Hello all!

Woke up at 4:30 to bladder calling and thunder outside.... Dogs and I moved as quickly as possible and then went back to sleep... I finally got up about 7 :45 but no regrets as its raining steadily. Dh made up a quick stirfry from
a pot of vegetables we sauteed a few days ago. Trying to think ahead in as many ways as possible... keeps us from resorting to take out on the "need to get out the door " nights and also starves these little fruit flies we seem to be growing because veggies spoil b/4 we cook or eat them up.


anyway.... not the usual routine this am and it's nice to have nowhere to rush to...


Dh did find a couple of rain or shine sales so off we go....

Lurking 'n workin' ... so in brevity mode and apologies to all ... seem to be in a me-me mode all-around these days and don't get a chance to talk here much and respond to everyone, but still thinking of everyone a lot ... Kaylets, I named myself for the grain ... re DT, I stick mostly to the journal forum ... the name's Athletea ... it's all about MOI!!!

I'm in pre-Halloween challenge mode ... Hag o' the Hut from the Scary Diet Forest is threatening to bring out the big magick this year ... I INTEND FOR THIS TO BE THE 135 REACHING YEAR! It'll take SOME magick, let me tell ya!

Brain dead but must get some work done this weekend ... going to apply for the SECOND career job this week and must clear some mental decks ...

LOVE AUTUMN ... scary all-hallow's e'ens, challenges and changes, crisp fall days (as crisp as they get in the oven I call home) ...

To all, mentioned or unmentioned (guess I didn't mention too many folkettes besides MOI), avanti ... ok, working now ...

Thanks, all, for the convivial birthday wishes. It was great - I've been celebrating since last Saturday when the Crown Prince came for a few days. Then it was south to the Princess Royal and the two little princesses for another three days. Home, tired, fat.

Woke up to no power and water in the basement today - about five inches of rain they said. All ok by midmorning and the sun eventually came out and it was a beauty of a day with just a wee bit too much wind. Took off for a dept. store, walked around a bit, then the farmers market, more walking. Then a little festival (I love these) - got a good walk in there and returning to car. So today so far is good foodwise, exercisewise and waterwise. But alas it's the first day in a long time I can say that.

Feeling all those post 15th vibes though and ready to get all in gear. Planning to finish the garage cleanup, the files cleanup, the clothes switcheraoo, etc., etc. And probably get it all done by Wednesday (heh, heh).

Ceara, congrats on day 5! Nice to hear Hag o' the Hut is plotting again. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, Kaylets, with all the rain so slept in as well. I'd have to say I'm in a positive mood today for sure. Feeling like one of the most lucky people in the world and like I can get this weight thing back on track. Yeh, Yeh, Yeh!!!

Hi all! Agonizingly slowly but SURELY getting back on track. Will be requesting an audience with the fearsome but lovable Hag of the Hut for effective mojo for getting the right mindset back. [Hey that rhymes, sorta.]
Lovely as always to see you in the palace, Amarantha/Athletea!
Ceara, Congrats on Day 5 of stellar behaviour! Your'e my inspiration.
And Anagram is my inspiration for staying on track with keeping things reasonably clean! So easy to just ooze onto the couch and watch TV!
Kaylets, you're inspiring me to plan ahead. Have been sabotaging myself by not doing that the last couple of weeks.

Very windy last night and woke up to tons of broken branches. Very dramatic. And our electricity went out at midnight last night, so we cleaned ourselves up the best we could this AM and high-tailed it out of town, thinking surely by the time we got back our elect. would be back on and it was. [Sigh of relief....] Only out for about 15 hours this time.

Good morning, AGAIN. Had done a long post in the earlier hours and apparently it didn't get from here to there. But too nice a day to let it matter. Probably should not have rambled so long any way.

Congratulations to Kaylets, Empress, Ceara on their dedication and wt losses. I'm all the way on Day 2 but that's ok. Wood Nymph, so glad the good vibes caught you up as they have me. And of course, you are the first SELF you described. You are, after all, a QUEEN. Wearing a new sweater and matching cardigan today that I'm not sure are fitting as well as I thought they did when I bought them. So add to other goals that I'll get this sweater looking better. They're pink and am wearing them w/black slacks so all will go nicely w/Vera Bradley bag DD gave me for my b.d. (She had given me one for Mom's Day also & I love it. Expect to love this one too.)

Meeting sister for lunch after church. No plans for rest of day except to "get it together". Leisurely.....

HEllo all!

Forced myself to get up out of bed at S ish to make tomorrow am easier..
Am experimenting with no coffee at all... did have two cups of tea w/ caffeine and so far, don't have that nagging anxious feeling.....
We'll see...

Scale might be toying w/ me... we'll see... made a lot of progress so far 15 minutes at a time ... clutter was about to run me out of the house...
DH slept in very late himself but something I did must have motivated him as this moment he is sorting thru things in the fridge to be tossed.

I need to repot a few more "cool weather" plants...am going to experiment with a small pond liner ... want to turn it into a big planter... need to punch some holes in it.. ..

Meanwhile, the weather is definitely sox and sweater w/ jacket... really lovely ...

Till later!

hello, dear royals! have caught up on your posts. i have been thinking of you all. the weather here was gorgeous yesterday, and a friend took me out to brunch at quaint little place, which was fun.

my mri's last week were challenging, and so glad they are over with! haven't been feeling too well, so it was extra enjoyable getting out yesterday. this morning, or rather middle of the night, i woke up to water dripping sounds. there is water dripping from the ceiling in the living room, so with not even 2 hours of sleep last night, i am definitely at half-mast today. as soon as the condo. management office opens, will call them and start what is usually the long, challenging process of getting them to do something. hopefully, won't have furniture or carpet damage. my condo. is definitely not in good shape, so not feeling too hopeful about outcome right now anyway. i'm also sleep-deprived, which isn't helping much either.

anagram, so glad all your birthday festivities were stellar! hi eydie, amarantha, ceara, kaylets, arabella! i have been thinking about you, even when unable to post. i am jewish, and as this is the jewish new, so far it hasn't started off that great for me. i plan to re-start my year, though, and remember that with each new day is always a new, fresh start. it is a good time for reflection, and taking a look at my situation and seeing which things need attention, and how to achieve some needed changes. self-examination isn't always the easiest thing in the world, but certainly important and rewarding in the end. i just have to keep this in mind as i am plugging away at some challenging stuff. anyway, i have remained op and kept up with exercising, so pleased about this. i think today is supposed to be another beautiful day, so looking forward to getting out and enjoying some of that. to all royals, mentioned and unmentioned. take good care of yourselves. you're the best!

Good morning! I'm on double-deadline today, so mustn't linger too long at the moment. Doing the artist profile write-up and have a newsletter to finish and send out for Whatis. Doable, but I certainly have seen many times where I'd futz around and waste time until it was nip and tuck. Will be efficient today!

I also have WI today -- not sure how that will be. I think I had 3 exemplary days, 1 so-so and 3 not-so-good. We'll see! And this week will be better!

I'll try to get back in later! Kisses!

Hello all!

WSW! ouch! I can only imagine what it must have been like to listen to that water dripping all night long... wondering, worrying! I hope at least you get more sleep!.... Nobody wants to deal with a water leak! Yikes!


Ceara- thanks for your note... I went there, had trouble logging in again, reset... and then had to leave the house...not sure why that website is so fussy ... starting to remind me of the Empress's problems w/ this site....
My guess is browsers and etc are not a good fit...
But you know me, I'll keep trying...

Another weekend passed by at the speed of light! Have to admit I did get two "naps" in although both of them were more "watching reruns laying down"...

Did go bowling last night w/ DH ... didnt do as well as I would;ve liked but didnt make a fool of myself either... really need to get stronger and feel more confident out there... Finally am starting to recognize when I am not standing straight, etc...
All of this is a struggle for me as I am not a natural athelete .... Luckily, the team DH and I paired up with is mostly only in it for the fun.... although no one minds when we do well!

******

Thought of the day :

"People can change. Make the effort. Take the time and change yourself."
---Dali Lama

Question of the day :

"Will you vote on Nov 11?"

*****

PS-- does anyone a "garden pond"? I need some info about the black pond "form" ... Are most of them just hard plastic or are they metal coated w/ the plastic? I tried to pound a hole in one to make myself a big planter and the nail and hammer just bounced....

any thoughts??


**************
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On a completely different note, I watched a Book Notes (not sure I have the name right..) featuring Bobby Kennedy, Jr... he was explaining how the asthma rate has doubled in the last 30 yrs but in the last 5 yrs that figure has more than doubled again...
Also, that we are have lots and lots of mercury in our bodies from the air we breathe...
This can be directly linked to companies in the Ohio Valley who are burning coal-related products w/o removing the mercury...
These outfits were found guilty in court and were to be held responsible but shortly afterwards, the federal law was changed to allow mercury to be released into the atmosphere...

Very similiar scenarios for other enormous wealthy companies mining mountain tops in WV w/o permits. Dynamiting the mountain tops off to get to the ore beneath... the mountain top is dumped into the river valley below, suffocating everything beneath...
again, they were found guilty in court...
and again, very quickly, the federal law was changed...

I find this all very compelling as Bobby Kennedy Jr has no interest in holding a public office and has been an environmentalist for over 20 yrs....

In many respects, we have been "lulled" into thinking that we are now "protecting" the enviromnent...
Or, let me put it this way.... I believed we were ...

BTW, the book is "Crimes Against Nature"... Bobby Kennedy Jr....

PS.... The mercury in our bodies has been found to be the direct cause of
lower IQ's in babies plus a host of other abnormalities and health problems...
I find this very eyeopening .....
Especially since the biggest block of people who DO NOT vote are single women of child bearing age....The "experts" believe these women don't feel the issues have are not releveant to them....

I think the point is that there are too many folks paying for decisions thinking most of us are looking the other way....

Sorry to be so long...

KETTLE IS ON!

wsw, glad your MRI ordeal's over. And sorry to hear about the leak---that kind of thing is such a pain, no getting around it or being positive about it. Hope it resolves itself soon. Thank you for giving us abit of info on Rosh Hoshanna; it's always so interesting to hear about other traditions.

Arabella, good luck with the double deadline frenzy. thanks for checking in with us. Hey, is it my imagination or have I heard you mention 'radiant recovery', and the whole cutting down on sugar thing. I'm giving that a try now. So far so good!

I have 2 good days behind me now! What a difference 48 hours can make. My body is thanking me for giving it great food and less sugar and caffiene!

coffee w/ ff 1/2 and 1/2
1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup scrambled egg sub.
1 veg. 'sausage'

2 whole wheat toast w/ lite Swiss, peppers, onion, lettuce, mustard
1 hard-boiled egg
chocolate-bran muffin
apple

lentil-butternut soup
green beans
cornbread w/ carrot-onion butter

snacks: 1 little box raisins
ww tortilla w/ lite cheese, curried cabbage
banana w/ 1 tbsp. cashew butter

calories: 1475
fiber: 36 grams
fat: 31 grams
water: 10 glasses
exercise: 45 min. "Firm" cardio-sculpt video
3 miles treadmill

Hello all!

Yesterday was like a long race that had me getting further and further behind... Phones were nonstop... oddball, left field questions ...

Yesterday's official weigh in did show a loss but only .4 .. I tried to stay "empty" but the crazy day had me eating nearly a pound of baby carrots and a couple apples as well as my tofu scramblers.... Glad I had on hand what I did or that bag of candy corn left near the coffee pot might have been irresitble!

WSW- any good news about the water leak? Sending Super good vibes that the water stops coming in and the cleanup is done by someone other than yourself!

Eydie-- If only we could bottle that "Feel so good" feeling to remind us when our memory grows dim! Come to think of it, maybe that is the upside of being Off Plan !! That getting back On Plan feels so good!!

So... here we go Tuesday, here we go!

Empress! Super good vibes your way regarding career ! All of that is so nervewracking ( from my point of you) and so hard to keep in mind that it is just a big chess game...and for some of us who were taught its not nice to brag about oneself, can be a real challenge to sell our skills ...
But Empress, that is where having so many other alter could really come in handy... Hmmmmm... wonder who which one of mine I should send to the office today??

Arabella, Anagram... My favorite A team! How goes it this Tuesday??

Frogger! Or should I be saying MOMMY!! I have a feeling I should be!

Ceara! UPDATE PLEASE!

In fact, all Royals far and wide, known and unknown, please stop by for a status check!! Just a short stop in to fill us in !!

****
Thought of the day :

"Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
--John Updike, critic and writer

Question of the day :

"How many cups of coffee do you drink a day? a week?"

****

Must be off... believe it or not, I am carrying an apple/oatmeal cobbler on the bus today for "snack day"....( hee, hee, its a CORE recipe)

KETTLE IS ON!