Yep I have had an entire weekend off. Cleaned house, done the groceries and nearly got organised for an end of year, Christmas cheer party I am throwing for the some of the people in the office on Tuesday. Also last night I went to the Lionel Richie concert - it was good. The weather wasn't the greatest over the weekend but at least we didn't have to sit in hot sunshine while we waited and it didn't rain, thunder and blow like it was predicted to do. I enjoyed the concert. We sang and danced and cheered - and most of them fortified by wine - the concert was held in the grounds of a winery. He sang all of his Commodores stuff and his famous songs and his opening statement was that this is a celebration of surviving 25 years of Nicole and not a celebration of 35 years in music and entertainment. Hey man the music was easy! Difficult to believe he is 58 years old. He looks better than he did in the Motown days.

Ruth - loved that avatar, although I can understand why you haven't yet used it. Another couple of scotches along with a red wine or two and anyone will laugh at that one. All that snow. It looks very pretty from 12000 miles away and at a temp of 22C. A spring baby?!?! Aaah well - seems fairly normal to me. All these people doing things back to front and then when things go wrong there is heartbreak somewhere as the child is pulled back and forth from one country to another. I think we are all committing genocide here. So many mixed nationalities that we are becoming a worldly nation of norms. Off the soapbox Shad - you begin to sound prejudiced.
Please pass on compliments of the season to Sis and BIL. I'm sorry they didn't get down here to visit. I'd have thought of some lovely places to put them ........ aaaah I mean take them!

Rennie - something may turn up, although the way things are going, one would need a degree to clean the public loos soon. Things may be different in your neck of the woods, but a friend of mine decided to earn some extra cash (divorce settlement took too much time to come through) and she took on cleaning houses. I gave her my place to do when I was away for so much time and then she got others and finally landed a contract with a building company to clean the finished new houses. These days she runs a staff of 4 and has more work than she can cope with. She says she doesn't do too much cleaning herself these days - she's too busy doing the books!!!!

Mel - that cyst clearing - I don't know whether that is good or bad. My fingers are crossed that it isn't bad news. Good to hear that you, Jen and Ritchie at least out of all the citizens in the good ol' USofA are adopting the laid back, she'll be right lifestyle of the bronzed, beached out Australian. Do not work too hard out in the slush and snow and wind. Last thing I want to hear is that a runaway, highflying wheelchair bumped into the Statten Island ferry all board were drowned and the whereabouts of the delinquent wheelchair and occupant are currently unknown but believed to be heading Southwest.

I'll have to come back and comment on the rest. Work beckons. Another week of punching jelly - well at least it gets me some exercise.

Shad
I do have a degree. The real problem is no experience in the degree lol. That is what tends to happen to us woman who stay at home and raise a family. We are obsolete once the family is grown up. Not that I would change the choices I made. I think I made the right choices. Just tired of sitting at home now that the kids are older.

Carla
My son is getting ready to start college in the summer. Sure no money for me to go back to school. By the time he is out, will be my daughters turn. They of course are both going to have to use grants and loans but we will help out all we can. They can at least live at home so they don't have to have the extra expense of paying for housing.

Ok, let the Holiday Season begin! The project from the dark depth is over all but for a few documentation bits. No more 60 hours weeks. Now I can actually thinking about present buying and such. No stress. No really. I would have started today but we got slammed with this storm. I couldn’t actually see anything out of the 10th floor window. Not much traffic out there all day. No walking in the winter wonderland for this chick today. In one of the breaks in the weather I saw a brave soul out taking their teeny dog out for a walk… You should have seen the pooch move to get back into the building.

Shad~ Your week off sounds great.

Carla~ Glad I was able to be of some use. The truth is I’m a lousy speller and a worse typist. Spell check is my secret weapon. It can make anyone seem suave and debonair. I had to cancel out a party too. Can’t say I was upset, but I didn’t even use the time in any useful manner.

Ruth ~ Hope you weren’t hit by the storm too hard. It is a good day to just stay in and get into the spirit of it all - as long as you have heat and light it’s all good.

Mel~ Good work getting your food organized for the week. Omigawd, it sounds as if the kids are growing up.

Happy~ Yeah Vegas! Not so yeah Colonoscopy. Everyone I know who has had one says they really are no big deal. And think of t as a long term investment in your health. Don’t chicken out on that long term health thing.

Ooops, I totally forgot I had to do something for tomorrow. I should be around more this week now that the crazy has passed. Later, chicklets!

I have heat, light and drifts blocking three of the four outside doors of my house! We have a good 24" of snow. Poor Hershey is having a hard time out there although I did shovel the deck, steps and patio for her last night. I am such a good dog Mum! She feels she should go way out into the yard for potty and the snow is up to her neck. She does a Loch Ness monster move to get through the snow. Too funny!

Today will be spent shoveling, decorating and - finally - doing my laundry. I probably will not be taking the car out of the barn as Ed won't be ploughing me out until later this afternoon.

My tree is up and all sparkly, most of the gifts are wrapped, the Christmas CDs are loaded into the player, the woodstove has decided to cooperate and my second wall hanging is ready to wrap. Bring on Christmas!

I CAN'T SEEM TO GET TO PAGE 10. I'LL TRY AGAIN LATER.
THE THOUGHTS OF PERFUME AND GALE WINDS ARE NIT INDUCING ME TO TAKE A CHANCE ON THE MALL. I WENT DOWNSTAIRS AND THE LADIES WAITING FOR THE BUS ARE DOUSED IN THE STUFF. MY EYE IS DOING SO WELL I THINK I'LL JUST TAKE A MISS ON THE DAY. I HAVE PLENTY TO KEEP ME OCCUPIED! NOTHING NEW. LATELY THE ACCTS ARE LEAVING EARLIER THAN PLANNED FOR. THAT'S OK WITH ME. I NEED SOME BREAKFAST.
HAPPY MONDAY AND HOPE EVERYONE'S WEEK IS A GREAT ONE

CARLA~THE POSTAGE IS WHY I AM NOT SENDING ANYTHING OUT AT ALL THIS YEAR, INCLUDING CARDS. TAKING A BREAK FROM THE HOLIDAY EXPENSES AND USING E-CARDS AND PM'S HOPE YOU GALS IN THE NORTH DON'T GET SNOWED IN!! GOOD THING YOU MENTIONED THE LAPTOP SCREEN!!! WTF WAS I THINKING?????I COULD NEVER SEE ANYTHING
THEN!!! SOMETIMES I WONDER WHERE MY HEAD IS!!!! :FAINT:

RUTH~ I'D BE PISSING IN THE DRIFT TOO!
GOOD FOR HERSHEY!!!

RENNIE...YOUR AVATAR LOOKS LIKE IT IS DRIVING HIS SLEIGH UP TO RUTH'S AVATAR!!!

TO WHOEVER IS ON PAGE 10!!!!

OH I FORGOT WHEN YOU POST IT WOULD BRING ME HERE! FINALLY GOT TO PAGE 10!!!

SHAD~ NO I HAVE NOT DROWNDED NOR BLOWN AWAY. BUT I CAN SAY THAT THE MALL DRIVER IS RELIEVED I AM STAYING HOME....HE HAD THE LIFT LOPENED AND WITH THE WIND WAS WONDERING WHAT SIDE OF THE BUILDING HE SHOULD LOAD ME On!! GLAD YOU GOT THE WEEKEND OFF AND GOT TO DO SHADDIE STUFF!!

MADCAT!! WELCOME BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING!! GLAD THAT PROJECT IS OFF THE GROUND!! SHAD'S SHOULD BE RIGHT BEHIND YOURS!! HOPE YOU CAN DIG YOURSELF OUT OF THE SNOW!! HAVE YO0U USED THE NEW CAR MUCH?? IT'S PROBABLY STILL BRAND NEW!!! YES THERE IS HOPE FOR THE KIDS GROWING UP AT LAST!! ONLY TOOK THEM 39 YEARS!!

RUTH~ YOU HAVE BEEN A BUSY LITTLE ELF!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! THE VISUAL OF HERSHEY IS TOO FUNNY!! ALL SHE NEEDS IS THAT KEG OF BRANDY AROUND HER NECK!!!

WHEN I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH 3FC, AOL SHUTS DOWN. NOT SURE WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON BUT IT'S BEEN OVER A YEAR NOW THAT IT'S DOING IT.

Good morning ladies,

Madcat - love the holiday avatar! I see you peeking in now Glad the horrid project is over with or at least calmed down enough so that you can tend to some other things in life. This kicks off busy week for everyone.

There were rumours that we'd have snow this weekend which was freaking out FedEx. Their headquarters are here and after midnight they get to take over the airspace here from 12 to 6am I believe shipping all those packages that "absolutely, positively gotta be there on time". Today is the busiest shipping day of the year for them I heard on the radio. Don't need no blinking ice and snow to screw things up. They were saying that any employees that ever worked in the shipping part of the business and are now in desk jobs this week go back to their roots to help out. All hands on deck! Reminds me of the old days back when I was working at the Financial Exchange and they made is go down on the trading floor and "help out" when we were doing record breaking trading volume

No snow but it is cold with a good frost out there.

Mel - sorry you couldn't go shopping today. I imagine this time of year the ladies get all gussied up to go out. Shades of Arpege, Emeraude and Evening In Paris. Ick. One good thing about e-cards - you know they will get there on time! Better to stay out of the wind and ice anyway. It's crazy out there.

Guess you won't be going anywhere Ruth. Wow - 2 feet of snow in one bout. You and Holly stay nice and snuggly. I'd like to see that snow - inside, sitting next to the fireplace but then I'd do a genie blink out of there! I'm glad you Canadians are a hearty lot!

Speaking of which - hello Carla. Yes, shipping rates are crazy. I guess that's the business to be in now. Enjoy your snow - at least it gave you a chance to get caught up. No taking the polar plunge in the lake tho - yah hear?

Rennie - have you done any work at your children's schools' over the years? From what I understand, employers are considering the volunteer work that many parents do as work experience of it's own right. Both here and in Illinois, unless you wanted to be head librarian - the policy and decision making positions were the only ones that they wanted degrees in. The people who worked the reference and book check desks as well as filing the books back seemed like regular kinds of jobs available to the public. That's too bad. I'll bet kids today don't know how the Dewy Decimal System works As for the decluttering skills - I think many people have turned that into home based businesses. In fact I think at one point Holly was doing that.

Shad - glad you enjoyed the concert - you sound perkier already Have fun at the party tomorrow. It's about time there was some laughter. Play some Commodores music - didn't they do "Brick House" -

Well it's a short week for this chick - albeit a busy one. Got the rest of the Christmas shopping done in one long Power shopping day. I was really tired by the time I got home. Don't know what's going on but lately I've been having intestinal issues. Maybe it's all that calcium I'm chomping down - But I was afraid to eat before I went out so I didn't have anything but coffee for a full 24 hours. And I wasn't really all that hungry when I got home. So for once I was under my calories/points for the day

Better get rolling along. Happy Monday.

Morning all, and morning Happy - little egg light a shining away there.

Yep he sang Brick House, along with Easy like a Sunday, Just you, just me, Endless love, All night long. All the things we used to belt out when we were young. Good fun that.

Well no one can say that things don't happen on this project. I have things to do, I don't have things to do, I have a million things to do all before Friday. Then they want to extend the contract - for how long? can't say, big secret. Then sorry, no chance! Now I have to pull all the courses apart and put them back together again in a different order doing more things or less things or maybe other things. Who am I to discourage the witless. I did have a bit of a win though in that the idiot who thought up the scheme didn't take into account a whole raft of things which must be done. Hello - how can you teach someone to accept or reject requisition for spending if first you don't teach him how to use the Portal???? Shucks man.

Carla - come on down and visit. We can go to caves and mountain tops - not that Aust can boast many mountains - and the added bonus is no snow!!!!! I wasn't aware that spell check worked!! I'll have to go look for that one. Aaah I see, one has to download it from iespell!!! Go get those snow tyres on woman!!!

Madcat - that goes for you too. Snow tyres all around please. We need our chicks mobile and ready for anything that the season can bring - well apart from swimming in Carla's lake!!! at this time of the year. Your project and mine sound like on a par - there is talk now of not moving the Projects and Finance module to the new system. Crazy lot.

Mel - stay indoors, stay warm and stay away from us crazy perfume wearers. Why do the old dears have to bath in the stuff anyway???? I think I need coffee. AOL - 3fc problems again??? Can't think of what causes that, although its fairly obvious there is a conflict in the background somewhere. Hope Jen is feeling better about the teeth.

Ruth - the vision of Hershey ploughing through the snow is just too funny. Wish we had a photo. Glad to hear that you have put up all the decorations and are all settled in for a warm Christmas. Is the family coming over or are you going to them???

Morning Rennie and Holly et al. I'd better go see what I can do to hack off the natives today.
Tonight is my Candlelit supper (without the candles - and without the supper come to that - it's all finger food and mostly vegetarian). We are having some pita bread pizza, smoked salmon toasts, cheese board, dried fruit and nuts, antipasto, dips and biscuits, fresh fruit with chocolate, raspberry and mango dips and some Christmas fruit mince pies. Think that should do them, along with wine, apple juice and prune juice (that'll keep them moving) I have a mix coming along - Chinese, South African Indian (Muslim), Kiwis, a couple of Aussies and a Pom. Should keep me busy for a while.

See you all later

Happy
A tidbit about calcium. If you are taking 1200 mg take 600 per dose and take it with 400 mg vitamin d.

Things have turned out to be a busy day. A truck to unload this morning at lunch time then the person who came to work on the interstate elevated tank chart recorder showed up. I did not know about either one.

to all the rest have a good day.

cee
You are right. Always make sure you take other things with the calcium something else besides vit D. Will ask hubby somehow he knows all about this stuff.

Shad
You are always so busy. You make sure you take a moment to close your eyes and think of all of us with you. We think about you more than you know.

Happy
It has been great over the years working at the library with the kids. Yup, they know the dewy system. My daughter is a library helper, has been since 5th grade. She loves it. We live in a very small town. Who you know not what you know.

Melody
My avatar likes Ruth's avatar lol. We went shopping and then out for something to eat. Had to leave both places the perfumes and such caused me to have a breathing attack. Wish people would use the stuff to enhance not drown their body's natural scent.

We finaly got a few inches of snow. I shoveled and then shoveled and then shoveled. I swear the stuff came down as fast as I could get it up lol. Now there is about 4 inches left on the ground and that is it. Going to be in the upper 30's for the next few days. Most of it will be gone.

CALCIUM: IN ORDER FOR THE BODY TO RETAIN THE CALCIUM IT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN WITH MAGNESIUM. THE VITAMIN D IS OPTIONAL BUT GOOD FOR WOMEN WITH OSTEOPOROSIS. MOST DR'S RECOMMEND THE 3 IN ONE PILL AND THE CALCIUM AT 600. GNC SELLS THE STUFF I WAS TOLD TO TAKE.

HAPPY~ 24 HRS AND ONLY COFFEE!!! WE'RE YOU DOING THE JITTERBUG IN THE STORES WHILE SHOPPING? THE FED ES STORY MADE ME LAUGH. OUR FED EX MAN IS FED UP!! HE IS ONE OF THE CRANKIEST PEOPLE I KNOW. MUST BE JOB BURN OUT ON THE OTHER HAND...OUR UPS MAN IS A SWEETHEART. I CALL HIM SANTA CAUSE HE BRINGS ME PRESENTS ALL YEAR LONG! NOW WHEN I SAY WHO IS IT...HE SAYS SANTA!! WISHING YOU A GOOD JOURNEY AND A NICE "SHORT" WEEK!!

SHAD~ IS THIS NTHE NEVER ENDING PROJECT??? HOW WOULD THEY EXPECT TO GET THIS DONE IF THEY KEEP CHANGING IT THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS JOB IS THE FRIENDS YOU HAVE AND THERE AREN'T ANY CROCS!!! HOPE YOU CAN ALL AGREE ON SOMETHING!! JEN SAYS HELLO!

CEEJAY~ HOPE THIS DAY DOESN'T BRING ANY SURPRISES UNLESS IT IS A VISIT BY SANTA

RENNIE~ MY SHOVELING FRIEND! LOL HOPE YOU GET A BREAK WITH THE SNOW TODAY.

I CAN'T STOP YAWNING TODAY. MUST BE SINUSES. THE SUN IS BRIGHT AND IT LOOKS LOVELY TO SEE AFTER SO MANY DAYS OF "PARTLY CLOUDY". JEN WENT TO ANOTHER DENTIST AND HE SAID NOT TO PULL THE TOOTH. HE ALSO DOESN'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING TILL SHE RETURNS. SAID SHE WOULD BE IN TOO MUCH PAIN IF HE DID. SO SHE IS GOING WITH THIS GUY. GOING TO GET A CROWN AND ROOT CANAL IN JANUARY. HE GAVE HER SOME MEDS FOR JUST IN CASE. THEY ARE LEAVING SOMETIME THURSDAY. OUR OFFICE PARTY IS FRIDAY AND I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE USED AS AN ANTI-POLITICS AFFAIR. I CAN JUST HEAR THE "RING LEADERS" NOW. BLAH BLAH BLAH!
I BETTER GET THIS DAY ROLLING ALONG
HAPPY TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY

Good morning ladies,

A sleepy one for me. Went to bed at 1:30 - working late again trying to at least catch up with the work before I start my vacation on Thursday. Up early today so it's a foggy morning. Mr. Feral cat is sleeping on the cat bed outside the door on the porch so I can't get into the garage to get more coffee creamer. I shared what was left in the bottle with DH - one cup each Shower will have to wake me up.

Re: the calcium. My endo doc ordered me to take Vitamin D way back into last year. Regular doc has me on 500mg of calcium 3 times a day. Apparently your body can only absorb 500 mg at a time. My pills are 600mg so I guess I waste a bit but hey, they were big bottles at a really GOOD sale price I also take magnesium now too. But thank you for the tips chicks.

Mel - Funny that the UPS guy is cheery and the FedEx guy is not. I knew 2 people who worked at UPS and both were stressed to the max and eventually quit. They drive them hard and burn them out - maybe that's why their company color is "brown" . Of course the FexEx guys run faster than the sprinters. My sister said her FedEx guy is a hoot. She thinks it's a game for him to run up the driveway, drop the package, ring the bell and be driving away in his truck before she gets to the door! Looks like a strenuous job.
Not for the step-n-fetch-it sorts. Hope you can at least enjoy your party a little bit. Just put your finger to your lips and tell them - none of that here - when they start the soapbox. Do the Rodney King - "why can't we all just get along" speech.

Rennie - sounds like you got the best kind of snow. Easily over and done with

Ceejay - are you done with the Christmas shopping? Will you be travelling? Probably not - I thought you said you had to work over Christmas.

Shad - hope the no so candlelit supper came off well. Sounds like a bunch of tasty bits to enjoy. Lite on the menu which is good this time of year. Also sounds like your project is run by a real push-me/pull-you So are you extending or not? Would seem a blessing to say not

Coffee has kicked in - time to run and get the day over with. Having dinner with some friends tonight. That will be nice.

http://www.elfmovie.com/swf/snowball_fight/index.html
This is pretty cute for the kidlets!

My boss is so mean! Ruthless is nagging me this morning to get off my butt and out to the gym. First I need to shovel the ridge that the kindly township plough left at the end of the lane! I need to get some evil goodie-making groceries in the next town so that's an incentive to get outta here.

I just took a realistic look at my calendar and realized I have company from the 23rd right through to the first weekend in January! That'll keep me busy changing the guest room bed. I wonder if they have sleeping bags - seems ungracious somehow. I love it but it's going to be hectic. "Poor Ruthie, all alone for Christmas with Harry in the nursing home. We must work in a visit." At the moment Christmas Night and Boxing Day night are available if you want to book in. I do NOT take American Express.

Today will be an "at home" day aside from the gym trip. I have decorating still, holiday pre-cooking and some wrapping to finish. Remind me to start earlier next year.

Find a little time today to enjoy the season, OK? I have my bling tree lit and a pine candle burning.

Ruth
Don't you love when you take hours to do the drive and the darn plow fills in it for you lol.

Happy
Magnesium, that is what it was the doc told me to make sure I take with the calcium lol. Our ups guy is always cheery, the fed ex guy is never cheery no matter the time of the years.

Melody
No extra snow. All off the drive and the roads. We won't get anymore for awhile.

See, see, see. You all laugh at poor Rennie when she says she shops and wraps all year long. When she says she is done by Oct 4th except for the extra stuff she decides to get. Oh ya, laugh at Rennie who is busy all year long. HA who is laughing now. You are all so busssssy while Rennie is sitting and enjoying the snow out the window with nothing to do heheheheh. While I am the ant you all are the grasshopper lol. I know lots of grasshoppers. We are going to some friends house for the weekend to play cards. I will spend a great deal of it helping her get her baking done because she always waits till the last min lol. I will hear how she is going to be more like me next year and get stuff done early. I have heard this for at least 10 years lol. Will be fun. I haven't seen these people since April at our anniversary party. I have not said one word about losing, so far, 36lbs

Morning all,
Well last nights soiree went off okay - we all had a grouch and a bellyful of laughs at various people. And we killed off a few reputations no doubt. It's all fun. There wasn't too much food so I don't have much left over. I brought the worst of it in here so the elves can munch on it today. All the sweet type things that I don't eat. Just remind me to take the plate home tonight will ya!

Rennie - we all laugh because we are secretly jealous of the organisation bit. Mind you - we all rumble around about no time and last minute dashes to the store but for some of us it wouldn't be Christmas without the fuss and the drama and the stress. I bet your friends will be surprised about the weight loss. It's really a great loss.

Ruth - I've had a snowball fight this morning and hit Santa everytime. Then I found out you were supposed to hit the others first. First Shad, read the directions!!! Christmas Night and Boxing day available hey??!!!! Wonder how long it would take me to get there???? I've almost promised myself a white Christmas in the next couple of years! Watch out. Now get out there and go to the gym!!!! How much do you want to lose by Jan 24????

Happy - let me get one thing straight - this project is not run at all. It is dragged along, unloved, unthought out and unmanaged. I'm debating whether to do a diploma in Project Management and set up a company of managers, trainers, admin people and comms people who are all project oriented and not hangers about pretending to know what is going on but in fact just don't want to work much less know what is going on. Usually I find the business people are really good and get involved, but not here. Many of them are on ego trips because they are on a SAP project. I think I have said it before, this place is like a stiff jelly. Punch it about and it wobbles but settles back to be where it was before - ie no change. I have said no to the extension. I'd quite frankly rather be out of work.

Mel - It will be over when it is over. Keep the 27th January in the head. Count down the days with me. I'm going to enjoy my time off next week, although I suspect I may have to come in for at least one of them. However, I will work hard and long for the next couple of days and see if I can't break the back of it. One course I know won't be finished by Friday. I can get most of the others done I think.

And with that, I had better see if I can get on with it. I'd better go downstairs and see what my little Chinese friend is doing. She was completely stressed and out of it last night when she rang to say that she couldn't come to my do because she had just finished her day and she was in no state to meet and greet people.

Back later.