Good morning to you ladies and Happy Presidents' Day! Jack is upstairs snoozing enjoying his day off and he has until around 8 then I am going to roust him out of bed so I can get the upstairs cleaned. I want to start getting clothes gathered up and folded to pack. I have errands tomorrow and Wednesday and though Jack packs the night before, I like having it done early like everything else I do! lol

Susan: There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there shall I be also." I think it should have included "and are eating again" after the "in my name" as church people are always having some kind of food thing going on. We either have coffee and donuts or breakfasts before services, potlucks after, etc, etc. Sounds like your little quilting group has fun. Since you sew, I am going to ask you a ??? I think I am going to put a coordinating cotton fabric backing on the placemats I am making for Alicia. How much bigger than the placemat should I make it to fold under and stitch around, 1/4 inch?

Jean: I have red, blues, purples, black, tans, greens, you name it except white. I hate white handbags for some reason as I hate white cars too! lol I have very large bags, large and a couple medium sized bags. I have leather, suede and some fabric, but I do tend to buy good quality leather so they will last. One of the bags I get the most conpliments on is huge, black, and shaped just like a doctor's bag. Jack hates the thing and says it always looks like I am going on an emergency call! Every once in awhile someone will buy me a bag for a gift and it is ugly. My sister did that and it was the ugliest color kind of the green color of algae. I regifted it to my sil (husband's sister so there won't ever be contact!) She loved it so alls well that ends well. My sister tends to buy things she likes for other people instead of their taste. I have gotten more than one thing from her that has been pretty ugly and frumpy. She is one of those ladies that wears decorated/sequined sweatshirts all the time no matter where she is going. Her dd begged me to get her into something stylish but I have tried and failed. She does wear the brown vest with the school buttons I made for her though.

Well, it is almost time for "Third Watch" so I am going to get off. Have a good start to your week if you have to work today or have fun if you don't!
Faye

The Love Letters from Unhealthy Foods for Women

Hello sweetheart, how are you feeling today? I've been hearing all over town that you have been thinking about leaving me. Haven't I been there for you? Haven't I been home every single night waiting for you every single night waiting patiently for you to come in? I'm on every corner in some shape or form just waiting for you to drive by and think about me. Haven't I given you all the fat and calories that any female has even wanted? Didn't I raise your cholesterol level to an all time high? Didn't I make your heart beat faster than anything else? Who fixed it so that you could lay around and do nothing all day? I did, you told me that I was the sweetest thing in your life, "don't leave me baby".

I thought you loved the way I make the fat hang over your jeans whenever you sit down, or the way I make your thighs wrinkle whenever you cross your legs. Have you forgotten how my sugar gets you so high? I know that eventually it brings you down again, and I apologize for that," but I can't help it sweetie, that's just the way I am"

I admit that I love when you think that people don't want you around because I have made you so fat and uncomfortable that you refuse to participate in anything, ("that's my girl, I can have you all to myself now").

Hey darling, what is this I hear about you flirting with lettuce and tomato at the grocery store? What's going on with that? Was water there? Did you happen to run in to Whole grain bread too? They all run together you know. I'm not sure if this is true, but I hear they only deal with women who have self-esteem and self-worth! and I recognized from the beginning of our relationship that you didn't have either one of those qualities sweetheart, Baby I know that you don't care enough about yourself to walk two to three days a week, do a little yoga with a friend, or a few crunches here and there, I understand the fact that women like you really don't want to get to know themselves, because if they do, they might just have to deal with some issue that they would rather keep buried inside, "but, that's o.k. with me cupcake, just keep it all inside, because I'm here for you.

Listen up girl, if you have been thinking about having breakfast with cantaloupe and oatmeal, forget about it! They can't can't do a d--m thing for you except bring you down, way down! you don't need to be healthy and feel pretty, you don't need to get down to your idea weight, or eat foods that were created especially for you! What would you look like munching on fresh bell peppers and sweet onions that was cooked in olive oil, with some whole grain rice and a piece of fish seasoned to your liking? everyone knows that you are not on that level my dear.

Speaking of water, he thinks he is all of that, believe me baby, he is nothing compared to me. I hear that he is cheap, easy to get to, and has no color or flavor! Unlike me, I come in all flavors, shapes, sizes and colors, and I am more expensive too! I think it is time for me to share something with you "my dove" I lost my last women to Water you know! all I'm trying to say is " I love you", and I am here to fill that empty heart of yours, in case you get lonely, stressed out, or bored ,I'll be here to satisfy your every craving. I'll be here for you when you think that you have nobody at all, I'll never leave you.
Listen girl, if you stick with me I promise you "there will be bigger and better things to come" on the other hand, if you do decide to start dealing with healthy foods, I can only guarantee you one thing, "YOU WILL BE LOSING ME"!!!!!!

Signed Unhealthy Foods
P.S. don't go changing

Good morning, ladies - only 40 degrees and it's nearly noon.

Faye, If you use cotton yarn to make the placemats, you might want to wash them before lining because they will shrink. Cut the lining about 1/2 inch bigger all the way around. It will easier to turn under.

Jean, we have nothing social at the church or in the church's name during Lent. It's our personal choice whether we limit other social activities. We'll still have bible study but we won't have food and beverages before hand. There won't be any coffee and donuts after mass or social time, etc. The only thing the Church imposes on us for Lent is to not eat meat on Fridays.

Have a good day, ladies!

Good morning gals! I had one of those nights when my medication kept me up and down in the bathroom. I hate it when it does that and I just gave up after the last time and decided to come downstairs. Thanks to both of you for the info on the placemats. I will keep it in mind when I finish them.

Jean: I gave Fortune a bath yesterday and then brushed him out. It kills my knees to put weight on them, but he needed a bath so a bath he got. Some women love shoes, I love handbags. I rarely buy one that I don't use because I discover I don't like it. Some don't use a lot because of their color, but I still use them. One of my favorite bags is bright bright pink and I love the size of it, the soft leather and it has lots of pockets and such to put stuff in. Unfortunately, pink doesn't go with everything! lol

Susan: Thanks for the article from "unhealthy." Boy is it all true and then some. I watched that brookhave obesity clinic last night for a bit and some of those folks are truly in deep deep trouble and still they can't control themselves. One young fellow is literally suffocating himself with fat over his lungs but he continues to cheat and get takeout delivered to the clinic. Us fat folks are no different than anyone else with an addiction. We get on the straight and narrow then relapse, then back, then relapse. I told Jack the other day that I was watching the Sopranos and one of the characters who had been in a fancy rehab place and was out, relapsed and was sitting in his car smoking crack. I told him, I could identify with that, going back to what was bad for you because it drew you back.

You gals have a great Tuesday. I have to go to the post office and put a hold on the mail for tomorrow. I always have to do it a day ahead to make sure the dummies stop my mail, which they never do and I always have to call the delivery supervisor and complain.

Faye

Good morning ladies! Probably last day to post until next Wednesday. I doubt I have much time tomorrow unless I am up really early. I have to take Fortune to the kennel, pick up a few things at the store and get back home by 9 as Jack will be home directly after that. I am sure looking forward to getting away even though we will be driving into snow I guess. I am not looking forward to that at all. It is beautiful here this morning, 60 degrees!

Jean: Every time you post about kids and their homework I think about when I was in school and how I would never have not turned in homework even when I struggled with it as I did with geometry. I had no one to help me with it and didn't understand it at all. I barely scraped by with a "C" in it and sometimes dipped into a "D." I think Catholics tend to have less social functions where there is food because so many of them quit eating some type of food for Lent. We Baptists don't celebrate Lent and as such are all porky! We shall see about the post office. I have yet to have them actually stop it without having to call the day they are supposed to stop it because they didn't, so I imagine I will be calling today. They are so lazy and the thing is, it is hard to get fired if you work for the PO. Federal jobs are like that. I will give you an example of something that just happened. We had a certified letter come to us and we weren't home I guess two weeks ago so she left a card. I know they have to try to redeliver twice more before sending it back so I just waited for them to redeliver. The post office that we get mail out of is clear across town so I figured they could just redeliver. Well, she didn't try to redeliver for 10 days then I saw her on Monday delivering the mail on our street and looked in the box and she hadn't delivered ours. I went out a few minutes later and here was another card. The lazy woman wouldn't even walk up to the house and try and deliver it she just put in another card. I had been leaving the gate unlocked every day so she could redeliver. So, I ended up having to go pick it up anyway. I saw on the letter they were sending back Monday without even attempting a third delivery. Lazy, lazy people.

I guess I should go. I am going to knit until Jack gets up then hightail it upstairs and pack stuff.

Have a great weekend and week and I will talk to you when I get back.
Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! Cold, gloomy rainy day, but we really need the rain.

Faye - Have a great visit with Jackson et al and a safe, no-trouble trip! We'll try to keep things going until you get back. Don't even get me going about the post office - at work we have a bank of mailboxes and half the time, she just stuffs a handful of mail in random boxes so we then spend the next hour redelivering to each other. At home, we have excellent service. Probably because I live in the county so it's a small operation and we all know who works there! The carrier used to bring the mail to the door for my husband since he knew he had a hard time getting to the box. If I leave a note that I need stamps and the money, he brings them the next day.

Jean, did you get more snow? Fortunately we've only had a few snow flakes this whole winter, none that survived on the ground. We'll be turning the clocks forward in only 3 weeks (March 8) so it will be nice to have more daylight in the evening.

I have quilting bee tonight and only 1 more week until THE QUILT SHOW!

Have a good evening!

Good afternoon, ladies! We had a bunch of rain yesterday and during the night, and when I got up this morning the weather had warmed up and we're at 60 today with sunshine so I am happy!

Had a good time at quilting bee. We are always having a good time. We meet at the library and every once in a while we forget and get to laughing too loud and the librarian comes in to shush us.

Have a good evening, the boss calleth!

Good evening, ladies! The nice warm weather left in the night and its down in the 30s again...bummer!

Cleaned the kitchen today, made 2 quilt blocks that are going into a quilt 6 of us are making in memory of one of our friends who recently died. It will be donated to the quilts of valor in her name. Went grocery shopping (ugh) and got my hair trimmed. I though about getting it short and it was tempting, but I decided I wanted to let it grow. It needs about another inch to cover my ears which is what I want. I'd like to tuck it behind my ears for everyday but be able to do different things for church and other occasions "out."

Maggie, Let us know how the cookbooks are. I think I've bought all I'm going to for awhile. I need to make more of the recipes I have already earmarked.

Jean, if you are like the rest of us, you'll be busier after you retire than before. I cook in spurts, it seems. This week it was all grilled chicken or pork or salmon and a vegetable. Next week I have no idea what dinner will be. The quilt show begins on Wednesday so my friends and I will probably eat out every night because we'll be tired from being at the show and classes all day. If we don't, I'll probably eat frozen entrees. I take my lunch with me. They have food available there but it is too expensive when I could be using the money for quilt show shopping.

Have a good evening!