It's a bright, sunny morning here, but storms are predicted for later and most of the weekend, too. I have an early start today, I have to be at Cindy's by 8, then get the girls ready for ballet classes. Then home for lunch, and Cindy doesn't have any appointments this afternoon, so I'll be able to come home early. I'll probably stop by the hospital to visit with Andrea and Tyler for a while since I didn't get the chance to see them yesterday. They'll probably be in the hospital until Monday, so I want to go over to their house to clean and do any laundry, and cook a few meals to put in their freezer, too.

Weezle, you're in my thoughts and prayers. Hope things work out for the best.

Kim and Jessie, exciting news! I'll be eagerly awaiting the final word!

Aw. You are the best mom doing laundry and cooking freezer meals! Andrea will really appreciate that!

We had a decent day, despite the immediate-sweat-inducing humidity outside lately. Our last Korean class was today and we had a little party. I stayed on plan all day and we even went out to dinner tonight! Just checking off the days until that wedding! I bought a beautiful dress for the rehearsal at a little Korean shop downtown - one of those Asian-style high neck shiny material dresses. It's black with beautiful pinky flowers on it. So pretty!

Kids need baths so I must run. Have a great end of the week!

Kara

The sky outside here is red as the sun is coming up, so I guess that means another day of rain. I'm fighting the start of a sinus thing and feel kind of crummy, but going to the gym today anyway. Then we have to go to UPS and send a "foot plaque" to a monument company for my Dad's grave so they can mount it on granite to match the headstone. It's a record (in bronze) of his time in the service that the airforce sends after someone dies. That thing is HEAVY so I guess my husband has to go with me to carry it into UPS.

Cottage, I know they will appreciate your cleaning the house and the food...It's so nice to come home to a clean house when you have so much else to do with a new baby!

Kara, my Mother had several dresses like that and I remember how gorgeous she looked in them. She kept a red one, a dark aqua one and a gold one and my daughter has them now. One of my Dad's best friends was Chinese and whenever he went back home, he had all kinds of stuff shipped back for his friends..they would put in "orders" of stuff they may want and he would do the shopping for them. I have several of those items in this room including a black laquer trunk and a carved lamp table..so beautiful, but not fun to dust!

Happy Friday to everyone!

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. Hope you feel better soon. Same here rain rain but we need it. Going to be doing this all weekend, which wouldn't bother me but we are going camping this weekend. Great, soggy me sitting in the lawn chair lol

Happy Friday!

Cottage-Congratulations on your new grandbabie. I didn't get a chance to get on yesterday. Enjoy every minute of it.

Kara-Your dress sounds awesome. I've heard the shopping over there is amazing. Do you get to do it often?

Cat-Sorry you aren't feeling so well and certainly hope you are better for the weekend.

Shy-I hope you are able to keep dry. You are a better person than I. One call for rain, and I wouldn't even think of going camping.

ME-I am sooooo tired again today. I just wish I can stay home and play hookie, but I have too much to do a work. Came home last night to a clean house which is always just so nice. It will motivate me to work on some projects that need finishing up around the house. And with a weekend full or rain and storms, it will be the perfect time to get these things crossed off my list.

Good morning everyone!
Cottage what a great Mom you are! I know she'll appreciate all the help! Sure wish I had that when my last one was born!
Kara Good for you!!! I know it was such an accomplishment for me when I knew I'd stayed on plan!
femme I bet that foot plaque is gonna be beautiful. Hope you feel better soon!
Rennie Have fun camping! I always have so much fun camping....it's been forever since we've been. Don't forget your umbrella....lol!

As for me...I have a teen birthday/dance to chaperone tomorrow night. uh oh! I'll probably do some work around the house. I have a million projects to do! I hope to get to Sams Club and get my shopping done. Definitely need SB friendly foods in the house! Also hope to lay by the pool some this weekend. It looks like it's gonna be a beautiful one! Well, gotta run! Have a GREAT day!

Cat, get better soon! The humidity and pressure here are giving me sinusy issues, so maybe when the weather clears up your head will feel better? Here's hoping!

Rennie, have a great camping trip! Camping in the rain always makes for the best memories!

Sheila, hope you get a lot done this weekend. The shopping here is loads of fun, but we mostly walk around and do a lot of window shopping to stay within our budget. We've picked out a couple really nice things, some beautiful paintings in that traditional Korean style, two lamps in that gorgeous sage green color, and a neat small set of drawers with Chinese characters carved into the drawers (like it would be for herbs and medicines). It's fun to pick out something special from each place we've been! We're going to have quite a multicultural house when we finally settle somewhere.

Tara, have fun at the dance!

I just finished a bowl of strawberries. They're getting a bit watery tasting so the season may be coming to a close. Sad day.

Kara

Morning!

Cottage You are too sweet! Andrea will be thrilled to come home to cleanliness and prepared meals. I can remember never being able to cook when Abigail was born- Rob even fed me a grilled cheese once when I was so ravenous but Abigail needed to nurse.

Femme Feel better!! There is allergy junk in the air around here right now- both the girls are all plugged up.

Kara Your dress sounds gorgeous. You will have to post pictures with you in it.

Happy This will be my 17th year of teaching. It is all in 4th and 5th grades. I was a Title 1 teacher this past year, so didn't have my own group of kids.

Shequila Hope you are able to get some rest this weekend.

Shy

Tar Have a good day!

Me- Just me and the girls again today, we were supposed to have the neighbor today, but he is going to stay home with his older brother. We are going to go bum with my mom some this morning and then to a friend's for dinner and fun after naps. I am bringing dinner this time and am having the hardest time deciding what to make. Their kids are all picky eaters and I am not making two meals. So, I need something that everyone can eat.

My weight is up and I am ready to scream!! The whoosh fairy needs to make a serious appearance for next week's end of month weigh in!!

Cottage You're a great mother. I would have definitely benefited from some help when I got home from the hospital after having all three of my girls.

Femme Hope you feel better sinus infections are the worse. I get them often too.
Rennie You are brave. I would have came up with some type of excuse instead of camping in the rain.
Sheila I'm beat too. I don't even know why. Maybe I got too much sleep.
Tar I hope the party is fun.
Kara My MIL runs a shop that sells traditional Chinese clothing and trinkets in Chinatown back home in Hawai'i. My girls love their Chinese outfits and wear them all the time. My DH hates it and always makes them take it off before we go anywhere. He thinks it draws too much attention. My youngest has worn hers so much one of the buttons actually broke off.

Me I'm sitting here waiting for my coffee to kick in so I can finish off my house work. My DD is insisting that I read her all of the HP books. She reads a chapter then I read a chapter etc. It's going a little slow but, at least she's reading. I also need to harass the Texas Dept of Vital Statistics which still hasn't sent us our other DD's birth certificate that we ordered over a year ago. No birth certificate, no passport or school for her.

We also just found out that the base they are sending us to is officially closing in 2009 and that they have already started moving people out. This means that we will probably be there for a month or two and then move us somewhere else either stateside or in Germany. The military can be such a pain sometimes. If they move us after we get to Germany that will be 3 moves in two years. I'm hoping they change their minds and just move us once.
Anyways good luck staying OP,
Pohai

Good morning all!

Cottage - Congratulations again on Tyler! When you're done at your DD's house, do you want to come and do mine?

Kara - You are going to outshine the bride!!!

Femme - I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. Blame it on the weather. Don't you dare carry the plaque!!! 1- not with your back 2- that is why women get married - to have the men carry the heavy things, and kill the snakes and bugs! It's the "Marriage Law"

Shy - Just remember to pack the rain ponchos, umbrellas, and lots of plastic bags to keep everything dry!

Tar - Have fun at the party/dance, and being 'sun goddess' by the pool!

Kara - I agree, sad day when the berries are on their way out. My plants didn't produce too much this year, so I didn't have more than 1 or 2 servings - so they ended a long time ago for me. Enjoy the last of them!

Kiko - Have fun with the kiddies today. Good luck making a meal to please everyone - I know it's not easy.

Me - Not doing much today - just trying to get some more testing done here at work, but we keep getting new software releases, so it's next to impossible to get anything done! As soon as a new drop comes in, we have to stop current testing, roll everything back to a "known good" state, and start again. It wouldn't be so bad if we were getting the software every 3 or 4 days, but when you get a new drop every day, it's very frustrating. It takes 1/2 - 3/4 of the day just to get the systems back to a starting point, then you install the new software, and get about 1 hour of testing in, only to find out that they just released something new! Most of the time the new stuff has documentation changes made to it, but because it's released with a new part number, testing has to start again... GRRRRRR!!!! And corporate won't change our deadline - so we now have 2 days to complete testing on something that will take a good week!

Some days I'm glad I'm hourly - If they won't approve OT, I won't work! Not that I get paid any different, but I won't work for free.

This weekend is devoted to processing and canning. My summer squash, beans, and beets are all ready to go, so my mother is letting me use her house to do my canning, and she's even going to help! Not a bad deal for me! I get the help, and she gets lots of free veggies!

Pohai - Sorry, we were posting at the same time.

I hope for your sake that you only have to move once - I wouldn't want to get settled, only to have to pack everything up and move again. Nor would it be fun to live out of boxes - just in case you move again!

Kiko, I am Title I also (computer lab for 300 five year olds) I taught regular kindergarden for years, then quit to go into design full time. They called me back about 4 years ago and wanted to know if I want to come back...I said no way...till they told me it was computer lab and only 1/2 days. I just LOVE it. No parents to deal with, no behavior problems (well, very few..I just have to threaten with a "time out" away from computer and that's the end of that problem!). It's like the perfect teaching job. I did my student teaching (a zillion years ago) in 3rd grade and kindergarten and really loved the 3rd grade..that's a great age. My first job was 5th and 6th language arts with a 6th grade homeroom and after that it was first grade for a couple of years. (then a break for 4 years when my oldest 2 were little)
Then a new school opened up that was all kindergarten and I was on the first faculty..I'm the only one left now from that group...my best buddies have both retired. The way the schools work in the town where I teach is that kindergarten (plus spec. ed non cat) is at one school, first and second at another, 3rd and 4th at another, 5th and 6th at another, then the jr high and high school.

Morning all. It's been an all-around frustrating week but it's Friday. I can't say this is good or bad news, but I'm not pregnant! I'm not sure I can take these incredibly long cycles. It was 8 weeks this time, and had been progressively more each time since I stopped my BC. So aggravating!

I have one of those beautiful Chinese dresses--I had it tailor-made when I was in Beijing studying abroad. It is pink and gold flowery silk on the outside and pink on the inside. Sooo gorgeous, I love it. Kind of risque with those slits up the side though!

I got a full night's sleep last night for the first time in about two weeks. Chester's been waking me up several times a night whining to go outside or just because he's lonely. Last night DH offered to sleep on the couch so I could get a whole night's rest. I am so thankful! I feel so much better after sleeping for 9 hours.

Off to work...should I read about deacons or read Max Lucado today?

Good Morning Chickens!
It's pretty here, sunny and a little cool this morning. It's been so dry, my flowers in the planters are pretty much dead, but my tomatoes, zukes and peppers are okay. I don't think they got a drop of rain while I was away, but I soaked them down good when I got home last night. Found three giant zucchinis - I hate it when they get that big. I am still on vacation today, so I'll be doing laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping, and later going to pick up DH at the airport. Not much else on the line, maybe take the kids to the pool for a bit this afternoon.
I was confused when I woke up this morning, thinking it was Saturday, so I weighed in a day early, down another three pounds this week. We'll see what it says tomorrow morning. Now, how does that happen, when I was so bad this week? Not that I'm not happy, just feeling undeserving. Remind me of this when I'm whining because I've been so good and I haven't lost anything.

Kiko, I'm sorry, maybe the whoosh fairy got confused and brought your whoosh to my house instead.
Hello Tara!
Hi Shy, we have the same avatar! For a moment I thought you were me. Hope your camping trip is fun.
cottage, you are so nice, I'm sure Andrea will really appreciate all your help.
Hi Kara, your dress sounds beautiful, I love that style, very sleek and sexy, but I've never been able to pull it off, sigh. Maybe one day... Happy Birthday wishes, a day late!
Shequila, hope you feel better and get to have a restful, productive weekend.
femme, I feel your pain, I have lousy sinuses. They've been much better since I've been on SBD, which makes me wonder if it's all the water keeping me hydrated, or if I was allergic to some food. I'm impressed you can work out anyway.

Morning Chicks! Checked the board really quick yesterday morning but then never made it back to post in the daily. I did end up taking a vacation day from work. Although I felt so guilty taking the kids to daycare I had an entire 6 hours where no one talked to me or wanted anything! It was heaven. I got a lot done around the house and only sat down for 15 minutes to eat lunch but it was wonderful. DH is working 60 hour weeks right now, my work is crazy busy, and we don't have any sitters right now so I really, really needed a break from it all.

Cottage - Congrats on the grandbaby! He's beautiful.
Tara - Welcome back!
Kara - so sorry about the strawberries, we haven't been able to get fresh ones here for a few weeks and the california ones we get are just gross!
Kiko - can you bring something they can make there? Like mini pizzas or small subs? That way each kid can pick and choose what they want on theirs. That helps with my picky dd.
Shequila - Hope you get some rest this weekend and still have time to get your projects done.
Shy - Hope you don't get too wet this weekend!
Cat - Feel better soon.
Weezle - I'm sending postive thoughts your way - I hope things will work out for you. :hugs:

Well, l've been doing pretty good food wise this week even without having food planned out - until last night. I went waaaayyyy off. DS had a therapy session at home (the rest have been at Daycare) during which he had 3 tantrums and DD (5yo) had 2. It was so embarrassing and I felt so out of control as a parent. I don't know how to make it better. So I ate. Probably wouldn't have if I had my meals planned out or if I had actually made it to the store yesterday. But I didn't, so instead of improvising something healthy I had 3 slices of pizza. Then I dipped into the kids snacks and had nilla wafers and teddy grahams. Ugggh. Why is it so hard to take care of ourselves?