camp went well, though long. Sorry you had a bad night’s sleep. I saw that temperatures have gone way up again in California. Watermelon sounds good in such hot weather. Here it’s much cooler and dropping each week.

To answer your question, no I wasn’t a part of deciding which third district I would get. At first when my colleague mentioned she should keep the one I was supposed to get, I didn’t think anything of it. But then I heard from my colleague coming back from sick leave how the district manager the other colleague was suggesting for me was difficult to work with, and then I had a fleeting thought that maybe she was trying to unload him on me, but I don’t know her well enough to pass that kind of judgement. Whoever I would’ve wound up with I would’ve dealt with it, but the fact that my DM lobbied on my behalf tells me that I can trust him.

These past three days have seen me walk and walk some more, and nothing else. I felt exhausted from restless sleep and couldn’t get over that hump. But I even got in a 5.2km walk on Saturday to make my weekly goal with minimal hip pain, so I am relieved that the issue I had on Wednesday wasn’t related to walking, but probably more to sitting at the kitchen table all day for work. But it’s more than enough rest for me, I have to get this body moving again brfore I become too used to skipping workouts.

I had to get a new phone yesterday, as my very old iPhone 5s was dying on me whenever it felt like it. Battery at 30%? Nope, 0% the next second. So David got me a new phone as my upcoming birthday present (my birthday is on the 9th). Just playing around on it this morning, getting used to new options and apps. If rain holds off for a bit, we’ll go apple picking this morning. All in all a pretty good long weekend.

WEEK 1:
1: 28 minutes flexibility workout WATER GOAL: done
2: 2.3km walk WATER GOAL: done
3: 43 minutes kickboxing and upper body strength training workout WATERGOAL: done
4: 3.2km walk WATER GOAL: done
5: 5.2km walk WALKING GOAL: 10.7km/10 WATER GOAL: done
WEEK 2:
6: 2.3km walk WATER GOAL: done
7: 43 minutes lower body strength training + 3.2km walk WATER GOAL: done

Great workout day today. I decided to switch back to heavier weights since it has been 7-8 weeks and I was able to finish 3 sets of 15 chest presses with 30 pound dumbbells/pullovers with #30, Dumbbell flyes with 22.5 pounds and bent over rows with 22.5 lb dumbbells All were 3 x 15 reps and it was tough but I completed the sets (I wasn able to do so back in July) ALso did 12 push ups and a full set of shoulder weights at 1 x 15 - straight presses/ hammer presses/ Arnold presses/ and 1 x 10 reps with #12.5 lbs for lat and front raises. I am already sore and it hasnt even been 2 hours so I will be hurting a bit tomorrow but it is a good hurt! :D Off to babysit tomorrow early

Curvy - Good for you with the wipes -- still not seeing them here in NJ. The guild has everyone bring their challenge quilts in a black garbage bag, then one member (this year it is me) hangs them all up and numbers them. The other members do not know whose quilt is whose. Everyone votes for the top three and the quilt with most votes wins, 2nd most gets second place, etc. They can also do a separate vote for Most original design, best use of color, etc. FInally we take bets on who did which quilt. That is actually the most fun part because there are often some big surprises there.

Hoping you sleep better tonight.

Shaybelle -- SO nice DH is joining you!!!! I eat low carb/unprocessed and DH eats...well, everything so I often have to make 2 meals or at least doubles of some things like cauli rice for me and real rice for him. It is not a big deal but it is extra work.

Vickie Lou - Hi there!

Martine - I find my bad knees some times feel really awful at the start of a walk and then work it out during the first mile. Glad the hip is not related to your walking! Hip pain is so tough to work around. Am also thrilled you have a good DM, makes you more motivated knowing he's got your back.

William - wherever you are hoping you are enjoying the final hours of this long weekend. :)

Good afternoon :wave:

gzgrl22: The quilting guild sounds awesome! What a fun way to bring in an element to competition while still teaching and learning from each other. Are the members of the guild around the same skill level? Indeed you did have a great weight workout yesterday! :high: I'm sure you felt strong going into your babysitting duties today. :lol:

Martine: You and I are living in a parallel universe in regards to sleep. I'm a very good :yawn: but the last two nights have been a struggle. I keep hoping the lack of sleep will catch up me and I'll just drop. Hoping tonight's the night.

Sorry to hear about your cell phone but congrats on your new birthday gift! That's quite a jump from the 5s to whatever you have now. On the topic of cell phones I recently told one of our peer workers that I didn't get my first cell phone until 2012. Prior to that I didn't have a pager, flip phone, etc. She was completely :fr: ! Actually, I bought it when the the 5s came out. I got it for 99 cents if you committed to a two year contract.

VickieLou: Nice to see you Vickie Lou! :bday2you:
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I hope everyone had a good weekend and Labor Day. It was really much too hot to do anything outside past mid-morning so I spent time indoors working on home projects and mostly relaxing. Today, severe heatwave finally broke; now it's just merely hot. Meanwhile, in Colorado where my brothers live, they are experiencing snow showers. :crazy:

Today was a no meeting day so it made for a smooth start to the short week. I sent out invitations to career staff we'd like to present at our reentry student orientation that we will do on September 18. This is separate from our campus wide orientation, and specifically targets our students who are 25+ years, are students with children, and/or who have had a five year gap in their education. This is another one of those events that we've always done in person but will now offer virtually. Having learned from last week's boot camp, we're abbreviating our program significantly. :lol: A pretty uneventful work day and I'll take it!

Have a lovely evening!

gzgrl22 wow you aren't kidding when you say you went heavier! 30 pounds on chest presses and pullovers, 12 pounds for lat and front raises and 22 pounds on reverse flys is simply AMAZING! I graduated to 10 pounds on chest presses and pullovers, but still am stuck between 5-8 pounds on reverse flys and lat and front raises (some days I can pull off 8 pounds per hand, some days not). Bentover rows are fun though, I can manage 15 pounds on those most times. You are a model of strength :)

curvynotlumpy how nice that you could enjoy a meetings-free day, for once. Especially after a long weekend, when you know your work week is cut short, having a day to yourself makes up for it a bit. Glad that the heat wave has broken in your area. But please, no talk of snow yet...And can I just say that I have NEVER heard of a cell phone going for .99$, even with a 2-year contract, so you struck gold there back in 2012.

It was a pretty busy day at work for me, stores sending in over 30 petty cash and personal expense forms over the weekend for me to process and send out. We also had a Teams call to discuss everything moving to said Teams in the near future. For now, our company operates with a secured P:drive where everyone and anyone can store documents and files that everyone accesses to edit. But they will decommission said P:drive and it was decided that we are moving to Teams. I know very little about this program but I looked at an online video outlining the basics, trying to familiarize myself with it. We'll see.

I just completed my workout for the day, upper body day. My legs are sore from yesterday's workout, a good feeling considering I was minding my hips and maybe not pushing as hard as I usually do on some of the moves. Now time for some homemade stovetop mac 'n cheese. Yesterday we made calzones for the first time ever. Anything to do with dough intimidates me, but the pizza dough I made turned out really easy to use, and the calzones were delicious. It'll be fun to find new fillings to try in the future. Very filling too, half of one and I was done. A meal to enjoy once in a rare while.

Hope everyone is doing well.

WEEK 1:
1: 28 minutes flexibility workout WATER GOAL: done
2: 2.3km walk WATER GOAL: done
3: 43 minutes kickboxing and upper body strength training workout WATERGOAL: done
4: 3.2km walk WATER GOAL: done
5: 5.2km walk WALKING GOAL: 10.7km/10 WATER GOAL: done
WEEK 2:
6: 2.3km walk WATER GOAL: done
7: 43 minutes lower body strength training + 3.2km walk WATER GOAL: done
8: 34 minutes upper body strength training WATER GOAL: done

Good Morning Lovely Ladies. I hope this message finds u all happy and comfortable. Crazy days in the Pacific NW. we had a wonderful year but how things can turn. With labor day weekend, we always have an influx of city folk. This year was absolutely nuts. Mt Adams was like a freekin paring lot. There were so many people in the woods, the most i've ever seen. I couldn't believe the traffic, as people headed for town to get coffee and breakfast. Thats how most people camp...pack two weeks worth of food, then go to the nearest town for coffee and food. lol Anyway, I consider myself a steward of our woods and like to cruise around and help folk. A local was forced off the road by someone with a huge, I mean gigantic, RV. He hit tree but is ok, his dog freeked out and took off, she will show up later im sure. The campgrounds are overflowing and become large, uncontrolled parties. They can be a lot of fun. We also had a huge number of scatter camps this year, that usually means a lot of trash. I filled my suburban up with garbage and will be for some time. IDK if u guys have seen the news, but washington and oregon are straight burning down. with almost no fires early, and a cool spring, fuels grow fast and high. Then, when they dry out, they become super fuels. All the people in the woods mean fires, raging fires. Add that to the hottest days of the year and 40 mph winds and its a recipe for destruction. Many people have been evacuated or are waiting for the word to leave. I've been trying to assist with the elderly and animals, but i fear the worst. Yesterday the smoke hid the sun and would blow through like thick curtains. In rural washington and oregon, the communities are ultra aware, but the fires are horrific. The level of destruction can be UNBELIEVABLE. Those poor people in CA. I have done a lot of fire work and the devastation takes a toll on your soul. This week will be high winds, high temps and super low RH. we could use a few prayers. I haven't seen KC for days but she flickers through my mind like the shadows of leaves in a wind storm. She is crazy bad ***. We had bighorn sheep grazing in her orchard all week. I cant wait for us to be able to spend more time together.

Curv,,,I went back to school when I was 25. I enjoyed our orientation so much that I started giving them. I would add some of the more secluded or unknown areas of the campus on our tours, Just places to unwind or reflect without all the people. I found the older students really enjoyed that part. I would also teach my favorites little tricks, like where you can find overflow parking and the best work studies. Oh the memories

Martine... OH man, expense sheets. When i did them, most were good, organized and complete; however, when i would do them for the bosses...oh lord. A folder stuffed with reciepts was all i would get, if i was lucky. Then, I would have to make exceptions to what is an expense and what is not, I guess when the boss spends money, its always applicable. How about this one, "I dont have a receipt, just get a print out of the credit card charges" ARGH lol...Fantasy Football went great, everyone was like, WOW what happened to Willy. There is a lot less Willy these days. Sitting here at 8:30 in the moring, wanting a calzone sooo bad, I like to brush the crust with garlic butter. I also use cherry tomatoes. I cut them in half and cook them right on top. oh so good.

GZ...Ha, you crack me up. I always thought the Quilters at the fair were up-to something. lol Now i know why the bookies were hanging around, giving odds as to who made what. Thats freekin great. Now i wonder if the pies and preserves group is up to the same thing, Ha, no surprises there! There is a guy selling a huge lot of stained glass stuff, im gonna check it out.

Shaybelle. Do you speak French? oooh lala. I always wanted to learn. I will be a French speaker some day. I guess i wanna run around saying...weewee weewee. HA

Vic...What up? How u do?

So, TODAY is one year since I started my changes. Time is so fleeting, it seems like yesterday. Why did i wait so long? 84 lbs today, not too bad, what?
Also, what is a DH? just a shot in the dark...Dumb*ss Husband?

9/9 316.0

Hi Martine - Enchantee de vous rencontrer! (Its nice to meet you). Its great that my DH is on board but I did hear him trying to sneak some chips. It was dead quiet in the house. No cooking sounds or anything and I just hear "crackle, crackle, crackle" I'm like "What's that!?? I hear a chip bag!" He's like "I just had one!" I'm like "you not supposed to eat any!" ...my teacher ears pricked in and I knew he was about to cave. But we stopped it in time. We had a chat. He felt better. LOL, so its good to have someone to talk you down from the ledge.

Carol - Meetings! its like a curse word to many of my friends. I dont know what it is but seems like the working world has meetings to talk about the meetings about why work isnt getting done. Enjoy that meeting free day where you can get some actual work done. :D My DD volunteered to be a Frosh leader this year and she's been doing about 75% of it virtually. The other 25% was like outdoor tours. They even did virtual tours of the inside of buildings. It was interesting how they are handling it. Right now they are in an educator strike so classes dont start until Friday now.

gzgrl22 - I havent even thought about picking up a weight yet. I know I should just start now but we just moved and they are in a box. DH was moving our stuff a couple of weeks ago and he was like why is this so heavy? I was like "weights". He was like "yeah its really heavy." I was like "No, its weights literally." :lol:

William - Alas I am not fluent in French yet. This is my first semester taking it besides just regular daily exposure of it being our 2nd official language. Little known fact the French dont say "ooo la la" as a sexy word or in the way the world has started using it. Its actually "Oh la la" and its used like "woah" or "wow" and usually in a negative light like "Oh la la, this restaurant sucks" or "Oh la la, she did that right there!" but if it is used neutrally or positively then you could get away with an excited "wow" or "woah" its just that the French dont use it that way and they'd just shake their head like "that's not how you use that " lol. Ok nerd talk done. :lol: French will be my 3rd language. I'm working on my Polyglot status. :D But please do join me in learning French. It can take our mind off watching our weight. Duolingo is actually a good free way to learn. Rosetta Stone is nice too but pricey. My teacher recommends Duolingo daily to keep fresh. I also immerse myself and that is my trick. Take care with the fires. Any plans of what you guys will do it they start in your area? I dont know if I'd be brave enough to camp during forest fire season especially the stuff we saw with ppl trying to get down the mountain.

Hi Vickie Lou! :wave:

___________________________________

Well for me, class started yesterday and I was caught up in trying to figure out how to navigate Moodle. Also, I had to do all the read the syllabus, grading policy, etc... and then post an introduction for class. Yesterday was an up day and I find up days more challenging than the fast days. The fast days I know I'm fasting so I can focus all day on other stuff. On up days I have to schedule time to think about what I will make, did I take it out of the freezer, I have to prep it, then make it, then eat it, then wash up from it. I never knew how much time shopping, putting away, prepping, cooking and cleaning up takes from your life. This latest journey is really making me face and address my thoughts and attitudes towards food. This go round is really about the mental. All the other times previously it was about what I can have what I cant. But freeing myself from food restrictions and absolutes has made this switchover to a new lifestyle easier, better and happier. I listen to my body. I am trying to make this sustainable as I am frigging tired of this lesson in life. So I am trying to do this properly this go round. I plan to be kinder, gentler and say good things to myself.