Aleka,

Hooray! I managed to shrink Rosalee!!!! Here she is. I have Adobe Photoshop and just kept working in it with the photo until I got the pixils to match the specifications. It is too dark to see well so I need to find a better shot...maybe later. Of course it took about two hours!!!!! I don't know if I was successful, but I also tried to put one of Lucianne on as my profile picture. Maybe you can see her there. If not, I might change avatars tomorrow to let you see her. Thanks for your help.

Remember, Rosalee is only 3 pounds so shrinking her was pretty risky business.

Sugardrop

undefinedundefinedundefined Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all espically you 2 Irish Ladies. I just lost a very long post. I guess my curser was in the wrong spot and I hit enter. God sometimes I tick myself off!! I am so sleep deprived these days blond moments are the norm. The chili was great!! DH had 2 big bowls and I was able to put 3 individual servings away for future meals for him. Aleka the slow cooker is the only way to go with a 1 pot meal. My brother you hear me mention is my twin and we are very close. We were lucky we were kept together. I have a cousin and she is doing a search for her birth family now and has found out she is a twin. She is so angry, and I can't blame her. I have the forms here all filled out and ready to go but my brother isn't ready yet, and I have to respect his wishes. Is the treating you with respect this week Anne? Glad the GTA missed the storm. DD said Burlington got hit.We didn't get any for a change. Jena has sent a message to the Canadian Springer Spanial organization. I couldn't, this way DH can't be upset with me! He is having a hard time doesn't seem to want to think about another dog. Feels we can never replace Coco. How long did you wait between your last dog and Laci Aleka? In greif people greive at different stages and I guess that is true with pets. I have been up since 1:30. Spent time trying to figure out how to get Coco's pix as a avaater read a book so I guess I had better do a couple of things before nap time. DH is down in boathouse cleaning out the thick layer of mud left as the water receded. Sugar keep me posted if you can get a picture as a avater. Nikki hope you are havina good day. Oh before I forget Aleka when you WW watchin cal. and carbs. what was your total carb intake for the day? Will check back later

Happy St. Patrick's Day
I have some distant Irish in me, my maternal grandma was 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Cherokee. A spirited red head if there ever was one. I think I inherited some of that fire in her soul (DH could verify that )and some of the red in my hair. I can never get all that red undertone out of my bleached blonde hair.
Aleka, glad you didn't get too much snow. They said that we ended up with 16inches after all was totaled. Last night, we got a little more, but it was mostly rain. It's still out there, but it's warmer, so it will melt quickly.
Anne, I don't mind the way I'm eating now, but I think I'm just about ready to start cooking again. We're both getting tired of those frozen dinners. DH has started to really exercise again, I'm still not picking it up very fast. It was kind of hard to get out of the mind set of thinking it was taboo to eat some things, but now it's not so hard. I just try to keep my calories to a set number. I've stopped losing weight, but my period hasn't started yet (should have started last week, so I'm bloated like a helium filled balloon). So, guess I'll see what happens next week. I need to start to really commit to exercise again.

Sugar, don't worry about that. We all have big problems and little problems. I sometimes think little problems irritate me more, because if I think about the big ones that hard, it would be too much. Actually, if I had a wedding coming up at my house, it would be all I could think of. I have always wanted a water garden. What's yours like? It sounds large. I haven't the room for anything grand, but thought about putting a water feature on my back patio. Just a small pond surrounded by some plants and then some blocks to hold it all in. The sound of water is so soothing.
This is me and my DH. He does till my gardens in the spring, then he sits back and brags to our friends and his family about "our" garden and "our" vegetables. He will even walk them down there and show the gardens off, like he really did something. I know that tilling is something, but when you look at the big picture and the months of work I do everyday, compared to a few hours that he does, it's not the same. If I say anything to him about it, he says, you don't have to have a garden, I can just mow it. He's got an answer for everything Ok, that's my rant for the day

Better get on the gazelle, take care, Nikki

Once again we all were posting together!!!! I am green with envy Sugar that you figured out the avater. The **** if DD is in a good mood or not I am phoning her for help. Talk to you all later.

Hi Lynn,
Saw you posted before I did. Woman, I sure hope you can get some sleep soon. I didn't get much myself last night. Like Aleka, I take a nap in the afternoon too. Yesterday, I slept for 2 hours in the afternoon. Seems like a waste of the day, but then I'm up half the night. If only I could get myself to do something during the night, it wouldn't feel so unproductive. I have a problem with night terrors and it seems to be getting worse with time. I have recurrent dreams of being attacked. I can no longer sleep in bed, I'm afraid someone will come in the house and I won't hear them. So, I sleep on the couch and often sleep with a large knife stuck under the cushion. Crazy, huh?
I've always had an insomnia problem, that was why I worked nights most of my life. Sleep is so important to a person, but when you don't get enough, it sure can mess you up in the head.

Sugar,
I looked up your profile and got to see both your babies, they are so beautiful. Oh, I have to have one. Got to run, thank you for posting the pictures, their wonderful, Nikki

God Nikki how awful for you. I can't imagine when I'm up and alone in the middle of the night to have that kind of fear. I'm up with the curtains open I never think about it. My fear is a car accident and dream about that sometimes. I am a terrible back seat driver. I am lucky that I can read in the car so I put my nose in a book so Dh doesn't kill me before we get to our destination, be it the grocery store or Toronto. I have no fear when I'm driving I just don't like to drive so am in a catch 22 situation. Coco's photo's are in my email if anybody who reads this can tell me how to get them to avater. Thanks

Sugar, YAY!!! You did it!!! Rosalee is sooo cute. I went into your profile and saw Lucienne, they are both so adorable. Lucienne looks like a little princess with her bow.

nikki, OMG, how awful for you having such night terrors. I cannot imagine the fear you must go through. Thankfully I don't have recurring nightmares. The only dream I have a lot is going back to where I last lived and go through the rooms one by one or that I'm living there again.

lynn, I don't like to drive all that much either. I usually meet a girlfriend once a week, and I have to drive to our state's capitol, so I am getting used to it. I get very nervous driving in places I don't know. As I've gotten older, I don't really like riding w/DH anymore. He's a great driver, but I'm not very comfortable anymore as a passenger. I'm always yelling for him to put on his brakes whenever I see the back end of a car getting closer, as I don't want the other car's license plate imprinted on my forehead. I have one of those hand held battery operated Solitaire games that I play while he's driving and I can take my mind off of him. It's amazing how fast the time goes by playing that game, the next thing I know is, we're at our destination.

Enjoy your afternoon.
Aleka

Ladies Were were your photo's in your computer so you could get them into a avater???????????

Okay, ladies...here's the scoop on my avatar...which, by the way, has turned out to be so easy that I found a better one of both girls together and put it on...maybe.......
Lynn, do you have a photo program of any kind? I have one called Adobe Photoshop. I would imagine that most photo programs have the same sort of setup. (What do I know??????!!!!!!!!) If so, here's what I did to make it work. I opened the photo up in that program (File-open-search for your photo-click on it) When you have it on the screen, crop it to the size you want...probably cut off all but the pet...then go to the word "Image", get the drop-down menu from that where you will have "size" as a choice. Click on size and you will be able to adjust the pixels in it. There will be heighth and width listed. Whichever number is the larger, change it to 110, which is the greatest number TFC will tolerate for their avatars. Don't forget to save this item with a new name....like pet avatar...or you won't be able to locate it later and will change your original photo, which you do not want to do. Then you can go to the avatar place, find your reduced photo, and voila! There it is!!! Almost all computers have some sort of photo program built in now, I think. Hope this will work for you. It has been driving me crazy.

This picture of the girls was taken on our kitchen counter in front of the coffee pot. Also, before Lucianne rolled in the marigolds two autumns ago!!!!

Nikkic, what a dreadful fear! I can really relate to it though. I am profoundly deaf...hearing only about 15-20% with two of the most powerful hearing aides made...relying almost solely on lip reading. I don't hear doorbells, telephones, etc. at all so I have a real fear about being alone in the house after nightfall. It used to be very difficult when DH was in the NFL and away every weekend for months at a time working games. I was at home with four kids...sitting up in bed or in the middle of the upstairs hall most of the night to be sure we were all safe!!! (It's a good thing he only was gone on the weekend so I could catch up on sleep during the week.) What I would have done to save us from an intruder isn't too clear to me. I no longer am worried about the kids, but with more and more deterioration in my hearing all the time, my fear of the "night terrors" is no less.

This is kind of a funny (in retrospect) story on that topic. One night about 1 AM, I heard a huge huge crashing about right beneath me in the family room. It didn't stop for what seemed like hours. I sat quaking in terror at the stairtop until dawn while the little ones slept like logs. Mr. Wilbur Mills was no help at all...simply curled up beside me on top of the stairs and slept soundly. When I finally found the courage to creep downstairs, I found nothing amiss in the family room, but blood all over our patio just outside and an 8-foot tall stack of wood scattered everywhere, also covered with blood. I was horrified...immediately envisioning an escaped convict trying to take over our house! Found out later, that a dead deer had been found about two blocks away at the hospital parking lot. It was during deer season. Evidently it had been wounded and was fleeing wildly, got onto our patio somehow, tried to break through the glass doors, got into the woodpile, finally freeing itself to run on to the hospital.

Sugardrop

Ladies can you beleive it!!!!!!!!YEY!!!!!!!! I finally did it. I had to do it different. I went to photo in in my email and right clicked on it. A drop down box opened and I selected save.this photo. When I went to make it small it wouldn't. I went to my photo album and selected a already small photo save it went back and bingo it all worked. That is a picture of DD on the deck with Coco. She never laided on the deck, she had her own chair with a cushion if you please. I will get DD to forward some more photo's and will change photos to keep in practice. I never want to go though this again!!!! Time for a drink, and I don't mean pop. Thanks for all your help ladies, my blond moments must of been driving you all as crazy as I was driving myself crazy. When I use that expression my DH always says "it's a very short trip". Well back later if only to look at my avater.

lynn, that's a fantastic photo of you and Coco. Congratulations!!! Now you and sugar know more about putting in an avatar than I do.

Sugar, that is a great photo of Rosalee and Lucienne. They are so precious.

Aleka

The photo is so small to tell but actually that is my other "baby" DD Jena. I am so releived that is over. DD has always said there are at least 2 ways to do everything in Windows. Also sometimes things are different for me because this is a business program (DB's old lap-top) she had also said on the weekend that "right click" is the most under used function on windows. I sent her a email which she will get at work tomorrow. I KNOW she will be VERY glad to have heard the last of the avater! Well, I never had a nap today so hopefully I will get some sleep tonight. Thanks again everyone for the help. I knew the old compulsive personality wouldn't let me stop until I got it done. Night All.

I am so glad you both got your pictures posted. They look great, it's wonderful to see them both.
Sugar, it must be frustrating sometimes to be hard of hearing. That must have been a real scarey night when the deer tried to "break and enter" into your house. We get lots of wild animals around here, but no deers through the windows or doors yet. Some real close calls with skunks passing by right before we walk out the door though
I was going to post why I can't sleep, but after I wrote it, I decided it wasn't something you guys would want to know about. Just as well to let it be.
DH and I went to the big city today. He wanted to look around Sears for some new tools (oh joy ) and while he was doing that, I went and looked at the exercise equipment. They had an exercise bike on sale that I fell in love with. DH said go ahead and get it. I was then suppose to say no, I can't do that, but instead I said OK! He was quiet the rest of the way home. I put it together myself, it wasn't too hard and then I jumped on for a quick little work out. It really did make me use some muscles I hadn't used in awhile. It is fun and the seat is big and comfortable. It was just what I needed to get me into the mood to work out again, a new toy
Well, talk to you all tomorrow, Nikki

Hi everyone!

We did not get anymore accumulation even with all the snow flurries/showers that we had during the day yesterday.

I don't think I mentioned this, but DH & I have closed our machine shop. We haven't had work since Dec. DH called the 2 companies that we work for and talked to the men we deal with. One of them was surprised and the other one wasn't. The guy that wasn't surprised is the one we deal with the most. DH also called a machinist that does work for us to tell him we're shutting our doors. He was kind of surprised too and added that he probably wouldn't be very far behind us in closing up his shop. He also said that he knew of a couple of machine shops that were going under. After we come back from vacation we'll start cleaning out DH side of the garage and try and sell the machines. We had it great for 20 yrs. we were able to come and go as we pleased, so we can't complain. Even if we get a new president in Nov. we don't think we'll see manufacturing coming back like it was.

nikki, that's great news getting an exercise bike. Between the bike and gazelle, you'll be getting some good workouts. Sometimes that's all you need is a new toy to get yourself motivated to exercise again. Good luck with your new "toy".

Sugar, at times it must be difficult for you with your hearing loss. I can only imagine how it must be for you not being able to hear doorbells and such. That poor deer. We had a brown bear come into our back yard one year to steal food out of our birdfeeders. It woke us up in the wee hrs. of the morning. Our house is built into a hill, so that the back porch is 10 ft. off the ground. The bear climbed up the posts onto the screens and pulled the birdfeeders off the side of the porch. We had another Boston Terrier at the time, and she was out on the porch with us barking at the bear. It was kind of scary. It wasn't until DH bumped into our table and chairs that the bear took off.

lynn, oops, sorry, I thought the photo was you and Coco We only waited a few weeks before we got Lacee. I was torn because I felt like I was being disloyal to Shamrock, our other dog. But, I'm glad we did because DH & I were devastated when we lost Shamrock and Lacee helped us through some tough times. I love Lacee to death and cannot picture my life without her, but at times I still miss Shamrock. When I count WW points, I don't count carbs, I find it difficult to count both. I just watch the carbs, and eat the good ones like brown rice, sweet potatoes (some people call them Yams), whole-wheat pasta, etc. Also, when I do eat brown rice and sweet potatoes, I eat half of WW serving size. Brown rice is 1 cup, I eat 1/2, sweet potatoes is 8 oz. and I eat around 4 oz. Depending on the size of the sweet potato, I can get 2 or 3 servings out of it. I only eat starchy veggies occasionally, my very favorite starchy vegetable is butternut squash and when I was SS, I really missed it. Again, I only eat half of what WW suggests for a serving size. I also rely on South Beach Diet's food guide book where there is a list of foods to enjoy, to eat occasionally, and what to avoid altogether.

ANNE, hope work has been going well for you so far this week. I can't believe it's Thurs. already.

Have a great day
Aleka