The rain is on hold and it is sunny now in the 50's.
WOW ~ we have been without electricity for the past 10 hours. Lots of folks been out around here ~ the whole valley and beyond. It got rather chilly during the night but we have lots of comfy bed covers. We have a nice little electric heater that keeps the place as warm as we want it. We do have a furnace but to use it we would have to start up the generator and then who could sleep through that racket. Our fridge is 3 way so we don't lose that. Anyway we are back up. The rain has stopped and the hills and mountains around are nice and white. We went into town to eat because it was so cold in here I didn't want to cook. Found the electricity on in our favorite eaterie so had a good OP meal. Instead of getting one of their wonderful high point breakfasts I ordered a cup of their tomato based pasta soup and a dry piece of sour dough bread toast and a slice of ham. I had a filling 7 point breakfast with coffee and creamer. I made a sandwich out of the ham and toast. I feel good about it.
FAYE You are the walking queen. I am so proud of your doing that, especially in this weather. I know how you love it when the pool does open. You have some rude neighbors. I do hope Jack has a good session with the doc and gets a good report. I am not a great Wal*Mart fan per se but they do have lots of stuff we need at the lowest price we can find around here so that is where we buy them. It is a store that hasn't gone trashey all the way and the parking lot is clean. We have found that if a town has two of the stores one is really clean and the other one is trashey. In our travels we would go across town to the clean one.
SUSAN If you don't get your SS soon you may want to call an Ombudsman if you have one in your area. Sometimes that is what it takes to get your money started coming regularly. I have heard some horror stories about SS and am so glad that I was able to opt out of paying into it when I was working. I am now on what they call "safety retirement." (I have been retired since I was 45) I am only allowed to make up to $400 a year ~ or they do some adjustment ~ but I don't plan on having a job. My money goes a lot farther in the South then it does here in California. So when we travel I get more bang for the buck. I hope you can get your situation straighten out soon.
JEAN So glad you are feeling more chipper. But don't over do it and have a relapse. You may find that Walgreen charges 20 to 25% more than Wal*Mart does for it's products. At least that is what is happening out here. Those big drug store type chains ask top dollar for lots of their things.
I made a pot of chicken noodle soup last night and am so glad for It will be a wonderful meal today. I love soup. I get those wide noodles like I used to make at a shop in town. They are dried like I used to dry mine so are really like home made. This coming week one of the large markets in town is getting in lots of those LQ mushroom pizzas that FAYE turned me on to. They will be selling them 10 for $20 which is a saving of $1.49 per pizza so it is such a deal.
Good Evening, Flowers! We've been waiting all evening for the weather to start and the ringy dingy two hour late start call. Neither one happened! We got out of school at 1:30 today because it was misting! I went to get some much needed groceries and my car computer said to check a tire for low pressure. I drove on home and Bob will deal with it tomorrow. That happened once before and it seems that when the rims get "dirty" beyond normal dirt, it lets the tire somehow lose air. I hope that is what this is; they take the tire and rim off the car and clean them. We had bell practice at 5 and the sidewalks were slick, but the roads were fine. I can tell the deck is icy tonight, but I can't see anything falling from the sky. According to the weather predictions all day long, we are to get 12 - 16" tonight, tomorrow, and into Friday with 40 mph winds. Great, just great!
Maggie -- I'm sorry you lost your power source and I hope you are hooked in once again. That is our main concern, with the ice, because there are 1000s w/o power from the last storm (in Eastern Iowa). I just visited with a friend in Sioux City who works for Walgreen's and she says they are WM's biggest competitors. I'm so in hopes that they will have a large inventory when they open here. They are building right downtown whereas WM is on the edge of town. I look for lots of walk in traffic. I won't change my choice of pharmacy because we've gone to a local pharmacy owned by a former neighbor since we have lived here. I expect them to pull what WM did; they will advertise lower drug prices and then charge the same as everyone else in a few months. At least it will give us a shopping option besides WM.
"Gma" -- That is too bad about your new neighbors. I was in hopes you would get some nice people this time. You should see the cell phones come out at the end of the school day! I can't imagine who they are all talking to as they walk down the halls with their friends. We are supposed to take the phones if we see them during the school day, but I don't want to be responsible for someone else's phone. I've never seen anyone using a phone although I have seen them in school bags and they are supposed to be left in lockers. I hope Jack has a good appt. with his doctor. When my cousin was a kid she was allergic to ketchup. Her tongue used to swell and it looked like she had blisters on it, then it would peel. She kept right on eating ketchup though. I don't know if she still is allergic to it or not.
Susan -- The students seemed glad to see me back today. A couple of them mentioned they didn't particularly like the sub. I guess that is job security for me. I have a new duty assigned to me now. When a special ed. student turns 18, they are sent a birthday card telling them they have turned 18 and have certain legal rights. A postcard is sent to their parents telling them their student has turned 18 and has certain legal rights. Then a document saying the student has turned 18 and been notified, the parents have been notified, and the document is ready to be filed in their permanent record file. It's some more special ed. busy paperwork, and I'm the one to do it here, that the state has dreamt up for sure!
Guess I'll head off to bed. I have to decide what I'm wearing to school tomorrow just in case we do go. I will be up and ready to go when the call finally does come, as usual.
Good morning everyone! It is a balmy 62 this morning, but it is spitting trying to rain. I hope it holds off long enough for me to get out and walk. Boy yesterday's walk was a hard one. For some reason both darn ankles felt sore so I couldn't "speed it up a little" like the candy manager in the Lucy episode would yell. I did get .8 in though so I am satisfied.
Susan: Since my SS check will be super puny, I wasn't sure of the logistics of it all, but I knew it was something like you said. Anyway, he is going to work a year past the natural retirement age. Hope Stan is coming along.
Maggie: Glad you got the ole electricity back on. We have had such scrumptious weather lately and it looks like for the most part it will continue. I have all my deck cleaned and my patio stuff all out and we even grilled out on the grill last night. A nice lean flank steak. Like I told Jack, all the steak taste without the fat. I think it is 1 pt an ounce, which isn't bad at all. We had some nice cornbread stuffing for 3 pt a 1/2 c and a nice ear of corn using a bit of butter spray and it was a good dinner. I like homemade noodles best too, but I have been buying no yolks. I am not that fond of them but they have no cholesterol for Jack.
Jean: Our Walgreens is pretty high on prices, but it is directly across the street from the house so if I have an emergency and need something I can blip over there. It isn't open 24/7 though. I think it opens at 8. We also have a Walmart neighborhood market that is only 1/2 mile from the house we can use. It isn't the best but it is a grocery store.
Jack's appt went fine. The doctor says he is doing great. I really love his cardiologist. He expects you to take care of your health, ie watching what you eat and such and doesn't harangue about weight. His PA made a comment about watching what you eat, but nothing specific to Jack. The nurse says he has a "quiet" heartbeat and pulse, whatever the heck that means and his resting pulse rate was 60, which she says is great. His BP is 100/68 so that is great and he has to have blood run for cholesterol again. He will do that on his day off in April (MLK's death day) and then his next appt is the day before we go on vacation!
I am halfway done with the front of my sweater and am working feverishly to get it done so I can wear it to Thomas's Blue and Gold Cub Scout banquet on Saturday. They are having BBQ chicken, Potato Salad, Salad, chips so I plan on tearing off the chicken skin, one bite of potato salad because of love it, skip the chips and have some salad.
I need to hit the bricks. I hear Jack is up and I haven't done one chore downstairs yet this morning.
Jean, the Walgreens around here are no competition for Walmart - they are competition for Eckerd and Rite-Aid. They are high. They have few groceries and little clothing - t-shirts and flip-flops. I get mad because they send circulars in the Sunday paper but don't have the stuff in stock when you get to the store. I'll take Walmart any day over Walgreens.
We supposed to have thunderstorms tonight - just so it clears up before noon tomorrow - I have to take Stan to the doctor and fooling with the wheelchair in the rain is no fun!
Maggie, I wish I had a bowl of your soup. I love homemade soups. Think I'll make a vegetable beef one on Saturday...you've inspired me!
Faye, those knitting needles just keep flying in your hands! I know your sweater will be done in time. Great that you've planned out what you will eat at the banquet. I'm glad Jack is doing well.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! The blizzard of '07 has arrived in my corner of the world! I got up around 2:30 this morning and nothing was happening so I thought to myself we would have school. Got up at my regular school time, showered, etc., and the "no school" call came at 6 with just a light snow that you could barely even see. GRRRRRR! He could have just as well called a 2 hour late last night. As the day has gone on, the wind has come up and the snow is heavier; it has snowed all day so I wouldn't even guess how much we have by now. The plows won't come out until it quits snowing and that's supposed to be tomorrow sometime. Tomorrow is a scheduled half day with teacher in-service so I hope they make the call tonight. A two hour late start would be really stupid!
Bob just helped get the lady across the street unstuck in the middle of the street. She tried to hit her driveway, which wasn't plowed by her DH who was home, and got caught catty-wumpus. Her DH finally did come out; he's an EMT and has absolutely no personality whatsoever. I cannot imagine him being personable with the general public when he can't even visit with neighbors. I never did see him on my ER trips which is ok by me.
"Gma" -- Ah, Blue and Gold Banquet memories . . . our's were always potlucks! I am hungry for potato salad and just might make some tomorrow. Today I fixed a roast with the potatoes and carrots. I'm glad you are having good weather! I wasn't sure if you were in line for the tornadoes and rain storms on the weathermap or not.
Susan -- Maybe the Walgreen vs. WM thing is an Iowa competition. All I know is I hate WM with a passion because of the local stores that closed after they moved to town. Our WM store has higher prices than the other WM stores within a 75 mile radius and that's because they have no local competition and can charge whatever they so choose. I hope that Stan's doctor appt. goes ok. I have my .
Have a great 'rest of the day' and a fantastic Friday tomorrow!
Good morning ladies! It is much cooler this morning, in the 40's and only supposed to get in the 50's today so it is back to a jacket for me and probably hat and gloves for walking this morning.
Susan: Hopefully the weather has passed and is drying out for you. I know it has to be a real struggle dealing with a wheelchair. My sister is barely 5 foot tall and as I have said, her dh has MS. Ever since I have known him he has been in a scooter though he is progressed farther into the disease where he is in a high backed motorized wheelchair now because he can't sit up. Anyway, she used to put that scooter on her lift and swing that thing around and such like it weighed nothing. It had to be a tiring thing to do everytime they went anywhere. I have about 6 inches to go on my sweater, but it does tire my hands out so I don't know if it will get finished or not in time. I have to have time to sew it up too.
Jean: Oh my gosh, I didn't know you were expecting a big snow storm again. So much for spring being right around the corner. Maybe you will get today off too and have a nice long weekend!
Today is WW weigh in. I will see if I lost my other two lbs to make my February goal now that my body betrayed me and gained last week!
My older sister is not coming down here the end of the month, but my niece, great niece and my niece's husband still are so we will take them out to dinner on the Friday night they are here. I can't say I am sad about it truthfully. I told her yesterday that when we go to Indiana the end of the month I can only spare her a couple hours for breakfast on Saturday morning, (she will be at the shower though.) It is going to be a quick trip up and back and I promised to help with the shower stuff on Saturday and we go home on Sunday. She is not very good about understanding as she has this messed up notion that your siblings should be more important to you than your spouse or children. Well, that is except when it comes to HER family. Then I get an email from the other sister, and she and her husband and dd are driving from California the 6th of April to Fort Smith Arkansas to see his family and she wants to see me. I told her that I thought we should meet halfway in Little Rock for her birthday (no one, even her husband will do anything for that woman's birthday.) She got all excited and so I reserved a car and made a hotel reservation for us and she is going to drive over on the 10th and I will too and we will spend the day together for her birthday, stay the night then drive back. It is only about 2.5 hours from Fort Smith and from Memphis, so it isn't a bad drive. She and I are pretty close so it will be nice to have an all girl thing for a day without her pain in the butt husband telling us where we will go and when etc. She is the one I made that aqua and white sleeveless sweater for with the beads. I bought her the book Sisters by Danielle Steel and some bath products from Bath and Body for her birthday to go with the sweater and necklace. I am truly hoping she doesn't bring her teenage dd. I would like to have just us time for once. She always drags her dd with her everywhere and always has. Her dd may not want to come if her cousins are free to hang with while she is gone. Her dd is a nice girl, but would get bored with us. When she and I worked at the law firm together we always had a great time together.
Well, I am going to put dishes away and knit for awhile. I was so tired last night I fell asleep in the recliner about 6 PM and got up at 7 and went up to bed so I am up and awake early this AM.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! It has snowed all morning long and finally just quit. The wind is blowing and the sun is peeking through the clouds. Such weather! We have 10" of new snow according to the TV weatherman. It took Bob 2 hours to blow out our driveway (double wide and 2 car lengths long) plus the neighbor's which is never as deep as our's. He had to help the lady across the street get unstuck again . . . finally pulled her out with the pickup because her front tires were on ice and her back tires were buried. I don't know where she thought she needed to be because everything in town was closed until at least noon. Of course her HD was long gone. I have putzed away the morning just sorting and pitching through the junk catalogs, old receipts, etc. I tried to balance my checkbook yesterday only to go back to last month's statement and figured out that a Christmas check had not been cashed yet.
"Gma" -- The weatherman finally got his prediction right on this storm! We got the "no school" call last night which was nice. I figured we wouldn't have school simply because with it still snowing and blowing the grounds crew couldn't get the parking lots open for the teachers let alone have the school buses out and about. Your time planned with your CA sister sounds like a nice time. I don't know why it is always up to the mom to plan the family celebrations and then no one seems to remember her. I've been there and done that with my own kids. As for your IN relatives, they will have to get used to you wanting to spend your time with your own family. Some people just never do 'get it.' You will get your sweater done in time! Good luck at WW today!
I have a load of laundry going so need to switch loads. Maybe I will be ahead of the game for once. With four days at home I should accomplish something!
What a beautiful sunshiney day we are having. We went grocery shopping today and those mushroom pizzas haven't arrived yet. But got most everything else on the list. Also bought a book which is very interesting and intertaining ~ Weather for Dummies. It debunks the old myths and has some nice informative information along with humor in it. At WW yesterday I showed a loss of 3.4which is not a normal for me. I usually just take it off a pound a week or so on average. What a wonderful surprise ~ it is probably for last week also since I did follow program before showing that gain. Anyway I am going in the right direction. Just 6 more pounds to lose before I get that washer from WW that is stamped 50 lb. for my key chain. Got my hair cut today, nice and short.
JEAN You are going to get spoiled with all that time off. Maybe your friend across the street should get a 4 wheel drive vehicle if she is getting stuck all the time. Your husband may not be home next tome then what will she do. He is a good neighbor to do that for her.
FAYE What a fun time you are planning for your sis's birthday. I love birthdays and to celebrate them. I hope your weigh in today went well. Your sweater sounds like it will be done in time. Be sure and post a picture of it.
SUSAN I hope all is well with you and your husband.
I am going to heat up the remainder of that glorious chicken noodle soup for dinner. This is a low point day and we stopped at Subway for lunch since we were in town at that time. I got one of the ones that is good that is an OP one and some soup and was quite satisfied.
Have a nice evening Magnolias. I'll be typing at you later.
Good morning! Well, I was only down .4. I will just keep working. I am mystified why though. I am staying within my points, I measure and weigh all portions, so I know I am not eating too much, we check labels on everything and I exercise everyday. The plus size is I measured myself when I bought the jeans and I have lost inches so I am thrilled with that. You ww ladies have any insight into why I am not losing??? Jack is down 13 lbs now.
Here is my peach sweater. I think it came out nicely. I was ready for bed when Jack took it so I looked pretty scroungy so I cropped it so you saw just the sweater. I would have scared you, no makeup, hair kind of every which way...
Jean: Hope you are digging out! It was really windy yesterday and it took us and hour an a half to do a normal 20 minute ride home from Jack's work last night. They rerouted traffic from the interstate during rush hour because a dump truck had turned over and spilled gravel across all the lanes. What a nightmare getting home that was. The exit they rerouted us to is very, very busy and one of the old ones so it comes off the interstate and the lane ends immediately in both directions so all the intstate traffic was at a dead stand still trying to merge into the traffic. I missed the turn off for the street I wanted to get onto and had to go down and turn around because I don't know that part of town so that took extra time, but we finally got home.
Maggie: We had chicken and noodles last night and they were excellent. I had cooked the chicken and shredded it yesterday morning and put it in the fridge then when I took it out, skimmed off the fat from the top. It was pretty yummy and with the late getting home, we were pretty hungry. Congrats on the lbs down!
Tonight is Thomas's Cub Scout banquet and I am looking forward to seeing him. We haven't seen him since we took him for the day. I wish we could take him to Indiana with us, but I wouldn't even dare ask. It would only be over the weekend, but she would never let us do that. I know he would love to see his aunt and uncle and go to the shower and see all the baby presents. He is so excited about having a cousin.
Everyone have a great Saturday. I am going to do my morning chores and maybe read a bit. I need to go back to knitting on my ribbon top since I have the peach one finished now, so maybe I will do some of that too.
It is @ 10:30 and in the mid 50's so looks like it is fixin' to be a bright sunshiney day here in the neighborhood. I don't have many plans for the day and think I will just putz around and read a good book.
FAYEFirst off congratulations on going in the right direction this week in your weight loss. I know that when you exercise and lose inches you are working at it for sure. It has been said that a person that looks smaller than a larger one can actually weigh more because of their muscle content. Also are you eating the same amount of points every day? If so maybe you could try eating high one day and low the next with at least a 5 to 7 point spread between the two. Shake up that motabelism. My whole week is like that for I have a body that won't lose eating the same amount each day. Or eating the same things each day. I certainly hope this has helped. Your sweater looks lovely on your torso. I know you will have a good time at that banquet with that darling little boy. Enjoy.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly, the sky is a georgeous blue, the wind is blowing like crazy, it's cold, and the wind is creating drifts once again. I worked at the gift shop this morning and sold $77+ worth of stuff . . . a good morning for sure. All of the Christmas items are 50% off so people come in to look around. We just got back from a tour of WM along with everyone else in town, I think. Bob's printer quit and he thought maybe WM might have one similar . . . NOT! So he has ordered online and it should be here Monday. We have no mail delivery again today. It'll be interesting to see what mail comes on Monday. We did get the Sioux City paper from yesterday and today this morning.
Maggie -- CONGRATULATIONS on a great loss! 3.4#s that are gone forever 'n ever. Bob did his good deed for the day. We have an older couple across the street (next door to the lady stuck in the street yesterday) and they have been gone for a week. We have lived in this house for 23 years; he will wave if we meet in the cars, but she will never acknowledge us in any way. Last night Bob said he thought he would get up this morning and blow out their driveway because he figured it was about time they should be coming home again. He did call the man's business and the employee said they had planned on coming home Thursday, but probably got caught in the weather somewhere. When we got home from WM their car was in the driveway and as we drove by the man waved us to stop. He chatted away like we had been friends for years and thanked Bob over 'n over for doing his driveway. The guy is 81 years old and certainly had no business trying to walk through 4 feet snow to get to his garage!
"Gma" -- CONGRATULATIONS on your loss this week . . . any loss is a GREAT loss! Don't be discouraged and I know that is easier said than done. Do you drink all of the water that WW tells you to? Otherwise you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing as far as I can tell. This weight challenge is a mystery to me . . . when I think I've gained, I lose and when I'm sure I've lost, I gain. I am in a funk right now and eating way more than I should simply because I'm afraid of getting sick on the meds again. Your sweater looks very nice! You can be very proud of your creativity! What would your daughter say if you came right out and asked why you can't spend more time with T? I'd be curious especially since the other grandparents seem to have unlimited access to him. I feel for you! Zowie was on the answering machine when we got home . . . I could hear Amanda in the background coaching her, but her words sounded pretty clear. She has a cell phone that no long works and Jason says she will march around with it talking a blue streak. They found a new, never been lived in house, and their bid was accepted. They have started packing boxes so I guess the move is going to happen. We will miss the spur-of-the-moment visits. Even though it is 2 1/2 hours, that extra 1 1/2 hours makes a big difference in just dropping in to say "hi" and spend an hour.
I'm doing laundry and it's time for another load. Have a nice evening and a super Sunday!
Good morning everyone! The banquet was very nice last night. My dd was the banquet chairman and did a very nice job on it. Thomas got 5 activity badges and his Tiger Cub badge. I am including a pic of he and his parents and one of his dad pinning on his tiger badge. Sorry about the redeye. I couldn't seem to get the red eye removal to work on our picture software.
I have this awful smell in my house and couldn't figure out what it was. I have a piece of raw chicken in the garbage from day before yesterday that I forgot to take out! EUWWWWWW! Out it goes as soon as I am done here.
Jean: It's hard when the kids are close then move away. It is great though they found themselves a brand new house to live in. We were talking yesterday about vacation next year and I said something to Jack about the resort we talked about might get boring for us because it is kind of isolated without a lot of stuff to do during the day unless you liked the pool or beach, which he doesn't and I can't stay out at a pool all day or I would get cooked. So we started talking and Jack went online and found that the Army has this gorgeous hotel on Waikaiki beach in Honolulu. It offers two dinner shows and a luau and each of them is less than $30 a person. The hotel stay costs depend on your rank and we can stay in an ocean view room for $108! It is really a nice, nice hotel with three swimming pools. I am including a picture of the resort and one of their pools. We are thinking about Hawaii next year instead. Jack would like to take me to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona and we found this nice dinner cruise/cirque du soleil combination we might be interested in. You go on this dinner cruise then dock and go to their Hawaiian Cirque show with VIP seating. If not, we may go to Mall of America, a dinner theater they have up there and to the Indian Casino to see what it is like. They have a no alcohol policy so it will be interesting to say the least with people actually being sober. They also have a non smoking area, which is unheard of with casinos.
I better get going. I have to get that garbage out before the whole house is smelled up!
Jean, It will be hard at first with the kids being further away but maybe you can get a camera on your computer and communicate that way. Our son is in Raleigh and, although we don't have a camera, they are always sending us pictures and short videos of the kids.
Susan, Hope your hubby is feeling better. I can imagine how difficult it must be to transport him in the rain.
Faye, T is sure growing up. You must be very proud of his Scout accomplishments. Pretty soon there will be another young one to be proud about.
As for your vacation...I must put in my two cents worth. In '83 we stopped in Hawaii on the way back from a business trip to Japan and stayed on Waikiki Beach. That was the first time we knew of the government hotel there. At that time we were not eligible to use it but the prices were very interesting. It was a very beautiful hotel. Since then we have found the government runs a number of resort hotels. One is in Seoul, S. Korea another in Garmisch, Germany for ski enthusiasts and then last year we found and used the hotel in Disney World. It is called Shades of Green and is incredible....I would highly recommend it. It is on the property and was once called The Disney Inn. It has been completely overhauled and is a great place to stay. The bus stops just outside the door and takes you to the transportation center where you can then go anywhere. You can also get discounted park passes right in the hotel. It has a couple of pools and a number of restaurants. One is a buffet another an upscale Italian restaurant and then there are the small places where one can just get a sandwich or burger. Lots going on there but you have to reserve very early we made our reservations 1 yr in advance. DH was having difficulty walking and we arranged for a scooter for him for the duration of the stay. The company brought the scooter to the hotel and left it at the lobby and when we left we just left it in the lobby. Very convenient....all buses and trains are handicap accessable.
Oh, by the way we also visited the Mall of America and it too, is quite the take in. Didn't visit any casinos but maybe next time.
Since I am still in my PJ's I had better sign off and get dressed.
Good Evening, Flowers! It's been a beautiful day in my corner of the world and barely warm enough to start melting the snow! We went to early church and then Bob had to sing for the second service also. I made a meat loaf, baked potato, and scalloped corn dinner while he was gone. We made a road trip and took some boxes over to Jason and Amanda. Bob played outside in the snow with Ian -- they live on a hill and he could slide from their front door down to the street. Jason helped him get going and Bob would catch him before he made it to the street. I'm not sure who was more tired, Bob or Ian. They made Ian carry the sled (plastic) over to the driveway and back up to Jason.
"Gma" -- Thomas looks so grown up in the pictures! I remember sewing all the badges on; I finally gave Jason all of his scouting stuff including a few badges that never got sewn on! When we went to Hawaii for R & R, the army base was called Ft. De Russey or something like that. There is a pink hotel, right on the beach that was Air Force officers' quarters when my dad was stationed there. I didn't see anything pink in your picture so it must be on down the beach a ways. I'm sure you will enjoy a vacation wherever you go! Is the gambling casino connected to the mall? I know there is one in Redwood Falls which isn't too far from the cities.
Gloria -- How nice to see your post! I'm sure we will see Jason and family quite often, but it won't be the spur of the moment, drop in and say "hi" kind of visits we do now. Sioux Falls has wonderful shopping and I can hardly wait!
I need to decide what I'm wearing tomorrow and unload the dishwasher. Have a marvelous Monday!
Good morning everybody! One of those lousy food weekends! I am sure I will be up at least a lb but I am going to work hard during the week to at least stabilize.
Oh my gosh, we went to the movies and used up the rest of Jack's Christmas coupons. We went to see "Wild Hogs" and how hilarious. It was a total riot. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. I can't wait until if comes out on video so I can get a copy.
I did absolutely nothing except some laundry this weekend. Jack took the car back to Firestone because the check engine light keeps coming back on. He had them put it back on the diagnostic and come to find out the catalytic converter needs to be replaced! {{Sigh}}} The technician said it is all about the polution stuff so we can take the car to Indiana and not have any problems if we can't get it fixed until we get back. I don't know if we can work it in or not. It is always something I guess.
Gloria: I looked online at Shades of Green and it is a very nice resort with great prices even for tickets. I think we will talk to the kids about all of us going in 2009 together. I think it would be great for the family. We thought about getting a family suite, but decided separate rooms is the way to go. I don't want any fights starting. Nonny and Granddad will be there when the adults want to go out for the evening to babysit, take the kids to the pool etc. I think they will be all for it, especially since we plan on paying for all the rooms! Thomas will be 9 and the baby will be over 2. Thanks for the info.
Jean: Weren't you guys in Maui? Did you go to Honolulu while you were in Hawaii? That is where this hotel is at is in Honolulu. I actually have some relatives that live in Honolulu though I have never met them. I may write to them if we decide to go next year and see if they would like to meet for dinner or something. My grandfather's brother Hank married a Polynesian woman and they lived at the base of diamond head I was told. I googled my mother's maiden name in Honolulu and found several names. I would bet the one is her first cousin because his name is my grandfather's first name and his dad's first name as his middle name. My Uncle Hank and my grandfather were very close. I only remember him a bit and how much fun he was. I was probably 7 or so the last time I ever saw him. He and his wife have both passed, but they are still listed on one of the white pages sites.
Well, I didn't get out and walk at all this weekend so I need to move it and lose it!
Steel Magnolias #12
bed covers. We have a nice little electric heater that keeps the place as warm as we want it. We do have a furnace but to use it we would have to start up the generator and then who could sleep through that racket. Our fridge is 3 way so we don't lose that. Anyway we are back up. The rain has stopped and the hills and mountains around are nice and white. We went into town to eat because it was so cold in here I didn't want to cook. Found the electricity on in our favorite eaterie 
so had a good OP meal. Instead of getting one of their wonderful high point breakfasts I ordered a cup of their tomato based pasta soup and a dry piece of sour dough bread toast and a slice of ham. I had a filling 7 point breakfast with coffee and creamer. I made a sandwich out of the ham and toast. I feel good about it.
queen. I am so proud of your doing that, especially in this weather. I know how you love it when the pool does open. You have some rude neighbors. I do hope Jack has a good session with the doc and gets a good report. I am not a great Wal*Mart fan per se but they do have lots of stuff we need at the lowest price we can find around here so that is where we buy them. It is a store that hasn't gone trashey all the way and the parking lot is clean. We have found that if a town has two of the stores one is really clean and the other one is trashey. In our travels we would go across town to the clean one.
I am only allowed to make up to $400 a year ~ or they do some adjustment ~ but I don't plan on having a job. My money goes a lot farther in the South then it does here in California. So when we travel I get more bang for the buck. I hope you can get your situation straighten out soon.
charges 20 to 25% more than Wal*Mart does for it's products. At least that is what is happening out here. Those big drug store type chains ask top dollar for lots of their things.
that FAYE turned me on to. They will be selling them 10 for $20 which is a saving of $1.49 per pizza so it is such a deal. 
We got out of school at 1:30 today because it was misting! 
I went to get some much needed groceries and my car computer said to check a tire for low pressure. I drove on home and Bob will deal with it tomorrow. That happened once before and it seems that when the rims get "dirty" beyond normal dirt, it lets the tire somehow lose air. I hope that is what this is; they take the tire and rim off the car and clean them. We had bell practice at 5 and the sidewalks were slick, but the roads were fine. I can tell the deck is icy tonight, but I can't see anything falling from the sky. According to the weather predictions all day long, we are to get 12 - 16" tonight, tomorrow, and into Friday with 40 mph winds. Great, just great! 
I can't imagine who they are all talking to as they walk down the halls with their friends. We are supposed to take the phones if we see them during the school day, but I don't want to be responsible for someone else's phone. I've never seen anyone using a phone although I have seen them in school bags and they are supposed to be left in lockers. I hope Jack has a good appt. with his doctor. When my cousin was a kid she was allergic to ketchup. Her tongue used to swell and it looked like she had blisters on it, then it would peel. She kept right on eating ketchup though. I don't know if she still is allergic to it or not. 
I guess that is job security for me. 
from Iowa!
I got up around 2:30 this morning and nothing was happening so I thought to myself we would have school. Got up at my regular school time, showered, etc., and the "no school" call came at 6 with just a light snow that you could barely even see. GRRRRRR! 
He could have just as well called a 2 hour late last night. As the day has gone on, the wind has come up and the snow is heavier; it has snowed all day so I wouldn't even guess how much we have by now. The plows won't come out until it quits snowing and that's supposed to be tomorrow sometime. Tomorrow is a scheduled half day with teacher in-service so I hope they make the call tonight. A two hour late start would be really stupid! 
I never did see him on my ER trips which is ok by me.
I'm glad you are having good weather! I wasn't sure if you were in line for the tornadoes and rain storms on the weathermap or not.
. 
in Iowa!
but my niece, great niece and my niece's husband still are so we will take them out to dinner on the Friday night they are here. I can't say I am sad about it truthfully. I told her yesterday that when we go to Indiana the end of the month I can only spare her a couple hours for breakfast on Saturday morning, (she will be at the shower though.) It is going to be a quick trip up and back and I promised to help with the shower stuff on Saturday and we go home on Sunday. She is not very good about understanding as she has this messed up notion that your siblings should be more important to you than your spouse or children. Well, that is except when it comes to HER family. Then I get an email from the other sister, and she and her husband and dd are driving 
from California the 6th of April to Fort Smith Arkansas to see his family and she wants to see me. I told her that I thought we should meet halfway in Little Rock for her birthday (no one, even her husband will do anything for that woman's birthday.) She got all excited and so I reserved a car and made a hotel reservation for us and she is going to drive over on the 10th and I will too and we will spend the day together for her birthday, stay the night then drive back. It is only about 2.5 hours from Fort Smith and from Memphis, so it isn't a bad drive. She and I are pretty close so it will be nice to have an all girl thing for a day without her pain in the butt husband telling us where we will go and when etc. She is the one I made that aqua and white sleeveless sweater for with the beads. I bought her the book Sisters by Danielle Steel and some bath products from Bath and Body for her birthday to go with the sweater and necklace. I am truly hoping she doesn't bring her teenage dd. I would like to have just us time for once. She always drags her dd with her everywhere and always has. Her dd may not want to come if her cousins are free to hang with while she is gone. Her dd is a nice girl, but would get bored with us. When she and I worked at the law firm together we always had a great time together.
Some people just never do 'get it.' You will get your sweater done in time! 
I showed a loss of 3.4 
which is not a normal for me. I usually just take it off a pound a week or so on average. What a wonderful surprise ~ it is probably for last week also since I did follow program before showing that gain. Anyway I am going in the right direction. Just 6 more pounds to lose before I get that washer from WW that is stamped 50 lb. for my key chain. 
Got my hair cut today, nice and short. 
Your husband may not be home next tome then what will she do. He is a good neighbor to do that for her.
Your sweater sounds like it will be done in time. Be sure and post a picture of it.
at you later.
sunshiney day here in the neighborhood. I don't have many plans for the day and think I will just putz around and read a good book.
on going in the right direction this week in your weight loss. I know that when you exercise and lose inches you are working at it for sure. It has been said that a person that looks smaller than a larger one can actually weigh more because of their muscle content. Also are you eating the same amount of points every day? If so maybe you could try eating high one day and low the next with at least a 5 to 7 point spread between the two. Shake up that motabelism. My whole week is like that for I have a body that won't lose eating the same amount each day. Or eating the same things each day. I certainly hope this has helped. Your sweater looks lovely on your torso. I know you will have a good time at that banquet with that darling little boy. Enjoy.
Bob did his good deed for the day. We have an older couple across the street (next door to the lady stuck in the street yesterday) and they have been gone for a week. We have lived in this house for 23 years; he will wave if we meet in the cars, but she will never acknowledge us in any way. Last night Bob said he thought he would get up this morning and blow out their driveway because he figured it was about time they should be coming home again. He did call the man's business and the employee said they had planned on coming home Thursday, but probably got caught in the weather somewhere. When we got home from WM their car was in the driveway and as we drove by the man waved us to stop. He chatted away like we had been friends for years and thanked Bob over 'n over for doing his driveway. The guy is 81 years old and certainly had no business trying to walk through 4 feet snow to get to his garage!
Don't be discouraged and I know that is easier said than done. Do you drink all of the water that WW tells you to? Otherwise you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing as far as I can tell. This weight challenge is a mystery to me . . . when I think I've gained, I lose and when I'm sure I've lost, I gain. 
I am in a funk right now and eating way more than I should simply because I'm afraid of getting sick on the meds again. Your sweater looks very nice! 
We will miss the spur-of-the-moment visits. Even though it is 2 1/2 hours, that extra 1 1/2 hours makes a big difference in just dropping in to say "hi" and spend an hour.
When we went to Hawaii for R & R, the army base was called Ft. De Russey or something like that. There is a pink hotel, right on the beach that was Air Force officers' quarters when my dad was stationed there. I didn't see anything pink in your picture so it must be on down the beach a ways. I'm sure you will enjoy a vacation wherever you go! 