G'day all,

I will just quickly start this new thread....still working on my computer.....

We are getting there though.....


Cheers
Maria

Does that count? I'm 48, dh is 56. Can I take the diff and join this group?

Just a quick note. My father passed away just this passed Thursday evening. DH and drove to Minnesota. and arrived on Wednesday. So was able to say good bye to dad. We beleive he was waiting for me to get there. He was in a comma from last Monday. My Daughter, My Sister Inlaw and My Daughter in law were his care givers from Monday until he passed. They were his Angels here on earth . They took better care of him at home than if he was in the hospital. and as you know he wanted to be home. Will write more later.

Karen

Karen thinking of you at this sad time with your father passing away. Eventhough it was expected I imagine it still comes as a shock.
Great you had that time with him recently and it must be a comfort that you got to Minnesota in time to say goodbye.
Take care.

Jaynee I guess it would be allright for a young chick to join our group
We are a fairly close knit group but would always welcome new people to join us. A new person always brings a bit of a different perspective and that is always good and refreshing.
So welcome look forward to your posts.

We have just come back from the beach, another hot day here
Matilda was quite adventurous at the beach and enjoyed the water, just dh and myself again, nice and peaceful
I have attached a photo I took of Matilda at the beach this morning.

Cheers
Maria

Maria: Matilda surely is a 'cutie'. And she looks like she loves the water.
Change my address to verizon. I think you had an s instead of the z. And there is also still someone who has left off the au in your address. We'll all get it straight after a while. Now Peggy and Karen's mailboxes are full and won't take any more.

I am happy to report that the Core is still working for me. Today I can report 1.6 down again. I can hardly believe it.

Karen: I am glad that you got to see your Dad before he went on 'Home'. As someone said, even tho' the death of a loved one is expected, it still leaves a big hole. You and your family will be in our prayers.

Jaynee: Welcome to the group. I agree with Maria- there is always room for one more, and you may give us a new perspective on this weight loss stuff.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone. 'See' you later. Ann

Hi everyone,

We are still planning a trip to the States and Canada.
We would be able to hire a compact chevrolet for $5000 for 3 months with unlimited mileage.
DH is now trying to work out if that is the way to go or to hire a SUV.

I prefer a small car and staying in motels every night.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the cost of an average motel...something like 3 star??
We also found when we were in New Zealand, many motels had cooking facilities, is that available in the US/Canada?
In Australia you can also stay in on-site cabins which would have cooking facilities.
Any suggestions, personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Maria

Today was sad but happy day. It is the 10th anniversary of our SIL's death. DD#1 had a Mass for him and a get together at her house after. His parents, who are in Florida for the Winter, came up for the day. I say it was sad because we all remembered Frank and his sudden departure but, again, it was happy as we were able to remember him as he was. Cathy had a DVD made of a series of pictures of their life together and had a beautiful music background to go along with it. Their song was "Over the Rainbow" and then there were other songs they loved also. Some of the pictures went back to when they first met at the age of 16 and there were wedding shots and of her two kids with Frank. She did a great job of selecting pictures for example she had a shot of Frank playing hockey and then there were side by side shots of the two boys in their hockey poses. It could have been maudlin but because every picture was of a happy time it didn't make you sad. They met when they were both 16 as they both worked in a bakery in town. They were married 8 yrs later and he died 1 month before their 12 Anniversary. The DVD was a remarkable love story.

Maria: What a doll! Matilda looks like she has no qualms about getting wet at the beach. She is going to be a beach beauty!
As far as hotels in the states go....my experience has been with the Hampton Inns. They are a nice clean hotel and fairly reasonable but what I liked was that they have a free breakfast every morning. Depending on which area you are in I suppose the 'menu' would change but we have had cereals, fruit, english muffins, sweet rolls, coffee, tea, OJ and other beverages.
My traveling has only been on the Eastern Seaboard but they were everywhere up and down the coast. Smaller motels and hotels might not be as reliable but I do think that more and more of them are offering free breakfasts.

Ann: So glad the Core is working for you....keep up the good work.

Karen: Thoughts and prayers are with you at this time. It is sad but it was good that you were able to get to see him.

Jaynee: Of course you are welcome. It is always good to have another view of this weight loss adventure we are on.

Hello to Peggy, Glenda, Sally, Trudy, & Lily!

Gloria

Karen: Im so sorry to her your father passed away. Im gald you got to say goodbye. It does help. I wasnt ther when either of mine pass and it was very hard on me.
My thoughts are with you.


Welcome Jaynee! I dont see a problem so feel free to join us!

Maria: So cute Matilda is. Just adorable!

Gloria: I bet it helped with SIL, anniversary. Sounds like all helped and made it very special. and the memories help so much. Its good to do these things!


I have been busy doing Me stuff. Been working on my website etc.

Sometimes my hubby is sooooooooo sweet.

Every year at both our works we get a Compensation Check depending on how well the company does. Sometimes it very little and some times its big. We both have always just put into savings.

Today he came and handed me a check. He said. Im going to buy an Ipod. Seeing as How Im buying something I thought I would give you half. What do you want? Well Norton was running at the time and I said New Puter Find me one. He went looking Printed it out, handed it to me.

Well it took me like 2 hours........... and I bought a New desk top!

Dimension 9150
Pentium� D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB), Genuine Windows� XP Home Edition

Processor Pentium� D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)

Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4DIMMs

Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitors 19 inch Ultrasharp� 1905FP Digital Flat Panel

Video Cards 256MB PCI Express� x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory X600SE

Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache�

My check will be coming with in a month so Im gonna also give him half as this was so sweet. His half and and my half from mine will pay for it.

Woo Hoo! So excited! He is gonna take over mine as his is my old one from at least 6 years ago, and its soooooooooooo slow. He always takes my hand me downs and upgrades them some how. He will be happy as my puter now is good tho it is 6 years old now.


Sorry about all the wierd things I copied it from my confirmation email

sounds great Lily you will love it.

DH and I have been busy changing everything over to my new computer, that is the only draw back when you get a new computer however it is more then worth it!
Mine is so incredibly fast especially for all the graphics I do and you will be the same.

Guess we won't see you here for a while whilst you get your new computer set up
Have fun!

Maria

It hasnt shipped yet. Cheaper to buy online and get what you want. Probaly wont see it until next week. But Im hoping for friday She dreams!

Know what you mean by chaging things. We are networked so Im just gonna pull my one folder I have for all my Graphics stuff over then just install my programs. So it usually goes pretty fast.

It hasnt shipped yet. Cheaper to buy online and get what you want. Probaly wont see it until next week. But Im hoping for friday She dreams!

Know what you mean by chaging things. We are networked so Im just gonna pull my one folder I have for all my Graphics stuff over then just install my programs. So it usually goes pretty fast.

G'day everyone,

Very quite here the last few days

Hope everyone is well, especially Slavika hope you got over the flu and are now ready to enjoy the company of your grand children.

Lily we have always intended to network our computers but dh has never got around to it. I imagine that would be a lot quicker.

I went to the library yesterday and got a 'baby einstein' DVD. Matilda just loved it.
Not to let a learning opportunity go astray.....I bid on a whole set (19 DVD's) on Ebay and got the lot for a fraction of the cost if I was to buy them in the shop.
Have any of you seen these DVD's??? Especially Trudy, Glenda and Peggy with your very young grandchildren. They are just delightful and I thought they would be good for our next grandchild as well.

DS gave us some free tickets to go to the movies, (he was unable to use them) so last night we went to see 'Munich'. It was supposedly a true account of the hunting down of those responsible for the Munich Olympic massacre. It was extremely violent, very well acted but boy I perhaps wished I had not seen it. Nothing much has changed in the world since that time.

On that note, I will get out in my garden whilst Matilda is having a sleep.

Cheers
Maria

Karen, I just read about your dad and just want to express my deepest sympathy. All the preparation in the world is not buffer enough for when it finally happens. And no one can say anything that makes the loss in any way less, but just know that we are thinking of you and many of us realize the deep sorry. You have many good things to remember and some family members to be extremely proud of. And in years to come it will be a source of comfort that you were able to say a final good-bye.

Jaynee, so happy to meet you! Tell us a little about yourself and Lookinglass Valley, Oregon. It is a beautiful name, though I probably misspelled it.

Ann, so good for you! You are chipping off the last of that stubborn weight! Can you believe how hard it is for that last 10 pounds. I am sending up make believe fireworks because we are still under a burn ban. And telling you about the asparagus casserole. I fixed it for my company and they loved it. Thanks.

Trudy, our angel has her third birthday on Saturday. I know our angels are about the same age. Isn't this a cute age? I made one of the muffin tin recipes for my company. They were amazed at my repertoire. Thanks.

Lily, you have a sweet husband. All that stuff went right over my head. When I retire, I will get back with you to find out what to buy, but bet I just get a hand-me-down by then.

Gloria, your day was a celebration of a great love and I am so happy your daughter can have such a good day to remember her love. And happy it wasn't maudlin, but more just sweet. His death must have been just an awful tragedy, but you certainly should be proud of your daughter and I know you are.

Haven't talked to you all in awhile. I am into my 4th week with my face. It isn't too bad, just looks chapped. Not as much peeling going on now.

Have a great day. By the way, I am drinking lots of water and think I have a bladder infection. Go figure!
Glenda

First of all Karen I want to express my sympathy. I am sure it was hard for you, it doesn't change the fact that you knew it was coming. I am so glad you got to see him again, one more time.
Lily I don't have a clue what your new computer can do, but I was still impressed. My SIL has a network set up with their computers, so I understood that part. That was really nice of your DH to share his bonus with you.
Glenda So, your weekend was a success. What else did you do beside eat? It is fun to try out new recipes. I am baking a different bread recipe right now. I like to experiment. I always thought your little was older than mine. Oy vey, I cannot remember anything these days.
Maria the latest picture of Matilda is so cute. She obviously loves the beach now. As for Baby Einstein, my DD bought most of them for our little ones. loved them. They make a really nice baby gift too, when you don't know what else to get.
Gloria A DVD is a wonderful way to remember the good times. They were together a long time, it is a nice thing for their boys to have, and to see their parents so happy.
I haven't had any e-mail from Slavika in a while, so I am assuming that they are doing well and enjoying themselves.
Ann sometimes I get mail back too. We will get everything straightened out, and then someone will go on holidays and we will all be confused again.
to Jaynee, it would be really nice to have someone else join us. Please post again, we would loved to hear more about you. You are the right age, I think we are all ages in this group.

Bye for now..

G'day everyone,

Nice to see the new posts today.

Gloria what a lovely way to remember your son in law. It must be wonderful for his children to have this DVD to remember their father.
As far as the Hampton Inns, thank you for the recommendation. I had a brief look at them and now also know it is part of the Hilton chain.
Once we have planned the way we want to go we will then have a closer look as to what motel is available when.
The example I looked at was a little pricey, $92.00 per night, but it may have been just the one exampla I looked at.

Glenda how much longer for the final result of your face?

Trudy I hope you are right that no news is good news as far as Slavika is concerned. You are right one would have thought it was fairly straight forward to have everyones email address correct
In time we will straighten it all out!
I cannot wait to get the Baby Einstein DVDs, Matilda loves the Neptune one, I thought it was very appropiate seeing she only just got to like the beach.
I had heard of them but they are not all that popular here in Australia dil was amazed at Matilda's reaction to the DVD.

Also received a call from dd in Melbourne, she was very teary and homesick She has been away from Adelaide for 7 years but she misses not being able to just pop in especially now that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy has not been terrific, I thought she would have breezed through it and so did she. We talked for a while and I told her about the DVDs I had bought for HER baby and that I will make a copy for Matilda.
I think she just wants to know that we do think about her every day.

Have a great day everyone....

Cheers
Maria