Home now, after going to see the foster nephews. They are cuties, and soooo soooo sad! Little Ryan (4 y/o) mentioned something about having a dog, and I said "oh, you have a dog?" and he said "yep, at my daddy's house." It's his dad that they know where he is, and Oren, the 7 month old, they don't know his dad's whereabouts. Just makes me want to cry. In fact, Vanessa (SIL) said that Kevin (bro) nearly broke down the other day because Ryan said his mom was in jail. Kevin said a child should never have to utter those words. How true!

I stopped by the store for a few things on the way home, rotisserie chicken and some lunchmeat, etc. I think I'll try to up the protein for a few days to see if that makes me feel better. My blood sugar has been swinging wildly recently and I'm sure it's due to all the FF stuff. I hate eating FF because the sugar is so much higher. It's like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. All the carbs (potatoes, brown rice, WW pasta) also still have lots of sugar and I just don't think I tolerate it well.

I am making 24 wands for a lady at work. Her niece is getting married and she's having a "princess" bridal shower on Saturday. She ordered these wands and they came unassembled. She is just not crafty at all, so I told her I'd do it. I have to schmear glue all over a stick and a big styrofoam star, shove the stick into the star, glue little stars to the ends of ribbon, glue the ribbons to the stick, and glue rhinestone stars to the big styrofoam star. Doesn't sound like much until you multiply times 24. I just made one to take it to her tomorrow so she can make sure it's what she wants. I'd hate to make all 24 and have her say ewwww, tacky. :lol:

Going to watch the Mavs now. Sandra, my best interpretation of the license plate was WE BE #1 IN BASKETBALL -- WB1BB. Make sense? I needed to change it since everyone was so stumped by its meaning. It was clear to me but then again, I speak shorthand.

Great evening to you all!

frouf, i'm needing to exercise control over my mouth, too. on the other exercise bit, i'm going to bike while watching last comic in a minute. literally! it's 7:59.

melissa, i'm all smiles reading your post. life is good.

kathy, i knew it was something. thanks for splainin it to me. go mavs!!

Gee and I thought it meant : we be one baby? or number 1 web baby or maybe even :welcome back one baby? or welcome back one big booby! .....or......

Okay I'm going to bed now! nitey nite :D

Frouf

Good morning everyone. It is early and I would normally still be asleep but I took Craig to work last night so I have to go pick him up in a few min. I was really wishing I hadn't done it when I had to get up this morning. Oh well, I was being nice to save him some time so he wouldn't be late.
It is really nice this morning....63 outside and not a cloud in the sky. I hope it stays this way for blackberry picking tomorrow.
Oh, Craig got a notice that WW at work is restarting July 11 so looks like we will start going to meetings again then.
I hope you all have a nice day. I must go pick up Craig from work now.

Morning everyone! I hope that you all have wonderful days.
Just had to share that the scale was down one pound this morning. So I'm back to my current challenge starting weight. :) Oh well, it's something, right?!

Paula, glad to hear that WW is starting back at work for you all. I know that will be handy for you.

Kathy, good luck with the protein-loading. :D And I hope that all went well with the game last night. I didn't pay a bit of attention. :o

Vickie, hope that you are recovering this morning. ;)

Sandra, thank you gf! Life is good, sometimes we just have to make ourselves aware of it I guess.

Well I better get to work. I'm excited because I actually took the time to eat my shredded wheat this morning. Oh, and core with DH is coming along. I did really well the first week and I'm lagging this week. Painting on Saturday got me really behind. But we are eating core suppers and it is helping us to eat in and not go out for "treats."

:( Well, we were up around 12 pts and the last 5 minutes, things went south in a hurry. Mavs lost by 2, but we're still 2-1 in the series and I have no doubt at all that we can come back and win it.

Congrats on that pound! If you think it's not much, go look at four sticks of butter and that'll change your tune in a hurry!

I'm about to go to a classified computer for a while so I won't be on much this morning. Have a great day!

Wow, am I exhausted, I just swept my driveway which can fit 4 cars and my 2 walkways this morning, for 2 hours I was out there in this humidity. I filled 2 huge garbage bags full of stuff that falls from the trees, I don't know what it is called. But I surely feel good, I got a great workout. :D


Paula great to hear that WW is starting back at work for you & dh

Kathy hope the Mavs do good for you.

Vickie hope that you had a wonderful time

Sandra I finally got some exercise in Yeah! Yes life is good, I hate when i pms every little thing seems so much worse.

Melissa congrats on the pound loss, way to go!

Good morning girls... I'm a little behind, but hopefully I'll make sense as I go along...

You were talking about ME time: if only we could bottle it up and sell it we would be millionaires!! The funny thing is when I decide to have some ME time, I end up feeling guilty because I just know there's a ton of things I'm supposed to be doing: I'll just have to work on that...

Since we don't have the 94% FF microwave popcorn here, I tried the folded bag recipe (thank you for sharing) and considering it was my first batch, it was almost ok (the truth is I burned them a little bit...): I put the power level at 60% for 3 minutes, so maybe next time I'll try 50% and 2 minutes and see how they turn out...

About those annuals, we have very temperate climate year around, not very hot (thankfully) and our winters are mild, so I try to have annuals that reseed themselves liberally, and they flower all year... there's water shortage though and that gives me some trouble (we collect rain water during rainy season and mostly use that for the gardens).

I just hate earthquakes: when I was about 9, a big earthquake almost destroyed my parents house in Acapulco and ever since I freak at the smallest shake. Concerning hurricanes, last year we were in the Mayan Riviera on vacation and suddenly hurricane Wilma decides to join the party... What an experience... We were staying at one of the big resorts and they had their own shelter, but we were told that we would stay there for 8 hours at the most, and turns out that we stayed for 72!! Let me tell you I don't take electricity and running water for granted after that... There were 1600 guests and the hotel staff was great, but still you couldn't help but feeling trapped... Nature can turn on you any minute and destroy so much....

I really have to go do laundry and clean up the place (no cleaning lady, sniff...), so I'll try to come back later... have a great day..

Maggie

paula, that's good news about ww at work. i'm happy for you.

melissa, congratulations gf. i am so proud of you. i'm not on track eatingwise but will be soon. i do have the exercise down now. i set exercise goal for the 4th cuz i am determined to win a challenge. or should i say meet a challenge. this will be my first. i've not finished any of the others we've had. okay, we're on a roll. let's not hit any bumps.

kathy, we watched the 4th quarter. coach curtis fussed at those mavs for several minutes. for someone who's not into basketball, he really got into that game. guess it's his texas blood pumping.

nikki, been there done that. that old pms is something, isn't it?

maggie, i'm very envious of your flowers. could you post a photo of your gardens?

we're going out for lunch and a movie today. sort of a date. we're going to finally see the da vinci code. it's raining outside. good day for a movie.

gotta go make breakfast. have a good day.

Niki, sounds like you've been working hard. It is rewarding to get everything cleaned up. When we go back to our old neighbourhood, our next door neighbour still complains about the stuff that falls off of the large silver maple onto his property.:)

Maggie, we go to the Iberostar Lindo, and were there after Wilma. We saw the difference and heard the stories about the devastation. They did a wonderful job cleaning it up, but we found a big change in the beach. I do love the area, and look forward to our two weeks in January.

Sandra, hope you like the movie. Did you read the book? I'll await your review, have fun.

Kathy, I'm so glad that the boys are with your db and sil. I don't remember, do they have kids of their own? Would they like to adopt? My sister and bil fostered and then adopted a little boy with downs and only one arm. They read about him and requested to care for him. He is now a joy to them 23 years later. They have four other kids who were also a great help.

Frouf, isn't the sun grand? Gf is coming over and we're going for a walk soon. I need to get the old body moving. My physio gal recommended yoga. I'm going to look into it soon.

Okay, better have a bite to eat now,

Sandra I am having a Lucy moment, I can't find my coffee! :o
I am searching the whole house and I have no idea where I put it :dizzy:

Saundra I am trying, there is so much to do, I figure a few hours each morning will get things done and I will also get a good workout in. Tomorrow I go for my weigh in so hopefully my 2 hr yard work will show on the scale. :D

But more importantly did you find your COFFEE? Good luck at your WI tomorrow!

Where's Vickie? recuperating from the Great Slumber Party of 2006 no doubt?

Melissa - congrats on being down 1 pd - I still am not anywhere near my 'tracker' weight - but you will surely hear about it when I get there. So how are the neighbours?

Sandra - rainy day is excellent movie watching weather - let us know how you liked the da vinci code!

Saundra - enjoy the walk and gorgeous weather we're having. I was planning to walk at lunchtime (brought my runners and walkman) but got caught up in some cruise planning which took up most of the time (then I realized I also had to eat lunch too!).

So there is a 'friend' at work - single young lady (probably a bit younger than myself) - we have in the past few months hit it off at work - she is quite sweet and nice - not married or anything - fairly active (bikes to work, plays in some soccer league). LOVES hearing all my stories and anecdotes - about life in general and my kids and such. Recently we have been 'visiting' offices almost daily.

Anyhow - I of course sometimes talk about my travels and such and she says she loves to travel. She was esp interested in all my cruise stories. So I say if she is looking for a cruise buddy I am always ready to go! I was not sure how seriously she would take me - and while I do like to travel w/dh he is definitely not the travel bug that I am - and also it would be much cheaper for one of us to travel than both of us!

I had sent her a couple of links and info on cruises and it sure feels like she is also getting the bug - came to see me around lunchtime saying she wants to do the Mediterranean!!! Of course I would love to do that too- but it is super expensive and I'm not quite ready for that ....so I steered her towards some more 'reasonably' priced caribbean cruises.

So firstly she didn't realize that 'sharing' a cabin would be involved - I showed her the 'single' price and then she realized her mistake..... for me the benefit would be finding someone to share a cabin with to get the double occupancy rate - no savings or reason to go if you have to pay almost double with the single supplement.

She still seems very interested - and I am a fairly easygoing person - but I need to really investigate this and ensure that we are compatible and would make good travelmates (altho for all intents and purpose we do seem to get along quite nicely). Of course I must tell her that I snore (at least that's what I've been told :) ) - that I don't want to be joined at the hip - like doing my own thing once in a while - being independent or just vegging out if I so choose. As for excursions - I would emphasize that we don't HAVE to go together if she doesn't want to (remember she's the 'active' one) - like if she wants to go 'ziplining' thru the trees or dirt biking I certainly won't be offended if left behind. I am a late to bed girl too (altho I do have my booklight) and don't sleep in too late so need to ensure that works as well?

We are still in 'research' mode - hoping to go in Sept/oct? Ya I know it's hurricane season but that's what makes it so exciting!

Frouf

Hey Chicks! I just got on for the first time since yesterday late morning. We took the Great Niece home at 11:00 and my Niece wanted me to stay for a few minutes while she got a shower. Then Jim and I went for a huge stock up trip to Walmart. I'm trying to get stocked before his surgery so I can just run for little things here and there while he's having therapy. We went out for lunch and just got home. I'm going to go lay down on the couch. My Great Niece is VERY high maintenance and wants my attention 24 hours. It was fun but there is a reason God doesn't give us 5 year olds when we are 50! Not that it's not possible......

Anyway......I sped read and see that you are all pretty well. I'll be back later!

It's been a constructive afternoon. We walked for over half an hour, which isn't bad considering my foot. We've decided to do it at least once a week. After that, I made dinner consisting of salmon salad, tuna salad and a combo of egg/avacado salad. I then made a larged tossed salad, and they are all in the fridge. I'm working tonight and won't get home until after eight, so Bernie will be all set. Gee, I'm a good wife.:D

Frouf, I can hear the excitement in your voice. It sounds like a great idea. I'm already thinking about late January, and I'm sure that we'll have something booked by August. We're actually thinking of Jamaica this year as the Spanish chains have opened places there, and it is one of our very favourite spots.

Vickie, you sound tired. I bet Juliana wore you out, but now you can rest and put your feet up.

Spoke to dil and there is a new daycare opening not too far. Glad to see things are working out for them. Of course, they still have their house to sell!

Sun keeps going in and out, but it is a really nice day, hope it is where you are too.

I'm off to bed chicks! I'm really tired. I made Jim eggs and toast for dinner. I have to be up early tomorrow because I am going to a research center to taste.....mashed potatoes! I'm getting $25 for my 30 minutes of time so I feel like it's worth the points! Anyway...I'll be up and out early. Then LaZBoy is coming between 9-11 to fix our sofa and loveseat. Then more shopping errands. Sigh!

Hope you are all great and now that I'll be back to spend time as soon as I can!

Hey gals. Checking in -- good grief, I sure know about being tired! I'm about to drop!

I worked my 9 hours, went to Home Depot to exchange the pots for the front porch, then started dinner. I made baked chicken with breadcrumbs and parmesan, and steamed mushrooms, onions, yellow squash, zucchini, red peppers and garlic. Then I made 12 of the 24 wands and am now resting. I think I'll go take a bath and will do the others after that. OR ... I might make the other 12 tomorrow night and make her come pick them up on Friday. Either way, it's a good thing I already have a secret security clearance because I don't think I have any fingerprints left. :lol:

It sounds like everybody had a good day though. Saundra, that's good that you're able to walk. I hope to be able to soon, at least before summer is over. I'd like to get a little bit of exercise.

I'll see you all in the morning.

Here are the wands I'm making. There's a whole lot of glitter and glue involved. Judd even found a little piece of glitter on his tomato slice tonight.

http://image.orientaltrading.com/otcimg/48_4395.jpg

Love the princess wands - esp the pink one :) But Kathy - remember to slow down, breathe and take a break once in a while!

Vickie - glad you survived the big slumber party - and guess what ALL kids want your attention 24 hours per day! (then multiply by 3 - ha ha ha ...or even 4 if you count dh!). I would LOVE to do a taste test for mashed potatoes - heck I would pay them! Hope the reclining thingies get fixed!

Saundra - sounds like you had a very lovely walk - good idea but be careful of your foot! As for Jamaica - if you are thinking of the RIU chain - they are lovely. We stayed at the Riu Negril last March and friends of mine stayed at the brand new Riu Ocho Rios this year and loved it (both are nicer than the RIU tropical bay - also in Negril - walking distance from the other RIu).

Now for the VERY BAD NEWS! I am very very very very sad to report that I am on a diuretic now to try and reduce my blood pressure. I am kinda freaked out about this altho I know it is pretty common! Hydrochlorothiazide - 1/2 of a 25 mg pill (they are so tiny and hard to cut in half!), one per day in the am! I did mention my concern to dr regarding arm size and accurate readings - she did agree - she has a larger cuff in her office - my readings are always fairly high there - while the drugstore readings (for those with skinny minny arms) were not that bad - she agreed that this might distort the readings.

Of course she also weighed me! YIKES! and asked about the 'stresses' in my life - I brought her up to date on the unemployed dh, and the 14 yr dark child - and my job issues - and she said well looks like those things aren't gonig to change overnight (like stress in my life till dd turns 18 or so?) so should try some medication - esp after inquiring about my family history - mom had high bp, diabetes and angina and a couple of heart attacks - I guess that was enuf to make her write out a prescription. I go back end of July to see how I'm doing.

Oh ya - I'm supposed to WATCH WHAT I'M EATING - lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, stay away from salt and processed foods! well duh! I told her how for the last month or so I have been on a downward spiral due to the stress - which makes me eat - which makes me gain weight - she agreed it was a vicious cycle - and to try to rest more, eat better. I also mentioned that I started exercising again and she was pleased with that.

Then off to closing ceremony for jewish extra curriculum high school art class dd attends. There was a minor graduation ceremony (like 6 kids) some speeches and dd and her class had their 'art' on display...and in fact dd won an award from her teacher - a gorgeous big fat art book - lots of pics and info! Got to take the artwork home - and yes I have acquired the large pink floral picture for my office!

Then off to the pot luck dinner with my woman's group - ate too much but it was yummy (greek salad, caesar salad, poached salmon, 1/2 bagel, smoked salmon, pasta) - commiserated with my gf who has been taking bp meds for about 6 months now with very excellent results - in fact turns out we are trying to chop up the same tiny pale coral pills! She is also a travel agent so i told her I would email her tomorrow to get some pricing.

Turns out I may be going on two cruises - at least I hope so! Found a good deal on a novemeber cruise - so asked dh if he wanted to go on a birthday cruise - and he is quite interested (altho need to figure out kiddie logistics). I still want to go w/my gf possibly August or sept - so this may be my cruising year! Wouldn't that be just amazing? Of course I am hoping to get into better shape (at least back in onederland) before any cruising happens!

Bedtime!

Frouf

Good morning everyone. It is very early but we are leaving in a few min to go pick blackberries. My parents are going with us so we have to pick them up first. They live about 20 min from us. It will take 2 hours to get to the berry farm so I hope they are plentiful and delicious. Have a good day everyone.

Frouf, don't worry about that pill. The last doctor I worked for was a hypertension and nephrology specialist who also instructed at Yale Univ. medical school (did you know I am a certified medical transcriptionist?) and he would prescribe HCTZ pretty much nonstop. It was a lifesafe (literally) for most people and works very well. Now to work on the stress in your life!

Paula, enjoy the berry picking! We are really enjoying our blueberries and blackberries from last weekend.

Shaun had another morning of exercise at the park today and was really not looking forward to it at all. He went Tuesday and did a lot of running and exercising and is very sore, so it's a little soon to be doing more on sore muscles but maybe he'll make it. He should have been doing this all along and now I think the recruiter is starting to get concerned. Aug. 22 is less than 10 weeks away.

Judd's brother and SIL and their two girls are in town for a week or so, staying at inlaws'. We're going to a Rangers game with them tomorrow night and I'm a little ticked at Judd because he bought $50 tickets but oh well. At least they're very good seats. The bro/SIL are in transition from Virginia Beach to Colorado Springs. He's a career Naval officer and is being relocated.

I suppose I should get started on some work. I have to work tomorrow ... supposed to be an off-day but here I am back into the routine of working weekends again!

I hope everybody's having a good day.

Kathy, you will be walking again, I just know it. You do so much and are so determined. The wands are cute, but you gotta stop looking for extra things to do. Take that time for you!

Frouf, when I went on BP meds, I was relieved. I was kidding myself that there was a problem. I also come from lousy genes, and I figure I've go to do what I've got to do. It helps to motivate me for my weight too. It's one less thing to worry about. Thanks for the Jamaica info. Iberostar is opening there as well. We'll have to see if Ottawa gets direct flights. Wow, two cruises, LUCKY!

Paula, enjoy those berries. Our strawberries are starting soon, and blueberry season is early August. I guess you have a big freezer. I was a fool and gave mine away years ago. Now, I would love to have one.

Vickie, hope you are back to normal. We take Natan to the air show on Saturday and it is suppose to be quite warm. It will be a bit tiring, but fun. On Sunday, we're going to Alexandria Bay New York for the day. I always love going there, it is so quaint. The guys (Bernie and Adam) will have a lobster dinner there, I'm not sure what I will eat.

Okay, better get going to see what needs to be done.

Later,

Good morning girls:)

Kate: the wands look very nice: please tell me they have special powers, like for example they make all the laundry and ironing by magic, and I'll personally go pick one up for myself:D

Frouf: my husband and I love taking cruises as well, we were thinking about making the Baltic next year. What's your favorite line? In the past I've booked with www.mycruise.com with very good results (and a lot cheaper than what the rest of the family paid booking through a mexican agency!!): we are both from a tightly knitted family, and it's the best alternative when the whole family goes on vacation. I'm sure you'll have a great time...

My mother in law uses this little gadget to cut pills in halfs or quarters: they sell it at most pharmacys, quite cheap: would it help dealing with the small pills? As a matter of fact, she also takes medicine for high blood pressure and is doing great, so don't worry, I'm sure it will work out great for you too.:hug:

Sandra: I'll take a couple of pictures from the garden and share them with you (hopefully I'll know how to upload them...)

yesterday I made a mango sorbet: just cut and froze the mangoes and then made a very concentrated "lemonade" with sugar substitute, put the frozen mango pieces in the food processor and added enough lemonade to desired consistency: it was yummy (I love sorbets), and I guess it would work out with a lot of other fruits as well, specially berries...

Also I remembered that my mom used to make this frozen banana dessert when we were kids (she actually had to stop making them as most of my older brothers friends loved them so that all the teaspoons dissapeared, there literally missplaced all of them!!): she would take the ripe bananas (of course as soon as my father realized that he made sure he always bought a considerable extra ammount of bananas to overripe...) and blend them with condensed milk (is there such a thing as ff/sf condensed milk? I'm guessing using ff evaporated milk and sugar substitute might work also) and vanilla, pour the mix in individual tupperware containers (with lids) and freeze them: very easy...

I have to go to like four banks, see you later....

Maggie

Maggie, you have wonderful "fruit" ideas, I look forward to trying them.:)

I agree those cool fruity things sound great for summer! A baltic cruise would be great!...and I am hoping to do a european/med cruise in the next few years! I will try that site you mentioned (I have found very cheap prices on www.7blueseas.com).

Saundra - direct flights from Ottawa? are you kidding? Just cuz we're the CAPITAL OF CANADA what makes you think we would actually have decent air service? (have you been out too much in the lovely ottawa sunshine? :):):)). Speaking of which sounds like we are definitely and finally warming up here.

Dh also takes little ds to the air show and they are really looking forward to it (got little ds one of those little folding chairs w/a 'Cars' character on it so he can use it throughout the day!). I on the other hand will be having a lovely day on my own - first at nail place for a manicure, then hairdresser appt in the pm to get rid of the ugly gray roots!

As for the pill - I think I am still a bit freaked out - now I have a headache which I have had all morning (asked dr what symptoms of high bp were and she said headaches - so go figure!). Will take something for it - will also investigate those pill cutter things (yes I did 'wreck' a few pills as I tried to slice them evenly!).

Now here's the situation - my gf whom I have know for many many years (since childhood days in Montreal) is a travel agent now. We were very close when I first moved to Ottawa (she was already living here) but since my divorce/split from ex we have not been as close (and an ex-best friend of hers moved her as well so she had a 'replacement' I guess?).

Anyhow we are still friends - she belongs to same women's group, we invite each other to kids events (bar/batmitzvahs), go to the same hairdresser and she rides the bus to work every day with my ex!

When I travel, and if possible, I usually get her to 'book' the holidays, cruises, etc - I am pretty sure she gets a commission and for our past 2 cruises she has always sent a bottle of wine to our cabin. Now here is the problem - she is a bit catty and jealous and I am wondering what to do about it? She knows my dh is basically 'unemployed' and works intermittently (her dh was in the same situation a few years ago) and to my face she says nothing, but to my EX on the bus she has several times mentioned how flabbergasted and surprised she is that I am still able to travel!

I find this slightly upsetting - she obviously has no intimate knowledge of my finances and maybe she's right? and I should be saving every penny I have? But frankly I don't live like that? (at least not all the time). I could just as easily find someone else to price and book my cruises or do it over the internet as many others do? I find it hard to understand why she is so bitter? and why she is making any comments to anyone at all let alone my ex!

Would love to hear your opinions on how to treat this? (I had already sent off an email to her asking about specific cruise pricing before finding out about this latest 'gossip' from my ex!).

Frouf

Ha Ha, Sunquest is flying out of Ottawa to Jamaica on Sundays. It definitely makes the Riu a posibility. I don't know if it stops in Toronto first, but at least there is no hotels to worry about in Toronto.

As for your "friend", personally, I wouldn't say anything, but book your trips through someone else. That's just my nature, I LOVE nice, but when you're not, look out!:D Your finances are none of her business!

The direct flight is just cuz it's a charter I guess? We of course flew direct to Jamaica when we booked the RIU thru Sunquest! ...and most of the winter charters will fly direct. I am looking at flights for cruises now and of course absolutely nothing direct to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale from Ottawa (there are a few from Montreal - but again it means getting there and in some cases overnighting to catch an early morning flight!).

Maggie - I tried the site you recommended - but it just opens up a page listing several OTHER sites? Which one do you use?

Had lunch - still have bad headache so I shall take something now!

Frouf

i'm behind reading and am exhausted for some reason right now so i won't catch up till later. i hope you're all having a good day. i'm off to lie on the couch. i'm not sick or hurting. i'm just tired.

well, i'm catching up on reading now. still don't have a lot of energy, though. curtis is tired, too. don't know what's up with us.

saundra, i did read the book. i liked both the book and the movie. i don't know what a good critic i'd be. it did hold my interest. i'm a big tom hanks/ron howard fan and like most everything they do.

maggie, did you find your coffee? the lady fixing my hair lost hers today just a few minutes after she poured it. must be something going around. we had 2 hummingbirds today!!!!!!

frouf, again i'll have to do my cruising through your writings. hmmmmmmmmmm. you love to travel. you're an outstanding writer. did you ever think of writing for travel magazines? i met a lady on a plan to hawaii one time who did that. she was on her way to cruise the isles and write about the venture.

vickie, i'll bet you're more tired than i am. lol you're right. we're too old for young ones' energy. they have it all and we have almost none.

kathy, the wands are precious. i didn't realize it was almost time for shaun to leave. i'll bet he's getting excited.

paula, you're picking up parents and berries today. sounds like fun.

i just learned a future relative is also a weight watcher. life is good.

I'm home a little early; absolutely exhausted and sweating my brains out. Lovely thought, huh? :lol:

I went to Home Depot after work and got two more big pots, hibiscuseseses, and dirt. I just planted them and put them by the front door, and the pots and flowers that were previously going there are now slated for the back patio. We might be having everyone over on Sunday for Father's Day, and everyone would include BIL/SIL and their two girls, MIL/FIL, and SIL's parents. We have to scurry about and get things presentable if it's going to happen, so I think I'll go ahead and schedule carpet cleaning for Saturday. We will either grill here, or just meet here and then go to dinner, and come back here. We're halfway between Fort Worth (where inlaws are) and SIL's parents, who are in Dallas. Like anyone cares, huh? Another :lol: ...

Soooo anyway, tonight is game 4 of Mavs. Sandra, I hope you're rested up and able to watch by then! Judd and Jon will be going to the bar (although Judd is only a tea-drinker these days) to watch it. Tomorrow night is the Rangers game, Saturday I'll clean and plan all day, and then Sunday is Sunday. Shaun doesn't have a dad ... well, technically he does, but he's in federal prison in (I think) West Virginia. They move him around the country from time to time so I'm not quite sure where he is right now. Anyway, Father's Day is a little tough for him. I always said it would be better for his dad to be deceased than be a bank robber and in prison! I really feel bad for him (Shaun, not his dad) for it. Hopefully he'll join in our reindeer games on Sunday and not stay sequestered upstairs alone.

Frouf, your travels sound quite exciting and I hope you are able to do both cruises! After we get back from Colorado, we'll be planning our vacation to either Mexico or something local, I suppose depending on how much money we have left. It's my turn to take a "girl" trip, so I should volunteer myself to go on cruise with you but I could only do it out of Galveston. Also, you probably don't like my crappy choices for cabins! Last cruise we went on, I spent probably a total of 4 hours in the cabin over the four days (okay, maybe not but I swear it wasn't much!) -- I stayed in casino until they closed, wandered around, slept a little, got up early to watch the sun, and just generally chilled out most of the time. I napped on the deck while either laying by the pool or in the sun. Anyway, it's something fun to think about but I'm sure it would take a miracle to pull off. Oh and I have to save money also for my trip to Chicago when Shaun graduates from basic training, at which time Vickie and Jim and I and (hopefully) Judd will be hitting Vickie's favorite Core restaurants!

Okay, I have written a book but good news is that I think I'm starting to cool off. Now I have to go make the pink wands. Oh and I took the purple ones to work today and the girl is thrilled with them. She gave me $20 and a nice card! I told her NOOOO but she has insisted, and then slipped this into my tote bag while I wasn't looking. I found it on my way home from work.

Be back in a while!

Sandra, glad you liked the movie. I agree, the combo of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, you can't go wrong. We watched American Grafitti the other night and still enjoy it.

Kathy, I actually do like hearing about where you are. It's cool to pin point your area. Texas is so big, and I'm familiar with the large cities. We should have a big map of North America and put pin points for all of us.

Okay, time to see what's for dinner,

Hi everyone, went for my weigh in this morning and lost .4 was hoping for more but I will take it any way. TOM soon so hopefully next week more will come off. My problem is I need to exercise more. So total loss for 4 weeks is 10lbs, I even got my 5lb star today. I am going to get dd to bed and I will catch up on posts.

kathy, i'm intrested in all the logistics. i love reading about you and your family. and i love reading about the metroplex. makes me feel at home. i am amazed at your planting hibiscuses. i never could get them to live down there. did i tell you i planted honeysuckle here? i gave curtis a couple for father's day 2 years ago. it was odd buying plants. down in tx you could always get "starts" from friends--and they'd grow "wild." i paid almost $25 for one and $15 for the other up here, but they are well worth the $$. they are gorgeous. the hummers and bumblebees love them, too. but back to hibiscuses--i love them they remind me of islands. i'll bet your place looks very festive.

nikki, congratulations. i'm going to wi tomorrow to start over. i am very proud of you.

Hi friends. I'm SO sorry that I've not been around. I haven't been home very long, tonight was my night at the food bank. We just ate and now I really need to do some stuff around the house. I hope that I can catch up tomorrow, I shouldn't be very busy at work. I love ya'll though! ;)

we love you, too, melissa. just come here when you can. (but know we miss you when you're away.)

okay, it's time for new pages. on to core board 46.