Morning all,
Well I spent yesterday twiddling my thumbs and reading a book. I was supposed to have a conference call meeting at 9.30 but they couldn't even get that right and someone else had the session and were talking about stuff I have never heard of. And it wasn't interesting. So today I am prepared a little better. I have a book! and I have some work that Mick needs doing. Nothing to do with this place but I don't actually want to fry what little is left of my brain. I have another conference call at 1.00 - 2.00pm so hopefully things will clarify somewhat there. Does anyone see me lasting until December here??

Cin - nice pic. I used to own one of the original mini's many years ago. Down under they got called pregnant roller skates. Very popular then. The new ones do not seem to be quite so good somehow. Mind you if I ever got to drive one of the old ones again, I might be changing my mind. We once got 11 people into my mini! Such memories of misspent youth.
:lol3: on Dad and the chocolate. Maybe you should spend a day force feeding him the sweetest and mostly sickly ones. Once he has had a surfeit of chocolate and a chuck then maybe he will hide them from you (just so you won't feed him again). It's hard to ignore the things that others have and many of us live with people who have no need to diet or lose weight and that makes it harder. In NZ, there are sweets called Sheeps pellets. They are chocolate coated raisins or nuts or something and look like p**p. Can you imagine those sweets of your Fathers as something unsavoury like that (not I might add that it stops the Kiwis from eating them. The tourists are a bit slower to respond) just to convince yourself not to touch.
Sorry if I step on sensitivities here, but one fact I find that works is to imagine the offending object as something nasty. Humans are easy. Think of the person who really, really offends you and imagine them without clothes. Imagine the lumps, bumps, saggy bits, warts, moles, cellulite, danglies etc. Usually at that point I start to laugh, and I can't get mad when I laugh.

Annie - if you come and live with me, you can have the whole back garden, 2 bbqs, and we can organise some further space to grow more if you wish. And we grow the best veg in the spring, autumn and winter. In the summer we just keep the weeds down and mow the lawn. Oh, there won't be a lawn, we just turned it into garden. That's good, I'll sell DS2's lawn mower.

Michelle - sending care packages now?? Nice of you. Hope Doppler is allowed off the lead and into the playground now.

Happy - DS2 chucked in the job (praise the lord and hallelujah) about 4 or 5 months back. He applied for an apprenticeship with an energy company as did 1400 others for 50 positions. There were apparently more applications but they cut it off at 1400. Anyway, he got an interview (down to the final 250), then call to go for a medical which meant he was down to the last ??? probably 100 and then last week they went out to the referees so that suggests he is on the short list. We have our fingers crossed for him. Then follows three years of school, training, on job training and finally indenture as an Electro/ Fitter/ Mech whatever. After which he can set himself up in business or go and work for a new master if he wishes. During the time he has been home, he has been doing temp work for building sites and concrete pile makers etc. And has built fences and gates and block walls. He doesn't sit still for too long that one.

Mel - So Jen is worried about the mother now! Well that figures since you only have each other. Enjoy the warmth and comfort windfall.

Ceejay - restriction is what breaks most of us in the quest to attain our goals. I'm all for moderation, portion control and never say never. What's the first thing that happens when you say something like - okay that's breakfast - now I am not allowed to eat until lunch? Right. Immediately you want something to eat. Speak to the co-worker. Give him/ her a $1 and tell them that you want to share in the sweets. It's amazing how little you then want them again.

Laura - shame on the foot problems (STILL). It seems that no-one takes much pride in the job these days. Hope you can get it sorted. Did you take the old ones in and show the people where they hurt, pinched or didn't fit? Yes of course you did.
The wombats are cute, but they can pack a nasty bite. They look so cute and fat and wobbly and lazy. Here's a wombat pic. Think this is a common wombat and yes, there are different varieties.

Okay - I'd better go and check out the day's happenings. I'll be back - probably often.

Hi ladies,

Doppler is doing great. Healing very nicely. The doc wants Doppler to stay on leash until Saturday, which will be a full 30 days post surgery. Doppler goes back for another checkup in a month. We are so relieved to have the doc confirm that he is doing well.

I'll be back in the morning.

Love,

Hi all,

I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning - better get some extra sleep - don't want to be yawning when they have sharp objects in my mouth. Hygentist better be careful as I have 2 bad teeth and no money in the insurance pile to pay them until next year. I almost thought about cancelling it altogether (the cleaning) but I know those things are important.

Shad - now I will go to sleep with dreams of wombats. Somewhat cute, a bit creepy. Like Chucky the killer doll :rofl: Sounds like you are bored crazy at work. Anything in the near term coming up? I hope things go well for the DS - sounds like he has a good foot in becoming a tradesman - always a good move - better than depending on a corporate job - you think?

Mel - sorry you had a bad day - wise of you to escape. I'm very happy to hear you got something nice and snuggly to share from a most kind and generous friend :hug: Hope you and Jen enjoy. I know they had issues with H1N1 down here. A neighbor who moved in not quite a year ago contracted it and died. Very sad. Guess they had alot of cases here. I am on the fence with that one. A person at work got the vaccine and had the Guillian Barre (sp?) reaction to it. But thanks for your concern :hug:

Annie - why does it seem like the tomato plants push out an extra big batch of green tomatoes before the frost? Hope they all ripen up for you. Good luck on the job hunt - I'm so sorry to hear about the latest challenge. I think you are very wise to look now. Sending you good vibes :hug: We have to go back to the Gulf Shores together - there is a small but very nice zoo there (featured on Animal Planet). For $5 you can get your picture taken with a baby 'roo. I am sorry I didn't do that. So we'll do it together :high:

Michelle - I'm so glad that Doppler is doing well in his recovery. How much fun will it be when he can roam free on his own? Hope DH gets his truck fixed soon. You are right - I miss not having a good public transportation system like in Chicago. The only other place with a good one is Washington DC that I have seen. How is your back doing?

Laura - meant to ask - when you lived in the city - North or South sider? Good for you for figuring out how to use the other non Metra transportation - has come in handy for you. Towards the end of my daily downtown commute (after 22 years) I was getting very tired of people running in front of, next to and yes if you can believe it - crawling UNDERNEATH a train car sitting what - 3 minutes in a station? So don't blame Metra for the delays of stupid people. Yes, I know you were kidding. I never got a whole lot of relief from either set of orthotics I had. What helped me the most was the MBT type shoes. My feet have been the bane of my existence for at least 15 years. Very unhappy campers. How did your volunteer stint go?

Ceejay - I have heard Little Debbies are dangerous so I have never tried one out of fear that I will like it too much :lol: But you are right with the restrictions. Somewhere there is a happy balance. I have found that figs - while good - are not as good as a coconut Mounds bar :devil: I have decided I am not giving out Halloween candy this year because I don't like it that they bus kids in from other neighborhoods and I can't be trusted to have candy in the house. DH is glad I am not spending $40 on candy for the little buggers.

Hi Cinci and Patty. How are you guys?

My head is saying it's time to go to sleep and my eyes are tearing which backs up the head so off I go. Might not get back until later tomorrow so have a good one.

Oh and we are getting a shot at 90 degrees the next few days. I am done with that. Would prefer 72 like last weekend - especially because we have lots of yard work.

So I am the last one in, first one in today? Don't feel any sneaker inners around me either.

I am tired today. Been going to bed to get 7 hours of sleep but since we have returned from vacation I find that I am waking up 4 to 5 times during the night. And I lay there for 10 minutes or so before I fall back to sleep again. I am used to my head hitting the pillow and except for a quick potty run (in a dead sleep) I sleep in a coma until the alarm goes off. I wonder if the cat is waking me as she was kneeding the bed and purring loudly around 5:30 trying to wake us up. Usually she hits DH repeatedly in the face with her paw and sits on his chest if he's on his back. Today she just crawled next to my back and purred in my ear - did nothing for me :lol: In the summer she does this around 4am because she wants to go out but now that the mornings are dark and much cooler I think she's doing it to annoy us as she eventually curls back up and goes to sleep. Stupid cat!

I have a dental appointment first thing in the morning. The only thing that would drum up less enthusiasm is a presentation in front of the senior management team :rolleyes: :lol: And this afternoon I have to attend a mandatory training session on diversity in the work place where it will no doubt be reinforced that I need to continue to make a pot of coffee for the fellows who gather in the break room, chat and expect the womenfolk to make the coffee. I cannot tell ethnic jokes or make slur comments yet it is completely ok for groups of people to gather and speak in their native tongue excluding most of the general population in the room. And since the time they first put microwaves in the break room for our use it's been a long standing rule DON'T COOK YOUR STINKY FISH in here and stink up the oven as well as the general area. And people understood that. Now not only do I get to smell all sorts of pungent spices, I get to wipe them out of the microwave because some people have not learned to cover their food and feel that cleaning is beneath them (see first coffee pot remark :p ). I liked diversity in the workplace of long ago - this was particularly true in I.T. - it allowed us to have pot luck lunches in which everyone brought a specialty dish or something of their background which we all enjoyed. We might celebrate different holidays or customs and my favorite of all - we found lots of entertainment value in people's accents or the way they'd get words twisted about as they learned English. And it was all in good fun with mutual respect. I was amazed to learn that one of my teammates learned English from renting movies at Blockbuster video. I helped him with English, he helped me refine my Spanish and we both enjoyed each other's company. The workplace sure has changed.

I think I left my good mood under the covers. Better go shower up and retrieve it. Have a good one peeps.

QUICK NOTE. WHAT A REACTION TO THE SHOT.
CAN BARELY MOVE MY WHOLE BACK. JEN IS WORSE.
WE CANCELLED TRADERS AND THE LOCAL ER TOLD US TO TAKE LOTS OF BED REST, ROOM TEMP FLUIDS AND ALEVE-TYPE DRUGS. JUST TALKED TO JOHN AND HE'S GOING TO KEEP THE "BAD GUYS" AWAY FROM ME. LOL
I ALSO PUT THE SIGN ON THE DOOR.
NOW I AM GING TO WRAP MYSELF UP IN MY NEW FAVORITE BLANKIE AND GO BACK TO BED. (thanks Michelle again ) THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

Good Mornin, good mornin...singing that one....smiles...

Woke with a bit of a headache. But mostly gone now. Baby boy came home last night, we stopped by CVS on the way to DD so I could show him off. THey wanted to meet him cause they feel they know him from all my talking about him... DD stops in from time to time to see me so they already know her. lol. I do work at CVS tonight, should be fun as the truck comes in with yet MORE holiday CRAP.

Forgot my deodarant this morning. Thank God for two things, I rarely sweat or stink under the pits and I do have some "emergency" deod in my desk drawer.

Shaddie...wow that sound like a winner on living with you, I could even take care of the house when you are off on one of your work adventurers. Do you think that job just have you there for their security and you are not supposed to be doing anything really? We have chocolate covered raisens here too, Raisenettes. I call them rabbit pellets, much like your sheep pellets. The wombat is cute, but so is Hella Bella, who also packs a good bite. lol. Goodluck to DS on job...I said a little prayer for him.

Chelle....Wahoooo for Doppler...He will be one happy doggie come Saturday to run and romp. Hope your back does well today. Sending my love and hugs and good feelers.

Happy....yes get your teeth cleaned. Much cheaper than pulling all teeth and getting dentures. A gal in the office, her DH, just got an estimate on getting his teeth pulled and dentures...$7800.00 bucks. With our insurance it brought it down to about $3000.00. So we know that is not the cheapest route to go. I would love to go to the Gulf shores with you and especially get a ROO fix. Maybe could hold me over till I get down to Shaddie's place. Halloween is no problem with me, I work at CVS on Halloween night as it gives all the other's with babes to take them trick or treating. Also don't have to buy candy. Just leave the porch lite off, that tells they to stay the heck away from my door.

Mellie...wow what a reaction to the shot. Never heard of that before. My docs have always told me that it is mostly a psychological effect and whatever happens was going to happen anyway. Maybe you should talk to my docs...lol. Yet some more people for Mellie to set straight. Sending much love and hugs and also the good feelers to you and Jen.

Hello to all the rest of yuns...probably sneaker inners coming about.

Love yas,

Just read my post, please excuse my grammer, wow wrong form of verbs, etc.

and no sneaker inners.

Happy Thursday everyone -

As I mentioned last night, Doppler's appointment went really well. The vet said everything looks great, including the retina! We go back for another follow-up in a month. Doppler has the all clear to go "off-leash" starting Saturday. :woohoo:

I'm leaving work at noon today to get the 3rd and hopefully final injection in my back. It may be unrealistic to think that this will be my last injection ever...I may have to go back in a year or two for another round...but I'm hopeful that I won't have to. I'm working from home tomorrow, which is good because if my back is sore from the shot, I won't feel much like driving to work.

Mel - It turned out it's good that you got the comforter I ordered because I stopped at Kohl's yesterday and they had the same comforter but in the exact color that I wanted. This one will go much better with our bedroom. I'm glad you and Jen are enjoying the fruits of my ditzyness! :rofl: I'm sorry to hear that you and Jen had awful reactions to the flu shot. When DH, DMIL and I got ours, we did okay, but everyone reacts differently. Sorry you had such a lousy day yesterday...and that people did things that upset the seniors.

Shad - You ARE having lots of comings and goings! Congrats on saying goodbye to the kilo of weight!! :bravo: I hope DS2 has a great time with his friends. Still keeping my fingers :crossed: that he gets the apprenticeship. How nice it will be to have both DS1 and DS2 home at the same time. Thanks for the adorable baby Roo and wombat photos. My DH and I think wombats are totally adorable...so when we come for a visit in a few years, please let us know of a good place to see them. :) Glad you brought a book to work and have other stuff to do to keep you occupied. Is the offer to come live with you open to anyone...or just to Miss Annie? Maybe we can set up the Worldly commune at your house!

Annie - Madeline is so cute!! What a great smile!! I can't believe that the Christmas stuff was in the stores last month. It's crazy. It's like they went from Back to School supplies straight to Christmas! It sucks that your company is talking about possibly shutting down the Indiana office. I'll be crossing my fingers :crossed: and praying that doesn't happen. There are SO many companies threatening to move out of Wisconsin unless they get MAJOR tax incentives and employee concessions to stay (Mercury Marine, Harley, and now Kohler Kitchen & Bath company. So nice you got to show DS off to your CVS work buddies. Good to hear your garden is still providing you with a bounty of veggies. We had our first frost a week ago...so that sort of did everything in. Now I just have to pull the dead plants and put them in the compost. Thanks for all the love, hugs and good wishes, my sista. And thanks for the wooden bowl - so touching and so true. :hug:

Cin - I hope you get the job. Keeping my fingers :crossed: for you. Thanks for posting the photo of your Dylan and Paul! They look like they really get along great! :lol3: I'd love to see more photos of you and your surroundings. Bummer that there are others in your house that keep sweets. My DMIL does that when she's staying with us. It is very difficult and frustrating to stay OP when temptation is all around.

Happy - I hope your dental appointment went well. Thanks for posting about your sleep number bed. It's great to hear they last so long. Maybe DH and I should take a look at those too. I was mostly kidding about doing a Zumba marathon...although there are two or three coming up in October, and I would love to do all of them...or at least 1 of them...but when I mentioned that in passing to my PT, he said NO WAY! I told him what you said about starting out with one easy class per week and taking it from there. He said you are very wise and give good advice. To which I replied laughing...you know me, I'm all or nothing. He said that he knows and that's my problem...I push myself way too hard too soon which is why I end up needing steroid injections in my back, along with traction once or twice a week. *Sigh* I guess I'll have to work up slowly to exercise :queen: by starting off as exercise princess or exercise court jester or something! :rofl: Thanks for asking about my back...the back is doing better, although I'm still experiencing sciatica a few days a week. Overall, I've achieved approx. 65% relief from the two shots plus traction. Hoping the 3rd shot gets me close to 100% relief. Oh, and my hair NEVER bounces or behaves...the best I can hope for is to be able to beat it into submission! :lol3: OMG, you had a neighbor who died of H1N1? Scary! I'm glad it was included in this year's flu shot. As for Halloween, we have LOTS of kids in the neighborhood, so I'll be spending $20 or $30 on candy. I buy the types of candy that I can resist. Then I bring the leftovers to work.

Ceejay - I like the idea of setting goals in terms of clothing sizes. Remember, for each minute you hang out with Little Debbie, you're delaying getting into your skinny clothes.

Laura - I understand your frustration about the Metra delays, and the doctor delay after that. Why is it that for doc appts, you're supposed to arrive 15-30 min. early, but then they don't see you until 1/2 hour or more after your appt time? But from the little I've used them (when visiting friends in Chicago), I really like them. Bummer that your orthotics are less supportive. That's got to be SUPER frustrating. Are you going to get them re-made? Thanks for the review of "The Town". I'm not a huge fan of bank robber movies...though I did like "Public Enemies". Of course...you could just put Johnny Depp's face on a screen for 2 hours and I'd be happy. :love:

Lots of stuff to get done before I leave...so I'll check in after my shot if I'm not too sore...or tomorrow.

Lots of love and hugs,

Oh yes Chelle, Johnny Depp on absolutely anything works for me too! Quite Yummy, I might add. Now why can't we have a little bit of that indulgence hanging around our house...lol Please do take it EASY on getting back into the swing of exercising. We do not want you to digress into complete pain. Maddie will be here this weekend. It will be the first time I get to see her. If I do, I already have some plans for this weekend and also have to work at CVS. She will be 9 weeks old. Doppler will be acting like a bouncy little puppy.

I am a fan of Russell Crow also. He is yummy too! Simon Baker on the Mentalist also. See I could go with anyone of them, I don't have to have them all. Just send me one of them.

Popping in quick to say hello. Flu shot in 10 min. I haven't had any reaction in the past - hope not with this one either. Mel - I got about as far w/ reading posts just now to see that you and Jen had a bad reaction - so sorry to hear that!! Take care and feel better soon. :hugs:

Be back later to finish reading and hopefully post personals! :wave:

Evening ladies -
Will just "quickly" try to reply to everyone, though please don't take it personal if I forget someone. It's so hard to keep track of everything, I don't know how people do it :lol:.

Laura - good luck with the flu shot!

diyana - glad to hear your back is getting better. Sounds awfully painful :(. Please do take care to not over-extend yourself off the bat! Btw, totally can recommend the Sleep Number beds. I had one when I stayed in the US and it was amazing!!!!

annie - nice thinking with the 'emergency' deodorant. I forgot mine last time I went to the gym - it's all I can manage in the morning to roll out of bed and drive over to the gym, not much brain for anything else :lol: . Luckily I also don't smell (too bad :D). Nobody fell off their machines next to me!
I loved that story you posted about the wooden bowl! I think I'll steal the bit about how you can learn a lot about a person by how he/she handles kids, lost luggage, etc. as my FB status. It's perfect - and so true! ;-)

Melody (and Jen) :hug: hope you feel better soon. I can't believe all this from a flu shot!!!

happy - good luck at the dentist (hate them, but love the feeling of clean teeth!)

Shad - never been in an old mini, but let me tell you: I love mine! It's a 2004, so not really "new" anymore, but it's so much fun to drive - like a go-cart!! I love zipping around the corners with it and of course, not having speed limits on the highways makes it all the more fun :D. I got it up to 240km/h once! :woohoo:

Well, not a super exciting day today. Went to the gym and ironed (after the gym, obviously) while watching Boston Legal episodes. I LOVE that show!!! Am really hungry again, so will head to bed soon to forget about it. I feel I'm still retaining a lot of water weight (at least that's what I'm telling myself as I'm not really losing weight despite eating on plan and exercising daily). I made myself drink 3 cups of nettle tea, which is supposed to flush our any excess water. I think it's working - I need a potty break every 30 mins!!! :lol: Should be an interesting night.

Will check back in tomorrow and will try to find some pics, too! Good night everyone :hug:

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt...04ef/event.png

Ten day now is my goal to not have a binge!!
I also plan on keeping up with the daily work-out of 30-60 min (Zumba, waling, weights, elliptical..etc)
step-by-step I will eat healthy, treat myself kindly, and loose weight in a sane way


http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt...H5D/weight.png


One for every five pounds
:sklol::sklol::sklol::sklol::sklol::sklol: (one pound away from thirty actually)

I'm back!

Shad - Thanks for the wombat pic! No, I can't actually see you lasting until December on this assignment if they can't keep you busy. And I can't imagine 11 people in a Mini either, LOL!! Wow, I hope DS can make it through every step of that looooong process and get that apprenticeship!

Michelle - Glad Doppler will be off the leash on Saturday - I'm sure he'll be one happy puppy! I'm hoping this injection does the trick for you. Easing back into the exercise sounds best - hope you'll be able to start back soon. I enjoy movies w/ Johnny Depp, but I just saw a trailer for one w/ him and Angelina Jolie... not a huge fan of her, and it didn't look that great. We'll see.

Mel -Sorry about the bad day yesterday and now this bad flu shot reaction - you poor thing! I hope you're having a cozy afternoon under the comforter and the pain subsides lickety split. Not to rub it in...but I didn't even need a bandage, and I can't even see where she injected me. LOL re the bank "they screwed me better than my ex husband". :rofl: Ya know, I don't know where Ben Affleck has been either. I thought I heard he might have political aspirations. :rolleyes: The volunteer project went well, even though it wasn't my cup of tea. More about that later.

Annie - Sorry to hear the IN office may close if biz doesn't pick up. Good to get on the hunt now. Nice that bb got to meet your cvs family! Yum for all the veggies you were able to harvest. :hungry: I'm using the last of our tomatoes in a spaghetti sauce this weekend. We have a lot of chili peppers, which BF chose to grow, but he hasn't made good use of them. I'm going to nag him to make some chili this weekend. My version of it isn't good enough for him so last fall he found a special prize winning recipe, so la-ti-da, go right ahead. Our fire drills only require us to relocate a few floors up or down, not a total evacuation of the building, so we only had to go down two floors.

Ceejay - Yeh, we're getting our Indian summer this weekend - we'll get to 80 I think. I fully intend to enjoy it. Back out in the yard to harvest what's left of the veggies, pull out the veggie plants, take down the fence around the veggie patch, etc.

Happy - Hope the teeth cleaning went well. I had a sensitive spot last week, but it stopped. I suppose it might need a filling at some point. Ugh. I grew up on the north side - 4600 north, 4000 west, and I've used public transportation (CTA) all my life. I just need to keep up with what the fares are up to - and as long as I keep a transit card loaded with some $$ for my occasional CTA trips, I'm good to go. BF and I thought Boston's mass transit was pretty good, but we were just tourists so we didn't get too far afield while we were there.

Hi Cincy!!

Re the volunteer project: We were at the warehouse of an organization that collects & sorts donated food for distribution to food pantries, shelters, etc. One group of 20 sorted dairy products by the expiration dates - they were given lab coats to stay warm in the coolers, but many were really chilled by the end of the 3 hours. I was glad I wasn't in that group. The group I was in bagged romaine lettuce leaves. It's donated in giant boxes by produce suppliers (say 4 ft cubes), and we had to pick out the good leaves and toss the bad. And the further down in the giant boxes we went, the lettuce had a lot of condensation and had often started to wilt and go bad - doesn't help it may have sat in the supplier's coolers for a few days before being shipped to the food warehouse. You know I didn't want a salad for dinner last night, LOL!

I was pooped when I got home - not used to standing for 3 hours straight anymore like I did for jobs in my youth. But we still walked doggy, and I dragged my butt down to the basement and did one BE workout. Sore today from triceps and pushup routines.

I had packed my gym bag last night and plum forgot it this morning when I left the house! And I'd made a sandwich for lunch and everything so I could do my workout and eat lunch at my desk. Grrr. I'm way behind on the cardio this week. Ate lunch at my desk and made appts for annual ob-gyn exam, mammo, and allergist.

I'm miffed about the orthotics, but I'm not ready to go back just yet. But I won't let much time go by.

Boss and the other mgr left for their trip, so this afternoon has been quiet. I finished up the last couple things on a major project yesterday and today - yay. Tomorrow is on to the next thing.

Tonight I have nothing planned, but I think we should get to the market. Oh, and I might be returning the raincoat I bought. I'm disappoint that it's tight across the chest. Not sure how one size larger will be, but I might order it and see. I'm just not sure I like the coat enough to bother.

Okay, I'll get this posted at long last. TTFN!