Happy Saturday!

Today is Wayne's birthday. He's 57. Still looks pretty good for his age so I'll keep him! In a few minutes we're going to go to Dunkin Donuts and buy coffee, ONE donut a piece, and then we're going to sit on a bench at the marina and enjoy the treat and watch boats and ducks. Later this morning, the girls w/kids are coming over. Later today we're going to a bbq. I plan on staying on program.

Official weigh-in day: I'm down another .3 of a pound. If yesterday was official weigh-in I would have lost more. It all evens out in the end. So, for three weeks, I'm down 5.3 lbs. total. I am happy.

Jean, sounds like you have a full weekend ahead of you! Enjoy. I know you will. I agree with what you said to Susan, if we didn't have to eat, life would be simple. But I love food. Any kind. I'm willing to try new things. I'm always thinking about my next meal. I guess that's why I have a weight problem.

Good morning to you all. Just quick posting as I need to get showered to get out to the commissary first thing so we can get back, watch the Cubs, then we are doing a date night this evening. Harrahs bought the Grand Casino and hotel and when they did, they remodeled their buffet and it is now a Paula Deen buffet. We are curious as to what kind of food there is since it is supposed to be stuff she makes on her shows and in her restaurant. We are going to go down there this evening for awhile on a "date."

Jean: My mom had only two brothers, both of which were scum. The one thought he was God's gift and called me and my older sister a variety of names and such because we were overweight. His wife was 2 steps from a streetwalker, even wearing a white crocheted pantsuit with NO lining underneath to my wedding. The other one was a thief, pure and simple. When my dad died he somehow got into my dad's apartment and stripped it of everything of value and my dad had expensive radio and tv repair equipment in his apartment. He even took the silver dollar my dad slept with that was somehow connected to my mom. When my grandparents died, he stole very valuable antiques from their home too. Rumor had it, he owed the mob gambling money. So, believe me, I know what a pain relatives can be. They are both dead and I see none of their children and haven't in years. Have fun with the reunion and grandkids.

Gail: Congrats on the losses. Sounds like you have a lovely day planned.

Susan: Sounds like you are having a good time with friends and that is great! Hopefully, the smoke will stay away from your area for the most part!

I gotta run. Have a good one today and do something fun!
Faye

Good morning, ladies! Got up and went to Curves and got my workout out of the way. I sure do better going when I am refreshed and not tired from the day. Guess I should get up a little earlier and go before work but I don't really see that happening.

Gail - Congratulations on the loss - you are off to a great start. Hope you enjoyed your donut and the BBQ.

Faye - Memphis will have a butter shortage if they are cooking stuff Paula Dean prepares. Do let us know how the dinner was. Better not tell SIL that you went there or she'll be calling 911 to take Jack to the hospital.

Jean - You certainly have a nice weekend planned out...have fun.

I'm going to clean out some more kitchen cabinets and mop the floor then I'm going up and quilt.

Good early morning to everyone. Had to let Fortune out as he was bouncing around so I decided to just stay up for awhile and post while I was at it.

Susan: I let Jack talk me into just eating at the buffet at another casino and yck yck yck is all I can say. $35 and the food was scarce and intolerable. So the butter and Paula are safe for the moment. It was a real waste for me because I don't eat a lot at one meal anymore. I eat several smaller ones. We had a fun time though so that is all that matters. Can't say I came home a winner but I rarely do. It is how they stay in big business after all! lol

Got the shopping done except for a few pick ups we will do today then tomorrow I am going to try and get my nails and feet done. I hate to even go out in this incredible heat and humidity here, but they really need to be done so I want to just get it over with. Think I will get red toesys this time.

Not much else is going on here. It is just stiflingly hot and the humidity is over the moon. I came home from shopping yesterday, put the groceries away and stripped to a tshirt and undies until I cooled off. I imagine we are going to have a real corker of a rest of the summer. We aren't getting much rain out of it either.

Have a wonderful Sunday girls! Talk at you later.
Faye

Good morning, ladies!

Faye, you were up early. Tell Jack I was really looking forward to that report on Paula's cooking. I haven't been to a buffet in a long time. Like you, I don't eat enough at one time to get anywhere near my money's worth. We had talked about going to the Shady Maple Buffet in PA. It is really good and they cook steak and seafood to order, etc. but it is up to $20 and so we are going somewhere else. Two of us are on WW, one is diabetic and lives on cheese and pasta and doesn't like meat or seafood, the fourth is skinny as a rail and eats more than anyone, just blessed with a great metabolism.

The rain brought the temperatures down into the high 80's and the humidity is down so it is pretty nice for July.

I finished the last block of my calendar quilt and now find that August block is missing. I've got to find it because I don't have enough fabric left to make it again. That's what I get for taking so long to get a project done. I'm sure I've managed to get it mixed in with some other fabric but the amount of fabric I have is huge and people keep giving me more.

Laundry is calling.

Happy Sunday!

It's going to be a gorgeous day in Delaware! We have nothing planned for the day and that can be a good thing.

Yesterday was fun. The girls and the grandkids came over to wish Wayne a happy birthday. We had a mini-cookout of hotdogs and chips with ice cream to follow. I ate one hotdog w/mustard, about 5 chips, and shared my cup of lite ice cream with the youngest--the 14-month-old grandson who loooooves ice cream and always wants more than his share. We are a perfect match--he eats some of my share! Later that evening we went to a cookout and that turned out to be nice too. We were home by 8:00pm and then we sat out on the deck until it was dark. Nice day.

I'm thinking about going back to work. I think I retired too young. I don't have a clue as to what I want to do--work in an office or work in retail. I don't want anything that I have to think too much about. Entry level would be fine with me. Nothing stressful. Still thinking.

Anyway, like I said, nothing is planned for today. So I'll knit. And I'll read some.

Later!

Good evening! Well, today was definitely quiet but the day still went by very quickly. We ate grilled steak, baked potato, string beans for dinner outside on the deck. Nice. Right now I'm drinking lots of water. I find whenever I eat steak I feel like I'm retaining fluid and drinking water helps.

Jean, I'm glad you had nice weather for your reunion weekend. It's always nice when Mother Nature cooperates! Did I hear "deep cleaning" a kitchen? Oh...I really need to do that!! Well, I looked in the newspaper for possible jobs and did not find anything. But my main problem is I don't know what I'm qualified for. BUT...I did read there will be a jobs fair on September 15. I will attend that. I'll take a bunch of resumes, hand them out, fill out applications (hopefully) and perhaps I'll get some kind of idea then. If not...well, it wasn't meant to be.

I do have a load of clothes in the wash and I need to go upstairs and check to see if they're ready to go in the dryer...

Good morning to you all! Hope your week has started out well. I am about to get upstairs and finish up the cleaning I didn't get to do yesterday. Jack was in a lot of pain yesterday so had on a heat pack on his back and opted for one of his muscle relaxers, which knocked him out. Unfortunately, knocked him out in our bed so I couldn't vacuum and dust. Poor me, I had to sit downstairs and read a book and try and be quiet! I am reading a Fern Michaels series that is quite good called the "Sisterhood." She has started a spin off series of these books which I should get to fairly soon as I am halfway through her sisterhood books already and only got them on Saturday! I read fast!

Susan: I just can't believe with Paula and her butter fetish she doesn't weigh 300 lbs! I saw a show awhile back and the woman puts butter chunks in hamburger patties! She says it makes them taste so good. I am sure, but every bite has to be closing a heart artery! Oh dear, we really need August! Otherwise, Jean can't go back to work because she does so miss those kids..... Hope you found your pieces by now.

Jean: Oh, too bad you missed Jason, Amanda, and the kiddies. I am sure you enjoyed the visit with Beth though. Thomas is supposed to go to his kids cooking class today that I bought him for his birthday. Hope he enjoys it. Jack and I are going to take their cake decorating class together if I can find out about whether I can sit on a stool for the class at least part of the time. I can't stand for 5 hours and that is what the class time is. They also have advanced classes we would like to take. We think it sounds like fun and who knows, maybe we can make a little $$ at it for family and friends. We are doing it just for the fun of it though.

Gail: Your dinner sounds yummy. I used to eat a goodly amount of steak when we had it, but I make at least two meals out of whatever I have anymore. I can usually only eat a few bites. Anything that takes a bit more to digest seems I eat less of. I have no interest in going back to work. I enjoyed working for the law firm a lot, but not so much the mechanical company. I never finished my degree because of money and am too old to do it now and then go into therapy so I am happy at home with my doggie, my knitting, my home and my books. It isn't for all people or even most people, but I am content with it.

Maggie: Hope you and Cowboy are having a great time roaming.

Gloria: Hope you and Jack and the family are all well!

Nanna: Hope all is well with you too!

Have a good one. On to chores!
Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! Cloudy and overcast today. Might even be some rain later. Only 79 degrees now...can you say "global warming" seems to have gone the other way here but I'm not complaining.

Faye, hope Jack's back is better today. The cake decorating sounds like fun. I don't see why you couldn't sit to do it. I like my kitty, quilting, reading time alone but I need to be with people for a part of the day so work is good. When I finally do retire, I'll probably do some volunteer work. I'd love to do it for the library. I know what you mean about not eating so much. I made 2 chicken breasts one night last week. The darn things lasted for 4 meals.

Jean - I have way too much stuff in my kitchen that Stan used for catering and it's all going to have to go to new homes. Steam table pans, huge glass bowls, serving pieces - it's all going. As well I am getting rid of a lot of mis-matched dishes and glassses and cups that have collected. I intend to get rid of a lot of plastic storage containers, too. Four shelves of them does seem to be overkill for one person - and there is more in the freezer.

Gail - good to hear from you.

Maggie, Nanna, and Gloria - looking forward to hearing from you; hope things are going well.

I still haven't found that block so everything will have to go on the back burner until I do. I have plenty more to work on so it's not a complete disaster . I sometimes look so hard for things I can't see them when they are right in front of me - then days or weeks later I'll suddenly see them, usually right in plain view the whole time.

I started a Baltimore Albumn quilt in 1994 and still have 5 more blocks to do - there are 30 - and the borders. It is king size and I haven't worked on it for several years - just got burned out then started too many other projects. So now I'm going to finish that. And I have to have a small quilt done by September for the challenge. Wouldn't look good if the the chairman of the challenge didn't make a quilt!

Have a good evening!

Good morning to you all. Short post as I have a dang stiff neck and it is uncomfortable sitting here. I am putting heat on it and that is about all you can do until it loosens back up. It hurts, but it more an irritant than anything. It "catches" when I turn to do something or bend or whatever. I did finish upstairs yesterday so at least the house is done for a couple days.

Jean: I like fresh green beans cooked with ham and new potatos. Yummm! My grandma used to make them when we lived there. I miss it as Jack won't eat it. In some ways he is wayy picky and others not so much anymore. He is definitely not a veggie man. Because we were going to do some errands last night we stopped and had dinner at Rafferty's. We both had the prime rib and I had a baked potato and a yummy salad. Jack had basically double starch as he had a baked potato and instead of the salad he substituted potato soup! lol That man luvvvvvvsss potato anything. Me, not so much. I have to be in the mood and though I occasionally will like french fries, they are not a biggy on my list, thank heavens. Well, looks like you may have gotten your wish since Susan has kind of quit looking. Think the principal will allow the excuse when you don't show up until October that the calendar is not finished???

Susan: Boy, where do you store all that stuff? I don't have enough cabinet space to put all that stuff in. My cabinets are packed as it is and I have a pantry we bought to store food in. Jack's office closet is such a mess I told him last night it needs to be cleaned out. I put my extra clothing in there and I bought some more hangers last night and could barely get in there for all the junk he just dumps in there. I am big into orderly, but I have had to learn to live with some things and it isn't easy for me.

Guess, I will get up in the chair and see if I can get this neck to loosen up a bit. Have a great Tuesday!
Faye

Good morning, ladies!

Faye, I hope your neck is feeling better. I live in a townhouse but it's 1900 square feet. We have a big, walk in pantry and that's where most of the catering stuff lives. I have lots of cabinets in the kitchen and an island so once I get done cleaning out I should have empty space. I love green beans, potatoes and ham. My MIL was Italian and used to make green beans, potatoes, beef cubes and tomatoes with basil and oregano. That's really good, too. Love my veggies. We were farm people and had potatoes 3 times a day. If we had spaghetti and meatballs, we still had potatoes. Now why was I overweight?

Jean, I like steamed veggies in the microwave too and I have a steamer as well. You can get microwave steamer bags and then put your frozen (or fresh) veggies in and it's just as good as buying the steamer bags and a lot cheaper. I've had Glad and Ziplock and I got them at Walmart. I like to steam shrimp in them, too. Its also a good way to warm up leftover rice or pasta. They have a chart with the bags that tells you how long to cook things.

Everyone else - hello!

Got a notice from the library that a book I had on hold is now in so I'll stop for that tonight.

Have a great day!