It finally stopped raining here and I think the sun will come out - clear sunrise anyhow. It rained so hard yesterday that we had road washouts and several meetings were cancelled including my rehearsal! The Girls spent most of yesterday curled up on the couch, hoping I'd light the woodstove. I did relent and turn the furnace on.

I need to go out and do a realistic assessment of what can and cannot be done to put my garden to bed. I am considering grassing in some of my huge veggie garden to make life a bit easier. One can BUY veggies around here, very easily as my dear sister pointed out. A smaller plot would be more manageable. Hurting my knee this year was a reality check.

The Girls are woofing for after breakfast potty so I'm outta here. Lucy is due on the 24th but will be going to the kennel at Morna's for her "lying in" on Monday the 13th. She will be doing treadmill, walks and running free to get her stamina built up for her big event. It will be so strange to be a one dog house and even stranger when Hersh goes around October 1! I have another dog, "Jazz", who may be coming for a trial visit and I will be going to Morna's daily so won't go into complete dog withdrawal.

I notice dear Ellis was in here very early this morning. Let's hope she has a calm and beautiful day now that her Dad is at peace. Maybe a nap after the children leave for school?

The deck is way too wet for coffee this morning but come and chat on the front porch. The cushions on the wicker are dry! We can watch the schoolbus go by in an hour or so.

Good morning, Chicklets~~

Well, DD is "officially" back in the nest. Buffy-the-mouse-slayer and Bun-Bun are in residence once more. We'll be looking after them this weekend while DD goes to a conference up in the north Georgia mountains.

I'm really hoping today will be a frazzle-less day. Tomorrow is the Yellow Daisy Festival so DH are looking forward to a nice long day of wandering around looking at all the arts and crafts for sale. Not sure how it will be, food-wise. They're really big on stuff like red beans and rice, grilled corn on the cob and hamburgers and hotdogs. Might have to just take something with me.

Well, gotta fly...need to print off my measly few pages for Mary since it's our day to meet.

Hope everyone has a great day on the Beach!

Mamacita

morning chicks,
the rain is gone from here also today the sun is shining and it is supposed to be a nice weekend. we'll see what next week holds though the next hurricane is on it's way. sending hugs and prayers to all our friends in the south. we also had horrible flooding and washed away roads and bridges it is terrible what devistation mother nature can bring. i totally relaxed last night as far as food worrying goes which translates into not op. i am giving myself a mental break for a few days and am planning on getting on with this weightloss journey on sunday. today is my grandma's 86th birthday so i will be making a trip to the nursing home after work for a visit, i really hope she remembers me this time not sure if i can take her calling me susie again this time, alzheimers is such a terrible disease.

ruth, i'm sure you will be missing your poochie something terrible when she goes to deliver. hope all goes well with them. maybe you have something there cutting down the garden a bit. plant your favorites and enjoy them!!!

morning mama sounds like you have a nice weekend planned enjoy!!

ellis we love you!!

hope all the rest of you beauties have a great weekend!!!

Hi all,

It's sunny and cool here this morning. I've already been out walking the dog and enjoying what may be rare sunshine in the coming weeks.

Ruth, do you board or foster dogs? Or are the current beauties your own? Sorry if I missed a chapter on this lol! Your house will surely seem empty, and your automatic alarm clocks missing, when the ladies go to the kennel.

I had a slightly off plan day yesterday. I woke up to my milestone weightloss - 30 pounds gone - and then stupidly decided to bake. It was all whole grain and full of fibre, but several slices of banana bread and a couple of slices of whole grain (fresh from the oven) regular bread were gone before I regained control. Last night I cut up a mountain of celery and peppers, and made hummus.

What was that moment of self saboutage? I don't know. I've had them before when I've hovered around the 200 range, then my plan would be blown and I'd regain. This time I hope to break into 'onederland' and defeat that brick wall.

Mamacita - have fun at the Yellow Daisy Festival. What a cheerful name for a fair. Hope the 9-11 anniversary doesn't cast too dark a shadow on that day.

Well, better get moving. Errands and cleaning before the weekend. Have a great op day and weekend everybody.

Good morning all! I am glad to hear the rain has stopped, Ruth and Jodi.

Heidi -- CONGRATS on 30 pounds -- that's amazing!!!

Mama -- the Yellow Daisy Festival sounds fun. We have a great little flea market with a chalk fest tomorrow but I have to go to kansas city.

My mom is on her girl's vacation this week in Quebec and my brother and I are going to take my dad to dinner. I also have a bridal shower tomorrow. But, then I am meeting DH tomorrow night in Topeka for dinner and a movie.

Still OP but didn't walk last night -- had a date with The Donald. Anyway, I love Apprentice -- so much of what they do relates to my work.

Hope everyone has a great day!!

lauren

Ruth, I finally admitted that two large vegetable beds were more than I was able to take care of and do what I wanted otherwise so I grassed one in and added two small areas that I can reach across easily. It makes it a lot easier when it is wet to be able to tend them.

I've been a bit stressed. The company I work for has announced that they plan to lay off 10,000 - 20,000 people worldwide. Most will be in the states as they are offshoring a lot to cheaper companies. If I could just get DH to get a job then I would feel better. I'm sure I can find some other job if I have to but I will probably take a pay cut of at least 50%. If DH got a job making half what he used to make we would be fine. I'm going to try not to worry too much since there isn't anything I can do about it. Kiko, if you read this can you find out about how I would go about getting into teaching. My degree is Mathematical Programming but I only have a bachelors.

I've got my workout clothes and plan to stop at the gym and work of this stress on the way home. Hope everyone has a great day.

Happy Friday to everyone. The weather here improved to rain yesterday afternoon, but it was snowing when we drove to work this morning. At least the snow is melting as fast as it is coming down now, so not lingering. The forecast is for improved weather tomorrow...I'm not holding my breath, though.

Ruth - We started to put our yard to bed last weekend, but didn't get very much done. We are still hoping to get a nice indian summer when we usually do all that kind of work, but will probably still try to do a bit this weekend if the weather improves. So exciting for Lucy to be near her due date. How many pups do they usually have in a litter?

Mama - Hope you have a frazzle-less day, too. You deserve at least one after all the running around and frustration you put up with over the past couple of weeks. Have a great weekend at the festival...smart to plan ahead of time to stay OP. WTG.

Jodi - You are so right, alzheimer's is a terrible disease. My mom is in the early stages, so not too, too bad, but I think she is in more denial over it than anyone. She has been driving up to now and finally decided last week that she would give it up...thank goodness. We were over to the home immediately to pick up her car. But I think she has finally resigned herself to using alternate transit - the home in which she lives has their own bus that transports the residents to whereever they want, so it is a better way to keep track of her, also. She has given her car to one of our kids, so he has committed to taking her shopping once a week which will also provide her with a bit of a transition. Hope granny has a great birthday.

Heidi - Sorry to hear about the off program day. You are soooo close to hitting the ones, but hop right back OP and you will do this. I find that I really need to think through situations that I might encounter before I embark on them. If I bake, I need to work out before I even preheat the oven how I will handle the baking that will come out. When I do that, I can usually resist the temptations because it's like I have already tasted and enjoyed the baking in advance. You can get right back on today, and you will be OK.

Me - I dropped another pound today. The weight is falling off now and I have not changed anything in the past month. However, I did kick up the intense exercising about the middle of August, so maybe it is the benefits of the exercise that I am reaping right now. Anyway, I will take it, but will need to start to slow the weight loss down...it is too fast right now. (I never thought I would ever complain of that. )

We have nothing planned for the weekend, but may go visit one of the BILs. He wants to sell a table saw and DH agreed to buy it...DH is still using my dad's table saw that is about 50 years old. We are also wanting to put some beams in the basement and want some advice before we have the house fall down. The BIL designed our house initially, so will take a look at the prints and let us know how and what can be done. Soooo good to have access to that info for nothing.

We are presently updating our house (it's 24 years old) because we are wanting to downsize in the near future. Anyway, out of the clear blue, one of our neighbours came over last weekend and wanted to know if we are selling our house soon. She told us that it is her very favourite of all houses ever and when we sell, they will buy. We took her on a tour of the house and she was so impressed. We still have lots of renos to do, but she wants the house badly...what's even better is that they have the money to buy whatever they want, too.

Well, gottat get to work. I'm the boss again today and Monday, so I guess I better act like the boss. Hmmmm, I wonder how much money I can spend today?

Lauren & Barb - Good morning. We were posting at the same time today. Hope you both have a great weekend.

Barb - Try the junior colleges or technical institutes (I'm not sure if you have those in the states) for teaching positions. They are usually not so strict on grad degrees for qualifications and usually take undergrad degrees. Hope everything works out well. Takce care.

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out the technical institutes but I already checked the junior colleges and they require a master's degree.

Maybe I need to move to Canada. That is listed as one of the countries that we are outsourcing jobs to as well as India and New Zealand.

Ruth, glad you are getting a chance to dry out. Pretty excited to see how the doggie labor goes. Are you going to be the birthing partner or will the father be there?

Mama, sounds like your festival will be wonderful. Have fun. Do I dare ask who Buffy and BunBun are? You probably mentioned it before and it didn't register.

Justjode, have a great time with your grandmother. Look for the beauty she has. It's such a difficult disease, so unfair.

Heidi, I have to agree with you, what is it about milestones that make us want to cheat? Hang on!

GoldieFun, have fun on your date....with DH not the Donald.

Barb, if you have a degree in mathematical programming you are my hero. Math is my worst most difficult thing in life. My statistics class was horrible. Nothing made sense. Hope things work out well for you.

Sweetooth, wow I would love it if someone wanted my house so bad. I live in town and would like to be in the country, but I'm afraid that won't happen. Good luck.

Ellis if you pop in today, my heart is with you! I'm thinking of you.

Yesterday was a long 12 hour day at work, but a hilarious one. My first patient of the day was a gentleman that was over 100. He was so cute. He wasn't feeling well. Anyway, another nurse and I went in to cath him, (we needed urine.....sorry for the early morning details) Anyway, he says "what ya doing down there?" "Well, sure we're are getting a urine sample, we're sorry" "Oh, that's OK", he says. "I've been dead down there since I was 100" he says. My co-worker and I look at each other with raised eyebrows....."uh, you haven't urinated since you were 100????" "No" he yells, "I haven't had sex" My co-worker and I just started laughing. His daughters were in the room and they were laughing too. One of the daughters says "his wife was 91 and she just died". My patient was grinning like he was pretty proud of himself. I gave him a thumbs up. I giggled all day. No wonder he was over 100, he was happy.

Still struggling to be OP like I was before my family all came home. It's been a month now, I think it's well past time. I need to get back to the mean food machine that I was before. Today is the day. I feel better being OP. Yesterday I had two sugar cookies, 2 bags of M&M's, some ice cream and a bag of popcorn. WHAT'S WITH THAT????? I'm not sure who crawled into this body and mind but whoever she is she needs to go away!

Good morning everyone!

The sun is out today...maybe the ground will dry up some...I was out in the front yard yesterday and noticed that the ground was so soft that I was sort of sinking!!! As of Aug. 1st we've had over 20 inches of rain.....but it looks like we won't be getting any rain for a week....or so they say...but they never get the weather right around here...I still have that cold...I sound like a frog today...I went for a long walk yesterday which was nice and refreshing. There aren't any plans for the weekend so far so we'll see what happens. I hope all of you ladies have a wonderful Friday and weekend!! Be safe!

Hi all

Stressed at work, UGH!

Ellis -- I am thinking about you and yor family. I'll say a prayer for your dad.

Good news in that I cheated and stepped on the scale and am down to 194.8 once again, after 3 days OP (Phase 1). Once I get down to new numbers (new to me anyway) which is around 193, I am going to do back to Phase 2.

Gotta run. Happy Friday all

Morning Ladies!

Ruth - Wishing you well with your temporary downage of dogs. You'll be surrounded by them soon enough!

Mamacita - Yellow Daisy festival? Sounds fun and relaxing, defintely enjoy it!

JustJodi - Happy Birthday to your grandmother! My British grandmother passed on with that same disease. My heart goes out to you and yours. It is just so hard....

Heidi - Woo hoo! 30 pounds gone!

GoldieFun - I listen to the apprentice while I do Yoga. It's quite soothing to know in my own little world I am the Don.

Barb - Terrible news about work. Teaching sounds like a good alternative if push comes to shove. Keep your chin up!

Peggy - Awesome that your house was designed by your BIL. My dad built houses in the Reading, Penn area for years and we get calls about that stuff all the time!

RNMom - Your story made my morning!

HistoryChick - That's a lot of rain! Where are you located?

As for me, my morning has been filled with yips and yaps of Zoe, as it's Friday her only day here at the new office. I listed 159 Barbie Dolls yesterday. I'm nearly through all of them, but wow. My next project is my recently passed toy collector's pile.

Bryon has spent the morning with the dog sliding across the new shiny floor. They are quite a pair the loves of my life....I've attached a photo of them at home passed out....

This weekend entails the vocals at the 9-11 Memorial tomorrow. Then it's off to bowling and mexican food at Garcias' with my pianist and her hubby. My little brother is throwing a concert at our fire hall for free in light of 9-11. It's a heavy metal thing, but hey, the kid cared enough to try right?

Sunday looks like a day of planning as we have a big meeting on the Keuka Maid Monday night.

It has stopped raining and the sun is out. I think this calls for a long walk with Bryon and Zoe later.

Hey, everyone,

It's morning and I am here to post and read for a few minutes. I don't have much time because I have to go down to the first floor and prepare for bed and breakfast guests who are coming in this afternoon for the weekend. It looks kinda complicated as we have "earlier than usual" breakfasts for some and "normal" times for others. At least there are no dietary restrictions or guests who are allergic to our two kitties.

I feel back on track today and am giving myself incentives of some new clothes as many are "hanging" on me (a good feeling).

Ruth-I would miss our kitties if one of them had to leave. They take the love right out of the house.

Ellis-My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Barb--You sound like you know the right paths to follow, even if they are difficult.

Hope you all have a good day and great weekend!

Life is crazy in Kelly-land, so posting is rare, but I found a bit of time to read the posts, and first wanted to send hugs to Ellis. Thank God you have such a strong family.

Secondly, I had to laugh at the 100 year old man who is "dead down there." If only we can all have such happy lives and be so cute when we are that old. What a flirt!

Have a great day at the Beach!