Okay, I just got a sweet little "loveletter" from Little Mrs. Susie Homemaker kissing up to me. I hate the passive/aggressive types!!!

So, chickies, I am sick. I lost my voice and am on my way to bronchitis. But, hey, I lasted until the end of November...this must be some kind of record.

Kerry, congrats on the weight loss! Keep ignoring DH when he gets negative. I know it is hard...I have to deal with the same bad attitude of my DH...but keep remembering how successful you are. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't work yourself too hard. Enjoy the big birthday party over the weekend. Safe travel.

Rob, you have my support whenever you need it. I miss your ranting and raving though. Please come and ***** a little with me!!! You must have something nasty to say about Little Mrs. Susie Homemaker...come on Robyn...give it your best shot!!!

Ginny, you haven't had it so easy either lately. I hope you try to relax over the next few days and give yourself a break. I'm glad DD is okay.

Mousie, enjoy your holiday and put school and all of the crazy stress behind you.

Take care one and all and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. When I think of what I am thankful for, you four will definitely make the list. Thanks for all of your support and senses of humor!!!

Well, I was already to do some major bellyaching about Dh and that gender in general.....and what a crummy day at work I had........but then I read Robyn's sweet message about being thankful for us (guess that includes even me, the resident low life bus driver) and it sure changed my tune. My day- while challenging- was not so bad, the people I work with are great, very family oriented. The head of transportation, (who keeps a keen interest in my oldest Dd, it is a long story why-) even let Dd ride with me this afternoon (this is the 18 yr old) because he has heard how homesick she has been and she did not want to be home alone this afternoon. So the sweetie let her ride with me.

Anyway, I would really love to push all this cooking and cleaning off on someone else......please.......but alas I am feeding a mob tomorrow. And really not in too bad shape to do so. But I am dog tired. Nuff bellyachin'

Mouse-golly, it rains and rains and rains on you. Hope your financial woes straighten out. And I hope you enjoy your time with your mom, and other friends/family members that you see on Turkey day. Safe travelling, hon!

Kerry- woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!COngrats on the being a big loser!!!!!!!! and with a crummy ankle too. And congrats on avoiding all the extra food at school. A big bravo to you.

Summer- this susie homemaker thing is so aggrivating for you. I can understand that....she sounds like such a ditz. Congrats on making it until almost December healthy. I hope you do not have to cook as you are not feeling well. Get some rest this weekend, if you can.......feel better!

Robyn-I have come to love your ranting and raving....... Yes, I too am so thankful that this week is over.....now we get to face the holiday hyper kiddies. Oh, joy!

Gotta go pull a pie out of the oven.....Happy Thanksgiving!
Ginny

Its over. I don't have to look at any students until Monday morning! And on Monday, we have yet another Field Trip! ARRRGH! We have one Tuesday, also, if the lift van is functional.
I'm still in Baltimore because the cat refused to cooperate. He absolutely wouldn't come anywhere near me to get himself harnessed and stuffed in a carry-case. Then he absolutely fouled his litter box. I have no idea how he managed it. I had to throw the whole thing out, because I was NOT cleaning that up. I had a new one for him anyway, but its the electric one and I think I left the plug in the car again!

Oh well: My financial problems are directly related to the fact that I teach for a private school and 11 months. I can't pick up a more lucrative summer job, and the hospital running our school hasn't given us anything but step-increases in the last 3 years I've been there. So I'm making about the same as I was 3 years ago when I started there, but working more hours... and they've increased the cost of our health insurance.
If I went back to the district I left to come to my current school or had taken the job I was offered in August, I'd be just fine. The latter place offered me nearly $7000 more a year, the former is almost $10,000. But here's the rub: I hate the administration and dislike the attitude of a whole lot of the staff, but I love the kids. And I know that what I'm doing at the school now I wouldn't be able to do in most public school systems. I don't teach a core subject area, I teach life-skills and job-skills, which I think are some of the most important things to teach ANY child. But very few public school systems have these programs for children with a disability, let alone any other child. So, I don't know what to do. If I move, I also lose the gym I work for... though if I were close enough I could still teach swimming on Saturdays. The pay would make it worth up to an hour's drive.
I don't know which way to go, to be honest. I know that in most any public school, if I told my principal that I was selected to present at a major, international convention that I would have no problems getting at least PART of my conference fee paid for, and the district would be drooling all over themselves to talk about what I'd done. I didn't get any recognition for being asked to present.
I also know that in a public system, I'd work 9.75 months or 10 months, make more money, and could work during the summer for some "extras".
But I'm not sure those are good enough reasons to move back to Virginia. I really want to go back to PA, but I've had no luck getting even recognized by any school district in my hometown. They don't accept paper or phone inquiries for jobs, only on-line application... and I update that thing constantly with absolutely no bites.

Have a happy turkey day everybody... I'm going home as soon as I catch the silly cat-beast.

Evening Ladies,
I too will add you four wonderful supportive friends to my list of blessings tomorrow. You have been there to see me through some tough times and have held my hand through those times when tempation was too great. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I was able to go and run some errands this afternoon and shake the bad mood I was starting to get in thanks to my dh. He was just a grouch this morning when I told him my plans for the day. I wanted to workout for 30 minutes here at the house this morning, clean house, get a shower, go to the bank, card store, bookstore and then go workout at Curves this afternoon or evening. He threw a **** fit saying that there was no way in h*ll I could get all that accomplished today. That I needed to clean house first. So I cleaned the house this morning, did laundry, and got a shower. He did offer to go to the bank for me after he realized what an a** he was this morning. We had gotten our van fixed this past weekend so we could go home to see my family over this weekend. He discovered that it was leaking oil, so he changed the oil and took it for a drive. When he came back he told me that he had to take it out to his friend's to have him check to see why it was leaking oil. So he was gone for about 2 hours. He came back and said that the seal on the oil pan was worn and needed replaced. So I was free to go to the card store, bookstore and Curves. So I went and enjoyed myself. Plus it helped me regroup so I would not come home and have to urge to hurt someone. I come home and ask him if he wanted to eat dinner with me tonight. Yeah sure. But you will have to wait until after his dd's basketball practice. I said fine. So I ordered his sub from the pizza shop and went to Subway for one for me. I came home and he starts complaining about how it is too late for me to be eating and that I need to stop eating so late if I want to lose weight. Mind you I have usually eaten dinner by 5 or 6 every other night of the week. Tonight I ate at 8. So instead of eating with each other like I wanted to. We eat our subs in separate rooms. Then he must have realized that I was not in the same room and he came looking for me. But I kept busy so I would not go off on him or eat through my stress and angry feelings. Why is it that man don't thing we can get a long list of errands accomplished in one day? Today's list was light compared to a normal school day thrown in on top of it.
Summer, you hold your guns with little Miss Susie Homemaker. I can't believe what a b**th she is being towards you. Who in their right mind gives 6 and 7 year olds permanent fabric paint. I hope you feel better. It is always a bummer when you are sick around a holiday. When I was younger I remember a couple times where I was sick at Christmas time. It sucked. Enjoy your long weekend. Get better so you can duke it out with little Miss Susie Homemaker and your student's parents. That is so unreal what the mother said about you.
Robyn glad to hear that you made it through the week. Sorry to hear about jury duty again. When do you have to do it? and for how long? Hope you are able to find the time to relax over the long holiday weekend.
Ginny glad that you got to spend some time with your dd on your bus route today. So how many people are you cooking for tomorrow? I hope you are able to find the time for some Ginny time this weekend.
Mouse I hope you have a safe trip to see your family. Enjoy your few days off. You deserve a few days of uninterrupted relaxation. I hope you are able to squeeze some workout time in over your busy weekend.
Well I best be off of here and go get some sleep. My sister-in-law is coming over in the morning to start the turkey. I want to get a workout in and a shower before she gets here.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Take care,
Kerry

Happy Thanksgiving chickies! Hope you all have a wonderful time with your families today! I have already worked out this morning. I did the gazalle for 20 minutes and the bike for 20 minutes. I hope to do a 15 minute walking video this evening and my ab excerises. So I think I have the excerise plan covered for today and I won't overeat. Well I better go and get ready for my company today. Plus I need to pack my suitcase for this weekend.
Take care,
Kerry

Well, I've been doing one of my favorite holiday things...watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We went off South Beach just for today, so we had pancakes and bacon this morning. I don't have to deal with cleaning since (believe it or not) at 40, I am the "baby" of the family, and nobody will let me have a holiday! I have been wanting my brother or sister to relinquish a holiday ever since we bought our house and had the space to entertain, but they won't budge. I should be grateful that I don't have to do all of the work, but I want my turn. Someday when everyone is old I will end up having to do EVERY holiday!

HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED THANKSGIVING!!!

I'm at my mom's house. I brought the laptop with me so I could maybe do some schoolwork, but none of it has gotten done.
I've been referring between my mom's kitten, Wiccan, and my own Imp. Imp is deadly serious, Wiccan thinks he is playing. We've been listening to assorted yowls and growls all day long. Its enough to make me pack it all up and go back to Baltimore so I can get some rest. This is the true meaning of CAT FIGHT!
They are fortunately both front declawed. Wiccan also likes ginger ale and keeps trying to DRINK mine!
I also did the good daughter act and went to visit my father in the hospital. Wound up arguing with him as I left the room over the old computer: my student's had fixed it so he wanted to know what was wrong. I told him, but he didn't like my answer because it makes him look less than competent.
No working out for me: I can't walk or ride a bike... I could go to one of the gyms here locally with the card from my gym, but the one that is the best is $20 for 1 visit. That's pretty pricey for a swim. I'll go back on Saturday, if I go early enough I'll go to the gym before they close, or else I'll start again on Sunday.
Hope everybody enjoyed their lunches/dinners/desserts: ours was pretty good. My mom had it ordered because she got a gift certificate to pay for it from a catering place. There was a little bit of all the favorite foods, and enough turkey for me to take home.

Happy Friday Morning to you all! Wasn't nice to sleep in this morning? I got up and went to workout at Curves. I was the only person there so far for the day. No one else came in while I was there. So it might be a long day for the ladies working there today. Just wanted to let you know that I will be thinking of you ladies this weekend. I leave with my family this morning to go visit my side of the family. So I probably won't be on line until Sunday evening or Monday. Have a great weekend!
Take care,
Kerry

WELL.... after being INVITED to rant and rave.... I was all gearing up...ESPECIALLY since my family was traveling (in town) to my bil and sil's house for dinner with my inlaws who have returned from FL for the ocassion as well as the sil's adult children. BUT, ahem... dinner was very nice. YEP. The stuff I took complimented the million dishes that she had made and dinner was very yummy! My inlaws brought a cooler full of sodas and bottled water ("We know that you don't drink soda...so we bought water for you!") The conversation was even good. Came home with a ton of left overs. I took a nap for 2 hours after coming home. Woke up in time to make turkey sandwiches and dish up a few of the other favorite leftovers. I went back to lounging about and watching television (something that I don't usually do!) The dh and the kiddos played video games, watched television and videos and generally stayed out of my way and hair!!!!

Soooooo..... sigh...... how do I rant about any of that?

Don't worry tho... I am within 2 weeks of going for Federal Jury duty. I am within 30 days of Christmas... My children seem to be BLIND to anything that needs to be done within the house....AND they keep score and whine when requested to pick up some of their junk or GAWD forbid they be asked to touch something that doesn't have THEIR name on it! OH and my new school friends EACH give *HOMEMADE* gifts to everyone on the gradelevel, all resource teachers, office staff, administration.... YEP.... that is over 15 gifts that I've been told by 2 teachers (who didn't hear each other tell me...) that "the tradition is to give handmade/homemade gifts.... They mean SO much more.") Don't give me wrong... I LOVE to give presents... 2 years ago I *EVEN* made 20+ gifts to give (at my old school) ... I DO appreciate knowing what the standards are... but I don't like being told WHO I'm supposed to give to... and WHAT it isn't supposed to be (from a store!) ........and my next question is... WHATINTHEWORLD am I gonna do?! ARGHH! .... yeah, I feel my Holiday Induced Tranquility disappearing very quickly! You won't have to wait very long before I'm back to my true form!

Wait... the 17 nearly 18 year old cat just used the floor instead of the litter box.... Yeahhhhhh, I am thinking that my TRANQUILITY is just about the **** over! GOTTA run... and try not to kill GrandmaKitty!

take care...
meee

Is it ok for me to stop cooking..........is the holiday over........ya mean I can get some rest????????????? (define rest for me please?)

Well, I do hope that everyone had a blessed and good Thanksgiving. It does sound that most of us did, short a few feline disasters.......poor Mouse and Robyn- hey, does a ranting and raving husband fit into the feline disaster category??? (sorry, Kerry, I just could not resist the urge!) Actually my Dh was no charmer yesterday......had to get the crow bar out to remove him from the football game on TV and get a minimum of help. Anyway, I worked my hoofies off....but yesterday went pretty well, and after my inlaws left (no pun intended, just at that point the cleanup was as good as it was gonna be for a while and I did get to sit down) I got a chance to relax a wee bit. A blessing in that everyone got along well.....and that most of us were here.....with FIL's health being very unstable that might not be the case next year (and who knows what can happen to any of us). My eating was pretty good- could have been worse.
No walk.......no workout.......I will get a short walk in this afternoon.

Robyn- one bitty of advice with the kids.......I once read a book that actually had the kids paying for any item of theirs that mom had to put away. It started with a warning system(for about a week, you would go around the house and put a red sticker on each out of place item and then after a week pick up the item only to be returned to its owner after he/she bought it out of jail!) I never got Dh's buy in on the idea (him being the biggest piggie of them all!). But it sounded as though it had some potential. Take a deep breath.......hang in there! And I am glad you do not have to cook!!!!!!

Mouse- how are your referee skills doing???????? Sorry about the visit with your dad. One thing I can say about that kind of situation, is that you did the right thing- tried to visit with him and show concern. Feel no guilt! If he chose to react poorly, it is a shame but surely not your fault. We know that your intent was not to make him get upset (he is probably angry about his health concerns! and taking it out everyplace else)

Summer- I love the parade too!!!!! I am glad you went off the diet- total denial of stuff that you crave leads to disaster. I'm sure that you will be back on plan soon!

Kerry- you go woman!!!!!!! GLad you got to Curves!

Gotta go......Attila the Hun got up (aw, shut up Ginny he is in a good mood for now!).
See ya!
Ginny

My referee skills must suck. At 3:00 this morning I was up for most of the rest of the night keeping the two cats apart. Mine was in the window of the room where I sleep when I'm there (my old bedroom, my mother has turned it into an office), and her kitten was on the floor. He's only 6 months old, so he has trouble getting into the windows upstairs because the ledges are higher and narrow. He can almost get inot the one in my room because there is a small bookcase in front of that window. Anytime Imp saw or heard Wiccan, he'd start growling. Imp would come over to me and put his paws on my leg which is how he asks to be picked up, but I'd pick him up and he'd curl into a little ball and start growling and hissing. I finally gave up and had to leave this afternoon. My mom is insistant that I bring Imp for Hanukkah in a few weeks, though. I'll be there Thursday night for Hanukkah, but then I'm going to Philadelphia for the convention. I wasn't going to go because I need to buy clothes, and pay the medical bills... and my mom told me to go and worry about the money later. I didn't go to the one I typically go to in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend, because I was sick (that was when I was seriously throwing up most of what I ate and I felt pretty bad). So Imp is going to stay with my mother.
Imp is glad to be back in Baltimore though, I think...he's been curled up on the bed most of the evening. I took a nap, and am going to go back to sleep in a little bit. I guess I'll get myself up tomorrow morning for water aerobics and swimming. I did all my grocery shopping with my mom today, mostly at the discount place near her house, and then at a butcher shop near her place that has the most awesome lunch meats. The only thing I still need is some miracle whip, and some Boca Burgers and Morningstar Farm's veggie chicken. Yes, all, I've discovered how to get the taste of chicken and not get sick: I'm buying the vegetarian style chicken that Morningstar Farms puts out. I usually buy the patties, but this week I had the nuggets. Very good.
The discount store even had lots and lots of Propel water. Its anywhere from $1.20 to $1.50 in the stores, but they had it for .69 cents a bottle. And now that its cold enough outside, I can drink half of one at the gym, and leave it in my gym bag in the car...
Thanks for the support on the father issues: he's always been like this though. I had a very difficult time forgiving him for losing our house when I was in high school, and then refusing to help pay for college. After we lost the house, we moved out of town, but none of us liked it, so we moved back to where I'd grown up a year later, and when we did that my first cat had to go live with him. He didn't take care of the cat. Long story short, my mom took him to court over Thanksgiving my freshman year of college: he said he wouldn't help pay for me to attend college, the judge agreed with him, I got mad at him and said he was a jerk and I wasn't going to talk to him again. So he got mad at my mother, and called us Thanksgiving night to say he'd killed the cat. The only problem was, I answered the phone. He swears he didn't REALLY kill the cat, but I'm not sure I believe him. It was 2 years before I talked to him again.
And my mother is the one who makes me do it: she drove me to the hospital yesterday because I wasn't going to go. I was just going to call him.
Anyway... I'm off to read a bit, and go to sleep. G'night all.

Mouse, glad you and Imp arrived home safely. Enjoy your Sunday off... isn't it your only day off??? Ok, you are not asking for advice about your dad, but I hope that you do not mind if I offer a piece of it. And actually, I think you are there already, so this will just reinforce what you are doing. Forgive your dad. You do not have to agree with what he is/does/how he acts/his past......etc......but you will save yourself years of heartache if you can at least forgive him and accept his shortcomings. My sister is still fighting battles with our father, who btw died 20 years ago. A sad situation indeed.
Nuff from me. TOM arrived.....so I am droopy. We went to see the Incredibles which was great. Even Dh liked it.
Gotta go.
See ya!
Ginny

I'm not holding a grudge against him, I just don't choose to do very much with him if I can help it. He is typically rude to me, especially about the weight. He doesn't understand or believe that I have an actual medical condition. Even when he eats out with me, or I grocery shop with him (he, also, needs help shopping so I sometimes go with him to the commissary, like I help my mom... so he watches me read nutrition labels and such... it takes me FOREVER to grocery shop!) he still doesn't get it.
The Jewish religion requires that you forgive a person their mistakes before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
I didn't get to the gym today. I spent most of it asleep & sick. I'm not quite sure what happened... I did get some chinese take-out on my way home, but I was careful to avoid anything that had chicken. Maybe I got something by accident.
I wish we were off on Monday, too. I didn't do any of the work I said I was going to do.

Mouse, sounds like you could be suffering from a wee bit of stress too..........can I take up the cyber brownies charge for you??? I am glad to hear that you have forgiven your dad, no matter how bad the memories. I can bore you with pages of stuff about my sister, who as I said is still fighting battles with someone who is unable to do a thing. Rather sad. I hope you are feeling better!!!!!!!!! Try to get some rest today, you had mentioned earlier that this week was going to be difficult at best. Major bummer that tomorrow is Monday, and we all return to work. I am not looking foward to it either.

We got to church this am.......so glad I went. The warring factions here are getting to me a bit (kids). I need a bit of quiet. And now, Dd is getting moody about returning to school, and (heaven forbid!) she has to help me complete some paperwork about her accident. Well, sweetie, if ya want the car fixed, the paperwork must be done. Facing up to adult life is tough.......too bad!
Guess I'd better go...hope everyone is doing ok out there. Can't we get another 4 days off??????
Ginny

Evening Ladies,
Well we survived the weekend. We got home about 30 minutes ago. Long enough to unload the car and check the mail and voice mail. Then I said that I had to check in with my friends. We had a nice time visiting with my family. I shocked a lot of people at my weight loss. Some of them hadn't seen me for a year or two and was surprised at my appearance. Plus some of them didn't recognize me because I look like a different person. That really made me feel good. Good enough to not feel guilty about eating birthday cake at my grandma's party yesterday. Also it gave me the strength to stand my ground when my dh and stepkids wanted to leave the party early. MInd you my dad, mom, 2 sisters, brother and myself were hosting it for my grandma. Plus I hadn't seen some of my family and close family friends for years. So I kept telling them no since we had my van with us. Finally I looked at my dh and told him here is the hotel key and the keys to the van leave and I will have someone drive me back to the hotel. He wouldn't go because he wasn't sure if he would be able to get to the hotel by himself. I was just sick and tired of them trying to control how our weekend in my hometown was going to be. I felt good to stand up for myself and not back down for a change. I did get my excerise in this weekend though. We stayed on the third floor and I took the steps several times. Plus went swimming on Friday and Saturday nights for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I also did the treadmill for 30 minutes yesterday morning. So I feel good about my excerise this weekend. Haven't done anything today yet. Don't know if I will or not. Glad to hear that everyone had a great holiday weekend. Chat with you all more tomorrow. Time to go unpack and start putting stuff away. Take care.
Kerry