Good Morning All!!

I can't believe that I'm the first one up and on here!!

I'll be back, just thought I'd start us up!

Oh geeze, Lauren beat me!! I stopped by earlier but I didn't have time to post. Peanut was hungry and the toaster had just popped!! We are going to go out geocaching today so I'm going to get a bit of exercise. We are going to take the dogs so I might get more than a bit!! I just hope to be able to avoid the poison ivy.........that would be a real bummer.

Have a great afternoon!!

Good Morning!!!!
My shower was soooo much fun yesterday!!! I am like Karen in that I hate the attention, but the baby got the most wonderful things!!! I had promised DH I wouldnt promote girly froo froo things but I am failing miserably!!! I got 8 little outfits with frilly lace, hats and the shoes to match...Sailor outfits, duck outfits, fun stuff that she can wear in the spring!!!!It was wonderful to see when people really love that baby U R bringing into the world!!!!

..They had a strawberry shortcake without sugar icing made soo my post shower sugars were great!!!! I stayed away from dips and chips soo things worked out great food wise!!!!Lots of veges!!Everyone suffered cuz of me!!!!

WEll, have a great Sunday all!!!!!
RR

Hello All!

Back in the office again after a very nice weekend at home in the Netherlands. the tooth wasn't that bad, I arrived in my hometown Leiden (15 min from Amsterdam by train) on Friday 18.00, and the tooth was out on 18.30. It took my dad exactly 5 minutes including the injection. And I didn't feel a thing afterwards. Phew! Was I right to go home!
I had a wonderful weekend without really doing much (WEEEEEEllll.....) I did go shopping on Saturday: bought 2 pairs of slacks (brown and black), and a zipped up off-white roll neck sweater. Besides lots of vitamins (cost about 1/3 of Greek price), some foodstuffs, and other clothes taken from home, some small gifts and things.
I ended up taking an empty suitcase to the Netherlands and taking back a full one AND a full bag, total 45 kg (and you're allowed only 25 kg, fortunately I managed to take it all with me without paying for extra kilo's).
I was really lucky, as the crew let me sit in the cockpit the whole way!!! wow! Even during landing! So we sat there chatting in the cockpit and I got a lecture on the instruments (the plane can even land all by itself, did you know that!), and I saw about half of Europe from 35.000 feet hight (I was holding a map as we went over: Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Kroatia (Italy was visible from 100 miles away, this is REALLY true), Montenegro, Albania, and finally Greece. At the end the autopilot got stuck (oops) so the pilot had to do the landing. I was allowed to stay so I was strapped in in the extra chair and witnessed a spotless landing!

Diet went slightly down the drain (as you can imagine, I did not eat s*** just too much food though), the good news is my sister has lost about 12 pounds in 2 months on WW points system (it really shows!), and we were really supporting each other.

RR, you must have enough to keep the baby into frilly stuff for 3 years! She'll need it!

Karen, what's geocaching?

Gotta go back to work! see you all later!

Glad to be back, and nutty as ever,

Vassiliki (still with head above the clouds)

Howdy yall. I don't really say "howdy", but being from TX I thought I'd throw it in for fun. I checked in with yall a few times last week, but never got a chance to post. My trip home went great. I did not want to come back here to my exisiting life I like to refer to as ****. My inlaws requested Krispy Kreams the other night when my DH went into to town to work. He brought back 2 dozen!! Yep, I had at least 4 of them over the last couple of days. On a good note, I took my 3 1/2 yr old son on a long walk yesterday. I took the stroller so I wouldn't have to hear about his legs being tired. We live 1/4 mile from the river so we walked along and fed the ducks then up through the nature trail that leads to the town square. It was so nice. DH stayed home with the baby. Seth and I really needed that time alone together. He always has to share my time with his sister.

Greek - so glad your trip home was a good one. Cool about all the shopping. One of these days I'll have money to shop with again. I really miss it.

RR - I loved my showers too. You are probably like me and can't stop looking through all the stuff the baby got. When are you due again? I'll write it down this time.

Karen- I'm with Greek, what is geocaching?

Bye everyone.....send some willpower my way. There are 2 doughnuts left.

Hi All,

...As I sit here hum "I don't like Mondays", by the Boomtown Rats...remember that one?! That's about how my day is going...and it's barely 11 am!! Started out with the electric going out a little before 7 this AM. Had to shower by camping lantern and dry my hair with the car heater!! Then all sorts of crap hit the fan when I got here. "...I wanna shoot the whole day down..."

GG- Glad you had such a great time. How did you convince them to let you sit in the cockpit?!

RR- Sounds like a great shower! I could be totally off base, but I'm thinking mine is gonna be in December some time.

Karen- How was all the exercise? Hope you're able to stand up today!!

Have a better day than me all!!

Kesco- You're doing better than me, I would've eaten 4 in one day!! BEHAVE!!

OK, question...

Do any of you with cats have the Litter Maid, or know anyone that has it?? This is the litter box that automatically cleans the stuff into a separate compartment something like 10 minutes after he goes.

If you do, does it work? My cat has serious behavioral problems that have gotten worse lately, and DH and I are sick of it! DH said he will buy it when he gets paid this week, but I'm curious to know if it works.

I found this on another site, and thought it was soo beautiful. I know a lot of us have fur babies, and a few of us have lost some over the past couple years...grab some tissues and read...


Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

OOOHHHHH Lauren.........................be back later after I find the hankies..............................

OK, have tissues now. Tripper is trying to help me type so please exscuse any typos.

Lauren: I have a Litter Maid and I *LOVE* it. It absolutely does what it says it will do. I have the larger one because I had two cats. I line the plastic bin (the collection container) with a 4 gallon plastic bag so I can make them last longer. I did not have much luck washing them out, they still smelled. With two cats I had to clean it twice a week. Since it's only been a week I'm not sure how often I'll clean it with one. Maybe just once. I will warn you though, if they get diarrhea it has a hard time. I'm not sure why it's different from urine, but it is. I guess it's stickier or something. (What a subject, hmm!!) Sorry for the non-cat lovers out there. Anyhow, they come with covers and all kinds of extras now. I just have the plain open one and my girls did fine switching from a covered pan.

Kesco: PUT THE DONUT DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE BOX. How's that? I'm trying out my mom voice. Gotta get it in shape!! Glad you had a good vacation, sorry it wasn't long enough. BTW, Howdy right back at ya!!

GG and Kesco: Geocaching is when people go out into the woods and hide a tupperware container of (usually) junk. They take a GPS reading and post it on a website. You pick up the coordinates and go out and try to find the container. It's a lot of fun (except when you get into poison ivy). Sometimes we take the dogs and sometimes we don't . If I see any poison ivy I am now out of the woods and waiting for DH to make the find and meet me. Definitely don't want to be PG with it. How on earth would they treat it (shudder).


I'm going to make homemade pizza for dinner so I'm gonna go start getting ready. Hope you guys have a great evening.

Morning All,

I think I actually slept through the night!! Amazing... Man, did I have to pee this AM though.

Karen- Thanks for the info. I was reading reviews on Amazon and it was either really bad, or really good. Zeus is used to a big little box, and he's had covered and uncovered, and he doesn't seem to care either way, as long as it's clean. I was worried that if he saw or heard it doing something, he might get freaked or something. Also, alot of the reviewers said it's really noisy, and ours is in the corner of the living room, on the other side of our bedroom wall. He usually goes in there at night, right after we go to bed...but I guess that doesn't matter, since if it's not him waking me up, it's gonna be myself, or Peter!! I am skeptical about paying $150 + for it, because I think we need the bigger one (Mego LM900), but if it's gonna stop the problem, I think it's probably worth it.

Hope I didn't upset anyone too much with that Rainbow poem...I think I got to the end of the first sentence before losing it!! I like to read stuff like that, nothing like a good cry. I have the Dear Abby (or Ann?) letter somewhere about the little boy who asked his pastor about if dogs go to heaven...love that one.

Anyway, have a great day all!

Hi all!! Well after almost two weeks off I managed to drag my lazy butt back into the gym this morning. It was so hard to do!!!! But once I was there it was great to see everyone again and they were all teasing me for being m.i.a. Now, let's see how I feel the next two days. I did take it kind of easy. I haven't gained anything and I've been eating totally horrible the whole time off so I'm hoping if I can straighten out my act I'll see a couple pounds drop before this year is over. I'm still having a total mental challenge. My brain keeps saying to just forget about exercising and eating right for the rest of the year and my body is really liking that idea. But then I tell myself I'm at probably my best ever physically and I really don't want to lose it. It's gonna be a tough 1 1/2 months!!! I've really enjoyed my relaxing mornings, sleeping in, getting ready for work at my own pace, having some time with DH and puppy. Someone send me some willpower please!!!!

My friend had her baby yesterday. She is teeny tiny and wore between a size 4 and 6 before she got pregnant. She had a 10 lb 7 oz boy. I'm still in shock. Needless to say they had to do a c-section on her. Both mommy and baby are doing great. I'm so happy for her!!!

KarenK, I had to laugh this morning. I just sat down with my bagel and had a big bite in my mouth when I read your entry.

Have a great day everyone!!
Liz

Lauren - my cousin loves her litter maid thingy. It rakes the litter/poop right? Anyway, she's had it since they came out with them. oh, and I'm so sorry you had such a bad day. I hope today is much better.

Karen- geocaching sounds like a lot of fun. I love stuff like that. I wonder if anyone does it around here. Gotta find out. Oh and about the doughnuts - I didn't eat anymore.


Liz - you have motivated me to go back to the gym. I love it, but I haven't been able to afford to keep my membership up. Where there is a will there is a way!

Hi all. I seem to have become a once a week poster during my lazy time.
Last night I bought a big metal outdoor fireplace thing. Today I'm going to clean off the higher natural stone patio and put it there with some chairs. There used to be a picnic table on that patio but it fell apart this year. I think a fireplace with seating will get used more. Its a good excuse to work in the yard today. All my rock walls and patios need a bit of work I haven't done anything to them the last two years and they've been attacked by the 5 and 6 yr olds.

Today I'm losing one of my favorite hardwood trees. Its right by my front stairs. My house is a cape cod, rustic cabin looking with 2 dormers upstairs and a full deep porch across the front. The humming birds always hide in this tree (stalking the feeders) and the squirrels always use that tree. But it leans over the porch and I'm risking it falling into the house in a big storm. So it has to go. I'm sad.

Diet wise: maintaining is better than gaining. I'm waiting to start losing!!!
- jul