[ellis]

Okay, well it's damned cold up here in the Great White North, anyhow. It's 9 degrees celcius right now. brrrrrrrrrrr.
Almost makes me want to turn on the furnace.
Back shortly... must get some hot coffee...

[little chick]

Morning Ellis, your an early bird this morning. Did you see the sun rise. It is not cold here but it is cloudy I hope it burns off I am taking the girls and their friend camping at my moms trailer this week-end and we are sleeping in the tent so I hope that it clears off nothing worse than sleeping out in the rain.

Jodi- The poor young fellow went running off into this small patch of woods and was about 10 seconds then came running back out yelling that he had found a dead woman. The people that he was with all got out of the van to help. DH wanted to get out and help but I didn't let him, I thought that if she was dead he ended staying in America and I would be going home alone, we did see a red cross helicopter about 20 minutes later so we were thinking maybe they were air lifting her out. I could not find anything in any of the Penn papers on the net when we got home. I was just wondering if you had seen or heard anything. I think we may try to go see another race next year in NH, or maybe back to Penn again. We would like to take the kids with us the next time. Hope you have a great day.

Well I must run for a minute and change the laundry over and wait for the first of the wee ones to show up. Be back soon.

[Mamacita]

A quick good morning, Chickies~~

Today I meet with my writing partner and I've been quite the slacker this past week. So, I quickly dashed off some pages by getting up early this morning. I'm one of those writer who do their best work under pressure. I guess when the day comes, I'll be a wonder when I'm on deadline!

Did really good yesterday. Had some cottage cheese and half a stuffed pepper for my lunch, then had an egg on whole wheat sandwich for supper. Didn't get in as much water as I'd like, though I'll try to do better today.

Ok, must run. You all have a wonderful day on the Beach!

Mamacita

[Ruthxxx]

Yup, it's frassing freezing out there. You can't see your breath but it's darn cold!

Sarah gardened with me yesterday and we hauled out monstrous weeds! The afternoon road runner went well except for a deviation to the Chinese buffet with Morna. I ate lots of veggies and limited myself to one eggroll so the scale was forgiving this morning. I am saving myself for dim sum in Ottawa with Mauvais and Ellis SOON!

Last night I tried the Sesame Chicken from the SBD Cookbook. I used ground flax seed instead of bread crumbs to make it OK for Phase I. Unfortunately it was very dry so we had to have plum sauce with it. Ithink I cut the chicken too small - 2" pieces probably means squares not stir-fry strips. Has anyone else tried the recipe?

Today I mix up a huge batch of my special dogfood to freeze. Hersh will probably be gone next week and will be on store-bought kibble when away but I want a good stash of the stuff in my freezer to see The Girls through their pregnancies. When they are at Morna's for the five weeks the pups are nursing, I'll be doing Doggie Meals On Wheels!

Have a great TGIF!

[clovey]

hello all
I am still alive, but all has been up in the air here. My ill cat is still ill and has a collapsed lung. EVery day we say 'shall we stop' but now she seems to be getting better. It is so hard to see her so ill. She had an oxygen tent and everything. The vets bills are huge and I was unconcerned as I thought I had insurance. Guess what? I did not renew the policy 18 months ago. (I thought I had, but they say I did not. Investigations need to be made, but it seems they are right and I have been screamingly negligent). So I now owe the vet £1300 to yesterday (that is around $2500 usd plus) and it is going up by £150 per day. Oh, and I have to cancel my holiday planned for three weeks time as she needs nursing (£3500 worth....the insurance for that says it covers vetenary emergency 'where the animal develops a life threatening condition within seven days of planned departure date'....ie not covered).

Hmm. Grrrrr. Now, I love the cat. Madge is her name. And I am not going to make care decisions based on the money and luckily I have some money in the bank because we inherited some recently and were going to buy that cottage. So thank heavens this has come at a time in my life when the money is there, and we can make decisions independently of that. How awful to have to put a cat to sleep because of not being able to pay the vet bills (especially when you cocked up the insurance.........). And as for the holiday, well, I would rather Madge got better. A million times. I love her very much and she deserves total love and care given how much love she has given me.

She might not make it actually. She is still very ill and not eating. She is being fed intravenously. The vet says that unless she starts eating and drinking on her own soon he will be advising us to call time. I have taken all her fave food in for her....tuna, liver (yuk), poppadoms (she is eccentric), prawns. So far she has just sniffed. But here is hoping.

So that is what is going on in my life. Am I freaked out by the disruption and expense? oh yes. Am I willing to do anything, any cost to make her comfortable, peaceful and healthy and happy? Completely yes.

I dont know how you people have children.

[clovey]

Ruth, try soaking the chicken in ff milk before cooking it, that usually keeps it moist. Around 6 hours is good.

[Ruthxxx]

Oh Clovey! I am so sorry about Madge! The Girls and I will be saying doggie incantations and prayers for her. They love cats, by the way.

[justjodi]

hello chickies,
it is freezing here also!!! feels like a crisp fall day nothing at all like an august day should!!
ellis- hello there!!! hope everything is going well with you!!

ruth- you are so good to those poochies, can't wait till the puppies come will we all be dog aunts then??

little chick- oh my goodness no i did not hear a thing about a woman in the woods how terrible. we had the local news on until we left and there was no mention at all. we also missed our kiddos while we were there and will be taking them along the next time. have a nice weekend away. i'm off to our camper for the weekend also.

morning mama- good job yesterday!! keep up the good work. water is my downfall also i really got to be in the mood to drink as much as i should.

clovey- you poor dear, i hope your kitty gets feeling better soon. you are a very good mommy to her. pets are just like kids you want to do everything you can to help them.sending you big hugs for you and madge.

well we are off to the camper this weekend to get back to nature so to speak, just a few more weekends before the kids go back to school so we have to take advantage of them. i have been spending all my spare time searching the web for info on my dd's condition and it is all conflicting (just like my dr said) dh and i have decided it is probabally best to wait the 6 weeks for the next round of bloodwork and go from there as long as nothing else pops up with her in the meantime.
hello to everyone else that i missed hope you all have a great weekend!!!

[weezle]

Morning all.

Pretty comfortable here....not too hot, not too cool. Hopefully it doesn't get sweltering by the end of the day.

Clovey- So sorry to hear about your kitty. I know what it's like to watch a pet go down the road your kitty is going. Our Schatzie (yet another weiner dog) went mostly blind, deaf, arthritic, etc and we all just pretended everything was fine....carried her around, just pretended everything was normal. That is, until she wouldn't eat anymore. It's really hard, so I'll definitely say some prayers that your kitty comes around and heals.

Everyone else, gotta run! I have to leave for work in 10 min and am not ANYWHERE near ready....stupid sleeping in. Talk to you girls later!

[ellis]

Little Chick, have fun camping! I hope the weather is good!

Mamacita, I'm with you re: working best under pressure.

Clovey, I'm so sorry about Madge. Sending you hugs and healing prayers...

Ruth, I'm so damned cold it's not funny. I'm wearing a long woolen coat, and just had a huge mug of green tea. I may take a hot bath.

Jodi, I hope things soon get worked out with your daughter's health. Hugs and prayers for you both...
And have fun this weekend!

Hi Weezle! How's your DH doing?

DH and I are heading off to the gym. Then I've got to pop over to Mom and Dad's new place and put together a couch which seems to be missing a couple of pieces. I'd just love to have an entire week to myself...

[Barb0522]

It's 77 degrees now so it feels a bit nippy. Should be 90 later which is a lot cooler than it has been lately. This is my last day of vacation so I need to get out to the garden soon. It's also the first day of our tax free weekend so I'm probably going out shopping.

Yesterday we went printer shopping. The belt on my 8 year old printer had died. Oh, I fixed the brocolli cheese soup for dinner last night. It was great! I'm trying a gumbo recipe tonight. It is so much fun to try different things.

I did get the entire family to take a 40 minute walk last night after dinner. We walked up to Subway and then took the long way back. They ate cookies and I got a Diet Pepsi. Vicious mosquitoes though. I should have put spray on us since they've found West Nile in the western part of our city.

Clovey, I'm so sorry about your poor kitty. We've had four old cats pass away in the last several years and it's been hard on all of us.

[smilintwins]

Morning friends, my you all have been busy this morning!!

The scale was my friend this morning. I had a 1.5 lb drop. I was getting nervous that my Phase 2 (well, P1.5) methods were not working anymore.

Had a stressful day yesterday. DD had an ultrasound to check her kidneys. I know on fetal u/s (which I had tons of high quality ones with twins) they saw both kidneys. I remember them showing me. But they could not find one of her kidneys yesterday. There was a lot of gas, so there is a logical explanation. But now my little 18mo needs a CT scan. She has already had 2 MRIs in her life, I want this to stop. My head says this is just a rule out procedure. My heart is terrified.

Kiko - glad you liked the pork chop recipe. I usually cheat and use the minute brown rice so it cooks faster!! But that is not necessary SBD friendly.

Clovey - for your cat. It is just so hard.

Lots of vacations coming up for everyone. A big WOW to our campers, I always thought camping was too much work for vacation. Probably should try again!!

Happy Friday!!

[ellis]

Jen, I'll be saying prayers for your little one. Please keep us posted.

[beachgal]

Morning, all!

It sure is cold out there...seems like Fall! I love it, though...sleeping with the windows open to the cool air and the covers tucked up under your chin....yum!

Ellis, I hope you can warm up! I'm about ready to turn on the heater in my office...which I was using as an A/C just three days ago!!! I love living in the north! Good luck with the couch! At least the drive over will take no time at all!

LC, glad to see you back! I sure hope that poor woman is okay! Other than that, did you have a good time?

Mama, what kind of writing do you do? Do you hope to write as a career someday? Congrats on a good OP day yesterday and lots of luck for another today!

Ruth, my garden could definitely use some attention from you and Sarah! It's a weedy mess! Our neighbors were supposed to go in with us on a big pile of mulch, but that fell through late in the summer, so we never got any mulch down in most of the yard. What a mess! I had horrible luck with the sesame chicken recipe. I ended up using a ton of wheat germ and black sesame seeds because I ran out of the other ingredients about 1/3 of the way in. I used cubed chicken, but that didn't help. Plus, I didn't really like the way it tasted. I'm not doing that one again. Glad I'm not the only one who had trouble, but sorry that your dinner wasn't easy to prepare. Did you like how it tasted? Do you do the BARF diet for your dogs? Do you find that it works well?

Clovey, I am so, so, so sorry to hear that your cat is so ill. Please know that she is in my prayers and that our fuzzy animals will be sending lots of their vibes too. They all happen to love cats. : I completely understand your reasons for giving up so much for your cat. You just give me names of anyone who balks at your decision and I'll take care of them. Our bun, Bella, managed to ingest a ton of carpet last year, and was unable to pass it. She went into stasis (a very dangerous thing for a bun), and we had to rush her to our vet, then to the Cornell Animal Hospital (which, thank God, we are near). They kept her for two and a half long days, where they were able to pump her stomach and give her fluids. She recovered and is very healthy now and still with us, thank God. : The worst part of the ordeal were people who didn't understand and said things like, "It's just a bunny.". Personally, my pets are as much a part of my family as my DH, and I don't understand that kind of argument. Animals need our help even more than humans (IMHO), as they can't tell us what is wrong or get help for their ailments. I am glad to hear that Madge is feeling better. If you get the chance, give her a scritch behind the ears from us and let her know that lots of people are pulling for her to make it through!

Jodi, enjoy the camping...what a perfect weekend for it! Hope you can get some closure of what is going on with your dd...it must be nervewracking!!! Lots of hugs and prayers for you and DH and DD!

Weezle, I feel you on the "stupid sleeping in"...I keep doing it, even though 10 mins more really doesn't do much.

Barb, isn't that soup delish? Yummmm I love those zucchini patties, too! There was a lot of zucchini at the farmer's market yesterday, and I was thinking that I should get some and make the patties again... let us know how the gumbo turns out. It sounds great! Good for you on the long walk! I have five bites on my ankle, and I haven't been hanging out outside at all this week. They must have happened when I took the dog out to do her thing. Can you imagine what would have happened if I'd sat out there for a half hour? Hope you are all relatively bite-free!

Me:
Yesterday I stopped by the farmer's market in our town. It was extra festive with a Mark Twain theme (Mark Twain's in-laws had a farm in town, and he and his wife spent their summers here. He wrote most of his most popular books here in the summers.), and I enjoyed picking out some yummy veggies. I also treated myself to a gorgeous bouquet of flowers in an old canning jar. They look so nice on the counter!

I got fresh basil for the bunnies, but I chopped up a little for myself and mixed it with fresh orange tomatoes from the market and some mozzerella with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. It was fantastic! We had the Frisee salad with walnuts and bleu cheese from the SBD cookbook again last night. Added some chicken for more protein and it was fabulous! If you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it.

Tonight we'll go out...maybe to Outback. Has anyone here tried their bread? I know it's really dark, but I think it might have a lot of molasses in it. Going to check their website at some point today.

I spoke with a personal trainer yesterday. She's fabulous and I'm really excited about working with her! She's putting together a twelve week program for working with weights for me. One thing she told me that really surprized me is that they have found that weight training causes a big spike in your metabolism. She says that the amount of calories I would burn for 12 hours after a half hour of weight training would be similar to what I burn in an hour-long Jazzercise class! Very cool! She also said that I should lift weights first, then do the elliptical...that way will burn a bit more fat. Cool!

On Sunday morning, I have to cantor at church. I'm really, really nervous about it, but excited, too! I know that if I screw up, no one's really going to be upset...so I just need to relax and look forward to it. I would love to have some prayers and , though!

Am off to a conference on Sunday...will be there through Wednesday night. It's in Pittsburgh, so I'm going to be able to meet up with Meg and Jack, two of the 3FC mods. That will be great! Everyone play nice while I'm gone, okay? :

[beachgal]

Jen, we posted at the same time...lots of prayers for you and your dd. I hope it was just gas and that the CT scan is fast, painless, and shows two great, healthy kidneys!