I am backm that didn't take as long as I thought it would. I can't beleive that Joe wanted me to buy Subway for tonight and I wsa able to get more stuff by doing it myself. They wanted $39 for 7 footlong subs cut in half. I was able to get all of the stuff for sandwiches (on Po'boy bread), chips and drinks and I only paid $42. I will even have stuff left over to have in the house. I am going to be doing it from now on. I know it is cheaper to do it yourself but I guess I never really sat down and did the math.

Anige I think that lady is either dead or in a home. I thought about her too. I guess they are just leaving so they can die in peace. She still have 6 though.

I didn't tell you guys this but Joe is going to have an interview with his company about a managment position. If he gets it we would have to move closer to Houston. YUCK! I am such a small town girl I don't want to leave. He really doesn't know if he is going to get it but he wants to try for it anyway. If we end up staying though we are going to look into getting a pool. That will be some major money so we are really going to have to save for it. I didn't say anything b/c I was trying not to think about it. I am not big into change.

I hope all of your days are going great.

Good Morning! Where is everyone this week? Come out and chat. I found us on page 2. I got up bright and early this morning because my Mom came and took Alicia for the weekend. I got in a long nice walk while it was still somewhat cool out. I am going to go do a ton of baking this morning since it is just me at home today.

Kempy, I hope you dont have to move to Houston, I know how much you like it at home near your family. I dont like change either. Oh you will love a pool, I can imagine how nice it would be down there too. Are you getting a special shape or something? They arent that bad priced up here.

Hey ladies, I am busy being a busy-body. We have been having community meetings in opposition to the 2 12-story condos they want to build behind my house. Last night was great! Our local representative was there and a rep. from the State Housing dept.--of course the developer didn't show, but that's for another day. We got to air our grievances and did we go at 'em with both barrels. Anyway, we are going to a neighborhood board meeting to make sure our concerns are documented and that the board gets a letter written to the City Council to say we are vehemently opposed to the size and scale of the project and that they should reject any applications for exceptions to the project--I am not opposed to affordable housing, I am opposed to having a 120' building in my backyard. If I have to form a picket/protest line at City Hall next month I will!

Hello Everyone...
My gosh...was it just my computer...or was this server down for a couple of days??? I couldn't get on for the life of me. Probably a good thing in that I was so busy at work.
My best friend came to visit Wednesday night with her grandson, Parker. He's 3 years old. We had so much fun! Parker had a blast feeding the cows and chickens and gathering eggs. We usually let the chickens out in the morning and then put them back in their coop about 2-3 hours later. When it came time to put them in the coop I took Parker with me to help me out. As we approached the coop I told him to start calling out, "Here, Chicky, Chicky!" When he did, he had nine chickens following him in a line to the coop. He was so thrilled! I wish I would have had a camera with me. It looked so cute having a three year old followed by nine chickens!
My friend also helped me with some decorating issues I had for months. My husband has not considered decorating a priority...so it was fun finally hanging a the last few pictures I had laying around and getting organized. I just hope my husband doesn't raise a stink when he gets home.
Btw...my time away from him has been good. I am starting to feel like myself again. That's a sad statement...but it's true. Hopefully, things will be different when he returns.
I haven't checked my weight lately...so, tomorrow, I will check and give you an update.
Hope all of you are doing well. I am going to have a read a bit to catch up with all that is going on in your lives.
Take care....
Claire

How's it going my ladies:

Kempy- What a shame about the kitties! I hope no more get lost. BTW I totally see you as city girl. I don't think a move to houston would be too bad. It's funny, sometimes i think of you and Angie living in these small towns and i don't think I could swing it. SO I guess in that respect i can understand how the idea of change may be overwhelming. Hope he does well on the interview anyway.

Angie- Thanks for bumping us up!

Noelle- Welcome back! What is it with you gals and sunburn. You all have to do a better job of protecting your precious skins. Good job on your continuing to walk.

Clair- Aren't 3 year olds the cutest?? Sounds like he had fun on the farm. Haven't seen one of those in a while. BTW I'm happy you feel like the time apart from hubby is doing you good. I hope your reunion will be just as pleasant. My ex does still call and I have been out with him a few times but nothing serious. I let him know that i'm still not wanting to get back together. We'll see what happens.

Hi Maggs- So thinking about joining the WW mafia huh. Whatever you decide to do we're in your corner.

Okay my lovelies...I got some work to do TTYL

Heya Girlies!

I hope ya'll had a great day! I'm tired out today. Work has been really busy, and this morning my boss looks at me and says "Just wait, we'll start getting busy in a few weeks." Uh oh! I thought I already was busy!!

My foster babies are doing well, but you sure can tell they lost their mom too early. I hate when people bring in the kittens as strays with no mom. These ones are trying to nurse off of me all the time. LOL Everytime they burrow into my tummy, I put them in front of the food dish. They will eat on their own, they's just prefer to nurse!

Dips - What's new with you?

Claire - I'm glad the break from your hubby has been good for you. Maybe he has had some time to appreciate you more while he has been gone. I think maybe my hubby and I need a break too. We've sure been arguing a lot lately.

Noelle - I helped to cancel another larger condo complex going up behind ours. We are in a pretty big highrise complex downtown, and some developer wanted to put another in directly south of ours. The hill we are at the top of is very steep, and there are major concerns with the ground and slope being able to hold up our complex, and these guys want to build another complex directly into the crumbling hillside?

Kempy - I'm sorry about your sister's cats, I sure hop someone in the neighborhood isn't doing something to them. People can be awful sometimes. Taking in fosters is one of the easier parts of being a shelter worker. Although it can be very sad sometimes too. Babies die. There is one girl at the shelter who won't name her foster kittens until the morning they go up for adoption; she says it is easier for her if they die if they aren't named. I think I am mor often a than a though! I would love to move from the city to an acreage or a small town. I can understand why you don't want to move to the city. My DH grew up on a farm though, and loooooooves being in the city, so I expect we'll stay here!

Angie - It really would depend on the rescue org./humane society whether or not they would let you foster. For us it doesn;t matter how many pets you have at home, as long as you have an isolated room with bleachable floors and walls to keep the fosters in. Technically speaking, you are supposed to leave them in the room all of the time, but I usually wait for 2 weeks to make sure the babies aren't sick with anything that they could give my own cats, and then just let them have the run of the apartment. There is another rescue org here that encourages their foster parents to let their fosters interact with their own pets as much as possible, as it gives adopters a better idea whether the new animal will get along with any "pre-existing" animals in the new home. So, there is no set rule for fostering. If you are really interested, contact your local humane society or rescue org, and see what they say.

Whew sorry for being so chatty girls! Get me started on shelter work, and I'll go on, and on, and on! I love the animals so much! Anyways I have to get to bed! Hi to everyone else!!!!

Good Morning!
I have another busy day ahead of me as I attempt to prepare (again) for the BBQ that was supposed to happen last week. Less than half of the folks that signed up last week are coming...sigh. Well, it is what it is. I just want it done and over with so that I can work on work. It should still be fun.
Tonite we are celebrating my son's 16th birthday. My oldest daughter has organized a suprise birthday party for him. I know he will love it! He, (Drew), leaves for Botswana, Africa, (is that how you spell it?) on July 9th. I am starting to feel a little aprhensive about that...but I know he will be in the Lord's hands while he is gone for a month... He can hardly wait.
Hey Kempy...see if you can get his company to move you to Austin rather than Houston. I think you would like Houston as a city...however...with all the hurricanes and humid weather (and I mean HUMID)...I wouldn't want to live there. I have heard, however, that some of the suburbs are okay. Check into "The Woodlands" if you end up moving there. I here that is the place to be. I will pray for God's best for you!
Dips...good to hear that things are leveling out with the ex. Take it slooooooooooow and easy...of course, you know that. Did you end up losing your bloat weight? How are things going with exercising with you Dad?
LadyT...I think it's cool that you are taking care of the baby kitties. There is something so precious about them when they are so small. It has been so long since I have seen a baby anything. I think it would be good therapy if I could see some puppies or kittens.
Meleka...geez...I hope you win your battle with the condo. My gosh...you would think developers could leave things well enough alone. It would kill me to lose a view because of some concrete...especially in Hawaii!
Angie...how are things in your neck of the woods? Are you still losing?
Noelle...same thing... Both of you were losing like crazy...
I am still holding at 9 pounds since that fateful day at the doctor 3.5 weeks ago when I weighed in at 173. Hopefully, I will be able to lose 4 more pounds by the time I see him again. It would be nice to be below 160.
Well...I am off to feed the chickens and cows and work out. My workouts are becoming less frequent...mainly cause I am so tired all the time. My doctor thinks I may be anemic (sp?). That would certainly explain it.
Have a great morning. Blessings on all of your days!
Claire

Good Morning girls. TOM came yesterday....the day all the kids are gone of course!!!! Why does it work out that way every single time we get a break from all the kids????

It is pouring outside today so I am cleaning the kids bathroom and bedroom. They never do the bathroom the way I would like it done so I figured I would go right through it while they are away.

Today is my 1 month anniversary without ANY diet Coke!! YEAH ME!!!! I dont even miss it with the Totally Light stuff. I have to say it is nice not to have the soda bloat at the end of the day too.

Noelle, I hope you can get the plan blocked. I would not want it behind my house either.

Claire, I had trouble getting on the other day too. I was going through withdrawals. I bet that was cute to see all the chickens follow Parker.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW!!!! What will he be doing in Africa? I hope he has a great trip.

Dips, HI

LT, I had to bottle feed a litter of kittens once. It is so hard and tiring. My cat got pregnant about 11 years ago and after she had her babies my Mom and Dad came up to see them and Dad didnt shut the bedroom door so his Rottie Nakita followed him in to see....well, Tazz(mom cat) flipped out on Nakita (Rottie) and tried to kill her. Holy cow she went so crazy that she pulled all her claws out in Nakitas face etc. Poor nakita didnt know what to do. I still remember it to this day she was trying so hard to get away from Tazz. She didnt fight back once either. She was such a great dog! Tazz must have hurt afterwards and wouldnt touch the kittens so we went to the vets and got some formula and had to feed them for 2 weeks until she felt well enough to feed them again. That also is the reason every single pet of mine gets spayed or neutered. I kept all the kittens and I still have one today. Her name is T.J. and she is a fat lazy girl.


Well, I should finish cleaning the house now. fun fun

Kempy, The strawberry fields are open for picking now. WOOHOO!!! The other day we went and picked 20 quarts and I froze 5 baggies and took 15 quarts up to the bakery to sell. I will try to go picking this afternoon too. I have been eating tons of them this week. YUM!!

Hi Everyone...

I am about ready to go to bed... Nice day... I got a lot accomplished. One of the nicest things about my husband not being around is that my house stays cleaner longer... Know what I mean??? I finally finished all of my filing and dusting and cleaned the chicken coop as well.

Drew's party was great. He was truly surpised! It was fun seeing my family and watching the kids have fun together. Angie, Drew is going to Africa on a missions trip with an organization called Teen Mania. If I remember correctly over 5000 teen age kids travel the globe doing things like going into villages to work with young kids...building homes and churches...rebuilding lives after disasters etc... It is truly life changing. My oldest daughter has been on six trips...China twice, India, Dominican Republic, Haitti, and Sri Lanka. She started going on trips when she was 13. All three of my kids have been on these trips and come back changed. Their world view changes drastically and they become less selfish. All it takes is one trip to third world country and seeing how the rest of the world lives and suddenly that pair of shoes that "had to have" kind of fades into the sunset. You know??? Anyway...thanks for asking. If you all would pray for him and his safety as he goes...and for me that I wouldn't totally freak out. I know he will be fine.
Oh...and congrats on the no diet coke! My daughter, Steph, stopped drinking any carbonated bevarages last August. She is trying to go a year without em... She doesn't realize it...but she has lost weight since she stopped drinking coke. She also just looks healthier. So...WTG!

Okay...gotta to go to bed. I am beat!
Nite nite!
Claire

Good morning girls!!! Today is weigh day and I am down 1.7 more pounds. WOOHOO!!!

Not much happening for me today. Jay is working with his Mom and I am going to pick lobsters for supper. fun fun.

My sister got her puppy last night and brought him over. She is going to name him Koda (sp). I am so happy because I was afraid Mickey hated other dogs but he was okay with the puppy. Rebel was funny, He chewed on the puppy's neck,legs, etc. He does the same thing to the cats, he will nibble on their necks(I call it knitting) They love it but I have never seen him do it to a dog. He is one strange boy!!

Claire, That is so nice that Drew is doing that. I hope he has a safe fun trip. I do know what you mean about the house staying cleaner longer too. That is why I went right through mine yesterday. I hope your picnic goes well today.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

YEAH ANGIE

Good Morning... It's actually about as early as you could get in the morning...1:30 a.m. central time. I just got home from the BBQ I did for my subdivision. I am soooo beat! I only got to sit down for maybe a half hour. It was truly a success. Close to 150 showed up...(twice as much that RSVP'd). Everyone left around 11ish....and my friend, Linda and I were there to clean up most of the mess. There's a crew coming in at 7:30 a.m. to clean my model home and load the tables and chairs.
I also ended up starting to write a contract today as well as take another lot hold...which means another contract is coming...woohoo!
Congrats, Angie on your weight loss....I am sure I have gained after what I ate and drank at this party...sheesh.
More later. Have a blessed Sunday. Thanks for all of your prayers on the BBQ...
Claire

Good Morning girls!! Well, yesterday took forever!! Jay worked later in the day for his Mom because there was a lot of stuff to do and since that would have been his only night not to work we had to go grocery shopping after. But first we went and picked 20 quarts of strawberries which took forever and totally wrecked my hair and makeup I was sweating so bad!! So needless to say we didnt get to supper until really late. Sounds like a fun day huh?

Dips, Thanks!!

Claire, I am glad your BBQ went well and you got a few contracts out of it.

Well, I have to jump in the shower and go get some baking done. It has been so muggy out lately that everything is just so hazy. YUCK!

Morning all,
Excellent news Claire that everything went well for your BBQ & had contracts too, thats got to be good! I have employed 1 staff member yayyyy but could not find an appropriate one for the other position. The one I did employ I was still a little unsure about which is a pity as none of them grabbed me for 1 reason or another & most were just down right never in the running! Anyways this just means we start the qhole process over again. YAYYYYYYY bring it on!
We had a BBQ on Sat night for my birthday, I think it was ment to be a surprise but that would never happen in my house I am such a snoop lol. One of husbands mates actually said that husband had said shell find out anyway if I started to clean the house oh dahhhh its not like a regular occurance so definately it would make me suss. hahaha anyway was a fun night but high calorie content via food and beverages. & with the inlaws decending next week end I know I will find it hard to stay good this week. Stress wins out everytime where they are concerned & when I am stressed I trough!

Anyways best get some work done. HAve a great day....