Hello everyone. Yea, it's the week before a long holiday weekend. I need it bad. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We have another hurricane possibly coming this way--Frances. The models show it hitting the east coast of Florida.

This past weekend was so upsetting. We had a pinhole in a water pipe inside a wall. I found out when I discovered wet carpet in the spare room which is behind the bathroom. The plumber came and fixed it, but now I need someone to fix the drywall and then I need to paint. Well, to add problems, DH and I had pulled back the carpet to allow a fan to dry the carpet. I had used some barbells to prop up the carpet. DH went to inspect the carpet and one of the barbells fell on his big toe! I don't think it's broken, but the toenail is black. Sounds like The 3 Stooges, doesn't it?

I did well foodwise. DH and I played golf and then had nutritious meal. On Sunday, I made lala's eggplant greek dish. That turned out very well. DH said that recipe's a keeper.

How is everyone else?

Sounds kind of like my weekend, Lisa. I hope DH is doing well. Keep an eye on the toenail--my mom had a similar experience and ended up losing the nail.

Saturday morning I got a phone call at 7:30 a.m. asking if I could come into work at WW because one the receptionists called in again (they're going to replace her) so I got up & went in for them. It was crazy because there were a lot of new members signing up. Got a call from DS #2 that his glasses broke--came home took him to see if they could be fixed--no such luck, they need to be sent back, took him for a haircut & then finished up school shopping. It was a crazy day!

I have heard about the storm that's heading toward FL--let's hope for the best that it loses steam and falls apart.

I did pretty well eating, although have to admit that I've only got 7 of my weekly points allowance left. I'll be curious to see how my WI goes on Wednesday morning.

Lala: I'm going to have to give your recipe a try--I'm looking for new things to cook.

Pam: Hi! Hope you had a good weekend!

When does Susan get back?

Hi everyone,

Lisa -- lets hope DH feels better. I hope the plumber looked for other pinhole leaks. I'm glad DH liked the recipe. DP would have if I hadn't told her it was moussaka light. She likes bechamel sauce.

Melissa -- I hate early morning phone calls. Did you have a really big turn out? I see the ads are on tv now for turnaround. That should bring them in. I hope DS can get his glasses fixed soon. I went to target on Saturday night (after a social event) and it was full of folks buying stuff for school. I think I'll avoid places like that until October.

Exciting weekend here -- DP went to California to pick up her car from her house down there, drove it to Oregon and is on the train home. Dog, cat and I stayed home worked, gardened, burned stuff on our new mini Ipod , canned tomato sauce and listened to the dulcet tones of our white trash neighbor girls moving out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

let's hope the lovely landlords do a better job with our new neighbors!

Last night I made a canadian bacon, cabbage (used coleslaw mix), mushroom sautee with some white wine vinegar. It was delish and core. I topped it off with two of my remaining Rama peaches (a bespoke peacherie/orchard in Washington State) with a bit of greek 0% total yoghurt and a 1t. brown sugar. Yum....

The only non-core thing of my yesterday was the brown sugar and a few baked corn chips. I can't give those things up.

Even made it to the gym yesterday!

Hoping the Pam and Susan and Maura are doing well!

lala

DH was supposed to let me know about his big toe, but I haven't heard anything yet.

Melissa, you sure had a busy day.

lala, I'm with you on the corn chips. They are my favorites. Hooray--your noisy unkempt neighbors moved out!! That is wonderful news. Let's hope for some good ones moving in.

Hi, Susan, Pam and Maura.

I have a feeling that our neighbor situation will not be positive as its the beginning of the school year and it means we'll get four unrelated morons living next door with two cars each and five cats...

I hate the landlords and in my emergency list of contacts for my housesitters, their number is posted!

"call them when you have called the fire department, HazMat, SWAT or police department", they won't care, but at least they have it on record".

Maybe you should buy DH a get well soon card?

lala

Hi Ladies

Pretty uneventfull weekend for me..the weather was just too hot and humid to do much outside. MY DD made the high school soccer team so she was happy. We went on a shopping trip to get new soccer shoes, shorts etc. Wanted to take a drive to New Haven, CT to check out the new Ikea store that opened their, but never made it down, maybe next weekend. Eating wise I'm doing so-so, still eating too much snack stuff at night. Have read through the CORE material and am ready to give it a whirl. I'll keep you posted!

Lisa sorry to hear you had water damage. Good thing you caught it when you did..it could have been worse. Hope DH's toe gets better..Yikes I did something similar once and that hurts! Keeping my fingers crossed that you don't experience any problems with the impending hurricane.

Lala I made the ratatouille this weekend..everyone gave it a thumbs up!! Glad your problem neighbors are leaving.. I'm hoping the new ones are not another group of college students.

Melissa What are you hearing about the CORE program so far from other WW'ers? Most people I work with that are on the program seem to like it. I'm always a little afraid to try something new. Have you got the back to school shopping done? I hope I do..I don't want to deal with the stores again this weekend.

Well off to start the evening festivities which include driving DD to soccer practice and drivers ed classes. Does the fun never end?? Talk to you later.

Hi everybody. I'm at the mid-point of vacation. It's been great so far -- weather has been beautiful and I've done lots of running. Eating not so good; I went for weigh-in on Saturday and was up 1.6 Having no routine in my life always means a gain. I have some work to do once I get back to work.

We went down at an agricultural area of the province yesterday and ordered a tree to replace the one we lost in the front yard. It's about 10 feet tall and beautifully-shaped. They grow 1-2 feet a year, so the gaping hole in our yard should fill in quickly enough. On the way back home, we saw an RV that has potential as a "retirement home". In really good shape, price not bad. We'll see.

So sorry to hear of your water woes Lisa. If it's any consolation to your DH (I'm sure it won't be), the nails on both of my big toes are black and will likely fall off. This is from running shoes that don't fit properly. I finally went in to The Running Room last week to find out what the heck was wrong; turns out I bought a stability shoe instead of a cushioning one -- something you shouldn't do when you wear orthotics. I have a new pair on order.

lala: Sounds like you have another Nightmare on XX Street in the future. Do your landlords screen people, ask for references, etc? Apparently not. How do you like the mini-ipod? I bought a 30 gb last year and it's become my new best friend. There are all sorts of attachments you can get that make them really functional; we brought it with us yesterday and were able to listen to it with the iTrip attachment.

Melissa: You sure don't get much notice from WW when they need you. I hope they realize how lucky they are to have you.

Pam: I read through the core program material too but I'm not sure it's for me. I have to review it again when things return to normal.

We leave for Bermuda on Saturday. Watching the weather for hurricanes but there's not much we can do about it so we're bringing lots to read in case we get hammered while we're there.

See you all week after next.

Susan

Hi Susan glad you are enjoying your vacation. I've decided to take the day off from work today. It is the last day of summer vacation for my daughter so I thought we would just hang out together. Unfortunately the weather is terrible. We're getting a downpour right now.. hope it clears up soon since DH is suppose to see his beloved Red Sox at Fenway tonight. If I don't "talk" to you again I hope you have a nice time in Bermuda. I remember spending some time at Horseshoe Bay there and it was just beautiful. Enjoy!

Hope Lisa, Lala and Melissa are having a good day. I'll talk to you later.

Hi guys,

Susan, I am glad you went out and bought a replacement tree. We have to do the same in Berkeley (we lost a grand old live oak), but we are going to replace with a California Sycamore as they grow faster and are not prone to sudden oak death.

I am hoping that all these namby-pamby named hurricanes go away for both our sakes.

I like the core plan, I would suggest it if you don't eat alot of junk foods.

I bought DP the i-trip and she bought the charger. I think we're both hooked. I bought her a mini about two weeks ago and she bought me one on Friday. We both both (independently, new noise cancellation headphones). They rock.

Pam -- try for nice weather. I am flying through BOS on Saturday on my way to France. I really don't want to have to reroute my trip through Chicago or Dallas. I see those airport lounges all the time.

I'm still coring and liking it. The girls are almost moved out, though I am afraid that the landlords will bring in more goombahs. Its all about money with these folks.

Okay, gotta go and be brilliant.

later taters,

lala

Good afternoon ladies!

Lala: Let's hope your landlord gets better tenants next time around, although I know what you mean about the bottom line of $$--they just don't care as long as they're getting the rent.


Pam, Susan: I agree with Lala, it's great if you don't eat a lot of "junk" foods. I will say, though, for me it's helped curb snacking on the "empty" foods that are high points or wasted points. I'm also feeling more satisfied. I haven't heard much feedback as to how things are going with members who are following core because we're really discouraged from asking which plan they're following (but then how are we supposed to know who's struggling on what plan??). In any case, I'll be curious to see how members do at my meeting tomorrow.

Pam: A lot of the members who attended the meeting I worked at last evening said they were afraid to try the program because they didn't want to overeat. It's a tough decision for some and I understand their hestitancy about giving it a shot.

Susan: Yes, the one receptionist knows how lucky she is that I've come in the past 2 Saturdays; in fact, she sent me a card thanking me for helping them out I thought that was a nice touch and it was appreciated. I bet you can't wait for your trip! Here's hoping the weather doesn't interfere for you!

Lala: I'm liking core as well. What I'm finding is that I'm getting my milk in now that I'm not obsessing about how many points I'm spending. I like that I'm also finding that I'm not craving the snack foods, i.e. chips as much. I still see myself spending points on them if I want them though.

Lisa: Hope everything is going well with you and that the weather picture is looking up.

It's a beautiful day here--sunny and 70 and I took advantage of it by walking on my lunch hour, something I haven't been able to do because the weather has been terrible. It felt good to get out.

Hi, everyone. I had a training class most of the day today, so I just returned to my office.

DH has an appointment with the doctor about his big toe as I write this. I hope the doctor can help him. The toe started bleeding this morning.

Well, Hurricane Frances is turning a little north, but we're all cautious as a hurricane does whatever it wants to, right?

The Core program sounds interesting, but I still don't know enough about it. I'm reluctant to try anything new when it comes to WW. I still like the Winning Points program.

Susan, enjoy the rest of your vacation. I hope Frances doesn't cause you problems. Sorry about the weight gain.

Pam, I heard that you had a tropical disturbance up your way. I hope it wasn't too bad.

lala, sorry to say, but I don't know what an Ipod is??

Keep that hurricane away from Susan and I's travel plans. My last trip to Paris was a disaster based on some tropical storm that diverted my flight from DFW to Waco or SAT. I was not amused, but I am glad its not hitting you.

Lisa -- the ipod is the the mac portable music thingie. Its amazing, it is tiny and can hold over 1000 songs on the mini and the 20/40 Gigs hold way more.

I heart my ipod and am listening to the grosse point blank soundtrack right now...

I came home to work on my proposal and its time to log off and deal with peer to peer data sharing ...

lala

Lala I think you will be OK for Saturday. Extended forescast predicts sun and temps in the 80's. I'll wave towards Logan. So were you brilliant this afternoon??

I was sort of brilliant. I just came into work to find some verbiage and download some stuff. I am whomped...

Wave around 5 pm, I'm hoping to be sitting in the lounge drinking campari and sodas and eating "core" prawns and carrots before my flight to Paris....



Did I tell you I just got a 21" flat screen monitor? Its faboo. Though I think I need to change my jacques wallpaper, you can tell he really needs a bath in the picture I have up on my screen.

lala

Well, Hurricane Frances is looking worse and worse. Right now it's a direct hit on my county. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I probably won't be communicating over the next few days. I know that we will be evacuated since we live 2 blocks from the ocean.

lala, I hope you get to take your trip. Thanks for explaining the Ipod. Wow! A 21" monitor--that would be great.