Hi all,
Got home late last night and almost did a teel - falling asleep in front of the computer - so I managed a journal entry but nothing here.

It's raining in SE Queensland this morning - drat. I have washing to do and gardens to tend - at least that is what I had planned to do. The tomatoes have gone feral on me and I need to stake and prune them, not to mention picking some of the cherry variety which are hanging on the vines and the snails are eyeing them! The grass needs a mow and the weeds are growing again! On the plus side, some of the roses have decided it is flower power time and are competing with each other for display.

When I got to Brisbane last night, I turned on my phone to get a message from the DS telling me we have a house guest for a week. It is a young American lady whom he met through the net several years ago and who is now living in Sydney with the B/F. She has come up for a break from work - B/F forgot to get leave??!!! :eek: and she comes from Prescott, Arizona, about 30 minutes away from my friend in Chino Valley whom I stayed with while in the States. Yeah it's a small world.
Hey Teel, I think it is all those Sumos :sumo: and Rolling pins :rollpin: that are keeping you awake. Better try for some more restful friends in your posts. Pat that hound for me!

Mmmmmn...Thank you Shad, I might just give that a thought or two!!

I am really wiped off my feet this morning nd dearly want to go back to bed...but I meet my support worker on a Friday and we go for a jackuzzi so she rang me up to arrange the time, forgetting that I have a haircut bokked in for 11:00.Soooooo. I have changed the entire layout of the day.
I think the sleeping pills and the increased oxycodine is helping a smidget, but not wearing off quick enough in the morning so I feel(AND DARESAY LOOK) like a comlete zombie, ha ha ha .

I had a scrummy dinner last evening....cous-cous with a gravy mixture left from the turkey casserole, with some stuffing mix thrown in to thicken it up.In the gravy there were bits of turkey, onion and reg and green peppers so the outcome was far more delicious than at first it may have seemed!!!
WellI will quietly go away now, leaving lots of cool relaxing message helpers!!

:) :cool: :angel: :wave: :flow2: :grouphug: :cloud9: :sssh: :balloons: :bubbles: :df: :bubbles:

Good morning ladies,

Awoke to frost on the window pane this morning, went well with a nice cup of tea and toast for breakfast. I do hope to be able to get out this weekend for a little bit and enjoy those colors before the winds blow and knock down the rest of the leaves.

Enjoy your massage Teel. I too need to get a haircut but keep forgetting to make the appointment even though I think about it several times a day.

So Shad is DS's friend coming to visit by herself if BF didn't make plans? Are you going to be home then or travelling as usual?

Time for me to get to work now so have a good weekend all...

Simon's friend is here for a week or so by herself. Boyfriend rings every 5 minutes of the day and they email each other frequently. Wel maybe not every 5 minutes but close. Apparently they are also going back to the States for a holiday soon too. Will have to get my A into G and see if they will deliver a care parcel to my friend in Chino Valley who must have eaten all the chocolate biscuits by now.
Had a good day off yesterday, didn't do a lot, but I sorted of rested up and shopped a bit and thought a bit and cooked a bit. Watched the All Black (NZ) rugby team defeat Canada last night in the Rugby World Cup. Poor Canada, I really feel for these teams who have the guts to take on the top nations with very little know how, tradition or money behind them. Apparently the Canadian Rugby Union is nearly broke and although they qualified to come to the RWC they have very little to come and go on. Which reminds me that the US team (did you know you had one?) came very close to causing the tournament upset on Wednesday. They lost to Fiji by one point. I do enjoy a good game of rugby!!!! The Poms are charging along in their pool Teel and Prince Harry paid a visit to their game last night - just in case you were interested.

Weighed in yesterday and again today. Yesterday I had gained .5kg from the weighin 2 weeks ago, I was pleased with that but today those pesky scales have added 3kg onto the weight. It simply has to be the scales. My clothes are loser on me than previously so I think the exercise is making its mark. Can't at this point of time find the tape measure so I can't check but I will before I go back to Cairns tomorrow.

Remember when I was over visiting with you Happy, I mentioned the coffee was not what I expected. No offence meant but I thought it was weak - yours had the neat vanilla flavour - Ngaires didn't. Anyway I was checking up on coffee because I couldn't find my regular variety in the supermarket and I have decided that you guys get a different species of beans than we do. I currently have one from the 'Rainforests of Colombia' (according to the packet) and it takes nothing like my usual coffee and regardless of how much I put into the plunger, it does not have the strong flavour of my normal one which is a blend of Australian, Kenyan and Papua/New Guinea beans. So mystery solved once more.
Time to get off here. Wake up the sons friend so she can spend the next couple of hours getting the 'look'. Which if you'll excuse me is not much different from the previous look. Forgive me, this girl is nearly 6 foot tall and weighs less than I do. Legs go on forever etc etc etc and she is also very nice. I'm green.
Then I should bath Shad the dog and have a go at the cat. It is getting time for their summer medication against fleas and ticks.

You're right about the coffee Shad. Most of our typical store coffee comes from Columbia. You can get it in light roast, medium roast and dark roast. The darker the beans, I believe the more intense the flavor. We Yanks seem to prefer the medium roasts for the most part. Many of the more popular store brands make a pretty weak cup of coffee. I prefer to pay a little more, get the small bags of beans and grind it myself. Starbucks generally has pretty strong coffees, that's why I get the latte's there. I had a cup of regular coffee there, it was so strong I had a tummy ache for hours. Can't imagine gulping an expresso from them :fr: would probably be up for days :spin: :hyper: :spin: :hyper: - don't try this at home Teel :lol:

Speaking of food, on the airplane home from out east I was in the middle seat. Delighted to find a skinny girl next to me on the end (was squished enough in my own seat without my seatmate trying to infringe - bad enough DH was leaning on me. Anyway, we had a nice chat all the way to Chicago. She was from California and traveled extensively for her job. She had been to Australia several times and we got to chatting. Have found several times already that Australia is a common bond among lots of people. We talked of sayings and words and foods - thanks to you ladies I am somewhat conversant. She told me about Jaffas. Said she wasn't much of a candy eater but a friend had told her about them and she was instantly addicted. Orange chocolate is the best chocolate in my mind. We rarely get it here. I picked up a candy bar at some store I couldn't remember - might have been out east for all I recall. I left it on the counter and forgot about it. Days later I'm sitting here at the computer and I hear rustling from DH sitting across from me. He's EATING my candy bar! I was able to rescue one small square before it disappeared into his belly. Boy this was good he said.

So next time you cruise by this way Shad, bring Jaffas. Not that I need them mind you. :T

Hello.....
 

Hi everyone. I was gone for a night and am back now. I had to go to the wet side of Washington for a meeting today. You're right, I live in the desert part of Washington, which many folks don't realize is here. The Western side is rainy and the far eastern side is more dry and has pine trees and mountains. I live in the middle where we are very dry and our trees are sage brush and tumbleweeds.

Going in the car this week hasn't been bad, but sitting in meetings all day was hard as I wanted to nibble to stay awake all day! I think I had consumed all of my ww points for the day by 4pm yesterday and today. So I did go over on both days, but hope to get back on track or under a bit so I will still see a minus on the scales.

It sounds like you all know each other pretty well, how long have you been visiting together on the boards? My husband and I lived in England in the late 1980's for nearly 5 years. We absolutely loved it and wished we could have stayed. We both look forward to the days when we can travel abroad again and both definately have plans to see Australia.

Well, I hear kids coming home so I'd better sign off and see to them. Bye all.

Morning all,
Kim, I guess we've been cyber friends now for 18 months maybe 2 years. Time does fly when you are having fun. I went on a round the world trip in July and August and was lucky enough to stay with both Teel and Happy. So we have also met each other physically. I like to think we are good friends and will remain so. They are both lovely people.

I would love to live in Scotland. I just really really feel at home in Scotland. Don't ask me why - maybe the scenery is similar to that of my native New Zealand. I also like Ireland and the Irish a lot, but my Grandfather came from Ireland so I guess I do have ties there. I certainly have relatives there!

You talk about wanting to nibble in meetings. Is there nibbly type food available to eat? Or do you have to provide your own? If you have to provide your own go for fruit snacks or something like strawberries which are actually amazing diet food. Same with frozen grapes. I guess they would be somewhat expensive up there now you are settling into fall and winter. Mandarins - if you can get them - are also good and you get to stock up on Vitamin C with them as well. My only other suggestion might be sugar free gum if you can bear to eat it! Maybe Happy or Teel might have some other suggestions.

Jaffa's huh - well okay can do. Anyone else want some as well. Jaffas were very popular when I was growing up. They are round and about the size of a small marble or Kool Mint if you know what they are - I'm trying to think of something about the right size. They used to come in a box not a packet and they rattled around in the box and made an awful noise. One of the favourite pastimes was to go to the movie theatre, buy a box of Jaffas, sit up the very back upstairs and roll them down the (in those days) uncarpeted stairs. What a noise they made. Haven't seen them in a while although I'm fairly sure they are still around. Will check and see. Must admit that as much as I enjoyed Jaffas as a teenager, if we could rake up the cash, there was a chocolate bar which if I remember rightly was English and made by a company called Fry or Hudson Fry and they made these bars with a chocolate coating and a creme inside. One was a peppermint and the other an orange creme. They were (in my memory) magnifique!!!!!! Those were the days when I could eat anything and still stay at 118lbs. That was a long time ago.

Happy, I spent a long time yesterday putting some flowers and insects (including the butterflies) up on my Webshots site. Give DH a nudge and tell him to go look. When I uploaded the Chicago butterflies from the digital, I found I had taken a photo of him taking a photo of the butterfly. I haven't put it on the site. I wouldn't do that without asking permission as it is easily recognisable as to who it is! Back views I may do. But for the rest I'd ask permission. I may e-mail it at a later date. Anyone else wants to look at my pics go to
http://community.webshots.com/user/joy_clover
Anyway, it's back on the plane for me this afternoon so it is time to make some moves in the packing direction. Spent a lot of time while sorting out my pictures yesterday watching the footy on TV. Australia won their game, so did England (must have been Prince Harry Teel) Japan gave France a run for their money before running out of puff. Tournament is hotting up. USA is doing well - not expected to win anything but they sure gave the gamblers a bit of a fright the another night!

Okay, time to go. Scale still not co-operating, but I will take the tape measure with me to Cairns tonight and will measure up there at the end of the week. :genie:

Shad your pictures are great. I especially like the waterlily - the pinks are so intense against the dark water. And you have a couple that would make beautiful backgrounds. DH said you can post his pic if you like and he also liked several of your castle and scenery pictures from Scotland and Ireland. Told him we get to travel vicariously through you! When you've lived in the city all your life and most of your travels are to other cities, you don't realize just how pretty rolling hills and the countryside can be.

Kim, Shad has been on the boards here the longest of the group. I joined up June of 2002 and about a month later saw Annie's plea for some help. Teel knocked on the door a month later. We've lost a few people along the way Leuelu from NZ, Noah from the Seattle area. That happens and you are sad to see people go who you have come to know well, but at times life does take you on a different path. We have had our share of the giggles amongst the group here. For me it was not only neat to make some cyber friends across the world but to actually get to meet and spend time with them like I did with Shad this year was something very special to me. It's also been fun to learn about all kinds of things I've never heard of before - bikkies and savouries and clotted cream. I had to try and explain how to make s'mores to Shaker in NZ. Didn't realize until she asked that Graham Crackers are something unique to Canada and the US. When Shad came to visit, we went to the grocery store and I got a lesson on the differences between what we call things and what they do.

As for eating in the car while travelling, that's a tough one. So easy to stop at the nearest fast food place because it's convienent and easy. When we take car trips, I pack a cooler bag with carrot strips, grapes, string cheese - stuff that's easy to grab and doesn't crumble all over me - I have enough of a problem keeping food off my shirt as it is :lol: I also like the Teddy Grahams - bite sized graham crackers that satisfy the sweets craving without being too sinful. When I was on the old WW program, Graham crackers were a legal food but with the points system, I think carbs get rated pretty high in points so that may have changed. Probably the best thing to do is get out of the habit of eating in the car. Eat decent meals and if you want something, make a habit of pulling off to a rest stop to snack and stretch your legs for a few minutes. Also, read this a while ago and it does seem to be true. They said that often when you are sleepy, it's because you are dehydrated - so drink your water even if it means several pit stops. I also have to avoid pasta for lunch as the carb overload sends me to la la land, especially if I'm sitting in an all day meeting or conference and can't get up and move about.

Last weekend DH went out to run some errands and called on his way home asking if I wanted him to bring lunch. I suggested a fast food place and was looking at their nutrition numbers for various foods. I was thinking, salad is a good choice. Well with the cheese and croutons and high fat dressings, it was over 40 grams of fat. I got a burger and small chili for less than the damage of a "healthy" salad. So I guess it pays to take some time to check out your food choices. I was also surprised at the people I know on WW who gulp down V8 juice because it's zero points. (V8 is a tomato juice with several kinds of veggies mixed in). It might be zero points but there is so much sodium in V8, drinking 2 cans is like eating a box of salt. :yikes: For someone like me who has to watch the salt too, I be sticking to points but not losing any weight from the salt intake.

Well, it's Sunday, lots to do today as yesterday was a part "take some time to relax" kind of day. Better get myself in gear here. Have a good one...

Don't know what I did tomy post but it seems to have disappeared. Never mind. We are having all sorts of fun and games with this system today. It is so slow that I am typing at least 3 words ahead of what is showing on the screen. Makes for some interesting typos I can tell you.

My class today which was supposed to last for two days has finished which leaves me with 1 day to spare. So I am driving around the branches tomorrow and will be checking out the trainees in their branches. One branch is at least 1 hour drive down the road. On the way back I will be stopping off at a couple of interesting places. One is a waterfall and the other is a place called the Boulders. It is sort of a Gorge (canyon) which has massive great boulders and rushing waters and beautiful still pools. Lots of things like turtles live in these waters. So I may have my lunch there with my toes dangling in the water!!!

My apartment is about to be changed again. Last night I got in and found that the telly didn't work on the Fox Sports channels, happy and teel will know that I love my rugby union footy and I like to watch it as much as possible. So I got shifted to another room. Today I receive a message saying that I have been allocated a 2 room apartment with better cooking and cleaning facilities. Yahoo. Hope ithas a telly that workd!

Well best be off before I lose my temper with this computer. Time for a swim and a shower before dinner and picking up some groceries for the week. I'll catch you all tomorrow.

Morning
 

Nice to hear from you all. It sounds as if everyone is pretty busy. I am recovering from yesterday. We have a group of friends over from our church every other Sunday for a day of fellowship, study and food. There were 8 adults and 11 kids ranging from ages 3-15 here from 3pm to 9pm. It's a lot of fun and I enjoy the group, but I'm worn out the next day! So I stayed home from work today, no car !!! and did administrative stuff. The last time we did this meeting I did ok with eating mostly fruit/veggies. BUT this time the 'theme' for the meal was mexican food, which I really love. So I didn't do so well in the eating department. I'm hoping that the days I've done good this week will cancel out yesterday...

Shad, it sounds like you travel a bunch too, but by plane? What do you do for a living? Thanks to you all for your suggestions. I was lucky at the meeting that I was at, that they provided fruit and lunch. I was able to eat well, but more than normal as it was a LONG day with a three hour drive at the end of it. I have pretty much set myself a goal not to stop except for fuel and to use the restroom on my trips, unless I'm going into a Subway or something. Do you have this restaurant where you all are? If not, they do deli sandwiches and salads and it is pretty easy to eat healthy and correctly there.

Everyone have a good week. My 'break' is over so I'll get back to work. :dizzy:

Hello guys...sorry I have not been here for a few days, don't know where I have been really!!:?: But you all seem to have filled the pages....hi again to Kimallen, glad you felt brave enough to stay with us nutcases on this thread... I have been posting here slightly less time than Shad and Happy and "the disappeared ones!"I found this site a year ago and celebrated my 1st " birthday" on about the 6th October 2003!! :devil: :D

I have to confess that I have not weighed in for ages but have recommited again.Ever since I received my slo-cooker I have been busy cooking portions galore to freeze so I can eat healthier...last week some extra lean diced beef for stewing was on offer so my freezer is full of 6 pots beef stew with vegetables, already to defrost and reheat and consume:T :moo: :chef:
I have also bought the required ingredients for ratatouille (peppers, onions, courgettes..(ok....zuchinni..oh!!how do you spell it, Happy??!!) mushrooms and then realised I had used the last tin of plum tomatoes in the stew so all the ingredients are stacked in the kitchen....on the freezer, in the fridge...on the worktop...perhaps I should chop them up, bag them and freeze them ready or they'll start walking out to the bin on their own:devil:
Talking of bins...I took my glass to the recycling bins yesterday...I had filled one mini-bin outside the house and stuffed the rest in a bag. The lid on the mini-bin had broken and fallen off and I knew some rain water had got in and I put the awful stench down to brackish water...until I got to the tip and pulled out a couple of the wine bottles and there at the bottom....was a dead ....something :mouse: :fr: :eek: :faint: I could only see half a head and two pink front paws as there was still some glass bottles on top of it....:censored: :yikes: so I'm afraid I tipped the bin over the hole and shut my eyes as the remainding items slid out into the recycling bin...squeek and all...yuk yuk yuk!!!!!:p bleh!!
On that somewhat delightfully ill-making scenario I shall bring this to a close....:lol:

Oh by the way I am away on respite leave from Sunday for four days so I will get on when I can..
Bye bye
Be good.:cheers:

Teel, thank you for the graphic description of the dead whatever. What did he die of? Alcohol poisoning?
I'm just off back on the road to another store, but remembered that the lunch for todays course was due to arrive so diverted here for that.

Kim sounds like a busy day down your way. Good that you could have some time off to catch up on the paperwork.

We have Subway here in Aussie and I think in NZ. I rarely go in to any of the fast food stores. We have enough reasonably priced fruit, veg and bread not to have to worry about it. No fast food faster than biting into a juicy apple. I'm a fruit addict and my eldest son and I have the nicknames of FruitBat 1 and Fruitbat2. It is interesting to see however that McD* and a few of the others are now introducing 'healthy salads and burgers' Like happy said, you have to watch the sugar and sodium contents in some of these things.

Kim, I can't remember how much it was that you had to lose - it certainly is difficult when you are travelling and eating out a lot. I seem to be able to manage to maintain or even lose if I stay below the Tropic of Capricorn - ie in the temperate or cool areas of Australia, however the tropics (like now - I am in Cairns) defeat me. Don't know what it is. I eat well but don't overeat, I exercise and I try to keep busy but somehow it just sneaks on.

I'm self employed and I am a workplace trainer. That means I move around workplaces training people to use IT programs. At the moment I am contracted to a company called Tradelink, they are plumbing suppliers. They are putting in a new system and it is my job to race around and train people. 1800 of them in various locations. Luckily enough I am not the only trainer. Usually I train in structured classroom courses but occasionally like today I get to drive around. So saying that I best go and do it. No time like the present to go and annoy some of my trainees!

Are you the same happy to be me on Free Republic????

Interesting that you have a more difficult time in the tropics Shad. I find it easier to deal with food the hotter the temperatures get. Am really having trouble getting the water in now that it's gotten much cooler. And Subway has built a whole marketing campaign on low fat sandwiches, unlike their fast food counterparts. I have yet to try them though not being a big fan of Subway but everyone says their low fat Chicken Teryaki sandwich is wonderful.

Teel you make me smile with your adventures with the back yard wildlife. But what a nasty surprise in the bin. I always rinse out my recylables because as winter nears, we have a problem with field mice in the area. I especially noticed it the winter after our cat passed away - guess even as old and meek as she was, it kept the critters away. DH has been begging me ever since to get another but I am so horribly allergic to them that I said no, and we won't discuss it again. EVER. So now he wants a bunny again. Hope you get some rest while away, we will miss you while you're gone. Kim can help us from slumping down to page 2 on the listings.

Kim I love Mexican food too. And it's really hard to be good when eating that what with the sauces and add ons and things that make it so delicious.

I have decided in my next life I want to come back as a man. They really have it much easier than we do and they get to whine and moan as much as they please and do what they want on their schedules and no one thinks the worse of them. I'm still trying to figure out why they think we are the ones who have it made... DH has not given me an answer yet that I agree with, but I keep asking...

I have heard that Subway low fat stuff is not too bad. However I would also be wanting to know how much sugar or sodium is also included and whether ithe nutritional advice is per portion. Certainly portion control has more to do with losing weight for me than fat, sugar or salt content. Subway is not a place I go to often. For me fast food is fruit from the fridge, lo fat dip and bikkies, vegetables and crackers, yoghurt or a lean cuisine (infrequently). If I am eating out, I tend to go for fish restaurants or Thai. I love Italian and Mexican but it is definitely not low fat!. I well remember the Cheescake Factory that you took me too Happy and I think of the portions they served there. Unbelievable what they expected a person to be able to eat!!!!:eek: :faint: :yikes:
I'm back in the classroom again. Yesterday was a disaster as far as training goes. I don't think I achieved anything at all work wise.
One thing though, I am now finding I am enjoying my exercises and the walk first thing in the morning a lot more :jig: :cb:. It is quite novel walking along the beachfront in Cairns at 5.30am. The Esplanade has distance markers on it and I am now managing a 3km walk (about 1600metres to the mile) in about 15 minutes and I feel good with it. Hot and sweaty but good. My knee is not bothering me much so somewhere along the line those stretching and bending exercises must be doing me good! Geez never thought I would hear myself say that! Yesterday I did the exercises, took the walk and had a swim late in the evening (after I watched the Canadians play football against the Italians). Gee the Canucks played well last night. They lost but certainly not be the margin they were expected to lose by!

Anyway time to move along. Time to get that genie out and prod Annie back into action I think.

Shad, unfortunately the websites for Subway and McDonalds only list the US Nutritional values for their foods. They probably can't do all the conversions and account for possibly different ingredients outside of the states. But if you want a peek to try and make sense of it...

Adobe Acrobat PDF of Subway's nutrition list

McDonald's online USA nutrition list With McD's you pick a food and it returns back the information.

You're right, the Cheesecake Factory serves their food literally on platters, at least 3 meals from one dinner. Many people complain here, make smaller portions and lower the prices. But it falls on deaf ears. It's good to hear your knee is doing a bit better, I really do think the stretching helps. I should talk, the pain is mostly gone in my foot and I have stopped my stretches too which is not good. I will do them tonight before bed though it's better to do them in the morning after a warm shower to have things limber.

Tomorrow I go to get my hair cut off. I really like longer hair on me but I'm finding so much of it on the floor lately that I have to accept that all this tugging and blow drying is stressing it too much. Will probably get it cut to my shoulders with maybe some layers to give it shape and a bit of fullness. My hairdresser is wonderful with thin, baby fine, totally straight hair like mine. Although I have been looking at the guys hair, it's cut so short now it looks like the shiny scalp look is coming into style. I have only had it short like yours Shad once is all of my life. Never again, it's just too limp for a very short style.

I used to have long almost waist length hair many moons ago. It took a lot of upkeep and was so thick that it took almost 2 days to dry naturally. Eventually I got to the point where I was screaming with rage and pain at the knots and tangles in it and the pointless winding on those huge rollers to straighten it out and the lack of sleep because of the rollers. I then took to it with a pair of scissors and it has progressively got shorter and shorter. It is still thick and wiry - unkind people have called it number 8 fencing wire.
Better day today as far as water goes. I even managed to stay away from a lot of the bad lunch food as well. It is very fortunate that they don't provide cheese platters for lunches here.
Sort of a slow bunch this time around. They are not slow because they are dumb, they are slow because they keep trying to anticipate the training material. Everyone considers their branch to be different from everyone else. However everyone asks the same questions in each session. Not much is new under the sun.
Better go sort out this bloke for another hour or so before I take myself off for a swim or a walk and some dinner.

Oh :mad: yesterday evening I tried for hours to access my isp to no avail.This morning it worked on try 3. I get so mad popping in and out of the :comp: 0nly to get the same error command!OOOH:rollpin: :rollpin:

Good news from this end...but don't get too excited!!I finally got in to our Boots plc and my usual weighing machine is back working and YEE HA! I have finally lost 1 lb :faint: and am 11st 7lbs.Not really much to celebrate when I had reached 11st exactly 6 or 7 weeks ago.But there, "1 is 1 and 1 is 1 and evermore shall be so!" Crumbs where on earth did that come from??The diabetes levels are largely all perfect in the morning so perhaps my metabolism has been kicked in to touch again...thank you to cyber freinds encouragement from the u.k. thread...:drill: :sumo:

As for Holly she is fine but I am rather cross with her for not letting me know there was a :mouse: dying of malnutrition and cirrhosis practically on my back doorstep!!:yikes: Hee hee she was sulking with me yesterday evening ~cos I cut a few of her toenails before bed..oh the shame of it!...oh the indignity of being bundalled into a duvet so you can't escape!:p Oh what a load of fuss and nonsense about nothing!:lol: :lol:

that's all for now so,
bye bye
be good and hear from you soon:write: :write: :comp: :comp:

Oh good evening and a great big THANK YOU :yes: :yes: to Shad for her stunning photo album on webshots community.They are FANTASTIC and so far I have only seen the slide show of the England Tour 2003...(sounds just like cricket to me!!hee hee) Gosh I wish I had the patience and the talent to input all my photos like that....come to think of it, I wish my photos were even a smidgen as good as they are.Well done Shad and I can't wait to go through some more...oh by the way...just in case you are ever asked this question on Mastermind or the like....Bury St. Edmunds is spelt with an U not an O....:devil: :p Typical English language makes simple things not so simple...leave it to us, if we can complicate something, we sure will!!!!

I have not told Holly of her portrait on the web :sssh: ...I should worry too much that international fame would go straight to her head!!!:snooty:
:lol: ;) :smug: :cb: :dancer: :hyper:

Night night from me...oh I suppose that should read "good day"!and its not long now till the weekend :wizard:

Thanks Teel, I have been in and changed the spelling. Naughty me I knew it was a U too.
Back later

Hi everyone. We've been busy the last two days with a Homecoming football game and 4 basketball games today with the girls. Since we've been home this afternoon I've been cleaning and cooking like crazy to get ready for company. My son has his first "date" tonight. He is taking a girl to the homecoming dance. Her parents are driving and chaperoning and they are all coming here for dessert before the dance. So...it's been a busy day and I think I'm more nervous than my son!

Hi all,
Haven't been able to log on since Friday, every time I tried on Friday I could get the message boards but not the journals. Yesterday I couldn't get on at all. Don't know what happened to the site yesterday. Maybe it was down unders day off or something.
Had a good weekend so far. Yesterday I lounged about the pool and then finally took myself off for a drive up to Lake Placid and the Barron River Gorge. Today I have been to the Crystal Cascades and to Lake Morris and the Copperlode Dam. Now I have been to the markets and got myself some fresh fish and fruit and veges so will have no excuse not to eat in this week. The Fresh markets are interesting to say the least. Most of the fruit and veg looked great. Some looked a bit wizened and wilted so I avoided those bits. Got some jumbo size free range eggs and they taste great too, and I got some mango and some bananas which are grown locally up here. The paw paw (papaya) were too huge and I would never have gotten through it before Thursday when I go home. Now I am about to go back to the Apartment and lounge around the pool with a book for the afternoon.
So that's my weekend.
Kim, good to hear from you. Hope the son's date goes okay. Daresay you have been telling him what to do and what not to do to keep the lady happy! I think it is a great idea to get the families together for dessert before they go. Sort of gets the party going with the folks as well. How old is this son??

Well best go and do my thing for the rest of the day. Maybe we will hear from the others later or during the week.

Good morning,

Well, the date went well. My son is 14 and the girl is 13. Neither he or the girl talked much at dessert, I think they were nervous! But we had a nice time visiting. They had a good time and were dressed up very nicely. They got there and found several of their friends dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts! My son said that the music wasn't too great as it was a teacher as the DJ and he played 70's & 80's music! I'd have liked that but I guess the kids of today don't like the "oldies".

I had a moment of talking to him about how to treat his date, but he wasn't too interested in hearing. He is definately at the stage where he thinks his parents are not too smart. I've been told that as he gets older we become a lot smarter! We'll see.

Shad, it sounds like you get to enjoy the fresh markets where you are. That is one of the things that my husband and I really miss from living in England. We really enjoyed the markets and the "community" feeling that they inspire. We also really miss the bakeries as american bread is nothing like what we had in Europe.

Well, everyone have a great day. I'm off to take my eldest daughter shopping as she's outgrown everything. I'm 5'3", pudgy and dark haired. God has a sense of humor...he gave me a 13 year old blonde daughter who is naturally long and lean. Most people don't believe she is my child as she towers over me and looks nothing like me! :) Later..........

Hi everyone,
Sorry I didn't realize I've been doing more lurking than posting.

Well I've gone and done it. Cut 5 inches off my hair (it's shoulder length now) and had it tinted red with blond highlights. It's nothing outrageous, a nice soft color that brings out the color in my face and goes well with my eyes. Even DH likes it. Makes me feel a bit better about myself too. I just forgot how harsh the chemicals are and have been walking around with an itchy head for 3 days but that will ease up. Red hair takes alot of maintenance, don't know if I will keep up with this every 6 weeks, but we'll see.

Today is one of my favorite days of the year - Daylight Savings time ends and we turn the clocks back an hour so today is actually 25 hours long. You really notice that extra hour and it's nice to have it be earlier than it seems. Bad thing is that it now gets dark an hour earlier which limits my driving since I try not to drive at night - bad night vision.

It's getting progressively colder and grayer as winter is around the corner. They are talking about rain and snow flurries :yikes: on Tuesday. We had a cool summer this year, hope that doesn't mean a snowy winter. The new furnace we put in this summer is working just fine keeping the house nice and toasty - no more hot and cold spots like before.

I'm still quite busy with school but we're at the half way point now, only 8 more weeks for this semester - can't wait for it to end.

Kim, it's interesting that you say your kids don't like the oldies. I've heard several people comment that their kids are listening to bands like Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith and are surprised to find out that these people were "our" music. I like some of the music out today but not most of it - especially the rap and techno stuff kids listen to now. How much "fun" it must be for you to introduce your son to the dating world, especially as you say when you and your husband are pretty "dumb" in their eyes. I'm sure it's a challenge, just have to remember how we felt when we were young. I am so glad my mom put up with me!

Shad I am envious of your travels and fresh open markets of delicious foods. We're limited to farmers markets over the summer months and I'm sure it's nothing like the kinds of freshness and foods you're getting.

Well I'm off now to take care of the weekend chores, take care and hellos to Teel and the rest of our lurker friends.

Woohoo, do we get to see a picture of the red head with blonde tints????? Sounds great.

Kim, don't know about you but when I was 14 or so, my folks knew zip, zilch, zero about anything! My Mum was dumber than my Dad too. Then when I got to 21, it was amazing how much they had learnt!

Had a real blue at work this morning. So much so that I am considering handing in my resignation. I've never walked out on a contract before, so this could be a first. Mind you, I have not presented this course before so maybe panic has something to do with it. However the things that don't work are driving me insane. And it doesn't help with the confidence building in the students. Besides which, today I have the Regional Manager as well as a bunch of Branch Managers. It makes things even tougher as I stumble through the material. We will get there no doubt, but it won't be as my normal unflappable self. This last week has taken a lot out of me. I am constantly tired and life is just not as good as it should be. Normally I just love my job as you know and can take the rough (with a few jokes) along with the smooth. Now it begins to get at me easily.

Sorry I didn't mean for this to become a rant. :rollpin: :rollpin: as Teel would say.
Better go. Straighten out a few more messes during the lunch break.

Pictures, eh? You know how camera shy I am. :eek: But I'll see what I can do. DH went downtown again today and took more butterfly pictures. Got some new ones. He wore a brightly colored shirt and they were landing all over him.

Shad, I know that frustrated place you are at right now with the teaching. Happened to me too and if you are half as upset as I was, can understand the storming out part. I believe you are probably one of the best instructors they have ever seen, because you care about doing a good job (a rare commodity sadly). The powers that be don't care if they hand you a pile of trash and think you'll wave your magic wand and make a rose out of it. They don't have to stand there and smell the stink.

I find myself getting more short tempered too. For me, it's more the ever growing frustration of people not having the values of personal responsibility and accountability in general. I'm getting quite tired of being the only one who cares (or so it seems). Hard to fight that "can't beat them, join them" mentality.

For you it must be much harder. Not only do you have to deal with the frustrations of ill prepared materials, but add to it systems that don't work and the occasional lot of students who don't give a hoot. Being away from home as much as you are would wear thin on me also. I did it for one year back in 1985 and decided I could not continue my life in that manner.

I hope things get better for you and that this is just a blue moment which will pass. Can't tell you what to do since it's your life to decide. All I can offer is my utmost sympathy and a big :grouphug:

It's a good thing that retirement is not 40 years away, but sadly it sure can't come fast enough, can it?

Perhaps you need to look into a new line of work - something that involves working with the footy teams? Team building, body building, how to beat the pants off the opposing teams? ;)

Ohh happy how you can cheer me up. Work with the footy teams. Ogle them more likely. Can't see that I would get a lot of work done. :lol: :lol:
So we are in for some more butterflies soon are we? Goodo. Yesterday while wandering around the Crystal Cascade I spotted a Ulysses butterfly - similar to your Blue Morph only brighter. I wish DH could have been here to see that. It was huge and such a beautiful blue. Quite made my morning that did. When it landed (not too far away) the bl**dy thing would not unfold it's wings so I couldn't get a photo. Must have been male - unco-operative. It landed on a green leaf, my shirt was green too. Ummm obviously not green enough.
Okay I feel better now. Have managed to get through everything, just took a bit longer. I will know for next time. And regardless or rewardless or whatever, I am not lowering my standards. Thanks for the hugs and nice words. I sure appreciate them.

And why are you still out of bed??

It's only 11pm here right now. Prime time for my brain to be working and trying to trudge through 140 pages of reading for my Access DB class. Am avoiding it by occasionally surfing the internet between chapters.

I have figured out a job for you. You can be the official bum checker of the footy teams. It will be your job to observe the legs and backsides and occasionally poke them in the butts to make sure they are keeping themselves in good enough shape to win all their games and the cup at the end of the season. I'm sure you can muster up a stern face to keep them in line, while still remaining their good friend and confidant.

Meant to ask you, since things your way - bugs and flora and fauna - are so much bigger there than here, is it also true of the butterflies? Are they big as dinner plates?

You know your life is stressed when a fresh breeze blowing your face, a beautiful sunrise/sunset, or the sight of a lovely creature flitting about makes you sigh with happiness... Or maybe even a nice ripe mango will do it for you (nicely priced of course) :T :spin: :D :cloud9:

Haven't seen a dinnerplate sized butterfly yet. Seen some decent sized ones. Many are around the same size as the Blue Morph and the Swallowtail. And we have some really tiny ones here. Dinner plates - er no specially not the size of the ones at Cheesecake factory.

Morning all and it is a lovely morning here in sunny North Queensland.
I'm just waiting for a new class to turn up. No doubt this will happen with all the skill that NQ'ers dedicate to being on time (not). Motto up here is - do not hurry, you will only break out in a sweat.
I'm really looking forward to going home on Thursday night. I am then home for a week or so before going back to Townsville for another week. After that who knows. I have started to update my CV (resume) and will finish that off when I get home. No hurry for a new job, but it is definitely coming. I've more or less decided that enough is enough and I have been here too long already. The travel I can take, the dissention within the ranks I can't, and the problems with the system are too much already. I wish them luck, and they will need it. I think I have run out of passion for this implementation. That's life. Good, bad, ugly, but one needs passion to retain ones enthusiasm and give of ones best. I don't seem to have it anymore.
Okay, coffee time. Have a good day all. I'll be back later to see whats going on in the world.

Just bumping us up. Will return later with todays exciting sagas. If of course there are any.

Hmmmm still no-one here. Quiet times are obviously to be had. Have a good night everyone. I am going back to Brisbane tomorrow - really looking forward to that.
I took Happy's advice the other night and went and had a mango. Like a dose of sunshine. You just got to love them. Got one more to eat tonight and then I will be going home. Still Townsville again in a couple of weeks time, so I'll get some more then!!

Mornin' Shad or is it Goodnight:?: ............. The journals are closed at the moment and I could not find out what you have been up to so I dropped into the thread to spy on you:devil: Then when I find you are all alone in here I thought I'd better let you know I am here in case you would be frightened:dizzy:
I can understand why you are looking forward to getting home tomorrow ................ you will be so happy to put this week behind you.
See you in your journal!


:D



Blessings in disguise

If you look at your problems as problems, they will continue to hold you down. See them instead as blessings in disguise, and that is what they will truly become.
If you treat the challenges as excuses for failure, you'll have plenty of excuses but not much else. Approach those challenges instead as pathways to success, and that is precisely what they will be.

There is more than enough richness in life for all those who are willing to recognize it. That richness most often comes wrapped in challenge so as to keep its value intact.

For if the good things in life had no cost at all, they would not be worth very much. It is the effort, the discipline, the commitment to overcome any challenge, that makes a dream worth reaching.

So whatever stands in the way of your dream is really a blessing in disguise. For when you work your way through it, you arrive at the place you most want to be.

-- Ralph Marston

Hi everyone!
I have manged to sneak round to the computer at last and even remebered my password!!:cp: Thats the worst of working on a different computer to usual, it wants to know your vitals..he he he!!My word you guys have been chatting away in my absense...its taken me quite a long time to catch up with all the goings on here and there.
Autumn has arrived here with a bang, but the tree colours are beautiful.
Mmmmm interesting job Happy has figured out for you, Shad...I daresay you can rewrite your own job description when you have had a chance to settle in a bit :lol: :devil:
Well I am sure out of news today and despite being on respite, am totally :censored: :headache: so I will shove off....ooooh, its stopped raining and the sky is a sort of grey-blue....

bye bye, be back soon.

Good morning all,

And a happy hello to Mooz. Thanks for popping in. :wave:

I have not abandoned you, had a bit of a crisis with the team on my school project yesterday. We had a big project due and one of the team members did not deliver his piece so I had to frantically put together 2 sections I was not necesarily prepared to do in order to save our grade. :write: :write: :write: :comp: It seems to me at times that people have lost the good old fashioned values of personal accountability and responsibility. :mad: But then again, life is sure less stressful when you are a slug I imagine. I could never be that way myself, so I guess I am doomed to moments in my life when my hair stands on end and I am a raging bull.

It is a few days shy of 6 months until my next birthday. 50. Hmm. Where did the years fly to? I can't stop the calendar, but I can do something about how I approach it. Would really like to not look as I do now 6 months from now. Would be nice to mark the occasion with some pictures that I actually don't mind having taken of me. Which means, time to plan.

I was thinking yesterday (before the crisis) of what I do that makes me feel better about myself and the things around me.

I do better when I: 1) eat breakfast and take my vitamins - less likely to pick at anything fast for lunch; 2) return to my fly-lady habits of doing something the minute I see it needs attending to or if not, putting it on a to do list so that I don't forget; 3) planning my meals ahead and not bringing things home from the grocery store that will tempt me.

So I am going back to reinforcing good habits again. Little baby steps eventually get you to journey's end...

Oh poor happy. You must have had a day like I had earlier. Don't get mad - get even. Problem with us Taurean types is that we don't get mad often but it really is a rage when it happens.
I hope you can work out a plan for the next 6 months. We would love to see a photo of happy on her birthday wouldn't we Teel? and Kim?
Teel, glad you dropped in again. Good to hear you are going okay if bored.
For some reason, this computer will not let me into have a look at some of my journal comments. It only seems to be one entry. Guess I will just have to wait to get home to have a look at it. Wonder if someone has been rude?

Okay time to move it along with the mob

My computer at home has the sh*ts because I went away. It would appear that the video card is gone. I will endeavour to get something done about it over the weekend but it may have to go to the hospital and I will need to use DS computer.

Today I find that instead of having most of next week at home I am going to Toowoomba for a week, then having a week at Townsville, after which I am promised that I will be home until after Christmas! That will be nice.

Hope everyone is doing okay. Weigh in day again tomorrow. Wonder how things have gone? Doubt that I have lost much.

Aha now there is a subject not to talk about too often...birthdays:hb:But it is fun to look at others and see how the years have changed and moulded them..usually for the better! ;) And I love looking at photgraphs (others, NOT mine:mad: :lol: )

Today I was planning on foing into town but it is so wet and dark and horrible out there that I am not at all inclined toeven put a fut out of the boorOh dear!I know I am exhuasted but I thought my spellim would manage a bit longer than it is!!I shall disappear into the duvet until my brain can take the strain again!!

Ta ta to all
luv from mexx

Good morning ladies,
Happy Halloween! We have had 2 nice days of glorious spring like temperatures. A bit on the breezy side but the fresh warm air has been such a treat.

I've been doing pretty well avoiding the Halloweeen candy bowl but can't say the same for DH. At one point yesterday I told him to leave some for the children. I think his sugar binges are far worse than me.

Just doing a quick check in this morning. There's still a full work day ahead of me and pennies to be earned.

Will be back later, have a good day.

Hi all? Things have been going a mile a minute here this week. Happy Harvest! :dizzy: My son and husband are off to school and a 3 hour drive, one way, for a football game. I just got my daughters off to school and now I'm in between appointments. I thought I'd check in and say hi. I weighed last week and have lost 5 #'s since I started WW three weeks ago. That's not a great amount, but is what I deserve as I've not been doing the program exactly as I should.

My husband gets migraine headaches now and then. When he does he usually ends up in the emergency room in the middle of the night. As he waits until he can't stand it before he'll go to the doctr :?: Anyway, we were at the ER on Sunday night and it took a shot of demerol to get his pain under control. Then the next day after he woke up we had to go back to the doctor because the headache was worse. So...three shots later and little sleep for me we got home. As a result I've been behind on my work as I was pretty much useless on Monday.

Our weather here in Eastern Washington has definately turned to winter. We had 80 degree weather last week and are now in the 20's-30's. I don't mind the cold, I just hope that the snow will be light this year as I am definately not a snow bunny!

Well, take care everyone, I'll check back this weekend.