I'm back. Happy Monday.

I'll post a bit later, just wanted to start the thread.

Have a great morning all!

lala

lala, so glad you're back. Thanks for starting us off.

My play closed this weekend. We had some great, very appreciative audiences. I always get a little depressed when a show closes because it's back to the same old thing (humdrum life).

My sister came to visit this weekend and we had a very nice visit, albeit a short one. She really enjoyed the play.

Played some golf on Friday. I did fairly well, but it was HOT and no breeze. You'd think we'd get a little cooler by now.

Hi, Melissa, Susan, Pam, and Austin.

Hi. I'm back from PEI and regret to report that my sister and I didn't do the bridge run. There was a great deal of speculation about what impact Ophelia would have on the island. They cancelled a few ferry crossings on Saturday night, presumably due to high winds, and indicated there would be an announcement at 4:30 a.m. Sunday about the bridge run. We were about an hour and a half away, and runners had to be there by 6 a.m. When you do the math, we would've had to leave the cottage at 4:30 am. It just seemed very complicated, so we decided against it.

On a more positive note, we did run 12 km yesterday in honour of Terry Fox when we arrived home. We were exhausted, but glad to have done it.

It's strange to be back at work. They still haven't hired a coordinator, and our office manager has accepted a new job and her last day is Sept. 30th. That leaves little ole me to staff the office. Should be interesting...

Haven't weighed myself. My sister doesn't own a scale and of course I haven't had access to mine. Maybe that's a good thing, given that my eating has been erratic for the past week or so.

I'm joining a gym after work. I figure with all of this time on my hands, it's a good time to start weight training.

Hi to everyone. Hope you had a good weekend.

Susan, I guess I would have chalked up the race, too. Gosh, Ophelia affected your area, too? That's something. Good for you for joining a gym.

When do you think they'll hire someone for the office? Don't let them talk you into doing two jobs forever.

Hi all,

I'm back from Wales and had a pretty good time. I am editing my on line photo album so I'll post a link. I even have uploaded pics from my short England trip in August, but those are mostly of Kew Gardens and the Chihuly exhibit.

I can't believe the amount of stuff going on here that I am dealing with that honestly, I am freaking out and very mellow.

I am completely confused about my job and it may be time to just take the bull by the horns and do something good with the chance that things are so flexible as long as it has to do with researching what I am paid to work on.

I'm also trying to get salary quotes for a pay raise. I have looked on line and I'm making about what I should be making in the world, but if you equate my position with a fed with my experience, I'm underpaid by 8-10K, so that is what I'm going with....

Might as well start high, right?

Lisa -- how are you fareing with the new set of TD coming towards FL? Hoping it stays oceanward?

Susan, welcome back and enjoy the gym. Do you have an IPOD?

Everyone else, hello!

lala

lala, go ahead and ask for a raise; they'll either say yes or no. I'm glad you enjoyed Wales.

We're keeping an eye on Rita; not too worried about Phillipe. This is getting pretty ridiculous. I was asking someone "what happens when we run out of names?" They start with the Greek alphabet. Isn't that wonderful? The last name on the list is Wilma.

Good afternoon!

I had a halfway quiet weekend. DH and I went out to dinner on Friday evening; Saturday DS #2 started back to bowling, the afternoon was spent putting together a TV stand and pretty much just laying low, and Sunday I worked at WW and then went to a workshop in the afternoon. My allergies/sinuses have been acting up so my head has been stuffed up and I'm getting that awful back drip. I'm hoping it gets better by Friday when I fly to Chicago. I have a dr appointment on Thursday so we'll see how things are going by then. At least I don't have the sinus headache/pressure!

Lisa: We've been having unseasonable weather here...it's been pretty warm for this time of year. I hear that it's supposed to get warm again and then maybe cool down. I hope Rita doesn't cause any problems for you.

Susan: I probably would've opted out of the race as well since you would have to leave so early and then not know if it was going to be going on or not. Good for you for participating in the Terry Fox run. Hopefully things will get a little less crazy for you. I'm not sure how I'd be with not being able to check in at the scale. Is the gym close by? I need to get back into a routine of going to the wellness center--I really slacked off over the summer.

Lala: DH is heading over to Wales in November with the rugby club from Rockford IL. There are a bunch of guys from Erie going as well. I know they're taking in a game the second day they're there. Better to start high with a salary quote and then you can "negotiate" from there. Good luck!

Hi to Austin & Pam!

Good morning everyone.

Another beautiful day here. Our weather has also been unseasonably warm; that would be nice, except that it makes us more susceptible to hurricanes. Given the choice, I'lltake the cooler temps any day. I don't know how folks in the south live with the uncertainty that this time of year brings.

lala: Glad you enjoyed the trip. Yes, I do have an iPod and it's well stocked with tunes and audio books - even Dr. Phil's ultimate weight loss book if I care to have a listen.

Melissa: Sorry you're suffering from the allergies. I started the full regime of eye drops, nasal spray and flovent a few weeks ago, and I'm doing well...knock on wood. Everyone is commenting on how healthy I appear, compared to last year.

Lisa: As I said, I don't know how you don't lose it with all of these storms. They're already speculating about higher gas prices due to Rita. How can they decide that this early in the game?

I continue to live in limbo. My sister has been wonderful of course, opening her home and heart to me in this time of need. There are days when I don't think about things too much, but there are others when I scan the real estate ads looking for a place of my own. That's the anger, I know. I'm trying not to make any drastic decisions until things settle down a bit. He leaves for a month in Italy in early October; at least I'll get to live in my home during that time.

Hi to Pam and Austin.

Melissa, sorry about the allergies; that is miserable, I'm sure. So you're having Indian Summer, huh?

Susan, sorry about your allergies, too. Does it seem that more people have allergies than they did in the past? So sorry about your home situation. Do you think there is a chance that you will reconcile with your husband? I'm not being nosey, just want what's best for you.

Yes, it is interesting how they know gas prices will already go up.

Hi everyone,

I'm totally confused about what is going on. I'm going back to read last week's posts. I must have been totally jet lagged when I read through them.

All I can say is I'm sorry Susan and sending you a hug.

bbl.

lala

Hi Ladies,

It's a cloudy day here. Actually, the weekend was pretty much the same. Went to the Cape and even though it was cloudy the weather was better than we thought it would be. Luckily Ophelia was far enough away from the Cape and the Islands to stir up too much wind and rain. Lauren and her friends had a nice time, but my eating was atrocious. I'll try to get back on course after having one small piece of birthday cake tonight, today is Lauren's actual b-day. Hard to believe my baby is 17!

Lala welcome back! I hope you can post some pics. Sorry about the job situation. Maybe now is the time to make a change.

Lisa I bet you are sad when a play closes. You get use to the people and the routine. Glad you had a nice visit with your sister. I hope Rita stays away from you!

Susan sounds like the weather wreaked havoc with your weekend also. It's funny, just as I typed that it started thundering here! I really hope you are OK, what you are going through is very difficult. It's important that you take care of yourself, I'm glad healthwise you are doing so much better this year.

Melissa Rugby is a sport I don't really understand. Is it more like football or soccer? Looks like it's pretty rough. Has Dh ever been injured playing?

Well ladies I should get back to work. Hope you're all having a nice day. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Thanks for your concern guys. I'm OK - really. I'm taking care of myself, and I have plenty of support.

This has been coming for some time. He is a wonderful man in many ways, but we've always had communication issues. I think I've changed over the past few years in that I'm no longer content with the status quo. I care very deeply for (i.e. love) him and am hoping we can work things out. But it will require a certain amount of change and a lot of hard work. And I refuse to be the only one changing or working hard.

We'll see.

Susan: Glad to hear you're doing okay in terms of the allergies/sinus. It's good that you have a lot of support and hopefully you'll be able to work through this. You're right about it can't be one sided with working on a relationship--it has to be both working on changing things.

Pam: Sounds like you had a nice weekend at the Cape in spite of the weather. It's been fairly nice here--today we're supposed to hit the upper 70's and tomorrow 80. Seems kinds of warm for the end of September. I'm not complaining though! Rugby is kind of a cross between football/soccer. It's a fast moving sport and they don't call timeouts. If a player goes down they continue to play--you don't usually see a lot of injuries because they're pretty strict with how you're able to tackle players. DH has gotten hit where he's had a pretty nasty black eye and years ago he was tackled low and hurt his knee but other than that it's usually just some bruises.

Lisa: Gas prices have already started to rise here...it's frustrating that they can bounce them around so much. Our weather has been pretty nice--cool evenings and warm days so I can't complain too much.

Lala: How is your proposal for a salary increase going?

Hi to Austin!

I'm heading to my WW meeting at noon so we'll see how things go. TOM arrived last evening so it's hard to tell what will be reflected on the scale. I can say my eating has been a lot better and I haven't been snacking like I was before so we'll see. Catch up with you later on!

Hi everyone,

Let me start by saying.

Lisa -- whew on your mammo.

Susan-- You have our support here. Things will work out for the best, it is just a hard road walk/run and talking logically and rationally are the best, but even harder. I hope you will try counselling, if not together, for yourself.

Pam -- The Cape sounds good in rain or shine.

Melissa -- What part of Wales. I can send some promotional literature I picked up or suggest to DH where not to go or eat. As they say about Wales -- "the people are so nice and it is beautiful" - which means the food is not so wonderful and the hotels are odd. However, the sheep are cute. Its like NZ, but harder to understand the locals.

Hi Austin -- checking in everyday doesn't mean you'll stay within your points or drink all your water, but it is a good motivator. Congrats on your pay raise and new car shopping. We're a volvo family, but I'd buy something with good gas mileage if I could.

My friend is going to be in Austin this weekend for a taping of Austin city limits. I am so jealous, she gets to see Franz Ferdinand and I just get to listen to them on my Ipod.

Well -- my salary increase should happen. We're just waiting for the first meager merit raise to happen this month and then we'll start the paperwork. I have a vague idea of what I would be paid, which is about 10K more than I currently make and I'll get it, its just a matter of getting some examples together to make the justification to the powers that be. However, being a large institution, I'm not betting it will happen tomorrow.

Up again on the scale. Not happy. Now looking at WW meeting schedules, my schedule and figuring out realistically if I can make one meeting a week.

Hope things are mellow for everyone today. I am planning on having a mellow day, short as I have accupuncture at 3:30!

lala

Ladies, it is awful here today. We are getting so much rain I'm watching for Noah to come by in an ark!! We are experiencing the outer, outer bands of Hurricane Rita. I cannot even imagine what the real storm is like. We lost power at work for about 45 minutes (darn, everyone thought we would be going home).

Melissa, good luck on WI. Good for you for watching your intake better. I wish I could say the same. Now that my play closed, I don't have the motivation. I snacked and snacked yesterday (sigh).

lala, I'm glad the raise will come through--good for you.

Pam, sounds like the Cape was great.