Good early morning ladies! I have been up since I AM with a scratchy throat. Dang allergies! I took some of my "remedy" and hope it will help in the long run. I decided just to sit down here and knit awhile. I need to get going on my grandson's Cub Scout blanket for his birthday, which is only two months away. It is 6 blocks X 5 blocks so it is a good size to take on his camping trips. Nice to snuggle in around the camp fire, it is blue and gold and it is washable and dryable. What more could a Cub Scout ask???

Jean: Those poor kids. I know that when Jack had to drive to Chicago everyday, it kept me on my worrying toes. It was 2.5 hours one way! Hope Amanda can find a job close by and day care too! I can't believe how cold it is up there, though it was near 80 here on Wed and by the time the rain rolled in it was in the 40's. It was pretty chilly yesterday and will be again today. Not chilly like you have, but in the 50's, which is chilly for me!

Susan: I agree with Jean, those Peeps are though they are my grandson's favorite in his basket. My downfall is the chocolate marshmallow easter eggs or bunnies, especially the upscale ones like Whitmans. Jack and I were in Walmart on Wednesday and I said to him, "Ok, we are passing the Easter candy, we are walking, walking, keep walking...." I will stick to my little 1 pt whitman chocolate candies if I really have to have something. I love their chocolate mints.

Today is vacuuming and dust the upstairs day, but just hang around the house. I was going to go and get my nails done and run a couple errands, but my shirt won't be able to be picked up from the cleaners until after 5 pm tonight so I think I will just wait until tomorrow and do it all. Jack has today off for Good Friday so we will just hang out together I guess. Get more knitting done and some reading maybe when my work is done. I also have to get back to my walking routine. It went by the wayside when I was in Indiana and I have to get back to it. I sure do like WW. I guess it just "fits" us.

My Fairy Scarf Mother as she referred to herself (my yarn swap secret pal) said she mailed my yarn goodies so I can't wait to get them. My young gal should have hers by the first of the week. This was really fun to do, but ended up right around the time of the baby shower, so I had to kind of hurry through picking stuff and such. I hope if they have it next year I can be more selective and get more goodies for whomever I get.

So what does everyone have planned for Easter? We are going to dd's in the morning for his egg hunt and give him his basket from us then going to breakfast together, come back home and hang out for a bit before they go to his other grandparents for the day. Jack and I will be footloose and fancy free then so I may just cook us up the ham steak I have in the freezer with some scalloped potatoes for "Easter" dinner.

Everyone have a good Friday and a great weekend.
Faye

Good morning! I expect Jean and I will be alone this weekend until Tuesday. It is cold here again today and the wind was blowing like the dickens here yesterday too! I stayed in the house all day except to go get the mail and low and behold my yarn came. She bought me 3 skeins of a bright pink felting yarn to make a handbag with and 2 gorgeous soft, soft skeins of a white, lavender and baby blue baby yarn to make something for the grandbaby. She also sent a beautiful flower mug with chocolate Lindt and Ghiradelli chocolate in it! Uh Oh, I love Lindt chocolate, but put it in the candy dish and will leave it alone! I can't even take it to my dd's as she is now on WW too! I don't know if she will stick it out, but I hope she does. I have lost the few lbs I gained being in Indiana and even am down about a lb over my last weigh in. I didn't go yesterday so I will have to fork over my remaining two coupons and then pay for Friday's meeting because I have missed two. My allergies are bothering me so much, I just don't feel like getting out much. I have such a darn headache. It isn't excruciating, just there and irritating.

Jean: Hope you have fun at the Doodlebops. Thomas was a big fan of Bear in the big Blue House and the Australian group, um, Squiggles or something like that. I thought they were as irritating as the devil, but I loved Bear. He is so cute! When Jay was a baby and fussy, I would put him in his swing and turn on Sesame Street. He would be glued to it until the muppets weren't on then he would cry. As soon as they were back on the screen he would shut right up! He was only about 3-4 months old when he started watching it. It was a way for me to get housework or whatever done and he would be happy for the hour it was on. I have no problem admitting I used the tv to babysit for him occasionally!

I have finally started on the sleeves to my cardigan. I will be glad when it is finished and I can sew it up. I am also more than halfway finished with the first strip on the Cub Scout blanket. It will be nice and warm for him and I may make him a matching pillow to take on campouts.

I am leaving bright and early Tuesday morning and driving to Little Rock to see my sister. I haven't seen her in a year and a half so I am looking forward to it. We will be celebrating her birthday and she is the one I made the aqua and white patterned sweater for.

Well, gals, I need to get showered and dressed. I want to do some errands this morning then get back home so I can watch the CUBS play this afternoon.

Have a grand Easter!

Faye

I am all grown up this morning and having Trix for breakfast! They make a 75% less sugar variety now so I bought it just for a change from high fiber cereal. I am having a bowl of that with no milk and a banana. I really dislike milk so I either don't put it on or very little on cereal.

Good morning Flowers! I am hoping for a nice day today, than nice in Little Rock tomorrow and Wed morning.

Jean: Little Rock is a 2 hour drive from Memphis. It pretty much splits the state in half east to west because it is about that distance from Fort Smith too. We had a nice time with Thomas and dd and sil yesterday. We went out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and only waited about 10 minutes but we suffered through the smoking section so we didn't have to wait too long. Wish Memphis would jump on the band wagon like other cities and pass no smoking in building ordinances. Of course my throat is now more sore and I think it is from the smoke yesterday irritating it. It isn't going to be fun to go with a sore throat, but I am not backing out. My sister is looking forward to this too much. I will just do the best I can. I just take OTC meds as my allergies aren't really serious just mostly a nuisance. We came back to their house and dyed eggs so my fingers are all discolored then played a roaring game of Hands Down and one of Pass The Pigs, which is really a lot of fun. His Hands Down game was brand new and hadn't even been opened, but we had fun with that even though my sil was reading the directions and had us all confused! You can "fake" your opponents by pretending to slap the hand making them think you have a pair (which is the object of the game to slap the hand shaped paddle when you have a pair on your turn) Anyway, there are only enough for 4 to play so Jack sat out and helped Thomas by his request. Jack would get so tickled, which would make the rest of us laugh because Thomas would be down to one card and try to fake, but seeing as how you had to have a pair to slap you hand, no one played into the fake, but he didn't get that part! Kelly lost because she always seemed to be the slowest to slap her hands down hand so after one game we switched to Pass the Pigs. I had bought both these games for him for Christmas last year and Pass the Pigs is a big success. You try to get to 100 pts by "rolling the pigs." You have two tiny rubber pigs each has a black dot on one side of their bodies. When it is your turn you get to "roll the pigs" as many times as you want to add to your score, getting points according to how they land on the table, but if you get both pigs laying the same way, but one with a black dot showing, you lose your points and your turn. My sil got all the way up to 81 on his turn and rolled his black dot and had to start over. I think Jack finally won that one. I ended up at ZERO because I kept rolling the dot. You can bank your points, but I kept trying to get to 30 before I would stop my turn, but never seemed to get that far. It is a fun game for kids and adults and easy to play.

We came home around 2 and Jack watched the Masters for awhile, we ran and got a bite to eat then came home and settled in for the night. I went to bed early because I didn't feel well but my other sister called so I had to talk to her. When we are upstairs, Jack always answers the phone as the ringer is turned off in the bedroom. When she called Jack answered and when he said it was my sister and I picked up I got, "Don't YOU ever answer the phone?" I told her NO! I think it bugs her that she has to go through him. It isn't like he doesn't let me talk to her or anything. She starts third degreeing me about where my son is and why he didn't show up for dinner etc. Well, I don't LIVE in Indiana nor with my son and dil so I had no idea where my son was. He called earlier while we were out and left a nice Happy Easter than my dil called while we were out at dinner and said and left a message saying she was at work and wished us a Happy Easter, but I have no clue where my son was yesterday. Dinner wasn't even AT her house so I don't know why she was all wigged out about where he was. Men aren't particularly good about calling if they don't show up somewhere. She is just incredibly nosey about everything, which irritates me. She wanted to know all the details about me meeting the other sister tomorrow, etc. I figure she is jealous, but what the heck am I supposed to do about that? Ahh well! I don't know if I told you what she said to me at the shower. She made my best friend, (who I hadn't seen in 4 years!) so uncomfortable because she was sitting with me and my sister had to sit across the room, that she left early. She leaned over and said to me, "I would like to stay longer and visit, but I don't think your sister likes me being here taking up all your time." I wonder if she said anything to her. On top of that, when my sister got ready to leave I hugged her and told her I would see her in a couple months when the baby got here as we would have more time. She said something like, "No you won't. You won't make time for me." or something like that. I just get tired of the pity party. If she didn't act the way she does I think people wouldn't avoid her so much.

Everyone have a good Monday. I have to get things all arranged in the house and get packed and such then go and pick up the rental car this evening. I will talk to you when I get back, probably not until Thur morning.

Faye

Good morning ladies! Good reports from all the doctors yesterday - Stan is doing great and improving with every treatment. I met with the dietician and he is low on protein and calcium but excellent on potassium and phorosphous and sodium (in the low end on all of them) so he needs to eat more protein and can now have 8 ounces of milk and 1 slice of cheese a day, plus we an occasionally have corn and tomatoes. Then we'll see how he is doing at his next blood work in 2 weeks. And I can also throw a few grains of salt into pasta and potatoes when I cook them...not to exceed 1/8 teaspoon a day. So we seem to be getting the hang of this. His blood pressure is at the low end of normal and his blood sugar is actually too low! High blood pressure and diabetes are what puts a lot of people into kidney failure.

Boy, we think it's bad when we have to go weigh in and have 10 excuses ready if we gain, but when you are on dialysis, no excuse is needed, the blood work tells them everything!

We had cornish hens, rice and asparagus for Easter and I made him a cake.

Need to stay busy and make up from missed hours at work. Have a great day!

Faye - where are you this morning - it's scary when you aren't the first one posting!

Still cold here but slowly warming up. Hopefully the temperatures will return to normal by next week and it will be a lot warmer. We actually had snow last Saturday and it has damaged the peach and apple crops because it was so cold.

Had quilt guild last night. It was really nice to get together and see my friends and get some quilting done. Our project for the next year is to make quilts for the Quilts of Valor program that sends them to the soldiers wounded in Iraq.

Good morning ladies! Just a short post this morning to let you know I am back and had a lovely time. I was sick the whole time and am trying to get back on track with that, but I didn't eat too badly! I am still not sure whether I am having allergy or a very minor cold. I am coughing, which is not unusual for me with allergies, but no chest rattling anything like that, no nose congestion for the most part though I have a runny nose, but I have one a lot anyway because of the allergies. I will just keep taking my allergy meds and see if they work ok. I am also dealing with hemmoroids, which I rarely rarely have a problem with, but I was constipated the whole time we were in Indiana so it is no surprise. I was pretty miserable driving for 2 hours over and back and then walking around shopping with her, sitting in a movie theater, in restaurants etc, but I kept telling her I was ok because I didn't want to spoil it for her. She did love the sweater I made for her though.

You gals take care and I will peek in probably tomorrow. I am going to try and rest all day and get my problems fixed!

Faye

Faye, sorry about your "bottom" problems - hope that you get relief from that and your allergies soon. Glad you had a good visit with your sister anyway.

Jean, what a tragedy! My heart goes out to their familes and friends. Snow! I though Al Gore said we have global warming on a big scale going on!

61 degrees and rain today but it will finally warm up after this the weatherman says (lol).

They extened the biggest loser contest at my Curves until May 18 since they had 8 people tied for third place. Suits me fine, more incentive to keep with the program!

Good morning gals! Hope all is well in your world.

Susan: It is so very good to hear that Stan is coming along well and that he is getting better with all that is going on with him. Hope you will the challenge! I am sure you will.

Jean: Those parties have such expensive stuff and you can usually get almost the same thing and made better in a good department store. When I was with my sister we looked at handbags and I found some I would have loved to have, but I didn't succumb. All I bought was three pair of earrings and this little net bag with pen, pencil, calculator and eraser in it in camouflage colors for Thomas to have for scouts. My sister does Mary Kay part time so she did a facial on me and then did a makeup session the next morning. That was fun. I don't do all the crap they suggest, just wash and moisturize in the evening and use a night serum though I doubt it helps much then wash and moisturize in the morning.

I am down three lbs so I will take that. I have had a rough time with all the traveling and such, but seem not to have done myself any damage.

It is frustrating not being able to clean and such, but I have to just wait until my situation is better before I tackle any of that. For now, I guess I will just knit, knit, knit.

Everyone have a great day today!

Faye