Our weekend hike was great. We didn't see as much colour as we expected - it's still very green - but beautiful nonetheless. The park is very much wilderness, with only a few trails and 25 or so camp sites. No fires allowed. It overlooks the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world. Luckily, the tide was low in the afternoon so we were able to walk on the beach for the last kilometre or so. Five straight hours of walking, with some pretty wicked hills, so I feel I got my exercise for Saturday
Lisa: I hope everything is OK with you. Can't believe Jeanne hit that hard and so closely on the heels of the other three. Please check in and let us know you're safe.
lala: Nothing surprises me anymore in the world of contracting. I no longer bother getting back to those who don't keep appointments; to me, it's an indication of how the entire job will go.
Melissa: My mom gave me a pedometer a few weeks ago. It talks too. By any chance, is yours a Centrios??
Pam: You had a great weekend lined up. How did it go?
Good morning! I had a pretty busy weekend--DS #2 started his bowling league on Saturday morning so I was off at 8:30 a.m. Came home & washed my car, ran the vacuum, dusted a bit and then back off to drop DS #2 off for a bowling tournament. The rugby club had a home game so DS #1 and I went to that and then to the boathouse party afterwards. It was a perfect day in terms of weather/temps to be outside. Saturday wasn't all that sunny but at least it wasn't raining. Yesterday was absolutey gorgeous! DH and I took a ride out to the county area and picked up fresh Cortland apples and a jug of apple cider...the afternoon was spent making apple pies. It's funny but I only eat the pie the day they're made and after that I could care less. They turned out really well if I say so myself Back to the grind this morning and I'm getting quite a bit done.
Susan: Sounds like your walk/hike went really well. The leaves are just starting to change here--I'm hoping they'll be peaking when DH and I are on our roadtrip to VA. My luck they'll be pretty much gone by then. The pedometer I have is from Brookstone--so far it's been accurate in how many steps I've taken so for me it's a keeper. I've been wearing it to work since my goal is 10,000 steps a day. The weekend was short in terms of hitting my mark but it at least gives me some idea as to what I need to do.
Lisa: I hope you survived the nasty weather. I talked to my GF in Clearwater last evening and they were lucky in terms that they still have power. The other side of their street is without it. Her DH said he's never experienced this many hurricanes in this short of time and he's lived there pretty much all his life. I hope the end is near for the storms!
Lala: Hope your weekend went well! I'm canning tomatoes this evening. DH went out and got a bushel so we're going to split them up--part tonight and part on Wednesday. He does the hard part (coring/peeling) so all I have to do is cook & jar. He's a great help in that area!
Oh my goodness, everyone had such fun sounding weekends!
Susan -- I love fall color. I am starting to see the vine maples and katsuras change around here. Need to run up to the woods to see some other color or maybe a nice walk through the arboretum. The hike sounded vigorous!
Melissa -- you were a dynamo this weekend. When can DS#2 start driving? DP is gone again at 5 pm, so the rest of the tomatoes will be up to me. I sauce them, so no peeling, the go through the food mill.
I am hoping that Lisa is safe. I saw some coverage on CNN this am. Yikes.
Pam -- I hope you are enjoying your vacation!
Nothing much going on here. I am blue again. We had a nice time in the lovely
Orange county area Saturday night and yesterday. The wedding party was very nice, the food outstanding, the company divine, the setting was superb. Our hotel was nice because they put us away from the skanky surfers and partiers. I think if I had been paying I would have checked out and moved to the Ritz Carlton or something. It was really crazy on Saturday night.
Other than that, back on track, weddings abound, I am not doing too well on the eating front and I have a little black cocktail dress to fit into by the middle of November.
Why do we get invited to weddings of people we haven't really had contact with in 15 years? Even in town, it still ends up taking up the whole weekend, costing over 300 bucks and honestly, I really don't even care for you! (Not you guys, but you know what I mean)... I really should have booked a ticket to NYC that weekend.
lala: I'd go for the books. Always a treasure for kids. Books are about the only thing I remember from all my childhood toys. And until they learn to read, it means the parents have to be involved.
Melissa: Funny you should mention apple pies. DH emailed me this morning saying that the folks in his office are doing their yearly apple run and should we get 20 lbs for $5. I told him to go ahead and I'd make apple pies. I'm like you in that I only REALLY like them warm out of the oven. After that, I couldn't care less.
I just booked us a nite at a new spa in my hometown for the weekend my sister gets married. Her wedding day is actually DH's 50th birthday; I know the last thing he thought he'd be doing that day is going to a family wedding, so I need to make it up to him somehow. I booked for the night after the wedding and I'm gonna try to make it a surprise.
Turned out to be a beautiful day here. I'm going for a run after work - first one in three weeks. I'm so gonna hurt myself in the upcoming half marathon. . .
Foggy this am, should be at least 70 this afternoon. I am going to run home, let the dog out and then run to the ppatch and pick what remains of the tomatoes, carrots and start cutting down stuff in our short seasonal plot.
Had a good day yesterday, ate pretty well. Made spaghetti bolognese from the turnaround book (used turkey breast meat), made stuffed pepper filling, tomato sauce with the remaining 10 lbs of tomatoes.
DP left for the first week of school. I am not pleased, but by breaking it down into weeks, it works for me.
Did the step class last night and survived and did not inhale the fridge when I got home. A friend convinced me to the the cardio kickboxing class with her tomorrow. Frankly, I could use a change in my routine. I get in such a rut.
I hope that everyone is doing okay.
Susan -- I think you DH should realize that its not the day, but the week that is celebrated when you turn 50. The spa sounds great. Does he like such things?
Domina-- I am hoping that you, DH and the birds are safe.
Afternoon everyone! It's another gorgeous day here in PA...temps are hovering around 67 and it's partly cloudy out so not bad at all. I went for a good walk at noon and feel good. I'm working at WW this evening so it'll be a late dinner for me.
Lala: DS #2 is only 13 so he's got 3+ years before he starts driving. I can wait! I'll be making sauce out of my next batch of tomatoes and those I'll just run through the food processor. As for the baby shower, I'd definitely get the books. I usually look to get something out of the ordinary that most people wouldn't think about.
Susan: The spa sounds nice and you could celebrate his b-day for a week
Lisa: Hope everything is well in FL. Talked to my friend the other night and they were lucky to not have lost power. I haven't heard if they had any damage. They're in the process of building a new home and her DH was going to head over to their property to make sure the footer wasn't damaged by this last storm.
Thanks guys - you're absolutely right. the big 5-0 should be celebrated for a week, so we'll start on the 10th with the spa.
lala: yes, he would like the spa treatment, but he's feeling pressured to get out of my hometown and to this parents' home, about 2.5 hours away. I'm not sure if he really feels the need to see them or he just really wants to get away from my family anyway, it's his day so I won't pressure. I had booked a spa service for him early on Monday the 11th but he tells me we need to leave early so I ended up cancelling. He may be sorry once he hears what he missed
Melissa: I made a batch of tomato sauce from a recipe in Cooking Light last weekend. It's pretty good, and I got to use the canned tomatoes that I bought in bulk from Costco recently. Our deck tomato plant yielded cherry tomatoes - although fairly big ones - so we used those in salads throughout August. We're now being bombarded by our neighbours' harvests - fine by me
Can't describe how fat I feel today. I thiink it's TOM, although when you're menopausal, it's hard to be sure.
I had a very nice long weekend at Cape Cod. The weather was just perfect, warm and sunny and in the low 70's. Dh and I spent time on Nantucket Island and the mid Cape area, stayed away from Hyannis for the most part. Did lots of shopping, eating and drinking. Well...back to reality today..went to work and the weather is horrendous. We are now getting Jeanne remnants and it rained very hard all day. Hopefully tomorrow should be nicer. I hope Lisa is OK she hasn't checked in yet, and I heard that Jeanne struck in the same area as Frances.
Lala go with the books for the baby shower. I love the Paddington books. I remember reading them to my kids. I agree with your comment on weddings, I hate going when you hardly even know the bride and groom. I just don't like large weddings that take forever to plan. When my kids decide to marry I hope they choose to have a small informal ceremony. I'd rather give them money to spend on a house or honeymoon instead of spending it on a big overdone wedding.
Susan your weekend sounded very nice. I agree with everyone else..the big 5-0 should be celebrated over the course of a week. How is he dealing with turning 50?
Melissa Your apple pies sounded delicious. Unfortunately I will continue to eat apple pie as long as it is around. I went to visit my parents today and my Mom made a pie on Saturday and I had a nice big piece of it today. After all the junk I had this weekend I think I should have passed on the pie tonight. I'm a little afraid to weigh in on Friday.
Short note--I'm back. We had more damage, but we can live in our house. We lost more shingles, soffits and rain came in the house. We'll get through it somehow.
The amazing thing is we never lost power! That is a first.
Blah day here. Can't seem to get anything to work. I think software changes make things no longer backwards compatible. Defective as my dog would say.
The only positive thing that happened today other than Lisa resurfacing is that we booked our December trip to France. We are going back to St. Malo and Cancale per DP's wishes. I hope the weather is decent.
Pam, your vacation sounded great. I have never been to the cape. As for books, I will attack the bookstore after student rush is over on Saturday. The wedding should be small and swank, I'm sure, I just don't feel ike going and I don't feel close enough to the bride anymore to really enjoy the thing. They both make a gagillion dollars a year, so no parents are paying for this wedding.
Did a normal work out today and am going to further punish my body with cardio kickboxing. Wish me luck.
Kind of a blah day here today also. The rain continued and it was very cold and windy. I just can't get back into the work groove and I really needed to today to get ready for a killer meeting tomorrow afternoon. Sigh..looks like a busy morning for me tomorrow.
Lala I envy you planning a vacation for December. I wanted to do that also, but have too much going on this year around Christmas. My daughter is scheduled to have surgery over her Christmas break from school and we're not sure how long the recovery will be. Hopefully we'll be able to do something over her February break.
Lisa so glad you are OK. Hi to Susan and Melissa.
Well I should get back to my "chores". DD had a soccer game today (yes, in the rain) and has another one scheduled for tomorrow. Looks like I'll be doing some laundry tonight so the uniform is ready for tomorrow's big game. Talk to you later.................
Well the rain has surfaced here so it's a "blah" morning...grrr. It was only supposed to be cloudy so I ran over to get my coffee this morning only to get caught in a bit of rain. Thank goodness my hairstyle is the type that can survive a bit of rain
Lisa: Glad to see you back and to hear that you didn't have any major damage. I sure hope the hurricanes are done with your area. I talked to my GF yesterday and she was contemplating ripping off the boards on the windows herself because the house was so dark and it felt like a cave. She has 2 little ones (4, 2) at home. She was lucky as well and didn't lose power.
Lala: You brave soul you, kickboxing. I'm terrible when it comes to anything using coordination, i.e. aerobics. At least you'll have something to look forward to in December. I'm off in 2 weeks for VA and am looking forward to it. DH and I were talking last night and the last time we had more than a few days away from the kids was when my GF got married in Florida 11 years ago!
Pam: Things are actually quieting down here in my office and it's really nice although it can get kind of boring at times. I'd rather be busy but not crazy busy. There's no happy medium lately. DS #2 had a cross country meet last night and he's enjoying it. Hoep you get everything in line for your big meeting this afternoon.
Nothing major going on here at the moment--canned 7 pints of tomatoes last evening. DH is great about having everything ready--I just heat & jar. He's a keeper! Tonight I'm picking up my new car. DH is going to drive my Volvo (we traded his in '87 wagon). I just put a nice chunk of $$ into the sedan so it made sense to hang onto that especially since his was going to need to be inspected in November. No major plans for the weekend for a change.
Thin4Life - September 27/04
Back to the grind this morning and I'm getting quite a bit done.
anyway, it's his day so I won't pressure. I had booked a spa service for him early on Monday the 11th but he tells me we need to leave early so I ended up cancelling. He may be sorry once he hears what he missed 
