Peachy, I'm sorry. Even tho you couldn't stand the boss lady, a job is a job. I'll join everyone else in saying that a better job is just around the corner for you. And until then, we're here for you to vent and rant with.

Kiwi, I work with all men. My DH and DS are gearheads. Cars R us. Sounds like you had a good shopping time. DD knows how to stretch a buck. It always works best to tell them what you will spend and then let them budget it. Score on the leather coat. Hope you get your dream puppy.

Sugar, are your boys fluent in Spanish too? Get some rest, girl, you've earned it.

I've been thinking about what triggered my 6 month food binge and 17 pound gain. It started when I took my trip to Arizona, where I stayed w/ my SIL and then drove 200 miles to see my parents who I had been estranged from for 2 years. I was feeling all alone and out of place and then when I got the chance, I stuffed my feelings about my Dad and went to their house anyway. I think I've been furious with myself ever since. And that is my psycho-babble excuse. Can anyone come up with a better theory?

Sounds like a good Food Psychology theory to me, Wabs. There has to be some way to make food totally uninteresting from an emotional standpoint.

Naah, my kids can't speak Spanish at all. That's what made it extra fun. The little Spanish kids (who have a German dad) can understand quite a lot of German and they speak a teeny bit so everyone just waved their arms a lot and got by just fine.

I won't even mention how faaaaaaat I am. Weeble with an apron gut describes it pretty well. Whatever I gain goes straight to the belly. Normal size butt and hips but no waist to speak of. Like a barrel with legs. Bleh. And ptooey.

We're going to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" tomorrow. The way they dressed up Johnny Depp is really scaring me.

DH has been grumpy. He has been impatient. He has been slightly snippy. Today he brought me flowers with an "I'm sorry for being a grump" note. He can be exasperatingly sweet when he's not grumpy.

Instead of the usual fast food for lunch I bought a baked chicken leg and thigh at the grocery store deli. Probably basted w/ butter, but better than a greasy cheeseburger & fries. I'm gonna pull outta this slump. I really am. Sugar, I'm ready to eat better. Let's do it. I have a barrel belly too. I want to have a waist again.

DS has still not closed on his house loan. His gf works for Starbucks and they are impossible to get employment info out of. The underwriter wants a statement saying that when she was laid off for 5 months it was unpaid. That is the only thing holding up the loan. The automated HR telephone line says that any info will be mailed out within 3 weeks. 3 weeks and the sellers will be finding another buyer. Do not buy any more Starbucks coffee until they start co-operating.

everyone go to DS's website and play his new game.

Librarian/Ralph Nader clone-self kicked in
You can get info on Starbucks at Starbucks.com.
US. President is: Jim Alling
Chief Information Officer = Brian Crynes
VP of Corporate Social Responsibility = Sandra Taylor

I'd be writing some hot letters to them about what HR (or whoever) is doing to foul up the lives of employees. 3 weeks and real estate deals DO NOT MIX... and they should know that considering all the locations they've got!

I read Woman's Day about how to get rid of your belly. Bad news: It actually involves moving your body. Mostly lifting your legs while lying down. Don't they know how much my legs weigh?

In the meantime I'm having another pitcher of crystal lite. Will probably be up all night.

Next to last chemo is Thursday. I could probably get "back on track" in the morning... but I'm giving myself till after final Chemo. Unless, of course, I change my mind.

Wabby.. I'm definitely a believer in that psycho babble..I was a 134 pounds when I visited my sister.. that kicked it off.. and her progressively down hill descent into paranoia and mental illness over a 4 year period had me reacting in part by stuffing myself up to 200 pounds.
There's got to be a way around those maddening Infobot recordings! Can't she or a manager get through to a live person at HR? Can the local manager write the letter? UGH! Buying a house is stressful enough without having to deal with ridiculous red tape!.. What a darling grump you have! I can't remember the last time I got flowers from mine.. although he did bring me a chocolate kiss when I had a stress cry pity party when the movers left and I was overwhelmed with yet more crap to unpack.

Painty, how is your chemo going? Do you still have your hair? Are you feeling ok?

Cowie: I don't know what the website URL is... lest I would play....

Sug: I'm on the south Beach diet.. seems to be working for me and dare I say it's not been a hard diet to follow at all.

Yesterday I read the NC Drivers Manual.. TALK ABOUT A SNORE FEST .. Then we went to DMV to get our licenses.. The test was designed so that any moron could pass it.. example of a multiple choice:
When merging onto the highway do you A) go to the end of the acceleration ramp and come to a complete stop..b) put your hazards on or c) increase your speed to enter the highway.. .. Anyhoo, us to morons got our NC driver licenses after providing birthcerts, old driver licenses, proof of residency, proof of NC insurance, info on the bank that holds the deeds to my SUV.. Sigh, what a rigamarole! Today we are off to get the vehicles registered and to find the nearest $200. Club (Sams)...
Yesterday: B=Sourdough english muffin.. with SF Jelly and Smart balance spread
Dinner - Grilled London Broil, Salad with red leaf lettuce, celery, tomato and feta cheese, and smashed cauliflower.. Dessert: 10 Dark Chocolate kisses.

Didn't I post yesterday? I thought I did. Apparently I had a brain far* instead. DD has her senior photo session today. She is taking both of her guitars to pose with. I hope she plans to have a couple of, ahem, regular poses too. My girl. Gotta love her.

Yeah, he kinda creeped me out in that movie. Very funny and fascinating movie overall, though.
No problem The nearest is 75 miles away.

I'm reading The South Beach Diet and I'm not going to actually start the diet until I'm done reading the book. I'm just stubborn that way. I have been noticing some things that fit in with the SB diet philosophy, though -- if I eat sweet snacks, I get pretty uncomfortable and bloated.

Well, I've got to go eat something and get some housework accomplished today. You know, just for the novelty of it...

Kiwi

Kiwi, DAHLINK , no, no post from you yesterday,sigh, and you were missed!
How Appropo that DD would get pics with gee-tar .. What does she play? forgive the new cow here... is it classical, folk, classic rock /blues? Where does she get the musical gift from?
Back from Sams 357.42 poorer but well stocked up.. GAWD there's only 2 of us! Got the cars registered with NC plates.. so another step to become a true Nerth Carolinian! DH is making friends at the local sports bar this afternoon.. as I sit here in (I kid u Not) blue plaid comfy loungy pants, and a green purple blue and white ancient tie-dyed shirt from a grateful Dead concert back in oooooh maybe 1989? Pretty! NOT...
Havent seen the new Charlie Choco Factory.. will now wait till video.. KIWI, thankfully you have a movie plex ... starbucks is 75 MILES AWAY!! EGADS! what are you like Little house on the prairie or northern exposure up there?
Yes, I fully understand the need to finish reading an instructional book before attempting to embrace the lesson...Seriously, it's the best "diet" I've ever been on, very sane, doable and "makes sense". and Holy almighty Bob, I've tried WW (ooh lost count..just like on counting points) , LA Weightloss.. scam... Trimsa, Hydrocut, meridian, hmm, letsee, Jenny Craig... now I use SB as a guide and count my calories too. Anyway hope you give it a go.
anyhoo, just wanted to pop in to say how now my little cows
later!

Well, Ms Schatzi, you ask a lotta questions for someone from New Jersey.....

DD plays mostly acoustic versions of songs that she likes -- and she likes heavy metal and alternative rock. She arranges these songs to sound pretty durn good. She also plays classical guitar pieces, and she plays jazz with her electric guitar in the school jazz band. I believe she hopes to be in a rock band when she's in college. You can hear some of her music at MySpace.com. There are some songs on there and a few more on another site that she links from there; some of them are her own compositions.

As far as where her musical gifts come from? A hotly debated issue, I assure you.
Sounds perfectly lovely. I just picked up a pair of loungy pants at The Jockey Store --- they are a dark orange with little black ink-drawing flowers on them. Sounds strange, no? I almost bought the multi-color stripe pair, but decided that they were too much like circus pants.
Au contraire, m'dear -- the movie plex is also 75 miles away! In fact, I saw Charlie in NC while we were beachin'. Think Northern Exposure, multiply by 10, add disgruntled seniors and large quantities of people on welfare (go figure) and you have the local community. I thankfully live a few miles out of town with no neighbors, on the lake.

Later, gators
Kiwi

Thanks for reminding me of the need to get some comfy pants for haning around the house. All the ones I have are defective somehow but I never get around to throwing them out.

My kids went back to school today!!!

But dh is still here cramping my style. He goes back to work tomorrow.

Our town is more like Walnut Grove with all the pious church goers and Mrs. Olsen givin' you the evil eye.

I may just break down and invest in the SB book but I dunno. I'm sure not getting anywhere by eating what I'm eating now. And the fact that I haven't exercised in 6 weeks isn't helping much.

I think I've been wearing circus pants and didn't know it.

Kiwi-- I still love the photo of my son at the local concert hall in Tuxedo with his bassoon. Longhaired nerdy nice boy. Of course, he thinks it is horribly geeky now... I hope your DD gets great photos that you'll both enjoy for years to come.

I'm painting more and more!! Whee. Show and tell within a week or so.

Oh my, for a second I thought you said you were panting more and more, Painty! I was worried about you! I hope today goes well and you don't have icky side effects.

Sugar, I can't believe those poor tots are once again confined to school. What did they have, one month of vacation? I'm telling. My dd just headed out with her notebook, beach towel and a paddle to canoe the lake. Rough life, eh?

I'm fixing photos of nephew's wedding so I can make up a CD of them for my inlaws. What a tedious process. I really need a new computer -- I can edit about 5 photos and then the software crumps out. I'm sure it's lack of operating memory. And I had to move half of my photo archive onto a different drive because the other one was chock full. Oy.

Here's what a small town this is: Yesterday while DD was having her photo session, I was watching the woman at the photo studio touch up some photos from another girl's session. Of course I knew the girl; I used to take DD over to their house to play when she was a toddler. Meanwhile the photographer was talking about the previous photo session that day, and how the girl's boyfriend was trying on her dance costume (a tutu, I believe) while she was have her pictures taken. Except he called them by name, because of course everyone knows M and P. Yeah -- that's DD's friend we take to the beach every year.

Anyway, the woman who was touching up pics was using Photoshop. It still looked tedious, but easy. I need that. I usually use PaintShopPro, which is good, but overly technical -- nothing automatic. Since that's too hard for simple photo fixing, I use the very limited software that came with my camera. It's not perfect but it does the job. For 5 photos at a time... And then you get reboot the computer.

Everboddy have a good day now, y'hear?

Ta
Kiwi

I'm bored and boring. I have no plans for the weekend. We were invited to a bbq but DH doesn't want to go to it, and I forgot to RSVP by the 22nd (who requires RSVP's at bbq's????) DH doesn't want to go because it's a person who didn't come to DH's birthday bash and we heard later he didn't come because "he didn't feel like it". Would you say that DH is being petty? Oh well.

We'll be cooking salmon tonight. DH caught a big'un yesterday. Yes, he had the day off while I slaved. No wonder I'm bored. This entire post is about the DH.

Sugar, congrats on getting the little duffers back to school.

i just came home to change my clothes---i was taking a blueberry pie that mom just made over to the parents of my brother in law { my sweet bil who we lost THREE years ago this week}ANYWAY i was walking through the park with it {it was in a box} and a man said " awww ma'am somethings dripping from that box" --- THE DAMN BLUEBERRY JUICE FROM THE PIE {STILL WARM NO LESS} WAS DRIPPING ALL OVER MY NEW BABY BLUE ROOTS SWEATSHIRT AND MY NEW WOOLRICH KHAKI CAPRIS!!!!!!-------BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BERRY---STAINS LIKE CRAZY---- sooooooooooo here i am back at home with my stuff in the washer praying it will wash out--------WHAT AN EFFIN MESS------- now i have to go back to work----------have a nice day!!!

Not so much -- I would feel the same way. Maybe you should go without him, and when they ask where DH is, you could tell them "he didn't feel like coming."

MMM fresh caught salmon. Sounds great. I had "fresh caught salmon" for dinner last night. But I got it from the grocery store, so I'm not sure how much they stretched that "fresh" bit.

Honestly, Bagz, no good deed goes unpunished, does it? Hope your (way classier than any of my) clothes recover. At the moment I'm wearing Target denim shorts and a ridiculous blue t-shirt with an orange star on the front with a yellow computer mouse and the letters IT on it. I have no idea where it came from or why... I am jealous of your Roots and Woolrich duds even if they are all blueberries.

I am making progress on my photo fixing, but I'm still not done. Did some great red-eye fixing on one photo, but I can't remember the color of one of my nephew's eyes. Hope he likes blue.

Later cowsies,
Kiwi