Good morning everyone! The dogs got me up early having to go out. I haven't fed them yet, but they are staying around my legs until I do so when I get through here I guess they will get fed.

I woke up to a huge and I mean huge shock this morning. I always look at my emails first. Of course that woman from the clothing store after 5 emails is still ignoring me. Anyway, I had an email from a friend I went to high school with and her cousin, a girl that lived next door to me all 18 of my growing up years, went to school with me, etc passed away yesterday. I went to my local newspaper and saw her obituary, but it just said she died in her home. I later got an email from her cousin this morning that said she got hit by a bus a year ago and had serious injuries so ignored pains in her stomach until it was too late, went to the dr and they found cancer, which eventually spread to her blood.

It is beautifully cool here this morning and nice not to wake up to 80+ degree heat. I don't know if we can continue to have cooler overnight temps, but I would be happy with them that's for sure.

We are having fun with the boy. Last night I was telling his granddad that after we get back from vacation we will have to shampoo the one carpet again as one of the dog's had a booboo in there. What a said verbatim and was a slip of the tongue, "We will have to shampoo that carpet when we get back from vacation because Thomas peed on it." I said, "Oh, I mean Marty." Thomas was sitting behind me at the computer and piped up, "Oh, since you gave me permission to pee in there I will." then he giggled. That boy, he is a stinker. We sat around yesteday afternoon while granddad took a nap and discussed tv programming. Today we take him to Incredible Pizza. My weight watchers is taking a hit this weekend, but it comes with the territory.

Susan: Sounds like you got some great deals on veggies and meat. I have a half of a pork tenderloin in my freezer right now that I am going to slice and make into a little hawaiin luau kind of meal. I found a WW recipe and I am going to use it and put it over rice I think next week. I am sorry your weight seems to be stalled. Maybe your body is just where your body is going to stay whether the doctor wants something else or not. I am sure you will figure out what is going on and get back to sliding down the weight scale until you get to where you want to be. I am not a huge crust fan either, but I use the pillsbury pie crusts when I want to make a pie for something as they are thin and have a really good taste I think. I hate those big thick crusts. Better for me to avoid pie alltogether! I reallylike that chili recipe too. I saw a couple that your WW lady posted that I saved to my recipe file. Won't be long and chili will be the thing to have.

Jean: Yikes, you have turned off cold. Hope the weather warms up for a last trip to the lake this weekend. I know Jack said there was a slow moving cold front going through this weekend. I noticed the hotel we are staying at in a couple weeks was busy this weekend. Everyone is trying to get one last summer trip out before fall I guess. Ok, I have been meaning to ask you, but I forget everytime. You are always making and taking "bars" to functions, what kind of bars do you make?

The dogs wouldn't leave me alone so I had to stop and feed them but now they are somewhere upstairs I guess. They go back to bed and leave me awake!

You gals have a grand Sunday. Talk to you again soon. Faye

Good morning, ladies! It was 67 degrees in the house when I got up but it's already up to 76 now. I love cool nights. We're supposed to have 80 degree temps for the next week. I'm sure the heat hasn't passed for good.

Faye, I'm sure I can lose more weight. It's just going to take time. I'm trying to average 2 pounds a month for the next year so that is not overly ambitious. I know I've been making not so good choices when I've been eating out lately so I've got to tighten that up. When I was a leader for WW in the early to mid-80s in Ohio, I weighed 125. I had a cousin who was a sleep walker. Once when he was about 6 years old, his parents were watching TV with the lights low and he got up and walked into the kitchen, peed in the dog's dish and went back to bed without waking up. Fortunately he outgrew that by the time he entered adolesence. I'm really sorry about your friend. What an awful way to go.

I also want you to know that concerning problems with slowness on the site, the fix seems to be to use Firefox for your browser. The problem is coming from the target and soy joy ads which they don't seem able to turn off, not from the 3fatchicks website itself. I use Firefox at work so I downloaded it this morning and everything is great again. I tried opening IE and FF at the same time and IE was still slow but FF and I were humming along. Its a free download and very simple for even the non tech person to install. www.firefox.com - I almost forgot - it blocks all ads so the is a great added bonus.

As usual, I've let my challenge project on the back burner too long and now I have to work on it fast until it is done so everything is on hold until then. It's due on Friday morning.

Enjoy your day!

Good Evening, Flowers! This has been such a weird day for weather! We headed for the lake in jeans and sweatshirts! It was cool and a bit windy, but the kids got in one last boat ride. Beth, Amanda, and I stayed in the cabin where it was a bit warmer! Jason and Amanda were leaving midafternoon for a concert so didn't have time to take the boat out. Guess we are going back tomorrow to take the dock out and bring the boat home. By late afternoon the sun was shining and it was actually warm outside.

Susan -- I'm sure maintaining must be frustrating for you! I know you won't give up and will get to goal eventually; your body just doesn't want to budge right now. My flowers are beginning to look pretty ratty from all the wind. I used to sleep walk when I was a kid and my mom would find me on the couch in the morning. My dad put a lock high on the basement door because he was afraid I might fall down the stairs. Do I have to dump IE if I download Firefox? I really had to at your "it's very simple for even the non tech person to install." Would you come and do it for me?

"Gma" -- It was sad about your friend's death, and so sad because she didn't see a doctor sooner. It sounds like Thomas is a typical kid -- ears listening while he's doing something else. The bars I made this time took a butter pecan cake mix, egg, butter. and vanilla for the bottom layer, then cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla topped with pecans for the next layer. They are definitely not WW friendly, but everyone liked them. My family basically thinks chocolate is the only flavor and I have a recipe for a buttermilk sheet cake that is so good. Another favorite of mine takes a cake mix for the base and the filling is like pecan pie. I rarely bake because it is too much for the 2 of us, and we don't need it.

Jason was born 37 years ago on Labor Day and it was 92 degrees outside. It always seems like his birthday should be on LD. I'm heading off to bed to read for awhile. Enjoy your day tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning ladies! Today is my last day with my sweet Thomas. We take him back to his other grandparents this evening after dinner. I am making him a definitely not WW friendly special dinner, but I love having him so much I thought he deserved it. I am making a baked scallop and shrimp scampi over rice with asparagus in olive oil and garlic. I made some nice yeast rolls yesterday and have some left so will have them with them. I bought a little box of a lava cake dessert for him and I have ff cool whip for on top so he is definitely getting a restaurant meal tonight.

Susan: Thanks for the link. I have to ask Jack before downloading another browser though. He is kind of prissy about anything with regards to the computers. What I mean is he is a man and men tend to be close minded. He like IE and so he might not want Firefox so...... Hope you get your project finished. I have to get back to knitting, but not until it cools down for fall. My hands just get sweaty when it is hot.

I am reading at the moment. I took a great old Robert B Parker paperback I hadn't read with me to the pizza place and read while they had a good time bonding. I love to go there for the simple reason it is the one place he and Jack can go and do things totally by themselves. I sit back and don't participate. They raced go carts, played mini golf, and deal or no deal. I cracked up at Thomas. They would play and back he would come with a fistful of tickets then back to the game. We went real early as soon as they opened up to beat the crowds and they played first then ate so they got to do all the fun stuff before the lines formed. Can't say I ate healthy, but I didn't pig out either. I had a tiny piece of cheese pizza, a bread stick some tortilla chips with cheese sause and lots of jalapenos. For dessert I got a huge piece of what they call cherry cobbler, scraped off all the nasty crust, which is pizza dough for heaven's sake and ate the cherries out of the sauce.
The boys had a wonderful time and we left around 2, but it wasn't busy because I forgot the Delta Fair was just down the road and it was drawing all the people. When we drove back by the cars were lined up down the highway to get in.

Jean: Ooh, Jean you have to email me the recipe for the bars that are like pecan pie. I bet Jack would love them for a special occasion. I had to at your "laboring on Labor Day." You are right, totally apropos, though the holiday is for relaxing and I am sure you were NOT relaxed! Hope everyone had fun yesterday. Ok, you hate to cook, but do you like baking instead? You know some people hate to cook meals but will make elaborate desserts and such.

Jack is off early this am to get the oil changed at Firestone. We do all our car stuff there and they sent us a coupon for $20 off $30 or more and our oil change is $35 so good deal. It was time for the oil change anyway and with the trip coming up it was the perfect time. I told him to have them check the tires and make sure they were in good shape too. I look at them all the time and they always look good to me, but just in case.

I am going to get out of here and maybe read for a bit while T snoozes upstairs. We are supposed to go over swimming at his house, but it is cool this morning so I don't know.

Have a great Monday all! Faye

Good evening, ladies! Beautiful day in the 80s.

I have worked on the challenge quilt all day and finally can start quilting it tomorrow. Everything has gone wrong that possible could, but I will have it done on time.

You don't have to have to take IE off to install FireFox, they co-exist beautifully. I have both and go back and forth. We use FireFox at work because IE won't let us view some of our client's websites.

Faye, I'm glad you have had such a nice weekend with T. He'll have great memories when he gets older.

Jean, your weather is a lot different than ours. We're one week down in the worst month for hurricanes and I hope we don't see any more! I'll think about sweatshirts in November.

Have a great evening! The Y re-opens tomorrow and my sports bag is packed to go to work with me.

Good morning gals! Since Susan told me the two browsers were compatible I downloaded Firefox this morning and boy it sure did do a lot better getting into the site.

My scallop and shrimp recipe was a big hit. I didn't have any of it as I had a case of heartburn just from one taste of Thomas's Chinese food at lunch. He got Szechuan beef and one taste and it was heartburn city all afternoon though I have to say it was really good. Since the recipe had a lot of garlic and spices I bypassed it and the asparagus which was garlic, olive oil and parmesan cheese. I later had a sandwich for dinner after we took him to his other grandparents. He consumed it. I think he ate 7 scallops and about 4-5 shrimp then had a big portion of asparagus and rice. He cleaned his whole plate except for one lonely little shrimp. I ask him over the weekend if there was any fish he didn't like. He said no, then yes that he didn't like lobster and shrimp was just ok, but I told him no, I meant regular fish and he said no. I have seen him eat sea bass with the whole fish staring up at him, he loves talapia, any white fish, salmon, any of the fish they put in sushi, he gets that seafood pot at Joe's Crab Shack so I imagine he eats clams and such as well. Not many 10 year old boys that pick that kind of stuff over a good ole hamburger. Like I said, when we went to Ruby Tuesdays he had cajun white fish, mashed cauliflower and salad with mashed potatoes. Most kids would get burgers or chicken nuggets or something. You know, I can honestly say I have not seen him eat any of that stuff in a restaurant since he was probably 2-3.

Susan: Thanks for the firefox link! It sure made a difference with the site here. Hey, that's why it is a challenge right? I really need to finish Kelly's other sock. I bought myself some baby pink yarn to make a pair of socks. Don't know what possessed me to get pink, but I just thought it was pretty. I hope that when he is a grown man he can look back and tell his kids, "I always had fun at Nonny and Granddad's." We sure have fun with him. He has one heck of a sense of humor and is very impish. He is also very well behaved, which is lovely in a child.

Jean: So now the cabin is going to be lonely until next year except fore repairs and such. Time sure does fly. I can't believe summer is already over. Jack and I have one more hurrah in a couple weeks than it is settling down to cooler weather and facing the mess out on the deck. We haven't touched it all summer and it is ghastly, but with 100 degree temps and 80% humidity we just couldn't. Our backyard is definitely a "don't let this happen to you" sort of thing and you know I always would get out in the spring and put everything out and such. Haven't done that in a couple years now, partly because I need new chairs for my patio as they have now rusted at the bottom. I have a glass topped table and it is in perfect shape. It is hard to find nice chairs alone. Most you have to get as the set. Thomas never even got his cake. He ate so much at dinner he was too full. The one thing I have learned knitting is patience and I bet Susan is the same about her sewing. You have to be or you just give up. I get frustrated sometimes and will put it down, but I get the urge to "fix it" so I just can't leave it most of the time.

Lots of laundry to do today so need to get back to it. We didn't do anything while Thomas was here so now my house needs cleaning, all the laundry caught up and clean sheets back on the spare room for the next time he comes.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!! Faye

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood except a tad too windy -- messes my hair up when I go outside! I worked in the gift shop this morning and even sold a few items for a change. I ate a tavern sandwich in the coffee shop for lunch, and then went to donate blood. The tech wasn't as good as some I've had and the needle stung for awhile. She tried to tell me it was the antiseptic sponge she used . . . I don't think so! I wanted to run a couple errands but felt like I had rubbery knees and wanted to sit down so came home instead.

"Gma" -- I marvel at all the different things Thomas will eat. Kolby is pretty much pb&j, mac & cheese, or hot dogs along with the chips and sugar items. If he doesn't want to try a new food, his standard answer is "I'm allergic!" He figured out a boy in his preschool was allergic to strawberries so didn't have to eat them. Obviously he takes his lunch to school. We tried to find lawn chairs with the mesh strips that you can replace when they start to wear. I guess they don't make them any more because we couldn't find them. Any chairs we leave on the deck rot because of the afternoon sun. I brought home all of the bedding, towels, etc., from the lake so have piles of laundry to do. There is a washer and dryer up there but mine are bigger so I'd just as soon do it here.

Maggie -- I ate way too much non-WW friendly food over the weekend. I just have NO willpower when others bring food to share and I happen to like it! Then I am at myself after the fact. I could dine on RL biscuits and forget the rest. I hate to journal but also know it sure helps me stay on track. We are hoping for a boat ride on the local lake before the boat goes into storage for the winter. What lake were you on in MN? My folks' cabin was on a tiny lake near Bemidji. We sometimes drove by Lake Mille Lacs and I always thought it was so big.

I hope you all are having a nice sunny day. Enjoy!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly and the furnace has come on a couple times already. I have lunch bunch today and need to do a couple more loads of laundry before I leave.

I have to get busy and accomplish something before I leave this morning.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning to you all! Boy, I can't believe the difference firefox makes getting in here. If I am looking at other stuff, I open IE then just open a second window with firefox to post.

Jean: That is the worst part of trips, laundry. I told Jack that the Tuesday before we leave we will make sure that there is not one piece of laundry before we leave on Wed. I guess I didn't think about anything we would be wearing at the time on Tuesday and Wednesday morning shower towels and such. Ahh well, it was a good idea anyway! I like Kolby's allergic excuse. Have to remember that one when I go to family dinners and someone makes something I know is disgusting tasting. You should have seen some of the things Thomas ate on his vacations that I imagine almost all kids would have turned their noses up at. I just have to pat Kelly on the back for going down this road with him. He takes "Bento" boxes for lunch. Ever heard of them? They are Japanese lunch boxes basically. Kelly just loves them to put his lunches in. The Japanese mothers use them for their children and they are small so kids get proper portions instead of overloading them. They have them with little compartments and even little boxes that go inside the plates, but it looks like this one she made his lunch with is just flat I am including a picture of one that Kelly made for Thomas to take to school a couple weeks ago. If you notice, even his lunches are healthy. She said the fruit snacks were a treat as she usually won't let him have junk like that at school. I got tickled with her as she sent one to school with Thomas that had a combo of peas and carrots and their were frozen. She said it was the new thing to send them frozen then they would thaw before lunch and not be all soggy, but she had been scared to try it. I don't know how it turned out. What is a tavern sandwich? It sounds good. I am having a WW lunch I imagine. We are having tenderloin and baked potato with veggie tonight.

Maggie: We are going in a couple weeks. We are anxious to get away for a bit. I love Red Lobster and could eat cold shrimp til the cows come home. It is my favorite thing. I wish they would actually put it on the menu besides the shrimp cocktail because I would definitely order it, but then I suppose no one wants a whole meal of cold shrimp. My recipe was sea scallops I bought fresh at Fresh Market and he said could be frozen and precooked frozen shrimp. They were tossed in real butter and minced garlic then laid out in a pan singly and the butter was poured over the top. It was topped with a bread crumb mix of crumbs, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and parmesan cheese and baked in the oven for 20 minutes. It is NOT ww friendly but I imagine that you could easily use margarine instead of butter. It was a lb of each so if you were just making two servings you wouldn't use much butter at all because it doesn't use a huge amount. Both Jack and Thomas loved it. Hope you can get things going back with WW. It is always hard once we jump off to get back on, but we are always happy when we do I think.

I have some stuff to do upstairs today including remaking the spare bedroom bed as I washed the sheets for it yesterday. Not much else going on in my world. I read another book yesterday from the ones I bought for the beach, very naughty as I finished the whole thing. I have a bunch I bought over a year go that I could read, but none are favorite authors and the two I have already read of the 4 new ones I bought are. I must keep my hot little hands off the other two! lol Have a great hump day!!!
Faye

Good evening, ladies! A beautiful day today.

I'm still working on my challenge quilt. I can finally see I can finish it after work tomorrow.

I went to the Y for water aerobics today. I have so much fun it isn't even like exercising.

I have to get back to the quilting room - have a good evening. I'll have time for a real post Fridaty afternoon.

Good morning to you all! We seem to be clouding up everyday but not much rain and we could probably use a nice downpour. It is definitely cooler so you can tell fall is on its way. The air conditioner actually shuts off for awhile at night now.

I have had some wheeziness over the last couple days and noticed a bit of a cough and sneeze this morning. I hope I am not catching a cold. It would be just like me to have one when we are on vacation.

I swear that woman where I bought those clothes is driving me nuts. She still hasn't shipped my exchanged tshirts and got an email from her a few days ago explaining that the one shirt didn't come in turquoise in that size. So, I emailed her back and told her exactly what size and what color for each exchanged shirt and even included what the original shirt was then said "I want it exchanged for such and such." Well, she emailed me day before yesterday and said she was now really confused. What confused for heaven's sake. I am telling you, I get my stuff and I am never ever ordering from there again, period. Personally, I feel she is either jerking me around to keep from refunding my money and sending my stuff or she is the worst businesswoman on the planet. I am actually thinking the latter.

Maggie: Glad you like your new shoes. I get that catalog too. Several years ago Jack had plantis fasciatis and needed a brace thing and we bought it from there. Since then they send me a catalog. They have some really cute sandals and such, but they are pretty pricey. It is great you find somewhere to get what you need though. I always have problems because I have big flat feet.

We sure have had bugs this year. It seems like there are more spiders, roaches, water bugs and other things than in past years. I can't have them spray because of Fortune so all I can do is arm myself with bug spray and take them on one at a time or catch the critters when I see them! I noticed I got bit by a mosquito last night.

Well, I need to get my chores done and the day started. Have a good one all. Faye