Steel Magnolias scrolled right off the front page! Anyway...

Good morning!

Gloria, that was a shame about the young woman who was shot and died. Philadelphia is known for their crowds getting seriously out of control and I've heard at the stadium there they have a jail on the premises. You should go to a Yankee Candles shop--they have a lot of gift ideas for the holiday season.

Jean, I didn't go to the Pampered Chef Open House yesterday afternoon--I had been out and came home. I ate lunch and then "rested my eyes" and fell asleep! When I woke up it was over with! But I have so many things I've bought from this person that's hostessing the open house that I don't feel badly about not going. Whenever I take care of the grandkids I am so worn out by the time they leave! I have a lot of fun with them but usually I take a nap after they've gone!!! Robyn (9 mos. old) is cutting teeth also and talk about a drooly baby!

I had such a very good weekend. I spent it mostly by myself but it was a lot of fun--I think I visited every yarn shop and yarn department in Delaware and one over the Maryland stateline and then one over the Pennsylvania stateline! And then when I stepped on the scale this morning I weighed the same as I did on Saturday. And THAT is a good thing because usually after a weekend I'm up a pound or two.

Morning girls!

Hope you all had a nice weekend. We took Thomas and dd out to dinner Saturday night and that was fun. Kelly (who is a die hard Libertarian) and her dad (a conservative Republican) discussed politics all during dinner while the 2 children (Thomas and Nonny) played with his crayons and accidently colored all over the expensive wooden table! We were playing spaceships etc and having battles and the bottoms scraped crayon all over the table so I spent 5 minutes trying to scrub it all off. I blame the political two for not watching us more closely! We came home and Jack said it was the weekend to turn back clocks and lit a dope I believed him so we were an hour off all day yesterday and he was late to work this morning! That'll teach him.

Gloria: Like the rest, I find it appalling how little control young adults seem to have these days. Besides, I find it disgusting that they think getting snockered and knocking each other about is FUN! My two went through that and it would really rile me (just the getting drunk not the fighting part)

Gail: Sounds like you had fun yarning it. They have some beautiful stuff nowadays and if my hands were such I would love to make some shawls etc with some of the varigated colors they have.

Well, I need to go and lift weights and make me some lunch!

Faye

Good morning Magnolias!

I echo Jean, that that sounds like Amanda and I--coloring at the table and accidentally coloring the table top at the restaurant Faye!

Jean, I have enough knitting projects started already--I'm trying to finish the ones I've started: a prayer shawl in a deep dark green boucle, a baby blanket in white and yellow homespun, an afghan in a heather blue basket weave pattern, and a scarf in a white mohair cable pattern. I just finished a triangular styled shawl in a beige homespun. Is this needlepoint picture that your Mom started almost finished? What you can do is frame it as is and have the needle right there. That would be interesting!

Faye, I am obsessed with knitting right now. And I read also...usually a few minutes before I go to sleep at night. I read for 15 minutes tops and I fall asleep with the book in my hands.

Good Morning girls!

What a rotten night I had. I hate those tossing and turning nights when you can't seem to get comfortable.

Gail: Do you just knit or do you crochet too? I had the foresight to save some of the things my mil made (she passed away in 1989). She was an expert at crochet and sewing and I have some of Kelly's baby things that she made. She made this adorable little coat and hat for her that I still have. I also have and ugly bedspread that I have saved and my dd's pink bedspread. They both weigh a ton. The one she made for me was red and white and I never had red and white in my room but it was the lovely thought that counted. Though I have many of my cross-stitch pieces I never saved anything I knitted. I did it on a small scale anyway, never having taken lessons on how to do things like sweaters and such. I learned how to knit in 4-H and my teacher, who was right handed taught me backwards so I could learn it as I am left handed and could not learn right handed. So, who knows if I know everything correctly!

Jean: You are coming up on the roughest part of the year to diet also. I know I am having trouble getting into a rythm also and have for over a year. Part of it is huge hormone fluxes that cause me all kinds of trouble. At least I keep hold of it and am not gaining. I kind of yoyo the same 10 lbs back and forth.

Maggie: Hope you are doing well!

Everyone have a great day today It is going to be 85 here today!

Faye

Good afternoon magnolias! I'm sipping the best decaf hot tea--cinnamon apple. Gosh, it smells great! Not a whole lot happening in my world. Last night was a great on program evening--I've been trying not to eat after 6pm and last night was a success. It helps that I knit. I'm trying to get back to having dinners that are not always a frozen entree. Tonight, on my way home from work, I'm going to stop at Boston Market and take home a dinner--baked chicken, steamed veggies, and something else that is low in points. I'll tell them to exchange the cornbread for a roll. I'm going to "take a walk" on the treadmill tonight also.

Faye, I do know how to crochet--my paternal grandmother taught me. She's passed away now but I remember watching her sit and crochet these beautiful things w/o reading a pattern. I definitely need a pattern!!! Don't you think its harder to diet as we get older and also the longer we try to lose the weight? I think so! Medication threw me for a loop last year and I'm still trying to undo the damage. Are you following a specific weight loss plan? I'm counting points but I'm not going to WW anymore. I bought this nifty digital scale and ohmygosh is it evil--it's accurate!! But its fun watching the number decrease! I'm sorry to hear you slept awful last night. Did you know that lack of sleep can cause problems in losing weight too? I heard that on the news on tv last month. Just another thing to cause us all problems!!

Jean, I sent you positive vibes yesterday afternoon for your weigh-in! I hope you were pleasantly surprised! Hang in there! We're going into the holidays and we're all going to have to come up with a war plan where our diets are concerned.

Oh golly, this hot tea smells good. Reminds me of Christmas at my grandma's house when I was growing up. The smell of oranges does reminds me of Christmas also!

Gail

Morning ladies!

Gail: I am just on a fat and calorie counting program. I started Dr Phil's but his rapid start made me sick as a dog so I stopped it. Anyway, he cut out most carbs and I like carbs and don't have problems with them so to heck with him! I also have a good digital scale and it weighs .10 of lbs but I usually ignore that and round down !

Maggie: A tarantula? EUWWWWW! I bet it's really cute though. Spiders I can handle, rodents do me in! Of course my grandson thinks that is hilarious so he teases me all the time about it. When we went out Saturday, he started creeping up my neck saying I had a rat on it. I guess last week while his mom was at work in the evening, his dad ask him what he wanted to do and my dd said he thought about it and said, "Let's go to the pet store and buy a rat and take it to Nonny's. That boy is his mom and granddad through and through! My dh is VERY impressed with what you did for me so he wanted me to tell you he thinks they are great and you are very talented.

Jean: Popcorn makes me gag and vomit. Not that I don't like it, but I have a knack for getting kernels stuck down in the edges of my throat and I end up having to stick my fingers down my throat or they will cause horrible irritation and a sore throat like strep. I avoid it as best I can though I get a hankering sometimes. Don't you miss the good ole days, when people made cupcakes, taffy apples etc for Halloween and you could eat them without fear? I grew up in a town of less than 2000 and from the time I started school I was allowed to trick or treat with just my younger sister alone. We had an older gentleman that dragged out his cotton candy machine at Halloween and made cotton candy for all the kids. Nowadays, candy is so expensive most people go cheap with like stuff they can get a hundred to a bag. I miss Mary Janes too? Do you remember them? I remember my sister and brother didn't like them and I always got all theirs in "tradzeys." We always go to dd and sil's and we hand out candy at their house while T trick or treats. He is going to be a vampire this year I guess.

Well, better get a shower as I did 2 miles and weight lifting and smell kind of unladylike!

Faye

Good morning ladies!

This is not one of my better days. It is the part of my cycle where everything is shot to heck, I want to eat all the time, don't sleep, etc etc. I am to the point where I expect it every month now, but doesn't make it easier to live with. I just try to think, I am not terminal, it is not deadly and I wll live through it!

Jean: Mary Janes are little pieces of taffy style candies, square, yellow wrapper with a red strip and mary jane on the label and have peanut butter in the center. They are just like the round orange and black wrapped candy you get at Halloween that is taffy style with peanut butter in the center (I love those too and hardly anyone gives them out. I try and raid Thomas's goodies for them )

Tomorrow is amusement park day and of course it is supposed to rain. They have it rain or shine though and the park is not only closed to the public, but closed for the year so it is just the bazillion employees and families that come. They got cheap and didn't give out food coupons this year so we have to buy our own. Course, considering we are 23 million dollars in the red in the budget, I guess I can't complain. It is foolish to have it at all in my opinion, but then they don't do ANYTHING for their employees for Thanksgiving nor Christmas, ham, turkey, nothing. They get this stupid picnic in the spring and then the amusement park in the fall. They at least have some rides I can do though none are earth shattering!

I am gearing up for the trip next week. I got desperate and am renting Jack a car so I can take ours! Not only is dd's car an absolute mess with assorted books, mail, food, toys, etc, it is a Nissan Sentra and the passenger has to sit with the seat all the way up because Thomas sits behind the passenger seat. I am also doing the driving. DD can be scary though I guess she thinks the same of me. Except for the deer, and that was his fault not mine, I have never had an accident in over 30 years of driving, she has had at least 4 and 3 of them her fault in let's see, 9 years of driving. Statistics are on my side! Actually, she is not a bad driver at all, but she does do things that drives me nuts, like not pulling into the intersection to turn left, will sit through a light if someone beeps at her just to get their goat, etc.

Well, I better go. Sleep was not good last night and I think I will rest today and see if I can get a little more sleep.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Faye