Happy/ Nae~ I was one of those kids too. Although In didn't get much direction form the adults in my life either. I do think the love and caring ,Nae, will make all the difference in the world. I am counting on it with my own babes.
Shad~ get thee to bed!!!! Hope your weekend is VERY relaxing!!
Meadow~beautiful quotes, how true!!!
I LOVE lime anything!!! So refreshing!!
I have a couple of small grumbles today!
It is not all good cheer today LOL!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday was delightful!!!!!!
4 kids all day yesterday. It was peaceful. I did ALL those dishes and relaxed a bit.
We went down to a neighbours to swim all aft. 31c and steamy hot here. It was glorious. Came home and heated up leftovers.Back down to the neighbours so DS could swim too. I am such a nice mom. Dropped the kids at home, went to the library and picked up an Elmore Leonard book. I keep hearing about him but have never read any.
Spent a couple of peaceful hours hanging out with my hubby. We were up late again.
Here are my minor gripes, #1-I aked DH to bring in the garbage pails and clear the dinner table and he did neither. I just did them while I was getting the kids packed up and ready for school. I was a tiny bit irritated.
Gripe #2- LOL! My good friend’s neighbour asked us to host a bday party for my friend and I gladly agreed.It was supposed to be about 20 eoeple for a fire& festivities, byob and very casual. It seems to have grown from what I have heard from people planning on coming( yikes). My angst is that my house looks like a bomb went off. I have 4 kids today, 6 tomorrow we have baseball tonight and gymnastics tomorrow followed immediately by this gathering. When the heck am I going to get this stuff done!!!!! At least I am not preparing any food.

What I want to do is put together the fort under the stairs in the basement for the kids!!!! The paint is all dry!!!! I will probably do that first and satisfy my creative juices and then do some cleaning at nap time.

That’s about it in my exciting life!!!!!

Have a cool refreshing day!!!!

( thank god for central air)

Good afternoon to all!
It looks about to storm here as the sky has gone a dark grey ...I suppose we could do with the rain and I don't mind as long as it is late on in the day and doesn't spoil the sunshine too much!!

Well the news of the week is that mum has been in hospital 60 miles away with heart failure. She found it very difficult to breathe on Sunday night and was whisked aay by ambulance early Monday morning. They took a long time to decided whether she was suffering from a chest infection or heart failure (!) but finally decided it was the latter and kept her in till Wednesday afternoon when the consultant said he would let her go home if she promised to come back to the clinic for further tests!! Of course she was off like a rocket! When I rang her on Monday night she was so delerious and didn't know what she was saying but told me not to ring her in hospital and so on. It turned out she had a fever of 38.2 degrees centigrade so no wonder she was delirious... Anyway she is safely home now and looking forward to a peaceful night's sleep in her own bed where she can throw the covers back.

Meanwhile Holly has been sick a few times this week. I starved her on Tuesday and she seemed completely better yesterday but I have just got home from the supermarket and to my horror she has been sick again all over the kitchen carpet (washable, thank goodness!!) and also on my nice clean new lino in the porch...aaaaargh!!

But the good news is that the new utility room is all but finished and looks tremendous. Its all painted and the freezer and the washing machine are in place and the flooring is laid. All I need now is a base unit cupboard to finish it off. I have bought a couple of machine washable rugs and a couple of new lampshades for the ceiling. Now we have to put the electric supply to the garden shed so I can keep the scooter in there , paint the garage door and finish decorating the corner of the spare bedroom where there is a new wall and where I want to put a broom cupboard and another base unit. LOADS of space!!!!

YP how was the holiday in Grrece? Are you nice and tanned now? And full of Ouzo and feta cheese and olives??

Linus I do hope the house sorts itself out really quickly. I just cannot wait to see it. And I am sure the dogs will love the garden and the gnomes!!

Happy enjoy the swimming! How gorgeous that sounds after a days work!!

Shad I am sorry the tinnitis is making life awful at the moment. Its a real nuisance and can be difficult to get rid of without feeling as though you are boked in to the local asylum. [[[[[HUGS]]]]] to you.

Hello to Hollyhock...you sound very good at the moment! Hooray for that!!

Meadow...lime cake and Delia Smith!!!! I have watched some of the series as well and its a good job I don't do the baking scene!! Hope DD 's pink eye gets better very soon.

Mel oh Mel [[[[[HUGS]]]]] to you and Jen too. You have all gone through a very tough time recently. Hopefully a sofetr time is ahead.

Hello to anyone I have missed. Tut tut smacked hands for Teely....

Only 3 weeks minus 1 day till Scotland.....start playing the bagpipes!!

This is my oldest friend.We were quite the pair the early 80's.LOL!
She is an artist and her hubby is a music producer.
We get to enjoy lots from our very different lives. It is so nice. I love hearing stories like, how Ron Wood( Rolling Stones) has garlic breath.
Anyhow she was hanging out wiht my *LOVE* Kalan Porter from Canadian Idol. listen to him every day. He looks like my highschool sweetheart.
I adore him LOL!!!!

I am so dorky!!!

Morning all - its Saturday here and I can't thank my lucky stars enough. Last night I came home - my feet ached, my throat ached, my legs ached and my brain was lit up with a thousand endorphins. Wired for training I guess. The week has finished on a high note in that I got a note from the board thanking me for a totally professional, totally knowledgeable and thoroughly enjoyable training session from one of their numbers. Didn't even know that I had one in the class!!! Thought he was just a fairly normal sort of member of the Office of State Revenue. Premier Pete (Queensland State Premier and our fearless leader of the so called 'smart state') signed the note along with 4 others from the board. Glory be, I'll be an honorary Australian next!!
Next week may be a different story since Wednesday I'm doing a new course which I simply haven't had the time to prepare for. I may just have to take a trip into town sometime during the weekend and find the paperwork to do some study at home.

I have so much to do today and this weekend. It's lucky it is a long weekend. I may even get to finish some of it. I'm also hoping for a bit of downtime to rest and recuperate before next weeks courses begin.

Teel - good to hear from you. Isn't it nice when you see some of the home projects coming together and all that is left is the clean up bit. I'm hoping to see some of that myself this weekend. Hope Holly is okay - she hasn't been investigating some of the workmans glues or paints has she? Could be making her a bit nauseous. I'm so sorry to hear about your Mum. Please pass on my best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Gotta go, I'm talking to Teel on the phone and can't do two things at once.

Hi everyone, sorry I've not been around for a while, hope you're all well.

I'm still losing away quietly, and I've just hit a very big milestone that's not showing on my ticker. All the machines/scales in the gyms are in kg which I then change to pounds on here (it looks like I've lost more!). Well, I started at 118kg, and I'm now at 99.7kg which means that I'm in DOUBLE FIGURES I'm so excited about being able to put 99 into those machines soon! (I'll only let myself do that once it's past 99.5)

:coffdate:Good Morning everyone! Hope you are well and happy. I will read some posts later and try and catch up. Baby steps.
Jen is improving every day but is still with the padded/steel velcro cast. My eyes are better too but borderline. I really need to just accept this as normal and move on. Tough though.
today is cleaning and cooking tomorrow. Did nothing all week and the apt. looks it! jen offered to come home and help! this is like Keystone Cops here!!!
Clara is a bit put out with me as I cannot help her for so many weeks. Getting outright demanding!!! But I found someone to fill her needles for the mont. Not sure what we will do next month.
Other than this....all is well, weight is holding at the same 171. seem to be stuck there for 2 years now! OH I MUST TELL YOU THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE BUS.......Willy's BD was yesterday so I put a sign on the office window wishing him a Happy one and everyone saw it. Then I treated him to lunch and we all ate in the conference room. We were hugging and smooching in the office and lobby so all the neighbors could see. Seems like I finally put a smile back on his face and the tenants gave him cards and tips when we went food shopping! Poor Willy Boy has been through the wringer. I even stayed in the lobby and office a bit all week. (couldn't go out too much with the eyes and humidity) It was time well spent with him and letting the others see how much we care about each other and our families.
Just thought you would like to know Willy is smiling an also looking forward to his family vacation at the end of the month.
Well Chickies.....have a wonderful weekend and by the sounds of the journals, it's off to a great start! love to you all. Missed you tons and tons!~Mel

Morning everyone,
We've awoken today to a greyish overcast sort of day. It may brighten up later on, but there is plenty to do inside so it's not a great problem. The BOM (Bureau of Meteorology or the weather forecasters) have promised us some rain next week. As far as keeping promises goes, they are worse than politicians so I'm not expecting a lot out of that statement. However, there have been some good rain falls in New South Wales, South Australia and parts of Victoria so the farmers are doing a happy dance at the moment. They say it is the best rain they have had in years. Naturally they want more and more and more.

I bought myself a new lawnmower yesterday, it mowed the front lawn quite happily, but the back is another story. It spat the dummy over the lushness of the lawn and the then refused to start again. I rang the place and told them I was a little unhappy about this and was there a trick to starting the sucker?!!!! No there isn't and try this and this and see if it starts. If not bring it back. Well the @#$%^&* thing didn't start and I will have to ring them next week and take it back when I can. I'll give it one more go this morning in case it has just decided it needed a rest yesterday afternoon. Grrrrrrr. Boys toys!!!!! Seems this has gone all male on me as well!!!

Back to gym this morning for another round. Although after yesterday I am wondering why I bother. Yesterday I weighed in at 71.5 and this morning - after 2 rounds with the lawnmower, nearly 2 hours of gym and a good food and water intake for yesterday I am sitting on 73.5. What is going on here??? It would have been impossible for me to put on 2kg or 4.4lbs in one day with the day I had yesterday. I'm really getting tired of this yo yo effect.

So today is more of the same. Gym, round 3 with the lawnmower, painting, ironing, laundry and a bit of me time.

Time to get off here. Catch you all later tonight.

Evenin' Ladies!
Shad~It is nice to be appreciated for the work you do!!!! I avoid boys toys when I can, lol!
Miss Mel~HUGS to you and Jen and Willie. Glad your were here wiht some baby steps. we miss YOU too!!!!
Teel~ How is your Mom doing?
YP~ you are doing so well. Congrats on the mile stone. I am holding at 225 but you have breezed right past, keep going!!
I do love my airconditioning but yesterday was a LOOOOONG hot day with 8
kids coming and going. I was feeling sick from the heat outside but the
kids wanted to play in the sprinkler.
All I ate all day was a piece of chicken and an orange. By suppertime I
was famished. Dashed into the city for McD's( we go like 2x's a year),
gymnastics and new shoes for ds. He has outgrown the new ones from
march!!!! Dashed home and people started to arrive for S's party. Dh
entertained outside while I tidied and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.
A guy friend brought fireworks and sparklers.
The kids had a pop and chip party in the house.We set off a few fireworks
for them at dusk and they pleasantly went to bed. Then the real partying
started.Much booze, dancing , good music and laughter ensued for many hours.
I dragged myself to bed at 3am. DH fell in at 5am.Then the stragglers went for
a swim at a neighbours in town!! weeheeeeee!!! This was a wonderful
celebration for S's 30th bday.Feels like a new beginning for her after
losing her hubby and twin bro in car accidents within a few years. It was
joyful!
Up at 8am and the kids and i went out yardsaleing! Our whole town has a yardsale once a year. DS got a golf bag for his clubs,$2.
DD got some new sandals. I found some old window frames for $1 ea that I
will paint up and put mirror in!!!!! Very excited about that!
From 1-5 we swam and R and T's , their son is in
DD's class.I went and picked up pizza. Soon it will be baths and bed for
all of us!
Feeling sunkissed and blessed!!!

just rode in to say hello!!! The sun shone for about 30 minutes and it looks like more thunderheads are flying our way. Rain is on the agenda for the next week with bits of sun in bewtween. may work out to my advantage! I could use the rest and the house could get cleaned!!! I finally read all the posts. Weren't as many as I thought!!!
Nae~ sending (((HUGS)))) from one Mom to another. I know the feeling. Jen is 37 and I still feel that way!
Have a great visit!

Shad~ Dental $$$$! Ouch! Hope it all goes well. Thanks for the talk! it was grand to laugh not only at the world but myself! congrats on the letter and recognition! You of all deserved it! Hope you won the battle with the lawnmower!

Holly~ a big round of applause for the Avon sales!! WTG JOLLY HOLLY!!! Sorry you still have the "Happy Families" game going on. ((((HUGS)))))

Meadow~ Exercising to AB!!! Has to be a good incentive huh?!?!? Get those pedals going!!! Send me an exorcist ASAP please!!! and NO more cooking shows for you!!!! Lime Cake indeed!!!

Teel~ I love the siggie. The bird is beautiful. Glad you got so much storage space now and the has a home of it's own!!! Hope Holly feels better. I am so sorry to hear about Mom. Sending good thoughts her way and hope all is well.

Kirsty & Bump at Mental Central ~ OMG!!!! I am afraid to ask WHAT'S NEXT!!!! You guys are as bad as us!!! I told Jen to be careful what she wishes for till the black cloud passes over!!! Hope the house and family are fine!!!

Happy~ your raccoons are either multiplying or he's bringing friends to share the bacon with.....HEY GUYS, I KNOW THIS GREAT PLACE WHERE THEY SERVE BACON APPETIZERS!! COME ON AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS
Good luck with the trap! and the heat! and the humidity! Gotta love the great South!!!

YP1~ I never noticed the 40 lb avatar! Congrats on those lbs and the latest ones too! DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! Welcome to Onederland!!

I think I got everyone! Hope so. jen is doing well and recovering nicely. The last opinion was 'old' fractures. She's just having a hard time fending for herself but the kids are helping her. she offered again to come here and help......I laughed so hard she almost hung up!!! ROFLMAO
All is well in my little corner.....at least for now!!!
I am off to and get my cardio out of the way!Have a great day and a lovely week!!!

[QUOTE=Shad] Glory be, I'll be an honorary Australian next!!

Waltzing Joy Clover....waltzing Joy Clover.....!Hee hee hee!! Good to hear from you Shad, thank you for the phone call. It was most welcome..
Well done with the member of the board who had snuck into your IT class...good job you were not too hard on him!!

At last I have been able to get into the internet. I couldn't do a thing a couple of days ago when I tried which was most frustrating...

Mum is much improved and is pleased to be at home again although is getting in a bit of a muddle with her new tablets as the medics have stopped a few and changed others. She really does seem to be hospital phobic and gets SO distressed and disorientated when she is on a ward. I am not sure what I can say or do to help her other this but I really do feel as though another stay would be quite literally the finish of her. Let's hope not.

I must say that I heard from Linus yesterday and I am totally of the impression that it never rains but thunderstorms in her place!! Thursday night poor old Craig was rushed into hospital with suspected appendicitis and on Friday morning was taken to theatre stat as it had ruptured and so of course the surgeons had to clean up the peritonitis as well as do the appendectomy. I hope she will get in touch again this evening and give me an update on his situation.
In the middle of all this they moved house!!! And its only 2 1/2 weeks till my holiday.

Oh Holly is better too. I took her back to the vets yesterday for another check-up and she had a second antibiotic injection. The head vet palpated her abdomen and said she was no longer tender so that was a good sign, and she was a LOT more fidgetty and anxious to get off the table whereas the previous day she was very passive..(Holly? Passive??!) So all in all I think she is over the worst of whatever it was ailing her, too. Thank goodness for that...

Well I had beeter bring this to and end for now. Hello to all. Take good care.
Byeeeee.

Healing thoughts for Craig!! Housewarming thoughts for Linus and the family!!

Teel~ glad your Mom is feeling a bit better. You sound good too.

Mel~ you are sounding like your chipper self!!! The thunderclouds have just rolled in here(4pm) but it was sunny and stinkin' hot all day! Still sending you and Jen healing vibes!!

How is everyone else?????

Another sunkissed day by the wading pool. Church was HOT but nice this morning.
Next week is our last SS class with a big potluck brunch. I picked up lots of nice fresh healthy groceries.
Next Wed-Fri I am doing a Parent Training course at the school. It will be a nice break from home and all the kids!!
There is much tidying to do but I am feeling lazy. Just want to lay around and read. Who said that??? Not ME!!! LOL!! A lazy Hollyhock, hee hee.

To quote Effie from one of the local tv shows. The lawnmower goes! I put it in the car and took it for a jaunt up to the mower shop yesterday. I didn't know they were open on a Sunday and rung them just for the **** of it when the mower didn't start yet again. Bring it in they said. So I did. This young blond god took a hold of it and pulled the start handle, nothing happened - well hallelujah! Give it another pull and it spluttered into life only to snuff it again. Hallelujah once more. He then says, is it out of petrol (gas to the the Americans) - no I say, the young man who sold it to me, told me he had filled it up. It mowed the front lawn fine and then wouldn't look at the back. So we had a peek at the petrol tank, still some sloshing around inside - not out of petrol? Well yes it is out of petrol, there's enough in there to get it to start but not run. How embarrassing. Thank goodness there were only 1 other customer and one staff in the shop at the time. Brought the darn thing home, mowed the back yard. Thought dark thoughts about toys.

The rest of the day was all about cleaning the house and giving me a bug free environment to live in. Which may be a good idea as the sore throat is not going away and I feel a bit blurk today. Not allowed to be sick, not allowed to be sick, not allowed to be sick. My new mantra. I'll try to sweat it out at the gym this morning.

Teel, thank you for the adaptation of Waltzing Matilda. That song in itself is probably the most compelling reason why I'll never make a good Aussie. I become very irreverent when I hear it being sung, particularly by a football crowd. Sums up the average Aussie aversion to law as applied to the person or persons. No maybe I shouldn't say that, there are degrees of lawlessness - put it that way.

Good morning to Holly, Mel, Meadow, Linus, YP1, Happy, Tig and Roseblush. Not such a good looking morning here yet. But it will improve. I need a bit of breakfast and then down to work. Lots to do today - including washing the poor car. It must feel neglected. Then some paint on the walls, some grout in the bathroom, some ironing and maybe a bit of cooking for lunches etc next week. Weight is back down again. It has to be salt and water retention. Back to reading the labels. Fresh is always best - even if smoked salmon and cream cheese with roasted red pepper and rocket is my favourite sandwich.

Have a great day. This is the last public holiday apart from one, in this State before Christmas so I have every intention of making the most of it.

See ya

Shad~hope the young blonde god was worth the trip!!!!!
Enjoy that holiday!!!!!!!
Slept in!!!
Power snooze!! Went to bed at 10, fell asleep reading in minutes,woke at 5 when DH was getting up, dozed off, woke for my alarm, dozed off, scrambled outa bed at 8 to dress&feed kids,pack lunches and toss them on the bus. I am HOT and sitting for a moment.
3 little people today. My Avon order arrived. 4 big boxes. Feels like Christmas.Hey Mel~194 days til Christmas!!
Yesterday was delightful. I went for groceries and errands all alone. it was nice to putter and browze.Kids splashed in the wading pool all aft. I whipped and quick supper.DH’s cuz stopped in with kids in tow. Squirt gun wars ensued!! Fun!
Today I really must tidy. Sort Avon!!!!!! Collect my $$$. I am going to save all my profits and use it for something big and exciting someday.

Be cool, dear chicks!!!!!

Evenin' all you folks in chickie land,
Another busy weekend rushed by. Spent most of Saturday in the yard helping DH clean up. Then it rained over night and true to form Sunday morning it looked as if we hadn't done a thing. but DH said at least for a while it looked nice. And he said working out in the heat several days a week for a few hours is good for the weight loss. Sunday was an inside day, lots of washing getting ready for guests. Went grocery shopping hungry and spent way too much money but I have lots of good healthy stuff and the menus for the week have been planned out. I was able to get a good workout in the pool after work tonight. Will be nice when the pool warms a few more degrees, I would love to take an early morning swim even if I did have to get up at 5am or 5:30. It does feel good to be stretching those tight muscles and bones after all this time. More interesting to take a swim after work than to dig out the DVDs and do a round of Pilates. Working on getting that water down too. So for today to copy Mel Food Water Exercise

Big hugs to you Linus - will the adventures never end? Sorry to hear about Craig, hope he is feeling better. Ok, actually a little magic dust to go around to all - Shad, Teel's Mom, Mel's tired eyes and anyone else needed a bit of the good stuff.

Good one on the mower Shad easy enough to do tho. One summer DH blew his back out and we had just purchased a new mower. Everything was in working order (or so I thought). He had used it about twice before I took over the lawn keeping. I diligently mowed the lawn every weekend through an unsually hot and dry summer. As the weeks wore on, I had a harder and harder time starting it. By this time DH was no longer able to stand upright for any length of time to check things out or fix anything much and I just attributed the difficulties to excessive dust. Had to prime the mower with some sort of spray that was highly flammable and scared the daylights out of me everytime I had to use it. I have great respect for electricity and fire. Finally it gave up the ghost a week or two before the last cut of the season. After DH had surgery and was able to check it, turns out I used the mower all summer with NO OIL in the engine. Guess engines are particular about wanting to have their parts lubricated. Needless to say, that mower only lasted one season. Not my fault tho I never professed to being an engineer and it seemed to be in good working order when I took over. All I can say is good thing you didn't leave them a colorful message on the answering machine.

Sweet dreams chickies, I'm off to bed now.

Oh and for heaven's sake will you STOP all this talk about Christmas - you are freaking me out.

Holly~ I got in the mail an advert for a Xmas arts and crafts book!!! I had a good laugh and the people in the office demanded that I shred it immediately :merryxmas:

Shad~ At least you had a good look at a blond God!!!
Still laughing in NJ!!! The water is warmin up at Happy's so lets get out our little umbrellas and go!!

Happy~ NO OIL!!!! OMG!!! :lol3; Did you get to see a blond God too?! If so maybe I'll go out and buy myself a mower!!!
Nice exercising!!!

Teel~ I am glad to hear Mom is home and doing well. Hope Holly is too. So sorry to hear about Linus and Craig. That black cloud must be ping ponging back and forth from my house to hers and back again! Hope you are well and happily decorating!

Went to the mall and bought stuff for my shower,lemon verbena, and the much needed can opener and new pillow. Spent all my BD money and had a great day. I even brought my lunch in a bag so I would stay OP for the day. Taking today off cause the arts and crafts class is tomorrow. Learning to moderate my time with others and save some for me. Tomorrow I am showing them how to make a 4th of July wreath. Lots of glue and glitter! More will be on them than the stars that need it!!
Have a great day!