Hey!
Well I already lost one post. So, let me try again. Not much happening here this morning, just fighting these little teeny tiny ants from ****. They will probably carry the dog off in the middle of the night. Sons car still isn't fixed. He got it back Sunday, the transmission is still messed up after it was changed over from an automatic to five speed. He was at work, so I told him I would take it to the shop and drop it off. Well, that was awful. At first it was driving fine. I stopped to put gas in so I could make it to the repair shop, and on the way, it messed up so bad that I was in the middle of traffic being flipped off because it wouldn't go above five miles an hour. Thank goodness my hubby was following me. I finally had to pull over and we drove to the repair shop and told them to tow it. They better not charge for tow either, because it was supposed to be right when it left the shop and it most certainly was not.
Having a hard time staying focused on losing weight. Getting a really bad attitude about it. It seemed so much easier during the school year when I had everything planned out, and lunch packed etc.... I haven't excercised which I keep planning on doing, but just can't manage to make myself. We were playing tennis everyday until the past two insane weeks. The most excercise I did was to clean the pool last night. Yipppeeee.

Ginny: Sorry to hear about your dh lyme disease. That makes ya really really tired I guess. You have deer eating your veggies? We have some critter eating my fish. Either that, or they decided they don't want to live there anymore. My pond is full of baby frogs and about three big frogs and seven fish. At the beginning of the summer I had 21. HMMMMMMMMMMMMm.

Mouse: That really sucks about your ring and necklace. I know you may be able to replace those things, but it just isn't the same. Not to mention the fact that people are so stupid and have no respect for people's things anymore.

Summer: Glad your tag sale went well. It's hard sorting through stuff like that. What exactly is SOuth Beach? A woman I work with was doing that for a while. Is it anything like Atkins?

Kerry: Hope your headache is gone away. I get migranes when it is tom. Just got over that myself, I was worried that would happen while we were at Myrtle Beach. Did you finally make it to the library?

Robin: Staff development in July? Yuck. I am taking a class from August 8-12. However, there is a five hundred dollar stipend. So, that makes it a lot easier to swallow. Ha!

Sue: Hope you're doing ok.

Let me get off this thing and get some stuff done. Ants to fight, clothes to wash, the work never ends.
Cya later!
Pam

Morning All,
I was feeling a little bit better this morning until I came home from Curves. I was walking up the front walk to the tune of my dh yelling and ranting about something to his one son, then he started in all of the kids. So I have another headache thanks to him. It looks like it is going to be a long hot day! I tried talking to him and told him to go walk away from them and the situation and he told me off. So let him have a pissy kind of day. I am not going to put up with him like this today. I will just have to work on avoiding him until he is in a better mood.
Pam, that must have been frustrating this morning trying to get your son's car to the repair shop. I hope they fix it right this time. As for the weight issue, I think it is just that you have a lot of stress in your life right now with your db being sick and your ds's car not running properly. Once life is back to a normal balance for you, you will probably have the desire and motivation again. I felt that way a couple weeks ago, but now I am right back in the mindset that I am going to try my hardest to take off these stubborn pounds that keep hugging on to my body. LOL
Yes I did make it to the library yesterday afternoon. I got a couple books for the kids to read. I wish their father never told them that they could take a break from reading until the end of July. It makes it so much harder for them to pick back up where they left off with their reading at the end of May. But my dh said they needed the break and that they would be fine. Well it came to bit him in the butt big time, since his one son struggles to read. So I sat down with my little struggling reader yesterday afternoon and we read two books. We were only going to read one but he was like Kerry lets read another one. So hopefully when he makes it to second grade he will be fine.
Hello to everyone else! Hope you have a wonderful day today. Talk to you all later.
Take care,
Kerry

Evening All,
Well I did have a gain tonight at TOPS. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. I only gained 1 1/4 pounds, so I am back up to 199 1/2. But atleast I didn't go back into the two hundreds. So I am pleased with myself. I am hoping that when my dh gets home from signing up the boys for football, we can go for a walk.
Hope everyone else had a nice day! I think I am going to go and read for a little bit. So I will talk to you all later.
Have a great evening.
Kerry

OOOH PAM!!! I'D LOVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOUTH BEACH DIET. Before I tell you what it consists of, and I'm not an expert yet, let me just say that it is the first real success I've had in a looooooong time with losing weight. It is a diet I love and can live with.

There are three phases. Phase 1: You eat low-fat protein, dairy, most veggies (not carrots, beans, black-eyed peas, corn, or potatoes) and LOTS OF WATER. You need to limit artificial sweeteners because they increase appetite and increase water retention (I only just found out about that.) The two weeks of phase 1 are not easy, but if you can make it through, you will lose a significant amount of weight. I lost 11 pounds. This phase is to detox you from carbs. It really cuts back on the cravings if you can make it through the first week. The second week isn't as hard because the cravings begin to go away. The key is sticking with it no matter what.

Phase 2: You S-L-O-W-L-Y reintroduce carbs. You might begin with a fruit on the first day. Each day you will have one serving of a different HIGH FIBER carb. No more white bread, white rice, potatoes, or pasta. Those days are over. I tried whole wheat flatbread today, and made a roast beef/provolone cheese wrap for lunch. YUMMY!!! And it had 12 grams of dietary fiber!!! Anyway, the first week of phase 2 is a drag because all of a sudden you begin to retain water and either maintain or gain weight. It apparently happens to everyone and a week or two later begin to lose weight again. This is the part that I have found discouraging, and if I hadn't spoken and written to so many people who experienced the same thing, it would be easy to quit at this point. But all these people who stalled at the beginning of phase 2 ended up losing huge amounts of weight after that...70 pounds and more!

Phase 3: I'm not there, so I know nothing about it. I'm assuming it is a maintenance phase.

My suggestion: If you are interested in The South Beach Diet, get the book (Amazon.com probably has it used really pretty cheap.) and read it. There is a South Beach thread on 3fatchicks which can be helpful. After reading the book and committing to the diet, I joined online. Some days I think of it as a waste of money, and on other days, it is very helpful.

Kerry, Last summer, I gave DD a break from reading on a regular basis. It was a big mistake. This year she not only reads from her guided reading books, but we are working on flashcards from the Dolch word list. It is too bad that you end up being the one to work with the kids rather than your DH.

Today was a nice, typical, summer day. I really needed one of those. We picked up some stuff from the grocery store, cleaned up the house a little (no marathons today), and had a healthy lunch. DD's friend (snow-day girl) came over to swim in our pool. While they swam (4 hours), I read a trashy novel in a lounge chair and soaked up the sun. After her friend's mother fished her friend out of my pool, I watered the garden and did a little weeding (again, no marathon session today), and had shish-ka-bobs on the grill. These lazy days are what I love about the summer...no doctor appointment, no major projects or chores, etc. I will have those days that really suck, but as long as I try to have more days like today, my summer will be considered a success!!!

I hope everyone else can have some lazy summer days too...

Evening everybody.

Summer: Hmmm. That must be another way that my body acts weird. I am most often NOT hungry if I've had more than my usual amount of Splenda. I use a lot more of it since I can't have NutraSweet... I use sweet n low also, but mostly Splenda. Like, yesterday I hardly ate anything at all: I skipped breakfast between being nervous over having to drive my car on Rte. 95 without that rear passenger window (I hate highway noise, so that noise plus the flapping of the plastic bag, plus a slight fear that I might have missed some glass that was going to fly at 65 mph... and starting my new job with the National Board... then, I wound up having to take the car to the glass shop because the one company over-booked and didn't show to fix the car, so I missed lunch (I got to eat my cucumbers and my cottage cheese, but that's it). I didn't get home till 8:00, so I ate dinner then... But I drank decaf coffee with low-carb non-dairy creamer and Splenda, plus 1 diet soda, and decaf iced tea that I put splenda in. I also am definitely not retaining water at this point: that must be the diet, though, because its been going on since they started me on it.
Pam: I'm not really doing South Beach or Atkins, but my diet has lots of similarities to both. Lean protein, low-fat dairy products, vegetables (no corn, beans, potatoes, or higher carb veggies... carrots, mushrooms, and some others I'm forgetting), the only fruit I'm allowed to have are berries. No grain or bread products at all (though I do sometimes eat low-carb whole wheat tortillas from Trader Joes or high-fiber rye bread). I'm not going to say I don't cheat, especially since I do occasionally get lo mein at the chinese place which is a rice flour noodle, but at this point I'm eating maybe 1/4 of a 16 ounce (the larger) container, and throw the rest out... and not eating more than 2 tablespoons of rice. Its not worth the nausea. I haven't had a bagel in 2 months or anything other than that high fiber rye bread. I've had some potatoes. But where I was eating anywhere from 175 to 250 carbs per day, I am down to 40-75 on most days. And your son's car... ICK! What A Lemon!
Robyn: HIHIHIHI
Kerry: Oooo... they don't have TO READ?????? WHAT????? Okay, sorry, had to get that out of my system. Does your husband realize that many kids are put in special education because of reading problems only? Sorry about the headache, and I bet that pound is from your TOM... didn't you say it just started?

As for me... I started working for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards on Monday. They are seriously strict about test security and confidentiality: we're not allowed to have PDAs or things like iPods in the room, and cell phones need to be turned off. I keep my PDA, iPod and cell phone in my purse which is in my school bag, which is zipped. We can only use our cell phones in the hallway outside the area, or the lounge. And, I can't tell you much about what we do or how we're trained. But, I'm enjoying it and learning a lot. I have a great trainer, he has made things very clear, and we are moving quickly. We spent today doing test cases, and I think that we might do real scoring tomorrow. I'm not sure.
I'm in a group of other vocational (career and techinical) teachers, and there are only 2 of us that are local. Everybody else is from out of state: we have New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, our trainer is from Oklahoma, and South Carolina. Tomorrow, we have somebody joining us via high speed Internet (this person is very experienced and piloting the home-scoring version). We're a small group, too... Its neat to listen to the discussions because so many of them believe and say the same things I do. They actually wanted some more voc-ed teachers, but I wouldn't volunteer anybody from my former school because I don't want them there.
And, I'm proud to say that although they feed us constantly, I've not touched most of the stuff. I've avoided the bagels, muffins and coffecake in the mornings, the cookies candy and brownies later. But, in the afternoon they are kind to us: they have a veggie tray (I eat the snow pea pods without dip or anything), cheese and some pretty high quality lunch meat: like real roast beef or real turkey breast. So I have the pea pods, a slice of cheddar cheese (and I checked the fat content, it was low enough for me to eat) and a slice of turkey or roast beef. They also give us lunch vouchers, but the vouchers are only good at Panera Bread, ChikFilA, and 2 more places like Panera. I could eat at either Panera or the one other Panera like place because both have some great salad choices... but you have to walk to the restaurants. I walk so slowly, that I'm afraid by the time I walk there and back I won't have time to eat, and I feel weird driving across the street when everybody else walked. So I've eaten my own lunch (my tuna, cucumbers and cottage cheese) the last 2 days.
My car is fixed, Allstate has processed most of my claim, and I have the new iPod case, new swim suit, the arm band for the iPod case. My new bag will be here tomorrow, and I'll get the toiletries kit once I get to Trader Joes to buy new shampoo and stuff. I'll have to wear my sandles upstairs till I can get new sneakers, which I can't get till I go to my mom's house. Or, I may retire my school sneakers and wear those. I'll see. I'm waiting to hear from the parking garage: I asked them for my deductibles on my insurance. I told them that would be acceptable since I *did* have insurance and had used it.
I'm looking forward to getting to the gym tomorrow! I may wind up having to drive over during lunch, because if I want to go to the gym, I need to have something that will work for me as an afternoon snack... I can't eat lunch at 11:30, leave work at 4, go to the gym, and not eat again till 7 or 8. Well, I could, but I'm learning that is a bad idea! My body really crashes when I do that: I was asleep last night by 9:30, despite not getting home till 8. And I'd prefer having a nice large salad for lunch and putting my tuna in that, then using my cottage cheese or cucumbers for a snack around 3 or 3:30. We'll see what happens. They are getting us breakfast tomorrow morning also, but its from ChikFilA, so I'm pretty sure there won't be anything there I can eat. I'm planning on eating something very light at home, and bringing some berries with me just in case... that way if I can eat something there, I will, and if not, I'll have my berries. Oh... and I actually found the Starbucks sugar-free frappucino in the bottles in the store!!!!! I had that for breakfast this morning, and then refilled the bottle with regular coffee. I didn't drink it, I just used it to warm my hands: those rooms are cold!!

Hey guys!
How are things going? I am sitting here believe it or not, drinking a diet coke. Which I must say sucks! I need to make some unsweetened iced tea, but haven't gotten around to that yet.
I don't know about South Beach. Don't know if I have the will power to exclude so many foods that I dearly love. Especially in the summer when watermelon abounds, and I love baked potatoes. I'm still thinking about it. I was back down to 174.5 today. My goal for the day is to drink tons of water. Tons and tons of water. I may read the book and then see how I feel about it. I was on Atkins before, and lost 17 pounds in three weeks. However, as soon as I went back to eating regular foods, I gained it all right back and it didn't take very long. My friend was doing either LA weight loss or Trim Spa I am not sure which. Every two weeks they had to do this thing where they didn't eat carbs for three days for what was called a carb cleansing and then went back on the regular low fat diet. She lost a lot of weight. I mean thirtyish pounds the way I was doing it was great, since I really didn't feel deprived or anything, but I just don't know. Something has got to give. Lately it's just been the I don't give a crap attitude. I haven't been eating like a hog except for vacation, but I haven't been really trying either. So, we'll see. I'm not giving up.
If anyone is interested in their personal ant farm, I'd be happy to donate some of the ants from my house. Free shipping too! Just let me know.
Summer: I love those lazy days too. I went outside to weed my flower beds three times yesterday, I managed to pull one weed. It was too hot. I have become very lazy the past two days. Guess I need to buckle down, and atleast do some laundry today.
Mouse: Glad you are getting everything straightened out from your robbery. What a pain.
Have a good day!
Pam

Morning Everyone,
It is raining here at my house. From the sounds of things we are in for some rain today. Good thing I didn't really have no major plans for the day. I just hope that this evening it is not raining out, so my one friend and I can go for our walk. Looks like it is going to be a good day to stay in and read today. Plus I promised my stepson I would take him to the library to pick out a few more books.
Pam as for your eating it will come back together one of these days. I promise you. You will eventually find the right combition of eating foods that will help you lose the weight. Keep the faith! You just hit a plateau and need to break out of it again.
Mouse sounds like you really like your new job. That is great. I am glad that you got your car fixed. So how long is your training?
Summer so what trashy novel did you read yesterday? I am currently reading a Christian book called Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury. It is about a couple who are faced with the husband finding out that he has a 7 year-old son from a one night stand. It is very interesting.
Hi to Ginny, Sue, and Robyn. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! I think I am going to go and do a short workout here at home today.
Talk to you all later.
Kerry

I feel like I have been gone forever! We had a great time camping. The camp had a pool and miniture golf (plus lots of other things but those are the ones we used). It was a bit too hot for me to sit long at the pool. Funny I use to be such a sun worshiper but now I can't do it unless I have a good book to keep me occupied. I read 2 1/2 books! I wasn't very good on the diet. I hit the chips (baked or light at least) at the pool pretty heavily. Then there were those smores..... I have Weight Watchers tonight, so I'll know the damage tomorrow. I also have been terrible on my water.

Pam - I hope your brother continues too improve. That must be very hard for you, especially since it started with what was meant to be out patient surgery! I agree with you it is too hot to do anything outside these days. Our yard is fried and my flower bed is looking sad after being on vacation. We haven't had any rain in weeks. I am glad you enjoyed your trip to Myrtle Beach. I have never been there but hear that it is very nice. It is good that you can joke with your DH when he makes his jeolous comments about meeting your boyfriend. Hopefully he will out grow that soon as that would get old in a hurry. I go through phases too where I just can't concentrate on my diet. I think you need to let yourself do that once in a while or you will go insane. No one can diet 365 days a year for the rest of their lives! I just have a weight that once I get near it, I know it is time to get serious again. I think I'll be there tonight when I weigh in! I feel for you with all the problems you have with your ds car. They are so frustrating (and expensive) when they don't work. My "check engine" light came on yesterday, so I will need to call to have that looked at. Hopefully it isn't anything major. I also really need new shocks. The last time I got tires they told me that I could really use them but I can REALLY feel the bumps when I am hauling the trailer. I think the South Beach diet is very similar to Weight Watchers. They want you to eat lean meat, low-fat dairy, fruits/veggys, whole grains and tons of water. The difference is on Weight Watchers there isn't any foods that you can't have. You just need to budget for them. I don't do well if I think I can't have something, then I obsess over it and eat ten times the calories trying to satify that craving with other food.

Summer - I can't imagine what it would feel like to lose your DM. Hopefully I won't know for a long time to come. It is so good that you keep her memory alive for your DD. I am glad you are doing better. Too bad your MIL doesn't fill the gap. I don't know what I would do without my parents. They help out so much. I had no idea that artificial sweeteners caused you to retain water let alone increased your appetite. That would explain why I am so hungry after I do go on a SF icecream binge! Don't you worry that your students might come to your tagsale and see their gifts for sale? Maybe that isn't a possibility in a bigger city. I teach high school so that isn't a problem for me. I some times get lovely notes (which I save) but seldom gifts.

Mouse - Congratulations on getting the apartment you hoped for. That extra money sure will make a difference. Do you know where you are teaching yet? My first year of teaching I started out at the high school but after a few weeks they realized the caseloads had switched and they needed me at the middle school more. That was a pain moving mid-stream. Hopefully you will know in time to get everything ready. That is terrible about your car getting broke into. My DS was swimming at her gym, since she has lost a lot of weight and was afraid she would lose it, she hooked her wedding ring to her keys and left them in the locker. This is the country so we don't put locks on lockers or anything silly like that. Someone stole her keys. As she was looking in a panic, another woman's keys were missing too. That woman had tons stolen from her car but they must have reached that car first and grabbed the stuff and ran. Lucky for my DS they left her keys in that woman's car, ring still attached! Nothing was missing from my sister's car. I just can't believe someone would be that bold to steal with so many people around.

Robyn - I hope you are surviving your staff development. Is that in your contract that you have to go in July? That would never fly around here. Most people complain when they have to go in the week before school.

Kerry - By IM do you mean personal message? I am not familiar with that abbreviation. Feel free to do that anytime. I'm not sure I'll be of any help but it sounds like our lives are very similar. My DH has done the Kidney stone thing too. I guess it is VERY painful. Has your DH passed his yet? I assume if he is on percoset, they are just letting it work itself out. It is so amazing how small they are when they do make it through. Speaking of the Y chromosome and doing stupid things, My husband went to the eye doctor to have something removed. The doctor told him not to drive or watch TV. So my husband drove 40 miles to get coffee from Duncan Doughnuts, than watched TV as he drank it! Then he got mad at me, when I suggested that it wasn't a good idea! MEN!!! It is so wonderful that you got your DSS to read two books! I have to force my DS to read daily. I keep hoping that someday it will click and he will love it. He doesn't complain as much but he still doesn't pick up a book on his own to read. I know this is really hard to do but you need to be careful to stay positive about your DH-ex when you are around the children. She is worthless but those children love her (ALL children do) and they will take it personally if you insult her. I have had to bite my lip so hard it bleed before but I try really hard to to bad mouth my ex in front of the children. In the long run they figure out the truth and they love you all the more for how you handle it. If you like real icecream as in a bowl and a spoon, I like the Healthy Choice sugar free vanilla. I don't have any on hand but I know it is low points.

Ginny - I always enjoy my golf. It is so beautiful on the courses. Plus I am not competitive at all, so I don't get upset when I suck (which is most of the time!). I love your WW quote "I came, I weighed, I cried, I stayed". It really helps me when I take my lumps. I ended up skipping last week. I never miss during the school year but I am so busy having fun in the summer! I am going tonight no matter what. I need to get back on track because my shorts are beginning to get snug. So how is Core going for you? Two of my DS do Core and are doing well. I tried it. I lost the first week because I was still measuring and such. Then I gained like crazy. I just need to measure and keep track because I don't have a comfort zone that talks English! Are you sure your bigger fish aren't eating the smaller ones? Fish will do that. Plus with this heat they may just be dying and then being eaten. Sorry to hear your DH has Lyme disease. That isn't a big problem in Michigan yet but this summer was suppose to be bad. I worry since we live in the country and my children are always outside. Too bad your DH is opposed to counselling. All men think everything is the woman's fault, that is why you need a counsellor to help mediate. Ours is pretty good about telling my DH he is being an idiot without pissing him off.

Gosh, I think that is everything since I posted last. It is so hard to be gone! I hope everyone is enjoying their summers. Today I need to do all that camping laundry and get to the library for new books.

Sue

Evening, all.

Sue: Welcome back! That sounds like my kind of campground. I used to LOVE miniture golf (especially if there were watertraps) before I hurt my ankle. There is a great one not far from the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania (we have some nice camp grounds there too, but the best one doesn't have a pool; its the best one not just because two friends of mine run it, but because it really is a good campground).
Kerry: How is your husband? Did you get to the library?
Pam: I understand the "attitude", I have it frequently (just look at my posts!!!!). Right now, I'm frustrated since I couldn't go to the gym without a swimsuit and all; I got everything last night, and stuffed it all in an small nylon bag I have had around... And tried to get there today, I really did. And all the routes were backed up. I'm going to try again tomorrow, and just deal with the traffic.

We finished training today, and started what they call "live scoring". That means we're reading and responding to actual candidate responses. There are only 7 of us in the room, and we started sometime around 10:30. We scored for an hour before lunch, and then 3.5 hours after lunch. In that 4 hours, we closed around 80 cases. A closed case means that its been read twice, and a score was approved by the system. That's really pretty good!!!
I would have thought (I did think, actually) that most of the responses would be pretty good because it costs $2300 to take the test, submit a portfolio, and get a score. But a lot of the repsonses don't even match the scenario that was given to them to read. Anyway... I am enjoying it. I wish we could listen to music while we scored, though. It would keep me more focused. We were told no earphones, and another room was told specifically no iPods. I can only theorize that they're afraid we might try to use it as a harddrive or as a voice recorder, but both of those would be pretty obvious. Or maybe we might be getting advice or something with the earphones.
I'm not sure.
Oh, and I am really pretty pleased with myself: I have not had (nor have I *WANTED*) to have any of the bad stuff they offer us daily... no cookies, muffins, bagels, cereal bars, fruit snacks, or sodas. I did go over to the mall to get lunch today, and got a fresh custom salad: olives, artichokes, feta, romaine, cucumber, and tuna. Fat-free ranch. I couldn't finish it all... even with two sittings (I ate some at lunch, and some at the afternoon snackbreak). And then, just now, I had no problems throwing away the bread from my sandwich I picked up. We get $10 each day for lunch/food, and so I used some for the salad, and some for a sandwich. I was kinda surprised to be honest with you. I just ate the roast beef from the sandwich with a little horseradish.
I did have two small (really bite-sized) cookies; and some skim milk. Most of my carbs today came from the milk.

Ok, I will be back later to address everyone.......but I had to stop in and announce I WILL NOT work tomorrow!!!!!!!! My supervisor (who was so tremendous when my mom was in for surgery) has called me in to sub for another driver the past 2 days. She actually apologized today for calling....but I knew she was desparate, so I thought I would bail her out. Tomorrow I will not answer the phone.
Worked Monday pm, tuesday all day and today pm. I thought this was summer vacation???????
Be back later.....sorry had to vent.
Ginny

Hey! I just lost a post again!
Sue: Hey! Glad you had fun on your trip. Don't you love summer? It was me who lost the fish. However, several of them just died, when I went back to the pet store to find out what the problem could be because I had tested my water and stuff they told me they happened to be be a batch of bad fish. I know the bigger fish aren't eating the little ones, cause it was my biggest that went missing. I found it today outside of the pond. I think it was my sneaky feline friend who was slinking in the calla lillies chasing a frog today. She denied it. I love my kitty, but the evidence although completely circumstantial is very incriminating.
Mouse: Sounds like you are having a good week. It helps to have people to work with that actually share your view points. Kudos for your power to resist temptation.

Ginny: Don't answer the phone. Hide, and read a good book. Do you have caller ID?

Kerry: I just don't think I can do South Beach. I read about it, but like Sue, if I feel like I can't have something, I only want it more. I was seriously considering it until CHic fila this morning. I happen to run across a biscuit...
OOPS>

Hi to Summer and Robyn!
Nite Ya'll
Pam

Afternoon Ladies,
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! I went to workout this morning with my friend at Curves. Than I came home and finished reading Oceans Apart. It was a really good book. Now I am trying to decide what to do this afternoon since it looks like it is going to rain again.
Well I need to go and try to figure out what is wrong with our email. My dh said he couldn't get it to work. Talk to you all later.
Have a wonderful afternoon!
Kerry

Ginny - JUST SAY NO!! Maybe just not answering the phone is good too as you want her to say okay if you need time off at a future date. I just can't imagine being on a school bus in this weather.

Mouse - I don't think you would have been thrilled with the pool. It was pretty small and about 1/2 of that was more like a wading pool. I tried to do laps and my hands were hitting bottom doing the crawl stroke. It did work fine for staying cool and entertaining the children though! Some day I would like to travel around and visit other states camping as we go. It is just so hard to find a good chunk of time to be gone.

Pam - A cat has to do, what a cat has to do! Poor little fish!! Is your pond new this year? Fish need certain bacteria to survive, which gets in the water by things dying. That is why when you do a new tank you buy cheap "sacrificial" fish. I never realized that until I married my DH. He is big time into fish. We have two huge tropical fish tanks and a regular one too.

Kerry - So please tell me who wrote Oceans Apart! I keep just grabbing what ever books they have in the "new book" section of the library. I did read the Hot Flash Club and the Hot Flash Club Strikes Again that someone suggested. They were very cute and fast reads. I gave them to my mom to read since she can relate a bit more than I (it won't be long now though!). So it is raining again? I wish we would just get rain once. I think we have only had one measurable rain fall this summer. Everything is so dried out it is pitiful. I wish we would get some rain and a break from this near 90 degree weather!

Sue

Sue Oceans Apart is written by Karen Kingsbury. It was a fast read too! It mades you stop and think about life and second chances. Hope you can find it at your local library. I signed up at my sister's library to do the Adult Summer Reading Program and it is about the Arts this year. I have to read a book from the following sections: Art of Fiction (Impossible by Danielle Steel), Art of the Building(Log Cabins of the North), Artful Biographies (attempting to read about Andy Warhol), Artistic Death, Novels of Note and Culinary Arts. I am hoping that I can get through the biography by the end of this weekend since I start back to summer school on Monday for three weeks.
It is thankful has stopped raining here for the moment. It tried to rain off and on all day long but on sprinkles. So I think my dh and I might go for a walk this evening.
Nothing else new here. Just that I can't wait for my TOM to be over and I will stop my food craving binges. LOL.
Well I better go and check email now. Talk to you all later.
Kerry