Where's me Ear Muffs??? Where's my nose warmer???? Tis a Ch-ch-chilly morn here in loverly Nerth Caroliner!!!! Ahhh, nuthin a cuppa joe can't fix!

So it's Friday chicas!!! The weekend before Halloween I've got this chubby pumpkin just waiting to get carved up Moo ha ha!
So today after running a few chores I think I will make a sssppppooky-ssscary Jack-o-latern, and roast up the pumpkin seeds as a treat!
So what's happen'n on your stretch of sand today?

Schatzi, pass the cawfee! I am fffffrrrreezing too! I guess I turned the furnace off again instead of down.

My weather report ---- Saturday: Rain becoming mixed with periods of wet snow in the evening. Rainfall amount 20 to 30 mm. Wind east 30 km/h becoming southwest 30 late in the day. High plus 5.
Sunday: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of rain showers and flurries. Low plus 2. High plus 4.

I've just decided NOT to go on that retreat-camping thing this weekend! My knee is grieving me and that weather sure won't help it! So I'll make my excuses and just not go. It'll be a sort of mini-vacation for me as The Girls are at the kennel and I've decided to leave them there and give myself a break from doggie duties. So there! That's settled!

My day in Ottawa yesterday was great although I always try to pack too much in. My sister and I went through family photos and memories and went out to lunch in trendy Westboro. Ellis was sitting at one of the tables on the way out and I gave her a big hug. Joan and I had a great visit with dear Aunt Rose. She's 94, has all her marbles and is a really interesting woman. I managed to get back here by 8 and remembered how much I hate night driving.

The stars are shining this morning so it looks like today will be dry. I intend to get with the fall cleanup and maybe even bung in some bulbs. If it happens, fine; otherwise there will be a lot of bulbs going into the compost after freeze-up.

Time to crank up the heat and have breakfast. It's strange with no dogs here but the break is nice! My kitchen floor may even stay clean for a bit!

Have a great day on The Beach.

Good Morning, Ruth and Schatzi, you two EARLY BIRDS! And here I was, thinking I'd have to start the thread for the day!

We had a heavy frost here overnight, I'm sure that when it gets light enough out there I'll find that it finally zapped my impatiens. They sit close to the house in a protected area, and so far they've survived, but I doubt they did this time. Ruth, your weather forcast sounds miserable, and ours is going to be almost as bad. We're supposed to have heavy rains tonight and tomorrow, with winds gusting 40-50 mph at times!
Yikes, I didn't realize how late it was already, I have to leave for Curves. I'll be back in a bit!

Good Friday Morning, Ladies!!

It's Friday! Woohoo! *Happy Friday dancing going on!!*

Ruth and Cottage:Your weather forecasts sound miserable. What a yucky way to spend the weekend before Halloween! Ruth, I'm glad you're getting a break from your doggy-duties! Enjoy and relax! Cottage, woohoo, lady! Get that body moving - enjoy Curves!

Schatzi: You're up early this morning! Sounds like you've got a spooky day ahead. We're carving up our pumpkin Monday, just so it's fresh! How do you toast your seeds? (I've never done it.) Oh could you please pass a cuppajoe?!


ME:Well, I slept in until 6:30 this morning, so I didn't get a chance to work out. I skipped going to the grocery store last night because a movie was on, so I need to do it before work. I figure if I leave here by 7:30ish, I'll have plenty of time!! Taco Bake for dinner tonight and I'll be jumping on the treadmill or doing a dvd after that.

I'm fairly positive my Dad & Mom are buying me a mountain bike for Christmas! I can't wait to get it and start riding to and from work. I'll be doing Christmas shopping on my trips to the big cities. I've got one in Nov and one in Dec, so I'll be able to spread out the spending. Well, I need to shower and head out. Have a great day, and STAY WARM!!!

Hi, Kim, you sound all happy and excited today! That will be great to get a mountain bike for Christmas, and what a great way to get some exercise, biking to and from work! Hope your work day goes by fast, TGIF!

I stopped to get a coffee at Wawa after Curves, and ran into Jake and a few of his co-workers getting coffee, too. Nothing like a Wawa coffee to start the day! For those of you who aren't familiar with Wawa, it's a very popular convenience/gas store chain that has the most amazing coffee, YUM!

Monica is dropping off Carley for me to watch today, she's supposed to be here by 9, because I have to be at Cindy's by 9:30. Today is Audrey's big Halloween celebration at school, there's a parade at 8:30, which I'll miss, then parents are invited back for the party at 10:30. We're keeping Maggie out of her school today so she can enjoy the festivities at Audrey's school. Her party will be on Tuesday. School dismisses at noon, then several of us are getting together for lunch and taking the kids to the MoonBounce Playground. I'll have my hands full with 3 little ones, but I think Carley will enjoy the day, and Audrey is a big help. Busy day ahead!

OK I have been just reading and not posting since I am drowning in the ocean and not on the beach...but I MISS Wawa coffee!! They have the best cheap coffee! I moved from Richmond, VA to Nashville more than two years ago and I am still mourning Wawa and Ukrop's. Wahhhhh.

Miss you guys. Ruth, your doggy-free weekend sounds nice. Whenever we drop Chester off the night before I always get confused in the morning when there are no "doggy duties." We were away last weekend and left him with friends, and he's been especially sweet and cuddly this week. I think he's hoping we won't ever leave again!

Oooh, Cottage - can I come and play? It sounds like you have a fun day ahead of you. A bounce house sounds like a lot more fun than sitting here for the next 7 hours at this computer oh well, at least it's Friday! Then I have the weekend to play with my kiddos. Not sure what's going on with the baby, though. He's 13 months and used to be a very easy, laid-back baby. For the last few months he's been so clingy and cries at every little provocation. Someone else eating (even when he's eaten a ton and is definitely NOT hungry)? Cries. I'm giving DD some attention? Cries. I leave the room (even with DH & DD still in the room)? Cries. I'm about at my end and I'm not sure what I should do with him. Part of me thinks there must me something wrong that I'm not catching and part of me thinks I should just let him cry and have his fits and that he'll get over it. Ugggh - this parenting stuff is so hard sometimes.

Kim - I hope you get your mountain bike! Your commitment to exercise is inspiring!
Ruth - Enjoy your weekend off from doggy duties!
Schatzi - Have fun carving your pumpkin! DH is helping DD with hers this weekend

Just back from outside. The hosta leaves are frozen solid and cutting them down would be pretty cold work. I'm going to go to town this morning instead - not Ottawa, Brockville which is just 30 minutes away. I need some photo paper, some sewing scissors and a few other things. I WILL NOT GO TO THE CHINESE BUFFET! I'll leave now and be hoem for lunch. I PROMISE! This afternoon when it warms up a bit, I'll work outside.

Morning Ladies!

Schatzi: It's odd.... I woke up in the middle of the night and was thinking about you posting at almost 5 in the morning. I was considering staying up when I couldnt' go back to sleep at 3:45 this morning and posting just so I could beat you to it for once

Ruth: Hooray for Animal Break! I loved it when Daniel and I first moved into the new apartment and we had gotten rid of all of our snakes and Kujo had to live with my parents. It was so quiet and we didn't have to go get mice or dog food. That lasted for all of a month. He wanted a cat so we got Gizmo. But he's super lazy and chill unlike Thunder who's crazy and hyper 24/7. Hope your knee gets better.... mine has popped when I climb stairs since I was 12. I get it from my dad.

Cottage: We just had our first frost advisory in the Yorktown area a few nights ago. I have yet to see any here. Hopefully it doesn't kill my pretty plant on our balcony. I'm scared to bring it inside since the cats may try to eat it. oOo Wawa coffee... Have you tried the brown sugar and cinnamon yet? It smells like a Cinnabon. We have a Wawa right down the street from our apartment. I used to go there every morning. I stopped cause I always get into trouble buying things I shouldn't when I go in there.

Jessie: What part of Richmond were you from? I lived in the West End of Henrico until we moved out past Mechanicsville. I love some Ukrop's birthday cake. Its just soooooo yummy. When I have my bridal shower I'm going to get them to make me a big one. The closest one to my house is about 30 minutes away.

Wow I just got a nasty spat of chest pains after I started to write to everyone. Was it from the multivitamin and cold pills? Who knows. I'll eat snack and see if they go away.

It's overcast here today and they are saying rain from 2 pm into tomorrow morning. I'm working late again today and skipping my formal lunch hour to make up for my hookie yesterday. Rent is due next week so I can't afford to miss the little bit of money I get.

My FitDay is all messed up for yesterday and I have yet to fix it. I didn't get a chance to exercise yesterday because both pairs of my exercising pants were in the dirty clothes. So I'm going on 9 straight days of nothing. Bad Bad Michelle.

I was so shocked when I stepped on the scale this morning... it was at 189! I was like WOW I lost 8 pounds in one night! Something didn't sound right about that considering I had 3 tablespoons of ice cream and a weird diet yesterday. I stepped off and stepped back on and it was at 197. bummer. Still haven't budged. Do you think maybe its because it's my second time doing Phase 1 I'm not losing as quickly? That's my theory but you can let me know what you think.

I have no clue what we have planned for the weekend. Hopefully it involves a looooooong nap and maybe going to see The Prestige and Saw 3.

Have a good day and behave!

I've just got time for a quick hello. I was woken up by my pager about 5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. We had a major outage and then I couldn't get logged into work since our cable was down. When I called the cable company they said it had been down for 2.5 hours and they had no estimate on when it would be fixed! Oh, well, I had to stay on the conference call while eating breakfast and getting Brian ready for school and then switch to my cell phone for the drive in to the office. The application is back up now but I'm glad it's a load balancer issue and I don't have to explain an almost 4 hour outage!

Last night's dinner was great! Creole Sausage and Beans in the crockpot. Turkey sausage, Rotel tomatoes, kidney beans and served over rice (or eaten as a soup). I think that recipe is going to come back and I'll probably type it in as soon as I get some time. Anything quick and easy in the crockpot is a good recipe for me.

The meeting on summer camp was good last night. We've just about got the patch designed and we came up with the theme "Cubs on the Range" for our western theme. We have so many good ideas. We already have many of our staff lined up which is exciting too. I'm going to officially be camp director and my den leader will officially be program director but we are sharing a lot. She and I think so much alike it is scary and we keep coming up with great ideas. Oh, well, back to work.

I think I've mentioned that I've given up my car and am walking everywhere these days (despite the fact that it's chilly!). I've been trying to get my 12,000 steps in (about 6 miles with my short lil' legs) everyday and it's a 2 mile walk to class and another 2 back, which (obviously) only puts me at 4 miles. Well, I woke up early this morning and hopped on the treadmill and pounded out 2 miles.
Anyways, long story short, I walk to class after showering and having some bfast, and it's rainy and cold and nasty and I get here and ....
Class is CANCELLED!!!
Here are my feelings, expressed in smilies:

I am going to & this

I'm just trying to remind myself that the walk wasn't for nothing. Breathe, Lisa, breathe. So now I'm just resting for an hour and then I have to walk to work (another 2 miles. Yay!)

chellez, we lived near Chester and I went to school at UofR.