I feel a little guilty because most of you are working but I'm off to The Kingdom after an early lunch. Looking forward to a weekend of camping, kayaking (weather permitting), hiking and bird watching with a campfire and some wine thrown in for good measure. I am ignoring the updated weather forecast but bringing a good book and my reading light just in case. We can always go moose watching too if it's too soggy for a fire. Two whole days with no internet and no cell service is a big deal for us

Hope your Friday breezes by and the weekend is here before you know it!

Good morning Ruth! I finished putting my cool weather clothes away a couple of days before the cool spell. Hope your day of house chores includes a little Ruth time

Well, that week whooshed by - timewise, not weightwise. I sure would love a whoosh but it didn't happen.

Right now we have a very misty morning - Jazz's fur was beaded with water drops when he came in. It will burn off soon and be a good day for a change. I have a hectic weekend ahead (again!) so am making today my Sunday - not a day of rest but a day of house and garden stuff. I may even get the last of the winter clothing stashed away!

My freezer stash is getting a bit low so I will put on a pot of CTF (Clean the Fridge) soup. Single servings of soup are so handy on those chilly and busy days.

What's happening on your little slice of this lovely planet?

Cyndi, I have today off and I'm not feeling the least bit guilty about it. Have a great time in The Kingdom, whatever it is. I'm imagining it's a campground or wilderness park? I hope the weather cooperates!

Ruth, I hope you have a nice relaxing day to help gear up for your weekend!

I have to get to the bank this morning, then hitting a few nurseries on a scavenger hunt for hollyhocks. Mine didn't come up this year.
I'll be blanching and freezing more Swiss chard this afternoon, and eating the first of my zucchini. I had enough rhubarb ready yesterday to make myself a SBD-friendly crisp, much to my delight!

Debbie, I'd love to have your recipe for rhubarb upside-down cake, pretty please?

The Kingdom is amazing. We try to get up there once a year. It's so far out that it doesn't get crowded even though the hiking, swimming, camping, biking, etc is amazing. We are always able to get a lean-to last minute, nice for a quick weekend because there's less packing and planning Oh, and moose watching is very popular, usually right along the Canadian border. In the old days you could accidentally end up in Canada if you took a wrong turn. If the weather is dicey Bread and Puppet theater has an incredible museum nearby and we found a great little breakfast place to start the day.

Cottage - Good luck with the hollyhocks. I had some but they got a fungus and now I need to find a whole new spot to plant more. I added chopped swiss chard to my crack slaw last night. Yum. Happy weekend

Good morning chicks!

Cyndi- I thoroughly enjoyed my internet free weekend last weekend, hope you do too. Sounds like a fabulous weekend!

Ruth - I like the CTF soup concept. Could often make some good chicken veggie soups that way with the tidbits in there. Hope you get at least a wee bit of Me time this weekend!

Cottage - LOL...I dug up my rhubarb (it was HUGE) to plant the veggie garden. Apparently, it is difficult to get rid of!! I had to take my large tomato plant out, try to get some of the root out, and replant my tomato. In a way, I think it was funny.

Me- Had a long, hard day at work, starting out with a friend hitting her own dog with a car. . Then, when just about ready to get a nice glass of wine at 9 pm, my DD looks at me and says, "mommy, don't forget the cupcakes for tomorrow!!" Sigh. (we won't go to I ran out of powdered sugar, and went and got more this morning already to finish...) I am proud that despite being in a foul mood, I didn't have one of those cookies, but I stared at them a while!! Good thing you can't get calories by looking....

DD graduates from preschool today. A curious concept, eh? Then off to work, with a couple of packed days .

Have a great Friday!

Happy camping Cyndi!
I'm heading to Massachusetts again, and hoping to get some kayaking in, too - but I'll be sleeping in a bed.

Ruth, I also need to clean out my fridge, but I'm afraid of what I'll find in the back corners! lol OK, so that's a slight exagerration but I've really been letting things slide around here lately. I plan to give the kitchen a good cleaning this evening, after we finally get our baby veggie plants off the porch and into the ground.

Hey Linda, I sure would love your recipe for the rhubarb crisp! I've been making rhubarb pies with splenda at my mom's, and stewing rhubarb at home (Ferg's favorite) for weeks now but limiting myself to just the a few bites of the filling. My mom mentioned last night that she's got enough rhubarb for another pie this weekend.

Today is "field day" at school. I'm embarrassed to admit this but I'm kind of bummed out about it this morning. When I decided to eat right and get healthy in October I didn't want to choose a particular weight as my goal because I was (am) focusing on being healthy rather than focusing on the scale. I chose "wear shorts on field day" as my goal. A silly goal I know, but I've been looking forward to it for nearly 9 months now and bought a very nice pair of modest/flattering shorts with field day in mind. Anyway, we're doing a rodeo theme this year and a bunch of us are wearing matching outfits because we're slated to be sheriffs. So, I'm wearing denim capri pants this year. I was kind of disappointed when we met on Monday to decide what to wear, but didn't expect to feel so let down about it today. It's that time of the month and in addition to that I guess I'm just an emotional wreck these days. I wouldn't admit the whole shorts thing to any of my real life friends or family because it sounds so darn self-centered but I'm trusting you gals won't roll your eyes at me.

Ah well, I'll change into my shorts when I get home from school, so I can get a 'shorts on field day' pic for my blog, even if I don't wear the shorts to the actual event.

Have a great Friday friends!

ETA: Good morning Twynn! Sorry about the cupcake fiasco last night - although I still really miss having kids at home that last minute baking/scrounging is one thing I DON'T miss at all! Enjoy the graduation. Around here preschool graduations are almost as big a deal as the high school graduations. I get the kids the following year and my end of the year Awards Ceremony is always a big let down.

Cyndi, I'm very envious! The Kingdom looks like a piece of Heaven!

Heidi, Do you have a pair of denim shorts, perhaps? I have a pair on right now. I hope your Field Day turns out be a ton of fun! Audrey and Maggie have their Field Day on Monday, and I'm looking forward to it.
Here's my recipe for rhubarb crisp. Sorry, but I don't really measure anything, I just eyeball it. I mix about 3 - 4 cups of cut-up rhubarb with about 1/2 cup of granular Splenda and put it in a buttered baking dish. I mix together about 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 3/4 cup of spelt flour, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, a dash of cinnamon, and enough Smart Balance margarine to bind it and make it crumble nicely, and dump it over the rhubarb, then I bake it at 400* for about an hour. Put a piece of parchment or foil under your baking dish, as it will bubble over. Remember, my measurements for everything are approximate.

Morning,Twynn! I didn't see your post at first. That's sad about your friend's dog, it must have been a really rough day for you. I think I would have been tempted to run out and buy premade cupcakes after all that. I hope the graduation ceremony is fun!

Morning everyone!! Sound like everyone has a fun day/weekend ahead. Cyndi, I'd love to see moose in person (plural mice? ) Twynn, don't you love those last minute "Mom, don't forget.." projects? My Mama was talking about that not too long ago, when my sister or I would need poster board at 8 at night for the next day. I told her, "Well, I got paid back in tripicate" for the poster board runs.

Heidi, have fun at field day!
Ruth, Have a productive "Sunday"
Cottage, hollyhocks are so pretty, wish I could grow them here, but they would melt. With heat index it was 115 yesterday. Scorcher and humidity.

I have no idea what we are doing today. Terry is still sleeping. He cut the grass yesterday evening in all that heat, so I'm just going to let him sleep as long as he wants. We were thinking about going to the movies, but nothing I really want to see.

Good morning.

Cyndi - The Kingdom and your weekend sound fabulous. And I am sooo not an outdoorsy type.

Ruth - Clever soup. I like having some stuff ready to go in my freezer too.

Linda - My son and I were watching a cooking show recently and he asked about the taste of rhubarb. I stumbled since I have only ever eaten in in pie with strawberries. (Yes, the teen likes cooking competitions on TV. Go figure.)

Twynn - Oh how sad! Great job resisting.

Heidi - I get it. Hugs. But I sooo thought you were going a different direction and were disappointed because the didn't fit. You need to find somewhere else to show them off, I think.

Cat - I have not been to a movie in ages and don't even know what is playing. Other than the Dragon Tatoo with subtitles, since I know DH wants to see that one. Enjoy your day.

I leave for the spa on Sunday (although we don't get there until Monday) and may start to pack (lay things out) in earnest today. I have already discovered that I am very low on decent looking exercise tops and have shopped all over town without finding any that fit me well. Tiny boobs leave super funny looking bags in the tops. The happy news is I have plenty of bottoms that now fit again. Off to check the weather forecast for my vacay.

Have a great day all.

Good morning,

Cindy- sounds like you are going to have a fun weekend

Heidi- I also thought your story was going in a different direction, I say show it off at a different place as well.

I hate to admit this but I have never tired rhubarb, I need to try it I am thinking this summer.

Today is wfh and then freedom for the weekend. Not sure what we are doing tonight. DH is running in the Komen race tomorrow morning and Sunday we are going to Six flags for concerts and then DD2 has play practice.

Have a great day everyone

Good Morning

I way slept in and am missing water aerobics but just found I can hook up with the dog walkers-very soon!

Have a great day everyone!

Linda, I'll pm you about the cake!

Good morning, everyone. I barely had time to water the garden before getting to work. I'm so sick of running late, but I've been soooooo tired lately and neither of us has been sleeping well. Ah well. Maybe we'll catch up this weekend.

I'm hoping for an easy day at work and it should be, because boss-man and two other employees are out. I just have some minor paperwork to catch up on and then I can focus on getting my files ready for my hearings next week. I don't want to look at a single case until Monday, so I'm just going to skip it for the day.

Things are going pretty well other than that. My Beck books should be here today and I'm going to spend some of the weekend prepping some SB-friendly fare for the freezer. I'd like dinners to be taken care of so that I have more time for working out and keeping the house up.

Well, I guess I'd better get something done today. I hope everyone has a nice day.

*wave* Trying to catch up at work!

I hope my friday goes faster too. I'm dead tired from this medication my doctor put me on - spironolactone- it not only makes you queasy but it also makes you not sleep well. FUN! lol. It should go away though- the queasy feelings are almost gone (yay).

I guess on the upside it's helping me go down- I weighed in at 191.5 today- almost out of the 190s!

Hi all,
The bad part about summer break is that Fridays just aren't special anymore--I know, boohoo for me. We slept super late again, Eli in bed with us since he is having a horrid time with teething and mommy wants some sleep. DH is mowing the lawn in this GA heat. I'm trying to figure out what to make for friends who are coming to dinner tomorrow night. We're grilling out steak and chicken, grilled veggies too, should I add a carb--corn or potatoes-- since these folks aren't beachers? Hubby says no

Sounds like you ladies are amazing gardeners--so jealous. I have a gardenia that is turning yellow--again.

Have fun out and about this weekend!
L