what a horrible week. still the weekend is here and hopefully the atmosphere will improve.
the whole of europe observed a 3-minute silence this morning.
i still feel so choked by the whole thing.

anyhow. i forgot to take my measurements last night. i will hopefully remember over the weekend and post them monday.

jen - hope the smoking issue gets sorted out. i hate cigarette smoke! especially when i'm walking along and someone in front of me is smoking and all the smoke (and ash) blows back over me. yuck!!

belle and lori - hope WI went ok.

kim - how's the home hunt going?
kay - any word on the job front?

hi to lolly, shalyne, trish, rina, kt, sarah, tonya, janet, ali and everyone else about to post! gotta go work - it's going to be busy today.

love to you all,
kirsty

Hi Kirsty and everyone else out there!

I think I'm finding my way out of all the horrible feelings. Read, of all things, the THES (the British Higher Education trade paper!) and it had lots of sensible analysis and stuff that made a lot of sense. I think I needed to hear some non-scaremongering opinions about what the future might hold. Still not reading the other papers. Especially not the tabloids, some of which are really appalling. Went to the pub last night and it was a funny kind of atmosphere but SO good to get out and talk about "normal" stuff.

Did you hear about the Last Night of the Proms tomorrow? (Do you girls in the US and Canada know about that? It's a 3-month series of classical concerts in London, happens every year, and the last night is always a huge, jingoistic, ra-ra celebration with lots of flags) Well, this year for the first time ever (about 100 years I think) they are taking out all the traditional last-night songs and replacing them with more appropriate music: Barber's Adagio, Tippett's A Child of our Time and Beethoven 9th- Ode to Joy. I think it's going to be beautiful and very moving, so if you get the chance, do watch!

BTW, my crunchy fingers have been a huge success - last night my beloved managed to chomp his way through 4 of them! So try them, they're recommended (though possibly not if you have false teeth ... quite sticky ...).

Ok, back to work.
hugs
Lxxx

Hello all. Still very sad here in the US. The tv is just heartrenching. On NBC, they keep running this story of a CEO of a company on teh 101-104 floors. He was late to work that day due to taking his kid to school. The company has 1,000 employees and they estimate that eveyrone who was at work that day (about 700) did not make it out. It is all so sad.

Oh, and Lolly and Kirsty, tell your queen thank you for having our national anthem played during a chanigng of the guard. That was very nice of her.

Lolly: I don't think we have that program here. At least I have never heard of it. maybe they show it on BBC America or PBS.

Kirsty: I also hate it when smoke gets in my face. Even when I was a smoker I could not stand it. My hubby smokes now, but I make him go outside and he can't smoke in the car. I hate smokey cars.

Well, hello to everyone who is going to post.

Trish

Hi girls....not gone to WI yet, but I will at lunch, even though I dread it again....my TOM is horrendous and I feel like a bloated whale. I had to babysit my neice last ngiht and it was actually good forme I think, to not watch the news. My mom came over to keep my company and we had lattes adn chatted about this and that, but not the attack, we both had to think of other things. Julie was so cute!! I bathed her and she was halarious playing in the tub with her "bear in the big blue house" toys....

Anyway we observed silence yesterday, and today we are recognizing as a day of mourning wtih the US * but we still have to work and everything, I don't know how it works in the states. News today is that there was another terrorist on a plane diverted to Toronto....we are pretty shook up up here, and so very sad for the losses in the states.

Lolly -that Last night of Proms sounds great, I have not heard of it. I love Beethoven (Moonlight Sonata is my fave classical song) I find him very moving. I sang the Ode to JOy at my grandad's funeral b/c it was his fave...and it had meaning.

Kirsty - I forgot too, even though I dug out my measuring tape yesterday to do it...darn....oh well, I'll post it on monday too - I think its a great idea.

Well, off to work now, hello to Trish, Tonya, Shay, Brenda (even though she doens't post often), Ali, Steph, Kay, Rina, Kim, Stacey, Maryme, Jen, Sarah, et al.

Love
Belle

Hi Trish, that is so sad. Just be careful not to get too upset b/c we dont' want little Eggbert to be stressed out, okay? Limit the news intake....

Belle

hi...i'm new here...just thought i would say hi...

i've been pretty 'big' all my life but have put on a little more since moving in with my bf...we are talking about getting married in about 18 months and this has given me the motivation to lose the weight...i want to look fantastic on the big day although my bf says he has and always will love me and find me sexy whatever weight i am so that is really helping me too...

i started at WW this week for the first time and am going well so far (day 3 and actually enjoying being on a diet and feeling good)...

i am even struggling to make it up to my points (which i know is probably bad) but i don't eat meat and love to have loads of vegetables which are no points...so...i am only a couple of points under and i feel full so i think i will be ok...

have read a couple of threads on this board and am glad to hear you are all being successful...i hope i am too...

my thoughts are going out to all those directly affected by the troubles in America at the moment and all those in peril and anguish around the globe...i hope those who have suffered have not done so in vain and justice and peace can prevail and win over the atrocities...

India

sw225/cw225/10%202/goal160

Ooh, Belle, I love Beethoven too. I just joined a new orchestra and we played his 1st piano concerto at rehearsal last night. Sibelius is my favourite though. Finlandia!

Trish, that's a sad story. I think everybody knows someone who knows someone ... The daughter of a friend of a friend (tenuous but typical link...) had a meeting every Tuesday morning in the WTC. This Tuesday she couldn't make it so she sent someone else in her place and of course she never heard from them again. There must be hundreds if not thousands of stories like that. I like hearing the happy ones.

Going to treat myself to a (bought not made) coffee this afternoon. So excited!

Lxxx

ps:- India! we were posting at the same time. Welcome! I'm getting married next June so I guess we're in the same boat. Come and post often

Hi INdia - is that your real name? Are you from the UK then? Kirsty and Lolly are as well.

I think you will be successful, and congrats on your engagment and upcoming wedding.

Belle

Hi Everyone. I can't believe it's already Friday. With everything that has happened this week I've barely gotten anything done and now have to rush around trying to get it all finished before the weekend. Tonight at 7pm EST or Pacific (varies depending on which radio station you listen to or person you talk to) there's a candle lighting here in the US. Everyone is to step outside where they are to light a candle. Sounds like a really nice idea.

Kirsty... I bought a measuring tape yesterday and then forgot to measure! I'll have to get to that today.

Hope the rest of you are faring well under all this.

Hi Shalyne!

It's quiet here today. I guess everyone is trying to catch up on work. I've nearly finished the translation I've been working on - one more section to go, out of seven. Went to Starbucks and got a yummy decaff coffee and a granola bar. Very healthy (ok, it's got cereal and dried fruit in, and I KNOW about the sugar and the fat ). YUM! Parents and Grandad are coming to lunch tomorrow so I'm thinking about what to make them. NOw I've unpacked my food processor I'm thinking about soup to start, although I think Blokey might put in a word for pate ... hmm ...

laters,
Lxxx

Hey all. We have really crappy local news, cuz I haven't heard of some of things that are going on nation wide. Like the candle lighting. This morning hubby said he did hear that churches nationwide are having a noon prayer, but I haven't heard whether mine is. Most of this stuff I have found on the internet. Wouldn't you think a city/suburbs of over 60,000 could let us know these things. I think we are actually closer to 75,000 people. Hmmmm.

Swim class went wonderfully. Emma didn't even cry. We couldn't get photos tho because the camera kept steaming up. They heat the baby pool. Oh well, there's always next week.

I am off to the gym soon... so will chat more later!

I haven't checked the last few days threads, so I didn't know if anyone had seen this. It's about that passage posted the other day. Last night, the fire chief read it at a vigil here in Roanoke.


TORONTO (Reuters) - Words of praise for the United States
spoken nearly 30 years ago by a Canadian broadcaster flew
around the Internet on Thursday, fooling but providing comfort
for the many who thought it was penned in response to Tuesday's
attacks by hijacked airliners.

An electronic version of "The Americans," which was
originally broadcast by the late Canadian journalist Gordon
Sinclair, was e-mailed under the guise of a recent editorial --
despite the fact Sinclair died in 1984 and wrote the script in
1973, toward the end of the Vietnam War.

"Widespread but only partial news coverage was given
recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast... by Gordon
Sinclair," the e-mail said in its introduction to the script.

In the script, Sinclair praised the United States, calling
it "the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people
on all the earth."

Many Americans applauded Sinclair on Web sites that carried
his message.

"My thanks to Gordon Sinclair for his powerful and thought
provoking words. For me, and I hope for you, his words brings
back a little of the pride we used to have in being an
American," one wrote on a U.S. Web site.

"What a refreshing article. Thank you... Gordon Sinclair,"
another e-mail respondent said.

Sinclair said: "I can name you 5,000 times when the
Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you
name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans
in trouble? ... They will come out of this thing with their
flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their
nose at the lands that are gloating over their present
troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Canadian broadcast journalist Betty Kennedy, who was a
friend of Sinclair's, told Reuters he wrote the radio speech in
response to reports that the American Red Cross was on the
verge of bankruptcy.

"He was so incensed by this," Kennedy said. He wrote the
speech in five minutes and immediately read it over the radio.

"The response from it was absolutely unbelievable," she
recalled. "The thing absolutely snowballed."

Kennedy said she believed the transcript resurfaced, which
won wide play in the United States at the time, because it
spoke well of the American people.

"It was so warm-hearted... At a time of terrible
trouble...they (Americans) probably need to remember that."

Hi ladies - just stopping by while the Internet Police is at coffee. Very odd feeling around the University today - we've had lots of professors and staff calling in sick or sad. It's very quiet here today. Well, that's about all I have time for today - BF and I are going blackberry picking tonight - I think I'll pick up some sweetener and eat them with frozen yogert - YUM! It's very hot here today (29C). Have a great day all, we'll see you on my lunch
KT

Horsey Girl... Oooh blackberries... I love em! Well actually I love most berries. I'm sure you'll have a blast and you'll get a great dessert out of it too!

I'm actually off to coffee with one of my friends and her bf. We're going to B&N so it'll give me a chance to see what all the magazines and newspapers are saying.

Hope you all have a nice night.

I feel like it should be 4 pm not 2:15!!!
I'm so ready to get the weekend started!
Bailey-dog is getting a bath tomorrow, whether she likes it or not!
She is still really biting and nipping often! Whenever I say No! and point my finger, she bites my finger. SO, I have to get used to saying no without pointing! Duh!
I haven't been to WI in several weeks and I'm really not looking forward to going. I've been eating HORRIBLY and maybe, just maybe I can redeem myself this weekend. We'll see.....
Well, ladies, I have a loan file that has to get in the office mail by 4pm. So, adios!
Have a prayerful weekend!