Good morning - good early morning. Dumb brain doesn't know enough to stay shut off when I do my 2 a.m. potty trip! After an hour back in bed making mental lists, I just got up. I went out behind the barn and watched the Perseid meteor showers for a while. Mother Nature sure can put on a show!

Big day ahead with sandwich making at Claire's this morning, flowers to do for the Church and the Pypers dropping off Bailey and Casey early afternoon. I also am taking dinner down to the Pypers at the cottage. They don't get the keys until 4 and Margo really appreciates not having to plan dinner. I have roast pork, oven potatoes, spinach salad and yellow and green beans planned with a pie from the freezer for dessert. (It sounds like food porn but I will eat carefully, skipping the potatoes and pie.)

I must explain the Hyper Pypers. Margo and Glen are like a son and daughter to me and their kids (17 and 20) are like grandkids. We met ten years ago when they bought one of my puppies and have been very close ever since. They are very high energy and everyone talks at once which is why they call themselves the Hyper Pypers.

So ... what can I do now to ease the day? Another coffee sounds good and I may have it on the deck enjoying the meteor shower. Come and join me.

Good Morning

Thanks for getting us started, Ruth....wish I could drop by and help making sandwiches. I love that kind of thing! I'm just stopping by briefly as I sit out in the kitchen waiting for coffee. Then I'll head back to our room...it's a designated quiet zone here. It's our last full day here. I bought a paella pan and all the ingredients so that's our interesting dinner tonight.

Have a great day everyone!

Oh, Poo! I was up at 3 to check on the peaches in the dehydrator on the sunporch, and never even thought of looking at the sky! Darn! At least I'm glad you got to enjoy it, Ruth. You should have a fun week ahead, with the Pypers in town.

Deb, how are you enjoying Santa Fe? I've never been out to the southwestern part of the states, and I'd love to see it one day.

I was busy all afternoon yesterday, freezing and dehydrating our loot from the market. I just have to load the dehydrator with zucchini this morning, and then I'll be done with that. Dustin dropped off a load of good topsoil he had leftover from a job, so we're going to spread it in the back yard and then do some reseeding. Rain is coming for the next few days, so it will get the new grass off to a good start. The kids will be coming over for swimming and are bringing supper, and I have to remember to get Amber's birthday present wrapped!

Good morning
I've had quite a busy week and been MIA. I had an excellent week OP and am taking that through the weekend. I will post my weight on Monday.
I am really enjoying my new job and look forward to work each day. I work with some wonderful women and they're a pleasure to be around.
Ruth-Our brains just don't know when to quit. That bathroom visit in the middle of the night gets me too sometimes. The meteor showet beats a rerun on TV any day!! Happy sandwich making!
Lexxiss-Paella sounds wonderful. I've never had the authentic version of it, but I'm an equal opportunity eater, so I'd be in heaven eating anything that even resembled it!!
Have a wonderful weekend ladies

Good morning, Cottage I guess we were posting around the same time. Your day sounds full but fun. Enjoy all that fresh produce. You really can tell the difference between locally grown veggies and the supermarket casulties.

Good morning!

Okay... confession time. I did not eat at all well yesterday. After we went out to lunch it was all downhill. Threw off my typical healthy snacking. And the bread and cereal sitting around for the road-trip called to me often and loudly and I gave in. I don't usually keep either in the house (despite them being OP) for a very good reason! So this morning I bagged up individual portions of cereal for the trip and threw out the rest! I suspect when I get back I will have to go grainless or PH1 for a bit. Oh, traveling. Sigh.

My teen made no inroads in packing yesterday. I am trying not to think about it; trying to let him take care of himself. I'm such a control freak and helicopter mom! Sigh.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Good morning We are enjoying a leisurely start to our day today. The cats decided to sit and stare at the bed instead of the usual more active weekend wake-up. It was a nice change.

Ruth - Glad someone saw the meteor showers. We often camp this weekend just so we can enjoy them without any street lights. Late strawberries sound wonderful. I may need to head to the organic farm that grows those.

Debbie - Sounds like a wonderful trip What does a paella pan look like? Time to head over to google

Cottage - I'm going to the fruit orchard this morning in search of peaches. We have about one week here and I missed them last year. I'm running peppers in the dehydrator and blueberries still going into the freezer. Sounds like you have a busy day ahead. Might be time for a glass of wine tonight

Chris - So glad the new job is going well.

It's another day of food processing and chores with mowing tossed in for "fun". I found a recipe for overnight pickles I'm going to try. I'm also thinking about making a batch of salsa. Believe it or not I've never made my own! Dinner is going to be stuffed peppers. It's hard to resist them when they are so fragrant, cheap and plentiful

We have a second opinion appt. in Boston in early September. Sounds like they will also recommend the open chest variation of the surgery so we will need to do some planning. For now we are just hoping to turn the Friday appt. into a 4 day weekend at the coast. No point wasting a perfectly good drive I'm still figuring my own end out. If anyone has tips on supporting someone with chronic illness while staying "sane" and wants to share please PM me. This is a whole new world even though I watched my Mom deal with the same stuff.

Today is a bike ride day! I'm scheduling it in-between making pickles and cooking dinner. I really am one of those people who needs to schedule "free" time or I don't get to the fun things.

Happy Saturday!

ETA - Karen. I have the same issue with cereal. I can have it around for awhile then suddenly I'll dive into the box. Here's to a better day today

Good morning, Chris! I really enjoy reading your posts. Have a great weekend!

Karen, Good morning to you, too! Since we're confessing, notice that I didn't post my menu for yesterday. Breakfast was OP, but, ummm, my lunch was a piece of peach pie with ice cream. I'm back on track today, though, and vow to resist even a smidgeon of Amber's ice cream cake.

ETA - Cyndi! Sounds like a good plan for your trip next weekend, and I hope Julie gets encouraging news about the surgery. Wine tonight sounds good.

Good morning all ladies!

Ruth - The Hyper Pypers do sound like an interesting bunch, and glad you enjoy each other so much!

Lexiss - Enjoy your last full day, sounds delish.

Chris - don't think I've "met" you, hello! Glad you had a such a great OP week, and that you're enjoy your new job.

Karen - I think I will be the same way when my kids are old (in part, we're forced to control everything now, aren't we?), but I've got while. Now, as long as I don't blink my eyes, they should stay little.

Cyndi - Ohhhh, the only bad thing about homemade salsa is you'll never want to eat jarred stuff again. Delish!

Cottage - thanks for the tip on Green Dragon, that was THOROUGHLY entertaining! I held my DD close, there were SO many people there. We did get DS a new wallet for all that money he doesn't have yet, but it was only 5 bucks, and the vendor was a hoot!

I'm sitting in a hotel room, waiting for the rest of the gang to wake up. We went to Green Dragon last night, and then the kids went swimming. I intended to, but it was too crowded and loud...so I went running on the treadmill instead.

I think we're going to the Celtic Oyster festival today. Oysters and beer (neither I enjoy), my DH will be happy. Not sure what else after that... (oh the outlet mall across the street!)

Hey Debbie and all. I fit into a size 22 now. I was a size 26-28 but I can wear a size 22. My first major goal is to get to 299lbs, wish me luck.

Congratulations, Okie! I know you'll be seeing 299lbs any day now!

Hi all!

Packing packing and more packing on the docket this weekend. Feeling very lethargic though right now and even though I need to get moving to hit the store for dinner and some OP snacks, I don't want to move. The cable has been out all day and yet, here I still sit

Happy Saturday!

It's a good thing we don't have sound in here! Bailey and Casey are here and Casey has taught my two to howl. Bailey always could howl. Disney makes a pretty good attempt but Jazz just sort of squeaks. I should record it and sell it as New Age music. Whales do it. Why not a doggie quartet? It's going to be a loooonnnnng weeek!

Good Morning

We depart New Mexico this morning. My challenge today is to find some solitude in the car to prepare for my yoga class tomorrow at 8...but first getting the car repacked. This has been a really sane food vacation for me and I'm really happy about that. We had a great time but I'm looking forward to my old routine...especially missing Bing. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Safe travels, Karen...I think you're leaving tomorrow...

Safe travels this morning, Debbie! It looks like you and I are the only ones up so far, this morning.

It started raining yesterday, and it's pouring right now. We need it badly, so I won't complain, but it's a shame it's raining on Amber's birthday. She wanted to invite a few friends over for swimming and to help her celebrate her 11th birthday, especially since this is their last day of summer vacation. She goes to a charter school, and their 1st day is tomorrow. We'll still have a small family celebration, and the kids can all go downstairs in the playroom and have fun with the Wii, instead.

I've temporarily run out of things to freeze and dehydrate, so I guess I'll just have to curl up with my book while I'm getting the laundry done this morning, then tidy up the house before the gang starts arriving. Right now, though, it's more coffee, the Sunday papers, and 3FC.