Hey guys, good Sunday Morning. I've been enjoying my weekend off after a LONG work week. Spent yesterday with my friend and helped her with some laundry and then watched a DVD. I left after she ran out of steam and was starting to feel some pain. It's odd that being with someone who living under such difficult circumstances can be such a positive experience. She really is amazing.

Ruth~ Have a terrific trip! Getting a new contractor will probably really cut the stress out of the reno.

Happy~ I learned tech writing from doing it, but did actually get a college diploma through night school to legitimize my experience when I was ready to officially switch careers. But I have to admit I didn’t learn much that I didn’t know in college. I know that more universities and colleges are offering courses so there are probably some good ones out there. As most things, it will depend on who is teaching. Tech writing is a lot more about organizing information and presenting it in a logical manner than it is about grammar and spelling. I’m not sure thinking can be taught.

Rennie~ I suspect that our parent’s generation probably said the same thing about us when we were at their age. And I wasn’t the child of hippies, as both my parents were born in the 20s. They were never my “best friends”, they were my parents. I agree with Happy that raising kids to think the world is a peachy place and everyone is great probably is setting these kids up for some sort of fall when the real world hits.

Ceejay~ I agree with Shad. You should get the degree just for the fun of it - plus it’s probably a good career move. Learning makes life interesting.

Shad~ Do you think threats of physical violence will keep your agent in line? Cool. It sounds as if the organization pulls its procedures out of their hat. Maybe they have one of those big game wheels that they spin each morning to see how they will do business today. You must be counting the days. Have fun on the whirlwind tour of Australia. Thanks for the Mel update.

Holly~ Some one is obviously starting early on the Christmas thing. I heard the first Christmas carols in the mall this week.

Ok, I have to go and call my Mom (speaking of parenting) and find out what the cats are up to. At some point I have to get a shower in. I was going to go to the gym, but now the morning has slipped away. I have some more cleaning to do. Everyone have a good day.

The family has departed. It was a fabulous day. My meal was perfect. I am a great hostess, LOL! Much joviality ensued. We grazed on dessert and munchies and wine/ beer all afternoon ,after dinner at 1pm. The house is still clean and the dishes are done!! Yippee!!!!! We will have turkey on home made buns before bed.
Kids need baths. I LOVE my husbands family. Particularly DSIL and all my nieces and nephews. My kids are the youngest by many years so completely hero worship the big kids, who are all teenagers now.

I am going to put my jammies on and put my feet up. I have been going full steam ahead for 12 hours. I think there is some wine left too. mmmmmmmm

So we are done with Christmas now until we have a party here Dec 15th and then Christmas day at my sisters.
I have 3 big Avon events in the next 10 days.

Nice to catch up with you all HUGS!!!!!!!!

Mornin' kids,

My favorite work week ahead - a SHORT one Thanksgiving this week - 4 day weekend. Groceries are purchased. It will be a traditional turkey dinner after all.

Though I did stumble upon something on the weekend called The Abs Diet. Once again the concept of specific power foods like almonds, oatmeal, green vegetables, etc. It's a way of eating more than a specific diet - something I can deal with. Back to the protein smoothies in the morning - I've been skipping breakfast or eating a bad one on the run lately. Cherry Vanilla smoothie this morning. Orange Dreamsicle tomorrow.

Shad - thanks for the update on Mel. Poor woman. Both eyes. Oh my. Sounds like you are going to be a rambling and roving woman in the days ahead. Safe travels and the end of the year (as well as the end of your stint on the project) is soon ahead. Just keep hoping it goes fast. I guess your work environment is indeed much more multicultural than ours.

Thanks for the info Madcat - it is the organizational and arranging techniques that the boss wants the other person exposed to. I will just have to keep looking. Call your mom to check on the cats????? Did you lend your cats out or did Carla sneak hers off to your mother's?

Gotta run. I'm supposed to leave the house in 35 minutes to get to work early. Like THAT'S gonna happen

Happy
You are getting to be an early bird. I want the dreamsicle smoothie recipe, please. Sounds good.

Mel--Hugs to you. Feel better soon.

Holly
I'm so happy things went well with your in laws. You deserve to put your feet up for awhile.

Rennie
Have you thought of wearing a pedometer? You'd be suprised at the amount of steps, miles you get in during one day.

I threw my scale away this past week. It had bit the dust. I weighed in this morning on the scale at work and I'm down another pound. 179.4.

More later.

Rennie - regarding the pedometer. Get one. It's cheap - like less than 10 bucks at Walfart. I think you'd be surprised that you aren't walking nearly as much as you think you are. I say this from experience - mine and other people's. Many a time we walked the zoo for 4 or 5 hours and thought for sure we'd covered a bunch of miles but were disappointed it was nowhere near what we thought. And the nice thing about the pedometer is that sometimes you challenge yourself just to do a bit more which is always a good thing.

Unless you have a job walking the plant like Ceejay well then ... job done.

:congrats: on being another pound down Ceejay.

The cherry vanilla smoothie was tasty but I put too much ice in so it was more of a slushie/ice cream headache thing. I did one scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 cup LF vanilla yogurt, 1 scoop ground flax seeds, 1 cup room temp water (or you could use LF milk) 1 cup ice cubes and 1/2 cup frozen pitted dark, sweet cherries.

Because I am trying to cut back with my food, of course I am ravenous today.

I did get a packet of the orange dreamsicle protein powder to try but otherwise to do the dreamsicle I'd do 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 container Yoplait LF Orange Dreamsicle Yogurt, flaxseed, water and ice as above. You can also add 1 tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate for extra orange flavor. These make 2 servings, I'm glad I have DH to push the rest off on. Haven't quite figured out how to make just one, 8 oz serving yet.

Morning chicks,

Just checking in. It's getting pretty quiet around here - everyone must have gone out of town

I'm just trying to get through the next 2 days to get to the long weekend. As much as I hate to think about it, Christmas will be upon us snap, crackle, pop. I used to love Christmas. Now it seems like just another intrusion. And admittedly, it's hard to feel in the spririt listening to music when the leaves are all colored and gorgeous and it's 70 degrees out. Feels more like the end of September.

Off to work now. Have a good day.

A POST FROM SHAD AND MOM:

SHAD:Morning all,
Well it is still morning and a bloody long morning it has been too. Up at 3.00 this morning to catch the cab to the airport and then some coffee in the club lounge and some muesli and then onto the plane. Put my stuff up in the rack fell into the seat and slept through the entire journey. Only woke up when the hostie announced it was time to fasten seat belts. I have a suitcase packed for Karratha and one for Brisbane and I was going to leave the Brisbane one in the luggage lockers only to find they are not where I thought they would be so I ended up bringing both. Loads of stuff to carry as well, began to resemble a pack mule. Got to Karratha - its nice and warm up here and a swarm of flies attacked. It's like everyone has this affliction - sporadic waving of the arms to chase away the little blighters. It's apparently called the great Australian salute. They are really bad.

Other than that not a lot else to report. Can't get in to read anything - you are still pornographic. I'll be back when and where I can.
Thanks Mel and Jen

MOM: Mom is taking antibiotics this week. The eyes look much better to me. They feel better to her. S Maybe she will be back next week. Mom went food shopping last Tuesday and it wasn't a good idea. One eye got worse in the wind even with wraparound style glasses on. So no more going out just this week. It's almost over now.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us to all of you.
Mel & Jen

Jen and Mel
Jen thanks for the update on Mel. And for taking care of her.

Happy
I didn't think that we would even have the color of fall but it has been gorgous here also. It seems every tree in town has color. I'm about to be a scrouge at Christmas time and hide from it all. Thanks for the smoothie recipe.

Rennie
There was something I was going to mention but it's slipped my mind.

I'm getting excited. My sister is almost here. She called a few minutes ago from Jonesboro, AR., to ask for more specific directions.

I have litterally enjoyed my day off today. I'll have 160 hours (4 weeks)to play with next year and I'm going to use them.

I've contacted sautech about taking internet classes in 2008 and yes they have them. I'll probably schedule one for February. The first one starts January 1, and I'm just not that excited about starting at that time. I'll be taking a 24 hour class to get all my hours in at one time. I may have to have 12 hours worth of meetings and 12 hours worth of class room hours. I'll double check.

If your are planning a trip out of town, be careful.

Hello Ladies,

I know I have not posted as much as I wanted to, but with work, Holidays and maybe a new guy in my life, time just passes by. I'm still working out in the morning though. I realized if it wasn't for my morning workouts, I would be soo much more stressed than I am.

Wishing those who celebrate Thanksgiving a Happy Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for all the friendships I have met on this site. Thank you Shad for inviting me to meet all your friends.

To my sisters to the south: Have an excellent and safe holiday!! Think kind thoughts of those of us who are working diligently away.

Evening all,
Yep, it is me. I'm sitting in the Qantas Club lounge with a vodka and tonic and waiting patiently for my long flight to Brisbane. I should get in at 6.00am Friday morning.
Karratha was hot humid and laden with flies. I have never seen anything so bad. It was absolutely horrid. The company dished out hard hats with flyscreen around them to try to help those who were unfortunate enough to work outside. I was nearly beserk with the things. I hate them on my face, I hate them anywhere actually but it is no fun to have your arms full of paperwork and the flies attacking your face and trying to get up your nose, in your ears and eyes and the minute you opened your mouth they wanted in there too. I really can't stress how bad it was.

Darn, pushed the wrong button.

Hope Ruth is having a good time with the DD and the daddy Christmas with the skinny legs! Haven't been to check up on her site yet but I will.

Happy - thanks for the e-mail. It's really a huge pain not being able to go to the site at work. Can't think what they think they are playing at. Hope they sort it out soon but...... don't put money on it.
The smoothies in the mornings sound so good. Nothing like getting the daily calcium in early.

Holly - good to hear you are on the mend again and life is looking up. So glad that Christmas was such a success. It's so good when families get on. Had a text message from the Dniece yesterday - she wants to catch up when I get home. I replied with my standard 3 word answer and before I could shut the phone, she's back with more questions. That girl can text at the speed of light. Anyway, seems she has organised a family breakfast for Sunday morning. Good oh.

Mel/ Jen - thanks so much for looking after my ramblings. I will be home for the weekend so will be able to get in from there okay.
Mel I hope you haven't been over doing it again. Time for your rest - off you go and don't answer back please! Else I might have to go pornographic again.

Rennie, congrats on the 2lbs down. You are on a roll. Hope the knee is feeling better now.

Madcat - sometimes folk like your friend are the most inspirational folk around. They have some much to bear and yet find so much to give. Long may she be the way she is today. If she can't get better, here's to not getting any worse.

Ceejay - sounds like you are going to have a wild time with the family. It's nice to hear. I hope you do decide on the degree. It will do wonderous things for your ego.

Okay, so what else is new? Not a lot. Can't think what might be fun. The accountant rang to say that she has sent my return to the house and I should be getting something like $4000 back this year. Yippee, some more to the travel fund! I've been emailing Chris in Japan who is feeling fine if somewhat cool and if I finish here in good time and don't have to go someplace else immediately, I am going up there we are going to pack her stuff in early February. I don't think the agent was impressed with the parts of his anatomy that I was about to lop! I haven't heard from him since. I've had an argument with the super ego on the Karratha plant and apparently I am deliberately obtuse - nice words - about what he thinks I should do with the training. Unfortunately his brand of charm doesn't do much for me, and I watch with amazement as people succumb to his bullying - there really isn't much else to say about it. All I can say is that the company is in the state it is in because there are too many around like that one. He wants to change all the training material around - could it be done he asks me. No says I. No what he said, no thank you said I (deliberately obtuse - who me!!). No it can't or no you won't, he asks.
My answer is quite simple. We created the documentation as per specification from the BPT team working on the project. The doco has been passed by the project and signed off by the business - why should I want to change it. End of story!!!
My boss rang me to congratulate me on being the one female who stood up to MH. Not hard I said, I'm allergic to egos. I was also congratulated by the business project owner - not that he stands up to the buzzard either.

Okay - to all my American friends - have a wonderful Thanksgiving if I don't get back before the actual day - since I don't know when it actually is. Don't eat too much, or drink too much or do anything silly. We need you back here on deck first thing in the morning - OKAY???

Not only were the flies bad, they simply didn't recognise the insect repellent I poured over myself every morning - eau de Karratha. They thought it was some sort of novelty stuff.
They caused an accident today - I was carrying the above mentioned load of paper work in plastic envelope type files and I had a face full of them. I swiped at them with the envelopes and one caught me on the upper lip and split it. I just made inside the door before dropping the envelopes and mopping up the blood before it dripped all over my tee shirt. Just call me Angelina Jolie - we have the same size upper lip!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to the SHE'S south of the border.
Hello Shad. You should soon be home and scratching Sunday behind the ears.

HUGS!!!!

Morning chicks,

to those of us in the states. (It is / was Thursday Shad - you pretty much missed it ). It's a chilly one here - was 70 degrees yesterday, got some big time storms yesterday evening which brought in a cold front and it will only be a chilly high of 49 today. Brrr. But at least we don't have snow like my family up north. Debating if I want to cook the turkey on the grill or just pop it in the oven inside. I was watching the Biggest Loser show this week and one of the trivia pop ups they did was that a large scoop of canned cranberry sauce had the equivalent sugar of 8 donuts Not that I eat a large scoop but I do like the stuff. I will have to go an do a measure of a right sized portion just to see the numbers. We only get fresh cranberries this time of year and I'm the only one who eats them so I don't think I want to fuss with making fresh relish just for me. We had a pot luck Thanksgiving celebration lunch at work last Friday where the company supplied the ham and turkey and everyone else brought a dish from home. One girl made this fabulous pineapple casserole that everyone loved. She gave me the recipe and I'm going to make a small dish of it today. I'm not a big pineapple person but fruit based dishes seem to go so well with poultry. I'm also making my mom's recipe for home made dressing/stuffing. I love her recipe - again something I only eat once or twice a year. Nothing too terrible on the food side - I have an appointment with my general doctor next Thursday and I have gained some weight since I last saw her so I'm going to get the big So I'm trying to be good. Looking forward to 4 days off to - well 3 and a half now as I've twiddled the morning away. I can't decide if I want to face the horrid crowds and get my Christmas shopping done early, or put up the Christmas decorations (best chance to get them done early enough to make it worthwhile if I do it this weekend). Then again I have been promising myself that I will clean out boxes in the garage this weekend too. So many things to chose from

Rennie - seems like you've found a reasonable compromise to work with the knee. I found as we hit the colder weather, the joints seem to complain a bit more so you have to jump on the good days and scale back if need be. The important thing is that you are doing something daily as you say.

Hi Holly, what are you up to? I get it now - you have Christmas so early because the in-laws are gone when it really comes around on the calendar.

Shad - OMG - those flies. Ugh. Just like out of a horror movie. So sorry you got a big lip. Take care of that so it doesn't get nasty. Poor thing I'm glad you stood up to the big guy - wished I was a fly on the wall to observe so I could fall down laughing at someone FINALLY giving him a come uppance Enjoy your time at home. That was nice of the niece to put together a little gathering. Are you going to be home for the holidays for a bit? That's nice of you to go an help Chris out. Will it be easier to see her in NZ or no diff as when she was in Japan? A flight is a flight is a flight?

Madcat and Carla - kind thoughts to you who are slaving away at work the next 2 days. We will do some work too - just to be supportive. Carla are you out hiking in the snows? Madcat - although you don't want those circumstances to happen to anyone you care about, what a great inspiration your friend is - not just to you but also when I hear about someone like that I also feel it's time to put the whiney stick down and put on my big girl pants. Hope you Canadians are all doing well. Is Ruth down here again or is she off in the wilds again? I know she's travelling somewhere.

Patty - thanks for stopping by. What's this trying to slip by - a new guy? How exciting!

Ceejay - hope you enjoy your visit with your sister. Gosh - hope she made it through the storms ok - they were pretty nasty yesterday.

Mel and Jen - happy Thanksgiving to you. Stay warm and DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR OR THE PHONE (well unless it's us of course ) Hope you're on the mend Mel - we sure do miss you.

Well - I have lots of stuff to prep so I'd better get moving. Happy Thanksgiving to some of us and Happy Thursday almost the Weekend to the rest of the chicks!