to everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Kim, doing work on PBS documentaries is great! I'm a graphic designer/copywriter Monday-Friday, doing mainly flat print work. My part-time video work stretches my brain in a whole new way. I'm working on some pieces now for a doc about the life experiences of centenarians. It really makes me want to take care of myself so I can live to 100!

I forgot about your PCOS meds. I hope the tea works for you. If I hear of any other non-alcohol remedies, I'll pass them on!

ThinByJune, congrats on the two pound loss!

Phxsunflower, hang in there! Are you getting enough protein? Things like nuts, eggs and cheese always kick hunger for me!

Cottage, hope you have a great day too!

Schmoodle, battled the snow to get to the grocery store for the ingredients for your broccoli cheese soup. After all the rave reviews, I can't wait to get a pot going!

The derby was so much fun! Brian took fourth in speed in our den and also got an award for best boy made car. He didn't do well in the pack finals but as the cubmaster pointed out, the slowest car in the finals is fast enough to beat the fastest car in most of the neighboring packs. He didn't care. I did ribboning for every race except the ones for our den so I was busy all day. I enjoy it. I did definitely get into the donuts and pizza so it is back on plan tonight.

I got home and got the mail to find the stuff from the post office indicating Robert has forwarded his mail. That's no big surprise although it will cause a problem with things like the mortgage that are in both names or in his. I think the mortgage is the only thing in his name that is not autopay. I guess I'll have to call the mortgage company next week. I'm also worried that a lot of the stuff I need for taxes will get forwarded. This kind of thing is such a pain. I AM upset with him in that he forwarded Brian's mail. I tried to call the postoffice but they are closed so I will have to call when they open and put a stop to it. Brian isn't moving and Robert doesn't need Brian's copies of Boy's Life, National Geographic Kids and Highlights. I don't know what he was thinking of.

Brrrrrrrrr! We're basking in 21* temps right now. I wonder how many calories I can burn off in a hour by shivering?

We're babysitting baby Tyler all afternoon, that will be fun. He's such an easy going little guy. Then everyone will be here for a supper of turkey london broil and the works. Amber will be bringing her girl scout cookie order form too, it's that time again. Thank goodness they don't tempt me, but Jake loves them.

How's everyone spending the day today?

A glorious clear sunrise is happening but it's 3ºF at the moment. I will be wearing my long purple wool coat to Church. It's from the 1980's and has a fur trimmed hood. My grand daughter calls it my "princess coat". It's royal purple and she loves it. It sure is warmer than some of the synthetic coats in my closet.

After Church and a Harry visit, I plan to settle in with my tea and quilting like a proper old lady. Tomorrow will be very hectic so I'm resting up!

And what's happening at your place today?

Good Sunday Morning to all! Yesterday ended up being a shopping day. DH was due for an upgrade on his cell phone and that took an hour in itself! Then sidewalk sales at the mall, but he wasn't thrilled to look at stuff so i just ended up with a purse for $8!

So today means cleaning and rearranging the living room.

Betty the puppy is a great pyrenese/heeler mix. He is going to be a horse. In fact when I was getting groceries today we decided we better get the 44lb bag of dog food vs. the usual 20 cause he is eating us out of house and home. He's a good boy and getting better about the barking and whining.
Our other dog is finally warming up to him, it has taken a month but they now attempt to play together.

Hope everyone has a peaceful sunday!

Hi Ladies:
DH has a respiratory thing I'm getting his "cold" and am battling it with all my asthma and allergy meds to the tune of $150 friday night. I'm holding off oh the antibiotic unless I get a fever. It was a lot of fun battling the supermarket yesterday wacked out of my mind on all my druggage (tongue firmly placed in cheek)
I just wanted to give a big to Ruth! You're in my prayers honey for a speedy recovery!
ok off to forage for sustenance!
Kierie

Morning all

It's chilly here but double digits so I'm not about to complain. Sundays often end up being all about the cooking and the cleaning. Must be that Italian in me I love having leftovers for the week!

The scale finally moved. I think I have to complain about it more often Turns out those of you who warn us not to eat too little are right. I know, I know... I've been eating around 1000 calories a day but I think that regular exercise is finally kicking my metabolism up and I need to eat a little more. When I first started my metabolism was really, really slow from too much inactivity for too long. I'm also experimenting with adding a little more mono unsaturated fats into my diet and cutting back on the dairy fat. I'm monitoring it closely but enjoying the experiment. This morning I put tapenade on my omelet instead of cheese. Yum.

Ruth - your coat sounds wonderful! I'm not surprised your grandaughter loves it.

Cat - My partner is a real photography geek - lots of bird photography and now light sculptures. I always think I should learn a little more but am more of a point and shoot kind of gal. Hope it's fun!

Barb - Hang in there!

Stephanie - thanks for the tip. I'll have to look for that. Then I'll have to figure out how to program the Christmas toy to record it!

Schmoodle - 4 months sounds like it might be doable. Might as well give it a try.

Mary, Kiko, Neko, GonnaBe, Betty, phxsunflower, Cottage -

Dawn - Congrats on the scale moving! I might have to join you hiding mine. It's better than the things I've been tempted to do to it!

Kim - Have fun crafting! I used to play with the clay and do a lot of beading. I still have the beads and figure I'll get back into it one of these days. Do you have pictures of any of your creations? I'd love to see them.

A couple of back tracks from the week. Someone asked about the gift basket and the party Friday. The party was nice. I teared up a couple of times even though I swore I wouldn't And she absolutely loved all the things we put in there.
Someone also asked about the photos I was taking. They're almost always of children in child care. I work for a resource and referral agency and we have a quarterly newsletter we publish. We also do a fair amount of advocacy and PR so have a constant need for pictures of children. It's as much fun as you think it might be taking all those pictures

Okay, off to cook. Have a good day all.

Morning chicks.
1 more sleep until DH leaves. He just brought me my morning coffee. Boy will I miss that!
Yesterday was busy. I got the bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and parlor sparkling clean. Then some friends stopped by and visited for a while (how's that for timing, it usually never works that way for me!). They brought me a big tinsel tree for my porch for next year and some sf syrup they found at a discount store. They knew I'd been looking for the tree and saw it while they were out shopping. Then I made up a bunch of nibbles for dinner and we ordered the Simpson's movie and had our family movie night. I also got all my menus made for next week. It'll be a huge cooking change once DH is gone, because he eats enough for 3 people, so I've got to really scale back. I have a hard time cooking small amounts.

Today, I focus on cleaning the bedrooms and finish hauling the rest of the Christmas up to the attic. I also hope to get up to Old Navy and the Gap this afternoon, and do the groceries. I've got to help the kids with Science Projects, but they're off school Mon - Weds., so we've still got some time.

I re-thought the weight goal. Since he'll be gone for 16 weeks, I'd better stick closer to 1 lb/wk. so I'll go for 20 lbs

Betty - ? Was it your birthday? If so, late happy birthday to you! How did you like the soup? I'm excited about your house! Ours is 1919 and I love it. Lots of work, we'll be renovating forever, but so fun. Everybody loves to come and visit us. They say they think they're in a B&B (albeit one under construction).
Dawn, congrats on being normal!
Barb, glad you and Brian had fun at the Derby! Sounds like he did great!
Hi cottage and Ruth! We're in the big chill too. Ruth's plan sounds grand. The surgery is this week, right? I'll be thinking about you.
Feel better Kierie!
Cyndi, have a fun cooking day. I restraining myself today, because DH won't be here to eat it all up!

I think putting the scale up for the next three weeks gave me permission to go a little overboard last night. Oh well, move on as usual. Okay, better go, DH wants to talk about the summer kitchen renovation. By the way, he got my window blind up and door hung yesterday. He should be so motivated all the time! I guess I should let him relax on his last day...

Schmoodle: We're in opposite situations! I'm used to cooking for 2, but have decided to start doubling or tripling every night so that there is plenty in the freezer for nights when I'm at school or doing a lot of homework. I'm sure you're cherishing today with DH. I hope it's more smiles than frowns!

Cyndi: I hope it warms up for you! Congrats on getting that scale to move for you. I'm ready to be off of this plateau, so I'll be working out more this week. I admire your strength in getting rid of dairy fat. I can't live without my skim milk every day!

Kierie: Sorry that you're not feeling well. I hate monthly prescription time. Some months I just feel like throwing it all out! (But then something happens and I get sick, so I end up scrapping the plan). I hope that you both recover quickly!

Stephanie: We're due for phone upgrades soon, but DH probably won't upgrade at all. He's weird about that! I'm glad you got to shop a little - and a purse for $8 sounds like a great deal!

Ruth: My goodness! 3*! I was complaining about 14* this morning! Hope your princess coat keeps you warm. Have a nice visit with Harry!

Cottage: We just went through the girl scout cookie order form ourselves. We've decided to just donate them to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the university. Those kids won't have a problem burning them off! Enjoy your time with Tyler!

Barb: Maybe he's thinking that if you have to go pick up Brian's mail he'll get to see him more? I hope the process is swift for you. I'm glad you and Brian had a good time yesterday!

Betty: That sounds awesome! I wish my part-time work was that stimulating! Have a great Sunday!

Phx: I've had those days, especially when I work out. DH thinks it funny to hear me whine about being so hungry and then eat a bag of lettuce.

Me: Well, I started off decently yesterday, but quickly lost my energy. I did get two loads of laundry done and two rooms cleaned. The kitchen and fridge were cleaned this morning and I've just got the living and bathroom left. Shouldn't take too long. DH is due back around 5, so we'll eat dinner and then I'll work on homework. Not an exciting Sunday, but getting all of it done sure will make the week easier on me.

So, off to finish the cleaning and do some ironing for the week. I caught up on my sleep last night by getting 10 hours which makes a total of 15 for the weekend. That's probably what I usually get over the weekend, so I hope that tonight I'll be back on schedule. Just in case, I only had one cup of coffee this morning - don't need caffeine screwing it up!

I called a friend who called Robert who said he didn't intentionally change Brian's address. I'm not sure how he could have done it by accident though. Anyway, he knows I am going to change it back but it does mean a trip to the post office on Tuesday. I'm already taking a half day vacation to go downtown for the divorce hearing but I have to get it fixed so I'll just have to do it.

I couldn't go pick up the mail from him even if I knew where he was living due to the emergency protective order and if the permanent restraining order gets signed Tuesday then it restricts contact even more, thank goodness! Although I will have to figure out taxes at some point.

Anyway, Brian and I need to go get into our uniforms. There is a antique car show being held at the Fronteirs of Flight museum as a scouting event and we signed up. It should be fun. Talk to you later.

Oh, Barb, what a hassle you're going through! How is Brian doing through all of this? One day this will all be behind you, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Tyler is a good baby, but he can sure keep us on our toes! I finally got him down for a nap, and I feel like a nap myself. The house looks like a tornado has been through it, and he's only 5 months old! He's such a sweetie, though, we really enjoy spoiling him.

Here's a picture of Jake and his best little buddy.

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cottage - Brian seems to be done well. The first week after the assault he wasn't sleeping well but now he seems to be doing great. He had a good time at the Frontiers of Flight Museum and antique car show. I will take him to some counseling eventually to make sure that he isn't just putting on a brave front for me but I'm afraid that if I take him now that the lawyers will have the counselor testify and I don't want Brian pulled into having to take sides even indirectly.