Happy Beautiful Sunday, Everyone!

Well, at least the weather is beautiful here in Wisconsin! It's 60 degress right now & will reach into the high 60's later today. It won't last long, so we'll try to enjoy it while it's here! Spryng: I'm sorry to hear about your laundry blues. If it makes you feel any better, my laundry is probably in the same state as yours! And I don't mean WI or KS!
:lol: What goofs me up is when I'm gone from home for a few days like say-a long weekend or on the go every day of the week.
My Home & Garden Party has taken priority in my household lately. After today, it will slow down for awhile. My next party won't be for a few weeks. Now-back to the laundry: What usually works for me is a 3-section expandable laundry sorter that I bought at Wal-mart. It's one of those that you can fold up to be pocket size, so I usually take it with me when I go camping or vacation in a hotel for a long weekend/week. I then have 2 additional individual spring-action hampers that I use also. The 3-section one I use to sort the whites, light colors & my dh dress shirts. The other two I use for towels & jeans & other darks. Once one of these sections/hampers get 3/4 full, I put them in the washer. I then try to just focus on just a single load of wash at a time, so that it doesn't seem so overwhelming. Once it gets to the overwhelming state, I don't even want to go there! Once that load of wash is dried & put away, I start on another load. I will put a second load in the washer when the other is in the dryer, but I still try & focus like I'm only doing one load of laundry.
Get the picture? ;) You may also find the Flylady handy to visit right now. Do you remember me telling everyone about her? You can find her on the web at: www.flylady.net If you don't want to feel overwhelmed with e-mails, don't sign up for any. You can find all the info you need by just going to her website. Scroll down to the bottom of the webpage & she will have each section highlighted to hit. Good Luck! And now-congratulations on the puppy additions to your family! My dd & I would love to have a dog, but dh & ds will only settle for cats at the present time. Your kids are so lucky to have one of their own! Ginny:
I'm glad to hear that both of your dd's rooms are turning out so well! I hear you on the messy daughter syndrome!
I have one of those too! My 9 y/o is so sloppy! I call her my little tornado! :spin: I'm in the middle of redecorating my dd's room, so maybe they will learn to appreciate their rooms with the new look! I'm sorry to hear about your dm! I hope everything turns out alright for her. Does she have OA? Mine does & she can snap a bone so fast! As for my family matters-
my FIL is still seeing angels & I really don't think it will be that long before he goes home to the perly gates. I called the pastor of their church a few weeks ago & he paid them a visit & informed them that they both indeed will be going to Heaven. I took my FIL to his 3-mo. checkup at the heart specialist & he said that he is doing as good as can be expected. Not any worse & not any better, but could go at anytime & to be happy with the long life that he has lead! (He is 84 y/o) Now-on to another topic: I want to again congratulate you on your 11# loss! You go girl! I have picked up a case of slimfast & will start on that plan, along with the fit for life plan tomorrow a.m. I'm also totally disgusted with myself & I figure that I have approx. 3 months to shed some of this blubber before it's swimsuit season again! I'm also going back to the "Y" & will also get some walks outside with my dd & or the rest of the family/neighbor. I wish I was your neighbor so that we could go for walks together & I'd join you in the WW meetings! Well gals, I'd better get going & get ready for my Home & Garden Party. One last thing: Ginny-I do have a catalog all addressed to you & will get it out in the mail this week, okay? Until later, gals-TTFN!

Good afternoon all!
Jackie enjoy that beautiful weather! Yesterday it was 75 here and today it will reach 76!! I'm very happy about it. But not as happy as the kids are to get out of the house for a while. They are loving playing in the back yard. And thanks for the laundry tips. Actually last night I stayed up until midnight folding and hanging clothes. The kids went to bed at 8 pm and I started it then. I forgot I had so much clothes! but at least the pile out of my room is done and now all I have to do is a few loads that is already sorted in the laundry room. So it doesn't feel overwhelming now. Plus I went through my ds's drawers and pulled out all his winter clothes because his summer clothes wouldn't fit. So now there is room for everything. Looks like we won't get any more cold weather here for awhile. I'm so glad!
But today we are BBQing chicken and steak and just enjoying the outside. My DH is cleaning the living room for me and will re-organize our bedroom later so that we can put up the playpen/bassinet. I'm ready to start getting things in order. I will be 26 weeks tomorrow and I am feeling anxious about getting things ready for this baby. SO I will start getting some things done today.
Mel how are you feeling? Have you started shopping yet? I still haven't. I have one outfit so far. I feel bad about it but I was waiting for spring to start shopping. It's almost here. I won't be getting a baby shower this time so it's all on myself and DH to get EVERYTHING. Boy I wish I would've kept more after my ds was born. But I thought he would be my last and sold everything but the crib. (thank god I still have that) So now I need to make a list and start shopping soon.
Well, I guess I'm going on and on about nothing huh? I'll get off here now. Hope you all have a wonderful OP day!!

Hi!
Seems as though everyone else had warm weather this weekend too!!!!! It was warm here- and fairly sunny. I did not get out much this weekend at all,with all the insanity going on, but it was nice to open the windows in the house.

Spryng- good for you getting all organized now! This warm weather really helps, and with impending baby every little thing you can accomplish is great. Gee, this pregnancy seems to have gone fast (for us here at the thread at least:lol: - but then we did not suffer morning sickness either!). I know that it would be nice to have some left over from your other babies- but there is something nice about being able to buy new for this little one, anyway! Also, as I found out- with all 3 of mine born at different times- and one average sized baby and two large babies- well things some stuff was the wrong size for the wrong season anyway. So I had to get a lot of new stuff, like it or not when our youngest was born. Hope that you got your laundry all done and enjoyed the BBQ!

Jackie- hey there you enterprising lady! How is the business going? Are you enjoying hosting parties (I can imagine, anything like that you do would be a lot of fun!)? Good luck redecorating Dd's room. I'm sure that it will turn out well....just hope that it gets her to keep it clean! BTW, as far as Day 1 of my Dd and "new room"- well, she did make her bed (a major accomplishment!) and the room stayed fairly neat...until she threw her dusty softball bag on the new carpet:( - and of course her slovenly habits in the rest of the house persist. As far as FIL goes, it is good to hear that his health is sort of stable. What a great DIL you are, calling their pastor and taking FIL to the specialist. Sometimes it is hard to know just what to do- when it is time to intercede with seniors, as most want to remain independant but need some assistance. They are indeed blessed to have you as their DIL! Good luck with the slimfast and excercise. Don't be too hard on yourself........the weight will come off! I wish you could join me for some walks and the WW meetings too......although I would most likely blab you to death!
I'm looking foward to seeing the catalog.......hey ya want to do a party in New York???????:dizzy:

My mom is doing ok. I called the hospital last nite- finally found her (they transferred me to labor and delivery!!!!!!!:lol: )- and she drove herself to the ER, and expected to drive herself home too! (which she did). She did brake her left wrist- it sounds like a fairly clean brake- no complications like the last time. She most likely has osteo- but that is my opinion. I do not think she has ever been for a bone density test- and wonder if maybe she should bring that up with her Dr tomorrow when she sees him.
But back to her- I called this am and she was doing pretty well.
She has a great attitude- and remarked that after seeing all the other people in the ER and their trials, a broken wrist was not bad at all!
As far as eating goes today, I did the Irish dinner thing- corned beef/cabbage/Irish soda bread today as tomorrow is Ds's bday and he hates the stuff. I have no idea how to count any of the stuff I ate today- so I just kept my portions small and have gone light on my points count today anyway. I did get a 20 minute walk in this evening too. What is keeping me "honest" is the weigh ins........gosh I do not want to see that scale go up!

Well, guess I had better sign off and get some sleep. See ya tomorrow!!!
Ginny

Hi!
Where is everyone??????
Not much to report......just busy as usual. I'll check in tomorrow after my WI. I'm curious about that- as with this cold I have not been out walking as much, but my eating has been pretty good.
Off to bed, as this cold is getting the better of me.
See ya tomorrow!
Ginny

Hi!

Just poppin' in so that Ginny doesn't get too lonely here! :D I'm being "naughty" right now while I'm posting this message. Can someone either slap my hands or take these Girl Scout cookies away from me? I am eating the reduced fat kind, but I'm deceiving the purpose by eating nearly a whole box of them! Oh bother!! Ginny: I hope that your WI goes well for you. Did I tell you that I may join WW this Thursday with my friend? She's been going for over a month & I asked if she would mind me joining her. I'm also sorry to hear that your cold is getting the best of you. I'm sure all the coughing should eat up a few points, don't you think? :?: Also: You must have burned enough cals/pnts with all the bedroom makeovers too! FYI: DD's room is pretty much at a stand-still right now until I get the rest of the house back in order. I've been spending way too much time on HGP & not on the domestic duties at home. I've held 3 shows so far. 3/2, 3/14 & 3/16/03. I don't have any more planned until April, thank goodness-as I need a break & so does my family! DD came along & helped me with 2 of them. DS & DH are starting to miss me though. I'm starting to enjoy being a designer. We make a "game" out of the show so that we can keep the guests from falling asleep. I play the auction game where you get play money throughout the show for noticing things & giving me ideas of other uses for some of the pottery pieces. One of the assignments I had for the group on Sunday was that the first person to find the "white" shamrocks on or "around" my display area would get $500.00 in play money! I had my shoes off & the shamrocks were on my socks! I did manage to have one lady with good hearing & eyesight that noticed them on my socks after I "obviously" shook my feet & lifted my pant legs up too much. It was a gas! :lol: Oh! Don't be surprised if I show up at your doorstep with all my HGP products!
Well, enough about the "business" talk. Oh, and by the way... I finished the box of cookies off! :eek: Spryng: How's the weather by you? It's getting cold here in WI again. Not bitter cold, just not as nice as it was over the weekend. Glad to hear that you got to the bottom of the laundry piles! So-how has your appetite been in this trimester of your pregnancy? You may have told me, but I keep on getting you & Mel goofed up when it comes to the pregnancy info. :spin: Well gals, DH thinks it's time for me to shut down the 'puter & go to bed. Bye! :yawn:

Hi there!

We had a great vacation, but it's good to be home too!

Ginny~ congrats on such a great loss!!!

Spryng, I'm glad to hear that things went well at your midwife visit! You're really moving along, did you realize that you're 10 weeks ahead of me? I made 16 weeks on Tuesday! The baby really started letting us know it's in there, while we were on vacation, I've been kicked plenty! I love it!!! I go to the DR. today, so I'll hear the heartbeat again! To answer your question~we've bought a crib, a dress with the changing table on it, and while we were on vacation we bought a beautiful cradle! Other than that, I have bought some cloth diaper, to use as burp rag, and I also got a few packs of onesies. But that's it, I will be having a shower, since it's been 12 years since I've had a baby. I sold everything years ago, after we stopped the fertility treatments, so we're starting from scratch!

Well, time to go get ready!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Hi!!!!
Great to see some posts! I was getting a wee bit lonely.....:( but then for those of you who know me, I am more than capable of having a conversation with myself:dizzy: . I'd much rather have company though!

WI went well......I lost another 1.4#.
Gotta go- Dh just came home for dinner a wee bit early!!
Mel and Jackie, I 'll get personal later! Have a great nite.
Ginny

(and I'll follow up with the WW lecture for the day- another goodie)

Good evening all!
Mel, you sound in high spirits! Is your morning sickness completely gone now? You are coming right along in your pregnancy. I can't believe you are 16 weeks already. Boy time is flying by!
Jackie, sounds like your job agrees with you. You are a real people person so I know they must be fun! I would love to go to one of yours! You can send me a brochure too if you like! I love that kind of stuff! WW huh? I'm so happy! I really think it would be great if you joined too. Then you and Ginny could really support one another and you may get that motivation you really need. Let us know how it goes. As far as the weather here, it did get a bit colder. It was 76 degrees and then we've had constant rain since last night and its suppose to last all week. We are under flash flood watches and such. But it's still in the 60's so not to cold. And as far as my appetite goes this trimester, well, it's horrible. My cravings have set in (chocolate and breath mints , how weird is that?) and I can't fight it. My appetite is huge. I feel like I eat too much, maybe I do. I should keep a better eye on what I put in my mouth. I'm going to be a whale if I keep this up, but I can't seem to curb it. Help!
Ginny, congrats on the 1.4 # loss! That is so great!! You don't know how proud I am of you. I look forward to every wednesday now to see how you have done (because I know how hard it is with a family and such) and I love to hear about the meetings. They sound so realistic. WW is on my list to look into after this baby gets here.
Well, my day was long. We got up around 9 am (kids slept in for once) and then got around to get me to Joplin (1hr 15 min away) for my 1 hour blood glucose test and RhoGam shot. Of course I couldn't have anything to eat before hand so I was starving when we got there around 11. It took forever to get paperwork done and get me back. I finally got to drink that sweet stuff at 11:58 and had to wait another hour to get my blood drawn again, so in the meantime they had to chase down someone who could do my RhoGam shot. I've always got it in my doctors affice so this was new to me. The nurse who did it didn't seem very happy about it and asked me if I was really RH negative (uh, no I like to be stuck in the butt for no good reason!) of course I am. Boy did it hurt! And instead of just sticking it in and releasing the meds she stuck it in and proceeded to tell me all about her 4 kids and getting her tubes tied and then having to have a hysterectomy, so it took her forever to get in all in me! And let me tell you if you've never had this shot before.... it burns as it goes in! Not the needle the stuff in it! So by her prolonging it really really stung and it ended up bruising me. But at least it is done now. Whew. Now I am praying I passed my one hour glucose so that I don't have to go back for the 3 hour. I should know in a couple of days. But anyway, I finally got to eat around 2 pm and I was starving. But I am all better now and just glad it's all done. I shouldn't have any more blood work this pregnancy. But I'll still get another RhoGam shot within 72 hours after the baby is born. but that's far away so I'm not thinking about it now.
Ok, I guess I have written enough. DH and DS have strep throat and are on antibiotics, both are feeling great now and I am praying once again that I don't get it. It would be so horrible. I don't even know if I could take anything for it if I did get it so I am hoping to not deal with it at all.... we'll see.
Ok OK, I'm really getting off now. Sorry so long! lol. Have a great evening all!

Good morning!
I decided to post instead of watching the news.....there is so much speculation that I can't stand all the idle chatter- and I find it all upsetting anyway. So here I am!

Spryng- sorry about that shot!!! I have never had to get one- maybe when the baby is born it will go easier for you. B4 I forget- there are tons of antibiotics that are safe during pregnancy, especially those that are good on strep- the amoxicillin family is quite safe, and also has almost 50 years of a good track record with pregnant patients. In other words- don't worry!!!! How is your BP - still ok? Good for you that the kids slept in! A much needed break for you!

I would LOVE to go to a Jackie party too!!!!! (somehow, I think I would not stop laughing for the entire time). Jackie I love the story of you and the socks- I would have loved to be there! The parties sound like so much fun. Can't wait to get the catalog from you. It would be great if you also joined WW! Gee, I am so excited! I now have 2 friends that I go with and it makes it more fun and somehow a bit easier. You do lose weight slowly- but hopefully it is going to stay off. I need those meetings to keep me from going back on the bad habits, and stick with the good ones. We can compare notes on our meetings,which would be fun. I'm glad that you have a break from the HGP parties. Get some time in for yourself!

Mel-how did the Dr visit go? It's so exciting to hear the babies heart - and love those kicks! Sounds like you are getting your baby stuff together bit by bit and will be ready when the time comes. Glad that your vacation went well- and that you are back to keep us company!:)

Yesterday's WW lecture was about "changing channels". Guess it is not too hard to figure out that it was behavior modification. Find out what your weakness is- and have a plan of action to replace that weakness with a positive image. In other words- if you have a hard time getting up to work out- instead of visualizing hitting the snooze button for the fourth or fifth time... visualize how good it will feel to get up and feel those endorphins from a good work out! Have a plan of escape from bad behaviors- and replace the negative thoughts with those. (how come our leader said it so much better than me????:?: ). Anyway- that was it, and they gave us some good recipes too.

I had better go- I the ironing beckons! It is raining today- and I am pooped, so, I think the walk will wait till tomorrow.

Have a great day!
Ginny

Hello!

Ginny, I would have to agree, all of this news coverage is so morbid. As for me, my DR. visit went well, I heard the baby and wow, I was getting little kciks and nudges through my whole appt.!! :D I love to feel the baby move, and it's really been getting busy in there, over the last week! I am getting a few thing together for the baby, but I'll be having a shower in June, so I doubt I get any more until after that.

Spryng, Ouch~Sorry to hear about your RhoGam shot!?! I'm lucky, I guess, cause I'm possitive. So that's one less shot that I need. BTW~ Yes, thank goodness, my morning sickness is gone. I still get sick when I'm around certain smells, but it's much better than the 24/7 nausea. Oh, my DR. scheduled my 20 ultrasound too, it's on DH and my anniversary, next month!!! What a nice gift, to find out the sex of our baby!!!!

Jackie, sounds like your parties are a blast! Oh, and good luck with WW if you join, I loved going, as a matter of fact, I went to mine last week! Well~just to say hello, and visit with my friends!

I guess that's it for me now, have a good evening!

Hi!
OK, you all know me and long threads.......I am gonna start a new one. See you there!!!!!
Ginny