[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

I don’t know why but my morning shower sure felt so good today. I got in and gave a nice sigh. I slept real good last night and am now enjoying my first coffee of the day. Will poured it into my container before he left to take the dogs to the groomer. They get haircuts and baths and will come home smelling so good for a few hours. The heat sure zaps their good smell quickly. They really don’t smell that bad but have lost the fresh smell if you know what I mean. Cecil is moping around ~ can’t find his dogs. Tonight is weigh-in and I sure hope I show a loss. If I don’t I won’t have a clue why not for I have been OP all week. I am using that little crate I got at the flea market to hold some little things that float around on my desk that I use often. I like having things organized where I can locate them easily. It bothers me when I can’t find something. A place for everything and everything in it’s place. Of all things when we moved here I couldn’t locate my popover pan. Will had cut two of the cups off so it would fit nicely in my convection oven and I kept it with my muffin pans. But nowhere could it be located. I bought another one awhile back when I wanted to make popovers so Will cut off two of the cups and now I have the set of 4 in where it belongs. It’s one of those black metal things that is designed to have the cups not touching so when the popovers pop over they will not touch each other and they get nice and brown all around. It remains a mystery what happened to my other popover pan. It did offer me a time to pull every pot and pan out of the cupboard looking for it though. I have WW lightened recipes which are all good ~ cheddar-scallion (3p+), graham (3p+), lemon-garlic (3P+), old-fashioned (4p+), and thyme (2P+). I have made the thyme ones most for they are the lowest in points and use fresh thyme which is flavorful. But they are all yummy if you like popovers I can e-mail you the recipes.

I hope all is well with you Magnolias ~ type at y’all later ~

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! It's going to be another hot day here. We balanced first try this morning and I was on my way in an hour. Stopped to pick up the gift shop money and need to deposit that after lunch. I decided to try and cover up my so-called mending attempt, on Maddie's dress, with ribbon. There is one fabric store in town and WM; fabric store didn't have what I wanted but WM did. The glitch there was I'd have to buy the whole spool of ribbon! After tracking down a clerk I was not a happy camper. I'm debating about going to a neighboring town that has a small K-Mart and a quilt shop to see if they might have it.

Maggie -- It is hard to believe that July is here already. I have noticed that it is not as bright when I get up in the morning. The sun is rising a minute later each day. Good luck at WW tonight! I've never had a popover (that I know of) and would have no clue how to make them.

"Gma" -- Hope all went well this morning.

Susan -- Did you lose power with all the others? I hope not!

Not much newsy from here. Tomorrow is my morning to work in the gift shop and will send out quarterly statements at church in the afternoon.
Hope you all are staying cool and enjoy your day!

[QuilterInVA]

Good evening, ladies. Hot with more hot in the forecast and more storms for at least this week. We've had 4 major storms in 4 days with power outages, trees and limbs down, 7 people have died from storm related causes, its awful. We've had winds in excess of 60 MPH with these storms and hail.

I thought all the deaths were over but 3 more of my friends have lost family members. I gave up and bought a dozen sympathy cards today.

I haven't done anything exciting yesterday or today, just the usual housework, trip to the Y and grocery shopping. I don't really have anything until Thursday evening when it will be First Thursday Bee time.

Jean, if you find any ribbon at the quilt shop, it will be expensive. Our Kmart only has ribbon for gifts. Considering the cost of gas, it might be cheaper to get the Walmart ribbon and donate any leftovers.

Maggie, I like to be organized, too, and try to keep everything in its place. It works well, except for my sewing room which gets messy while I'm doing a machine project but then I clear it up before the next one. I haven't had popovers in years. I did like them a lot.

Faye, I hope the D and C went well for you and will get you straightened out!

Have a wonderful evening.

[Maggie]

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

We went out for a ride looking at prices of cars today which always convinces us to keep our Jeep. My glass straws came today and I have my little barber pole made. What I did was have Will cut the glass because it was Pyrex and my cutter wouldn’t work so he got me the right ½ inch length cut off with his Drimmel tool from the the 4 inch straw. I have glass paint so painted a white and red stripe around it. Will cut off a couple brass screws that I used for the ends and was able to solder a loop around them and have a bit of a handle to solder to the building. It turned out to where you can tell it is a barber pole. Cute. These are sturdy glass for sure and are great straws. They sent me a little brush that will clean the insides. Be back later after WW weigh in.

Just got in from WW and weigh in and am down 4 pounds. Yep 4 big ones gone. We went out to eat at Applebee’s and I brought most of my dinner home. It will be good tomorrow as a re-run.

JEAN I don't make popovers a lot but they sure are good once in awhile. Easy to make also ~ they rise up and leave a bit of a hollow in the middle where a dab of sugar free jam is good. Doesn't it feel good to get things balanced at first try.

SUSAN Sorry to hear so many of your acquaintences have passed during the storms. Your sewing room is like my glass room which has to be cleaned up after each project. In fact it gets a cleaning after practically every stage of a progect.

I hope all is well with you Magnolias ~ type at y’all later ~

[gma22]

Good morning ladies. I hope you are all keeping cool and dry and no trees on your house in the case of Susan. It sure is hot and humid here still.

We got to the hospital at 6:30 and I checked in. Found out I was #2 so it would be near 11 before I would go in. Bummed out as that meant sitting on that hard bed for 3+ hours and since I had no clothing on just sitting on a peri pad and leaking all the time if you know what I mean. They called into the room around 8:30 to talk to the nurse and she said I was done, so just a few minutes later while I was in the restroom, the guy came to get me so I thought it would be more like 9 o'clock for surger. Nope, I sat in the holding room with poor Jack how has that back strain sitting on this creaky cheap computer style chair for 2 hours before anyone even ventured into the room. Then began the real mess. I have very small deep veins and I tried to tell them they needed someone that could do it, but they all thought they knew best so I now have 8-9 bruised places where they tried to put in an IV. They finally put it in my right index finger just above my knuckle and boy did that one and the one they tried to put in my thumb hurt. They kept apologizing. I have two anestheisiologists and a nurse all in there fooling with me. I came out of surgery (no ablation again, they had to do the d an c) and though he had given me something for nausea, this time I was really sick at my stomach. She gave me something as soon as I got into the room, which was about 12:30 PM but it didn't help. I tried drinking sprite, then water and she opened up my saline drip all the way and though I wasn't vomiting I could not go home that way. I got up to go to the restroom as I had to urinate before I went home and was dizzy from the meds and oh so sick to my stomach. I tried crackers too, but my mouth has been so dry from the anesthesia and the tube down my throat made my throat soar so the crackers stuck in my mouth like sawdust and choked me. She came back in off and on and finally she said, I am giving you something that will make you really sleepy, but should do the trick and it did in about 10 minutes I was up dressing and going home. They gave me a shot of something for pain in the recovery room, though my pain was nothing like I had been having at home before the procedure so when we left the hospital, I was pain free and sleepy so I dozed as Jack ran around town with me in tow. We ran to the drugstore to fill my prescriptions, but it was now 5 PM so couldn't go and pick up Jack's FMLA papers at his cardiologist (even though he is having a day procedure, anything that will keep him out of work even a few days, they make you do the papers) and we ran way out to the post office to pick up Fortune's flea and tick meds I ordered and they would deliver because she said we had a dog loose (she heard the pit bull next door as Fortune was in the house.) We then came home and Jack just ran out and got us some supper. I still have a bad tasting mouth and sore throat, but no pain at all and very little bleeding from the surgery. I took my first day of hormones again and nothing bad so far. She did lower the dosage by 40 mg's. She said it looked like I was making really good progress so I guess that is why she lowered my dosage. All I know is I am just glad I am feeling incredibly better. I imagine the next round will be December or January.

Maggie: Glad you got your little barber pole glass. Cars of any kind aren't cheap that's for sure. We plan on buying a new car right before Jack retires and keep our little Mariner and use it to run errands and the new car for other things like trips and such. WOOHOO down 4 lbs that is really terrific! Good for you.

Susan: I am so very sorry about the deaths of folks you know. What an awful thing to happen. I don't want storms like those, but we sure could use rain. Our air alert remains at Orange most of the time now. I can't wait until we convert the area we use as the dining room into a big pantry/storage area. I will have my own little area to store my yarns by weight so I don't always have to take the used stuff and wind it on my thingy that tells me it's weight.

Jean: I agree with Susan. Why not check online for ribbon. You would have to probably buy the spool, but it might be a lot less expensive that running around all over trying to find it. Joann has nice ribbon online. Popovers are yummy and I like scones, too if they are made right. I have looked up so many British Isles foods not knowing what they were like Treacle Tart or Spotted Dick. I got the frenzy reading the Harry Potter books.

I have the socks on the needles and am on the leg part past the cuff and have my sweater sleeves on the needles and have the arm cuff done and two of the patterns done. I have 6 patterns to go and then can cast off and have one done. I didn't realize how fast it would go even with my huge arms and the pattern wasn't for anyone near my size so I had to work out how big to make the sleeve and by darn I think I did it just right. So, off I go back to it.

I have laundry to fold when it is done, but all my other regular chores are done. No cleaning for me for a couple days then I can go back to my regular cleaning routine. Have a great Tuesday all and a wonderful 4th. We have a burn ban here so no fireworks, but you know that won't stop people from doing the stupid thing. Faye

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

I got up a couple hours earlier than usual and didn’t miss any sleep by doing so. My main thing to do this day is to finish up my building that I have started. I finely decided to change my calendar on my desk to reflect this month. It is one of those huge blotter sized ones and I always have to set some things off of it first and I just got around to doing it. I think I was being resistive to say good bye to June. Will is out in the cooler part of the day to do some yard landscaping. The tree he planted out there has survived nicely. Time to go to the nursery which is a ways out of town.

Back from the nursery where we are getting the supplies to make the walkway and seating around the tree that got planted awhile back. It is going to look so neat when it all gets done.

At WW meeting last evening I bought a box of envelopes of Popped Zesty Cheese Crisps and they are quite tasty and only 2 p+ a bag. 14 grams of whole grains per serving, flavored with a blend of savory cheeses and perfectly seasoned for an irresistible snack. Yep, I am going to enjoy having these around. They will be great with some cottage cheese, sliced carrots and celery for a lite lunch.

I don’t have to figure out what to fix for dinner for we will have the leftovers we brought home from Applebee’s last night.

DONNA FAYE I am so happy for you that you are now feeling almost back to exact and are able to get back to your knitting with better ease. What a horrible thing to put you through even after you informed them you have veins that aren’t cooperative. Sounds like something isn’t quite right where you have to go for your medical needs. When I go in to have any blood drawn they always ask me which vein I prefer to have blood drawn from. You must have had a bunch of folks just learning how to draw blood working on you for they don’t seem professional at all. How sad for the patients.

Howdy Jean and Susan ~ hope all is well with you this day.

I hope all is well with you Magnolias ~ type at y’all later ~

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's not as hot today, but still hot with a slight breeze. According to the paper we are supposed to hit 100 this afternoon but it's only 86 now, so don't think that will happen. The gift shop was super slow this morning, but I worked on a couple of paper type projects for other departments. Bob met me for lunch in the coffee shop and now I am home again. I decided to do the church mailing on Thursday so I can get my 4th food ready this afternoon.

Susan -- I've been thinking about you and having the storms in your area. I'm so sorry about all the deaths and destruction. I didn't find any ribbon in the quilt shops, but one kind clerk referred me to the grocery store floral department. Their ribbon wasn't washable so that didn't help. I did call a friend who does a lot of crafty things and she did have some but not as wide as I wanted.

Maggie -- on losing 4#s last week! I'm glad you have your barber pole fiinished. It sounds cute. New vehicles are expensive but I just read where people are keeping their cars longer because they are made to run longer. I have a rock chip in my windshield that needs to be fixed.

"Gma" -- I don't understand why hospitals make patients come in so early when they know the procedure is later. I'm glad yours if over and you are more comfortable. I have the same problem with IVs and last time asked them to use the vein in my arm where I donate blood, and they did. It was much easier for everyone. I wanted the ribbon asap so I could finish the dress and give it back to Maddie tomorrow. Guess I will show it to Beth, as is, and see what she thinks. She doesn't sew at all so it might be ok with her even though it isn't "proper" mending.

I need to change clothes and get in gear. Being gone in the morning makes me feel lazy in the afternoon when I get home. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[QuilterInVA]

Happy 4th of July, ladies! Hot and hotter and thunderstorms this day. We've had a lot of rain but the ground looks dry because it's so hot.

My neighbor invited me to their cookout this day so that's what I'll be doing. We can usually see fireworks from Langley AFB right in our back yards.

I need to tweak my furniture arrangement. Now that I've lived with it a couple of weeks, I see a few things that could be better so I'll be doing that, too.

Faye, I hope this works for you. I don't know that I'd like to be having D and Cs a couple of times a year. Old school is not always better.

Jean, my power is on but there are still several thousand without it - in this heat. Sounds like you need to look for ribbon on line.
Maggie, on the weight loss! You go girl! I'd love to see your barber pole. I don't know I'd give a glass straw to a child. I wish you could post pictures of your village.

Have a wonder day!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It has cooled off some for right now on this 4th of July holiday and it is only 100ºs ~ but expected to get up to 103ºs and a bit beyond before the day is over. Will is at the museum where they are putting on an Old West Show. They have 3 speakers and he is talking on Buffalo Guns and Civil War Guns and artillery. Other speakers are talking on Wild Bill Hitchcock and Elizabeth Custer and they are all in costume. Each will give @ an hour presentation and for the next three days. It will be a fun thing for folks to take their children to. I may go one of the days they are doing it.

While Will is at the museum I am having a lunch of a frozen dinner for 6 P+. This afternoon we are grilling ribs and having corn on the cob. For dessert we will have Apple Salad which is yummy and very low in points. Some say Butterscotch pudding is good in this but Will doesn’t like the taste of it so I use Vanilla. If you do like Butterscotch you may want to substitute it for the Vanilla and call it Caramel Apple Salad.

APPLE SALAD
2 green apples, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 red apples, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 small box of instant sugar-free vanilla pudding
20 ounce can crushed pineapple in own juice
Tub of fat-free whipped topping

Mix dry pudding mix with pineapple and juice
Mix this with the Whipped topping
Add apples and mix again
7 points+ for the whole thing

I am working on my glass building till my main squeeze gets home. The dogs are both outside along with the cat all lazing in the shade. Life is good.

SUSAN These are sturdy glass straws made by Pyrex and don't break when you bite them ~ I tried it. They are quite well made and not at all like the ones of old that were thin and easily broken. My grandmother had some and cautioned us kids not to bite them and we didn't. Just like we were taught not to bite the glass thermometers that had mercury in them. How things have changed. My favorite straw that my grandmother had ~ had a spoon at the bottom, I think my mother has that one. I have a set of plastic ones that have the spoon at the end we use for RB floats. I took my vinegar/honey dose this morning before eating anything and I won't do that again. Gave me a bit of a tummy ache till I ate something. That was nice of your neighbor to invite you over. We like to check with single folks to see if they have any plans. My folks always had extras over on holidays that weren't family but fit right in as if they were. At Christmas time I remember my folks getting gifts to give "guests" when they came at that time. Times were we made gifts in jars back then and I am making some this year again. We always had something to give the guests during the holidays. What fun we had. Never "just the family" at those doings. It's good to see that folks are reaching out these days. One day when I have my village all built I will take a picture and post it.

I hope all is well with you Magnolias ~ type at y’all later ~

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! We just got home from the lake and I'm heading for a shower shortly. It was 90+ and quite windy -- made me tired for sure.

Susan, it was nice of your neighbor to invite you over today. We stopped at a WM on the way to the lake and I bit the bullet. Bought the spool of ribbon for $1.97! That store is much bigger, cleaner, and nicer than the one here.

Maggie, I make the same salad only use butterscotch pudding so it does taste like caramel apples. Kids really like it! The programs sound interesting -- hope it cools off for people to come and enjoy.

I'm heading to the shower! See you all tomorrow!

[gma22]

Good morning to you gals. Well, Kelly and the guys start their climb today. She is a bit anxious about it now, but I am sure she will do fine. This was the two boys idea in the first place!

I am having one problem left over from the hospital and that is an odd sore throat from the tube and the anesthesia. I can swallow, but seems like there is something lingering in my throat that makes me want to clear it and it is a bit sore, not scratchy and I can swallow, but more like raw I guess, I don't know. I keep hoping it will go away, but so far this morning it is still hanging around.

I should have stayed home, but I went out and did some shopping yesterday. I came home and really felt all in. I had to walk a lot in Penney's, Joann's, Target and it made me shaky. I think I need a bit more time to get over being in the hospital before I get too involved in that sort of thing. So, I am taking it easy today again.

Jean: Glad you found the ribbon and went ahead and got it so you could fix the dress the way you wanted to. Hope you had a good time at the lake. We came home yesterday and just hung out in the house because it was so hot.

Susan: I hope your holiday was nice and free from the storms and other such attached to those kind of things. We could sure use rain, but not the kind of stuff you eat coasters got. Jack wanted me to ask you something as I told him you eat a lot of seafood. We were watching a diners, drive ins and dives yesterday and this restaurant in Va Beach called Citrus, makes this Maryland soft shell crab eggs benedict. Jack wanted to know if you eat the whole thing shell and all with soft shell crab? We assumed you did, but we aren't sure.

Maggie: Glad you are coming along on your work. Thanks for the recipe, it sounds really good.

Well gals, my chores are calling me so I better get to them. I have one sleeve on my sweater done and working on #2 of 7 pattern repeats on the second one so it is coming right along. Have a good Thursday all. Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good morning, ladies! Close to 100 today.

Faye, soft shelled crab actually has no shell. As the crabs grow, they outgrow their shells and shed them. There is about a day before the new shell starts growing and that's when you get soft shell crabs - they should be called no shell crabs. We get our seafood fresh from the boats and it is oh so good. You eat the entire thing. I'm sorry you have a sore throat. I've been pretty lucky when I have general anethesia and never have after effects. I'm sure the kids will have fun on their climb. My boss climbed the hardest face but I doubt they would let a young man do it. They have several different climbs and the sherpas do the hardest work.

Jean, I'm glad you got your ribbon. I've found grocery stores vary by neighborhoods, too. Poor people have to put with with messy dirty stores because they have nowhere else to go and more affluent customers won't shop if the store isn't kept up. Shopping in Williamsburg (very affluent for the most part) is different than shopping on the Peninsula.

Maggie, it sounds like a lot of fun at the museum! Thanks for the recipe. I've saved it for the next covered dish I have to make.

Have a wonderful day!

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! It's a "cooler" day in my corner of the world, at 88, but the humidity seems to be higher. There is a breeze, as usual. I went to church this morning and felt like it was Monday so we should be counting money. We ran out of window envelopes so I ended up hand addressing the last 25+, then ran out of stamps so the secretary was printing those when I left. Big mailings make me appreciate self sticking stamps! This afternoon has been phone calls for church and sneaking up on finishing Maddie's dress mending.

"Gma" -- I wish Kelly "good luck" and happy climbing! She is a better sport than I would be. I'd sit at the bottom and read my book while the guys climbed. I hope your sore throat is gone soon. You are right about it being to hot to do anything outside of the air conditioned house!

Susan -- The towns people, where I got the ribbon, caused a HUGE uproar when a packing plant wanted to move into town. We are sports rivals and not all that far apart from each other so they know all about what has happened here. Needless to say the city fathers turned down the request -- smart move on their part.

I have laundry going and need to change loads, then balance the checkbook. Hope you all are having a nice day and enjoy the rest of it.

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! It's going to be another hot day in my corner of the world. I am home ALL day and have several things I want to do. Jason will spend the night here after his reunion get together tonight. Amanda will come tomorrow for the family brunch. I'm not sure where the kids will be since they are still with their other grandparents at the lake. Beth is still at the cabin so we may go back up tomorrow.

I'm off to get dressed and get busy. Have a Fantastic Firday and enjoy. Stay COOL!

[gma22]

Good morning to everyone. It is terribly hot and sticky again today. We are supposed to be up to 102 degrees today, but the worst is that 78% humidity. Jack leaves for work and is sweating before he gets into the garage to get the car. He takes extra clothing to change into before he even leaves work because his stuff is soaking wet. Glad today is Friday for him that's for sure.

I sprayed some Cloroseptic in my throat last night and it seemed to help quite a bit. I still have a little feeling like I have sand in my throat, but it is loads better than it was. I have never had this reaction before and I surmise it might just be a none to gentle insertion of the tube while I was out.

I have just a bit and am done with the second sleeve and can sew it up, more than likely today. I hope it fits. It was not a plus sized pattern, but I just increased it so I hope my calculations are right. I am pretty spot on with the sleeves, but I am more concerned with around the hips of the sweater than anything.

I bought the greatest color for my toes for vacation. It is a glossy orange called "Crushed." I am doing french tips for my nails, but wanted a nice bright color for my toes since I am wearing sandals a lot. I am not very fond of red colors. Jack thought he was humorous and said I should paint my toes the orange and my fingers lime green then I would be totally tropical. I told him to watch it or I just might that I have seen some really jazzy green colors. I wonder why we haven't embraced colors (except for teens and young adults) like yellows and blues and greens for our nails. I know in the 50's most moms just wore red, red lips, red nails, period. I look like death warmed over in red lipstick and nails. I have really pale skin. I am going to exfoliate and put on my tan towels this weekend though and see how they do. I keep forgetting to do it and we are getting close enough I need to test them out.

Susan: I thought it might be something like that. We are not huge seafood eaters, but I think if we could get fresh we would eat it more. We are not big fish eaters, but Jack loves scallops, crabs, shrimp, shellfish in other words. I haven't ever had scallops that aren't rubbery so I don't care for them, but I like fish that is not "fishy" tasting like tilapia, different types of white fish, but I am a shrimp lover and I love cold boiled shrimp. I told Jack I am getting two shrimp cocktails for dinner every night since I don't pay for them. He told me to just order 6 and have them for dinner! lololol The nicest and cleanest store here in town is the Super Target. It has a smaller variety of groceries though, but it is nice to go into a sparkling clean store. I have never been in a dirty Target, actually, but have never been in a clean Walmart. I think Kelly said they have 12 people between guides and the people who haul up the tents and supplies and such. The three of them are their own climbing group by themselves.

Jean: Is it too expensive for your church to use the machine stamping??? You seem to send out an awful lot of mail all the time, I would think it would be cost effective for you. I am so glad the post office has gone to pre-glue stamps. I always hated licking them. I mail stuff so infrequently that I have a thing of stamps forever it seems. At my age, I don't think "working" on a vacation is what I want to do! Seems like that climb would be huge work. I just hope they have fun no matter what.

I guess I should get out of here and get some work done. The heat makes you so lazy you just want to sit and not even think! :lo: Have a good weekend. We have commissary weekend this weekend so it should be fun in this heat. Faye