It was a pretty good weekend even though the weather scrubbed two Shuttle launches. We've had some pretty fierce thunderstorms. I got to play golf on Saturday before the rains came. That was fun. On Sunday I visited an elderly friend of mine. She is going through a fight with Social Security. It appears that they overpaid her and now want the money back! She had originally questioned the amount and even went in to see them about it and she was assured that it was correct. I think she has a chance of winning.

Today at work is soooo quiet. Well, I can catch up on stuff.

I've been eating way too many sweets lately; I've been doing some baking (got in the mood) and well, then I had to eat what I made!

Tomorrow, DH and I are playing in a golf tournament and then we were invited to a cookout. The rest of the week should be uneventful.

What's everyone else doing?

Hi Lisa,

I'm home today. DP took E.Puppy to work and I am going to do a bit of speed cleaning and speed gardening and move safe deposit boxes. How is that for exciting. Didn't do anything I should have this weekend, but we did see the Indigo Girls last night and that was fun.

We have guests for dinner and I'm going to spatchcock a chicken on the grill (basically butterfly, but I love that work).

Blackberry crisp and stuffed eightball zukes with israeli cousous and cheese.

Yum.

Not in that order.

I lost the .6 I gained last week, but honestly, I didn't deserve it.

I have been remiss on my points counting, sort of eyeballing things.

Bad lala.

Nothing else planned.

I hope the launch will go soon, but after they get some of the cracks taken care of and everything is secure. It must be very frustrating for the astronauts and the flight command center to scrub the launches.

Good luck with the tourney! I'm hoping for uneventful myself.

Happy Canada Day Susan!

Hi to everyone else!

lala

Hi Lisa,

I'm home today. DP took E.Puppy to work and I am going to do a bit of speed cleaning and speed gardening and move safe deposit boxes. How is that for exciting. Didn't do anything I should have this weekend, but we did see the Indigo Girls last night and that was fun.

We have guests for dinner and I'm going to spatchcock a chicken on the grill (basically butterfly, but I love that work).

Blackberry crisp and stuffed eightball zukes with israeli cousous and cheese.

Yum.

Not in that order.

I lost the .6 I gained last week, but honestly, I didn't deserve it.

I have been remiss on my points counting, sort of eyeballing things.

Bad lala.

Nothing else planned.

I hope the launch will go soon, but after they get some of the cracks taken care of and everything is secure. It must be very frustrating for the astronauts and the flight command center to scrub the launches.

Good luck with the tourney! I'm hoping for uneventful myself.

Happy Canada Day Susan!

Hi to everyone else!

lala

lala, yum blackberry crisp sounds great and the zukes sound interesting. I got my cleaning done on Saturday. The Indigo Girls sound interesting.

I was thinking of having guests for dinner this weekend, but everyone I thought to invite is either out of town or busy. Hmmm.

Hi ladies!

I'm at work today and haven't gotten a lot done...it's such a good feeling! I've worked on the next 2 orientation sessions and have things in order for correspondence that needs to go out once the sessions are done.

Lisa: We've lucked out on the storms--most of them have hit south of us so we've only gotten a little bit of rain. I don't mind a good t'storm. It's been really humid the past couple of days so the threat of storms is there. I've had too many chips--yesterday I kept munching on them because they were "there". I hate when that happens!

Lala: I had to do some speed cleaning myself this weekend. It feels good when it's all done. Congrats on the loss--take it!

Susan: Hope you had a good weekend & holiday!

I had a pretty busy weekend--washed & waxed my car on Saturday morning only to have it rain Saturday night *sigh*; it looked so good! Sunday we ended up having a family picnic spur of the moment. It was fun once things were organized but leading up to it I was pretty frazzled. Interestingly we had 5 generations present so that was fun. I'm working tonight at the WW center and tomorrow we have plans to go to my SIL's for a picnic.

My sister will be leaving on Wednesday morning instead of tomorrow so hopefully we'll get to visit a little tomorrow. We really didn't get a chance to talk by ourselves yesterday so it'd be nice to spend a little bit of time with her before she leaves.

Not too much else going on here--I'm looking forward to having the day off tomorrow and being able to kick back a little. I'm hoping that it's quiet this afternoon and that I can continue to do some catch up work. I'm planning on tackling a stack on my desk that keeps multiplying

Hi Ladies,

It's been a lazy holiday weekend for me. The weather has been HOT but after all the rain we've been getting I can't complain. DH and I went golfing yesterday and had a cookout on Saturday. Spent a good part of today watching the Womens Open (yeah Annika), tonight I think we're finally going to see the Davinci Code and tomorrow Lauren and I will go see the Devil Wears Prada. I'm really going to hate going back to work on Wednesay.


Melissa sounds like your family picnic came together well. Five generations is amazing! Hope you get to spend some time with your sis before she goes back home. Do you have any other siblings?

Lala what are stuffed eightball zukes? Congrats on the loss!

Lisa good luck with the tournament!

I better sign off before I lose this post. My home computer has been acting kind of strange lately. I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Ack, DP is on her way to London tonight. Her mom's best friend and one of the two people in the world who are close links to her mom died on the 24th of June. The funeral is on the 5th.

What a way to spend the fourth of july, stuck on plane on your way to a funeral, but it couldn't have been less painful, ticket procured in 15 minutes and packed in less than an hour.

Oh well, guess Ernest and I will chill at home.

I'll post the zuch recipe. I think it turned out pretty okay.

Eight Ball Zuchinni

Happy fourth everyone!

lala

Happy Fourth everyone.

A good weekend but it went by much too quickly. My sister ended up getting the time off at the absolute last minutes, so she travelled to NB with me. It was good to have the company; the drive seems to be getting longer as I age

My nephew's grad party was fun. Way too much food, I mean, tons left over. My sister can't seem to get it in her head that an extra 100 people don't usually drop in unannounced. Oh well, it was delicious and I did my part by overeating. The scales show it this morning, and if I'm going to look smashing in the little black dress, I need to get cracking!!

It's quiet here today. Our office mgr is on vacation this week and my boss will likely only be in tomorrow and Thursday. I'm off on Friday, so this is a really short week.

Countdown for Australia has officially begun. Less than 4 weeks before I'm on that plane! My ToDo List is long and I have to start now or else.

Susan

The Fourth was pretty busy. DH and I played in a golf tournament. Our team was 2 under which was all right. I sank a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole! That was exciting. Then we went to a cookout and the weather was perfect. Yep, Susan, too much food. I had to try everything! Then I had chocolate cake. Lost my mind!

lala, sorry about DP's friend. You're right what a way to spend the Fourth.

Pam, how was the golf game? Did you see the movie Devil Wears Prada? Let us know what you thought. That movie is on my list of ones to see (that and The Dead Man's Chest which comes out this week).

Hey Ladies
I am back from camping - now officially "dry" It rained on us 1/2 the time - but we made great use of the time it did not rain. The kids tubed the Mochican River, we went to Amish Country, the campground had a DJ the kids really enjoyed and just sitting by the camp fire.

I "sorta" watched my food but since this was the vacation I didn't get in June I splurged a bit. Made a Black Forest cake in the camping coals - the family loves it. I was going to make Pineapple Upside down cake or peach cobbler but the rain interfered

Back to a new week and trying to loose this last 10 pounds to meet my goal!
Have a great week - I have to clean the camper up this week, plus one dd has softball games Thursday - Looks like the weather will cooperate here in North Central Ohio

Good morning everyone!

On the my earlier post I said "I haven't gotten a lot done" and it should have been "I have"...it was a good feeling coming in this morning knowing I didn't have anything major hanging over my head!

Yesterday we went to my SIL's for a picnic and probably ate more than I should have. I am going to my meeting today at noon but am kind of tossing around the idea of not weighing in...we'll see how I feel at noon. I don't feel too bloated but my rings are a little tight from the salty chips. Thank goodness I don't have any other gatherings until the end of the month!

Pam: Yes, I do have other siblings. I'm the oldest, I have a brother 18 mos. younger and a baby brother who is 8 years younger than I am. There is 5 years between my sister and I. We didn't get to spend any time together alone and I was a little miffed about it because she did some other things. It probably wouldn't have been so bad but she's always complaining over the phone that we used to do things together and she missed that. Oh well maybe next time she comes in.

Lala: I hope DP's flights go well. What a tough trip to have to take. I made a pasta salad with grape tomatoes, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar and some assorted cheese (Asiago, Parmesan, Provolone) and a little olive oil. It is good! I love using the fresh basil from the garden. I'm anxiously waiting for my tomatoes!

Susan: It's always nice to have company on a long ride! My SIL had a ton of food yesterday as well--way more than enough. The nice part was that a couple people brought two big trays of fresh fruit. I did eat more than I should have and like you, I want to lose a few pounds and I'm not going to do that by eating poorly. Let the countdown begin!!

Lisa: My 4th was kind of laid back--I even managed a trip to the mall and bought another pair of sandals--couldn't resist! It rained in the morning and it was pretty humid most of the day. Must have been a chocolate day--I had a chocolate cupcake at the picnic that was delicious!

Julie: Glad you had a good time camping! I've always enjoyed sitting around the campfire in the evening--there's something very relaxing about it. Don't worry about "sorta" watching your food--you can get back on track now that you're home. Sometimes we think we're eating really bad but in reality it's not as bad as it was before we started WW.

It's cool here this morning only 65 degrees and the humidity has gone away. It's a perfect summer day although a little cool. I'm not complaining in the least because I'd much rather have a cooler day rather than a hot, humid one!

Melissa, I guess we all sort of ate too much. Move on, it's a new day, right? That's funny that you mentioned your typo "I haven't gotten a lot done" and it should have been "I have..." When I read your post, I was wondering about that!

Julie, you're sure adventurous. I've never been much of a camper--Hyatt or Hilton's my style : ) although I have to admit I also like sitting around a campfire at night.

Hi ladies,

Back to work and this Wednesday sure feels like a Monday to me. The weekend was very nice and for the most part the weather did cooperate.

Melissa Sorry you didn't get to spend more time with your sister. I'm fortunate that my sister lives close by and we try to get together at least a couple times a month. The problem is life gets so busy it's hard to always find the time. We use to vacation together with our families, but now that our kids are older even doing that is difficult. I'm the oldest of three, my sister is 18 months younger than me and I have a brother who is 4 years younger. Enjoy your meeting today, I'm debating on whether or not to weigh in this Friday. I had too many sweets this weekend!

Lisa Yeah on your birdie putt, what a great feeling that must have been! I played with DH this weekend and did OK. Had a couple of nice drives and my putting is really improving. This weekend I'm playing with my son, that should be interesting. The Devil Wears Prada was good but in my opinion it seemed a little long. They certainly could have moved the story along faster. It did deviate from the book a little, but I still enjoyed it and would recommend seeing it. Meryl Streep was very good!

Lala so sorry about DP's friend, not a very nice way to spend the holiday weekend. Thanks for the link on the eightball zuchinni. I bet if you hollowed out the squash it would make a nice little serving bowl. I may just try that! How did Ernest like the fireworks from your secret parking garage??

Susan glad your sis got the time off and you got a travelling partner. Four weeks to Australia you must be getting excited! How long will you be staying there?

Julie Your camping trip sounded like a lot of fun! Glad that the weather for the most part was good.

Well ladies I must get back to the pile that formed on my desk while I was away. I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Melissa: I can identify with being miffed about time missed with your sister. On this most recent trip home, we stayed with my youngest sister because she has loads of room in her new house. Consequently, I didn't get much time with my Mom, and that upset me. I am the third oldest of nine. There's never enough time to catch up with anyone it seems.

Pam: I'll be in Australia for four weeks - two on the Gold Coast and two with my friend in Sydney. She's trying to get us tickets to the Opera House.

Lisa and Julie: I waffle between being a campfire girl and a Hilton girl. Depends on my mood and, more importantly, the weather. I camped a lot when I was younger, but as I get older, the ground seems harder

lala: Hope DP's trip was okay. That was a tough one, I'm sure.

Woke to torrential rain, thunder and lightning this morning. This is the worst summer ever. A twister even touched down in neighbouring New Brunswick on the weekend. That never happens in this part of the world.

Lisa: You're right, it's a new day and I'm moving forward.

Pam: Funny how we're both the oldest in the family and how there's only 18 mos. between ourselves and the next sibling. My sister lives 12 hours away so her visits are few and far between.

I had a little conversation with myself before going to the meeting--why I should/shouldn't WI today. I drove to the meeting with 2 other girls and while we were heading to the meeting I told them my little inner fight with debating on weighing in or not...in talking I figured I was much better off to see where I was at rather than to "wing it". I met the scale and was up 1.4# but considering that I went out to dinner on Friday night, had a picnic both on Sunday and Tuesday that's not all that bad.

I have made a commitment to have "full disclosure" this week with my journal and if I "bite it" I'll write it.