So three birthday girls this month. Oh how exciting. Wonder what Mel with do with that information.
Roseblush, your birthday is the same day as my sister. She is one year older than you. It is a big birthday coming up for you too isn't it? Well it only gets better from here on in, even if the list of ailments seems to get longer and longer.
First Teel and then Linus and then Roseblush. We should be celebrating most of this month at full speed.

Okay, since I posted most of the deep dark thoughts of Shad for the day last night, I'm sort of running out of things to say. I've re posted my NCC for the week in my journal. I stuffed up yesterday. Today is another day. The staying up later sorted of worked. I slept until 4.30, went to the wee room and came back to bed. Picked up a book and fell asleep until nearly seven. Only Sunday the Cat (big brave huntress that she is) screaming at 6.50 about the cat from next door being in the yard got me going again. Geez she can stick her claws into me hard enough, why doesn't she take a swing at other cats in the yard!!! I know why - she never had to do it for herself, Shad the dog would go out there and defend her honour!!!! Guess she considers she needs a new slave!!! Tough cat - learn how!!
Okay to the gym, to the gym.

So we're partying like there's no end are we? If we're having tea and you're brewing it from your side of the pond, are we also having crumpets? What ARE crumpets by the way? Are they on plan? Will Shad be serving her butternut soup that sounded so good (thanks for posting the recipe in your journal - I will have to try that one).

What shall I bring? It is strawberry season. Just please don't ask me to top them with single cream, clotted cream and lets not have that confusing conversation again as I still don't know our creams from your creams and we have something called and egg cream that is neither cream nor eggs and it's a drink.

Weather is getting hotter now as we approach summer. Actually I think it's only hot because we haven't finished all the prep work for the new landscaping and the warmer it gets the more often I have to water all the plants on my patio so that my substantial investment does not dry out from under my nose. Went out after supper tonight to cut up more of the brush DH chopped up over the weekend and a lady walking by with her tiny tots said she swore she saw a deer run down the road in front of her. Sure enough it was confirmed by some neighbors standing out and chatting. Now the nearest deer infested woods are several miles from me and there are many heavily trafficed roads between my place and the forest area. So this poor doe is far, far from home. It's a wonder she hasn't been hit yet. DH said she had heard about our place and was just coming by for a bite to eat. We have red birds, blue birds, brown birds, 7 ducks, 3 rabbits, many squirrels, 2 pairs of mourning doves and one widowed dove whose mate was snatched by a pair of hawks all calling our yard home throughout the day. We have a rather large shade tree in front of the house and with a steady supply of apparently what must be the tastier brand of birdseed, along with some bread and my expensive cooking nuts that DH thinks are treats for his friends, we have quite the crew of wildlife here. Would be nice if we could attract a few hummingbirds too.

But... all of this takes time and work. And all of this work takes time away from other things like sitting on the computer here. But slowly I am catching up on things.

I have a nice selection of assorted cool fruits here - watermelon, cantelope, sweet dark cherries, plums, bananas, apples and peaches. You are welcome to swing by, pull up a chair, chat and munch for a while. Just ring up first as I have not totally gotten my fly lady act together as of yet Happy Tuesday to you all...

9 Days and Counting until the Birthday extravaganza commences... tick, tick, tick

Crumpets are sort of OP. It's what we put on them that causes the problems. They are made a bit like thick pancakes but only cooked on one side. The other side rises up and as it cooks produces bubbles with set into holes. You can pour butter or cheese or salsa or golden syrup or jam onto the hot crumpet (plonk it in the toaster to heat) and it fills up all the holes and dribbles out as you eat them. I loved them as a kid with butter and vegemite, but am not so impressed these days. Mind you ours used to be huge and light and fluffy, todays ones seem to be much smaller and chewier.
Here's a sort of picture. If you put crumpet on the word search these days, you have to be prepared for what comes back!!!!!

Oh yes crumpets, I loved them when I was vacationing in oz..... but I could not get the hang of eating vegimite.....probably just like some people don't care for peanut butter. I did enjoy the food over there for lots of reasons. Happy you sounded good and the more plants you have the more work you make but sometimes whne you go to the nurseries it is impossible to resist.
I did good yesterday on my plan but not a budge in the scale ....oh well. I am trying to drink more water during the day to help out the situation.
Great hockey game last night...wow so exciting for that team and the players.... it was a great sports weekend with horse racing hockey and nba ball too. Tonight is game two in the nba final. been so good I haven't even had one beer while partaking of the sporting frenzy!
Hi Linus nice to see you..... how goes the waiting for the youngser? Sometimes you just want to get your hands on them and never let them go....Chad starts jumping out of helicopters today...has been throwing lines to them last week at the descend and hover overhead.... can't even think about it. My one lone guppy is winning the war of time in the tank with his buddies. I need to start looking at garage sales for a bigger tank to expand their domain.
Hope everyone has a good day and remains op for the week.... I am making small gains in that department hope is shows one day soon!!!!!
Love ya,
Nae

you know i completely forgot to mention that im not going back to slimming world as i really prefer doing it alone im not a good one for doing what im told and much prefer doing it for me and i also seemed to lose more weight this way and im now 15.7 so thats just 7 pounds to go and ill have lost threee stone since march the first getting a visit from the head honcho from the council on monday to get this housing thing sorted out so fingers crossed happy how goes the no smoking thing im now seriously thinking about it i must be getting my head sorted and doing things for me and mine instead of what other people think and ive also just found out my so called best freind is not will explain later must go and take washing out of the dryer as its really foggy here and damp and miserable
speak later
kirsty

ps again i swear my head is up my !!!!!!!! ill leave that one for the imagination i forgot to post my stats at the end of the month so ill try and get them done and post them later

Morning all.
It wasn't a great day yesterday, so I hope life just gets better today. Not that anything went horribly wrong - just didn't go quite right. So today there is no gym, I will go for a walk instead. Tiling is on the menu today. I measured up and drew the straight lines for start yesterday but it seems that the tiles are not actually quite straight either. So that explains the 'eccentric' look from the other day. Everything appears straight but something isn't. Never mind, most of these tiles will be hidden behind or under furniture. I'm getting my mathmatical brain together at the moment and will then go fix these darned tiles. I shouldn't wait for me to get to your tiles Mel, you want them finished in this lifetime - right???

Vegemite is an aquired taste Nae. Not everyone likes it. I can take it or leave it. I have a friend who's day doesn't start until the toast and vegemite are ingested. Americans tend to be a bit wary of it. I think it is because they plonk too much on the bread or toast. It is not meant to be slathered on. We used to laugh at DS2 because he would butter his bread and then put on just enough vegemite to colour the butter. I guess the taste was still there and he is really not that much into salty/savoury tastes. Apart from Maccers and KFC and Red Rooster and Subway that is.

Okay, time to go get flyladied around the joint and then onto the tiling. Can't put it off any longer.

I have a great respect for tiling and things of that nature. Have watched DH work with a not very straight house and apparently sometimes the materials themselves are not so straight either So I can now appreciate when things are laid out properly and the art of covering imperfections. Particularly if you have pieces to cut to fit into place. We had the same issue today with the scalloped border stone for the yard. DH has the level out, is measuring sides and taking FOREVER to place just one piece of stone - 14 MORE to go someday as my plants are cooking in the sun.... gets it and the dirt all leveled out and I started digging the trenches to hurry things along a bit - did I mention that we have had our 3 days of cool lovely spring weather and it is now hot, steamy and warm and all my tender young plants are COOKING in the sunlight????? We laid a few pieces of borderwork which are straight as the crow flies. However, the sidewalk they are butted against is crooked and most apparent even after DH's careful and precise measuring. So do we put the blocks in even with the ground or zig zag them in so that they APPEAR to look straight against the crooked sidewalk? Doesn't not help when your husband does excellent work but is a perfectionist - well let's say he likes to get things right. Me, at this point, I just want to plant the flowers before they wither up in the heat - tis a pain watering them twice a day and sometimes that isn't even enough. And we have lots more work to do yet. I can't rush DH - realisitically with his back he can only do so much each day so I am trying to help in whatever way I can.

We have a pair of mallard ducks that take up daytime residence here each spring and early summer - at night they fly back across the road to the community pond. I was horrified to see that momma duck has apparently hurt her leg quite badly. She is limping something terrible today. Barely takes 3 steps and falls down in the grass. For some reason she has a harder time in the grass than walking on the dirt. I put a pot of cool water out along with a load of birdseed and she was quite happy to plop down in the shade of the tree with all she needed to be content. It's really something how the male looks after her. DH and I are bleeding hearts when it comes to animals. We know we can't catch her to take her to the vet and there are several predatory animals around her. Yesterday the neighbors told me that a deer was running down the street. Now that's rather unusual. But I am rambling here... how did I get to this point from tile? Good luck with tiling Shad, hope you can get it well enough to satisfy you. Is this the fancy tile for the bath or are you on to another room now? Didn't you order some Spanish tiles I thought?

Linus, can't say I blame you for quitting Slimming World - they did not seem to be the most encouraging lot. After a while we all learn what we need to do, the hard part is sticking to it but as you say you are doing it on your own so why put out the expense? Good for you for considering quitting the smoking. I made many excuses for myself before I finally said that I should do it. And even that was a whim I admit. I told LOTS of people so I'd be too ashamed to back out of it yet again. It's hard. I sometimes miss it - alot. I hate that I have gained 13 pounds in 2 months since I quit. I can't believe it's been 2 months which makes this my longest quit and I'm not near craving them as bad as the last time I quit which makes me think I can stick with this one this time around. But I do think about it. You need to REALLY prepare yourself for this and you truly, MUST WANT this soooooo much. If not, then I suggest my plan which is to tell everyone so you'll feel too horrible if you even consider lighting up. Thing is too, if I did have the urge for one, I suppose I could borrow one from the neighbor but most probably I'd go buy a pack and to spend $7 for one cigarette seems pretty crazy. I say one cigarette because of course I'd have to throw the rest of the pack away after I coughed and gagged and stubbed out the one I wanted so bad. I have stopped taking the Zyban as of this weekend and thank goodness I no longer smell all the wierd things I was smelling before. I also was having frightful dreams - of people chasing me to kill me, the ones where you wake up frightened. And darn it, I was also dreaming of smoking if you can believe that too. Anyway, good luck to you, I will help you in any and every way that I can but it will be 98% up to you. Does your husband smoke too?

Nae so your son is ready to do his fire jumping. Bet that worries a mum but by the same token, how wonderful to be able to pursue a career of your dreams. Be supportive and pray alot

I thought Miss Mel said she was going to be busy today so we will excuse her absence. Where however is Miss Teel? Busy planning the birthday festivities? We shall have to figure out how to coordinate a birthday toast - water or any beverage of your choice is acceptable. Just like we shot a happy new year around the world, so can we extend the birthday salutes.

What say yee?

I am here!! I did post yesterday and thought I had copied it but I lost it. Can't be doing it right We had a blister of a day yesterday. It reached 30 degrees. Today it is a much more manageable 20 as I sit here
SHAD good evening to you in your time zone...Spanish tilies, eh? rather you than me! I thought a tile was a tile...never mind having an upside and a downside. I do pray that Sunday is just out of sorts for a day with something he ate rather than a trip to the vet lurg.
Still nothing on the job front? Frustrating to say the least.. My thoughts and prayers are with you, my buddy
HAPPYyou have done so magnificently with stopping smoking tackle everything else later. My friends husband put on a stone when he stopped...she said it was all the peanuts he ate instead! What, please are "mourning doves"? It must be nice to have so much wildlife around..I hope that doe does not get hurt in the urban traffic.
Poor Mrs. Mallard...sounds like something nearly got her.How kind you and DH are to feed and water. You are good souls!! Thanks for the reminder about the cream conversation.. And what on earth is "egg cream" if it is not cream and has no egg in it??
LINUSYou are doing so well! Nearly 3 stone I don't blame you for giving up on slimming world. It costs a lot of money to my thinking and you are doing brilliantly on your own steam. A thousand well dones to you "cheer" "cheer".
ROSEBLUSHdo you play the violin? Come on now, get it out from under the bed and give it a dust...you might surprise yourself and enjoy playing again Vegemite is certainly an aquired taste which I don't subscribe to! Ooooh yuk ! Can we start celebrating your birthday yet
MEL are you up yet!? Come along now, it's a lovely day, not too hot, like yesterday's too hot to be out weather..any news of that darn chair yet
3 weeks today and my neighbour and I will be in Salzburg! I am NOT looking forward to getting out of bed at 03:00hrs for a 2 hr check in for a flight that leaves at 06:40 coo blimey o'reilly!! I have unearthed a very old white cotton jacket that I have had for years and given it a wash. Perfect. (I do wonder though just how long it will be WHITE for though...? )
Yes I have started my birthday celebrations. ..just a tad early! But now the official countdown is on..7 days to go!!

I am having a lazy morning after yesterdays festivities. But I need to get me arse in gear!
Shad~ wish there was some good news with the job prospects. You can come and live with me and the birds! Bring the garden as we have none! Don't worry about the tile job. i don't mind if it gets done in the next lifetime! LOL Hope the sleeping thing passes. Maybe you are over tired?! Plus a LOT on your mind. What exactly did you find when googling "crumpets"? I don't want to end up on some porno site!!!

Happy~ Love the yard stories! LOL Sounds more like a zoo every passing day!! Hope none of them start eating each other!! How is the mallard? Better I hope too!
I used to love chocolate egg creams. When I read your post I could almost taste them! There was a little store near my house and he made great ones! Also a store in NYC near Canal street that also was famous for them. But they were not as good as this man's. YUM YUM Save me some fruit salad I'll be a little late getting there!! Also see if you can cue the deer when to run across your yard whilst I am there!

Linus~ Your native sounding living room decor sounds great. I didi my bathroom that way and haven't finished yet! It's only been about 2 years now! I love the African prints and textures. Have fun but make saure everything is portable in case you get what you want at the next meeting! LOL Congrats on being 7 lbs away from goal!! YAY YOU!!! I agree about slimming world. good decision. You're doing fine anyway!

Nae~ sorry you are having trouble with the sleep thing. A lot on your mind also! Chad is in our thoughts too as I know how a Mom must be feeling too! I had all your birthdays on my calendar and knew you were the 29th.
What a celebratory month this will be for around the world Chicks!! Will we ever be sober?!?!

Teel~ You sound so excited and we can all feel it!!! Salzburg watch out!!! Here comes Miss Teel!!! It is a lovely day so far also but will be hot and humid very soon. Windows are closed and the A/C is on already! Here is the chair story........

Andre picked it up yesterday for everyone to inspect and evaluate. it may just be that it wasn't put together right or worse...that it is a lemon and needs to be returned. I must wait and see. He also brought with him a peace offering....new tires for this worn out chair with the bald tires. Couldn't have been a better time as in Shoprite yesterday a woman backed up right in front of me and my cart hit her. I stopped but the chair slid while still pushing the cart. No one was hjurt except my pride and a very red face!!! he had a part for the joy stick which drives the chair. So I am set for the moment. Parts for the oldest chair will have to wait till the ins. pays for the new one. all red tape and paperwork! YUCK!!!

Well Chickies I must get a move on and do SOMETHING constructive today!!!
ope you all have a nice day and take care.

Yes Happy, you are right, these are the Spanish Tiles for the Bathroom and I am on the last of the wall tiling. Then comes the floor. At least the floor tiles are square and not rectangular as in the wall tiles. The bathroom will be finished shortly. It's been a long project complete with the leaks etc. I'll not undertake a full bathroom restoration again. I'll be getting help for the difficult bits I think. Hanging upside down over the bath or getting into small places under the bath is not for this old bird. The tiles I found have an upside and a downside. There is a minute white stripe across the top of the tile. Blink and you will miss it. If you don't hang them all the same way you have a problem. There is nothing on the face of the tile to distinguish top from bottom. You have to look. I'll post some pictures once the walls are complete. I'd like to complete the bathroom and the bedroom before I go back to work and also to get one more room done and finished. That way at least I will feel that I have achieved.
Linus - I'm glad to hear that you are thinking about giving up smoking. It is always a sure sign that you are beginning to believe you can do this. I don't know about Scotland too much, but here it is almost antisocial behaviour now. You can't smoke in bars or restaurants, pubs or clubs where food is served and that is to be extended to the entire hospitality industry soon. There are hotels and motels which are entirely smoke free. Most places today, unless you ask for a smoking room you will be given a non-smoking one. You can not smoke on trains, planes, buses or in taxis. You can't smoke in government departments or shopping centres and most work places have also banned it. There is some suggestion that you will no longer be able to smoke on city piazzas and our beaches shortly. It's amazing, when I came to Australia 15 years ago everyone smoked, now you can go to a party or wedding of 100 or more people and either no one will smoke or the few smokers will unite to stand on some cold balcony outside to smoke. They are almost treated as lepers here now. What a turn around.
Nae I know you will be worried about Chad jumping from his helicopter but he has to earn a living and he might as well do it doing something he enjoys. So wish him well and get busy with something else so you do not imagine him doing these things. He will let you know he is safe after it is all over. DS#2 used to worry the life out of me when he was doing the daredevil bits. Generally I only got told about them after it was all over - it was supposed to save me worrying!!
Sunday the cat is not well. She hasn't eaten since Tuesday night. Usually she races off the bed and into the kitchen the minute I get up. But yesterday she stayed in bed and just slept. When the sun warmed up the back garden she went and slept under the buddleia and then shifted to the patio when the sun went there. Didn't want dinner and has slept all night on the end of my bed. Not a purr in sight. So to the vet again today I guess.
DS#1 arrives this afternoon, so I will organise my day to go to the gym on the way to the airport and pick him up. We are supposed to be having dinner in town with a couple of his friends, but I haven't heard back from the friend as to where it will be yet. So maybe it will be a diner quickie somewhere. One thing is for sure it won't be McD or KFC as Brendan is vegetarian and Richie and Mandy are so health concious it aint funny.
Maybe we should put big bumper bars on Mels chair for times like the supermarket? Maybe the 3FC will allow you to advertise the site on the bumpers? Just call her crash!!!
Okay the day is calling. Measure up the last wall for tiling. Get the tiles ready and all up the right way. Washing, making up Brendan's bed, getting the cat to the vet, posting cards at the PO and getting some good fresh veges in for the weekend should give me something to do today. Teel is going to Salzburg - grrrrrrr. I wanna go too!! Chris will be there in August grrrrr. Oh heck it's her birthday this month too! Nearly forgot. Best get more cards today at the store.

Okay, Sunday the cat has been to the vet. She must be feeling sick, she didn't protest too much about getting into the cage. It was only a slight skirmish instead of WW111. She has a bladder infection which fortunately has not spread to the kidneys. So she got poked, prodded, injected and then finally managed to wee all over me. She's been holding that in for a day or so. So she has some tablets to take (that will be fun) and some different food to eat to try to beat this thing. Apparently in cats if it takes hold they will tend to get these infections for the rest of their days. Oh wonderful! So she's likely to piddle at random, hopefully not on the bed! Maybe I'll have to set up a special bed for her for the duration. Such bliss.
Okay on to the next bit of my list

I'm glad Sunday's problems can be taken care of with a pill and change in diet. Was so afraid when you said she was moping about. So now that you have mastered the tile layout (did you come across the white line by accident?) you can now move on to new talents such as getting a pill down a cat's throat. They are excellent spitters and I/we have found it takes 2 people to wrestle with a 10 pound cat. Never a dull moment, eh?

The change against smoking in Australia sounds much like it is happening here. Slowly they cut out more and more places to smoke. You can't smoke indoors anywhere except bars and restaurants and many of them are eliminating even that. It felt odd for me to smoke indoors actually. There is a big uproar started in California spreading east about banning smoking at the beaches because of the proliferance of litter. Many businesses will not only let you not smoke outside the building, but you cannot even smoke in your car on the premises - you have to drive off and down the road. That's part of the many reasons I decided to finally give this quitting a go. It's just getting harder and harder and the more they take it away, the more you want to smoke. You do feel like a criminal tho I must admit there was an instant comraderie when standing out in the cold huddled around the ashtray with others. Even strangers would smile and make a comment - something you don't see often in the city.

I had a dreadful day at the dentist yesterday. My teeth are getting so sensitive that even the cleaning was painful. They gave me some prescription Flouride gel to apply each night. And yet another of my root canals refuses to heal properly - I have yet another abscess. Good thing they gave me an antibiotic as I haven't been chewing on that side much but I put pressure on the tooth today and it's REALLY sore. The antibiotic will prevent it from going as bad as it was on the last tooth but the dentist said once the infection clears this tooth will have to be taken out. That makes 3 teeth on the lower side that will be missing. And you can't do anything about putting permanent teeth in until the jaw heals from the extraction - several months. I am concerned about my teeth shifting and cracking AND walking around like a toothless infant. Can I feel any worse???

Sure I can. I stepped on the scale and officially I now weigh more than I ever have in my life. Ever. I gained back the 10 pounds I keep off from the summer of 2002 and have gained more than that. Almost 16 pounds since I quit smoking. That's it. Enough already. Tommorrow it is back to portion control, lots of water, watch the salt and no bad sugars or carbs. I think some of this is due to not enough water and too much sodium lately so hopefully I can swing the scale in the downward direction very soon. I knew this was going to happen. But I will NOT LIGHT UP again! Crunches, I need crunches not cigarettes... Send me good vibes please... and even a wack on the head or some duct tape would probably be a good idea too.

It's just another hurdle which can be overcome - right????

Hello all this fine day!!!! My little Teeka got me up early on my day off but it is raining nicely outside and I will enjoy my coffee and watching the deer graze on the hillside. Hope you are all doing well today! Thanks for the fun and entertaining well wishes for my birthday...we are the birthday group this month! When I left Alaska to come to Idaho I stopped in Montana where I am from and my mom gave me a little party for my 40th bday. It was held in a little park and lots of my older friends and couples of my parents were there....and as we were sitting there a man who appeared to be homeless and searching the garbage cans came over and started to harass us. then he would go away and come back and each time he became more chatty with me and was getting more personall all the time. then he came witha portable tape recorder and said he had a present for my birthday and started stripping for me....OMG I almost died right there but it was so funny and really had us fooled for a long time. He was a son of a lady my mom knew and performed for such occasions...it was a good one on me.....
Happy you should be so proud of your self for the great job in overcoming a gripping addiction.....the weight gain will come when you are ready to face that situation too.... staying on the path is for the long run is the thing i keep telling myself when I get discouraged with the battle.
Shad I hope the cat recovers and has many more years for you to enjoy each other. You sound so busy and seem to accomplish so much in your day I need to take a lesson....sometimes on my days off I have the best intentions of really tackling so many projects but I just don't have the energy sometime to be motivated.....
Mel, how are you doing? What are you up to this week and how are you feeling?
Linus you are doing so great girl you make me so proud and encouraged that maybe I can get some of this weight off too..... I don't know sometimes it is just so frustrating. What are you doing this week and how are you feeling how is the back?
Teel hope you are doing great....can't wait to hear all your news.
Everyone have a good day, looking forward to hearing from everyone!
Nae

This cat is back to her raucous best. She thinks she is starving. She has food in her bowl but wants something else. What I don't know, probably steak and chips. She did finally eat what I put out for her last night and has not (as far as I can tell) piddled in the house. However she was a pain in the neck last night as she jumped all over me to keep me awake. I can not work out what she is trying to tell me.
Had a nice meal last night at the Q tavern in Stones Corner with Brendan and his friends. Ate very sensibly too. Asked for a Caesar salad with the dressing on the side. Dressing come with the salad. Sent it back for the right order. It was very nice when it came out the second time. So here we are at 6.30am and just about ready to leave to take the kid down to the Gold Coast for his seminar.
Yesterday I measured up for the last of the tiles on the wall. Today I will put them up and then begins the tedious job of cutting tiles for the corners and grouting. The grouting is fine, more or less, the cutting I really don't like much. I am going to have to do much practice - otherwise I will end up with having to buy some more tiles.
Looks like it is going to be a good day but cool out for sometime. Yesterday didn't warm up until about 9.00am. The Queenslanders are complaining about a long cold winter already! Strewth it averages out at about 9C - 24C over 24 hours (48F - 78F) and July/August are definitely the worst months. What will they be like then?
Okay best go get the son down to the coast. Catch up later.