G'day all,

How are you all, hopefully you are no longer in the dark
We heard on the news this morning that all around New York and as far as Canada people are without power. It looked like absolute chaos.
Makes you realise how much you take power for granted.

I have been up since very early this morning, have done the shopping, made pumpkin soup and I am now ready to get on with my webpage again and hear from the insominiacs that frequent this site

Cheers all,
Maria

Hi Everybody

I don't know whether anybody on our board has been "in the dark" tonight or not. I have been watching the coverage on TV and I have been thinking that I am so happy and thankful that we have power because I don't think I would last without air conditioning in my home during these hot days. The newscaster from New York was saying that there are so many apt blocks in New York where the people must be so uncomfortable with the high temperatures and no air conditioning or even fans.
I had my grandchildren today, and we had planned on going to the park but it was very hot outside and the little Princess seemed to be feeling the heat a bit. I decided instead to take them to a movie matinee to see the 3D movie called Spy Kids. They just loved it and of course it was cool in there. That was the first time they had used 3D glasses and they both got a big kick out of that. Actually so did I.
My dryer "died" yesterday, so today when we went to the movies I stopped in at the dept. store and ordered a new dryer. YIKES....I have a new stove and fridge arriving tomorrow and a new dryer on the 20th. Probably the next thing to go will be my dishwasher as the washer is still kind of new. Friends of my son and dil just bought a cottage at the lake and they are going to take my old stove and fridge.
Talk to you all tomorrow. Night.
P.S. Maria my DH had that virus on his computer at the bank as did serveral others. Fortunately there is someone there that could clear it up.

G'day all,

Slavika Good to hear you are not in the dark and that you are able to use your airconditioner.
I heard on the news that there were people stuck in lifts etc. pleased it wasn't a terrorist act but nevertheless very scary if your the one stuck in the lift
Sounds like the movies was the place to be. I am not a great movie fan but the very first time I saw a 3D movie (in Sydney) I was amazed, how do they do it.
With the heat you are experiencing I don't suppose you will be lost without your dryer.

Seems like you are the only one up tonight! It is 1.20 friday afternoon here, there may still be some that will call in before I shut down about 5.

Cheers
Maria

I have been watching the news. Pretty sad with the heat the way it is. Just looking at the pictures, the cities are in chaos. I know it would be hard to deal with. I was in the San Fran earth quake and that was bad enough. Hope its not out to long for them

Slavika: Your gonna have a whole new house pretty soon! Getting al this new stuff, Im jealous.

Maria: I have never made Pumpkin soup before. Everyone seems to love it, guess I should try.

Night Night!

Glad that no one here was in the dark. It was up north in Ohio. Just to see all those people walking-can't imagine being stuck in an elevator. That would be my worst nightmare.
Maria thanks for all the dingbat fonts. I saved it and have to go check it out when I have some time to play. Been watching The Amazing Race and they have been in Australia these past two weeks. It looks so beautiful and clean. Nice change after they were in India. My nephew and his wife who moved to India were there about 2 weeks when their oldest [12] fell off a bus and broke his arm. His mom the doc had to take him to the hospital in a rickshaw.
Trudy what a nice surprise to "see" you here. How is the little angel doing?
Karen tape #3 sounds interesting. Like the fact that it only lasts for 30 min. Much longer than that does me in.
Marnie good going on the loss. I only camp in hotels. Like the convenience of close bathrooms. lol
Ann I just saw that a Curves opened close by. I will stop in and see what it is all about the next time I am up that way.
Taking a friend out for lunch today to a cool new shopping area. Upscale but a nice place to browse and Coldwater Creek is there.
See ya later,

I think that would be the worst thing.. being stuck in an elevator. My cousin lives in Ottawa and she just got her power back on at 10:00am this morning. She and her family, had no idea what happened yesterday. All kinds of thoughts go through your mind. When she got home she saw her Mom had called, so she returned the call and her Mom kept her updated on what was going on. I would have hated being there. I heard something interesting... tourists staying in hotels could not get into their rooms because the power was out, their cards would not open the automatic locks. I guess the maintenance men were really busy, there must be some other way to open the doors. I just heard that parts of NY city won't get power back for days.

My little is doing really well, thanks for asking Peggy. She is crawling and keeping her Mom really busy. The poor dog is suffering, she can't have her dog food or water on the floor if is on the loose, she just heads for them everytime. She also wants the dogs toys. We thought it was going to be the other way around.. the dog would be after the baby's toys. We make a special effort to show that poor dog that we still love her... I brought her some homemade apple cinnamon dog biscuits on Wed.

Slavika I can't wait to see all your new appliances. You will be cooking up a storm, trying all kinds of new recipes with your convection oven. Too bad the dryer went, that is not an exciting thing to purchase. We were so hot yesterday, we took in a movie too. I don't think it was as good as the one you saw.

Lily Wow.. being in an earthquake. Was that the one that happened during a baseball game? We were settling in to watch that game at Candlestick Park when the earthquake hit. That would be so scarey .... hope I am never in one.

Maria I remember something my Doc told me concerning sleep. She said "do not drink or eat anything with caffeine after 2:00pm, it will bother sleep". I really don't take in much caffeine anymore, I drink de-caffinated everything... chocolate is a problem though. We need de-caffinated chocolate. How have you been doing? Thanks for starting all the new threads... I guess we should give you a break once in a while.

Talk to you later...

G'day all,

A magnificent day here today but.........very cold. No doubt by a bit later today it will be just lovely in the sun.

Lily I am not much of a cook but I love pumpkin soup and it is so simple. All I do is peel a whole heap of pumpkin, chop a large onion, 2 chicken stockcubes, some chilly paste and cover the lot with water, cook for 20- 30 minutes, vitamise the lot and voila a low point delicious soup! You should give it a go.

Trudy I drink very little coffee these days and I am not a chocolate person (I love lollies like jelly snakes etc. )
I also got some 'stuff' to sprinkle on my pillow that is supposed to get you off to sleep. All it does make my dh go right off, he hates the smell of the stuff
It is amazing how much we use power. Many years ago we lived in Darwin for 12 months, soon after the cyclone that devastated the whole city. During this time they were still very busy rebuilding Darwin and as a consequence many power failures.
There was just so little you could do, living in a tropical climate with 2 little ones, it was no fun.
When you mentioned about tourists not being able to get into their rooms because of the card thingo, makes you think why not a normal key like the old days. We are constantly told about the shortage of electricity why waste it on something like that?
Your little crawling, it was only yesterday that she was born

Peggy glad you liked the dingbats. I wasn't aware of the Amazing Race but dh did. I certainly have not been sorry that we never did end up going to India.

We are off to watch our son play football, should be nice sitting in the sun.

Have a great weekend all,
Cheers
Maria

Could you imagine being stuck at the top of the Empire state Building?

Slavika: You'll find just the right dress. don't get discouraged. You are really going to have a whole new house. We just got our ceilings painted. They certainly look much brighter.

Maria: I like all those little smurfs fonts. They used to be a part of the lil Abner comic strip. I expect that you will be planning your camping trip. I did that a with tent and then trailer and motorhome for 20 years, and I finnaly said 'enough'. Now we stay in motels and hotels and visit friends.

Peggy: Glad you weren't affected by the blackouts? What a mess.We certainly do take our power for granted. The over all effects were very wide spread. People here at out airports had to lay over instead of getting home.

Trudy: Nice to hear from you again. How is your little ? I can't believe that she is crawling already. Is the dog good with here. Sometimes when a dog has been the center of attention, it is hard to deal with a little creeper.

Karen: That tape sounds interesting. But since I'm doing the curves thing, I won't need it.

Lily: I can't imagine being in an earthquake. Those California quakes are usually of quite a magnitude. I guess we all have our particular problems in whatever area of the world we live in.

Marnie: Good going. You'll just keep on going down bit by bit. It sure is hard not to get discouraged now and again, especially when one has been so good and faithful, and then the results dont show on the 'metal monster'. :

Have a great week end everyone. Ann

Trudy: Glad the angel is doing so well. Think its funny she goes after the Dog stuff! I use to get Dog biscuits when I was a little wee one.
Yes it was the earthquake that happened during the ball game. I was at work and really didnt think anything bad happened. It was an earthquake and they are quite comman there. I was getting ready to leave and was on my way to the bathroom when it hit. I heard some of the equipment at work fall and then the lights went out. Traffic was so bad in getting home that it took me nearly 2 hours for a 30 minute drive. Didnt realize the magnitude of it until I got in my car and heard the news reports.
Nothing bad happened to our apartment, but we spent the night on the Patio with Candles and cooked on a camping stove.

Maria: The pumpkin soup does sound good so I will give it a shot. Would make a nice lunch. I love soup

Ann: No wouldnt want to be stuck in the Empire state bulding
Yes we all have the different disasters. You get Hurricanes. Thanks but no thanks I will take an Earthquake any time. I think it depends on what you are use to.

Peggy: I agree being stuck in an elvator would be the worse. Specially when its so hot! Heard on the news where it took the fireman 8 hours to get some people out.

Off to do some Sat errands. Nothing fun.
Tommorrow is our big WW meeting. Looking forward to it!

Trudy glad to hear that the little is doing well. Hope the dog stays out of her way now that she is mobile. I bet she is really a cutie. Decaf chocolate would be good as long as it still tasted good. I love that Lindt chocolate. Never thought about not being able to get into a hotel room.
Slavika do you have all of your new toys? Would love to have a convection oven.
Maria sometimes I spray a lavender-chamomile thing on my pillow. Dh doesn't like too much either. I keep forgetting that you are having winter. It is so hot and humid here this past week I feel like I am melting.
Lily I have never been in an earthquake. Actually we had a minor one in the area a few years back. My friends house had a little shaking. There is some kind of fault around here. I hate the tornadoes that we get.
The yard sale that we wait for every year was today. A greeting card rep sells his samples for .10 each. I bought 50 so I am well stocked up now.
Going to take the dog for a walk and hope to see the deer in the park. The little ones are so cute.

Hi all: Just a quick note to say that today we subscribed to cable internet access, Road Runner, and that it will take me some time to find my way around. We will be doing away with MSN. So if you don't hear from me, it is just because I haven't figured it all out yet. We are looking forward to the fast connect. but I'll be back. Here's hoping I'm smarter than I think I am. : Ann

G'day all,

Well good for you Ann for saying 'no' to anything other than hotels or motels. There is quite a bit of tension in the house with the planning of the forthcoming trip to the outback. Unfortunately there are NO motels where dh is planning to go. It is so remote that we take a sattelite phone!
I probably would not be quite so anti if I felt a bit better, but I get little sleep in my own comfortable bed let alone on a thermarest in a sleeping bag in a tent
At this time of the year it is warm during the day but very cold at night.

Lily how scarey, it is just as well that half the time we don't know how serious some of these catastrophies are until it is over.

Peggy hope you remember you bought 50 cards. I do things like that and then forget I did
Sounds a good 'yard sale though.
I went to a local monthly market yesterday and bought some great plants, come on spring!!!

We bought a weeping Mulberry tree for my newly designed front garden. We lashed out and bought a 2 metre tall one. It is the focal point in our garden. Of course it is winter and the tree is totally bare until yesterday when I saw the first green buds ready to burst open.

Have a great day all,
Cheers
Maria

Another selection of some of my favourite dingbats!

Peggy: Great deal on those postcards! Im always looking for them in antique stores. They are about the same price.

Ann: you will love it! You will be back in no time! Speed....gotta love it


Maria: Oh A weeping Mulberry tree. I love them! Your garden is going to look so nice! Im with you on the camping. Dh wants to go for 2 weeks. I said NO! 1 week is about all I can handle. Told him I would rather come back after a week and work in the yard for the other week. Now That right there tells you theres A problem. I love the yard, but I really want cement! Im just getting to old for all this


Night Night!

Hi all: I made it and am finding my way around. I can't believe how fast everything happens. There is a bit of difference that I need to get used to, and at first we couldn't receive our email, but time with a tech solved that problem.

I'm just having fun making all the quick searches.

Slavika: By the time you are all finished, you are going to be all brand new. Of course a dryer is a necessity, but you'll probably get the one with all the 'bells and whistles' Might as well get the best.:

Maria: I guess you are really going to be roughing it on your camping trip. You can tell your DH that with Fibro that sort of a trip wouldn't be a good idea.: He can go with a buddy who likes that sort of stuff. Just a thought.

I'll be checking back later to see if my giving 3FC my new email address will get me the email announcements of new posts. Got to go and have some more fun. Ann

Hi Everybody

It was time for me to take a little break. I have been working at one thing or another ever since I got up this morning, which was early as the fellow that is doing the soffits on house was here at 7:00 and banging up a storm.
I am now waiting for the "ceramic man" to arrive. He said late in the afternoon so I really don't know what time he will be here.
My stove and fridge arrived. The stove had a big dent in it so the people at the store said to just go ahead and use it (don't even bother to clean it when they pick it up) and they will be sending me out a new one on Aug 28th. The fridge seems fine. I can't remember if I told you or not that I decided on a blue kitchen counter and I "think" I want a white ceramic tile backsplash with the odd blue tile. I'll know better after the fellow has been here.
ANN the dryer I chose has a big drum so that I can dry blankets, comforters and such and it also comes with a drying rack for sneakers, caps and stuff. It certainly was not the top of the line but I think it will be good enough.
We went to the lake for the weekend. Our 9 year old grandson got up on ONE ski and made a big loop around the the lake. DH was in the boat but I was cheering loudly from the dock. He was so pleased with himself that he just walked around with a big grin on his face for the rest of the day.
It seemed that we were always eating at the lake. I tried not to overdo but gosh sometimes its difficult.
Maria I don't know what a Mulberry Tree looks like so I will look for one on the interent.
Talk to you all soon.