Morning chicks..... its a holiday and I am up instead of sleeping in.... wouldn't ya know it. Sitting here with a cup of tea and watching the sun break through the clouds and trying to decide if I should do anything today. What's up in your part of the beach today???


Pull up a chair have a pour a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a chat.

Good Morning Little Chick! I am up way to early myself but I have a ton of things to get done! Coffee is about done and I am off to clean my bathroom and change my bed linens. Have a good day!

Hey all have a great day! I'll try to check on y'all chicks later if I have time at Mom's.

Oh by the way the green in my avatar is the new color of my kitchen. That is where that pic was taken.

Love the color. Green is one of my fav's.... the flowers look beautiful.

Good morning ladies.....on my second cup of coffee. Gotta work early today....still have lunches to make. Little chick & bamie - you are busy ones today! Love the green - very springy!! Hope you have a great day!!

You Chicks are early birds today! I woke up at my usual time but I stayed in bed and turned on the TV to watch the news. My Curves is closed today so I don't have to worry about that. All I have to do today (so far) is go grocery shopping and clean the house. I say "so far" because I never know what's going to happen. Yesterday's plans were changed because of a flat tire. They make these tires on cars today that are impossible to get off, so I had to wait forever for Roadside Assistance to come. Then I wasted more time at the garage getting the tire fixed and put back on. But at least I didn't have to buy a new tire, and it's all fixed now. Oh yeah, all this with a 4 yr old who was hungry for her lunch and a 1 yr old who was past-due for her nap! THAT was fun.

Little Chick ~ Glad all went well at the dentist. Enjoy your holiday, don't do any work today!

Bamie ~ I really like the green, it looks similar to what we painted our bedroom. Have a nice time at your mother's.

Soon ~ I hope you have an easy day at work today.

I just finished my coffee so I'm headed for the supermarket before it gets too crowded. See you all later.

Good morning, darlings!
I wish you were all here with me having coffee and tea. It's a beautiful Good Friday!

Little Chick, is it warming up out there? The snow has been canceled! It's going up to 4C today, and we're expecting rain early next week! We need a good rain... it's so dirty here.

Bamie, I love the colour of your kitchen! It looks like the colour in our living and dining rooms... very serene.

Soon2b, you're working today!? Have a good one, hon!

Cottage, what a crock about the tire. That's what happened to us a few weeks ago... we couldn't get the darned tire off. DH struggled for 45 minutes before I remembered we had free roadside assistance.
I'll be cleaning today, too. The mothers are coming over on Sunday, and I want to get the table set today. So I'll feel "in control".

The kids are still sleeping, and DH is heading out the door for a bike ride. I'm going to throw some laundry in. Back in a bit...

Morning Cottage.... I don't plan on doing anything today if I can help it. Maybe the dishes and a load or two of laundry. My Curves is closed as well. I wish it was open. I have been going for two weeks now and dh told me last night I was looking slimmer. YIPEE, of course that has me psyched to go today. Sorry to hear about the tire don't know which is worse the tire or being stuck with hungry sleepy kids. Have a great day. I need to go to the supermarket as well but all of ours are closed for the day.

Morning Ellis we were posting at the same time, the sun has lost its struggle to stay out and it is a bit nippy out. They are calling for rain here as well this week. The poor kids are getting so muddy when playing outside that I make them strip off on the deck before they come in after play time. My dd has her bike out as well all the neighbourhood kids do, you can tell spring is in the air. Have a great day.

Good morning! I don't have to work at the Greenhouse this morning and I must say I'm glad as I have a ton of stuff to do around here. I managed to sleep until nearly six which was a mjiracle! I've been a bit draggy and have been too busy for afternoon naps.

I just hung the finished baby quilt on the clothes line to take a picture but the wind is blowing too darn hard at the moment. I may weight it down and just do it as it's gloriously sunny out there!

Two couples and a two year old boy are coming for "Easter" dinner on Saturday. It should be fun and not much work as I'm doing the turkey, stuffing and gravy and Liz and Joanne are bringing potatoes, veggies and something simple for dessert. I am learning to say "Sure!" when people offer to bring things. Silas is a good natured two and will enjoy playing with the Girls when he's here - that's the plan anyhow!

This afternoon we have a Church Service at two - that solemn Good Friday Service called Tenebrae. After that, the day is mine but I do need to go up to the Church shortly to set up candles and other paraphernalia.

I have a glorious bunch of daffodils sitting in the sun in my kitchen - "buttercups" to you, Bamie. I'll try to take a picture of them when I snap the quilt. What a joyous picture of spring!

Morning Chicks!

Had an awesome Ragout last night...it's Phase 1 safe and very, very yummy! I posted it here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...977#post805977 Originally from Cooking Light, of course.

LC, thanks for starting us up! I hope you decided to spend the day taking it easy!

Bamie, you have a safe and fun trip, girl! I can't believe the avatar was in your kitchen...how gorgeous!!! The walls are beautiful...somewhat like the sage green I want to put in our basement when we get part of it finished off.

Soon, hope you are having a great day!

Cottage, so sorry about your tire! What a mess! But thank God for roadside assistance!

Ellis, I'm working today. DH was sleeping in when I left. My boss gave me permission to work on my paper at work for half a day, so that's nice. Still, I'm missing service at our church, which bums me out. Now explain to me why you are hosting Easter when you are the one with the kitchen half redone??? : Or are you farther along than I thought?

Ruth, looking forward to seeing your pictures! I love Tenebrae service...we have ours on Wednesday. Last night was the washing of the feet and our Maundy Thursday service. Today's service is in the afternoon, so I'll miss it, but Easter Vigil is tomorrow night...the longest service of the year, but so full of ritual. I love it!

Me:
Well, chugging along on the paper, but not nearly as fast as I'd hoped. Hopefully DH will make dinner tonight now that he's feeling better, and I can just work on the paper from after lunch until late tonight. I really am looking forward to having it over with! It's due on Monday.

I'm still sick...need to get more sleep to ward off this cold. The important thing will be to try to do it before our trip next weekend! I still have no idea where DH is taking me for my 30th, but I'm guessing Montreal at this point. We'll see. He did hint that he picked up our passports at the bank the other day...so I can hope for the Carribbean or Paris, but I'm thinking it's more likely Canada, home of beavertails and buttertarts.

My birthday is next Wednesday and I'm thinking I might make an SBD safe Carrot cake to celebrate. I figure that might be the easiest to make without having to mess too much with it. WW flour sounds like it would be really good in carrot cake, not so good in yellow cake, you know? Does anyone have a great family recipe for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?

Have a great weekend, chickies!!!

Morning, Ruth ~ Yep, I've finally learned to say "sure" too, when someone offers to help out! It was hard for me, as I never want to impose on anyone, but after being exhausted and wiped out after every "occasion" I realized that I was the one being taken advantage of! We have about 20 for dinner on Easter, and everyone is bringing something. I just got back from the market though and it STILL cost me a fortune.

Hi, Ellis ~ you and Ruth enjoy your sunshine today. It's very dreary looking here and it's supposed to rain later. That's a great idea to set the table ahead of time. I'm serving buffet-style because I don't have enough room for everyone to sit at the table. I'm using sturdy paper plates and plastic utensils, too, to make clean-up a lot faster and easier. Jake will have a fit, but since he never offers to help out, TOUGH!

L.C. ~ I'm glad you're enjoying Curves. I love it, it's the only exercise program I've ever been able to stick to, and I've going for almost a year now. I can really see the difference - I have muscles now! The staff is great and makes sure everyone keeps their heartrate at the proper %, and it's always a lot of fun, even at 7:30 am, when I go. It's mud season here, too, and I'm happpy to know I'm not the only one who makes the kids strip before they come inside!

The bathrooms are cleaned and the shopping is done, and so am I. I decided to clean the rest of the house tomorrow. For supper Jake is having a leftover chicken breast with manicotti (lucky him!) and I'm having Baked Salmon and a salad.

Hey Laurie, if you read this ~ I just couldn't bring myself to pour salt over the Easter candy! NOT after all the work that went into making them (and the cost). That's funny, though! But I've been giving it away to neighbors, and I want to make sure I have enough to set out a plate of it on Sunday. I'm trying VERY HARD to stay out of it in the meantime. How's the paper coming along? I'll bet you'll be so relieved when it's finally done. Hope your DH is feeling better today.

WOW, Laurie! We were posting at the same time! Glad your DH is better, and I hope you manage to fight off that cold! That's so exciting that DH is keeping your trip a surprise, I love surprises like that! I think I do have a good recipe for a healthy carrot cake - I'll have to go look for it. Oh Jeez! Now I'm craving carrot cake, Laurie!

Laurie, I found my recipe for Carrot Cake and am posting it under Phase 2 Desserts.

cottage - I looked at the carrot cake recipe. It has pineapple which I don't believe is allowed. Do you omit it?

Me - I'm off work today and Brian went to day care for the field trip so I went to Bally's. I did a half hour on the elliptical when a bunch of women came by to say they were going to teach their own step class since the instructor wasn't there. So I went. That was 40 minutes of pure cardio. Then out to work on the weight machines and the stationary bike. At the end of two hours I went to leave when my Pilates instructor stopped me to say she had a free machine in the Pilates Allegrio class which I never take since there is an extra charge. So I did that. What a workout! I feel great but I may be sore after the unfamiliar exercise tomorrow. Almost 3 hours at the gym!

I just finished fixing a seafood/zucchini/spinach lasagne and we're leaving in a few minutes to go to our friend's to stuff plastic easter eggs and eat dinner. It should be lots of fun. I'll try to post more tomorrow.