http://www.flickspire.com/m/Thrival/AttitudeIsEverything

This is such a great video. Only 3 or so minutes long. Please watch it.

Beautiful Day in the neighborhood, I am leaving at 2pm for the weekend..going home to cut grass and enjoy this lovely day!!

I have no energy today and so sleepy. Must be the weather. Could be that I've finally calmed down after the ordeal Tuesday night. I talked to B. when I went to pay my light bill. She told me NOT to put up with it. I no longer have any sympathy for these folks.

Annie
Early retirement is looking even better.

Lots to get done today...and I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm having trouble focusing. As a result, I might have to work some this weekend.

Tonight, Santa "graduates" from obedience class....if he can pass the final. Right now, it's 50/50. Loose leash walking, come when called and stay are the challenges. Luckily we'll have time to practice some more.

Tomorrow, I'm participating in an online workshop, and then later having friends over for dinner and to play cards.

No real plans for Sunday. Maybe working. Maybe relaxing. I'm going to play it by ear.

I hope y'all are doing great. Sorry I don't have time for personals.

Much love,

Afternoon all,
The house is smelling of chicken soup. I made it from scratch - stock base to the plating up. It wasn't too bad either if I do say so myself.

Annie - glorious day here too. I've put a huge load of washing out this morning. Haven't done any all week. Naughty me. I may have to join you in mowing the grass. Darn stuff hasn't stopped growing at all this year. Watched your video clip. It's nice. I like the rule about discipline. I firmly believe in discipline. It just makes life work.

Laura - hope the Jazzercise got rid of your crabbies. Life is too short for too long grumpy periods. The colour red stems from when I was in the States last and stayed a couple of nights with Mel. We watched some home improvement shows and on every renovation, the walls were painted red. Red maybe my favourite colour but not for walls. They had red in the kitchen, red in the bedroom, red in the bathroom, red in the lounge. I find that it is a hard colour to live with for any period of time, not to mention that you have to prime the wall with grey to cover the red twice before you can change the colour.

Ceejay - hope you find a good mower. I would never buy an electric one since I have a tendency to cut cords and things. My little petrol job does good work so I am happy with it. It only takes 15 minutes to run round my small areas of grass - or to put it more truthfully - weeds.

Michelle - see on facebook that Santa passed his test. He has successfully trained you to his standards
What is the online workshop about

Mel - feel free to tell the SIL to stick it where the sun don't shine. What's her problem anyway. Did she stick with your brother in the hope she would get some money out of him? No point in trying to set you against him now - he's gone to a better place.
Hope you get the holiday parameters done to your satisfaction.
Next Saturday is no good for me, I have a friend coming over. That's my Saturday, your Friday. However any other day this week or next week is fine.

Happy - My winter time temps are better than your day time temps even if I do think it is being a cold winter. Most days we are at 22C which roughly converted is about 72-73F. Nights can get to 6-8C or 42-45F.

Okay Annie and Happy asked about Portuguese Chicken. It is basically chicken pieces marinated in spices, garlic and lemon. You can do it the hard way (real stuff) which I do admit turns out nicer than the easy way, or you can go down to the supermarket and pick up a jar of Portuguese Chicken seasoning (mind you read the labels and decide how much heat you want) and rub it all over the chicken - or do as I did this time and loosen the skin of the chicken and put the spice mix between the skin and the flesh. The full list of ingredients should you want to make it are from memory - Lemon juice, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, garlic cloves (3-4), chili, oregano, red onion and olive oil. Mix them all together, put the chicken pieces in a bowl or a bag, pour over the marinade and leave for up to 24 hours.

Okay - timers gone off. Time to get the muffins out of the oven. Being a real Betsy Homemaker over here this week and now the freezer is full. Catch you.

Good morning ladies,

Happy Friday. One of the big summer events here is the Lumberjack Championships. The arena is outdoors in a big sunny field. People have complained over the years that there is no shade and it's really hard to sit in the stands in hot, hot weather so this year DH tells me for the first time they decided to do it in the early evening instead of during the day. Wouldn't you know it that we have unseasonably cold weather today and tomorrow - those people are going to FREEZE. Well not freeze but they better dig out their camo(flage) fleece I am working the store this afternoon - forgot this was another event weekend - don't like working by myself but hey - if it gets busy, people will just have to be patient. DH will drop me off and pick me up tonight and we'll go out to dinner.

Went and got my hair done last night. Had a long talk with my hairdresser - her brother died very suddenly this past Christmas and she's having a really hard time. Lots of similarities between her and my situation with my brother. I hope she finds some peace. We were chatting away and I didn't have my glasses on as usual so I could not see as she was snip, snip, snipping away. My hair is REALLY short this time around. I feel like a sort of have a boy's haircut. It's cute. DH said it looks nice (tho he may have been just being polite). It certainly won't take much time to fix when I get ready to go out and that's a good thing!

Annie - I watched the video - thanks for sharing. Simple advice but so very true. I have found that counting my blessings before I go to sleep and thinking of things that I am grateful for have done a lot to improve my mood. My feet are doing well, thanks for asking. At this point I just have to be mindful if I get a flare up to deal with it right away. The problem with the popcorn shop was that I continued to work the long hours over the Christmas season - knowing I was hurting my foot more and more each day but the good person in me wanted to help out. In the end for what? Cost me more at the doctor than I made working. Lesson learned! As for DH we are waiting for the heart monitor reports to get evaluated and sent to his doctor. The rash he had on his legs appears to have cleared with the steroid medicine - they admitted they still aren't sure what caused it. I'm hoping we can get settled more into a better groove for both of us. What is your secret to lettuce in the garden? This is the second year I have planted it and I have a mix of lettuces - red and some other kind as well as butter lettuce. DH loves the arugula but I have found the lettuces to be bitter to my taste. Even the deer and little wild bunny won't eat them They look pretty, grew like crazy but bitter to my taste. I found the same with my friend in TN's lettuces. Cucumbers here started out good but are getting misshapen - like a balloon that doesn't inflate all the way. The last 2 cukes have also tasted bitter to me although DH said he doesn't think so - they are delicious to him. Maybe I am just an old, bitter woman My sugar snap pea crop has been delightful. I am still eating peas - we just chill them and eat them raw. I grew bush Blue Lake green beans. The bushes grew to about a foot high, produced 3 servings of tasty green beans and that was it.

Laura - I had to smile at your comment about running low on grocery bags that you use for Coal. We've recycled ours also cleaning the litter boxes and now I find that I am forever scrambling for them. Too bad because I used to take the extras to the Thrift Shop and now I don't have enough to spare. Hope you have a really fun overnight trip with your friend and that the weather held up for you. As for Sears, it's really sad how that company deteriorated. Like IBM, they certainly are not the companies today that they once were.

Mel - I can't picture you with a short hair cut - in your case it might be more of a hassle than it's worth. Glad the meetings were short. You are better off with the air conditioning than open windows - particularly if the air is schmutzy. Just don't freeze!

Ceejay - sounds like you are having some glorious weather. Hope it hangs around. Also hope you didn't get stuck with phone duty.

Ok, came back to my computer to find that I had stopped before I posted. I'm quite the flitter these days.

Also as I was getting ready to go in to the shop, got a call that I was a "no show". Turns out I was supposed to work the MORNING shift, not the afternoon one that I was prepared to go in to. I hardly ever get a morning shift and it was clearly my mistake. I feel horrid about it - today was a cool and rainy day - there were lots of people in town and we lost some potential revenue with the shop closed until noon when the coordinator showed up and called me. Then to top it off I was trying to do a nice thing and signed up to fill in some open unstaffed holes in the schedule for next month. Turns out the regular lady who works a particular day and shift had never bothered to put her name on the schedule (because EVERYBODY is supposed to know she always works that shift - sign up schedule be darned) and then got all bent out of shape when she saw my name on the calendar. She went up the chain of command complaining about me. Between that and missing my shift, I was this close || to just throwing in the towel. I am trying very very VERY hard to remember Laura's fine advice that we are hear for the animals and try to ignore the personalities. Once again, no good deed goes unpunished. I have learned my lesson, going forward I will not step forward for anything extra, will stop bringing in extra supplies, will make no further suggestions for improvement and will certainly cut back on the number of days I go in there until I eventually fade out. As I told my hairdresser yesterday, the older I get, the more people disappoint me. She agreed with me. I don't know why, but this is bothering me (feeling sad) a lot more than it really should.

Perhaps I can just sleep it off - it's already 46 degrees out there - great sleeping weather. I am going to try sleeping in one of the guest rooms - my hip and knee are killing me and I'm hoping a change in mattresses will help.

Shad - sounds like you are cooking up a storm out your way. One of the lumberjacks defending their title this weekend is a Kiwi. Will let you know tomorrow if he is successful again. Will also let you know next week when they post pictures in the newspaper if he's a strapping handsome bloke Thank you for posting the ingredients to the Portuguese Chicken as we certainly can't run to the store and get some of the pre-mixed seasonings. At least not in MY stores up here It sounds delicious and as long as I keep it light on the hot spices, I'm sure DH and I would both enjoy it. Yes, I'm sure your winter is actually warmer than even our autumn. Given the unseasonal temps we are having right now, I'm afraid to suggest when the best time is to visit! Our hummingbirds are swarming the feeders - they emptied not one but two bottles of sugar water today. I'm betting that they will head south earlier than September this year.

Michelle - congrats on Santa passing training. Sorry you aren't sleeping well. Hope you don't have to devote too much of the weekend to catching up on work. Better that you hone your skills as a card shark Have fun!

Ceejay - if people are just going to complain on the phone when it switches over to your department and you can't do anything about restoring service - what is the point of you taking calls? You certainly don't need the aggravation. Or are you just fielding calls in the event of a real emergency?

Guess I will call it a night. I'd like to have a more productive day tomorrow instead of today and it all begins with a good night's sleep. Night all...

MORNING CHICKS. HAVE A HAPPY WEEKEND.

SEEMS TO BE SOME SUN OUTSIDE. HOPE WE GET MORE.
NOTHING NEW. CHATTED WITH JEN.
THEN ATE & WENT TO BED EARLY.
.YOU WILL LAUGH BUT THE PERSON TAKING THE EMERGENCY BEEPER THINKS THEY KNOW & CAN DO ALL.
MOSTLY HE RUNS ON A LOT OF BS...GET OUT THE SHOVEL.
SO I PUT A SIGN ON MY DOOR SAYING ALL MAINT CALLS GO TO HIM.
THEN MADE CARDS WITH THE PHONE NUMBER
WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

GOING TO BE A MELIDAY WEEKEND IN BETWEEN ALARMS.
I HAVE NOTHING PLANNED EXCEPT THE FAMILY CALL.
I CAN ALWAYS PRAY THAT GOD WILL BE WITH ME AND SHE WON'T BE HOME.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND.





ANNIE...GLAD THE TRIP IS GOING SO WELL.
YES WE LIKE THE KIDS TO BE HAPPY.
SOMEHOW IT PAINS ME INSIDE IF THEY DO WITHOUT.
MAKES ME INCREDIBLY SAD AND BRINGS BACK CRAPPY CHILDHOOD LONLINESS.
SIGH. WE'RE SUCH EMOTIONAL PEOPLE.
SOMETIMES I WISH I COULD FLIP THE SWITCH OFF.
EVEN IF IT WAS JUST FOR ONE DAY




LAURA....HOPE THE TIME WITH THE FRIEND WAS NICE.
HOW WAS THE WEATHER?? NO RAIN I HOPE.
WE JUST GOT NOTICE FOR A BAND CONCERT.
TO BE HELD IN THE LAND OF MOSQUITOS DOWN BY THE RIVER




CEEJAY....GUESS OUR PATIENCE IS WEARING THING. I HEAR YA ON LETTING IT GO AND FEELING HAPPIER.
\SENDING A HUG FOR A BETTER WEEKEND




MICHELLE....HAVE FUN WITH THE FRIENDS.
DINNER & CARDS SOUND NICE. ENJOY.




SHAD....THE BOSS IS COMIMG BACK ON THE 6TH OF AUGUST.
IT WILL BE CALMER THAN. WE CAN PICK A DATE WHEN IT GETS CL;OSER.
HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH THE FRIEND TOO.
RICHIE WOULD LOVE THE PORTUGESE CHICKEN...JEN TOO.
I WOULD IF IT WASN'T TOO HOT
BUT IT SOUNDS DELICIOUS!!





HAPPY.....MY FACE IS TOO ANGULAR FOR A SHORT HAIRCUT.
I LOOK LIKE A LESBIAN TRUCK DRIVER
ANOTHER CUT MADE ME LOOK LIKE OLIVER HARDY'S SISTER
I HAVE TO STICK WITH THE OLD SHAFG I'VE HAD FOR YEARS AND YEARS.
HOPE THE JOB WILL GO SMOOTHLY.
HAD A LAUGH AT THE TIME CHANGE FOR THE LUMBERJACKS.
FIGURES THAT MOTHER NATURE WOULD TOSS A COG IN THE WHEEL!
PS....I SEE THERE WAS A FOUL UP IN THE JOB SCHEDULE....
TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH...IT WOULD BOTHER ME TO NO ND.
STUFF LIKE THIS STICKS IN MY CRAW AS THE SAYING GOES.
FADING OUT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA....
EXCEPT FOR THE POOR ANIMALS.
THESE PEEPS JUST DON'T LIKE CHANGE. THEY'RE BULLIES TOO.

Morning
Getting ready to go visit the uncles today. And I'm looking forward to getting out for the week end. I have gotten a lot of piddly work done this morning. Yesterday afternoon I had a migraine and slept most of the afternoon. House is in good shape. The lawn however needs to be mowed. I may do that when I come back Sunday afternoon.
The weather has been gorgeous this week.
Haven't heard from my friend in Jonesboro this week. I text her last night but still haven't heard back from her.

Happy
I thought my last hair cut was a bit short but it's growing back.
Oh me, on missing the early morning shift. But it happens.
Good luck to the lumberjacks tonight.

Mel
Keep your shovel with you this week end. You may need to poopy scoop.

WATERMELON MONTH IS JULY AND IT'S ALMOST OVER WITH.
REMINDS ME OF SITTING ON THE FRONT STOOP PEOPLE WATCHING.
NEIGHBORS CHATTING AS THEY PASSED EACH OTHER.
SEEMS LIKE TODAY NO ONE TALKS TO EACH OTHER.
I AM FROM A SUBURBAN BYGONE ERA.

JEN & RICHIE DID SOME FOOD SHOPPING.
IT WAS NICE TO GET WAITED ON TOO.
THEY HAD GONE TO A FLEA MARKET.
NO GOOD FLEAS THERE TO BRING HOME.
THEY SAID THE PRICES ARE A BIT HIGH FOR JUNK.
GUESS EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY.

THE BLDG HAS BEEN QUIET. LONG MAY IT REIGN!!
I DID NOT FEEL WELL AGAIN YESTERDAY AND SLEPT MOST OF THE DAY AWAY IN CAT NAPS.
NOT SURE WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT AGAIN.
I FELT LIKE I WAS GENTLY CRASHING AND JUST KEPT FALLING ASLEEP.
I FEEL FINE NOW & EVEN HUNGRY.


HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY/MONDAY






CEEJAY...HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD TIME WITH THE UNCLES.
YOU MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD WITH "poopy scoop".
YOU ARE RIGHT ON THE MONEY
IS THE FRIEND BUSY WITH THE NEW BEAU???? LOL
ALSO...DID YOU FIND A MOWER YOU LIKED?? I FORGET.

Evening all,
Had a fairly relaxing day today. Went and picked up a few bits at the shop that I missed on Friday, reorganised the pantry and when the rain went away I went out to weed the rose garden. Got about two thirds of it done in between the showers. Talked to my niece on facebook. She's now at 21 weeks in her pregnancy so just halfway cooked so far. She is due on 6th December. DB2 popped in to see if I wanted to go on a trip in his truck to pick up the nephews goods and chattels since he and partner (the nephew that is) are moving back to Brisbane from the Gold Coast. I've also been trying to sort my photo negatives. There is another long and boring job to be done. Maybe I will just identify the negatives, match them with the developed photos and label the packets. Some of them seem to have fallen out of the packets. Anyway, that was about my day and now it is about ended. It's time for bed.

Happy - short hair certainly makes life easy for those on the go. If it is cut well, it doesn't move much and stays pretty much as you fixed it in the morning. Unfortunately mine grows so fast that after K cuts it, it only seems to be a couple of weeks before I have to start styling it after a wash, rather than comb and go. Sorry about the mix up with the shop, but I think you may be wise to just do a shift or two a week, don't volunteer for anything else and keep well away from the roster (or lack thereof) system. I think I might have been somewhat rude after what they said to you.
The kiwi woodchopper might be a strapping bloke, but there are not too many of them that are knock yourself out, swoon worthy varieties. They are muscle bound particularly in the upper body, but most of the ones I have met seem to be missing teeth or hair or fingers.

Mel - hope the man with the beeper gets overrun over the weekend. Serve the know all bast*rd right. You can ring me anytime except for the week between 17th and 24th August since I am going back to NZ then to try and sort my sister out. That's going to be a job and a half. We probably won't be speaking by Wednesday.
The thing with the Portuguese Chicken is that you can make it as hot as you like. I'm not too much into chili despite the fact that I have several bushes of them in the garden. So I just put in enough to know that it is there. It can be left out altogether is desired. I have a full list of the ingredients in the marinade if anyone wants it and the amounts can be as little or as much as you want, but you probably need to be careful that you don't unbalance the dish.

Ceejay - hope you enjoyed your time with the uncles and family.

Time for bed. I'm done. Another day tomorrow, wonder what delights that will bring - other than the green waste man.

Ps......annie......that Video Was Very Nice.
Thanks For The Link. On A Good Day That Is Me :d

There's Mel typing away above my head

Happy Heavenly Birthday Momma......I miss you intensely and daddy too! I love you, funny that is the last thing I said to both of you before you retired, not knowing it would be my last words,

Back from a good visit with the uncles. Going back next week end for one uncles 80 birthday party.
Another uncle said he turned over a back hoe. He ran into a sink hole that was cover up in grass. He was not hurt nor was the back hoe. He scares me a bit for doing all this heavy equipment. He and his son pulled it out with a rope and the tractor. He's only 85/86 years young. But gets around very good for his age.
I went shopping for a lawn mower today and found one at Lowes. I started at the Lowes in Paragould. They didn't have an electric mower but he called Jonesboro and the had three in stock. By the time I got over there they had sold one of them. It's electric. This one looks a bit more durable than the one I have now. The brand name is the Green Works.
Talked to my younger sibling this afternoon. Kinda shocked me.

Mel
I had those same feelings Friday. I came down with a migraine so I laid down and went to sleep.

Shad
You still have negatives to pictures. Your working in the roses reminds me that I need to be out mowing the lawn but think I'll wait till I bring home my new mower.

----
I need to get something to eat then ride the bike. Didn't make my goal of 50 miles last week so it's still in place for this week.