Lovely sunrise this morning but noisy. The crazy woodpeckers were hammering away at my neighbour's steel chimneys! It sounded just like two machine guns. (Peckerheads peck to show territorial rights and not just to get food.) Too funny and too noisy when you have two of them on different chimneys.

The Maple Syrup Festival starts this morning and the Village will be loaded with visitors. I am cooking pancakes and sausages at 8 so have to get out of here darn soon. By noon, I will be thoroughly sick of the smell and not tempted at all to gobble them for lunch. I had scrambled eggs and Ryecrisp for breakfast so that should hold me.

I am "free" this afternoon unless some of the PM volunteers don't show and intend to do a walkabout in the Village to see what else is happening. There are yard sales, craft sales, kids activities, a silent auction, book sales and Mill tours and parking will be non-existent. It is going to be a warm and sunny weekend so the whole thing should be very successful.

Gotta go as we start serving at 8:30 and the grills need to be fired up.

Have a wonderful weekend, Chickies!

Wow, what a great time, Ruth! Book sales, eh? I wish I was there.
Have fun, hon!

We're having breakfast this morning with mom, and the rest of the weekend should be lovely and lazy. I'm going to get out in the garden... I think it's safe to put a few seeds in.
Have a lovely day, girls!

Have a great weekend! If you can resist pancakes and sausage, then I can resist funnel cakes and churros!!!

Dad and Stepmom should be over in the next few hours. They are on California time, so they told us not to expect them until near 11:00 am. Gives me more time to clean!

Have a fabulous Weekend everyone - stay on the Beach!

Christy

Mornin' chicks! I was supposed to go to a b-day party for the 3 babies born in April today but Barachah is sick and goin to the doc so it is postponed until tomorrow. (hopefully) Mom is still pretty sick.

Ruth...I hope you have a wonderful day with all the activities.

Ellis...Have a good breakfast with Mom!

Hottie...Enjoy the day with your dad and stepmom. Be strong and don't let them throw you into stress eating!

Me...Oh who knows what I will do today now! lol Have a great day all!

Morning/Afternoon everyone!

I got to sleep in this am and I'm feeling pretty good. Actually the X picked up DS at 6:00 last night and I ate dinner and was in bed by 7:30 pm and didn't get up until 10:30 pm. I've been running on empty since we got back from vacation. Good new is I'm trying a pillow from the Chiropracter - it is a water pillow - and my neck and back feel great! Otherwise I would never had been able to sleep that long. See I just should have kept my water bed from the late 70's and I would be ok!

Ruth - Have fun! You are braver than I am. I would be munching pancakes and sausages.

Ellis - Have a great weekend.

Hottie - Have fun with Dad and Stepmom- stay away from the bad food! I turned down an invite to a "tastefully simple" party tonight because I know there will be all kinds of food I can't eat! Be strong.

Thanks for all the good wishes from yesterday. You guys are the best. Maybe my grieving is coming late. It was 13 years of my life. I'll just take it day by day.

My toe ring/ankle bracelet stuff got started last year in Florida. I couldn't find a toe ring that sparkled. They were all kind of crappy looking. So when I got home I went to the bead store and explained my dilemma and they taught me how to string beads and use a crimper etc. So I started making them with Swartski (sp?) crystals and 10 carat gold and sterling silver. They are more expensive than most of the $5.00 dollar crap you see out there but they are beautiful. Then it was just a natural step to make the ankle bracelets to match the toe rings. I have one green one left (they even bought my personal ones - I had one in every color). I sell them right now myself usually because someone stops me and asks me where to get them and the lady who does my hair sells them for me too. I'll try and take a picture of them so you guys can see them.

Have a great OP weekend.

Hi Bami - We posted at the same time!

Hi chickies! I stink from cooking pancakes for three hours and am going to shower shortly. The Village is just booming with people and the pancakes are selling like horcakes! Sorry but I couldn't resist! So far we have served 754 people which is a heck of a lot of pancakes as they get two to start and then as many more as they like! 1500 sausages have been cooked and served too!

I am making whole wheat pita bread veggie pizzas for lunch and feel glad that I managed the whole morning without a drop of maple syrup! I may indulge when I cook tomorrow.

After lunch, I am going to take Lucy on a bit of a walkabout and chat to people. We have a parade at 2 and we'll see how she does with that. She's led a very sheltered life and the fire sirens and other noises may freak her out. Hersh is fine with that stuff - she just looks and sort of shrugs her furry shoulders.

It's an absolutely beautiful day! I hope you can get outside and enjoy it.

Anchor...Can't wait to see pics! You should probably go ahead and put a price list as well! I'm sure the chicks will be peckin in their orders! lol

Ruth...You are a strong woman! Mom wanted to get Quizno's (hot sub's) for lunch and I almost did but said nope it's not worth all I went through this week! I figure if you can pass up on all those pancakes I can pass that up! lol

Well Speakin of food I am gettin pretty hungry I have not ate today yet. Have a great day all!

Hi Ladies Had a very busy morning,we had a condo meeting and it was at my house,had to host for 4 people. My Dh & I were voted to become the new treasurers for the building.YIKES that going to take some responsiblies,that we never had before. Wish us Luck!! that we succeed.

As for a the SB I'm losing the gain that I had at my DD's. Will W-I on Tues and let you know what I did.

Ruth That sounds like fun, I Love our village fairs that we have in the summer months. Have a wonderful time.

Ellis Have a wonderful relaxing weekend.

and that goes for all the rest of the ladies . Hugs BB

Afternoon, gals! Well, I worked until 4 this morning and then got to sleep for about 5 hours. I had just enough time to eat a good breakfast before it was off to the gym for Powerflex. DH wondered how I had the energy to go but I had so much energy after an hour of lifting. I've spent the rest of the day so far going through our camping stuff with DH. Next weekend, we go camping with the Cubs and we're taking my station wagon which is smaller than the one DH drives so we really had to review what we want to pack. I searched the old posts and was able to find notes on what I had packed for food last time so that makes a good starting point. Everything needs to be fast and easy since we pack so many activities into the weekend.

I need to study up on my compass reading skills since I'm teaching that to the boys next Saturday.

It still looks great outside so I'm planning on getting out to the garden and getting some more stuff planted. Most of the garden is already full of vegetable plants but I have to find room for some more squash and chives since I already bought the seeds. Talk to everyone later. I don't work again until tomorrow morning (sometime around 4 or so) so I should get an okay night of sleep.

Good Afternoon ladies.

I have had a fabulous afternoon.

I planted flowers with DH and we went shopping together. He is sucking up because tomorrow is my birthday!

I went to our Viking store and bought myself some new kitchen stuff, ( a shiny new microplane, and fish spatula) its the little kitchen utensils that make me most excited!

My cousin's birthday is today (20) and she is currently taking her MCAT's I am very nervous for her, but she is brilliant!

DH and I discussed the diet over lunch, and really decided to recommit to it this week and from now on. We find that with stress we lose our course. We know we see results, so we just need to stick with it. We have set our time table for June 1, the day we leave for vacation to Florida. I have about 13-18 pounds and he has 15 left. We think we can do it.

I am really needing some new recipes though.. Maybe we can start saying what we are making for dinner. That would be such a great resource. I don't follow recipes, I invent, but I need to be inspired first.

Have a great day ladies. Talk to you tomorrow or Monday.

mmmm... pancakes sure sound yummy... whole wheat of course!

Good morning, Chickies.

I'm off to Church and then will do another Village walkabout with Lucy who was an angel yesterday. We were out for two hours - strolling, not walking - and the knee held out OK. It's sore today but then it's always sore! I'm ignoring it these days and just caryying on.

I cook again starting at one but it shouldn't be as busy as the Festival gears down. I have not had one drop of syrup or a crumb of a pancake and it'll be the same today.

Bye for now - I've got to figure out something springish to wear to Church this morning!

Enjoy your Sunday. It's a gift!

Morning, gals! My pager went off at 2:45 AM for an alert that should have gone out when I was working Friday night around midnight. That did not make me happy but I went back to bed and didn't get up until 6. I've gotten all of my work done until the other application is back up so I'm getting ready to go fix breakfast. I know I have mushrooms, eggs, and cheese so I think it will be an omelet for breakfast.

Today is just normal stuff. Plan the meals for the week, grocery shopping and other usual stuff. Maybe the gym if there is time. I have the meals for the campout planned so that takes care of part of the week. I'm not sure what we're having tonight but last night we had the Broccoli Cheese Soup. That is so good!

Hi... can I join in

It has been so long since I was here... I hope everyone is going great and is well. Returning to uni saw me maintain and lose some weight, but I appear to have piled it all back on now that the work is really hotting up. I decided to go part time at uni this week and try and get things back on track...argh..

Hello - my name is Marianna and I am a carb addict

I will be starting phase 1 tomorrow... I am sure it will be great.

Must go and catch up on the boards and change my signature and stuff..ahh lovely to be back!

So yesterday was the day out and about... We didn't do Fiesta, mostly because we got downtown late. We went to the Riverwalk and I got some Sugar-free gummies while my parents got the kids BAGS of overpriced candy!!! I eneded up paying about $10 for my candy, thinking I had about 1/3 of a lb, but it was more like 2/3!!! They were pretty good. I knew I had to have some of them or I'd be tempted to eat the kid's candy. (I didn't eat the whole bag - we have tons left over!)

Dinner was at a BBQ place. I got a steak and veggie kabob. She asked, "Do you want fries?" I said, "No." She said, "Baked potato?" I said, "No." I asked if I could have extra veggies - so she gave me and extra grilled veggie kabob instead. It came with beans, and ate a few bites. I wasn't sure if they had sugar or not. The food did come with melted butter on the veggies. But all in all I thought I did pretty well. DH ordered the 5 meat combo - brisket, sausage, ribs etc. COVERED with BBQ sauce. Oh well, that will give me a chance to catch up with my weight loss!!

Today we are celebrating DD's b'day, so I'm getting a cake. I will have a small slice and then start a new 2 weeks on Phase 1 tomorrow. It doesn't upset me because I've planned for it. (In fact when I started this last Sunday, I knew that the weekend might be hard and that we were doing cake. I decided that one week on Phase 1 would be better than continuing the way I had been eating! I knew I'd end up doing 3 weeks Phase 1 when I started.)

Today we are BBQ'ing steaks (grilling - not using BBQ sauce!) and having asparagus and salad. I'll do some taters for the kids and guests. Those I can resist - esp. if I know I'm having some cake later.

Have a glorious Sunday! My kids are on the verge of some sort of cold plus we didn't get home until 11:00 so we played hooky from church! I figure spending time with family is good to.

Talk to you later