I am REALLY TIRED! Sheeessshh ...!!

I got home from work at 7, hurried up and stripped the sheets and put them in the wash, fried some chicken for Erin to have when she comes home from class tonight. Empied the DW and refilled, cleaned up the dishes and splatters ... fed the dogs, put out the trash and recycling, and now I'm going to sit for a while! The only other thing I have to do is get clothes ready for tomorrow and make my lunch. Oh and put the sheets back on the bed. I probably have six sets for my bed, but these are my favorites so I'm putting them back on.

Well ... those little cookies were a huge hit! They really liked them and they tasted pretty good too! Next month I'll be making another wacky thing but it'll be prettier. I'm making a centerpiece of vegetables, on skewers and stuck into half of a cabbage. I'll have to take a picture of it because it's hard to describe. Or maybe I can find one online. Anyway, they like my weird food: in the past I've made the cat litter box cake, blue jello and gummy fish in a fishbowl, centerpieces from half a potato, with a hole in it and a carrot stuck in the hole, and a carved bell pepper on the top of the carrot. It looked like a palm tree on an island. It was cute.

My brother called tonight and said the second foster child was leaving on Friday. He's going to live with his great-grandparents. Nice, huh? These people let him be in the foster system for the last 7 months, but when they got wind that he was up for adoption, they all of a sudden decided they'd take him. Loser jailbird mom will have access to him when she gets out of the pokey in a few years. Of course, meanwhile, he's being raised by old folks and believe me, he's a handful! I hope it works out, mainly for the baby (he'll be a year old next month). My brother and SIL are crushed, as you can imagine.

And that's my day. Nothing but work, hurry, work, drama, more work, more hurry, and more drama.

Vickie, how old is your sister? I'm sorry to hear that she did such a number on that ankle. I don't envy what's ahead of her. Hopefully she didn't get much nerve damage because to me, that's been the worst part of mine. You know how your foot feels when it goes to sleep? Mine feels like that 100% of the time, day and night. It sucks.

Sandra, you GO! That's awesome! I know your doctor is soooo proud and you should be too!

I'm still at my ticker weight and maintaining. I would like to lose more for myself, but everyone says don't. I don't know. I think it's none of their beeswax, to be honest, but oh well.

Break is over. I have to get back to work now.

Hi chickies,

Kathy - those cookies are AMAZING - how very creative of you - but frankly I'm sure none of us is surprised? don't forget to take a break now and again!

Paula - good for you for getting back on track w/the meetings - it sure helps when you like your leader! Looking forward to your results next week!

Sandra - you go girl - I'm sure your dr is very proud of you - you are doing great! (which reminds me I have a dr appt on the 10th so I better get cracking!).

Vickie - too bad about your sister's ankle - sure hope it doesn't cause her too much pain? Now what's up with your ankle? Have you ever seen the dr about it??

Well I finally went back to work today - my tummy was okay - but my back was hurting so I was kinda hunched over this morning - brought in my boxes of 'cruise' chocolates and we had a 'guavaberry liqueur 'tasting party this morning and I debriefed everyone on our exciting trip.

Bad news is I am feeling worse than ever tonight - since this afternoon I have had a burning in my throat and now I have a headache and my sinuses are starting to feel funny - THIS IS NOT GOOD! I dare not be sick - taking meds and going to bed soon. My poor boss was quite frazzled while I was gone - and today kept saying we need to hire someone to help you - ya right - that's what I've been trying to tell you - she finally got the picture of how crazy it is once I was gone. I can barely keep up but doing my best - of course she wanted this big financial update for tomorrow 9 am - so I stayed late at work finishing that up - altho frankly I myself am not sure of how accurate it is!

At least cleaning lady came today so house is clean (for the time being anyways). Big ds at work, dh jamming, little ds in bed and dd on computer (altho her internet has been disconnected) to do history project. I think I just got too run down on my vacation - need a vacation to recuperate? Not a good idea to burn the candle at both ends but gee I just didn't want to miss a thing!

If I don't feel better tomorrow I shall probably visit dr or clinic!

Hope everyone is doing fine and well!

Frouf

Frouf, I'm so sorry you're icky! Maybe taking the rest of the week off (manager will HAVE to understand) would help you. There's nothing worse than feeling bad and dragging thru the workday, then going home and having more to do there!

I am planning on getting a housekeeper after the first of the year. Erin will be gone, and all they would have to do is the downstairs since nobody will live upstairs. It's a shame too (we could rent it out!!) because there will be 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and two living areas that are totally empty.

I'm sure your coworkers were jazzed to get the cruise candy! I know I would be!

Good evening all! Little dd woke up this morning and promptly vomited all over. Yee haw. But the rest of the day she was ravenously hungry/thirsty, and begging for food all day, so I'm assuming she's feeling better? Who knows.

Kathy, as soon as you know your plans for Shaun's graduation, let me know so I can figure out my Chicago trip. I have made the trip there and back in one day, so I may do that, but it makes for a very long day. Have to see what dh wants, I guess.

It's turning cooler here. It was downright chilly yesterday (high in the low 50's I think) and we broke down and turned on the heater for nighttime. I don't mind sleeping in an icebox, but the little girls would be uncomfortable.

I'm going to relax and watch TV tonight. I'm threatening to come down with a cold, so it should be an early bedtime for me.

I had my visit with the nose dr yesterday. They did a CT scan of my head, which was interesting. It was kind of like a dental x-ray. Anyway, he said my sinuses are actually looking pretty clear now, but my nose was very inflamed, which swells the passages to the sinuses shut, causing the intermittent sinus infections. He said he could see that I have significant allergies (although I didn't mention I thought I was coming down with a cold). He said he could do the surgery, but the underlying problem (the allergies) would just render it useless quickly. So he sent me across the hall to schedule an allergy test to see just what all I'm allergic to so we can start some immunotherapy (allergy shots) probably. I asked why my allergies were so much worse now than they used to be, and he said they tend to worsen as we age. Sigh. So I am to quit taking any allergy type medicine until my appt on Oct 4th, where they inject all kinds of allergens under the skin of my upper arms for 2 1/2 hours. Sounds delightful, huh? I'm really hoping they don't find a cat allergy, because, frankly, cleaning up after my 3 cats and defurring my house looks like too big a job for me to handle. I guess I'll see.

I'm making chocolate chip cookies for the girls and dh (I've had 1 and have counted it and will stop there). I've been good and will continue being good.

Night all!
Angela

Angela, I will certainly let you know the moment I have firm details! If I have a hotel room, there's no reason you can't stay too (if DH is okay with it) because it would at least break up your trip so you weren't doing all the driving in one day. We will see what happens. I'm afraid I might not know until a week or so before because we have to make sure he passes the final PT tests. Keeping fingers, toes, eyes and legs crossed...

I am taking the laptop to the bedroom and resting. Tired, tired, TIRED of housework, laundry, dishes, food, cleaning, dogs, and pretty much everything else! The buzzer just sounded on the dryer, so the sheets are ready.

kathy, angela, and vickie, i am jealous. actually, i am very happy you chickies may get to meet irl. you're going to have a blast.

frouf, i hope you get some help at work. now wouldn't that be something?

i made the 1 pt brownies tonight. guess i had to cuz the first thing my doctor said today was he needed the recipe. then the first thing my w a instructor said today was she had made some over the weekend. so? i had to have some, too. monkey see --monkey do.

Sandra, I found y'all! And can you post the 1 pt brownie receipie?

Hi, everyone. I'm Jane, a former student of Sandra's. Um, hope that doesn't make you mad! Anyhow, she's been my inspriation in all sorts of areas of my life and I started WW about 4months ago and have seriously only kept off 4lbs. I've since started a new teaching job, moved to a new location in Ft. Worth, and realized I eat in immediate reaction to stress or any type of negative feelings.
Basically, I need a serious does of motivation!
Also, I'll be frank...my computer at home needs some seriouls tlc. So, if I don't post every day, or every week...don't freak out. I'm hoping next paycheck, we can take this poor baby in and get 'er cleaned up.
Also, where do I find your menus???
Y'all have a great night...I need to get to bed. I came home and took a nap, argh. No, didn't mean to sound like a pirate, just hate it when I throw my sleep cycle off!
Glad to find y'all!
Jane

Hi All:

It's just after 4AM here in Toronto and it's another night of early waking. Work definitely interferes with my sleeping.

I've read all the posts and continue to be so amazed that the amount of WORK that women do. Do you know research says that women work at least one month more a year than men do? I think the women on this board have upped the average number of female hours worked!!!

I was distressed to read about the foster child. It is so strange to me that we seem to make so many mistakes in child care. I suppose I should simply celebrate that most people are well loved. That child will be better off for having had even 7 months of loving care. Thank goodness for resilience!

And, Kathy, I'm moving in Real estate is frightfully expensive here and I live in a space so small that the thought of ever having empty rooms is a luxury!

I'm proud to report that I'm not up looking for snacks during my insomnia. I had a piece of whole wheat toast and a cup of warmed low fat milk, spiked with vanilla and Splenda

Rhonda

Good Morning Chicks! Well, I'm ashamed to say that my house is a disaster and that I did NOT start cleaning yet because I am still trying to straighten up and put things away. And, I'm working on my budget trying to rearrange things to come up with money for Cassie's medical treatment. Cassie's urinalysis puts her at suspicion of Cushings disease and so she'll have the first ACTH stimulation test on Monday. I didn't even ask how much it costs.

Speaking of a messed up budget....we are having a new garage door installed today that's going to cost us about $1100. It's beautiful though and is super insulated. Sigh. The money seems to be going out faster than coming in.

Ok, I'm really going to go and catch up with all of you now. Thankfully, it's been a slow week and I don't think I'm that far behind.

Jane, welcome! I'm so glad you found us and any friend of Sandra's is an automatic friend of ours!!

Rhonda, you just come on down anytime! There's room for everybody.

Better get busy. I'll be back in a bit.

Vickie, I hear you on that money thing. Bindy brought a dead bird inside last night and it was -- let me just leave it as saying it was very gross -- so she has to go in immediately for a checkup. We were vacuuming and spraying and pouring bleach in the trash and tying up bags ... I even threw away a towel we had used to pick it up with. Gross is actually an understatement.

I've been saving money aside for the Chicago trip and hope to add more to it, but I really need to use it for her vet trip, and Bridge is due to go in also. I need to go to the doctor for my annual checkup, and so on and so on. It just never stops!

Good morning all! I'm sitting here with my nice bowl of warm malt o meal and bananas...as Sandra would say, "Life is good." I should be having my girls do their chores, but they're playing so nicely in the other room building a castle out of blocks, I decided to leave them be. Kids can only be kids for a short time.

Have any of you seen that new milk from Anderson Erickson I think? It's called Moooods, and it's regular white milk that's been lighly flavored with no added sweeteners. I got the strawberry yesterday, and I must admit, I thought it was pretty ghastly. There's a nice initial strawberry flavor, but it's ends up tasting bitter because it's not sweetened at all. I stirred in a tsp of Splenda though, and it was delicious! There's vanilla, strawberry, orange, and cinnamon I think.

Later chickies!
Angela

Sandra, I'm SO disappointed that you and Curtis had to cancel your dancing lessons. I certainly understand. The dancing "frame" is really tough on the upper body, particularly the arms and shoulders. Jim and I still dance sometimes in the kitchen. We are SO silly! I'm disappointed that I didn't get to see Frouf too. I know my nerves would have disappeared after the first minute! You recovered quickly too from your bad evening of eating. Good for you!

Kathy, my Sister/BIL bought a Honda Van and the LOVE it. Jim and I have another Buick LeSabre. We're not sure what we'll buy next time. I like the Toyota Avalons. We like big luxury or old people's cars as my Niece likes to tell me! It was hard to pass up on the GM dollars that we had last time when the car was totaled in our accident. I think we got an extra $2000 off and that was hard to make up in the Toyota. So you'll be staying NORTH of Great Lakes! You'll be in Wisconsin for God's sake! Just kidding. It would take us about an hour to drive to the Naval Base from here. Maybe Angela could stay in a hotel near I 80 and then she can drive with us up to meet with you somewhere. Will you have a car? My mind is already racing about where we'll go to eat. There are a million wonderful possibilities. Chicago is an eating town. Of course, not all of them will be great Core choices. It's fun to plan.

Angela, it would be AMAZING if you could come. I would never think of any of our Chicks as "butting in"! Based on where Kathy is going to be staying I'd suggest you think about staying the night. I still haven't been over there to check but there are two (one is brand new) hotels right off of I 80 and I'm thinking they will be very reasonable for a night or two if that's what you decide.

Frouf, I'm SO sorry to hear that you are not well. Maybe you caught some kind of a bug on the ship? Andrea sounds like such a nice lady...willing to let you fly first so you could come meet up with me. I wouldn't have left her behind either. I'm so happy that it sounds as if your cruise was a rousing success. Maybe we'll be able to see some of the pictures? I'm still waiting to see a picture of you. You know I was going to have to wander around the airport with a sign that said "Froufie" on it! Is the war zone at home any better?

Patti, it's always so good to hear from you. You are such a sweetie. I hope you find babies in your pond and that they survive this year!

Vivian, I hope it's nothing serious. Keep us posted.

Suzanne, to our little corner of the world! Sorry we haven't been very chatty this week. Normally, we have about 10 pages by this point in the week. How are you doing so far?

Rhonda, great job! You sound like you have been recovering quickly from a bad meal here and there. That's a huge accomplishment for all of us!

Melissa, where are you? We haven't seen you in a couple of days!

Paula, I LOVE going to the flea market. We have several here but I haven't gone in a long time. I never seem to make the plan to go. It's such a great idea for you to be doing all of that cooking in advance. I find that when I plan ahead, I do great on Core. If I wait until the last minute to decide what to cook, then I'm doomed! Congratulations on being back at your meetings. They make a real difference to me. I'm glad they didn't make you pay. Every little bit helps.

Ok, I was more behind than I thought. I'm going to submit this post now and go catch up some more. Stay tuned for part 2!

OK, take 2. I had written a long post and then hit something on my keyboard -- and poof! it was gone. UGH.

I was able to keep my night time snacking under control last night, brought out the bowl of grapes and a big cup of tea. I need to make sure I plan a night time snack, if its not planned, I can easily ruin a great day at 9:30 at night.

Frouf - sorry to hear you are still not feeling well. You could have picked up something on the plane. Take it easy this week - as we all know, work will still be there tomorrow.

Kathy - how long did your brother and SIL have the foster child? Its a wonderful thing they are doing, so many children need a safe home. I hope the state is doing what is best for the child and not what is best for the grandparents. My dh and I would consider adopting an older child if we feel the need to expand our family. I remember reading how a child over the age of 2 is considered un-adoptable. Still makes me sad to think about that.

Angela, how is your dd today? How old is she? My dd is 3 1/2 --such a cute age. But, boy, are we in trouble when she is 13. She is already very independent, stubborn and thinks she is always right!

Welcome Jane! This board is very freindly, I'm a newer member and everyone has been very great and helpful. I hope you find the motivation you need through us!

Sandra - congratulations on the loss and good Drs appt! Its always better that Drs are happy with our progress. Keep up the great work.

Well, got to get ready for a meeting and then I'm going out to lunch with some friends. I rarely take lunch, let alone go out, so it should be a good day.

Kathy, I'm so happy to see that you know how to relax after work and destress from the day....NOT! What a sad story about your Brother's foster children. Sometimes the system just doesn't make sense. My Sister is 59 and she had her first stroke at 50. She has never taken care of herself so none of us were surprised. They say she doesn't have any muscle or tendon damage. They aren't sure about the nerves yet. It doesn't really matter because I'm fairly certain that she won't do PT. She wouldn't do any after the stroke and has a hard time walking and you can barely understand her speech. Sad. As for your weight, I think you should go ahead and keep trying to lose if that's what YOU want to do. As long as you aren't anorexic, what's the problem? Hey.....I want a housekeeper too. Cleaning stinks. Actually, not cleaning stinks!

Frouf, you sound like I did before I ended up on the antibiotics and prescription cough medicine. I hope you are feeling better this morning or that you've already seen the doctor. My ankle isn't worse but it's not better either. It feels better in the morning and worse at night. Most of the time I can do the normal walking motion but I can't flex it or roll it out to the side. Jim is still lobbying for me to call the doctor. If it's not better next week, I'll call. It's been going on for about 3 weeks now, I think. Hey, you're going on this cruise may have been a brilliant idea if it gets your Manager to realize just how much you have been doing and how hard your job is. What a move on your part!

Angela, if your DH might come...why not make a min vacation out of it? If you are here for two dinnertimes then I can take you guys to my favorite Core restaurant which is very close to I 80! I hope you're feeling better this morning. My Doctor suggested allergy testing to me too. I'll wait to hear your report before I go schedule myself! Huge congratulations for stopping at one cookie. I know they are your weakness! I've never seen the milk but I'll look for it. I presume it's skim?

Welcome, Jane, and great luck with the program! I can certainly understand how someone could consider Sandra to be an inspiration and a motivator. She is for me.

Woo Hoo....I'm caught up!

I'll go start a menu thread and then I'm going to go call Cindy and shower for the garage door man!