Ok I made it back! Shuuuweeeee what a morning.

I made white chicken chili in the crocker yesterday as my bro/SIL and sissy came over for dinner last night. Cornbread and homemade peanutbutter brownies with PB icing. Cleaned the kitchen after they left and went to bed. Up at 3:30 could not sleep. bleh

HAPPY...may the force be with you and your sister concerning your momma. I know how difficult it is to work with parents on issues with houses, etc. I think my dad knew his time on earth was short, hence giving up the house and moving in with me which didn't happen. My heart is still heavy on that one. Poor lil kitty. God love her she cannot help being sick. Wonder what the hard knot is on her tummy? Bella had one on her side but was a fatty tumor and nothing to worry about. I think Nina is too little to have something like that already, maybe not. Going back to work, bleh, but we all do what we have/want/need to do. Whatever decision you make, pray on it.

LAURA...great score on the BE work out dvds. You had always referred to the Body Electric work outs at BE work outs...and I never really knew what that meant till your last post. lol. I just knew that you were getting exercise. Just turn on some music and enjoy what you like to the BE.

CEEG...goodluck at the docs office. Best get straightened out before heading back to work. Don't need the extra stress of feeling poorly along with the work stress. Have him write you a note saying no more climbing around in the pits. lol

CHELLE....slow down on the exercise till your back feels much better. Have you tried laying on your back on an exercise ball and rolling back and forth? Curtis swears by it. My bro/SIL bought a ball and tried it, now they swear by it. And to think my SIL was on the verge of surgery, now since getting the ball (only two weeks ago), her pain is virtually gone. Just a thought.

Feel better and speedy recovery for our MELLIE.

THe forces be with SHADDIE on her crazy bills.

That about does it for me today, have a marvelous Friday all! and a great weekend in case I don't get back here.

Morning all. TGIF!!

Michelle - Good you stopped the exercise when your back complained. If I don't get back here, have a good weekend and a good birthday party!!

Annie - Sorry you didn't get a full night's sleep. Mmmm, pnt btr brownies!! So does your brother & SIL just use one of those big exercise balls for their back? Sounds good - as long as you don't fall off the ball!!

Happy - My you have your hands full! I hope your mom comes round to the idea of moving into an apartment near your sister. That's a big challenge ahead for you if/when it does come to pass. My mother thinks she's too young to move into one of those assisted living facilities (she'll be 80 in 3 weeks, bless her heart), but doesn't want to have to move twice, i.e., into a smaller house and then into one assisted living. So here she is rattling around in a big house that's still new to her because she and my dad moved into it brand new nearly 20 years ago now! But it's 20 years old now and still needs a lot of care as to lawn/garden, and she did have to replace her hvac system not too long ago... But I'm glad she's at least thinking about moving sometime. Good luck to you with your mom's situation. Re little Nina - poor thing. I sure hope the additional meds help and she's not in pain. Have you given pet insurance any thought? I imagine the idea of more insurance premiums is not very palatable since you already pay a bundle for your own coverage... Have you found anything to do with your green tomatoes yet? I'd probably just let them ripen. I have to use up our big ones. Bf bought more bacon and fresh mozz, so we're good to go on more BLT & caprese sandwiches. Oh wait, need to buy more basil too. Interesting about the job - have you decided to apply? It would certainly keep you busy, but the extra $$ would be a good thing, especially with the insurance bennies. Re the BE dvd's - I think the web site might have the music tracks listed somewhere and I could get the music if I really wanted to, or just use my own. Or easiest of all - just do without. Re Kyle Chandler in the movie I saw the other night - I agree he's easy on the eyes, but - heads up - not in this movie. He played the wrong kind of parent!!

Ceejay - Ooh, nice long weekend for you. Enjoy!! Good idea about using the tomatoes for salsa!

Mellie - If you're reading or Jen is, I'm praying that you'll get well soon!

Shad - So just the weekend before you head back to work again? Enjoy!
==
Let's see - nothing much to report. Bf and I picked a bunch more of cherry tomatoes last night and some of our green beans. We had beans with our grilled pork chops, and the night before with our grilled salmon. They're different than the ones we buy at the produce market - a lighter green and less dense, but they're tasty. I'd definitely grow green beans again next season.

I started another challenge - an ab challenge. This one consists of 4 exercises, so it'll be much more involved than the squat challenge. Sit ups, crunches, leg raises and planks. Day one done, 29 more to go! Here's the link if you're interested: http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/cl...abs-challenge/

For the weekend - nothing much going on. I have a hair appointment late tomorrow morning. BF is going to a car show, so I'll have to cycle over there. It's only 1.5 miles, so not a biggie - unless it rains!

That's about it for me. Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!

Laura
I am going to accept the ab challenge. Thanks for posting this.

Annie
Yum white chili sounds good. I love the fall and winter months for cooking. I really want to make some cornbread today. I'm going to try the exercise ball.

-----------------
Went for my follow up this morning at the doctor's office. My blood pressure was 110/70. No stress whatsoever this week. I did have some sludge in my gallbladder but no gallstones, thank goodness. Also asked about my diet, he said to start adding more foods in, just dont eat nuts and corn,sigh, my two favorite foods.
The monitor to my computer died yesterday. I'm using my old laptop until I can make up my mind on whether to buy a new laptop instead. This one needs a new battery. It took most of the afternoon to do the updates on it and download a virus protection. I only bought a 3 month virus protection.

Hi all,

Quick post for me - I should go water the garden, maybe DH will do it for me. I watered everything else yesterday. Intended to sit around and read using a hot pack yesterday on my back but there were a million little things nagging at me. In fact I was up until 3am this morning and so was DH so at least he wasn't hollering about me making noise when he was trying to sleep. Nina seems to be doing better today. She was filled with gas which is why her stomach was distended. I'm sure adding the probiotic had it's own hand in complicating things even though it is good for her. DH is going to try and clean her paws today - poor baby has clumped up litter in them as she is an aggressive digger. I tried to clean them this morning - I'm glad she didn't claw my boobs off. Wrestling with a wriggling 7 pound gassy balloon cat is no fun! Geez our last 4 cats were not this much work altogether. I'm off to the shop shortly - looks like it might rain - is going to be a very hot day today so if we do get rain, might be some heavy storms.

Shad - last weekend to get your stuff done before you set back to work again. Hope you can get the last of the phone calls all settled and corrected.

Mel - to you - feel better my friend!!!

Annie - you sound busy as always. Thanks for the advice and empathy on Mom - they have to make their minds up to come around before we can really do any thing. How's Sissy feeling?

Michelle - hope your back eases up. Have a MOST WONDERFUL do over birthday party this weekend. Hope that it's as good as it should have been the first time around! Please post pictures of you dancing with a lampshade on your head

Laura - Glad you got to enjoy some beans along with all those tomatoes. Nothing wrong with caprese sandwiches and BLTs I guess you can make salsa too if you have some tomatoes left over. I should take what I have and make a batch of tomato sauce in the crock pot. If you cook it long enough, the seeds cook down and disappear. Thanks for including the exercise link. I think it's a great idea to do a short term challenge like that. Keeps you focused for a do-able commitment. As for your Mom, those assisted living facilities are SO EXPENSIVE. I don't know how people can afford them realistically. My SIL's brother was in one - $9,000 a MONTH! and they didn't do anything other than serve him meals and he had his own room and bath. I sure hope we don't have to deal with that. This place my sister is looking at is for 55 and older and is just single level apartment suites. Yikes!

Hi Ceejay -

Well I'd better get a move on here. Have a good weekend ladies.

Good afternoon ladies,

I had a great evening yesterday. I went out to dinner with a former co-worker. She and I have been friends since the turn of the century! LOL Seriously, we started working together in either late 1999 or early 2000. We both got laid off in 2001, but have stayed in touch ever since. It was so good to see her, and the best part is she's coming to my birthday party tomorrow! I think I'm going to have between 15 and 20 people. So my question for y'all is.....if I'm grilling hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone, how many of each do I purchase? Guests are bringing salads, and I'll have watermelon, maybe some other fresh fruit, chips and salsa, and of course cake and ice cream. I wish I had some of your garden tomatoes, Laura!

I'm a bit nervous about how my back will hold up with ziplining...but if Shad said I'll be ok, then I trust her good judgement.

A friend of mine and I are starting a "Shed 25 lbs by Christmas" challenge. I've set up a private group on facebook, but if you'd like to be a part, just let me know and I'll add you to the group (all you need is a Facebook account). Basically it's just a bunch of friends who will post to support each other through challenges, keep each other accountable, and cheer each other's successes. Like what we have here. This particular friend of mine isn't on 3FC so that's why we're doing it on FB. Let me know if you want to join us. And even though losing 25 lbs by Christmas is the goal, that does not allow us to beat ourselves up if we don't achieve that goal.

Happy - I don't know if there will be dancing or lampshades...LOL. I probably won't even drink as I'd rather eat my calories and have diet soda. But I'm sure it will be fun! I'm blessed to have really good, fun friends.

My back (from the fall) is doing a bit better. I can roll over at night without stabbing pain, so that's good. Now, I'm just back to the usual pain. I'll see how I do walking around Costco today after work, as that will be a lot of walking. As for Ziplining, I'm planning on taking a pain med beforehand, and bringing one for after if I need it.

Annie - do C and your bro/SIL use a standard exercise ball (the kind big enough to sit on) or a small medicine ball sort of thing? I've seen people use both for stretching out their backs. Thanks for the tip! Let me know what size to get, because it's definitely worth a try. And I don't have room at my step-mom's for my inversion machine.

Hope y'all are doing well.

Much love,

Morning all, actually I should start again. Afternoon all,

Going to have a lazy afternoon. Not much I can do outside as it is too warm to work in the garden now. Might go out later on or then again, I might open a bottle of wine and just sit on the couch and watch the footy. There isn't much I can do right now with getting some specialised equipment or spending a fair amount of money.
I have the spreadsheet for the power bill all sorted now. Just got to wait for the company to ring me back. I think they owe me some $2740.00 not me owing them some $12933 odd. The credit will go down somewhat when they sort out the price rises etc. I haven't got the energy to try and work out how many days at this figure and how many days at that figure. So let them ring me. I'm waiting.

I've put a photo up of the newly planted spring garden - it's progressed a little since then, but I haven't been down to get some new soil so I haven't planted anything else yet. And to progress further I need to remove some of the old soil pile and get rid of it.

Michelle - always nice to catch up with old friends and see what's going on in their world. I think I would only buy one of each for your burgers and hot dogs. There will be some that will have only one or the other and others that will grab two of everything. Maybe to be sure make it 1.5 per person - so for 15 people buy 22. I think you will have left overs that way. Much as I would like to take up the challenge, I always seem to go backwards with things like that so I might just cheer you all on from the sidelines this time around.

Happy - Hope Nina is getting better. DS2's cat is gassy as well. Every time you pick him up, he lets loose with some wind. He is growing out of it tho'.

Ceejay - I thought you bought a new computer a short while back. Maybe I missed something there. Good blood pressure by the way.

Laura - fresh beans. Yum They certainly taste better than the supermarket variety. Going back to have another look at the abs challenge. I might take that one on since my fat appears to have settled in the stomach and abdomen. Need to tone it up.

Annie - hope you got all the fires put out safely and no one is injured or dead because of stupidity yet. Why is the recipe called 'white chicken chili'? Is there another colour of chicken?

Haven't heard back from Mel's Jen yet. She is probably strapping Mel into the bed so she will stay. No doubt we will get an update when she gets time. Meantime, I might just go and have a siesta in front of the tv. Sort of running out of things to do - or rather things I want to do.

Catch you later.

Shad
I did buy a new computer and tablet both.The monitor to the computer died and I litterally hate my tablet.

Michelle
Sounds like a good plan for a Christmas challenge.

Annie
I was curious about the ball also.

Happy
I know the feeling of doing those nagging little things. I need to do that today instead of going to Paragould and listen to my "know it all" aunt.

----------
Got the lawn mowed yesterday but had a freaky mishap. The electric cord got hung up on the tire to my car. I didn't realize it and made one step to many with the mower. The cord tripped me but I caught myself before I hit the ground but now I have a strained back and neck. Both are better this morning.
Will be going to Paragould this morning to have lunch with the uncles.
Everyone have a good day.

Morning girls,

I have to run into town this morning. I worked at the shop yesterday, afterwards DH picked me up and we went to dinner. As we were leaving town I realized that I stupidly forgot to fill out one of the closing forms which breaks down sales by category. It just slipped my mind Will have to go fix that before the person closes out today. Was very slow at the shop - I think I did less than 40 dollars in sales and 10 of that was mine! Came home last night and we were trying to dig the caked up litter out of Nina's claws. That stuff is like dried cement and was not fun for either us or her. I got some out but will take more effort much to her frustration. I'm sure it hurts too. She must be starting to feel better as she sure is noisy this morning - of course it's because DH wants to sleep in. As we transition into the autumn, DH always has issues with pain with his back and feet and it's starting already. I don't think he's sleeping well at night and grumbled something this morning about just wanting to sleep through one night as Nina jumped on him this morning. I was closing the shades last night and one of the shades broke - I could hear and feel a big string break. This is not good - we have 9 shades on the 3 panoramic windows in front and since the shades are older and weathered - replace one and you have to replace them all - to the tune of something like $250 or more per shade. If I was to replace them I'd get the double honeycombed black out shade which I hope would insulate more as there is a lot of cold air coming from those windows in the winter. The windows have a fancy wood moulding on the top so adding drapes would not work out at all. I did apply for that job after all although I seriously doubt I will even get an interview. A little extra money would come in handy although I really, REALLY don't want to go back to work. Especially if it means I have to get up at 6:30 in the cold, winter mornings. We'll see, what will be, will be eh?

I think Nina is doing a bit better. She is more vocal this morning, a bit more like her old self. I was rather miffed - when I spoke to the vet, we agreed to up her steroid dose a bit - ie. give her a larger dose. I told her I'd need more medicine as I'd be running out. Picked up the meds and was using up the rest of what was in the current bottle. Was talking - well complaining to DH about the $27 "compounding" fee this time around and he checked the previous invoices and we were not charged this before. In conversation he asked if there was a change in dosage. I looked at the bottle and sure enough, the new stuff is stronger than the stuff we had. I should have been giving her the new stuff. She never said she was increasing the strength of the medicine, only that we were going from .5 cc to .75 I think the probiotic is also helping her a bit so we have that we can get her settled down.

I have to get more kitty litter which means a trip to Walmart. Nothing worse than going to Walmart on a Saturday morning. Or at any time on a weekend.

Ceejay - ouch on the trip. Hope you didn't jam something on your body. Sometimes we're better off just falling instead of trying to keep ourselves upright. Hope you're ok.

Shad - holy cow - that's quite an overpayment!!! are you on a budget plan where you pay a set amount each month? I can see where being away you would not have used very much power. I think opening a bottle of wine and enjoying a footy game sounds just fine.

Michelle - thanks for the challenge invite. I'll have to give it some thought. Sometimes too those things have the opposite effect on me. Hope you have a great time at your party today.

Hello to the rest of the Worldlies I really need to get busy before the day runs away from me. Have an enjoyable weekend everyone.

Hi everyone,

I had insomnia last night...didn't fall asleep until 1:30, probably because I'm excited about today and tomorrow!! My back is pretty sore probably from all that tossing and turning. Luckily, I don't have much to prepare for the party. Everyone is bringing salads and side dishes...so I just have to slice up tomatoes and onions for the hamburgers, and put some chips and salsa in bowls. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should put the bottled water in the fridge.

My step-mom thought I'd rather just have the day with my friends...so she's getting together with some of her friends. It didn't matter to me either way. My friends like her and she likes my friends so no worries. Ironically, I didn't buy any alcohol. Not many of my friends are drinkers, and I just told everyone to bring what they wanted to drink.

As for the quantity of hamburgers and hot dogs. I ended up buying roughly 20 of each. That should be more than enough, even with my friend's teenage kids that are coming.

I'm so happy to have this opportunity to have a FUN birthday with so many people who care about me!! I'm grinning from ear to ear!

I'll try and check in later or tomorrow! I wish you ladies lived closer so you could come to my party too!

Much love,

Happy Sunday Morning girls,

It's a nice day out there. Weather is crazy, really hot one day, really cool the next - up and down, don't know what to expect. Supposed to be nice but on the cooler side so I'm going to do some cooking - I really don't feel like canning salsa so instead will blanch the roma tomatoes and make a batch of slow cooking pasta sauce which can be dinner or easily frozen. Got some housework to do all - vacuuming and wash the floors. I also picked up some magazines at the shop which have some really good looking recipes. Will have to make a note of them and then re-donate the magazines back when I work next so that I don't have too much stuff cluttering up the place.

I was out watering the garden yesterday and a big brown bat flew into and landed on my bean trellis. It flew around a couple of times and eventually crawled into the bat box we have on the garden post. I was surprised to see it during mid daylight hours - some times that means they are rabid, other times it means they are looking for a new roost. Since it seemed to check out the bat box I hope it means it was looking to roost. Was quite a big fella too - not Dracula sized but bigger than most I've seen. I kept my distance of course.

Looks like everyone is off doing their Sunday thing so I will just say hello and let everyone get on with their plans.

Glad to hear your party came out nicely Michelle and that you had a good time.

Talk to you later chicks.

I'm back from my uncles. It is hot out there.
It's back to work tomorrow and am not prepared for it.


Michelle
Good that your friends are there to help you celebrate this time around. Sounds like a good time.

Happy
Hope dh is feeling better. Let hope also that the bat was just checking out his new home.

Update on Mel:-
mom is coming along but VERY slowly, so going to the hospital is still not out. she finished the meds but the response was not as good as they thought. there are so many pains and things involved it makes it hard for the doctors to know what is what. then one pill worked great but gave her serious constipation. it was a nightmare that is not over yet, now she has pain in her ribcage and joints. they say from the gastroenteritis.
her appetite is minimal and that is why they cannot rule out a visit to the hospital yet. she is trying to stay hydrated the best she can with this nausea and pain.
I pray I never get this stuff. it affects so much of your body!!!
we were laughing last night when I said i'd be dead by now. she is a strong lady.
I printed off the pictures. the flower is beautiful and I can see why mom loves it so. are those birds cranes? at first I thought pelicans but no neck thing. we both love your new garden you are still working on.
I am on my way to the supermarket, I think mom will be needing a LOT of toilet paper!
Richie takes the emergency phone & keys while I am out. we take turns going to the store.
say hello to the gang for all of us, will write again if anything changes.
love jen & Richie

mom said to tell you this story from yesterday.
remember there are signs all over her door now. anyone can read she is sick.

when mom was getting some water, a woman was banging on her door like the building was on fire. mom opened it and the woman began screaming at her that people were monitoring her apartment and turning things on and off to annoy her and that they have controls outside her apartment that operate her lights, outlets, tv, micro, shower and toilet.
she said if they turn her toilet off she is going to piss in the lobby!!!!!
mom pointed to the sick sign and said she has to wait till Monday to get help from the office.
she closed the door and the woman left. she flew up the stairwell.
but someone knocked on and off during the evening .
we think it was her because mom kept hearing the stairwell door bang closed. ha ha

Morning all,
Seems like Mel is on the mend but will be a while.

Another beautiful day here in the Great South East. We have a new government - elections took place over the weekend. Bah humbug politics. I doubt that we will be any better off than we were before. Both major parties appear to be bereft of ideas and one puts on the taxes, but the other says it will repeal the tax - yeah right I wonder when. The new government will no doubt lay off hundreds of public servants leaving no service at all and it is bad enough now. I don't like our new leader, but there you go - can't like everyone.
Tomorrow I go back to work. It will be a shock to the system. I bought a new mobile phone the other day and thanks to the DS2 have got most of the features I wanted set up, however I can't seem to get the alarm clock on it to make a sound. It vibrates but doesn't sing. Can't afford to have this happen tomorrow so will have to do something about it.

Yesterday I picked a big bunch of corn. Yummy stuff. I've had them for lunch a couple of days ago and yesterday I sent some out to my friend Chris down the road, and some out to DS2 and there is still enough to keep me busy for some days yet. May have to cut the kernels off and freeze them. All that butter and corn and pepper and salt is not good for me.

M - DS1's partner sent a message last night to say that Sophia took her first steps yesterday afternoon. Did four steps and went plop on her butt. Needless to say the doting parents are worried about the state of her butt.

I'm off out to dig some more of the garden very soon. Now that the sun has come up, it won't be long before it gets too hot. Then I have a busy day ahead trying get ahead of the work syndrome. I just know that I will be worn out tomorrow night when I get home, so it might be a good idea to get some dinner ready to reheat or in the slow cooker for then. Otherwise I'll be eating toast or cheese or something that won't do much for me.

Ceejay - sorry you hate the tablet. I've not tried one so can't comment although I see the DS1 using his very productively. Can't you just buy a new screen for the old computer rather than the expense of a whole new unit?

Michelle - glad to hear that the birthday party went off just fine. Nice to have friends and family around to laugh and reminisce with (not sure about the spelling of that).

Happy - I can remember sitting on a bench outside a cave at Undarra in far north Queensland watching the bats going out the nights feasting. There were tiger snakes in the vines that covered the cave entrance waiting for the bats. The were hundreds of these bats flying around in the little space of the entrance to the cave and not one of them touched me or the guide I was with. Their radar is amazing. None of the snakes touched us either - thankfully. I forget what type of bats they were, but they weren't big and neither were they as tiny as the ones I saw in Paronella Park. They were incredibly small.

Anyway, better get on with this and then try to get down the road to see if I can get help with this phone - or buy an alarm clock. Catch you later.

In case you were wondering - these are the photos I sent to Mel. You have already seen the garden photo

Shad
Thanks for the updates on Mel. The garden in beautiful. Yes, I can buy another monitor, just debating on what size to get.

Wanted to post that I've done day one of the ab challenge. But I did improvise on the sit ups. I do chair exercises mostly so I did the chair sit ups. The others I did on the floor. However, I did only one leg at a time for the leg lifts.

Happy Birthday Michelle!!! Have a great day and a fantastic year!