In the US, at least in the South, Hump DOES have multiple meanings and Hump Day in addition to being Wednesday (the Middle of the Week, thus the hump as in the Bell Curve type of hump) is also ... well... back to the story about MissMell and her mechanic and the durable/durex/trojans. Do I hear bawdy music in the background??

A NOPE challenge sounds good. I saw a bumper sticker on a truck in front of me on my way to work earlier this week. It said I mucked 30 stalls before breakfast today. What did you do? For some reason, that really stuck with me, so I've started my personal 30 Stalls Challenge. I've been walking 30 minutes every morning on the treadmill (aka Dreaded Tread Mill DTM). I'm taking the "STALL" as a double meaning (which is most likely why this whole Wednesday/Humpday tickled me so much). There are 30 different ways I can Stall. OR my 30 Stalls before breakfast can be 30 minutes. 30 minutes on the DTM or 30 minutes of my physical therapy exercises or 30 minutes of WATP. OR 30 minutes of Stall!!

The NOPE challenge - well I've come up with a couple of ideas and Meadow gave me another one. Now that I said that, I can't think of what I thought of. I may need to go back to some of the earlier NOPES when we gave out the Queen for the week crowns.

Okay, so maybe for Meadow it needs to be a no chocolate week. That won't work for me cause it is probably 6 months since I ate chocolate!

Okay, so how about we make a committment to giving up one thing for the next week (nominated by yourselves or do you want each of the others to nominate something for your?) - starting Saturday - and ............. a commitment to 10 minutes of arm weights while watching tv at night! Go buy 2 400g (1lb near enough) cans of baked beans or whatever you like to eat (later tho') and we will lift them while watching the news or whatever. By lifting them, I mean grab one in each hand, palms upward and stretch the arms out sideways. Bend the elbows and bring the cans up towards the ears, well shoulders anyway, keeping the elbows as far outstretched as possible. Let me know what you think! I would suggest you don't do the exercises while snuggled up to the DH or BF or whatever unless of course you want to knock him out or something else to happen. Dear me we are getting a bit nudge, nudge, wink, wink around here aren't we.

Finally got started on some training packages at work today. Keep it simple she said (her being the HR personal development guru) Well the plan is simple enough except that there are too many words, too much preparation, too much fancy computer bits (such as embedding bits into the lesson plan and launching bits from everywhere) and too many powerpoint slides - talk about death by powerpoint. Aaah well this too will get better (as I muster the arguments to shed some of the junk)

It's been raining today, sometimes quite heavily and some of the heat has gone although the humidity is still up there. It's a bit like walking out the door and getting hit in the face by a wet blanket. The bad part of that is that everything in the garden grows... and grows.....and grows..... It's good that you can almost see the roses growing and the flower buds swelling but it's bad that the grass is growing so fast that soon I won't be able to see the garden and the weeds are leaping out of the ground.

Diane, still keeping the DN in my thoughts. Try to keep yourself well rested and fed and exercised. Making yourself ill is not going to help the family or the nephew at all.

Well I think I might go and check out the journals and then tidy up here a bit and go have an early night. Catch you all tomorrow. Let me know what you think about nope.

Just a quick note. I'm up for 10 minutes of arm weights. My 2 lb. weights are sitting on my desk cleverly disguised as bookends. I can do 10 minutes of weights while reading on the computer or gazing off into space or whatever it is that I do to stall for time.

that sounds good Shad and i will also go for the no sweet thing for a week too. I am doing a bit more but I want to participate in the weight lifting also. But I will modify my lift a bit... having a shoulder problem after working at home for 4 days...it will get better.
The garden sounds lovely.
Peace,
Nae

OK I can do 10 mins of upper body exercises and give up soda and bakery products. We all start on Saturday? sounds good to me but I may have to get started today! There is a need in my tummy for less sugar!

Tig~ I think maybe in your spare time you should be writing bawdy stories. There is a huge market out there for smut!! We could make a killing. I had a good laugh at the bookend weights!!! I just dusted off my 1 lbs and put them in the drawer!! I got tired of looking at them. They're too heavy now. But I got an idea just now....I will unscrew the end weight off and use that.

Shjad~ Great idea. Gives me some motivation just when I need it so badly!!
Hope your toll thing works better now it's replaced!! Just what you would need....more expenses! Maybe the flies scared the impending boarder away!! Probably thought they were killer flies! Enjoy the roses and just think.....mowing the lawn is great exercise! LOL

Nae~ Good to see you back! How goes the New Year?? Hope the DS is improving also.
No new adventures with wild beasts or the new neighbors???Inquiring minds want to know these things!

Diane~ Hope the nephew is getting better. As Shad said I hope you are taking care of YOU too! Good thoughts your way.

Linus~ Hope the aches and pains are under control. Hope Connor has a quick in and out trip!!! Sending love from Aunt Fanny! That should at least make him smile once! Hope he feels better soon.
How is Craig feeling now? Keep us posted on the Adventures of the Two Scottish Hardy Boys!! Inquiring minds need updates too!!

Hope I haven't missed anyone.......have a wonderful day today and sweet dreams Miss Shad.

I sent Mel a copy of the family portrait we had done this summer. She took a pic of the pic with her digital camera and here it is. Like she has nothing better to do. Thank you so much Mel!!!!!!!!

This is in Grand Bend Ontario Canada on Lake Huron.It is a 1/2 hour north west of where I live. My folks live about 2 min inland. They walk this beach every day in most weather and seasons. It is quite remarkable with huge frozen waves in the winter. They have lived here for 4 years. We have been coming here since before I was born.My folks hung out on this beach together in highschool , as did I!
We surprised them with this portrait for their 40th wedding anniversary in Oct.

That is Me, DS- age 6, DH -age 43 haha,DD -age4, my younger Sis, BIL and nephew age 6.

Hel Mel not bad work for a couple of non-techies!!!

Hi everyone...
Great photo, Hollyhock! The family all look lovely and very happy. Clever old Miss Mel! (ooh smilie link is working this evening!)
And well done to Miss Shad for her NOPE stategy. Loads of points to consider there.
Linus, I hope the grommet insertions went without hitch this afternoon. ..hope you get time to give me a quick call later.
Happy, how is the house hunting going at the moment? And, more to the point, how goes the new job?
Shaker, it is high time you sent in a post to update us all on how things and life are going for you, too. Hope all is well and there are no disasters befalling the household...

I have just upgraded my Sky system to Sky + . It is a really good bit of technology. You can pause live T.V and it has a hard disc inside so the need for a video recorder is obsolete almost. You can record up to 20hrs viewing time and then watch them later, and then either delete the watched programme or save it for future referrence. You can also record 2 programmes at the same time and even watch a different channel while you are doing so!! The mind boggles. Anyway I had to be up almost before the crack of dawn as the man was due to arrive between 08:00hrs and 08:30hrs. He arrived only 5 minutes late which was very impressive to my way of thinking. Tomorrow I am expecting the gas people to deliver all the radiators and parts for the installation that begins on Monday. While I was out today, they left a message to say they would be here also between the hours of 08:30 and 09:30hrs. I think there is a plot to get me out of bed far earlier in the morning than I have been getting out of late!!
Ah well I have been shopping with my neighbour this afternoon to Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk which is about 18 miles away. Tut tut I spent quite a lot of money! But I was good in some respects...I bought a few Christmas pressies in the sales ready for next time (this year, now!!) and I bought for myself, a yoghurt maker. Part of my healthy eating drive. I also bought some sugar free biscuits for myself and some for a friend's birthday who is diabetic like me. We had lunch out. VERY HEALTHY! I had a jacket potato with baked beans and a little bit of grated cheese and my neighbour had soup and a roll. Actually the food was not very impressive, it was towards the end of normal lunch hour, and seemed to be served by a couple of teenagers who couldn't have cared less about the speed or the presentation of it. There was hardly any of the jacket potato fillings left which accounts for the tiny bit of cheese, and the baked beans were very dried up. The chap serving the hot food was wearing gloves, but they were not all that clean and he put a gloved finger in the bowl he was serving in to.... I think the moral of this tale is to eat food that has been pre-packaged before it reaches the restaurant!!! Oh, and of course, eat somewhere else

Ah well, that's enough from me for tonight. Must be dinnertime....I think I actually feel hungry...

hi folks
conner survived his op he was fine {more than his mother }{who was still a bag of nerves even though hes had it done loads of time the anaesthetis still worries me} so were home and its all over and done with and im home cleo missed me loads and was very delighted to see me so i felt loved even if it was from a dog
TEEL on the phone to you so youll know everything but had a good blether glad to hear your sounding more cheery and that youve got your sky+to play with roll on your central heating to keep you nice and toasty while you play with your new sky hey and am so looking forward to you coming on holiday in may
SHAD craig only has 2.5llb so ill use one at a time {joking }and ill avoid sweets for the week so im in for the n.o.p.e starting on saturday too and thinking of the ideas for next week
MEL you put that maintenance man down and behave yourself how.s things ?? good i hope are you still resting loads??? hope so conner said thanks for the message and to tell "auntie fanny hes fine" and he nearly managed to keep a striaght face while he said it
ROSE hey you came back!!!!!!! i thought wed scared you off with all the bawdy talk!!! hows things up your way ?? did you manage to avoid the flu??
CANDLE hows the dn ???? on the way up i hope you take as long as you need well all still be here when you get back{ive got nowhere else to go nobody will put up with me }
TIG you should try thr actual stalls when i worked with the horses i was only nine stone and its all because of those bloody stalls!!!!!! mind you with all the running you do there cant be much of you anyway!
HAPPY how goes the house hunting i had the strangest dream about visiting someone at a house with big windows and a dormer hope its you cause the house was so lovely mind you the beautiful big tree {cant remember what kind} in the garden would have been enough for me
MEADOW are the wee ones glad to be back at school yet ?? mines were moaning as they walked out the door
HOLLY what a very glam lot you are i always said id get a family portrait done when i lost weight so dont hold your breath waiting for it
SUZI have you got trapped under that fridge {???} hope everythings okay and you are just sooooo busy but well
SHAKER where are you ?? hope everythings good and your not working too hard
right ladies ive had no afternoon nap and my house is a shambles so id better go or im not getting to bed early and ill talk to you all tomorrow
kirsty

I'm totally in on the weight lifting challenge. Sometimes I think there is a vibe going through this thread and we are reading each other's minds. I just put in a order for "weight lifting for dummies" at Amazon. I waffled back and forth between that one and the Kathy Smith weight lifting video and the dummies won :-P I also bought the Walk away the pounds/four mile video to help get me into the exercise groove. I have two days of movement behind me, shovelled snow today Yes we have had a big dump of the white stuff. My kids are over joyed to the max! They didn't close the schools so we haven't had time to get out there to make snow bunnies and tiggers but for sure after school.

Our snow has totally disappeared...what there was of it! Rained so much I started to build a pontoon to hold all my chairs! Jen and I got to talking and lost a whole afternoon before dinner! Tomorrow is food shop if the sun comes back out. Stuck to my plan to get really started this week so Saturday should be a snap to stick to.
Maybe I shouldn't brag!

Teel~ The sky thing sounds great!! I could just see Jen using it allllll dayyyyy long!!!
Hope you have a great time with it. Good luck with the radiator guys! Try not to drag them under the blankets with you and Holly! Bet you'll be glad when it's all over!! And just in time for the big storms that are heading our way soon. so far they have been north of us so I guess you're getting the brunt of them. Stay warm and cozy.

Meadow~ Seems like we are all in the same mind!!! LOL I ordered some cd's the other day for motivation!!! I used some xmas $$ and had wanted them since last year so I DID IT!! Hope we all find what we are looking for. It was you among others that helped me not to lose hope so I hope somehow I can return the favor. Enjoy your purchases!

Linus~ So glad connor is fine or about to be!!! Very good news. also good news that he did not ventilate his brother with the darts. Sounds like Craig got out of it just in the knick of time...no pun intended! Hope you are feeling better too. Worrying about the 2 of them must stiffen those poor muscles right up! Hope you can relax for a bit. Tell the silly buggers to settle down for awhile!!

Holly~ I can't believe that I never thought of scanning it first like Jen said!!! DUH!!! I definitely did not have my thinking cap on today! LOL Just glad it got here safely as it is a really beautiful picture in all those blues. I even put blue paper behind it and taped the 2 to the wall so I could shoot it! My daughter near peed her pants when she saw them hanging there! next time we will know what to do! LOL Have any more pics you want to post?!?!?

I am going to lie down as the back is in bad shape tonite. Must be the barometer. Gonna listen to some tv as the eyes are being a pain again too. I think we need a resident nurse on this ward...I mean forum
Sweet dreams and good morning sunshine!

I just wrote a huge reply to everyone and didn't post it ,bah.

Thank you so much Mel for being so fun and spontaneous!!!! The blue background was very thoughtful.

Hugs to everyone. Hope you are all taking good care of yourselves!!

Evening all.
Going to be a short post tonight as I can hardly stay awake. Must have done a good workout at the gym today.
Okay, so we are okay with the weights and the giving something away. I still have to work out what I am going to give up. I'll sleep on it and put the list together tomorrow. I'm glad I managed to come up with something you can all do. I'll have to see if I can attach a chart or something so we can fill it in and everyone can see it. That could be difficult as I know Mel doesn't have Office and neither I think does Teel. Ummmmmm let me work on it somemore.

Still warm over here - but not as bad as it could be. I can live with what we have at the moment. Going to Sydney for 2 days on Tuesday/ Wednesday. They seem to think I should know who I am yelling at cybernetically - not that it will stop me from yelling tho'

Went to lunch with a friend whom I haven't seen for a couple of years. We finally got back together today and had a good gossip over a chicken caesar salad. A big one I might add. It was very nice, having a 2 hour lunch break.

Anyway, I'll get off to bed because I am falling asleep over the computer. Better day tomorrow no doubt

Holy Cats!! I did it again. I clicked off before posting. Man oh man.

SO once again~ I am totally ready for the challenge. 10 min of weights at night. I have the bean cans ready. I WILL give up cheese for the week.
We missed 2 snow storms this week. They went south east of us and north of Mel apparently.
Meadow~ I do the 2 mile. Kudos for doing the 4 mile.Are both your girls in school?? Mine wont give me that much time to do it.
Linus~hugs to you and Connor. Glad you both survived!

TGI....Tuesday!! Well, after 4 Mondays in a row I am thrilled it is Tues!
I was lazy,lazy,lazy yesterday and loved every minute. I spent ALL day on the puter or reading. My butt got sore, lol.
DH was home. I had 3 easy kids here. The house was basically clean. DH made the kids lunch.??!!! The baby had 2 3 hour naps. The girls played outside.
Had a light supper. Read with the kids and then read for a few more hours on my own. Very cool.
I am feeling refreshed and ready to go.
DS is home today. It has been an anxious week for him. He hasn't been obnoxious for a change but very stressed. He has the runs and couldn't stop crying. So he is home in his room playing quietly or reading. If he causes grief or is rude to me, no hockey tomorrow.
It was good posting the pic.I was nervous but it was a big step for me in being comfortable with who I am and accepting myself as a beautiful person regardless of the exterior self.Thank you for the kind feed back.
It was a fun thing to do for the folks. They went bonkers.I have my copy leaning on my fireplace mantle. It makes me smile every day. I love seeing the pics of others here too.
Not much going on today. 4 kids here. Tidying to do.
Books to read, LOL.

Food had been okay. I have been snacking a bit night. Not outa control but have a wee something. Want to stop that. Maybe next week will be easier(no cheese and crackers!!).

just a wee quicky tonight ladies as my monitor is broken and ive pinched craigs comp while hes out and all his freinds keep coming up on msn and talking to me so im probably gonna get thumped HOLLY if you think your outside wrapper is bad you should see mine at 7am not a pretty sight but i get better through the day{not by too much} dont go down on yourself luv theres too many dirtbags out there that will do it for you right id better go just didnt want you to think id dissapeared
kirsty