Annie - Glad you enjoyed your walk! The boxer sounds adorable! Hella Bella is gonna sniff your pants and wonder who you've been seeing behind her back. I hope you get to leave early on account of the weather. Okay....so do I have this right? My new challenge is lose 19.2 lbs in 13 weeks, to further limit refined carbs and sugars, eat more fruits and veggies, and to add daily walking to my exercise routine - at least a mile a day, indoors or outdoors, depending on what Mom Nature has in store. I can (and will) do this! Thanks for challenging me, sista! BTW, March Madness hits Wisconsin very hard. We've got two teams in the Big Dance - University of Wisconsin (Madison) and Marquette University (which is located in Milwaukee). Marquette plays tonight; UW tomorrow.

Ok, sista Chelle...you got it. Isn't the madness a hoop<---as in hoot? lol

Hey Mel - Glad you're feeling better! Chelle's right - the weather will be crummy this weekend, so take it easy. I've been making slow progress through the organizing book, but it's making a lot of sense. It started off with the causes of why spaces are disorganized, all the obstacles, including psychological, etc. Now it's getting more specific as to strategy, and I've selected primarily our home office as a project I want to attack, although our garage and basement could also use organizing as well! I've been tempted to jump ahead to the parts of the book that deal w/ the specifics about organizing certain areas/stuff, but I'm doing the background work first, as the author advises.

Michelle - Staying the same is great. You will get there, I know you will. Especially with Annie challenging you!! I took a walk today in spite of the wind. But definitely not a day for eating outdoors! So I reached my destination, picked up lunch and took it back to a building near my building whose public area has tables for eating.

Happy – Glad the painting is limited and a lot can be power washed. When we moved into our house 10 years ago, we said that when the soffit & fascia started peeling paint, we’d replace it all w/ something maintenance-free, and we did that in 2008. We’ve got vinyl now. And we also replaced our windows too, so no painting that. What’s left is our wooden overhead and regular garage doors, our front and back doors and all the trim on our 3-season room windows – ugh – I’ll try to attach a photo of those beauties. But at least all are DIY jobs. I hope the gas smell was nothing! And don’t worry about the 2 pounds – if you’re watching portions, etc., then it’s just a fluctuation. It’s like Chicago weather. Don’t like it – wait 5 minutes, lol. Okay, not quite the same. My work is not far enough east to be "lunchtime" convenient to the lake and the parks over there. I’m between Wells and Franklin, kitty corner from the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. Today I walked south to the River City complex (about 900 S. on Wells) and back, maybe a mile round trip. That walk is nothing special, and it could be scary at night, but at least there are fewer people to maneuver around.

Annie –Your walk sounded nicer than mine. I did see a dachshund on my walk, though. Hope the gum snapper has stopped. How annoying. I hope your dad is settled in w/ your brother and feeling better. Some challenge you proposed for Michelle! I’ll have to give some thought to some sort of challenge – perhaps even yours!

Okay, this isn’t getting my report done, so I’ll post.

Take it easy everyone!

Oh, this is a 2004 photo of Coal w/ the 3-season awning style windows (due for fresh paint by now) in the background:

Got back from the meeting around 4. p.m. and decided to go for a walk at the gym. Walked around the track for a mile. I'm needing a "me" week end.

Happy
I do put a lot of miles on my car. Good for you in taking your lunch to work this week. Next week end is another long trip to Springfield, Mo.

Michelle
I know that you have worked hard this week and I know that you will not give up. Keep on going. I'll try to follow.

Mel
Glad that you are feeling better today. Take it easy.

Annie
Good for you in getting outside to enjoy the sunshine and going for a walk.

Laura and Shad have a good day

I WAS NEVER SO HAPPY TO SEE A FRIDAY ARRIVE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SPRING WEEKEND. HAVING SOME PROBLEMS TYPINGSO THIS WILL BE SHORT. BRAIN IS MALFUNCTIONING

MICHELLE....SO SORRY TO HEAR THAT ANNIE PICS THE CHALLENGES AND NOW I SEE SHE WILL BE KICKING YOUR BUT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE FOR A MONTH!! :hugs: HUGS FOR YOU!!

ANNIE...BE CAREFUL WITH SHELLEY...I STILL HAVE THE ROLLING PIN I WOULD HAVE PLAYED HOOKY (SP) WITH YOU AND WE ALL COULD HAVE GONE TO YOUR BROTHERS AND CHATTED!

CEEJAY....YOU SHOULD BE ENJOYING YOUR TIME OFF BY NOW. I AM GLAD WE BOTH HAVE ME WEEKENDS

LAURA....COAL IS ADORABLE. I LOVE THE WINDOWS. THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE WANTS HERE. WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR SOME LAWN TOO!!! GOOD LUCK WITH THE HOME OFFICE PROJECT. SOUNDS LIKE THE BOOK HAS GREAT IDEAS.

HELLO TO HAPPY AND SHAD....I AM SURE YOU'LL BE FOLLOWING ME SOONER OR LATER

Hey ladies -

I just heard from Annie. She can't get into 3FC, so she asked me to tell everyone hi and to have a good weekend!! And she sends lotsa love and hugs.

I'll be back a little later to do my own post.

--Michelle

Happy Friday -

I'm so glad the weekend is near, even though it's going to be a busy one between Zumba, pet sitting, usual weekend stuff to do (groceries, laundry) and LOTS AND LOTS of website work. DH's company needs a 20 page website created ASAP - like this weekend! It's probably about 15+ hours of work, plus I've got website work to do for the pet sitting company. So much for seeing Alice in Wonderland this weekend. That's okay...it's all good. The extra $$ will help pay for the painting.

Laura - Keep us posted on how the organizing is going. We really need to organize most areas in our house, especially the home office, garage and basement! Coal is such a cutie! What great windows you have, and I'm envious of the brick and siding you have. I love all the windows you have on your house. Our windows are built so that you can either pull down a screen or the storm window. They're all built in together. Makes changing from summer to winter and back very easy. Too bad you aren't close enough to downtown to walk at Millenium Park...or by the lakefront, but at least you got to see a dachshund.

Ceejay - That sucks you had a big mandatory meeting on your day off! Do they give you a comp day for it? What are you going to Springfield for?

Mel - I'm glad that Annie picks my challenges. She makes them tough but reasonable. This one will definitely be a butt kicker though.

Well, I'd better get back to it since I'm leaving at 1:00 for a doctor appt - just a follow up to the blood tests I had last weekend that'll check my cholesterol, blood sugar and all that stuff.

Since I don't know if I'll have time to get back here the next couple days, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Lots of love and hugs,

michelle
i'm going to Springfield for a visit with my little sister and her family. It's been awhile. I'm getting excited.
I'll get paid a couple of hours for attending the meeting and I sould be reimbersed for my lunch. This is for license renewal.

Mel
Spring comes tomorrow, but our weather people are predicting old man winter to exit with vengence. We may have snow showers Saturday and Sunday. It's a beautiful day but still a chill in the air for me.

i'm taking a break from decluttering the spare bed room or should I say the junk room. I' ve opened one window for some fresh air.

For some reason i'm still smelling that lamb that the person next to me was eating yesterday for lunch.

Does anyone want a Weight Watcher's cookbook. I also have some diet books to give away if any one wants them. Sonoma Diet, Bob Greene, The Biggest Loser fitness and cookbook.

I'm taking some books to put in my bil's library at the church where he is pastor.

Ceejay - At least you get paid for the mandatory meeting on your "day off". Enjoy the rest of your "weekend". No thanks re the books. I borrow a lot of books from the library, but I still accumulate too many from buying at the occasional book sale, garage sale and thrift shop. I keep thinking I should offer them to people I know, but I'll probably just end up bringing them all to the library for a future book sale.

Michelle - Hope the bloodwork results are good. Try to grab some "me time" sometime during your busy weekend. What's the big hurry on dh's company's website?! But the money will definitely come in handy, I'm sure! Only our 3-season room has that many windows (on 3 walls); the rest of the house has double hung windows that sound like yours - screen pulls up or down. I work on the west side of downtown, so it's not by the lake or the parks or Michigan Ave., but at least it's convenient to the train stations!

Mel - TGIF - I'm happy for Friday too!! I'm sure at some point this summer I will gladly offer you our lawn - bf told me he cancelled the Tru-Green service to save some money. I guess it makes sense - it's like $40 per treatment, and of course they offer way more treatments than we probably need. We'll probably just treat the front lawn ourselves and not bother too much w/ the back.

Hellos to Shad, Happy, and Annie!

Everyone have a great weekend. I almost forgot about book club tonight. We're discussing the book "A Reliable Wife", and I'm sure it'll be interesting if my thoughts are shared by any other members, or even if they aren't! I have to scrape up something to bring for a snack. We always have too much food, so I'm not horribly worried about not giving this some thought and making something from scratch. Tomorrow morning is my hair appt, and that's all that's firmly scheduled. House is a mess so some cleaning (and more laundry) must be done. I'll have to hound bf to get busy, lol.

Okay, time for lunch, so I'll post!

Ceejay - As much as I would love to read those books, I think I'm going to pass. We have way too many books as it is, and I'm trying to pare down and not get any new ones. I just check them out from the library. But I really appreciate the offer. I think donating them to a church is a wonderful idea. When we donate some of our used books, we take them to the library.

Laura - The big rush for DH's company's website is that they're a nonprofit, and this project is being funded by a conditional grant that requires they have a website in place. Well, it's been months, and there hasn't been the staff resources to get it done...so now they need it done ASAP or they could lose the funding. It's not very complicated...no heavy duty programming...or flashy design...so I can knock it out in a couple days. We don't have a lawn service for our yard. We treat the front with a weed and feed, and the back just with fertilizer, as we've heard reports that Schnauzers are especially sensitive to, and can get seriously ill from, the chemicals that some of the services use and also the chemicals contained in the Weed and Feed. Since we don't let the doggies on the front lawn, we can use Weed and Feed there, but not in the backyard. When BF is done cleaning your house, can he come up here and do mine?

Morning all,
Being a real sloth this morning. I've had a long and busy week and I still have some more work to do. I've brought some home with me but how much will get done is a good guess. Last night I went out to a Japanese restaurant in the city for a farewell dinner with friends. It was extremely nice but I am not entirely sure the price was worth it. However the company was great, the meal interesting and the restaurant well appointed and very good customer service.

Michelle - once I get home and back in to the swing of things, I may very well get Annie to set me a challenge. She does it well. I'm far enough away that she won't come running when I slump either. I doubt that she can swim this far.

Ceejay - hope the trip to Springfield MO goes smoothly. For a while there I thought you were coming to visit - since Springfield QLD is just down the road from myplace. Drive carefully. Have to take a pass on the books too but thanks for asking. I've enough to stock a library. And generally speaking I only use a couple of the heap I have.

Mel - keep those bugs to yourself and take good care of yourself. Life is too short to spend time flat on your back (being ill - not what everyone is now thinking) or bending over the loo.

Poor Annie - deprived of our sparkling company. I hope you have a good weekend and get to spend time with the folks. And have some Annie time.

Laura - that book sounds like it has great possibilities. I may have to see if it is available around here.

Happy is probably just as busy as I am catching up with whats been happening while she has been off. Thinking of you.

With that I am off. I am starting to pack up some of my stuff today. All the clothes I won't wear again while I am here. Then it will be a matter of choosing what to wear for the next week and keeping up with the washing and packing during the week. I need to do a small bit of shopping this morning. It will get me through this week and not have much that is perishable left over. I've sort of figured out the menu for the week so it's not a big shop. See you later.

Hi ladies,

I second the happy it's Friday vote. Been a long week. I made it through the work week with foot intact. It's been a super busy one too, no time to notice the foot. I did make progress on my goals for this week but it was very disruptive. I had to leave the house earlier because of the painters, so no time to post in the morning. My lunches were disrupted all week long so I barely got time to read posts and when I got home I was tired and DH and I spent many an evening discussing and firming up plans with things we are doing around the house.

I have not been sleeping well at all this week. A whole lot of tossing and turning - several hours in bed before I fall asleep and have been getting 4 to 5 hours of interupted sleep each night. Part of it is a general disastifaction I think with many things in my life right now. I was never happy with the move down here but we thought it was for the short term - 5 years. Well we have passed 5 years and due to economic conditions it looks like we will be stuck here for I hate to say it - 4 or 5 more years (God help me). This is a bitter pill to accept and it is manifesting itself in ways that are doing me no good. I find I want to mindlessly graze at night - am fighting that alot, can't sleep, my temper and tolerance are not good and I find I just want to escape thinking by sitting in front of the tv or the computer. I know I cannot continue this way - my blood sugar is up though my eating is good so I know it's stress related. I need to find a way to cope with what's ahead of me. I even considered using the EAP program at work to talk to a psychologist but I'm not sure I really buy into that. I pretty much know what my issues are - just don't know how to fix them. And then I chastise myself because I really am fortunate and should count my blessings. I feel like I have turned into the last (good) quarter of my life and sitting here for 10 years is really wasting precious time. I dunno, there is an answer, I just need to take a step back and look at things objectively. So that's that.

Thanks Shad one more week eh? That sort of went by fast. Must have been those carbon brushes sweeping away the time. I'm glad you aren't working 16 hour days to try and wrap up everything at the last minute. Will you go back home for a while and just work on the house a bit until the next contract?

Michelle - my oh my - another busy weekend for you. At least you'll miss the crappy weather this weekend. A good time to stay in and work. I'm sure you will do a great job on DH's website. How nice of you to offer or did he bat those big ole eyes at you and whisper pretty please

Laura - we had TruGreen back in Arlington. They sprayed the wrong stuff on our lawn and burnt 36 holes in it from little spots to a 3 foot wide spread. When we noticed that the lazy neighbors next door's neglected lawn looked better than ours we decided it was a waste of money. We just kept them to spray the trees. I remember when River City was first built. I was working down by the Board of Trade and my boss and his wife also worked with me. They lived in Algonquin and due to the nature of our work, many times they worked very late. They rented an apartment and furniture in River City and would stay there and often only go back home on the weekends. The rent at the time was outrageous for a cute but tiny place. AND way back in the 80's I thought - aren't you afraid to walk there at night???? They said no and were ok for the year they rented there. I was amazed that someone would have enough money to pay a mortgage AND rent an apartment And call me a stubborn old fool but it will never be Macy's or Willis Tower to me They just better not rename Wrigley Field either. Have a good weekend - stay warm - I'm sure at this point seeing heavy wet snow fall with be depressing. Heard it was nice out the last few days though. Coal is a pretty dog and aptly named.

Thanks for the book offer Ceejay - which Bob Greene book do you have? I have most of his except for the Best Life. Weight Watchers I find is easier to use online to look up recipes or use the recipe builder to calculate my homemade stuff which is very handy. Have a good visit with your sister and a safe drive - when is that? I had the back screen door open too - wasn't the air marvelous?

Spring is in the south here. Trees are starting to bloom like crazy and the birdies are all singing songs to attract the ladies. It's actually nice waking up in the morning (provided you got more than 4 hours of sleep).

Annie - hope you have a good weekend with the parents and that the creepies stay out of your check out lane at CVS.

Hello Mellie my friend. Are people avoiding filling Mellie's Belly Didn't you just get a mess of crumzo weather again? Come celebrate spring with us - oh wait, it will probaby not be good for the peepers. Are you on call duty this weekend or is it a movie and jammie weekend? Save me a seat and I'll bring up some hot apple cider and Southern Comfort and we'll get schnockered. We'll give 'em a sing a thon they will never forget and I'm sure it will be therapudic for us.

The guys did a good job with the painting and repair. Actually it's looks exactly the SAME to me although a bit cleaner. DH can point out all the places they replaced panels and trim and I see a big pile of boards and stuff at the curb so I know they didn't reuse the same stuff. Hopefully we will have a few dollars left to buy some plants for the yard. I'm disappointed that 3 of the plants we paid $40 each for did not make it through the winter - although we did have more snow and ice than usual. DH decided to rip some stuff out of the side yard too including my pretty pink tea rose it was awfully thorny and hard to clean up around it. We will have to find some butterfly attracting things. Anyway guess I should get to bed - just wanted to check in. Have a good weekend everyone.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING

HOPE ALL YOU CHICKS HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. ENJOY THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING WEATHER. SUPPOSED TO BE NICE TODAY!

I WILL READ IN A LITTLE WHILE AND POST. THE EYES ARE GIVING ME FITS FROM BEING SICK AND THE LOW FEVER. THIS TOO SHALL PASS. YESTERDAY WAS GORGEOUS AND I DID GET A CHANCE TO GET OUT FOR A FEW.
BE BACK IN A BIT..............

MICHELLE~ THANKS FOR PASSING ON ANNIE'S MESSAGE. HOPE SHE HAS A GREAT WEEKEND TOO. GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE EXTRA CASH. ALWAYS A WELCOMED SIGHT!! LOL HOPE YOUR BUSY WEEKEND IS A GOOD ONE AND YOUR CHALLENGE KEEPS YOU GOING. MAYBE ANNIE SHOULD BE A TRAINER INSTEAD OF CVS!

CEEJYA~ I AM LOVING THIS WEATHER. HOPE YOU ARE GETTINGIT ALSO. WHAT A GREAT IDEA TO GIVE THEM TO THE CHURCH. I NEVER ENVEN THOUGHT OF THAT. I DUMPED ALL OF MINE AT THE LOCAL LIBRARY. THEY WERE THRILLED BUT COULDN'T BELIEVE I HAD SOOOO MANY!

LAURA~ EXCEPT FOR HOUNDING THE BF AND THE BOOK CLUB...YOUR WEEKEND SOUNDS LIKE MINE HOPE THE CLUB LIKES YOUR VIEWS YOU MADE ME LAUGH AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT!!

SHAD~ ARE YOU GLAD THIS ONE IS ENDING? AND HERE I WAS THINKING THEY WOULD BE NEEDING YOU A BIT LONGER. WON'T YOU BE MISSING YOUR BRUSHES MY SOOTY FRIEND? BY THE TIME YOU GET HOME, THE HOUSE IS GOING TO FEEL LIKE A MOTEL!!! HOPE THIS LAST WEEK GOES WELL AND GLAD YOU GOT TO HAVE DINNER WITH THE FRIENDS.

HAPPY~ EVERY DAY I SEE YOUR AVATAR I LOVE THOSE FLOWERS! IF IT IS ANY CONSOLATION, MY FEELINGS ARE SIMILAR TO YOURS BUT FOR DIFFERENT REASONS OF COURSE. I WENT TO A PSYCHOLOGIST FOR 2 1/2 YEARS WITH JEN MANY YEARS AGO...IT REALLY DID HELP AND I REMEMBER A LOT OF WHAT HE SAID WHEN THINGS CROP UP TODAY EVEN. HE MAJORED IN BEHAVIORAL THERAPY. GETTING RID OF OLD HABITS. NOW, I DON'T GIVE MYSELF ENOUGH TIME TO DWELL ON THE NEGATIVES OF THE DAY LEST IT KEEP ME FROZEN IN THE PAST. IT CAN IMMOBILIZE A PERSON THAT WAY. SENDING YOU MANY HUGS. PART OF THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN YOUR POOR BODY AND OLD MAN WINTER. GET SOME SUN ON THE SKIN. REMEMBER THE EYES NEED TO "SEE" LIGHT FOR 15 MINS MINIMAL IN ORDER FOR THAT TO WORK EFFECTIVELY. SO BRING UP THE SOUTHERN COMFORT AND CIDER AND WE'LL GET SCHNOCKERED IN THE SUN

LAURA...WITH YOUR PRETTY PINK FLOWER....I JUST ORDERED THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY...NOT THE BOOK CLUB ONE BUT THE ORGANIZING ONE. MAYBE I AM MISSING SOMETHING CAUSE MY HOUSE IS CLUTTERED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!