Cat and Mandy, you sure are having some intense storms! Stay safe! I, myself, enjoy a good storm, as long as no one gets hurt. Cat, how are things going with the bank? I hope you get everything all straightened out, and that they will discharge the overdraft fees. It doesn't seem right that they would blame you for the mishap.

Ruth, good luck staying OP today. I'm vowing to only think positive thoughts and to focus on seeing myself at my goal, finally. Maybe I need one of those vision boards, too. ;) I hope your soak in the tub eases away your aches and pains from yesterday's gardening. You sure did put in some long hours at it!

Nessa, :rofl::lol3: What can I say? Thanks for making me laugh!

Cyndi, I hope the weather is nice for your vacation! I don't have any time off until July, but then I have 2 whole weeks to myself! I'm not sure how I'm going to spend it, though. I'll be going up to Bar Harbor in August when Monica and I take Caitlyn up to her college, and I'm looking forward to that. I adore Maine, and especially the coast.

MariSue, I haven't "met" you yet, but :welcome2: to the Beach! I hope you are recuperating just fine from your operation.

:thanks: girls, for the words of encouragement. I'm determined to work my way through this and get my act together again. I'm feeling better already, after doing an extra-hard workout at Curves. I have my meals all planned out for the day, and am armed with plenty of :dust: for the day ahead. :)

What a chatty bunch this morning.

Cottage glad your feeling better after your workout - ecxercise is a great stress reliever

Cat I would much rather have my storms via video - you be safe out there

Enjoy your hot bath Ruth

Nessa :rofl: your too funny

Cyndi that crazy scale :club:

Marisue Welcome!

Mandy I am on the look out for you a good looking hard working man

Hiya Schmoodle

Getting closer to vacation and boy I am ready to go. Busy day today with work and getting ready for the trip.

Hope everyone has a great and productive on plan day.

Good Morning Ladies!

Cottage I have every faith in the world you will make this a clean eating day, followed by another and another and so forth!

Cat Be safe out there in the storms! I love storms too as long as they are durning the day and I can see them. Night time is another story.

Ruth Hope you have a much more relaxing day!

Nessa I can always count on you for a good laugh! Love ya lady!

Cyndi Enjoy your vacation, hope the weather is good.

MariSue Hope your check up goes well!

Mandy I'm not going to look for a man for you because I always make the wrong choice, but I will pull credit on him when you find him if you want to make sure he isn't a dud! :lol:

Schmoodle I luv top chef, be strong and avoid the temptation to become a couch potato today!

Gonna have a safe trip!

Me I've had a much more productive week thank goodness! Looks like one of our "sales" guys is pulling something on us. He didnt show yesterday and I called to find out if I missed him telling me he was going to be out and he said he was out making calls, about that time I heard one of his kids in the background! Today he is not here either! Why the heck is good help so hard to find?? Seems nobody wants to actually work these days!

Beyond that life is about the same! Hope everyone has a great day!

Doesn't look too bad at this second, but it was pouring minutes ago. Wow! Surprised the heck outta me...

Hey, Cottage! :hug: I hear you on those times when willpower just disappears. It's frustrating! I must say that doing the "Advantages Response Card" in the Beck Diet book helped me a lot in clarifying the reasons why I want to do this. I wonder if it might help you get your healthy mojo back? :?: In the meantime, here's some :dust: Funny that you mention vision boards--I'm having a get together at my house on Saturday with a bunch of girl friends so we can make vision boards! It'll be fun. :) Maybe I mentioned that yesterday? :chin:

Wow, Cat, scary stuff! I hate lightening that hits too close to home...otherwise, I love storms. :love:

Ruth, you are amazing...you're on the family council at Harry's home? Girl, is there anything you DON'T do? ;) I love the lilacs and lillies of the valley too. :cloud9: Our lillies and lilacs (in our garden) bloom anywhere from a week to several weeks later than everyone else's in our area, so we get kind of an "extended season," which is awesome! I have a little vase of the LIVs right above my sink and they smell heavenly.

Wow, Nessa, that's one way to wake up, I guess! :yikes: Was DH sleeping through it or does he work nights or something? I can't imagine getting up that early, but it must be awesome to leave work before 4! Enjoy the gym!

Cyndi, enjoy your vacation... I looooooove Maine! :love: Don't feel bad about the issues with your weight, hon. You've lost SO much and are SO close to goal! :cheer2:

:lol: MariSue about your DH. I'm sorry you had to go through a hysterectomy! :hug: Hope you heal up quckily for your sake! DH needs to learn how to be self -sufficient, if you get my drift. ;)

Scary, Mandy! :yikes: I'm so glad you didn't get drenched, though! I've heard that if lightening is close enough, you can smell it. Wow! Oh, hon, as much as I know it's hurting right now about things with your friend, this guy has BAGGAGE with a capital B, and the rule I always tell my sisters (who are one year older than you) is that you can let a guy in as long as his baggage is checked (my dear friend Caty's rule...) or matches yours (the Rent rule). Anyone with a carry-on is not allowed on this here flight! :nono: A guy that takes the time to come to you and tell you he likes you as more than a friend and then, two days later, just because his ex wife hurt him, changes his mind? Wow...that's a scary situation you just luckily avoided. Take a sigh of relief and keep your eyes pealed for the right one...he's definitely out there and headed your way! :hug: :love: I have one sister and three incredible friends that are 29 and older and all of them are single, much to my huge surprise. It's hard to find a good guy or girl sometimes...but I do believe that they make it worth your wait. One of my dear friends found the love of her life when she was 43. They are incredibly happy, adopted a gorgeous little girl, and are just such an incredible family. :love:

Darling Schmoo, :coach: GO ON VACATION!!!!!!!!!! I insist, my dear! Being on this side of the U.S., you are almost required to head to Europe at some point...why not now? Or in the fall, when it's gorgeous and cheap!

Me:
It's my last day of work before summer break! :dancer: Yay! I feel so behind in preparing for my party this weekend. DH has softball practice tonight (though with all this rain, it might be canceled...who knows, though, those boys sure do like to play in mud...) so after I go to the gym, I may spend my time cleaning the powder room and picking up in the family room so I feel more prepared. I have to make some food, but most of it has to made the night before or day of. I may try to make the tart crust tonight--at least it's on the list...but if I can't make it until tomorrow night, that'll be okay, too.

Made an awesome salad last night. I used this recipe and added chicken I'd marinated, then grilled. I used spring mix and added several handfuls of "Rainbow Slaw" (a great way to get in your veggies without having to chop anything!). The grapefruit and mango are fantastic foils for each other in sweet and sour. Yumm-mee! :T

Hope everyone has a great day!

Morning from Sunny So Cal! It's supposed to be beautiful today (Sorry Ladies!)
Cottage - Hang in there....The hardest part of changing the way I eat for long periods of time is that I get bored and busy. Challenge yourself to stay busy and to include new things to do. Oh....and a new workout outfit always helped me to stay on track with my workouts.

Cat - That storm is impressive! I hope you can maintain staying dry. Sounds like you're trying to make good choices about snacking, even if you feel a little out of sorts. Keep choosing well.

Ruth - When this baking thing is done, you need to take a break! I know you said you're taking a bath, but you need to be sure to take an extended break now and then so that you regain all of your strength back from being so busy.

Nessa - TOO FUNNY! I like that rule.....I might have to institute it if we ever get cable in the bed room. Hope all is well!

Cyndi - Prepping at work for a vacation can be so hard. You can always plan, but inevitably you have a feeling that something might go wrong. You can only plan, be sure to try to trust your coworkers. And let them know that you trust them!

Marisue - Welcome, I don't know if we've "met" yet. Welcome to the chat. I hope things go well with your dr. soon.

Mandy - I'm sorry to hear that your day's starting out yucky! My mantra, before I married (when I was 30) was that "Boys are stupid". Meaning: In order to find someone I wanted to spend my life with, he had to have matured into a man (not just physically, but spiritually and mentally). When you find that someone, you'll know within a few dates whether or not he's a man. If he's not there yet, you should more on. There's a great guy out there for you. You'll see ;)

Schmoodle - I LOVE Top Chef! It's just about as good as Project Runway! It sounds to me that you love reality tv almost as much as I do. Are you excited about the return of the MOLE? Such a good show last time, I"m really keeping my fingers crossed. And, yes, please take some time off.....enjoy your vacation!

Gonnabe - Vacation's getting closer!!! So excited for you!

Stephanie - Sorry to hear that your sales guy is being a schmuck! I hope that you find someone soon!

Laurie - I hope things calm down before the party so that you can have some time with yourself in order to focus on what you really want to accomplish at the party. Be sure to have fun with it!

Me - Went to visit the baby yesterday....he's so small! He only weighed 5lbs. 13oz. Such a little bug. Too cute. Today I'm back to regular work. Not much to report there; however, this weekend I'm catering an art show and I really need to start prepping. This will be the 5th time I've worked with this gallery, and it's a lot of fun. I cater, and he gives me credit for art. It's a really nice partnership and I've gotten some great pieces in the process. This will be the 3rd time I cater for this one particular artist, his name is Michael Goddard.....you may have seen his work (black back ground, olive w/ arms & legs, cigars, wine w/ grapes that are dancing). The guys very rock and roll. The shows are always fun! So tonight I'm hoping to get the shopping done and cooking tomorrow night. Good times, good time! Have a great Thursday, ladies!
ENJOY!

I just want to say hi! It has been a crazy week -- a fussy newborn and verrrry willful almost three year old -- 'nuf said!

I'll try to write more later!

Good morning Chickies,

Quick flyby for me, this is supposed to be last day of rain for awhile, maybe I can get my basement dry,,sheesh...they said last night that this is the wettest May on record for us. I believe it :)

Time is flying by almost time for the younguns to be out of school for the summer, so very busy with them and all of the end of the year activities.

Have a good day everyone

crap. I'm so tired this morning! The storm kept DS up ALL night. I got maybe an hour of sleep. He was terrified, poor baby. Our windows were shaking from all the wind and the thunder was insane! The hail started about 2, and pounded on his bedroom window. I thought it was going to break it. We looked around this morning, and besides a few broken branches and some major water there isn't any damage. Our power just came on about a half hour ago, good thing! It was getting really warm in here.

Ah, the perils of living in Louisiana. I can't wait for hurricane season, it's supposed to be a doozy.

I have no idea what I'm doing today. I'm so off schedule right now. I want to go back to bed in awhile, but need to wait until DS goes down for his nap (which should be soon). Hopefully he'll sleep for a long time..although it's supposed to start storming again soon. :(

I did make it to school today. Left home an hour early in case I hit a flood and had to take another route. Hoping Mandy is ok, because she has a kind of long drive. two tornadoes touched down during the first class on a highway near here and then parents started coming in to get kids. could not turn computers on till around 10 and it is supposed to start storming again soon. not fun...not fun at all. luckily each class only has about 1/3 kids that are normally there. Thousands are without electricty and I'm hoping I'm not one of them when I get home.

The power is out again here. Thankfully I have about 12 hours in battery power on my laptop. I called the electric company, and they said it could be hours before the power is back on. :( It hailed again about an hour ago. DH isn't going to work today to keep his car protected. Thankfully we have room for both of them in the garage. It's crazy how dark it is, almost like early early morning before the sun even rises. DS is sleeping in our bed. I think he's still scared because it's thundering and lightening so badly. He was so tired though, poor baby.

We have about 6 inches of water on our street, and our neighbor said it was worse on the main road. Who knows if we'll be able to go anywhere. There is only one outlet to our neighborhood, and anything more than about 8 inches and cars start to drown. I guess it's a good thing DH didn't go to work today. I hope it drains by tomorrow, as he has finals to give.

We're all going stir crazy. I want to go outside! DS slipped out when DH was taking the garbage out this morning and was so upset that he couldn't play. If it stops raining, I might put his rain boots and slicker on and let him jump in some puddles. :)

wow, LA girls, you guys stay safe. Sounds like you are getting hit hard!
gonna, if we don't see you before you go, have a great vaca!
Heather and laurie, I am terrible about vacations. Telecommuting means I can just adjust my hours and I don't need to take days off for doctors appts and things. Also, it seems like a lot of work to go on vacation - everything you have to do to get ready to be away, and then everything you have to do to get caught up when you come back. And DH travels for a living, and I travel fairly often for my job... I know terrible attitude. I do take a week at the beach every summer, and usually a week off around the holidays, but I've been with my company a long time, and I get about 5+weeks/year, so it just piles up. I have been to Europe twice, DH is from the south of France so we have visited his family but we are way overdue for another visit, so maybe sometime in the next year or so... The younger kids have never been.
Stephanie, I have not turned the TV on once yet! It's on all day though, so I'll watch when I start fixing dinner. :)

DH and I just got back from a nice brisk lunchtime walk. It is alternating between sun and cloudy here, and it's getting pretty humid. Glad we got our walk in early because it's coming! Weather.com says we'll start getting it this evening, with rain on and off through the weekend, boo!:( We wanted to go hiking this weekend.

Thanks you guys for all the vacation well wishes - I won't be able to post again until we get back next Monday (memorial day) and I plan on sharing some pics with you all.

Hope each and every one of yall has a safe, happy and healthy day every day that I am gone :hug:

DH sleeps through it... i can leave work in an hour
but i'm going to work till 3:30 then go to the gym then run home and get my flipflops for my mani pedi!

GONNA, have a great vacation! Gee, it seems like everybody is going on vacation all the sudden.

Cat, Mandy, Zeffryn, I hope those storms are out of your area soon without causing you all any damage. I saw some coverage of it on the Weather Channel, wow! We're supposed to start getting some of it overnight, and it's supposed to rain all weekend. Nothing like you girls are getting, though!

Thank you, everybody, for all the willpower dust you sent this way. It really helped me stay on track, and I even resisted getting an ice cream with the girls this afternoon! I had a bottle of water instead, and was happy with it. :D

Well, the storms are over...at least for now. DS was happy to get outside and play in the puddles. :) He needs a bath, bad! He's covered in mud from the puddles and fudgesicle.