Good afternoon ladies

We had a great vacation and the weather was great. Wednesday morning we drove in rain until we hit Michigan and then it was cool (62) and sunny. We did a lot of walking and probably ate more than I should have. The bonus is that I didn't do a lot of snacking. We ate at different restaurants (cajun, hungarian, etc.) so we had variety. In Toledo we went to Tony Packo's (made famous by Klinger on M*A*S*H) and enjoyed the food/atmosphere there. Our last night in Toledo we went to a ballgame and ate at Frickers. Anyway, all in all it was good.

I'm back on track and writing things down in my journal--I've been lax in this area and need to get things under control before they spiral too far out of control

Lala: How's your mom doing? It sounds like she's doing better and the recovery shouldn't be as long since they were able to do a partial rather than full.

Pam, Susan, Lisa: Hi! Hope you're all doing well.

It's hard to believe today is August 1st...where had the summer gone? We're getting more hazy, hot, humid weather this week. At least last week was comfortable.

Hi Melissa --

Sounds like you had a great vacation. I like go to places like tony packos, famous because someone actually ate there.

Mom is doing okay, sort of didn't bounce back until Saturday morning. It was a bit scary as she was sort of depressed and loopy on Friday and no appetite. Partially it was due to pain meds. Anyways, she's better now and we have convinced her that home is better than rehab. So she's leaving the hospital in a few hours for home. My parents hired one of the nurse's aids to come over tomorrow and wednesday to take care of her and DP is flying down on Thursday to help a bit. I go back on Friday. She should be really tromping around with that walker by then.

So, an exhausting weekend was had in San Diego.

Came back yesterday morning. DP picked me up, we went to the farmer's market, ran around, came home, ran around again and were saved from making dinner by some friends who called. Whew, at is was waaaaaaaaaaay to hot to cook. Not too hot for a gin and tonic or three.

How was everyone else's weekend?

lala

Hi, ladies.

The weekend was good. Played golf with DH on Friday evening and I beat him. Of course, I didn't make a big deal of it; he was really off that night. He changed some of his methods, so I told him go back to what you were doing. On Saturday went shopping with my GF. It was a good trip--bought some faboo shoes for $13 (big sale at Dillard's). Sunday was a day for working in the yard--ohmigosh it was so hot! I spread 10 bags of mulch and I'm not a third of the way done. I bought one of those gazing balls for the flower beds and it's pretty. I did pretty well eating-wise; I may have lost a couple pounds. I still need to lose more because of the play.

This week is a bunch of rehearsals. I have a show on Saturday night.

Melissa, I'm glad your vacation went well.

lala, I'm glad your mother is improving. When does she start PT?

Hi, Pam (I think Susan is on vacation)

Lisa -- way to go on the golf and shoe purchases. I feel for you and the mulch. My goal tonight is to plant everything, water and also spread the 5 bags of compost I have in backstock. Probably should check on the wormies.

Mom is home, should call now and see how she is.

What play is this again?

Nothing on tap, picked two gallons of blackberries yesterday after work, froze one gallon, now on the second. Need to package them up and figure out what to do with 12 lbs of really nice peaches. Good to eat, but honestly, time to make some jam too. I love summer, I just don't love canning in the heat.

Oh -- we also called the fire department last night. Our real world seattle neighbors had a nice fire going in the back yard at 10:00 pm with a boom box and lots of noise. They were prissed when the fire department showed up to tell them to can it. They must hate us old fogeys. I just want to be able to go to bed at 10:30 without smoke in my bedroom and listening to bad music.

Maybe its time to move or when they move out, fill in that firepit.

Hi to everyone. Pop on in.

on that note, have a great day y'all. I plan to.

lala

lala, the play is called "Murder Among Friends." It's a dark comedy. All right, what is "the heat?" It's 90 here with lightning and thunder.

Your neighbors sound charming. I don't blame you for calling the fire department.

Yard work never seems to end. DH took our lawnmower in for service and the grass is really high.

Lala: I don't like cooking in the heat either; last night we grilled grouper and I sauted some zucchini with vidalia onion, garlice and then tossed in a can of petite diced tomatoes along with some seasoning and we put that over whole wheat pasta. Yum! I can't wait for our tomatoes to start ripening so I can use them in recipes. My grape tomatoes are starting to come in but not in any major quantities.

Lisa: I love a good deal! I bought 2 purses in Marshall Field's in Toledo--they're the small ones that everyone is carrying around and I couldn't pass them up. The one was marked down to $6 from 32! I love the gazing balls and have thought about getting one for our garden area. You'll get the weight off before the play. I'm working on eating better and marking off the little boxes in my journal for water, milk, veggies.

It's been on the quiet side here--my boss is off on vacation this week so I've been playing catch up with some stuff--most of my big projects are all done so it's the loose ends I'm working on. The weather is hazy, hot, humid again today. The weekend looks promising which is good--maybe I'll be able to get the porch finished!

Hi all,

Busy day here again. Had a very long yesterday at work followed by a very long evening trying to beat the back garden back into shape. I ended up filling our huge yard waste container (I can fit in there twice) and two other garbage cans and there is still more to prune. Now we're watering like madly as its going to be in the mid 80s and 90s. UGH. Sorry Lisa.

It was a nice night for basil, tomato and whole milk mozz. over spinach taglolini and squash on the side. Tonight is leftover btm with whole wheat spag and a leftover artichoke.

DP leaves for San Diego tonight. My mom is doing way better, but still she's going to be there to beat her into shape PT wise. However, she can also finish up some archival work at Scripps, so she's getting some work done too. I promised her a fish taco on Friday for dinner and a trip to Peets.

Melissa-- I love finishing up loose ends. I am confused at the current moment as to who my boss is, so I'm just forging on ahead.

I'm hoping everyone else is doing well. I need to not let all this travel get me off my routine. I'm going to have to hit the gym on Sunday and Saturday in SD. I need it. I can walk too, I suppose.

I'm also amazed and relieved after the AF flight into Toronto. Yikes. If there is something that DP has hammered into my little head, its that you should always wear real shoes and natural fibers when flying and know where your closest exit is. I still have 100,000 miles of flying to do this year (yikes) and you bet your sweet potatoes I'll be watching that safety video more carefully these days.

okay, enough of that.

Hi to all -- drink your water and get up and stretch!

lala

Afternoon! Another hot day here--our hallways in our building are stuffy and the heat is supposed to continue through tomorrow.

TOM is wreaking a lot of havoc on my system this month and it's getting old real quick. I'm thinking a call into the doc might be in order--the past few months I've been getting headaches, cramps and nausea the first couple of days. Ugh!

On another note, my washer has finally bit the dust--I threw a load in last night and it went fine, the second load filled and sat...so we had to pull the wet clothes out and wring out by hand and scoop the water out of the tub. Guess what I'm doing tonight? I've been looking at Consumer Reports to get an idea as to a good, reliable model and it appears that Whirlpool is ranked good so I'm going to check them out tonight. Thank goodness all the laundry is done from our trip!

I went to my meeting today and was up 1.8# which brings me to a weight that I don't want to be! I've been really good with keeping my journal and I thought with all the walking we did on vacation that my weight wouldn't jump like it did--maybe it's just due to TOM being so late and weird. We'll see how next week treats me. I'm following the old fast track option and haven't been snacking at night. Something better give here.

Lala: Glad to hear your mom is doing better. You've got a lot of traveling coming up over the next few months. I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes from the garden with basil and mozzarella...yum!

Lisa: Hi!

Pam: Hi! Hope things are going well in your neck of the woods!

Stay cool everyone!

lala, that's a lot of yard work and warm weather for your area. What is Peets? Yes, that airline incident in Toronto was very scary.

Melissa, sorry about the gain, but TOM can wreak havoc on your system. I think you should go to the doctor because they always say if something is not what is normal for you, get it checked out! (who is they???)

Rehearsal went well last night. I only forgot a few lines in Act I, so we're progressing. Tomorrow's Friday off, so we'll be golfing. The Bel Canto Ensemble has a concert on Saturday night, so the weekend will be a little busy.

Hi, Pam and Susan.

Hi everyone.

Going to climb to 90 today. I spent much of last night watering and watering and watering. Next year there will be more mulch and some drip installed. I should have put up our panels on the windows to bring down the temps. I guess I can rush home and do it before lunch.

Lisa -- Peets is a coffee store founded by folks who eventually moved up here to found starbucks. Their coffee is better and they are much smaller. They only used to be located in the Bay Area, now they are going national (in select markets). Unlike starbucks, they still give you a cup of drip for every lb of coffee you buy. Its good customer service.

Sounds like you are busy. When does the play open?

Melissa -- the TOM will abate. I think you should go by the fit of your clothes in the summer.

Well, my 8 am telecon was cancelled, so I guess I'll run and get some ice for my cold coffee and make a nice iced coffee for breakfast. I have an amazing peach and some nonfat cottage cheese too.

Back to making maps and writing up business plans. I don't seem to be doing much in the way of science am I?

Hi to Susan and Pam!

lala

Well it's been one of those mornings...we are scanning our surveys from our summer programs and for some reason it only "saved" 39 out of 200+ so that means another trip across campus to re-run them Gotta love technology.

It's already 93 and it's only 11:30 here...it's a hot/steamy day outside!

Lala/Lisa: I'm sure some of the gain is due in part to the high temps/humidity along with TOM--maybe once the weather breaks I'll drop a few. Here's hoping! It is definitely a challenge to not "toss in the towel" and eat everything in sight but I don't want to undo all my hard work.

Well, we went out and purchased a new washer and it'll be delivered on Friday. Thank goodness I don't need to do any laundry beforehand. We ended up getting a Whirlpool. I checked out the various brands/models with Consumer Reports and found that Whirlpool is ranked high with low repairs.

Catch up more later...

Hi Ladies,

Back to hot humid weather here. In the low 90's ...Yuck. Kind of quiet in the office today, my assistant and boss are both out. Tomorrow is my day off and I am so looking forward to that. Next week Lauren is going for her driver's license. She is a little nervous about it but I think she will do fine. She's a cautious driver...so keep your fingers crossed for her ladies!
Not much planned for the weekend. I think DH would like to head up to Saratoga to see the races. We may go out to dinner with my sister and her DH on Friday.

Melissa glad you were able to get a new washer so quickly. I had a whirlpool and don't recall having problems with it. It's odd that you mention having TOM issues. I've been having similar ones and I'm not sure what's going on. We're a little young for menopause but something is up. I'm scheduled to see my Gyn next month for a routine check up maybe he can do a screening to see if it is premenopausal stuff going on??

Lala I love Starbucks coffee but they only have 2 stores out here in Western MA and neither one is really close to home or work. A new one is scheduled to open soon a little closer to me and I'm looking forward to that. Glad your Mom is doing better.

Lisa hope you enjoy your Friday off. Congrats on beating your DH in golf the other day. I've never come close to doing that but I do think my short game is much better than his. .

Well ladies hope your all having a great day... I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Finally some relief from the humidity & heat! It's only 75 here but still a little humid--there's a front that's supposed to be going through which will cool us down nicely. It's looking like we'll be able to paint tomorrow

We were able to scan our surveys without any more problems--my student worker was extremely happy with that one!

I finished up some loose ends before my boss gets back so I'm sitting pretty good here in the office. We get to leave at 4 p.m. today because they're holding our family picnic. I'm not going because I'm working at WW tonight and then we're going over to my SIL's for dinner. Should be a nice quiet evening.

Hi to Lala, Pam, Susan, Lisa!

Any plans on the horizon, ladies??