Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's a cloudy, breezy, and cool 74 degrees in my neighborhood. At least it is not raining . . . yet. I've got laundry going and have read one of the Sunday papers except for looking at all the ad supplements. I like to look even though we live 75 miles away from the stores. We did go to Sioux City yesterday afternoon. Bob took his mother's ashes over to be buried a week ago, and the new grave marker was promised to be in place by Memorial Day. Beth puts flowers on the grave but no new marker when she was there on Thursday. Well, no new marker yesterday either. We've gone round 'n round with this outfit from day one because they didn't set the original marker level (according to the cemetery official), the cemetery mowers hit it every time, and finally chunked a huge piece off one corner, then finally cracked the whole thing down the middle. It is a metal (bronze ?) plate and we ordered a new granite one which will be set level in the cement. I like the cemeteries with the above ground markers like my parents have.

Susan -- I need to wash blankets and bedding. I like lighter weight for the summer. I asked Bob if he was ready to give up the electric blanket yet and he thought we should give it another week. Breakfast with your neighbor and dinner out with a friend sounds like my idea of cooking!

"Gma" -- I love the Olive Garden! Ive been catching up with magazine reading and just about all of the diet/new lifestyle changes say that the secret is to eat what you like, cut back on the portions, and get moving. I like the idea you have for eating out as a treat. Since the prices have gone up on everything I usually opt for water to drink and salads with grilled chicken. I don't know why but salads always taste better when someone else makes them.

I need to unload the dishwasher and get another load of laundry going. For some reason we have twice the amount of clothes this week.

Have a nice "rest of the day" and a marvelous Monday tomorrow. Don't forget to fly the flag!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good evening, ladies. Faye, your rain has arrived. And I thought we were in for a beautiful weekend. At least it's in the 80s.

Faye, Ruby Tuesday puts the coupons in our newspaper once or twice a month. Isn't it nice your points will go down gradually as you lose weight. Around here we go to Anna's when we want Italian. Family owned, wonderful foods. They make everything from scratch and it's all wonderful.

Jean, my electric blanket got put away 2 months ago. I'm down to just sheets to sleep under and then I have a Martha Washington bedspread I put on during the day. It might work to eat what you like, just smaller portions, if you eat healthy but I don't think it will if you eat junk food, fast food and lots of prepared/prepackaged foods or your health will suffer. I felt I had to be willing to learn new ways to eat to be successful since my old ways of eating made me fat. Until I got that, I was like a yo-yo.

I didn't do anything exciting today. I was still wide awake at 2:30 this morning so I've been dragging around all day. I seldom have problems sleeping so I don't know what that was all about. I'll probably sleep better tonight.

Have a good evening!

Good morning to you all! It rained here again, hard last night so be prepared Susan! lol We have no plans for today.

We took some new potatoes, cut them in quarters and sprayed olive oil pam on them then sprinkled on garlic powdered and roasted in the oven. We had an ear of fresh sweet corn and then took a jerk marinade and put it on a couple small pieces of tenderloin. Yummy meal! Jack just absolutely loved it.

Jean: My dad is buried in a memorial park so the headstone is a flat brass plaque. My mom's is a double where my step father is buried too and is the gargantuan ugly thing. It has all of our names on the back side of it. I would prefer we weren't there and mom wasn't either personally, but my brother never followed through with moving her so she is stuck next to that jerk!

Susan: I am going to have to find a scale to weigh at as mine jumps around several times when I weigh myself. I know I have lost, because of my clothing and such but the scale shows me either gaining or losing 1/2 lbs or same weight or, etc, etc. Who knows? Right now joining a ww meeting is not in the cards as I really can't afford the extra expense. It is the only thing about WW I think is a rip off. I think the meeting charges are ridiculous.

I am almost finished with two knitting projects and can go on to the next one. I am glad as I am kind of bored. I like changing it up and that is why I usually have several projects going at once. I get tired of knitting one, I change to another.

I read an article about Las Vegas and boy oh boy. One woman who has worked for Fitzgerald's Casino for 28 years got fired, her job eliminated and now she can't find work anywhere as no where is hiring. The place we usually stay has priced so low it is ridiculous. You can stay for $26 a night during the week, which is unheard of. We thought about changing our minds about vacation and striking while the iron is hot so to speak, but I think we are going to stick with going on our cruise.

Well gals, I am going to sit and knit until Jack gets up for breakfast. Have a fun holiday today! I am going to check out the pool later and see if they open it. TTFN, Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly along with a cool breeze. The flag is out and Bob is moving a bird/squirrel feeder away from the deck. It was fine in the winter but now they fly in, eat, and poop on their way out! I hate having to clean off the deck when and if I want to sit out there. My last load of laundry is in the washer and I need to get dressed. I could get used to sitting around in my robe.

Susan -- I guess I just assumed that anyone who is trying to lose weight would eat more healthy food than fast food, etc. I never was an evening eater so that part is not hard for me, but after school until supper is my bad time. If I could eat breakfast at 10 and supper at 4, I would be fine. I hate the nights when I can't get to sleep, or wake up then can't get back to sleep. I think that has something to do with age!

"Gma" -- My mother wanted "Parents of Jean" put on their tombstone. That didn't thrill me, but it was done before I ever saw it. You talking about fresh sweet corn makes me want some NOW! We won't have it locally grown until around the 4th of July, I think. The farmers planted early this year so maybe we will get it earlier. The very first pickup loads come in from Nebraska and it is so sweet and tender. I could make a whole meal out of sweet corn! I had heard that LV was promoting some great deals with airline tickets and hotel rates combined. I think tourist -vacation places are hurting if people can't drive there for a day or two visit.

I need to get dressed and get busy -- fur/dust bunnies appeared overnight and need to be vacuumed. I also need to iron! Have a nice day and enjoy!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good evening, ladies! No rain yet but the humidity is high. I finally gave up and put the air conditioning on just to get rid of it.

I didn't do anything special today - moved everything out of the sunroom and washed the baseboards and floor, cleaned the furniture and then moved everything back in, then I cleaned the kitchen. And I did a load of laundry and cleaned out the closet. So I was busy all day.

I just dropped Weight Watchers and Curves. Until I get this fluid off my body, my weight is all over the place. I just need to stick with the program and not weigh for awhile. I've been coming home from Curves so exhausted I can hardly do anything the rest of the evening. I decided to quit for now and buy an exercise bike that I can ride several times a day for short times to get my exercise. I found a good sale on one at Amazon so I ordered it. That's $80 a month I'll be saving.

Maggie, I just had a cantaloupe smoothie and thought of you. I have a real problem with eyeballing portions so I use my scale and measuring cups and spoons all the time. You would think by now I could judge better!

Faye, I agree that WW fees are too high. I know you are severely temped with the LV rates so low now.

Jean, soon you will be a lady of leisure so you can have breakfast at 10 and supper at 4 if you want...guess you'll still have to fix Bob's supper a little later. I love fresh corn. We should be getting some next month.

Well, I'm ready to do nothing for an hour and then head up to bed. Have a good evening!

Good very early morning ladies. Fortune was jumping on and off the bed so I came down with him in the chair at midnight. He needed to go to the bathroom so I just got up and decided to stay up for awhile. I may start some quiet cleaning this morning. My house needs it again.

Looks like I am down 2 lbs for the week, I think. This goofy scale for me is all over the place. Let's give Jack a big as he is down 10 lbs, 25% of what he wants to lose. He says he now looks 6 months pregnant instead of
8. Jack carries almost every bit of his extra weight in his stomach area.

Susan: It is a hard decision to make which to do for vacation next year. I save for a whole year and use our tax refund to pay for our trips so I want the most bang for our buck. We are sticking with the cruise. We did however decide to upgrade so to speak to a better cruise line so we downgraded our stateroom status. Royal Carribean has more things on board ship to do then Carnival does. It is also more expensive. So instead of getting a suite with Carnival we are going with an interior stateroom that has a window out onto their promenade. It is plenty of room for us and we save about a $1000 this way. I sure hope you can get your breathing under control a bit better so you can quit the durn steroids. You were a very busy girl yesterday, but don't you always feel like you accomplised great things when you clean a room like that. I can't wait until I am able to get down and clean baseboards and such. Until then, I have to just look the other way.

Jean: We have birds in the spring that dive bomb the deck with berry poop. It is such a mess to clean up. We have a big tree in the back, one of the only condos with a full size tree in it and that is where the craz squirrel lives with his pooping bird friends. I put out chimes and it does help, but only when the darn things chime and because the garage protects us from wind as do the high fences on both sides, it has to be pretty windy to get them going. Airline travel to anywhere is outrageous. We are driving to Florida next year to take our cruise. We will go from here to Atlanta and spend the night then drive on in to Cape Canaveral the next day. One of the cool things is the hotel I plan to book for the overnight stay in Florida allows anyone that is cruising to park their cars in their lot for the week free and ride their shuttle to and from the ship.
Saves quite a bit on parking.

Maggie: I have a Homedic scale that measure bfi and weight and will store weight. I am going to check at noon today and if the pool is open will brave the cold water and get a workout. I just hope that there aren't a bunch of kids or scummy adults in the pool when I go over. I can't swim laps when they are running and jumping off the end of the pool. Ahh well, those that live here have the right to use it too.

I am going to go gals and do a bit of work then probably knit until Jack gets up. Have a great Tuesday!
Faye

Good evening, ladies! A gloomy rainy day today...and for the next 3 days in the forecast.

It was hard to go back to work after four days off, and this is a busy week.

It looks like we are all going to be saving some money by not paying WW. Let's face it - we know what to do, we just have to do it. It's too bad we don't live closer so we could get together once in a while.

Faye, you have the crazy squirrel and his pooping bird friends; I have racoons, muskrats, rabbits and deer wrecking havoc on my trash cans and yard. To make up for them, I do have ducks, geese and egrets on the water in back of my house so I can watch them while I eat. Our pool opened yesterday but I have no plans to use it. Did you get to go swimming? Congratulations to you and Jack for your losses this week.

Maggie, let me know how accurate that scale is. I'd like to get one that measures hydration but I've heard a lot of complaints about accuracy.

Well, time to head upstairs and do a little reading before I go to bed. Have a good night.
s

Good Evening, Flowers! It's been a cloudy dreary day in my neighborhood. There were a few rain sprinkles every once in awhile; we are supposed to get rain later tonight. For all practical purposes I am done at school. I have to turn in my keys and pick up my make-up bag from the teachers' lounge, then it is final. The math/Spanish hall, where I spent most of my time, had a surprise lunch for the retiring math teacher and myself today. One of the teachers made scrapbooks for each of us and the teachers signed the books while we ate. Tomorrow afternoon another special ed. teacher and a special ed. IA, who are sisters-in-law, are having a retirement coffee at the golf course after school. Their husbands are putting that on. Tomorrow night is the end-of-the year party out on another teacher's acreage. Thursday morning is the district wide retirement breakfast and then a high school potluck at noon for the retiring secretary. It's almost too much crammed into too little time. I had a haircut after school and as usual, she cut too much off. It will grow, but there isn't much perm left.

Maggie -- We don't turn the electric blanket on any more; I kidded Bob that it is his security blanket because it is a little heavier than the summer blanket. You did get a fancy scale! Too bad it can't cook for you too!

Susan -- You were a busy lady yesterday! Were you stiff 'n sore today? I don't blame you for stopping WW and Curves although I know how much you enjoyed Curves. I hate paying for a WW meeting when the leader is a dud! What kind of a bike did you get?

"Gma" -- You were up early! Did you ever go back to bed? Congrats to you and Jack on your losses! It's just not fair that men lose quicker than we do! We have a squirrel who has no fur on his tail from about 3" down to his butt. He looks just plain silly. He seems to balance ok, but I'd be curious to know what happened to him. He's going to be cold this winter if the fur doesn't grow back.

I'm heading off to bed. Have a nice evening and a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning ladies. I have my last clinic day for the school year today and this is the last day of school for the kids. I have enjoyed it and hope they ask me to help out next year. I enjoy being around the kids. The girls always are interested in my knitting. If I weren't left handed, I would see about giving a knitting lesson once a week during their recess for girls who wanted to learn. If it were adults, it would be easier for them to get the fact that they knit from the left needle to the right, but for kids it is confusing just knowing what to do.

Susan: No swimming for me yesterday... It started raining about 10 minutes before she would have opened the pool and kept it up all afternoon. I don't go later because then you have to deal with kids and rude adults and you can't swim laps with a bunch of people in the pool anyway. Ok, you win on the pain in the behind animals! When we lived in Indiana we had a pond right behind our patio and it was lovely to see the Canadian geese but the mess, ugh! You workin' on my quilt? I am going to be at goal before you know it.... Well, I suppose you have a bit of time, about 18 months or so! Truthfully though, Jack and I finally got our ah hah moment like I like to call it. We are to the point where our stomach has adjusted and we aren't hungry all the time and I told Jack I knew I was on my way when I went to the grocery store and wasn't tempted to pick up chocolate or pop or powdered sugar donuts! Except for an occasional skinny cow or a ff pudding, I haven't had any sugary stuff. One thing that has helped is Jack has been much more open minded about trying things and in doing so has found things he refused to even try before and he likes them.

Jean: HAPPY RETIREMENT! My scale has finally caught up and I weighed myself 4 times just to make sure so as of today I lost 4 lbs for the week. I am now down 16 lbs for the three weeks so I am on my way to the skinny new me. There will be a lot of walking with the cruise from the pier to the ship, all around the ship, which is huge, then the excursions so I have to get myself in tip top shape. Besides, my smaller top and jacket come today so I want to be sure and fit into it sometime down the road. I am going to get a pair of white dress slacks to go with it to wear to dressy casual nights at dinner. I even get to buy a cocktail or evening gown to wear, which will be fun. I actually have one that I bought for Jay's wedding, but I am going to make sure it is huge by the time we sail. I think Jack and I will over to the big Opry mills outlet mall in Nashville and do cruise shopping over labor day week end next year. I should be able to get some great end of summer deals on clothes. I have the most gorgeous pair of heels I bought for Jay's wedding and on the day of his wedding my feet swelled so much from the heat that I had to wear sandals so they are brand new and never been worn. One of the things we are looking forward to is the ship has a mystery dinner theatre night. I can't wait for that. I am a big arm chair detective.

Guess I better get the laundry started and get me some breakfast in a bit. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Faye

Good morning, ladies! More rain today and not so warm. Where's the sun?

Here's a little depressing news from the Diet Detective:


Tip of the Day:
What It Takes to Burn Off an Order of French Fries

French fries are delicious, but they pack a caloric wallop. The problem is that although they're most often a side dish, they feature main-dish calories. If you think you're going to have "just one" or "a couple of bites" and leave the rest, well, you're mistaken. French fries don't work like that. Find out what it takes to burn off even a medium order of french fries from your favorite fast-food drive-through.


Medium french fries: 380 calories

Exercise Equivalents

# Walking: 98 minutes
# Biking: 54 minutes
# Running: 40 minutes

To make matters worse, one order contains 22 grams of fat and 57 grams of carbs! And remember: You're adding a side of fries to a usually already hefty sandwich or burger. That burger and fries meal alone could rack up more than a thousand calories — busting your calorie bank for the whole day!

That is a real eye-opener. Apparently there is a book of 7,500 foods and how much exercise it takes to burn them off. I'm going to see if the library has it or Books A Million or Amazon.

Our children are out of school next week. Busch Gardens is open and the tourists are here already.

Boss ordered a new computer and I have until Monday to get it and all the software working before he comes back from MI. Then next week will be horrible because he won't know how to do anything because Office 2007 is a huge change from earlier versions.

My chore for this evening is going to be to match the storage containers with their tops and throw out those that don't match. I have a lot more lids than containers but half the time when I choose a container, I can't find a top. I'm really trying to weed everything out to the minimum. My friends will have to get rid of this junk when I'm dead so I'll try to make it easier for them.

Faye, your quilt is right on track. I'll ship it to you when you hit your goal. I've taught left-handers to knit and crochet by sitting in front of a mirror and having them look at the mirror.

Jean on being a retired lady. Now the fun begins!

Have a great day!

Maggie, the book is The Diet Detective's Count Down: 7500 of Your Favorite Food Counts with Their Exercise Equivalents for Walking, Running, Biking, Swimming, Yoga, and Dance by Charles Stuart Platkin (Paperback - Jan 2, 2007). You can get it at Amazon for about $12. I think I saw it at Walmart, but I'm not positive.

He is on TV - he calls on an overweight person and tells them what to do to get it off then goes back 5-6 months later to see how they have done. I think it was on A&E that I caught it, I was channel surfing.

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It is trying hard to rain, but so far just a mist. It's cold enough that my furnace has been running off and on today. It will be jeans and sweatshirts for the party tonight since we will be outside grilling and eating in the machine shed.

"Gma" -- I'll bet you will be at the top of the list for clinic volunteers next year! Since so many mothers work I imagine it is hard to find volunteers. Congrats on 16 #s that are gone forever! It will be fun to shop for new clothes in smaller sizes.

Susan -- Thanks for the french fries information. I rarely order them because they usually feel like dust on the inside. There is a restaurant/bar in a nearby town that makes their own fries from scratch and they are good. When we go there I usually share with Bob. I hope you can get the computer set up for your boss without any problems. He will be the problem if he has to learn new things. My "fun" is going to start in the garage I think . . . I have lots to sort through for the Good Will and will start with a cedar chest full of MIL and FIL's square dancing outfits.

Maggie -- My haircut isn't the way I wanted it either. I have threatened to try someone new and may just do that yet. I've gone to this same gal for 30 years so maybe a change is due. Chicken stew sounds good on a cool day like today.

I need to put my picnic plates and salad stuff together so I am ready when Bob gets home at 5. I'm off to a retirement coffee at the golf course in a few minutes.

Have a nice evening and a terrific Thursday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!