Morning girls! It is cool and crisp and lovely here this morning. We were supposed to get a big storm last night, but we got about 5 minutes of rain and that was it. We do need more rain that's for sure.

Well, they took 2 hours and gave Dotson the death penalty. He deserves it. You know, he sat through that whole trial and saw autopsy photos of his nieces and nephews, one of which was 2 months old and never shed one tear, never anything, except anger when he was on the stand testifying, well lying really. He says the cops threatened him if he didn't confess, but the two cops doing the interview, one of them was a woman and I hardly think she would have been able to do the things he said they threatened. His execution date is scheduled for March 2012 so I hope they whiz through his appeals and do what they need to do then. The surviving children need to be rid of seeing this stuff on tv and in the news and such.

Jean: HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear friend. Glad you get to be with friends today since Bob has more work he has to get done tonight. I think some people who get flu shots do get sick, most likely just from over anxiousness about it, but anything injected into the skin I supposed can cause upset. FYI, we have had direct tv for years and really like it. They have the game channel and one of the nice things with direct tv is when you become a good customer on your anniversary every year they give you 3 free months of something. Ours this year happens to be the game channel. The one thing and only one thing I have found a downer with the dish is that you can lose tv when there are storms. Not every storm we have had caused it and some I didn't think would did, but we have never lost tv for hours or anything like that. I think about half an hour is the most we have ever lost. I compared the two and direct tv is a better value, you get more permanent HD channels if you have hd and I like their lineup better. If you do decide to go with a dish and decide on direct tv, let me know before you sign up as every referral I give to them gets me $100 and the person signing up gets $100, but you need my account number to get your money.

Maggie: Glad you had a nice birthday. Kelly is an Obsession gal. I like several, but I really like "The One" from Dolce and Gabbana or "Cashmire Mist" by Donna Karan. I also like Mariah Carey's "Pink Blush" in a pinch. I remember when I was a teenage I used to wear "Love's Baby Soft" and awhile back saw it at Walmart's and went to smell it and get a high school remembrance, but they changed it and frankly it stinks now! lol I think a lot of the new perfumes are so strong and seem to all have the same smell to them. I don't like the asian type fragrances. I like soft flowery stuff.

Susan: I too am wondering what the English Paper Piercing is. You will have to fill us in. I thought of you when we were in Branson as downtown has several tiny quilt shops.

I see they are finally bringing up those poor miners in Chile. Wonder if those guys will continue to be miners?

Have a grand hump day today. I am off to retrieve the trash can from the corner. Faye

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It has been another beautiful fall day in my corner of the world although a bit cooler. It was windy yesterday afternoon so a lot of the trees around us are bare today. I had lunch bunch at noon and then ran a couple errands for Bob. This morning he had to sit through a meeting and then had to pass the test before they would let him leave. He and farmer friend are finishing the corn in one spot and will be moving machinery to another so he was anxious to get to the farm. I finally got our jewelry back from the jeweler; I had to have my rings made smaller and Bob wanted appraisals updated. It's been 2 weeks without so now I feel completely dressed once again.

"Gma" -- I can't remember is we are locked into a years contract with our cable company or not. I'm hoping to have time to discuss it with Bob and then check out Dish or Direct TV. Is there a difference between the two? I will keep your offer in mind. I hope all of the miners come up safely!

Maggie -- I'm glad you enjoyed your special day yesterday in spite of the weather. I don't think I have ever smelled Opium; I will have to look for it. I usually wear Pleasure by Estee Lauder.

I have bell practice in a few minutes so should change clothes again. I hope you all have a nice evening in your part of the world!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good evening, ladies. A big drop in the temperatures so it looks like Indian Summer might be over. Me thinks winter is coming!

I had a scary experience at the Y today. I usually leave my glasses in the locker but I forgot to take them off today so I left them and my towel on the shelf at the pool. I took about 2 steps and stepped on a pair of glasses! Not mine. I put them on the shelf in plain sight. When I got out of the pool and reached for my glasses, they were gone! I went into the locker room and asked everyone to check to be sure they had their glasses and that was the case so I'm trying to think how I'm going to drive home with no glasses. After I showered and dressed I made one more trip back to the pool to see if someone had returned them, but only the glasses I stepped on were there. I took those glasses to the reception desk and the lady asked me if I lost my glasses. Whoever the glasses that were left belonged to, left my glasses at the desk and went home. They had her number to return her glasses so that was good. I had another pair of glasses at home so if they hadn't been found, I'd still have had glasses.

to Jean and Maggie. Isn't it amazing that the four of us are so close in birthdays! My aqua aerobics group sang happy birthday to me today in the pool!

Yesterday was evening Quilt Guild so after work I had dinner with my friends then we went there. Nothing else going on until Lock-In at Bella Quilt Shop Friday evening.

For those of you who were wondering what English Paper Piecing is, I'll try to describe it. It's always easier to show someone than get the point across in words. English Paper Piecing is a very old method of quilting where shapes, hexagons predominate, are cut out of paper. The paper template is the exact size. The template is placed on the fabric and the fabric is cut out about 1/4" all around the template. The seam allowance is then folded over the edge of the paper and basted in place. After the pieces are basted, two are put together and the edges are sewn together with a whip stitch or ladder stitch (I prefer the ladder stitch). Once pieces have been sewn together, the basting and papers are removed and the piece is appliqued to a background or the edges are finished, depending on what you want to make. I like it because you can carry it with you easily and it is an extremely accurate. It had gone out of favor about 15 years ago but, everthing old being new again, is starting to see a rebirth. I like handwork and it makes a nice change of the applique blocks I do and allows me to use up little scraps of fabric. I'm a miser and hate to waste any fabric at all.

Jean, I doubt the flu shot made your friend sick. Flu vaccine is made from dead flu virus. I just read that 67% of Americans believe that and it is a myth. There is no way I'd go without my flu shot and pneumonia vaccine. If I get sick, I can end up intubated in the ICU very fast. And that is no fun. The flu shot is given for the flus that are expected to be going around that year. They are mutations of other flus and we don't have time to build up immunities to them. I hope you enjoyed your birthday. What did you do special?

Maggie, what vitamins does your doctor prescribe? There is an article in the new Prevention magazine that reports on a gold stand testing they did on multivitamins. A gold standard test lasts 10 years and has at least 250,000 participants so it is a big sampling and considered to be very accurate. The people who took the multivitamins had no more antioxidants, immunity, less cancer or heart disease, etc. than those who did not take them. They are saying that what we need are (I'll quote the 51 years or older requirements) 2-1/2-3 cups of vegetables, 1-1/2-2 cups of fruit, 3 cups of dairy, 5 oz. of meat or beans, and 5 oz. of grains with half of that whole grains, Vitamin D 800-1000 units per day, Omega-3 1000 units per day, Calcium up to 1200mg per day, and Vitamin B12 if your doctor recommends the B12. I've changed to liquid Calcium with D because I think it is better absorbed. I had the same idea for dinner as you, meatloaf and acorn squash. I love it.

Faye, I saw on the news they were surprised that the miners were in very good shape when they came out. I'm sure the hand of God was in on their rescue and kept them alive until they could be rescued. I told you wrong when I said we were studying Matthew this year. That was last year. This year is Acts. It's very interesting.

I made some Pumpkin Fluff today so that's a sure sign of Fall at my house. Glory and I have made reservations for Thanksgiving Dinner so we don't have to cook this year.

Enjoy your evening!

Good morning ladies! Boy this week is breezing by. It gets cool into the 50's at night, but warms up into upper 70's or low 80's during the day. I am sitting here watching the last James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace." I noticed that since they cast this actor that it is less silly jokes and more serious adventure type of a movie.

I am going to finish posting here and then debone the chicken I put in a crockpot last night. We are going to have chicken and noodles tonight. I got a laugh because two nights ago I made meat loaf! So it is meat loaf all around I guess.

Susan: Wow, glad you got your glasses back. I have very bad vision without my contacts in so I would be lost without glasses if I still wore them. That is interesting about the paper piercing. It will depend on whether our son comes down here or not as to what goes with Thanksgiving. I love going out as you don't have all the leftovers nor the clean up which can be a real job. Jay absolutely refuses to go out to eat for Thanksgiving. I am going to order a ham, but a small one and we will do a turkey, but probably cut corners everywhere like getting the precooked dinner from Krogers or something. I may get another smoked turkey from the bbq place across the street. The last one we had was great.

Jean: The two satellite companies are alike and they are different, but not in a serious way, more what you get for your $$. Like I said, I compared the two when we decided on direct tv and about once a year I check and see if dish has caught up, but they really haven't. The truth is, ignore the tv commercials because they basically are like political ads, they just attack each other and color the truth without lying. I just found we got better and more channels with direct tv, when we went to hd for the downstairs they have a much better permanent selection of hd channels. Dish tells you a certain channel is hd, but it may not be hd for every program. Anyway, if you do become interested, go to either website and compare them then make your choice which better suits you. I have to say I do like direct tv much better than comcast our cable provider here in Memphis. We had a lot of trouble with them the 18 months we had cable before switching.

Maggie: There are certain bran products I like and some that to me taste like cardboard, really cardboard. Hope your dinner turned out well.

Well gals, I need to get that chicken deboned and refrigerated plus I want to do vacuuming and such upstairs. Have a good Thursday all! Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! It's another "happy farmer" kind of day in my corner of the world. It was only 39 degrees when I went downstairs early, but we are supposed to hit low 70s today. I have WW later this morning and then need to get Ernie some more food. I spaced it off yesterday when I was out and about.

Susan -- I'm so glad you found your glasses and they weren't damaged in any way. My glass frame color blends in with my counter top so I always put them up on a shelf so I can find them. Thank you for the birthday wishes. I thought maybe you had taken up a new craft with English Paper Piercing. When I was wandering around the craft shop, I noticed a round paper coffee filter mounted on a display board; it had been divided into sections and then someone had put same sized pieces of fabric together. I don't know if they used the paper in sewing or just as a pattern for marking. I just got my postcard for getting my flu shot; we get them free for volunteering at the hospital. I think eating T. dinner out is a great idea, and then you don't have to worry about eating leftovers for a week afterwards.

"Gma" -- I have a feeling I won't be discussing Dish or Direct with Bob until after harvest is finished. He came home around 9:30 last night but had an interesting story to tell. They were moving the combine and head to another location (Bob following the combine) when some guy, in a car, came speeding up behind them. Other tractors pulling wagons and semis were meeting them from time to time on the country blacktop. There was enought room to pass Bob, get back in line, and then pass the combine when it was "safe." Well, this jerk tried to pass both of them on a double yellow line! The farmer pulled to the center so the car couldn't get around him. When they got to where they were going the car pulled up behind them and proceeded to get in the farmer's face accusing him of trying to run the car in the ditch. The farmer called the sheriff and reported that the guy was passing on a double yellow line with Bob as a witness. The guy got a ticket and was he ever mad! He claims he will fight the ticket in court so we'll see what happens. It was really stupid on his part!

I'd better get a move on or I won't get anything done today. I didn't get much done yesterday that's for sure. Enjoy your day!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good evening, ladies. A rainy cold day here.

Didn't do anything today but work and Y. Tomorrow is lock in at Bella Quilt Shop and it's our Halloween party so that will be fun.

Maggie, thanks for the list of your vitamins. Sounds like a good plan covering all the bases.

Jean, we have nutty drivers around here, too, but never a cop when you want one. I'll bet the guy's ticket will hold up in court.

Faye, you should just let your son do the cooking of Thanksgiving dinner. Then he'd be more than happy to go out. LOL

Have a great evening.

Good morning to you all! I have been up since 5 when Jack got up, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, bought the boys their Halloween goodies and a tshirt each, bought Jack this funny tshirt for Halloween that Jack is sure to get comments about at work because most guys out at the plant are Democrats. This tshirt company has everything you can imagine. I wanted to buy Thomas this "math" halloween tshirt but they only had it in adult sizes. His mom buys him all this cool tshirts with funny sayings that you have to think about to figure out and this one was like that. I had to have Jack actually explain it to me! lol Thomas would have understood it though I am sure.

I found these cool Halloween gift cannisters filled with stuff other than candy at the popcorn factory so got them each one of them. They have like snack treats, popcorn, cookies, stuff like that and not too much candy. I figured the whole family could share then.

Jean: Wow, I don't blame you about the tv business. It isn't like you don't have tv you can watch and sounds like Bob is really busy if he is getting home so late at night. Poor guy at his age he must be bushed when he gets home. Living where I did growing up, tractors and wagons and such were a way of life. We only lived two blocks from the grain elevator. I imagine the mouse phobia with me might just have something to do with being so close to the place. Rodents do love that stuff. Euwww, creeps me out just thinking about it. We had to walk past it everyday to and from school and I would be icked out when I would go over the railroad tracks and past it everyday day. Jack got a free flu shot this year as they offered them to city workers. He said his nurse had a not so gentle touch and his arm has hurt ever since his shot.

Susan: I figure that the true way to a man's "let's go out for Thanksgiving" is to wear his wife out helping! No better way to put a kabosh on cooking Thanksgiving dinner than that! Of course, so far it hasn't worked, but then Kelly and I have done the prep work every year. We pretty much leave the extras at Kelly's and she takes desserts over to her fil and we do make leftover sandwiches out of the meat when we are together the following couple days. We just don't save all the other stuff so much.

Maggie: Our chicken and noodles really hit the spot. I like the amish style noodles but I usually buy the really fine noodles and use them. I really like them.

Tonight is a date night. We will go see "Red" then go to dinner. We haven't decided on a restaurant yet. We go to the last matinee to save a bit. I know tickets here are cheaper than other places, but they have gone up to $7.50 for a matinee ticket now and $10.00 full price. You take a family of 4 to the movies and it will break you. When we were kids you could bring your own snacks if you wanted to, but then popcorn was like a nickel too. Now you get a snack and a drink and it costs you $7! I don't eat popcorn because of the intestinal thing so usually opt for either sneaking something in my huge handbags or I will occasionally get nachos. I plan on eating a snack before we go to prevent gorging since we aren't going to dinner until afterwards.

You gals have a great weekend! Faye

Good morning to you all! Hope your Saturday is starting out well. Jack left a little while ago to go to the dealership and have our Sync system updated. It doesn't cost us anything so we might as well have it done.

We went out last night and saw the movie "Red" and it was really quite funny and we both loved it. John Malkovich does a great job with his character a retired CIA agent who is a total nutter and conspiracy theorist. I don't want to give the movie away but it really is funny. We then went to Raffertys for dinner and had steak. It was nice and that wasn't until around 7 pm and IMO you can tell people are cutting back on going out to eat as the place should have been packed with a waiting list, but we got right in. There were quite a few people there, but quite a few table empty too. Most of their menu I don't care about, but they have a great green salad that I love. I splurged last night and had the hot bacon dressing and it was yummy.

We are going out later today and do some errands, wash the car and such and since we don't have to go into stores we can't take Fortchy we are going to take him out with us for a ride. He loves to go and hasn't been in quite awhile.

Maggie: Jack likes potato soup a lot. I haven't made any in quite awhile since it is starting to cool off, I think I will get stuff to make it and chili tomorrow when I grocery shop. Jack is a fan of chicken soup too but it has to be pretty good for me to like it.

Jean: I wondered what was going on with that. I got at message about the video that it had a virus attached, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out about the weight loss stuff. I thought to myself there is no way Jean would take this junk but facebook made it look like it was coming from you that's for sure. Glad you were able to get it cleared up with changing your password.

I need to get a move on. I am doing laundry and need to reload the dishwasher from Jack's snack last night and his breakfast. You guys have a good day. Hope it is beautiful where you are! Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! A sunny day in the low 60s. Time to turn the closet to winter wear.

The lock in was lots of fun as always. I didn't wear a costume because we were goint to eat before going so didn't want to look like an idiot. We went to Virginia Barbecue and I had NC Barbecue sandwich (NC sauce is vinegar based, no tomato), cole slaw, collard greens and a baked potato with a diet coke for $6.85. And they don't skimp on the meat. It is so good.

Jean, I know what you mean about expensive to eat out. It's $33 for our Tday dinner. Glory and I know most of the inexpensive-but-good places to eat so we thought we could splurge for once.

Maggie, you are so creative with you mixes in a jar. I am one of those silly women who can't stand the thought of a gun in the house, let alone loading bullets. When my father died, I took his guns to the police department and gave them to one of the officers who liked to hunt. That potato soup sounds good.

Faye, did Fortchy enjoy his ride? Dogs always look so happy when they are in a car. I love a good steak.

I went to WW this morning and it wasn't a good wi - up 2 whole pounds. I don't know where my brain has been these last 2 weeks but obviously it was on vacation. My week starts today so I'm back to journaling and went grocery shopping after WW and now have plenty of good food in the house. I have to get this in hand right now because retreat begins November 4 and I don't want to be worried about gaining there. I've been craving salty stuff, not sweets, and meat (of all things).

I need to get going on some zero point soup this afternoon. Have a great evening.