Hi,
I hope everyone is ok. Anne, I'm starting to worry about you. I know you have a lot of stuff going on in your life, I wish the best for you always.
Aleka, hopefully your pc will be home tomorrow and you can get back on line again. Mine is still doing funny stuff.
Lynn, we took one of the cars to the shop last week and they replaced the axle and said that it was ok. Well, it's still making the same noise we took it in there for. Now, it's leaking oil too. I told DH that I don't want to take it back to that same place, since they never fix anything right, he doesn't want to take it where I want to, because he says he talked to the guy that owns it once and he's a jerk. I said, the guy has a good reputation for fixing things right, but the whole thing comes down to, he costs more. I wish DH would realize that it's going to cost us a lot more if we keep going back to the same place that doesn't fix things right and then breaks other things in the process, but as you know, men are stubborn and think they know everything, especially about cars. At least, my old man does. So anyway, we are limping along with this car and hopefully, we can get it fixed, then move on to the other vehicles.
The weather has been incredible the past few days. Beautiful, cool and low humidity. I can't believe it's Iowa. If this keeps up, you'll want to move here Aleka, .
My big tomatoes were being eaten by something and I wasn't sure what it was. I found some tomato worms out there the other day, but these were huge bites, like an animal. It wiped out all of my tomatoes that were just about to be picked. Yesterday, I saw this little bunny hopping through my garden, carefully eating alittle off of each tomato plant. So the culprit is a cute little bunny rabbit. I set out the live trap and if I catch him, I'll release him somewhere down the road. DH said I'd have a new pet, but I know they don't live well in captivity.
Better go pick some cherry tomatoes, he doesn't seem to like them, so we have lots of them. Take care, Nikki

Hi Everyone
Just a quick note to say hello to you all. Will catch up as soon as I can.
Tanya has been away on two weeks holidays and my head is spinning
I have so much work to do. By the time I get home I am wiped out
I will be off next week so I am really looking forward to that.
Will talk to you all real soon.
Anne.

Hi!

I'm baaack!! We got our computer earlier this afternoon and DH has been loading everything back in. Neither one of us realized that all our e mail addresses would be deleted and we didn't save anything. Some of them I don't know if we'll ever get back.

We did have a lovely weekend, but we're supposed to get some rain tonight into tomorrow.

nikki, hope you get your car fixed. Sometimes men can be so pig headed about certain things. This really has been a weird summer weatherwise. It seems like everyone in the northern tier of the country is on the cool side. We should be in the 90's with high humidity instead of the 70's which we're having now.

Hi ANNE and lynn,

Have a great evening everyone.
Aleka

Goodmorning All: Finally a day that I can just spend doing what I want for me. I plan on reading John Grisham's new novel and play on computer. I am glad we heard from Anne. I was wondering if there was a family crisis. Nikki, our car is old (98 Intriped) and we have decided last year to just drive it until the next major repair than get a van. The dogs are real caracters now. They were 6 weeks old yesterday, 4 more weeks to go. They are all spoken for and I did as I said I picked the people. One couple has a senior springer and wants to have a pet in place before something happens ( their dog is not well) They are just like us, and the little female they are going to call Princess will have a fabulous home. The other female is going to a young couple (his father is a golfing buddie of DH's) They have a dog now and want a friend to keep him company while they are at work. We had them bring the dog over ( chocolate lab) and he is a sweet soul. DD gets the male and he is already loved. We ended up with about 10 people wanting the dogs but think we have picked well. We told the new owners that we will give them away ( un papered springers sell for $500.00) take the money and have them neutered. I also am giving them my phone #'s and if they don't work out I will come and get them back. It is great that I will get to see them all grow up as the girls owners are right here in the park. I'm hoping knowing that will make it easier to give them up. Guess what it is raining again!!!!! my flowers are starting to look like crap. Baby sat GS on Saturday with DD. She has said if she ever mentions wanting kids I'm to shut her. We were walking him at 10:30 at night. He had a crying session that got out of control because we didn't know what to do. I'm sure next time will be easier. Well that is it for now, talk to you soon

Hi everyone,
Anne, so glad you were able to log on for a little bit. I was starting to wonder if there wasn't a major crisis too.
Aleka, bet your glad to get the computer back. I try to keep a paper copy of everything, cause I just don't trust the darn things. But that's because it was ingrained in me at work.
Lynn, that's great about the puppies. I know it's going to be hard on you anyway when they go. Remember when we gave Boots away to DH's son and girlfriend? Even though I knew it was best for all of us, I still had a hard time. He's doing great, BTW. I still wish we could have kept him though.
I haven't caught whatever is eating our tomatoes. I'm so mad. I go out to pick them and most of them have these big bites out of them. I had some lovely, huge tomatoes that were just turning orange and now they are no good. I have over 20 tomato plants and am only getting around 3 tomatoes a day and those have to sit on the counter to finish getting ripe. I've never had this problem before. The cherry tomatoes aren't affected, so I have large bowls of them daily. The green beans aren't producing like last year, either. Makes all that work putting in the gardens seem like a waste of time. I'm not sure I will have gardens next year.
The convertible seems to be fixed now. It's going in on the 5th to get a new timing belt and tuneup. DH has his truck in the shop today. All our vehicles are early '90's, (talk about old, Lynn ) Yesterday, we looked at a '94 Intrepid that was $1995. I read some mixed reviews about them. The convertible is a Chrysler Lebaron and it's been great. I think Chrysler products are a crap shoot. You can get wonder cars or lemons, you never know. I really could care less what kind of car I have. To me, they are for getting around. I just want dependability, something clean and doesn't use alot of gas.
Going to the farmers market now. If I cant grow it, at least I can buy it. Nikki

Good morning everyone!

Over the weekend a RE agent stopped in to look our house over so that he can do a fair market analysis. He dropped it off last night and the whole thing was quite impressive. DH & I are going to read it through and give him a decision sometime next week. We are leaning going with this agent because he knows our area and he has already sold quite a few houses and house lots in our little development.

DH & I are seeing MAMMA MIA in Boston this evening. So, we're heading down to my IL's in Massachusetts later this morning, where we will be spending the night, then coming home first thing tomorrow morning. They will dog sit Lacee while we're seeing the play.

On Monday I started weeding out and packing drink glasses in our kitchen cabinets. I never knew we had so many. A lot of them we'll give to Goodwill. I worked all day just on 1 cabinet. Then yesterday I tackled another kitchen cabinet. We have finally filled up the dumpster we rented. DH called them Monday to come get it. So far nobody has come. Hope they don't charge us for the extra days.

lynn, that is so great about the puppies. I'm glad that you are happy with the people who will be taking them and that you know that they will be loved and well taken care of. I think we're getting the rain you've been getting. It's been raining here since yesterday. I believe they said we were to get 3"-5" of rain. How is the flood situation where you are?

nikki, sorry you haven't caught whoever is eating your tomatoes. The nerve of them only taking one bite! Do you think that the weather has something to do with some of your garden not producing very well? I know we have had cooler than normal temps and a lot of rain. A friend of mine has a Chrysler convertible and loves it. She would get a newer model but she doesn't like the front grill on them. I've seen them and totally agree with her. Have you started 8 Minutes in the Morning yet? If so, how do you like it?

ANNE, hope you'll be able to get some down time from work.

Have a great day everyone.
Aleka

Hi everyone,
Aleka, your undertaking a huge task. I'm sending you all kinds of helping, organized vibes today I went through our dishes earlier this year and was amazed at how many drinking glasses we had too. So many sets, to match dishes that we didn't even have anymore. We never even used some of them once. I have no idea why I hold onto things for such a long time. Now, they are in the basement, waiting for that garage sale that will never happen. I think I'll get DH to haul all that stuff to Helping Hands on his next days off. He'll protest, saying it's still good, but how many things do 2 people really need?
The truck is now fixed. We have 2 vehicles that are running and we both feel so relieved. We still have repairs that need done and I have appointments for those, but at least we have transportation to get around now without being afraid they will break down in the process of getting somewhere.
My tomatoes are producing lots of tomatoes. It's the rabbits that are eating them. They eat off a side or take a bite and that ruins the tomato. I've never seen so many rabbits. I have my trap set up, but I guess they are related to Bugs Bunny and are too smart to go in there. I checked into buying a rabbit fence, but it will cost $30-40 and DH says we've already sunk enough money into it. I've read you can put bloodmeal around them and that is suppose to scare them off, so I'll try that. You'd think, with all the wonderful tender plants in the field, rabbits won't want some green tomatoes.
I never did start 8 min in the morning. I want to, but I'm just lazy and getting fatter every day. I'm looking 9 months pregnant, so I better do something soon.
Nikki

Hi,

We saw MAMMA MIA and it was fantastic!! I had seen it before when my cousin & I went to NYC last Dec. DH wanted to see it and I didn't mind seeing it again. I'm just glad that he enjoyed it. It was a rather harrowing trip into Boston to say the least. We had a few near misses I guess I'm just used to being in the woods and don't like the big city. We got lost coming out of Boston, but we were heading in the right direction. We didn't get back to my IL's until after midnight, had a bad night's sleep, I was exausted yesterday so had a good nap in the afternoon.

Summer is supposed to be here today. We're to get hot and muggy for the next few days or so, then the rain is supposed to come in again.

nikki, thank you for sending all those good vibes my way. I need all the good vibes I can get!! That is another area where we are alike. I also hang on to things I don't use. I always think I'll use them someday, but never do.

Glad that you got your vehicles fixed. Feeling safe on the road is a good feeling to have.

I haven't started 8 Minutes in Morning nor have I walked in quite a while. I have so much on my mind at the moment that I just can't think about following any food plan or exercising until we get settled in FL. Right now I'm just concentrating on eating healthy and watching portion sizes. I don't have the ambition to get meals ready while I'm packing all day. So, when we did grocery shopping this week I got stuff for salads, sandwiches, and some frozen dinners. I couldn't find any Life Choice turkey dinner, which is my favorite, but got a Salisbury Steak one. I'm not a big fan of frozen beef dinners, but thought I'd give this a try. Have you ever eaten that flavor?

We have talked about a moving date and we're shooting for Sept. 20th. Sometime next week we're going to call the RE agent who did up the proposal and put our house on the market. I'm sort of getting excited.

Gotta go and make breakfast. I'm going out to lunch today with a friend and want to get in a few chores before I go. I haven't vacuumed in a while, so thought it was time to do so.

Hi ANNE & lynn

Aleka

Good morning,
It is pretty nice here right now, 66 degrees, foggy (100% humidity) and overcast. I can't complain, cause the tems are so low, it's not too bad. It's suppose to get into the 90's next week, so that's something to look forward to Aleka, I was just thinking this morning how summer is starting to wind down. It's getting light a lot later than it was a month ago. Your going to be in Florida before you know it and have summer all winter long. I bet your going to be telling us how "cold" it is someday and it'll be in the 40's. It's all what your use to, right?
I'm doing better about getting rid of things. I still have alot of stuff that I need to get rid of, I'm doing it a little bit at a time. My folks lived through the depression, (like yours I imagine), so getting rid of anything was unthinkable, and that's how I was raised. When they died and we had to go through that house, it took a year. Finally, I had to hire some people to come in and haul out all the garbage that was left in there. I decided, I'm not going to leave that task to my kids. Not that I'm planning on going anywhere any to soon, but it is good to be prepared. I'm only keeping things I use, need or love.
Can't blame you for putting dieting on hold for awhile, you've got your hands full. I joined Jorge's website last night (costs money), that way, I will feel more inclined to do it. I also felt that getting into a group situation where everyone was doing the same thing would be helpful. I think reading the book first helped. If I'd joined the site first, I don't think I would have known what was going on as well. They provide menu's, grocery lists, recipes, etc. You can get all that from the book, but I wanted a little more help to get started. My butt is dragging, so to speak, and I need some motivation. DH is exercising like a maniac and now weighs less than I do. This is completely unacceptable with me. He's pretty muscular too. Meanwhile, I'm getting fatter every day. I'm starting on Monday officially. I have to get some groceries and figure out what I'm really doing first.
Tonight, my DD Crystal is coming over and I'm cooking out over the fire ring. I'm making hamburgers, fried potatoes and pork and beans. It's our favorite meal and it's been a few weeks since I've cooked out. It's either been too hot or raining.
Anne and Lynn, hope things are ok with you guys. Later,
Nikki

A Good Saturday morning to you!

We had a nice summery day yesterday for a change. It was in the 80's and humid. We're supposed to have more of the same today, only with a chance of showers.

nikki, you would be amazed how cold it can get in FL in the winter. One December, right around Christmas, DH & I went down to visit my late aunt and we passed fields upon fields of frozen strawberries in central FL. At least I won't have to wear a heavy winter coat. I can't believe that tomorrow is Aug. 1st. Usually I notice the summer winding down in August. It gets dark around 8:00 or thereabouts, the shadows from the sun are longer, sometimes during the day you can hear crickets, and there is just a different feel to the air. My parents were teenagers during the depression. They were sort of frugal in some ways and wouldn't throw things away either. Some of the things I inherited I haven't the heart to give away even though I really don't want them. That's wonderful you joined Jorge Cruise's website. I really should get my butt in gear too because 8 minutes isn't very much to do something good for myself first thing in the morning, even with everything going on around me at the moment. One question, before you do the prescribed exercises for the day, you do a set of warm ups. He doesn't tell you how long to jog in place (I plan on marching in place), unless I missed something somewhere. Have you any idea how long? Maybe it's in the 2nd book. Have you decided on which eating plan you're going to follow? From what I saw in his 2nd book, his eating plan looks good. Right now I'm eating when hungry, stopping when I'm satisfied, not overly full, and not denying myself anything. I haven't lost anything, but haven't gained either. I'm going to see how this goes and see what happens when I start exercising again. DH & I are off to an annual craft fair in the next town from us, which they've held the last Sat. in July for the past 30+ yrs. They hold it in the village common and has grown throughout the years. We're looking for some photos of the lake that we live near, the one in the photo I sent to you and ANNE, so we can have something to hang in our house in FL as a reminder. My cousin gave me a couple of beautiful photos and I would like to add to them.

ANNE, lynn, miss you guys. Hope that your week was a good one and that you'll post soon.

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka

Hi,
It's back into the oven for us, highs in the 90's and high humidity. It won't be Iowa without it . I got my garden tended to already, so I can spend the day inside if that's a possibility.
Aleka, I looked up the time to march in place and on pg 117, in the text, he says for a minute or two. I think he should have put that on the page where you look at the exerices too, but anyway, that's what it says there. I suppose just enough to get your blood moving a little. As far as the diet goes, I'm not sure what to do. After I posted yesterday, I worked on my budget for the month and realized, I had to buy the food that keeps you alive, or rather, the cheap stuff. So, it's tuna casserole, chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes, etc. I know you can eat whatever on his plan, such as with the tuna casserole, just take 1/2 plate of it and 1/2 plate of lower carb vegetables. This is going to be hard right now. I'm going to stick as close as I can to the eating plan and do the exercises in the morning. Then when I have a little wiggle room with the grocery budget, I'll be able to follow the plan that is on the computer closer. My biggest problem is DH. He eats like a horse, I've never seen anyone put away as many calories as he does. He exercises alot, so he needs them. He will eat 2 large helpings of whatever is for supper, then begin to graze in the evening on a mountain of junk food. It gets expensive, so I decided to make homemade desserts for him, which doesn't help me at all. It is so expensive to make healthy types of desserts and he won't eat them anyway. Then when I make the usual stuff, it's cookies, pies, brownies. That makes it harder on me, because even though on Jorge's plan you can have those things, you can have only one cookie or one small sliver of brownie and that's where I have all kinds of problems.
Aleka, I do remember that in the winter the farmers in Florida's orange groves will have to light torches to try to keep the frost off the trees. I guess it does get cold down there.
I know what you mean about inheriting things and not being able to throw them away. I have all my parents tax returns. That's just nuts to keep them, but I don't have many of their things. I really wish I had a hutch in my dining area (or even shelves). I have a set of old pink depression glasses from my mom that are in a box in the basement. I would love to see them everyday.
That sounds like a good idea about the lake picture. It looks very beautiful.
Take care, Nikki

nikki, if you go to the Weight Watchers thread in this site, they have some nice low calorie desserts posted. I had my cousin over for dinner the night before she left for home. I made a chocolate cake using diet soda. You put the cake in a bowl, add a can of diet soda, nothing else, and I mixed it according to pkg. directions, put it in a 13"x9"x2" pan and cooked it according to the directions on the pkg. It makes 12 servings. I put a dollop of Cool Whip on it and it wasn't bad at all. I used black cherry flavored Waist Watcher soda because I try not to drink diet soda with Nutrasweet, a left over from SSizing. You can use any diet soda you wish with any flavor of cake mix. Some suggestions were diet 7 UP with white cake mix, etc. I don't think they recommend the cake mix that has pudding in it. That would be a nice low calorie treat for you when your DH is eating his high calorie snacks. Thanks for the info on how long to jog in place. He should've put how long to jog along with the picture. You will do ok with your menu. I've been buying canned veggies lately. They take a lot less time to prepare. Hope you're having a good day. We did get some nice prints of the lake. I'm going to miss it here, but not in the winter.

Aleka

Aleka, thanks for the recipe and I'll look up that thread. I can't buy more groceries now, but this will give me plenty of ammo for the next time I do. Just went to the store to buy the last of what I needed and I sure do hate having to watch ever penny. We have a few more car repairs and the next one will cost $600-700, so that takes care of what little money we do have saved back. I'm hoping with the kids going back to school, there will be a few job openings and I can find something. I still can't stand for very long, so that limits my prospects. Wish I could find a job that would let me sit in a lazyboy with my feet up, now that would be perfect. Dont' know of any that do though I saw the job benefits on HSN include pet and car insurance. I wonder if they pay for all of it or if you have to pay a certain percentage. Hey, will you be close to them in Florida? Nikki

nikki, pet insurance would be wonderful! Even having someone else pay for my health insurance would be great! Unfortunately, we won't be close to HSN at all. It's about a 2-3 hr. drive north of where we're moving to. Since we gave up our business, neither DH nor I are working so we have to watch every penny too. Once we get to FL DH will be looking for a job and once we get settled and the dog is comfortable in the new house I'll probably be looking for a job myself, hopefully something part time. A sit down job in a lazy boy would be fantastic!! I'd like to get one of those jobs myself. Hopefully you'll be able to find something that would allow you to sit most of the day. Good luck in your search.

Aleka

I'll start a new thread for the new week