Good morning to you all! Jack ran out to do an errand so I thought I would peek in and see what y'all are doing.

Jean: I am surprised they didn't just tell you too bad about your stuff. I am always afraid something will get left at Walmart with those merry go round bag holders. I don't leave until I twirl the thing around completely. I could care less whether the checker likes it or not, I don't trust them. When is Jason's birthday? Your anniversary is in a few days, doing anything special? What number is this one?

Maggie: Sounds like a cute desk piece. Jack and I watched "Chopped" yesterday on the food network and when you said what you did about the gourd made me think what this one gal did in the starters competition. One of the items was some Japanese squash thing. She took out the seeds and just put them raw in the salad she made. She didn't toast or flavor them in anyway. She got pinged by the female judge for it too. I kept yelling at the tv she should at least toast them! She obviously ignored me! lol

I am going to tackle downstairs today. Jack is going to spot clean the dining carpet from when Fortune was sick and then he is going to grill out tonight. It has been in the low 90's or even upper 80's for highs for a few days so it is not unbearable.

They still do not have the ticket in the system for us to pay. It irritates the heck out of me as they only give you 15 days from the time it is written. I am about ready to just send the thing in with the amount I found on a city website and say to heck with it. We sure have a bunch of dummies running this city.

I contacted the place I bought the clothing and swimsuit about my refund and the exchanged tshirts but they have yet to get back to me. The stuff I sent back was delivered to them on the 20th, which was a week ago so I am trying to find out the status. I am highly disappointed in this place and I told them so. I told them they lied to me about the suit and I would definitely not order from them again.

Well, Jack is back so we should get some breakfast in us. Take care and have a great Sunday. Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! Another lovely day. The windows are open. The AC is off. $$ are staying in my checking account.

I maintained again at WW. I can see these last 7 pounds are going to be hard. Eventually I'll get there. I made my menus for this week last night so I'm all set to go. I'm grilling a steak and baking a potato and making broccoli for dinner. Today is my dessert day so 1/2 cup FF ice cream with 1/2 cup raspberries and a tablespoon of chopped pecans, topped with a dollop of FF coolwhip.

I got plenty of exercise Friday and Saturday with cleaning carpets and furniture so I didn't go to the Y. I got there 5 times last week. I'm going this afternoon to do my strength training and recumbant bike. I can only go 3 more days because they close from Sept. 2 - Sept 6 for annual maintenance.

Faye, I hope they give you your refund. Sounds like a shady company to me. I'd mail the ticket and check in. The only time I've had a speeding ticket, the officer told me to go to court and not pay the ticket. In VA is you haven't had anything on your license in 10 years, they put you on probation for 6 months and if you don't get any tickets in that time, they tear up the ticket and don't count it.

Have a great day!

Good Evening, Flowers! It is very humid in my corner of the world tonight -- was windy and hot during the daylight hours. We went to visit with my "mom;" left at 9:30 this morning and got home this evening. She looked a whole lot better than I thought she would except her hand that had the IV looks like she has been in a fight. The IV backed up during surgery and they had to switch hands. She is in hopes of moving to the skilled care unit of our local hometown hospital tomorrow. Her neighbors on each side came to visit so it was nice to see them again. Later her daughter and husband came so we had a nice visit with them too. Believe it or not, we stopped at the WM store so I could buy some WW snack cakes that our stupid store no longer carries.

Maggie -- Your desk cat sounds so cute! I have lots of cat things sitting around. I love them all but they do collect the dust. I'm ordering some lower humidity and a bit cooler temperature type weather!

"Gma" -- Jason's birthday is the 3rd -- he will be 37 and we will have been married 43 years on the same day. I look back and wonder how did the years slip away so quickly. We are going to a surprise birthday party for my "sister." Her birthday is in August but her husband knew that she might be expecting a surprise (she's always wanted a surprise party) so didn't plan it for then. We plan to go to the lake on Saturday and maybe stay overnight depending on the weather. The kids will be there too. It seems like businesses are anxious to get your money but not so anxious to give refunds. It does take awhile and you'd think with computers it would be fast.

Susan -- You are doing well to maintain and not gain. That shows you can do it! I have heard that the last few pounds hang around far too long and are pesky to get rid of. You will do it! It's too bad the Y will be closed but hopefully it will be cool enough for walks outside.

Guess I will head to bed and read for awhile. It's been a long day. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning to you all! I had a gain this week of 4 lbs, but not unexpected. I am back on the female thing merry go round so I imagine it will all catch up in a week or so. I just keep on the right track and don't get discouraged.

Susan: That last 10 lbs is usually the stinker to get off. You will do it and I know you aren't overly concerned about it. You work so hard and exercise so much that it is bound to come off. The city needs their money too much to do that about tickets. We are deep deep in the red and just had the supreme court rule against the city to the tune of 58 million $. The moron who used to be mayor and was as dirty as they come (he was mayor for 12 years btw) tried to not give the city schools any money saying it was up to the county to pay for city schools. Well the supreme court just made it final ruling and the city has to come up with the money and give it to the schools. So, the new mayor is trying to stick it to the employees because he says 62% of the budget is personnel. Maybe if the upper management didn't all have cars and body guards and expense accounts and crap like that we could say a lot of money. The guy who was the head of our vehicle fleet got caught spending city money on car repairs to his caddie, huge flat screen tvs and such. We get the corruption cleared up we may just have money. Never mind, I get a bit wound up about him wanting to take Jack and other city employees sick and vacation time.

Jean: I almost had a baby on my anniversary. Kelly was born November 16 and our anniversary is the 18th so I was still in the hospital. I didn't realize Jason was the same age as Jay. He is a month older! lol Jay will be 37 on October 22 and Kelly will be 33 on Nov 16. How old is Beth? It is actually going to be cooler this week for us. It is supposed to rain this weekend at least part of it, but I hope we can take T over to his house and go swimming. I don't want him to get bored with his old grandparents. His parents are going on a cruise to the bahamas. I just hope they don't get caught in that hurricane weather. I do so hope your "mom" gets back to feeling normal again. It is always hard when you aren't in easy contact with them.

Today I must tackle the downstairs. I have laundry to do too. Jack did the spot cleaning yesterday, but because it was going to rain I had to make dinner inside and got wrapped up on prep for that so didn't get the downstairs done. It is a mess as it always seems to get! We need to wear hazmat suits and not mess up my house all the time!!!

You gals have a good start to your week. It is 10 so I need to really get a move on. Faye

Good morning, ladies! 90 degrees and very humid so the AC is back on. Same for tomorrow, then the forecast says "dependent on Earl" (I think that's the name of the next hurricane. Ah, it must be September. I went out yesterday and put the lawn chairs and trash can in the shed until its October. I'm just hoping we don't get a really bad one again. Just got the latest on Earl and its a Category 4 headed right for us. There is also a cold front coming in from the north and if it gets here soon enough, Earl will be turned north and we will be spared. Isabel was a 2 and there was so much destruction. If it hits here at high tide, I'm flooded for sure. Say some prayers that it stays at sear.

I went to my Silversneakers class at noon. It might be for seniors, but we sure get a good workout. Guess I'll be using my resistance bands and riding my exercise bike while the Y is closed since the humidity will be staying high for a while. Since I started exercising, I have been getting satisfied on less food. That's a good thing! On September 1 I'll measure myself and see if I have lost inches.

Nothing happening today - laundry, change bed, that kind of thing. Boring! Soon as I have that done, I'm going to work on my quilt.

Faye, you have the right attitude when you stay OP despite the female issues causing you to gain. It will all catch up eventually.

Jean, I've been looking at my closet because it is cramed with t-shirts that have stains so I don't wear them, pants, skirts and dresses that need to be hemmed. I'm taking a trash bag and throwing out those t-shirts and either hemming or giving away the others. Some of them are too big now and I don't want them hanging around. That's too much like saying I know I'll fail at this. I find things at the thrift stores that still have tags on them, so you aren't the only one.

Hi, Maggie!

Have a good day!

Good morning to you all! Jack left for work about 40 minutes ago and I have the dishwasher running and will get upstairs and do morning chores in a few minutes. I got the downstairs cleaned even though my hormones had me crampy and shaky all day. I took some meds, but they didn't phase it so I just trudged on and took multiple stops whenever I felt shakier than normal. I have some very minor problems with hypoglycemia occasionally, but I can definitely tell the difference. For one thing, I never have problems with it if I have eaten and I had eaten a good breakfast and another is when it is hormones I have the cramping and other things younger women have so I know it is the stupid hormones. It lasted until evening so it was a ridiculous day for me, but at least my whole house is cleaned for 5 minutes. lol

Susan: One thing I struggle with is when all this stuff is going on I get ravenously hungry. The only thing I can do is stretch out my eating to just about every hour or so. I get in as much fiber and fruit as I can so it fills me up, but my best way is just to break down my meals and eat more often. It sometimes gets the best of me, but I do try and eat healthy stuff when I go over points like fruit or a turkey sandwich, something like that rather than junk food. I can only hope that this will end sooner or later for good. Kelly and Tom are leaving on thur with the ship leaving on Friday so I hope another storm doesn't cause them problems. They will be back on Monday night so it is a short cruise. Hope Earl went out to sea and you didn't get much except maybe tide swells.

I got all my info and instructions for Thomas by email from Kelly so he can pull the wool over my eyes. She gave me instructions about his homework and such and some hygiene issues he will try and skirt around, but I have his number and watch him brush his teeth and such to make sure it gets done. He is a boy, that's for sure. I think we will take him to Incredible Pizza one day and swimming another. We have to grocery shop this weekend so he will have to come with us and he hates to shop, but we have to feed him! lol

We are having ground sirloin meatloaf, scalloped potato made with skim milk and beans for dinner. Jack was a love and chopped me a big onion last night so that is all ready to go. I will probably mix it up early and put it in the fridge then just pop it in the oven. I use the canned, sliced new potatos because I like that they have more body to them and know that they will be cooked! lol

Well I need to go. Have a good Tuesday and hope everyone enjoys your day. Faye

Good morning, ladies. Hot, humid and bad air quality alert today. Earl is going to hit us on Friday. First they said 8 am, now it's getting closer to noon. High tide is a little after 1 pm so it doesn't look good. If he stays on the path he is on now, we'll get the western edge and it will mainly be high tides, rip tides and storms. If he comes inland more, it will be worse. Earl will make land somewhere around NC to ME - figure that out if you can. It's been 7 years since Isobel and we had that terrible Nor'easter last winter so can only hope for the best. Fiona is right behind Earl but not dangerous yet. Glory has surgery scheduled for Friday so we can't leave town. Her daughter is coming in today.

Work today and then strength training at the Y. I was all upset because the tv listings didn't match what was actually on last night - yeah, I was looking at Tuesday instead of Monday. Dumb and dumber have nothing on me!

Faye, it'll be good training for T to go shopping with you because he'll have to do it when he gets married. He might as well get used to it. LOL. Scientifically, protein keeps you feeling full longer than fiber and carbs. Fruit has a lot of sugar naturally so can give you the insulin rush that drops back in an hour and you feel hungry again.

Have a great day!

Good Morning, Flowers! I'm not sure if all of the posts downloaded or not, but here goes my two cents worth! This site is definitlely havingit's problems!

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood with sunshine, a slight breeze, and lower humidity. It's only supposed to be in the upper 70s, so my windows are open once again! I've changed all of my calendars to September; doesn't seem possible fall is right around the corner.

Maggie -- I didn't know that flour prices were going up. I don't use much so really don't pay attention. Thanks for the tip.

I am looking for my bank statement that I started working on and never finished, so that is my next project.

Have a terrific Thursday and enjoy your day!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning to you gals. I was up all night with darn leg cramps so I slept in after Jack went to work this morning. We are heading out this afternoon to get his haircut, a couple small fans, one for T's room while he is here, some new work socks for Jack, and some WW meals the commissary doesn't have.

I ordered 4 books on Amazon today for the trip. Two of my favorite authors, Robert B Parker and Dick Francis passed away and I am getting their last books. Parker passed away in January and his very last book doesn't come out until next month, but somehow I missed the next to last one so I got it. Dick Francis passed away in February and his last book with his son, just came out. Dick Francis was in his 90's when he passed away. The new Evanovich book comes out right before we leave so I may try and get my hands on it before we go. If I have down time I can whiz through a book so I want to be sure and have plenty of reading material for the beach or if it rains or something.

Jean: Girlfriend, you headed the other way from Susan! Look at the end of your post this morning! We all seem to be in wrong way stupor this week! We never got our meatloaf meal. I had to throw it all away. Kelly called at 3:30 yesterday and asked if we could run to her house and pick up Thomas as her fil had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Her fil is 74 so I thought maybe he had a stroke or something. Anyway, I changed clothes, turned off the oven, grabbed a pair of shorts and tshirt for Jack to change into, called him on the cell phone and told him to just pull up to the garage we had to pick up T. Luckily, her fil had been to the dr with some tightness in his chest and they gave him an ekg which looked funny so they sent him straight to the hospital. They kept him overnight, but ran another one and it was normal. He will have a chemical stress test this morning to make sure everything is a-ok before coming home. She gave us money to take Thomas to dinner so we went to Chilis (Kelly dislikes Chilis so he never gets to go and loves their chocolate lava dessert) Right as we finished she called and said they were home so we took him home. I got home to a house that smelled divine with meat loaf and stuff, but it had sat in the oven for 3 hours so it had to be thrown out. Bummer! lol

Susan: I do so hope the storm bypasses you or at least no more than rain comes your way. Let us know as you can that you are alright. Hope Glory isn't having anything serious done at the hospital. Tell her I wish her well!

Maggie: While we were sitting at dinner I told Thomas what his mom had said about the science articles and his homework. I said, "Listen, you will be with us 3 1/2 days, if you have homework, you can spread it out over the time and not have to do it all at once. Mom wants you to do two science articles and summarize on the laptop for your dad to proof read so you can work them in too. Otherwise, you can have fun! He is an honest kid, not like his uncle and he would tell me if he had homework. His parents are leaving tomorrow so he will be with the other grandparents Thursday night since he has school the next day and they live across the street so he can catch the bus, but he told his granddad last night he wanted to be picked up at 4:30 on Friday! (he gets off the bus at 4:15! lol)

I tell you, I love that husband of mine, but he needs me nagging at him so he won't forget. Husbands of the world: That is why wives nag because you forget things all the time!!!! He was supposed to drop off two letters at the post office. They are both for him, his new prescriptions for the year from his cardiologist and his ticket that I paid. The uniform people that provide their uniforms at work have been shorting him one for months now so he brings one home for me to launder, which I did Monday. The man wadded the thing up and it was in the backseat yesterday he had forgotten about it! It was a wrinkled mess! He needs a tape recorder hung around his neck with me just repeating things he needs to remember to do! lolol

Well gals, it is almost lunchtime and I have had no breakfast so guess I will hunt up brunch! Have a wonderful hump day all. It is back to being very humid again so it is not very comfortable outside today. Faye

Whoa Maggie! I had posted and saw that I forgot to congrat u, tried to get back in and couldn't until now. Great job!

Good afternoon, ladies! High 90s and humid - what's to love? The hurricane warning was posted this morning. We are about 50 miles for NC Nags Head area. If the storm continues on track, we'll have wind gust and lots of rain (flooding) but they are estimating about 7 feet for high tide and I am 8 feet above sea level so should be okay. They just started scrolling the school closings for NC along the bottom of the screen. Outer Banks will be evacuated. There's only one bridge so they have to start early. FEMA has already moved in with water, food, generators to be ready if there is a lot of damage.

I met with my trainer at the Y and she increased all my exercises to 2 sets so I'll be doing twice as much. I did treadmill and bike this morning. Now the Y is closed until next Tuesday for annual maintainence.

Maggie, I didn't see your post yesterday until today so :c heer: Great loss. My scale is down a couple of pounds today but who knows what it will be on Friday. Looks like it'll be a bad weekend for the tourist business.

Jean, I envy you with your windows open!

Faye, I stopped at the library after I went to the Y and stocked up on books in case the power goes out. All our power lines are underground in the development so unless one of the main lines goes down we rarely lose power. If I can't get on, you can go to www.dailypress.com, our newspaper, and see how we fared. Glory is having surgery to remove a melanoma that is caused by the radiation she had in her late 20s when she had uterine cancer. The doctor said these are common. The dermatologist tried to remove it in her office but it was too deep - and she has had to keep it packed with 2 gauze pads to keep it open for Friday. The doctor said it was pretty common for these to occur many years later. Depending on how deep they have to go, she may be in the hospital a day or two.

Have a great evening.