G'day all,

I thought Marnie was the last to post but as I started the new thread I noticed that Glenda (lovely to 'see' you) andPeggy also posted.
Will go back and have a read and come back and post here a bit later in the day.

Cheers
Maria

Glenda! So good to see you! And very happy about your results! Thats super news! Sorry work is so stressful for you right now. Hope it gets better!

Karen
Great news for you to! Super that you got those awards. sounds like you are helping the members so much! Congrats!

Peggy: How come you arent doing shows this year? You always seemed to love it so much.

Maria
Hopefully they will find out what is causing your problems. Sounds like they are getting close and that s good thing!

All: yep I can keep a secert. Its coming and every one will have there answers soon. Its good and lots of good things coming.

Night night!

Hi all - wanted to share this with you all!

Ladies / Real Women


By the time you find greener pastures, you can't climb the fence!


Tips for ladies and real women...


Ladies - if you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still
cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt.

Real Women - if you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's
Too damn bad. please recite with me, the real women's motto:
"I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes !!"


Ladies-cure for headaches- take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Real Women-take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink. you might still have the headache, but who cares?


Ladies-stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugarcone
To prevent ice cream drips.

Real Women-just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete’s sake. you are probably lying on the couch, with your feet up, eating it anyway.


Ladies-to keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Real Women-buy boxed mashed potato mix and keep it in the pantry for up to a year.


Ladies-when a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

Real Women-go to the bakery-they'll even decorate it for you.


Ladies-brush some beaten egg whites over piecrust before baking, to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

Real Women - Sara Lee frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so just don't do it !

Ladies - if you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. they give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Real Women-go ask the very cute neighbor guy to do it.

and finally the most important tip...........

Ladies-don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

Real Women-leftover wine ??!!


A good friend will come and bail you out of jail......but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn, wasn't that fun !!"


Sorry for taking up so much room. Can we e-mail stuff to the group?



Marnie

G'day all,

At last a bit of time to post!!

We had a lovely time in Melbourne with our dd and her dh. We left again at 5 am and with us sharing the driving, we were back in Adelaide at 2.30 pm. The minute we walked in we received a phone call from dh's sister, dh's father had been taken to hospital and can we go and get some stuff for him and take it to the hospital. F-i-l is 90 and he has had a bad cough, we assumed it may have been pneumonia but it seems that one of his kidneys have packed up
Next day I saw my doctor who told me that all tests so far have proven that everything is OK and she thinks I have 'mild' fibromyalgia. She told me to keep a diary, do yoga and she also said that accupuncture can be very helpful. I go back again in 3 months time. The most helpful thing has been a fibromyalgia website. At least no deadly disease was found in all the tests

My sister (the pain ) asked me if I would do a collage for an aunti in Holland for her 90th birthday. She is going over for the birthday as she is her godchild. My eldest sister did a lovely poem, she is very talented that way and the collage turned out great. Sister (the pain) only made a few criticisms but said NOTHING positive about the collage or the poem. It must be awful to be so negative and not being able to acknowledge that some people actually can do things better than you can.
The place where I had it printed asked me if I would hang one in their shop and they would refer customers to me, I do the collage and they do the printing, sounds a good deal.

We are also still working on our front garden and yesterday planted a weeping mulburry tree. I wanted a fairly well established tree and we 'found' a beauty for $125.00. Now that we planted it, it is not half as big as I thought it was , it will look lovely once spring comes and it starts to sprout.
I also bought 4 rose bushes and they are planted.
We have had some very cold weather but during the day it is quite pleasant.

Of course now I have forgotten what everyone else talked of on the previous thread

Thank you Marnie for sharing, so true

Everyone else, hope you are well and happy, hope the birthday 'gal' got over the celebrations!

Cheers
Maria

Hi Everybody

I had a wonderful birthday "week". On Monday I went out to lunch with a friend whose husband has cancer and for a change I sat quietly and let someone else do the talking. Because of her husband's illness, of course her life has drastically changed too
On Tuesday, tea time was at my friend the nurse's home and although the weather did not co-operate and we had to have it indoors, it was just great. I received lovely gifts from the gals, and we had lots of nice treats to eat ( Trudy brought one of my favorties, a lemon slice. My birthday cake was a "Carrot Cake" another of my favs. YIKES......no wonder I have a weight problem.
On Wednesday I went out shopping and for lunch again and got another nice gift. Thursday, I went golfing with the same gal I saw on Wednesday. The GOOD news was I had a wonderful time, and the bad news was I had 75 (and that was for 9 HOLES).
I was very honest and counted every stroke whether my club came in contact with the ball or not....
On Thursday evening my family came over and we ordered in pizza, salad and they had an ice cream cake for me. DH gave up trying to think of something to give me, so I got a nice card that had a fair amount of cash in it and was told to buy myself something that I would like to have. My son/dil gave me a digital camera and a microphone for my computer. I loved the mic but I decided I would likely NEVER use the camera as I just am not interested in taking pictures or printing them up on the computer. I explained (very gently to them, that I loved the idea but felt I would not spend the time learning to use it). They understood and were not hurt. The mic on the other hand I loved and have already sent out several voice emails.
On Friday my brother treated us to dinner in honor of my birthday. I guess you gals might have "noticed" that there was a lot of eating going on. Time to settle down and get to the business of losing weight. We are going away this winter so that is a added incentive for me to lose weight.
Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes. Marnie for someone who only a very short time ago didn't know how to use color etc you almost designed a complete birthday card. Glenda it sure was nice seeing you here again. Congrats on the great 6 mo check up. how wonderful that is. You and me kid, we will concentrate on getting to goal weight. Peggy , any reason why you have chosen not to go into any craft shows this year?? Karen congrats to you on winning the WW awards....good for you! Maria looks like your life is busy. I hope you are feeling better. It's funny how HUGE trees look at the nursery and then you get them home and planted and somehow seem to shrink. Lily you seem to be very busy too, but I guess mostly at your job. Are you planning another holiday this year? Ann it's going to be so nice for you to have your dd home for awhile. She could maybe sit at the edge of the pool and jost put her feet in the water. Nancy hi, what's new with you, how is your weight loss program coming?
Well gang, I think I took up more then my share of this thread
talk to you all later.

G'day all,

Lovely to read all about your birthday week Slavika, sounds like you had a fantastic time. I am disappointed you decided not to use the digital camera you were given, it really is easy but I guess you know best if you would make use of it or not.
You will have a good incentive to get rid of the extra few pounds knowing you will be going away on holidays this winter.

It looks like we might be home for at least a few months, I am finding it very hard to get back into the swing of shopping and cooking as if I would never go away again

On Friday we treated ourselves to buying a very fancy b-b-q, it is stainless steel and its the type with a hood so I can do roasts etc. We have a small backyard and it is difficult to 'hide' a b-b-q, now there is no need for it to be hidden as it looks rather nice.
My sister was keen to have our old b-b-q so we took it out to her place yesterday with a few other bits and pieces that were cluttering my place. She runs a bit of a nursery from her home and has a huge backyard with 100001 plants . For my newly designed front garden I wanted some English Box plants to create a little hedge so I bought 60 English Box plants, some lavender plants, some lilies and she insisted I have a couple of poppies. She said they were the illegal type (opium poppies) but the flower is bright red and just spectacular. Could come in handy if my aches and pains get much worse
So it is out in the garden for us today
We will try out our new b-b-q for dinner tonight. I will roast a small fillet of lamb.

I look forward to a very productive day, the forecast for the rest of the week is not good, it will be nice to observe the weather from inside smugly knowing all my new plants are planted and are enjoying the rain.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend,

Cheers
Maria

Slavika: Wow What a week for you! Fun filled and lots of friends! Thats what birthdays are about! Glad you had a great time! No real big holiday plans here. We are thinking of camping (not my most favorite thing to do) But going to Yosemite
http://www.yosemitepark.com/
Its 2 hours away. I have lived here for 15 years and have never been
Always wanted to go.

Maria: Oh... a BBQ. You will love it! We use ours all the time. Really nice in the summer when its hot. Also great in the winter to. You can do anything in it. We have done pizzas before to. Only problem I have is getting hubby to do what he is suppose to and make things ready on time. Never happens Like tonight. I told him put potatoes in at 5:00. Well they didnt go in til 5:20. Roast is done at 6:00. So Microwave comes in real handy Husbands... Who invented them

Marnie: Loved your Real Women thing!


Later!

G'day all,

What happens to the time

My garden is taking shape and looking good. We went to our financial adviser this morning and he re-assured us that all is going as well as it could be. I also bought some matting to mount some of my photographs to frame. I now have to practice using a mat cutter.

Lily thank you for posting the address of the site of Yosemite Park, I cannot believe you have never been there seeing you live so close. It is a bit like when we were in New Zealand, the locals were very interested where we had been as they had never gotten around to seeing some of the areas we went to. I am a bit with you on the camping but I also have to say the few times we have camped it has always been nicer than I anticipated it would be.

I am also still practicing my skills in restoring etc. seeing I am offering my services now.
If any of you want to have a bit of a giggle, I posted a restored photograph of myself here

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...20#post1424520

Ah those were the days...............

Have a great day all
Cheers
Maria

Good Morning, All!

Back at work and starting to wish I was fully retired!

Our Leader at WW yesterday teased us a little more about the new program. She said we'd all get new books the end of August. I'm kinda excited about it.

I'll check back later - I'm low on news.

Marnie

Hi Everybody
Well I went back to Weight Watchers today, and it was not a pretty picture. The last time I had been there was in February and since then I have gained 5#. I think I actually gained those pounds this past week celebrating my birthday.
Our Leader only told us the we would be hearing about some new things at the end of August and that her lips were sealed.
Today when I was at the kitchen counter preparing our dinner I looked out the window and there was a baby bunny, a small red squirrel and an assortment of birds all happily eating together. They looked so cute, then a BIG rabbit came to the pan that I put the seed and carrots in and the little bunny ran and hid under the pine tree. All of a sudden the silly LITTLE red squirrel decides that he is going to chase away the BIG rabbit. I actually laughed out loud. They looked so silly. The rabbit got up on his hind legs looking like kangaroo (all he needed was little boxing gloves on), and the red squirrel was charging at him but not getting too close. The rabbit then went after the squirrel who very quickly ran straight UP the stucco of our garage making angry squirrel noises. These little critters of mine sure do provide me with lots of entertainment.
Hmm, that's strange everytime I try to use a "smilie" now I get a thing saying "script error"...........
Lily Yosemite "looks" just wonderful. That would be a great place to go camping. Would you take a tent or camper? Maria
You certainly did a wonderful job on the photo. Good for you!

G'day all,

I am taking the plunge today and registering my business name
I want to register a domain name but have to be registered as a business so I thought I might as well go for it!
It is all kinda scarey and I don't feel that confident about it all but nothing ventured nothing gained.
I am working on my website today.

Slavika Good for you returning to WW, I am intrigued with what the new things are that ww's are introducing. No doubt all will be revealed very soon.
Love the menagerie you have outside your kitchen window, that definetly is the best way to watch the 'pecking order' that obviously exists in the visitors to your garden. I am surprised at rabbits visiting your garden, they are not a pest???

Marnie I am sure you have mentioned it but I have forgotten what the work is you do. Is part time work an option for you?

Back to working on my webpage........

Cheers
Maria

Maria good for you, go ahead and with your plans and see what happens. If you don't, in the future you might be sorry that you hadn't.

About my "critters". I stopped putting out peanuts in the shell for the squirrel because a neighbor of mine said, "I know where your squirrel hides his peanuts........in my yard", and she sure didn't sound too pleased so now I buy him "shelled" peanuts, so that there is no mess. The rabbit, well he eats the seeds that the birds eat and I put out a couple of carrots for him and so far he leaves everything in my yard alone (and probably in the neighbors too) EXCEPT, DH had to put down some grass seed where the road salt had killed it and the bunny sure liked the nice new grass that came up. I really love to see these little animals in my yard, but I don't want to cause any hard feelings with my neighbors, so I try to be careful not to offend them.

Aren't you supposed to be asleep by now Slavika?
Nice to see your reply post.

A person I worked with used to encourage the yellow crested cockatoos into her yard. They are a beautiful looking bird but......their screech is horrendous. Her neighbours got very angry because of the feeding she did. Every morning a huge flock of screeching cockatoos would descent on her yard.

I used to put out fresh mince meat for the kookaburras and the magpies. Seed for the magnificently coloured parrots. It used to be a real joy sitting in my family room and watch all the goings on.

I am planting a few shrubs in my new garden to hopefully encourage some of the parrots to come for a visit again.

Thanks for the encouragement re my new venture. Website is coming along nicely but I do take forever to decide on colours, design etc. etc. When I have got it up and going I will post the address and get some feedback from you all, especially Lily's she may be able to offer some suggestions for improvement.

I hope you are asleep by now and I receive a reply tomorrow!

Cheers
Maria

Maria: Wow you did an awesome job on that Photo! You should be pround of it! I did one of my Mom but it didnt come out near that well! Good for you going ahead with the business idea! Im sure you are going to do fine! Looking forward to seeing the web site!


Slavika: I would love to live in your yard. Sounds like so much fun with all those animals. I can just see that Bunny and squirrel
Unfortuanaly Hubby wants to Tent it. Camper I would love much better. My back cant take the ground to well these days.


Well Best get busy at work its crazy. ALAS!!!!!!

Good Morning to you All!

My question of the day is, do any of you snore, or live with snorers? I am a snorer, and I'm wondering if there's anything out there that will prevent it. I've read a few things on line that indicate when you lose weight you snore less. (So that's helpful!)

Slavika, love to see your little animals! Maria, anxious to see your website.

It's really slow at work today. I'll have to get in a couple games of Solitaire!

I'll be back!

Marnie