G'mornin', g'mornin'.........well, I did me even better last night and got even less sleep. Had talked to wife of recently kidney-tranplanted neighbor and he's back in hospital. I think that unsettled me some and then I got onto other things. But I'm determined to have a good day today and it WILL include some outdorr time as we're still on a lovely weather kick and our colors are nearing peak. I haven't taken a good drive to leafpeep and I need to.

Sending peaceful vibes to Kaylets as you weather the job storms!

And to you, kat, re sister and andria, re all recent stresses.

Put blacktop on part of my driveway yesterday - painters had left some white marks and I decided to use partial can of sealer left in garage - killing two birds with one stone. Covering marks and getting can out of garage. Certainly far from an expert job but I'm secretly pleased (oops, not a secret now!) - sort of an "out of the box" thing for me.

Today's "big chore" involves lots of computer time and I'm not looking forward to that. Bleech!

Pies - I've never met many I didn't love. Esp. fresh and home baked. Let's see - peanut butter, pecan, pumpkin, cherry, blueberry, peach would probably be my top choices but the list could go on and on. even "funeral pie" but that wouldn't like me very much any more. Oh, mince I'm not fond of and while I still like a good shoefly once in every couple of years, I'm not as fond of that as I once was. Never was able to bake a decent pie myself.

Plus, Arabella, right as usual. Moon full today and I oft have sleep troubles around then. Usually my love for October conquers all - we'll see what happens when we get back to more Octoberish weather.

GArabella, glad dinner went well but, yes, not the same w/o DS.

wsw - I'm feeling like wringing necks for you. Putting off my next projects because they involve bathroom floors and I'm SURE they will involve more once we start. You just don't have the "put off" choice.

ceara, what a trek you must be on - lotsa miles but hopefully lotsa fun.

Hello all....

Yesterday fell apart at noon time....
Seems I thought I did something in late July that was not. And it went downhill from there.

I called DH outside the building by cell phone but that was only to catch my breath and to control myself.
I wound up not having lunch, staying an extra 1.5 hr( voluntarily) to look at a few things and try to get my feet back under me......

I have to do some serious thinking..... I'm not sure I have the focus to get thru this "sell off" and do as much as I have been doing.


Did hit the vending machine twice but that was lunch I guess. Luckily DH had a big chicken soup waiting when I got home.

*****

Sorry to be just me, me, me .... I promise to be more cheerful next time.


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Thought of the day:

"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything." - - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)


Question off the day:

"Name your favorite outfit."

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Oh, Kaylets - I hope today goes better. Yes, serious thinking. Maybe the problem came from working too much...I know you were putting in a lot of o/t. And kindly remember the palace rule which prohibits apologies for me-me-me posts.

Slept well last night too, Arabella, and d r a g g i n g still this a.m. Trying to think of fun things to incentify me today. Shall I go way outside my box and finally go (temporarily) blond? Dragged me out for another moonlit walk (at dusk but moon was so bright already) last night and said hi to him this a.m. when I walked out for paper. And that didn't do it? Nope, though it usually does. Maybe our expected cool off will bring a change for me. Nothing is any worse than usual and I can still look back on my recent declutterings and feel good about that - that would usually do it too. Nope - can't figure me out sometimes. So will try to just cling to something remotely resembling wsw's dainty portions and find something else to shake it up (in a good way).

DS coming back this weekend for a frolic of sorts with a friend. DD's plans to come (enroute elsewhere) have fizzled so I have lots of free weekend time to come up with something good. DS is going to help (sweetheart) with some of my computer tasks - which helps my downer mood in that direction.

What say thee, lies? Blond for six weeks or so? Oft lasts a bit longer for me. Hmmm - not a light blond. Thinking more of the honey blond of younger princess. I think she'd think it's a hoot but maybe she LIKES being the only blond in the family. When she was about three, she thought my white hair was blond (at least in not being dark) and I had to explain "gray" to her.

Well, anyway, I won't get any energy together sittinghere. Finish my tea and then off to the shower. Might get a callback or two that will help point my direction to me.

MMM - favorite outfit might be my pink flannel pj's with bears and penguin print.

Or the new teal one I bought last week (on sale, of course) which is off being hemmed. I have ACTUALLY bought THREE new outfits recently, plus a new pair of jeans. I think I thought that might help me lose enough weight to render them unusable

Forgot this one - "funeral pie" is basically raisin pie - supposedly so called because (before the advent of canned pie fillings) when fruit might be in short supply and one needed a pie for a funeral, one could always use raisins as a filling.

Cloudy today but warm and I am reduced to hoping that the whoosh fairy comes in tonight on the approaching cool front. Still feeling off-plumb and finally giving in to it being a slight flare of the RA,

I know the feel, Arabella. I had a nice one-day 205.6 a few weeks back and 207 has been the closest since. 207.4 today. Got in the dusk walk again last night but too sorta cloudy to enjoy Mr. Moon.

Off to grocery to stock up on some specials, then tomorrow to my regular store. Enough specials this time to make the drive work - it's close enough.

The cranberry/raisin thing sounds great as I love cherries and don't eat nearly enough of them.

So have a good one lies - Let's make it a THOROUGH THURSDAY and have an almost perfect one.

Mmmm... the squares I had were like date squares, only with the cranberry-raisin filling. Very good and mostly healthy...

We're really synching on the weight -- I've been either 207 or 207.2 every morning this week.

crisp, nice outside. My kind of weather. And getting nice and colorful.

Haven't weighed yet, expecting nothing much despite a string of pretty good days. Walked a bit in park with walking sticks yesterday. After walk in grocery store. DS coming tonight so I'll have lots of healthy food around - once I do the grocery run this afternoon.

Kaylets, your honchos just can't seem to avoid publicity. Hope that doesn't add to your stress though I'm sure there's buzz.

Love anything w/dates, Arabella. You're making my mouth water. Have been meaning to look up some new recipes (for my new lifestyle ) so might have to add some of the raisin/cran type.

PUNKIN - IT'S FRIDAY! and HALLOWEEN (almost)

Officially as of last night, the family woes are over. The books are closed, and I can finally breathe free. Time to dust out my corner of the palace and get back to a much more rewarding kind of work.
The disaster we had been dealing with here was CPS. The only way I can describe what was happening to us is that people who are so used to seeing evil in everything (because they see so much of it) just aren't willing to listen to normal people with normal, out-of-the-ordinary lives.
The case is finally closed as of last night! Wahoo! To be blunt, this has been a month of **** on Earth. CPS can ask anything they want, and ask you to do anything they want, and you don't dare refuse them because they instantly threaten to take your children away. All we could do was hunker down and be a family. Now, I think the entire family is going to need therapy to get over the trauma. I am not kidding. We are already looking up family therapists, and we have appointments set for the girls.
But seriously, I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my chest, and I can breathe again.

So, on to other mememe stuff of a much more positive nature. I don't know what's gotten into me of late, but I've been one straight appetite. I can't help wondering if it has a lot to do with cooler temperatures (I refuse to let stress be a cause--some call that DENIAL). To keep the appetite monster and the ensuing calories under control, I started taking a canned soup to lunch every day. There are some really good ones out there, they are fairly inexpensive, and if you check the labels, they can be a lot more healthy than most other lunch choices. My favorite so far is Progresso Lite. The entire can is about 160 calories. I usually bring along something crunchy like almonds and wheat thins or pretzels (or all three!), and the hunger beast is put at bay until after school. I have found that a healthy snack is mandatory as soon as I hit the house, though. If I don't, I'm munching the entire evening, and my weight will be up dramatically the next morning. I've actually been back up as high as 308 this last week, but this morning the scale registered an awfully nice looking 300.9. So close!
My plan today is to get to the gym and do a nice water workout. I have a huge amount of grading to do afterwards; my seniors just finished their first major exam. I'm actually looking forward to the grading. Their Beowulf essays were written about modern day "monsters", and they look truly promising so far. One student wrote about the war in Iraq being a modern day monster because it tears families apart and feeds on soldiers' lives. Wow! I can hardly wait to dig into these.

I can tell there is a lot going on in everyone else's lives here as well. It blows me away how gracefully you all move through and adapt.

Kaylets, I've been there with the job front before, although never on the scale you are talking. I do know it is frustrating and unsettling beyond belief, though. You are doing the right thing by working your contacts and looking outside the envelope for new opportunities. When my work situation had gone all crazy, it gave me the strength and the permission/opportunity to get my happy backside back to finish my degree. I keep crossing my fingers for you that your challenge will turn out to be an amazing opportunity just waiting to be uncovered.

wsw, I was reading about your a/c problems and just wondering how you manage to cope and still remain your sane, sweet self. I pray you have that pan by now. I wish I had the capability to manufacture one for you myself!

Kat, I'm sending pink vibrations your sister's direction. Because they caught all this early, there is a really good chance this will just be a small blip on the radar for her. If you have any questions about technical medical stuff, you know you can ask Tony. He would love to be of service, and I love being able to volunteer him. He actually gets his feelings hurt when friends don't ask.

Anagram, sounds like you have weathered current storms and come out on top! I forgot you use walking sticks until I read your last post. Please do tell what it is like using them. I've been dying to ask someone if they really do all they profess. Glad to hear your DD didn't end up in the hospital. Hope her woes are over and you are standing down, ready to relax out on your lovely patio. Oh, and is blonde the decision, or not?

Ceara, you traveling woman! Amarillo is a long way off from here, but it was fun hearing you had been in the same state as me. And I do have to say, there is one things Texans know for sure, and that is how to cook a steak. Good luck keeping the munch monster at bay!

Arabella, What an incredible and affirming message to receive! You really have worked hard, and you've come an awfully long way. I'm glad others around you are noticing and letting you know. Your woods woggle, tai chi, sound yoga, all of it, just keep reminding me of the calming, peaceful things I need to bring into my life. Thank you for the constant reminders of balance. I can't see the hairstyle pictures on this page, so I'm going to go back and look at them after posting. New season, new hairstyle. Sounds like fun to me!

I hope I didn't miss anyone from the last couple of weeks. If I did, please accept my apologies! It definitely wasn't intentional. There was so much catching up to do that I probably should have been keeping notes on a separate page!

Off to make breaky and get to the gym.

Andria

Andria, what a dreadful ordeal - on top of your other ordeals - but this one may have made the others seem "tolerable". Hope you and loved ones are able to "put it behind you" - not that I think you'll be able to forget, just that you are able to go on and rebuild your lives.

Hope you find right side of bed today, Arabella. Sounds like most of my last two weeks. But when the cold front came through, it helped me (somehow) to feel better. Had a frost last night but it's sunny and loverly out there right now. Going to go pull the killed coleus, impatiens, etc. Will put be in even a better frame of mind.

Re the blonde thing - still mulling - would only be a temporary thing at best. Trying to feel how I'd deal with "remarks" - not from my kids - last time I colored my hair they never noticed (Mom is Mom).

DS was here this weekend and it was nice. He was off w/his buddies from HS but still he was here some Friday afternoon, Sat morning and then yesterday. Did some things to the computer and will do more when he returns in eight days for my cataract surgery. Will do enough (he says) that he can work from here when needed ( he already has a fair leeway to work from home which has added at lot to his life - his DW already had that option but they generally choose to work at home on different days as it's more productive that way).

So off I go to second cuppa and sounding out with myself the blonde thing. I don't know what I expect to get from it - maybe just a leetle lift. It's way out of my box and I haven't come up with much else to do out of that comfort zone. I am just SO DULL. that's it - in a nutshell - SO DULL.

Hello all....

Thanks for the kind words....

So glad you figured out which "World's Largest Insuere" I was talking about so I didnt have to spell it out........Yes, its definitely come to the point ( for me) that this situation is far, far out of my control and its onlly the holding on part that counts......

As for the OT, that ended in June so I am getting home regular hours..... And I would be very surprised to see any now that so much "spending excess" has hit the press. Suddenly, the little people who do NOT get bonuses or reward trips now have to account for every pencil.

Its almost like finding out your spouse has a whole other family or a parallel universe type of thing....

But again, its up to me to control what I can, not what I cannot so............

"Here we go, Tuesday , here we go!"


Glad to hear the books are closed Silver. A friend is adopting from Haiti and she was told straight out.... "We assume everyone is a crimiinal and work to prove otherwise, our first and only interest is protecting the children."
It's one way to know we are protecting our kids........


I am off to pack my lunch.... Hope everyone is well.


Here's our thought of the day:

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Thought of the day:

"Wisdom has two parts: 1)-Having a lot to say. 2)-Not saying it."
- Church billboard in Vermont


Question of the day:

"If time and money were no object, what would you like to learn?'

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