Good Morning,

We're into the dog days of summer, another hot, sticky day is looming ahead of us here. I could never figure out why they call them "dog days"?

I'm supposed to have the morning off, and I plan to get the bedrooms freshened up for Caitlyn and Carley. My DD is bringing them out this afternoon, and they'll be staying with us through Monday. I should run by the grocery store, too. I'd like to bring the girls over here to wait for them, but Audrey has a piano lesson at 5, and afterwards Cindy said to drop the girls off with her at polo, so it may not be convenient, since both the piano teacher and polo are about 45 minutes in the opposite direction of my house. Oh well, I'll figure out something.

How's your day shaping up?

Morning, dog days came from dogs laying around and not doing anything. It is to hot for people to want to do anything so they lay around like a dog. Not to bad here; has been in the 80's. Think I am going to steam clean screens today. Yes, I have an exciting life

Has anyone seen my coffee??

Cottage, you're going to have so much fun with Caitlyn and Carley. Got any special activities planned?

Shy Moment, good luck with those screens!

Me, well, went to that class yesterday with the 2 lbs. pilates balls. It was 75 minutes, but kept a pretty relaxing pace. There are pieces of me that are sore this morning, but nothing unbearable. We worked our upper bodies quite a bit, which is what I needed. There was one great ab move...standing with feet hip distance apart, hold a ball in each hand and trace one big horizontal figure-8 with them. It really hits those obliques!

I also got a call yesterday from that ad firm I interviewed with in July. They want me to come back in for a second interview today. Please send more positive thoughts my way!

Everyone have a lovely day!

oooo Betty...crossing apendages for you!!..an ad firm..that's great!!
Cottage, how about just getting a taxi license? busy lady!
Shy, that's a good job to get behind you! I need to replace a few screens on my house..for some reason, the previous owners used some kind of weird "striped" "ribbed" screen on some windows.



It is hot as hades here already. Stormed again last night and the steam is coming off the bricks on my patio already. Smothering, humid heat!!

I got up at 3 and got a lot of work done so I can hopefully play in the garden for a few minutes if I don't keel over out there.

I had a real break through on some genealogy research yesterday. Won't bore you with the details, but I was on cloud nine yesterday after I found a particular document from 1859 in Tampico Mexico. I have a mystery I've been working on for many, many years and this document sheds some light on the mystery. My cousin and I have gone nuts trying to get a lead on one particular ancestor and his son and this opens up a new door for us. It seems they may have gone from New Orleans to Tampico for a few years before the Civil War and perhaps afterwards too..still a mystery, but every puzzle piece helps.

Going to defrost some of my shrimp stash to grill today. yum.

Yawnnnn... I hope DH will make me a cup of coffee. I'm too tired to do it myself. I'm waiting for my neighbor to pick me up for our walk. Hot and icky here too. Last night wasn't too bad, but sleeping tonight will not be easy. Another day of work and housechores. I promised DS he could have a sleepover tonight. The kids haven't had many friends over since we had my niece here as company, so now they are eager to make up for lost time.
cottage - have a fun time with all the girls.
Betty, I'm sending some luck your way.
femme, I'm still jealous of your shrimp stash. I love all seafood, but shrimp and blue crabs are my favorites. I did some genealogy a few years ago. It was fun and time consuming! I did trace my family name back to pre-Rev war times.
shy, my life is just about as exciting as yours, but I think you may be the better housekeeper. I've never steam cleaned my screens..

Have a good one chicks! The weekend is almost here.

Oh, Cat. What fun! You'll have to keep us updated on what you find out! Tom has traced his lineage on his dad's side back to William the Conqueror. Crazy!

Betty, congrats on the second interview. I hope it turns out to be more of what you were looking for. I remember you saying you didn't think that all of your talents would be used, but maybe they're looking to expand their horizons? Good luck!

Rennie, have fun with your screens! Sounds like quite a day, indeed!

Linda, I hope your day with the girls is loads of fun!

Tom got home from work today and said that he had his yearly physical this afternoon. The doc said his cholesterol is spot-on perfect, which is excellent news since his dad has a history of heart issues. His blood pressure was a bit high but he said he was nervous. I was so excited about him getting great reports, because I'm the one who feeds him, so I must be doing an OK job!

I have a weird rash that developed tonight on my hips and across my belly and another patch in the center of my back. I have no clue what it's from - same soap, same laundry detergent, no new foods. It's not itchy so that's good at least. I had an awful bout with hives when Connor was about Avery's age - had an allergic reaction to amoxycillan so bad that my face swelled up and I actually fainted from the itchiness. I don't just faint, so that was a big deal (three all natural childbirths with no screaming or anything, and I faint from itchiness!). I'm hoping this doesn't get that bad. Especially because we'll be cooped up on a 17 hour plane ride in four days!

Any ideas or remedies???

Kara

I thought "dog days" had something to do with the time of year when you would see mad dogs, so I looked it up. Here's the def from wikipedia:

The term "Dog Days" was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun.

Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" (from Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813).

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Hey Schmoodle. Simul-posted with ya! Hope you get your coffee in and have a good walk!

Kara

Oh, that's sad. My dog is brown (chocolate lab).

Kara

Morning Ladies:
I had an epiphany last night! I'm eating lately to fill empty space. so one new habit I'm enacting today is I have to write my emotions down before I eat so I know if I'm hungry or just bleh If I'm bleh water or tea!

So Tired! I went to bed after 1 and got up at 6:15 we had to take DH's mom to the train station so I GOT to be at work at 7:15 and nary a coffee in sight! GF couldn't make it last night so no almond milk! IF i get desperate I'll do coffee with protien powder

Cottage you have a busy day planned out!
Shy about as exciting as mine
Betty I heard pilates balls were ereally good ab tools Good vibes on the job!!
Femm that's so exciting!!
SChmoodle I love wikipedia!
Kara good Job on Tom's checkup!! I'm going to check out that exercise website!

Tonight I'm on my own so I'm going to make a big Pot of veggie packed turkey and vegan crumble chili and take part of it and make my version of taco bake
Do you guys put any crazy veggies in your chili? I use Okra ( A favorite tho a bit slimey) and a frozen "fiesta" veggie pack from Stop and Shop
I'm also going to do what I DId with my meatloaf and grind up some squash to SNeak in more veggies!
Muhahahahahahahahah! ( organ music swells in the background)
OK back to work!
Kier

I have just the perfect brown dog to sacrifice, if she doesn't stop doing her business on Cindy's diningroom rug! She's done it two days in a row this week, right after we let her in from being outside!
Thanks, Shy and Schmoodle for the explanation of Dog Days, now I've learned something new!

Cat, that's exciting news on your genealogy search! My DD is very into genealogy, too, and has traced Jake's side of the family back to William the Conqueror, too! I wonder if we're related, Kara?

Kara, I hope your mystery rash disappears as quickly as it appeared! Just a thought - have you been wearing anything with latex in it?

The bedrooms are cleaned, groceries bought, and I've been to Curves. Now I can just putter around for a little while. Cat has me thinking about shrimp now, maybe I'll make some Shrimp Scampi for supper tonight.

KO I keep meaning to try that squash-grinding thing with my DH. He refuses to eat it, but I think if he didn't SEE me sneaking it in there he wouldn't know. I've heard cornbread with squash in it is very good. Oh wait, that would definitely not be SBD!!

I got a whole night's sleep last night (well, 7 hours, but more than lately) because we put Chester in the crate and he slept all night. Hallelujah! I feel so much better than I have the rest of this week. I have my 3 things I HAVE to get done before Brazil and I know I can finish one today, if not two! Yay! Of course that doesn't count my gigantic freelance project I have at home that I really need to finish before Tuesday...no joy like knowing I am going to work all weekend! But, we really need the money and I can always use the experience for my resume.

Betty, Good luck on your job interview! Kara, I have no idea what to do with rashes except Aveeno baths!

My grandpa has done all of our ancestry work. My maiden name is Schumann and he did a lot of work just to find out we are not related to the composer (which is probably good, since he was mentally ill). My paternal ancestors came over in the 1840s from a place in Germany near the Swiss border. I'd love to go there someday! The funny and kind of embarassing story is my great-great-whatever grandfather came over with his second wife and her daughter. The wife died while they were in transit so he married his stepdaughter. ACK!!!

There was some talk a while back that my maternal ancestors came over on the Mayflower, but I never really heard much about it and don't know what that was backed by.

P.S. Shrimp is some of my favorite food. I developed a severe reaction to clams while I was in college so I am SO happy I can still eat shrimp and crab. We had a shrimp boil the other night (with potatoes and corn--don't tell the SBD police). Yummmmy! And I got 1.2 lbs of shrimp for the price of 1 lb. (counter guy must have thought I was cute! LOL) and it was only $5/lb which isn't bad for the easy-peel stuff. Although I am sure your stash, femme, came at a much cheaper price!!

Good morning to you, Jessie! I'm famous for sneaking veggies into different recipes. Oh, if Jake only knew what he was actually eating sometimes!

Betty, Sorry I missed you earlier. Those weight balls sound like something I'd really enjoy doing. But 75 minutes? I'm going to look into them, though.

I haven't been *wearing* anything with latex, but since I've been showing signs of fertility and we're not looking to have any more children at the moment... Never had a problem before. Do these kind of allergies come wham-boom like that? Or take nearly 24 hours to show up (I guess it was nearer to 20 hours from "exposure" to when I first saw the rash)?

Linda, how funny would it be if we *were* related. Being from the same area and all, I guess it's not so far off.

Kier, I loved your organ music and evil laugh! Brought a smile to my face.

Jessie, when we get to Germany you've got free room and Beach-friendly board if you want to come investigate your German ancestors!

Kara

Just a quickie bc I Should be working
Jessie I Sneak Squash, and mushrooms into as many things as I can it makes any and all meat Much much moister without having to use breadcrumbs and the like! Next time I want to try the dried mushrooms
Garbanzo's are also good to sneek in for moistness and a boost of fiber!
THo I have been craving corn bread! but not now!!
GOALS GOALS
bbiab
Kier