Good morning, ladies. Been a sad week already with one of my really close friends losing his dad unexpectedly yesterday morning. I woke up to a text from him that simply said "My dad passed away this morning." I thought I had dreamt it at first. Unfortunately, I didn't. I'm really worried about him...he tends to keep things inside a lot. His dad is the one person that means more than anybody to him, so I know he has to be gutted. He just tells me not to worry about him and thanks me for checking up on him.

Today makes 7 more weeks before I get to see Jaime again. I can't wait! I can't remember if I told you guys that he's going to be going to Georgia with me to meet family and friends. He's excited and says he's not even a little nervous about meeting everybody, LOL Not much gets under his skin...even when I overthink things and have mini-meltdowns, he just calls me beautiful and tells me that he would hold me if I was there. *sigh*

Okay, I'm going to sound like a total weirdo, but I dyed my hair a new color the other day and I am SO in love with it! I wanted to go full on firetruck red, but knew the Chief wouldn't be too happy, so I went for a little more subtle. Well, umm, it's not so subtle, LOL You be the judge...I'm attaching 2 pictures (one of them is w/ bedhead, LOL). You can see, too, just how long my hair has gotten. Longest it's been in over 30 years!

Alright, the week is just starting (even though it's MY Friday). What's on the agenda, ladies? Whatever it is, I'm betting it starts with COFFEE! 6 more days until Pumpkin Spice is back at Starbucks!

I love it! Natasha, you are so pretty! It's always good to have fun with things like that when you can. I have my nose pierced (it's very subtle and most people don't even notice it until they've known me for some time) but it's something I had always wanted to do, and the day I did it was one of the happiest of my life! I know that might sound weird, but it's true.

Speaking of coffee, I woke to an unpleasant surprise this morning: no milk. Grrrr....I can deal with black coffee, but it's not my fave. Once again I was not motivated to get up early to exercise or clean. I'm considering doing (trying) the 30 day shred - I've been reading up on it and it sounds remarkably effective. Anyone have any experience doing it? It's free on You Tube.

Today is work, and then home. I'm hoping to finish up my house cleaning today since tomorrow I have to be up really early to take my son to camp (they have a day trip to a water park so have to be at site early) and then it's a late pick up so I won't have time to do much tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great day...

Good morning, Natasha, and Beach Babes to follow. N., I like the hair colour! I was a redhead at one stage in my long life - been everything except black or green but there's still time.

It looks like somebody spilled a huge pail of milk on the world this morning but I think it's just fog. It was relatively warm yesterday and went down to 40º overnight which always means fog around here. Sure glad I don't have to drive anywhere this morning although I'd love to be going to YOW to catch a plane to Italy. Dream on, Ruthie!

It's my day to supervise at the Mill. I am planning to use one of the guys to do some lifting and organizing. We have four different patterns of dishes for the kitchen and are going to store some of them away, keeping the largest and nicest set for use. Have to be careful about this since they were donated and folks get knotted knickers a lot around here. (The summer staff are gone on the 31st and I want to take advantage of the muscle power before then.)

I have way too much kale in the garden and am at a loss what to do with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. My basil and tomato crops were a complete failure and I've even pulled the plants. What a terrible year for my gardens although I only had to water twice!

Time to get my butt in gear and crank up the day. Hope your Tuesday is terrific and the Temptations are manageable!

ETA: Hi Mmckellen! I must confess my house is messy right now. Donna has not been able to come to clean for me and I have been on the run too much. I did lug the vacuum upstairs on the weekend but that's as far as I got.

Oh my goodness, thank you, Mmckellen! You're so sweet! Aww, you're making me miss my eyebrow piercing now! I have my nipples done, but only Jaime gets to see those, LOL I want to get an industrial (which I've heard really hurts), but am dreading the healing process. You're definitely making me want to bite the bullet and get it done, though! Sadly, I have no input on the 30 Day Shred.

Ruth - Thanks! The very first time I tried to go red ("auburn") I ended up jet black. It's the ONLY time in my life I've ever had black hair and, with this pale Irish skin, it's not a look I'll be trying again! I want pink hair something fierce, but that's definitely a no-go at the police department, LOL Hmmmm, I've made kale chips before and they're pretty decent. Never tried a kale smoothie, but I'd bet that would use up lots of kale! You can always ship some to me! LOL

Natasha - I LOVE the hair! It looks great on you. I don't want to even ask what an industrial piercing is.... (ouch, and nipples? Ouch...)

Ruth - I think you're torturing poor MMCK by saying a huge pail of milk that's actually fog. I have a bazillion bugs of some sort in my garden, and they apparently don't like maters. Thing is, my maters don't seem to know how to turn red. They've killed all my squash and cukes.

MMCK - let me know how it goes with the shred. This new job is bad for exercise....I'm just too tired by the end of the week getting up early to work out. I should start doing something after dinner, but that's family time. *sigh* PS - I can do coffee without milk if I'm desperate, but that's it!

I have red beans and rice all prepped and going into the crock pot (Kalyn's recipe is awesome!), and it smells fantastic. Work should be slightly crazy this AM, and hopefully not bad this afternoon. Our manager quit (good) and someone helping out will be here all day to teach others. Corporate can be a great support!

Have a great day!

I love your hair, Natasha, and it looks great on you! Pink would look lovely, too.

Good morning to Ruth and I wish I could pass you some milk for your coffee, Matilda. I keep a stash of Almond Breeze in my pantry for such occasions. I really like my coffee with a splash of almond milk in it.

It's a gorgeously cool morning here with no fog in sight. (Or rain!) We have flute and piano lessons this morning, and as soon as we get home, Cindy and the girls are leaving for the shore for a few days, and I'll have a light schedule for the rest of the week.

Hmmmm, kale. I suppose you could freeze it for soups, Ruth.

Good morning, Tammy!

Good morning,

Natasha it looks great, it's the same color that my DS GF has now. I think only a few can pull it off.

Ruth we have fog as well here

Tywnn I am with you ouch lol

Matilda I have done it and it is effective but its hard

Okay I am off to my training hope everyone has a good day today.

Morning, chicks!! Lots of chatter in here already!

Natasha, isn't it great when your hair comes out the way you wanted?!? I can't count the number of times I have done something to it and regretted it. But the piercings...ouch...to each his own.

MMCK, I have resorted to using evaporated milk when we are out of creamer. I only need a dash but can't quite drink my coffee black.

Tammy, hope work goes smoothly.

Yesterday was productive with chores but today I think we will do something fun like take a hike. This is really the last week of my summer vacation; I have to go to school next week for meetings and to get prepared in general.

Have a great day, chicks! Anyone need a refill?

Good morning!

Nice to catch up on all the news even on the morning when all I can do is say hello.

Natasha, I love your hair! It's gotten so long I almost didn't recognize you.

Gotta run! Have a great day everyone!

Good morning

chilly, chilly here this morning

Natasha. Lovely hair. I had to look up industrial piercing. The things I learn here

Ruth. Can't help you with the kale. For some reason I don't like it

Twynn. Red beans and rice would really hit the spot.

Matilda. Have a nice day

Linda. Here's to an easy day

Pearlrose. Our kids here only start on the 3rd. Hope your dd has a good year

loads of tomatoes here but all green and a squirrel got into my basil. Have a nice day everyone
take care
Sophie

Ruth - you can freeze the kale. You probably wouldn't want it in a salad after it's frozen, but you can use it is soups and stews. The best and easiest way for you to do this now would probably be to freeze the whole leaves and chop later as needed. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer and once they're frozen, stack them in a ziplock bag. No reason to waste it!

Wow...everyone's having a very productive day!

Natasha - Pumpkin spice...mmmm. Only problem is we don't have a starbucks within 50 miles of here.

Love your hair - I did mine that color once - looks better on you. Beware the boys love it - lol!

MckMellen - I'm thankful that I've only ever liked my coffee black. Hope the Shred works for you. Right now I'm too lazy for something as energetic as that!

Ruth - Sorry to hear about your garden. We can't have a garden here...too much clay. But we're thinking about putting in a greenhouse, so hopefully I'll have a problem one of these days with too much kale!

Twynne - I wish I could come to your house and eat, but alas I'm on the 2nd week of Phase I!

cottage - can you send some of that lovely weather to Wisconsin? We've got overcast, ready to spill some water on you any minute clouds roaming about! Where'd you go mister sun??

Beth - Have fun on your hike!

Hi Matilda, Pearlose, Sophie and Lex - have a great day everyone!

Good morning.

Ruth - Make any soup that calls for spinach and freeze for cold weather meals.

Tammy - I'll need to check out that recipe. DH would like it.

I'm going crazy with genealogy again. I actually took a break but decided to give in to DH and work a bit on his family. Whoa - I got sucked in. They go back many generations in the US so it is much easier to find information. Overload.

Today we sent off a big check for the next installment of our Galapagos cruise payment. Now I have to get in touch with the travel insurance company to increase our coverage. I put our costs in a spreadsheet and am cringing a bit now that I see it all added up. Somehow it wasn't so bad in bits an pieces.

I'm going to drag myself away from the computer and get on the elliptical for a little while. This will be my second try at the suggestion of my physical therapist. So far, so good. My hip still hurts doing lots of things but seems to be better during the cardio. I'll take it!!

Enjoy your day.

Wow, just realized I haven;t been here in days. DD's baby shower was last weekend and we went to NY to help Mom set-up and clean-up. It's been all work catch-up since. I'll be here tomorrow morning!

Natasha - love, love, love the hair! I've done every red variation imaginable (and some I would not have imagined over the years. It's my one girly thing. I'm actually thinking about getting brave and letting the gray come in now. We will see how long that lasts (usually a couple of months and I can't stand it!)

Ruth - I dry greens and throw them in soups and stews. I remember seeing a kale pesto recipe at one point but never tried it.