Or part of her anyway. Nothing in comparison to our poor neighbors to the south but gusts and downpours. No library for me today. No ride in the park either now I think of it! LOL


Shad~ there are some smiling faces for you till Teel gets here!! Too bad about the weather and clothes! Is it near Spring yet? Must be a damn chilly run at night!! Are any progams you need forthcomong? Do they know what's wrong in the first place??? Or is this company filled with bumbling idiots?? Maybe you should get a book and enjoy the sitting?! As for the castle....in my dreams of course there would be lifts and elevators and especially HEAT!!! LOL Servants even! A male physio!!! And rooms for all my friends filled with soft plush furnishings in their favorite colors. and a Butler to welcome them in!

I best try and get started. Feeling quite drowsy with all this darkness. Have a great day/night and sweet dreams Miss Shad!

PS~ Sorry Shad to see the prices go up so much!! WOW!!
Thank God you didn't try and schedule everything for the finals weekend! Get home safe!

Good morning all,
Gosh I can't believe it's September already. Days are getting shorter and cooler - winter can't be too far behind. But let's get us a nice autumn first.

Mel, try and stay dry there dealing with the remnants of the hurricane. Glad we're out of the path of them - most we might get is some cloudiness but if we were to move further down south, we'd most probably be dealing with heavy rains on a more regular basis.

Shad, sounds like this current job is pretty lousy - bet you are glad it's a short term contract and you are probably counting the days to it's end, no? Your statement of cold, hungry and tired sums up exactly how I feel about dealing with winters here. I can understand not wanting to buy more clothes but perhaps you could pick up a heavier weight cardigan sweater in a neutral color that you could layer and pair with your outfits? Lightweight wool pants can be both warming and cooling - or try a pair of tights under the slacks for some extra warmth without breaking the budget. I could not sit there a be cold all day. You can only drink SO much tea to keep yourself warm too!

Teel - hope we can see some pictures of your recent trip soon. Always good to travel along with friends here.

I am still waiting on the job front. Contacted one company yesterday - they still have not made a decision yet so I'm still being considered. As for the other, I know I will have to wait until the end of the month to find out if I'm still a candidate. So I wait. Actually, it would be nice if this dragged into October as that would afford me some days off - my current job ends at the end of this month and it would be nice to have a bit of time off between jobs.

DH and I spent the holiday weekend cleaning the house and basement. We bought some storage bins and it's sort, separate, toss and store now. We even got the treadmill unearthed from the dust and covers! Of course I forgot the password to unlock the console but thank goodness for online product manuals on the Internet. Yesterday I was back on the trot again We're having perfect cool weather for a bike ride too but I was just in the mood to walk yesterday. I am committed to regular stretching and exercise as I can feel the increased aches and pains as the cooler weather sets in. DH is taking a week of vacation next week so he will be home and in my hair all next week. He also talked about working from home this Thursday and Friday. I wish he would wait until I go back to an office job before he works from home - it's rather disruptive when we are both in the same room trying to work, know what I mean?

Time to get cracking here and on with the day. Hellos to Linus and Nae and Teel and Mel and Shad and Meadow. Stay warm and sunny even if it's gray and cold

I could have sworn I posted but guess not. I must be catching the HAPPY SYNDROME!
Happy~ I was thinking of you and the indecision. Is this why the organizing is taking place???LOL When I read your post yesterday I wanted to start cleaning out the closets again. I know there is more to toss out. I am waiting for Xmas and when I get alkl the boxes down then I'll toss again. Hope you and the DH don't have too tight a fit in that room! LOL Try very hard not to hurt him permanently! Very nice exercising too by the way. Glad the dreaded machine is dusted off!! Hang in there! XOXOXOX

Where has everyone gone to?? I am on day 3 of the South Beach Diet. Yesterday the head was about to explode with a vicious headache. Today and some sinus meds have taken care of the worst part. Carb withdrawal is a ***** and this time it hit me very hard. Now I know what others have told me. My sympathies to them! I fee good but the winter doldrums are threatening to come and settle in at my apt. Hard to keep them at bay!! But I must try harder this year. Lighting will help. I have a halogen floor lamp and I intend to use it and see if it works.
Well I have rambled on long enough. Time to get sheets on my bed and the 2 loads of wash put away. Have a great day!

Hello to all! Sorry I have to confess to lurking for a couple of days...seem to have been too tired to put digits to keyboard lately!! But here I am , now, ready to regail you again with "Tales of a Monk in London"!!
But first...news from Suffolk. And it's YEE HAA!!!! At last I got the result of my benefits appeal today...and for once, a miracle has occurred!! They have found in my favour and given me a higher award than I got at the tribunal last year! I AM SO CHUFFED!!! And it lasts till 2006 when I have to submit it all again!! and hugs to my benefits welfare rights officer who put in most of the work and more hugs to my g.p. who also had to put pen to paper!!
About time something went my way for once! I hope the : spread across the ponds to my friends!
And so, as I think I said earlier in the weeks post, I am back on track for a weightloss before Christmas. I am weighing in at 79kg. I am keeping a food diary and I have to admit to cheating somewhat by taking some herbel pills that are sworn to help. I got all enthused and bought 2 months suply as then you were eligable for 1 month free. We shall see if they are worth the paper they are written about on! I have to confess to weighing in on Sunday at 79kg and then not being able to keep myself off the scales this morning when they read 78.5kg. If anyone wants the info I will happily p.m. the info to them.
London was ok. VERY VERY exhausting but the weather was mainly fine all apart from the day we went on the Eye and we had a shower whilst we were "in-flight!" and could see it raining in outer London. The rest of the time it was brilliantly sunny and hot
(brief pause there to feed a hungry hound!)
There is a new proggy on BBC1 tonight for those of you not in England that receive satellite. It is yet another try from the government to help the UK get thinner and fitter and not live on junk food. It is on at 20:00hrs and I think all of the country awaits! I certainly am! I will tell you all about it tomorrow!
Sorry I haven't done the holiday snaps yet....I will...promise!!
Meanwhile I am off to read the posts and catch up with everyone's news. Hope you are all well. Linus?? What have you been up to??

OH WHAT JOYOUS NEWS MISS TEEL!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! HOLD ON TO YOUR GOOD VIBES TILL THE FIRST CHECK IS IN YOUR HAND!!!

Good luck with the pills and the scales!!! Keep us posted. Inquiring minds like to know things!!! LOL Lurk all you want. Sometimes that's the best thing for us. Reading and no posting. Like a mini vacation. Glad the trip was good but how is the head/neck area now??? Will wait patiently for the pics! LOL

Hope everyone else is ok. Sending love and hugs to the missing bits of our forum! Be well Worldly Chicks and stay Happy!!! Have a great Friday and a lovely weekend!

Hee hee thanks Miss Mel! I turned on the page and that lovely greeting hit me straight in the eye!!
Well guess what time it is over here? 03:06 hrs precisely! and yes here I am awake. So I thought I would make up for my missing days with no posting...
London was good but absolutely knackering. The weather was mainly ok but unfortunately it rained on one of the occassions we really didn't want it to..the day we went on the Eye. We could still see a long enough way but we watched the rain deluging parts of outer London and it rained when we were "in flight" though it had stopped by the time we got out at the end. The other days it was brilliantly warm and sunny. Couldn't have asked for better.
We arrived on the Saturday and having unpacked, e got on the train to Canary Wharf where there is a new half price ticket booth for the West End. My friend managed to get tickets for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that night, row B at the London Palladium for £15 =!.50 admin fee! He was ECSTATIC to say the least!! The show was brilliant. It is absolutely the film put on the stage...with flying and swimming car to boot! All done by cleverly diguised ropes and pulleys and great back cloths rolling and billowing to make you think of it as waves and clouds. Absolutely marvellous! The Palladium was packed to bursting and the ice cream was delicious too! Losely ice cream. Has anyone tried it? I had the vanilla. I always like that flavour but this make was exceptional. At £2.50 per tub it ought to be exceptional!! Gry Wilmot was playing the lead and Lionel Blair the child catcher. He was scary! G.W. has now finished his run as Caracticus. Jason Donovan has taken over this week, I am glad we saw it when we did. My faourite song is Husher bye Mountain. He did it beautifully and I have to confess to crying. At my age!!
Sunday we had a late start as we didn't get back much before midnight, and we trained down to Westminster and sat on the Embankment to have our picnic. I really promise photos will come eventually! There were crowds of people waiting to get on the Eye but I must say I was totally impressed with the organisers for their help with me and my wheelchair. We had booked to go on at 15:00hrs but we were there a tad early so we got helped to the front of the queue (sorry folks for queue jumping! ) and into the Pod. It was a truly amazing experience. Outside in the waiting area there were three people wearing "foil" cylinders doin all sorts of actions and moves. I hope you can imagine what the heck I am going on about! They were very playful...two big "full sized" ones and a "baby". One of them took a liking to the 9 year old in our party and swallowed him up! It was hilarius!!
Well chicks, it is now past half past three so I guess I had better go back to bed and get some more zzzzzz in.
Bye bye till then! Be good! Be careful!
Love from Teel

Morning - or evening all. It's Friday - Yeeeehaaaa and it is raining and cool with the promise of snow and hail and rain tomorrow with a top of 12C. Not a pretty thought. Brendan will be here tonight. I told him to bring warm clothes. Aaah well.
Job is being very easy at the moment. Lots of time for talk and learning about the other people, and a colourful lot we are - one Pom, one Irish, 3 Australian Italians and a couple of Greeks, one Indonesian Dutch, one Suid Afrikan and one Kiwi. We have trouble understanding each other let one being as one as far as writing styles go. But the folks are mostly fun. One day, someone will get Info Pak going properly and we will have to work for a living. But it doesn't seem like any day soon.

This weekend will be spent doing the town and maybe going out to the Dandenong ranges (provided it doesn't snow) I have to check on hiring a car for the day as well as getting some flights home for next week. No point in sitting around the apartment for the entire weekend.

Still toddling along at the gym and down the river bank for runs. Bought a pilates video but it doesn't seem to want to play on the tv at the apartment. I will have to check on how the video is set up. It will mean not having to run 3 mornings a week in the cool cool frosty times, but instead I will be able to do something in the warmth of the flat. I do enjoy the run - not that I run as much as I would on a treadmill but I do run at least half of the distance!!!!! Promise I do!
Anyway, not much else of news. Glad you are still in the race Happy, but it doesn't do much for your confidence when you get left out of the loop as to what is going on. Teel good news on the $$$$$$$ spend them wisely - oh what the heck, have a lash kiddo - be rash for once. Buy the hound a bone!!!

Better go check out the journals. Then book flights home for next weekend. I have to go, so better check it out and just do it. Catch up soon.

Teel tomorrow or later tonite if I have time I must go in search of your EYE! I have absolutely no idea what that is! I lead a very sheltered life Each post makes the trip sound even better than the last. How wonderful. Looking forward to the pics
Shad~ Poor thing freezing over there!! Need to go and find a firie to keep you warm!! Firegighters make Hot lovers!
Hoep the weekend and your touring is a great time for both of you! Have fun.

Today was gorgeous and I drove to the "avenue" and looked into Hispanic store windows. I will go back often I think but a bit farther up. These stores really were too small inside for me. but seemed like friendly people. One store I signalled with hands to say I would be back when their paint dries! LOL
Diet was great but I had a very small piece of pizza with cheese and veggies on it. Still not the end of the nworls. Could habve been worse if I washed it down with my usual PEPSI!!!
I feel so good that I drove farther away and so ridicuously proud of myself. Tomorrow is a trip to the park with lunch and a book. Either my diet book or the cookbook maybe. This way I can read uninterupted. The bookkeeper is coming but I have my cel phone and would only be 10 mins away. We could meet here.
Hope you all have marvelous weekends and miss the others. Be well and happy everyone and I will try and be my most positive!!

"Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."
Mark Twain

I started doing my "March to Fitness" tape again today. One droplet of sweat at a time I will succeed

Hope the journeys around your neighbourhood are plentiful this weekend Mel, crossing my fingers for you that the weather holds

Teel-Hope you are getting some sleep. London sounds like you were busy and involved the entire time, good way to visit a city!

Shad-Sucks that the weather is chilly but at least the gang at work sounds friendly and enjoyable. Have fun exploring Melbourne!

Good energy to all have a beautiful, relaxing cuddly weekend

Hi everyone.
Where is Linus?? Kirsty I hope you are ok and not lying injured in a heap somewhere. Please log in and let us know how you are...I am worried!!
It is really windy here today and I have a headache and no energy whatsoever. Think I may go and have an afternoon nap on my bed. I have no doubt as to who will join me there!! I have a sleep pattern!! Yee haa! I now wake up every two hours. I was so tired this morning I stayed in bed and dozed off again. When it came to lunch time I took my blood sugar levels and found they were a tad low at 3.7, don't suppose that helped really!
So I think I will disappear off the scene and come back later. I have 150 or so photos to edit so I can put some of them in the posts for you all to travel round London with me!!

I heard someone say this is a holiday weekend. How could someone even say that? Is that how these horrible days are going to be thought of? Another day off work? There is talk of making it a national holiday. Guess it will be like Memorial Day. I must be one of the few who cry about ALL those deaths too. Sad. Thousands of men, women and children dead all over the world and all someone could think of was another holiday. OK let me get off the soapbox!



PHOTOS!! YEE HAA!!
Teel~ Hope the sleep helps at least...... and also every TWO hours!! Sorry to hear that! Hope that improves too!!

Meadow~ It was so sunny before but I started cooking and now it's windy and cloudy! Good for you that you started the tape. Maybe we will all exercise our way through the blustery season! Enjoy. Mark Twain was soooo right. I am going one step at a time and NOT rushing forward. I "fell" too many times! LOL Thanks for the motivation!!

Yesterdays ride had one flaw and I am paying for it now and last night. I did not see a broken sidewalk under a tree. Eyes are not good in dark places. Went down it so hard that I got a bit of whiplash. Went to bed ignoring it and it woke me up in the wee hours with sciatica. Fool that I am, I had forgotten to take the anti-inflammatories. So I am cooking and will see if the body responds. Then I'll go for the lunch thing. I had planned on 2 rides. One upon waking. this too shall pass. The SBD seems to be working. I had to peek at the scale and 2almost 2 pounds are gone. I will not get excited till next week and see if they stay gone. Could be a fluke. But nonetheless exciting!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and to our missing buddies I send lots of warm wishes, hugs and happy thoughts. Hope you are all well too.!

Good morning girls,

Ow Mel - sorry to hear that you've gone bump in the night - take care this weekend and hit the anti-inflamatories. Maybe this weekend just stay close to home and go out for a bit of fresh air. However, being somewhat along the hurricane's final dying paths I suppose that you are getting many a cloudy day.

Another weekend upon us. Dear neighbor across the street has given everyone an early start as he decided to jack hammer his driveway once the sun appeared in the sky. Thank you neighbor. We're in for some nice dry weather but it's a pain to be outside as the small pesky bees are worked to a frenzy and they are so annoying. They constantly buzz you as they are attracted to both sweet smells, food and sweat. They all die off the first frost so this time of year they are having the equivelant of a wild fraternity party around the humans as the end of their life quickly approaches. So I'll stay in and clean instead.

I joined and exercise challenge and dragged DH with me. The scale isn't moving so I have to focus on portion control this week. Still waiting on the job front, hope to hear from at least one company this week.

Enjoy your weekend Shad. Ain't nothing like a so-so job to make anticipating Friday nights all the more exciting!

I'm off to do the clean and toss. Have a good one all.

Had to come back and say feeling much better! YAY!! Pills worked and I went out. windy but lovely!! Just enough sun and a light overshirt was only needed. Gotta love the end of summer. Good sleeping weather!!
(MEL<-----don't listen to her cause her windows are still closed with the A/C on! )

Have a fabulous evening!!

Mel you are hilarious! I'm glad your pills are doing their job and making you lightheaded and giddy again