Bill is rafting on the Colorado River for 2 weeks - . He asked me to start this and next week's thread. I will be away next week so could someone else do it next week?

Good week all! Enjoy your vacation Bill!

Dagmar

I'm Upstate, back from spin class, about to shower and then start packing up the car. I'm unhappy and I am heading back to my newly established home downstate one day early, in hopes that I feel better once I'm there.

I'm feeling like I belong in neither place, and like I'm not sure what the point of my life is, really. What is all this activity and worry and planning actually for, and what is it getting me?

Sometimes the long drive and the time for contemplation helps with these moods.

Happy Monday!

Hi guys! We had our cooking club over for dinner last night. I made corn ice cream, which was interesting -- basically kind of like frozen creamed corn. My weight is up like four pounds from Friday. A gain that big that fast must be water weight, and I did eat a bunch of salty food. Hopefully it will evaporate just as quickly.

Saef, I hope you feel better downstate.

Carter was very good last night with our company even though we had four people we hadn't met before. We kept him on his gentle leader until everyone had been inside for a few minutes, then when we let him go he was content to sniff around and beg for people to pet him. Success!

Good morning.

I'm sure someone will step up to the plate next Monday, Dagmar. Whoever gets here first will get the job done.

I had a little freak out this morning. Signed onto Facebook and read all these posts from friends about their kids' first day of school today. Yikes! Today? Nope, checked the calendar, Nicky starts next Monday. Whew!

My weight was artificially low on Saturday, I'm sure it was from sleeping in so late (wow, 6:30). Back up to 151 this morning at my usual 5 AM wake-up time. I would like to see it back to the 140s this week, however.

Wednesday I'm planning a trip to San Diego to meet some dogs. So far, I'll see three, perhaps up to five or even six, if all goes well.

Just spent 35 minutes unsuccessfully trying to buy concert tickets to a basically pretty small local group. Life in the big city - very frustrating! I'm having a kinda slow day so far and don't quite know what to do with myself after all the frenzy of last week. Things kick into high gear again tomorrow.

I'm up 2 lbs. - normal for a live-in, particularly without much diversion and with a lot of attention required by the puppy. Glad to be home and will be back OP for the rest of the week.

I'm going to try something new and try to DIET while on vacation. The place I'm going is known for its fruit, rather than for haute cuisine, so this might just be possible. If I'm successful it'll be the first time I come back from vacation weighing less.

Dagmar

Good morning maintainers!

Boy have I missed everyone. That's a good sign I guess.

Dh and I returned yesterday sans daughter. We left her in Arizona for her freshman year of college. So hard. She doesn't share much with us but we can tell she is horribly nervous. Such a big school and she doesn't know anyone. Classes start today so hopefully she will soon make some new friends.

Older dd had some hard news while we were gone. The service dog that has been being trained for her has had an injury. He will likely need surgery and therefore won't be ready for her in September as planned. She is talking to the director this morning but will likely opt to switch to another dog. We are too worried that the first dog (Owen) will have problems down the road-- he has torn a ligament-- IF he can still be a service dog it would take at least another 6 months to rehab and then retrain him. There is another dog that is partially trained that could probably be ready in a few months. Dd is heartbroken as she has been imagining her life with Owen. Hopefully she'll feel better today after talking to the director.

My weight is up due to all of our restaurant meals and not enough exercise. I'm hoping to get refocused now that I'm home.

I'm also back at work full time as of today. Hopefully that will keep me distracted from missing dd too terribly. I'm glad that dh will be around for a couple of weeks so the house won't seem too quiet.

So I guess I'll need to go home and check the serial numbers on our toilets. Did you all hear about the potential exploding toilet recall? 2.9 toilets made between 1997 and 2008 in all sorts of brands.

michele, I remember when I went away to college my dad called me my second night in IN TEARS. It's gotta be tough.

Calm before the storm. My best friend from Japan arrives for a 5 day visit (she's also seeing her boyfriend in DC) on Wednesday. Things are gonna get crazy.

I still have another year with DS before he leaves for school. I'm hoping he chooses a school nearby (hoping he gets into UCI) but this weekend we were discussing schools and he thinks it'd be "way cool" to go to school "somewhere back east". Let's keep it close, boy!

So, glad my kids are grown. I think that first year of college was harder on me than it was on them. But since I have twins I got it all at once.

Exploding toilets? Weird.

The garden is finally starting to produce something besides yellow squash. Picked a few yellow wax beans yesterday and enough cucumbers for a small batch of dill pickles. I have one tater plant that's looking kind of pitiful, and I'm out of taters, so I'm going to dig it up tonight.

The foster dog is doing well. I think in another week or so, I'll start looking for a home for her again. She's settling and getting used to being around other dogs, that was her biggest issue.

Seriously? Seriously? I'm sorry , I think I'm overcaffeinated or something but this strikes me as totally hilarious.

Dagmar

Not going to San Diego on Wednesday after all. One of the dogs I wanted to see has pneumonia and is in isolation so no visitors. I'll probably go on Saturday to the adoption event instead.

Back in my apartment, which is once again in disarray, with boxes on the floor. The stuff has to be taken out & put away in its proper place, but it's nearly 8 PM and I find myself tiring out rapidly.

Now I'm glad I drove back a day earlier than planned, because I'll have tomorrow to get things into order before I go back to work on Wednesday.

I desperately need something fun tomorrow, also, to raise my spirits. I can't make it into Manhattan yet, but just you wait.

Saef, your stuff will be in your apartment whenever you decide to get around to tackling it. Sometimes it's just better to take a break and ignore things for a bit.

AS much as I hate the end of summer and the onset of fall, I do get some relief in the change of seasons, as I keep defensive stats for my sons high school football team on Friday nights. This is an all expense paid by me deal, except for getting into the games free, but I love it and it's some free time to not have to worry about anything else but counting tackles and sacks, and fumble recoveries and such. All of my day to day responsibilities go bye bye, for a few hours, and I just get to focus on something I enjoy!

THe DH and I did a few prep things for the Labor Day well issue this evening. I really am not comfortable running the back hoe. Have to really focus on the DH and all the hand signals! Lever A, Lever B? Forward, Backward, towards your knee? God help me!

Did get in a good workout tonight. And Friday I'm outta here for a football game! Got my pencil sharpened and I'm ready for a few hours off.