A good Monday morning to you,

Hope you all had a great weekend. Friday night was my "cheat" night, so DH & I went out to get some fried clams at this seasonal resturant we go to alot. My back was to the entrance of the restaurant. I heard DH mumble something, then I looked up and there was a hand coming from behind me reaching for my fried clams. It was one of my cousins who was up here overnight. He almost got stabbed with a fork. He sat down with us and had his own feed of clams. It was a pleasant surprise to see him.

Our weather has been fantastic. It's been rather cool, in the 60's & 70's. But, we're supposed to have some showers today, then it's supposed to warm up into the 80's.

One of my girlfriends called me yesterday, she's here for the summer already.

nikki, hope your computer problems have straightened themselves out. Did you get any of that nasty weather I saw on the Weather Channel?

ANNE, how has been lately? Still acting like ?

lynn, can't wait to see the photos. I honestly don't know how to post them either. Sorry, I can't be more help.

Take care and have a wonderful day.
Aleka

Hello All

Hope you had a great weekend. Aleka, my cheat day was yesterday. It
wasn't really too good an idea because My third son James has a birthday on
Tuesday and of course I will be eating a piece of his 18th Birthday cake. Sunday is Fathers day too. Man oh man you just can't win, one celebration after another and that means and it also means Anne will make a
out of herself again

I was woken by a huge clap of thunder last night and with the storm came
the muggy weather. Lynn did you experience any storms last night?

has not been around lately. Mind you, I'm not complaining about that
either. Sylvia can be an and switch to within the same day,
hour for that matter

Hi Nikki, hope all is well with you.

Have a great day ladies.
Anne.

Hi,
We did get an aweful storm a few days ago and it tore up the gazebo. I was able to fix most of it, but it's got a few dings now. So much for that. Should have known you can't have anything like that here. I hope someday, we can afford to build a nice, solid wooden one.
We went out and rented a camping spot tonight. We set up the tents and I made supper over the fire. It was a really beautiful evening and very relaxing. Now all we have to do is drag the camper out. I am not really in the mood to camp again so soon, but we have a friend that is coming back from AZ and he and his family will be there camping next week. They invited us to camp with them and since DH is on vacation now, he decided we might as well get it out there and set up. I hope this time is better weather wise than the last trip. Aleka, it was just constant tornado threats.
Anne, I know what you mean. My birthday is Thursday, so of course, there will be cake and then later, a good campfire meal. I just got back to the weight I was a month ago, before the last trip. I really don't want to have to do this all over again, so think I will just do some damage control. I already told the girls I want an angelfood cake with fresh strawberries and low fat, sugar free topping. That should help some with the calories, fat and some of the sugar. Our fathers day isn't a big deal, so we don't have to worry about it too much. But next week, with all the friends there will be a lot of partying going on. I will have a heck of a time being good then.
Happy Birthday to James Wow, 18, what a special year, congratulations to him and to you too, Anne. I always think mothers should be honered on birthdays, but then, as a mother, I would
Aleka, I am green with envy over the clams. I love the flavor of clams and if I lived close to the ocean, I think I would eat seafood much more than I can now. Love it, love it.
Got to get to bed, will be busy tomorrow. Nikki

Good morning,

I did get on the scale yesterday, and I've lost 2 lbs. I was overjoyed because I wasn't that careful over the weekend. I really think walking is doing the trick.

ANNE, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your son, James. 18 is such a great age to be. You will do fine with the celebrations today.

nikki, hope you have a better time camping this time, especially now that your friends are coming back. It must be scary being out in a campground with possible tornado threats. What do they say you should do if you're in a campground? Congratulations on getting back to the weight you were a month ago. It is a constant struggle. I only wish it would come off as fast as it goes on.

lynn, how are things going with you?

Have a wonderful day!
Aleka

HI
Just a quick note, since today I'm going to be on the run. I've gained your 2 lbs Aleka. Some how, they found their way to my waist line It's that TOM, so who knows what is going on. I sure have an increased appetite now though.
When we're at the campgrounds, we just listen to the weather. When we hear bad weather is coming, we just go home, since they usually give you plenty of notice that it's on the way. But, if we aren't listening to the weather and get caught out there, they have brick restrooms that you can go into. I doubt they would really hold up in a tornado, but they are safer than a camper. At least if a tree fell on them, you'd be safer.
More severe weather tonight is predicted. I think we should just stay home and never attempt to camp again. Every time we go out there, we attract bad weather, like ants to a bbq. At least we got the tents up last night while it was nice out. If it does rain constantly, we will have a few dry places to sit outside that way.
Better run, Nikki

Goodmorning All: I havn't even read everyone's posts but will do so later. This is just a short catch-up post. Yes, Anne 2 terrible storms in a row. Yesterday our area was under a hurricane watch, the first time I have ever experienced that!!!!! scary stuff. Sunday night Mya was very upset so at 1:30 I got up with her. About 2:30 I went to the bathroom and heard her run up the hall making a strange noise. I thought she had hurt herself so yelled at DH to wake up and see what was wrong. She was in bed licking his face and he was petting her. He than said get a light on. We looked and guess what !!!! A miniature Mya was there!!!!! Yep, obviosly the animal rescue was late picking her up she was already in heat and pregnant when she got to the shelter. Up we got and at 4:30 another pup. we made a bed for her in the desk cubbie hole and in she went with pups. at 6:30 we laid down for an hour and when we got up at 7:30 pup #3 was there. We are still in a state of shock. The girls at the animal shelter are our new best friends as they patiently answer all our questions. They are soooo cute!!!!! everyone around here are laughing constantly. As a neighbour said " there are about 12 people here who have seen her everyday since we got her and NOBODY suspected a thing". We are getting orgainized. Mya is a very good mother, thank God because the humans around her are a little dense. The pups are already spoken for. With everyone remembering Coco and knowing Mya there is a lot of interest. I will be very selective, I would love to keep them but can't so they wll go to people I think will be like us. So quite a bit of excitement here. Well have to go. The "nursery" is making me type at a odd position and I am uncomfortable . Back Later

Lynn,
Congratulations to the new mother and to you and your DH That is just wonderful I am just overjoyed for you and I know how happy this makes you. What a big surprise and so close to fathers day too.
I hope you take plenty of pictures and somehow get to post them. That is so great that you've already found plenty of homes for them and that Mya is a great mother. Have a wonderful, puppy kind of day Nikki

lynn,
I was surfing around this place and found this reply to someone when they asked how to post a picture, does this help? Copying and pasting here

post a reply, at the bottom of your "reply entry window" there is a box that says "attach File"
click browse, and find your file on your computer
then click "Submit reply"

If your picture is too big, it won't let you attach it, so you may need to shrink it

Nikki

lynn, congratulations to the new mother and grandparents!! How wonderful and quite a surprise! Oh, it would be so nice to be able to keep them all. But, I know you will find good homes for each and every one of them. I can tell you and your DH will be like a drill sargent to each and every applicant. That news made my day!

Aleka

Good Morning Everyone:

Lynn, that is soooo cute! I bet the pups are adorable Did you
happen to watch the debate last night?

Yesterday I typed this big post and somehow it disappeared into cyber
space

James had a great birthday. Thank you all for your good wishes. The cake
was great. I ate two pieces Just like me.....If I am going to cheat I do
it in a big way and I have tight waist band on my pants today to prove it

Nikki, I hope the severe weather stayed away from you. Its scary each and
everytime there is a sever weather warning. On our weather network when
you see a "red page" its not a good thing

Aleka, how many calories are you eating each day. I really do have to smarten up. I figure around 1500 is probably sensible.

Have a great day everyone.
Anne.

Hi,

Yesterday my girlfriend, who is here for the summer, & I went up to our favorite pancake place for lunch just to try it. Both of us decided that they had better stick to breakfasts. We noticed while we were in that area, they were having a Lupine festival. Lupine is a wildflower to that area and is quite beautiful. This house has a field just filled with the flowers and they have a path through their 8 acres that the public can wander about. I did take some photos and if DH can help me to post them, I will later. There are 3 different colors of flowers, purple, pink, & white. But, it seems like the purple is predominant.

nikki, A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!!! Have a wonderful day.

ANNE, glad that James had such a nice birthday. I am trying to stay around 1200 cal. a day. From yo-yo dieting throughout my lifetime, my metabolism is a mess. What I'm basically trying to do is just eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm satisfied, and walking. Like yesterday when we went out to lunch. I was satisfied after eating 1/2 sandwich, it was a fairly thick sandwich, so I stopped and brought the other 1/2 home.

lynn, how are the puppies? You're going to have such a wonderful time watching them grow and develop.

Gotta go as we're getting ready for our walk. As the day wears on we're supposed to get some stormy weather so want to get the walk out of the way.

Enjoy your day!
Aleka

Happy Birthday Nikki!! Wishing you a wonderful
birthday and many happy returns!!

Aleka, sounds like the lunch wasn't to great. What did you guys have?

I have a crazy problem. Every morning when I come in I walk through the
admitting area to reach the cash office where I work. There is a lady
called Yasmin who has treated me like sh from the get go.
When I am sitting at my desk at 7am I can hear her through my door
saying how rude I am etc.etc. Until now I have ignored it.
My problem is this my managment is implementing a system where they are
going to leave little cards for comments outside our office. I just know this
lady ? is going to fill one out on me everyday. Do you guys think I should
tell about this situation? I am worried this could impact my job. I think
this woman is racist and paranoid.

Hi Lynn hows the nursery?

Talk to guys later.
Anne.

Good morning,
Thank you for the birthday wishes. I'm going over later today to DD #1 place and we will have cake. It's the angel food and I'm bringing fresh strawberries from the garden. I like that anyway and it's lower calorie than the usual cake and ice cream. I weighed this morning and I'm 210.2. So, I'm not below 200, but I figure, I am still losing weight and I'm 4.5 lbs lighter than this time last month (despite the gaining of all that weight over our last vacation), so I'm happy with that. God gave me a beautiful gift of great weather today. It's 66 right now, clear and low humidity. I hope we can get the camper out to the lake later this afternoon.
Aleka, I hope you can post those pictures, I think lupine is very pretty. Oh, yesterday, my outside cat, Tony, caught a ground squirrel (they are close to a chipmunk). He dropped the poor little guy at my feet, so I picked him up and he seemed ok. I carried him down to the field and the whole way there, he was just laying in my hands like it was the most natural thing in the world. I petted him on his head and he never offered to bite. I'm hoping he didn't have any internal damage, you know cats have very powerful jaws when they bite down. Anyway, I let him go and he was gone when I went back down there to see if he'd taken off. Gosh, he was the cutest little guy, I would have liked to have kept him for a pet.
Anne, I think you should tell your thoughts. I bet she would understand. At least, you will then have put things out there if Yasmin does do what you think she will. I think office politics stink.
Lynn, bet your happy. Are you up a lot at night with the new babies? How sweet, I love little ones. I miss having litters of kitties, they are so much fun to watch as they grow up and do new things almost everyday.
Got to run, have to get groceries as we are out of simply everything. I bet this will cost a small fortune.
Nikki

Anne, when I said office politics stink thinking of some of my experinces. I've met a lot of immature people that like to play head games with others at work. I know your not like that, but obviously, Yasmin is.
Also, I think the idea of comment cards is not that great. What do they expect to get out of that anyway? It's not going to make things better, it's just a way of creating increased tension and a way to spread false inuendo's. It must have been thought up by someone with an advanced degree and no common sense. Hopefully, it will not carry any weight.

Hi,

It's been really nice here. Yesterday we were supposed to get showers but we had some sun and clouds. Today the sun is shining and it's rather humid. Got in another walk today.

ANNE, Can you talk to Yasmin to find out why she dislikes you so much? I think that your job performance would count more with your supervisors than any nasty comments Yasmin would make. They may already know what she is like and just ignore whatever things she has to say. If it would make you feel better and can confide in her, then talk to about it. I agree with nikki, those cards serve no purpose other than to create a lot of tension, and that office politics stinks. My girlfriend & I had chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and it was made the way I dislike. Neither one of us like dark meat and there were chunks of it in the sandwich which I took out. Their pancakes are to die for, and they should just stick with that.

nikki, glad that you had a nice birthday. How was your cake? It sounds really delicious. Glad that the ground squirrel was ok. I would've done the same thing, petting the poor little thing. It was probably so stunned and grateful to you for saving it that he didn't have the heart to bite you.

lynn, hope everything is going ok with the babies.

Aleka
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286513633

Try this link and see if it will take you to the album. I was unable to post any photos, as they were too large.

I just clicked onto the link to see if it would go. To view the photos you have to join, but there is 1 photo that is on the page that you come to.