Good Saturday morning all. I have a busy day ahead. Grocery shopping on a Saturday! I hate it but with Elise all week I didn’t want to try a major shopping with her along. Then loading Charly4 for our last trip with him Sunday through Tuesday, headed for Skyline Drive. Trunk or Treat at church this afternoon, so I need to be there by noon to set up my pirate ship trunk.

I’m trying the fruit and veg at all three meals again today. Pineapple chunks with my mushroom and spinach omelet for breakfast. Probably leftover black bean enchilada for lunch with an Apple. And grapes for an appetizer ahead of pot roast and salad for dinner. Pot roast was supposed to be yesterday, but Elise distracted me and I never got the slow cooker going. (Which I didn’t realize until she left at 4!).

I haven’t heard how her evening went. She was fussy yesterday so was pretty needy.

Back later for personals. I have to get myself going!

Hello all. Sitting down for the first time since much earlier today! Trunk or treat went well - we had about 65 kids, which for us is a lot. Here are a couple of photos: My pirate ship, me and my parrot, and my darling Elise as a bumble bee (she didn't want to wear her wings.)

Happy birthday, Beet! Hope you are surrounded with family and love all day.

Diane, the pirate ship was really cute. I normally don’t like bees, but the rare and precious Wingless Elise Bee is a worthy exception. What a cutie - how’s she feeling?

Eating was quite good yesterday. Yay!

Good morning ladies, I made it through the 8 hours much better than I thought. I was training a new employee, a delightful and industrious 18 year old who wants to be a mortician. She was a quick study and engaging with the customers. Pretty mature compared to most of the girls I have met at that age lately. At least when I work 8 hours I get 2 15 minute breaks and and 30 minute lunch, that really helps the feet. I work 5 hours today then will have 2 days off. I started the curtains for the baby's room and plan to finish them tonight or tomorrow.
Ribs in the crockpot yesterday were just ok.

Diane, Elise is the cutest bee ever. How is she feeling? Love the pirate ship and you are quite the gorgeous pirate.

Bert, Happy Birthday and hope it is spectacular.

Janet, hope you are enjoying "your" weather, lol.

Time to go to work and have some fun
Patti

Awwww Monday, so glad I don't work them anymore, lol. Yesterday was super busy, let the holiday retail madness start. People waiting until the night before their halloween parties to get material to make a costume is just the tip of the iceberg for what is to come. Combine that with super low sale prices on fleece makes for a very tiring 6 hour shift. For the most part people played nice, it helps that I kept up a chatter to get them laughing and engaging with each other while waiting. Sometimes I give them a topic to discuss, not really but sounds like a good idea that I might use in the future, lol. Have done better the past few days and then Edd brought us pizza for dinner. Too tired to fight it. Today I will get groceries, do a bit of housework, hope to do some sewing and then TRX.

Bert, perfect birthday when you get to connect with your kids and grandkids. Safe travels.

Waving hi to the rest of the crew. Prayers for those that need it.

Patti

Good morning ladies,

Quiet here past couple of days.

Not much going on here. Well the house is coming along, I'll share more pics as soon as we finish bathroom and dining room. Dining room only needs boarder around the sliding glass doors and the fan/light hung. Bathroom shower is almost done. We need to get in there to mud and sand so I can paint, then he'll install the toilet. And we'll only have 2 rooms left and carpet to lay. Geesh seems like it's taking forever but it's not like we work on it every day so there's that. Today I want to go down and try to move more stuff out of livingroom so I can mud whatever needs done on the walls, pull carpet padding tacks, sweep and get it ready for Luis to work on the stuff I can't do lol. I'm more the prepper, painter and cleaner of this remodel while he is the construction worker. Teamwork baby teamwork 🤣🤣

Well I hope everyone is doing well. Talk with everyone soon.
Paula

quick stop. I think I have shared this before but worth repeating. The very best remedy for those nagging coughs is to mix equal parts honey and lemon juice or vinegar and take a spoonful as needed. Lovely time with Mom yesterday. I then decorated a tshirt with all the things my TRX instructor says every class to wear tomorrow. He will get a big kick out of it.
Diane, what a relief to hear Elise is recovered and it a viral thing. I love, love, love Skyline Drive, all of Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge. If I could live somewhere else any of those would work.

Paula, glad you are better and that work seems to be sailing along on the house. are the littles going to trick or treat? costumes?

need to get moving, lunch with the girls and work awaits.

Patti

I hope everyone is ok with me starting and omg ladies private group on fb. I just thought we can share pictures, videos and what not on there. It's not meant to take place of MFP in any way. I just thought this way it'll save everyone's photos and videos to the group photos and video folders. I'm making all that join an admin so everyone can change profile pics and such. We can even save recipes that are shared in the group. No one can see the posts except the members. Cindy, Diane, Bert, Susie and Janet have joined so I hope Patti and Karla do too.

Please let me know if you don't like the idea of a private FB group. We can't upload videos here and there have been many time I can't get pics to upload either.

Paula

Good morning everyone,

Paula, I love the idea and will go to FB next to join. You will have to be our lead on the technical stuff I think, lol.

Bert, you certainly have had a busy travel quarter with your students. I am growing my hair out too and am almost past the "I can't do a thing with it" phase. However, it appears I have more curl than I used to have and now have to do a bit more styling than I am used to doing. I did get a straightening brush and can't imagine life without it, lol. It really works so much easier than a flat iron.

I spent a good deal of my day yesterdsay in my craft room cleaning and organizing. Removed another piece of furniture that will be going to the cabin today with Edd. I also threw away 2 huge stacks of magazines and have a shopping bag full of DVDs (mostly complete tv series) to take to Half Price Books for some store credit. I have the entire day to do as I wish today. No work, no outside commitments and pretty soon no Edd or Frankie, lol. The part for the boat finally arrived so he will be going to put it in and winterize the boat and the cabin. Also going to bring home the rest of the seats that need recovered this winter. I am going to finish up the curtains for my granddaughter so we can hang them next week. I have some other small sewing projects I want to try out for Christmas gifts. Then I have to work Saturday and Sunday. At least they changed the start of the current sale to Friday so I got out of doing sale signs for once, yippee say my feet!

Waving hi to everyone and wishing you joy, peace and love.
Patti

Good Morning, Ladies. It's another sunny day here today. I'm going to finish cleaning up the house, and get outside to do some yardwork. I need to address a few flower beds in preparation for winter.

Have a great day.

Bert

I’m off at Maryland Scout Orienteering day today. I taught this morning, then did the super advanced route solo. My Fitbit says 8.6 miles and 92 flights so far. But snack was cookies! I think I burned them off.

Talk more later. It is almost time for awards. We’ll see how the girls I instructed this morning did !

Blessings to all the bright sunny Sunday. I survived another grueling 8 hours at Joanns, last one I have to do. The manager made a point of letting me know the new schedule was out and there were no 8 hour shifts on it. He is such a sweet guy. I am so pleased with all the new hires so far. He does a much better job than the last store. All seem willing and eager not only to work but to learn. He also chose ones that seem to be able to converse with the customers easily. I work 6 hours today and want to look over some of the clearance fabric if I get a chance because there is another 30% off the already super low clearance price. I was too tired to play in my newly tidied craft room but will find time soon as I have some projects I want to get done for Christmas.

Diane, you definitely burned off those cookies! I love that you found a volunteer job that is just made for you. I was going to try to make the car seat blankets and don't you know the first piece I cut was too small and, of course, I didn't have any more of the fabric and nothing to use instead. Luckily Joanns is always supplied and happy to sell me more. The new super flannel is on sale for $2.99 a yard so I am stocking up with some cute baby patterns and some others just because they are pretty. I am going to try to make some pjs for my DIL out of the sweetest penquin fabric I have ever seen, and she is a huge penquin fan.

Bert, I am in the same spot, eating well during the day and dinner on is a bust. I know if I would just plan I would do better but I am a very poor dinner planner. I think because my hours are so different day to day and I never know what time Edd will be getting home it throws me off. I did much better when our schedules were more predictable. Just need to figure something out because I am not happy with my current situation. Would love to find a site that you can plug in all the foods you love that are WW friendly and it spits out a menu.
Enjoy your firepit. I love fall fires.

Paula, thanks again for starting up the FB closed group. It is so much easier to post pictures and other such important stuff there. I love the new bathroom. Luis did an amazing job on the tile, so luscious looking. Baby Luis is certainly a joy and has the others at his beck and call doesn't he? I still can't get over how big Adi is.

Janet, always thinking of you and Theo. I hope you are enjoying this nice cool weather. James must like the golfing even better now that it is not so hot.

Cindy, in my prayers every day and hope you find time to pop in and let us know you are doing ok.

Karla, I know this was a very emotional weekend but I bet Kerry's Celebration of Life was beautiful and full of love from family and friends. My heart goes out to you.

Need to fix an omelette and think about getting ready for work soon but still have some research to do for some Christmas gifts. Until later my friends
Patti

Good morning all. Hanging around the house today except for a couple of errands this morning. I’m on the phone right now waiting for the gastro to clarify the prep instructions for my colonoscopy. According to the instructions they gave I would have to get up at 4 am for the second half of the prep! And then probably be awake for the next several hours.

Patti, I need some more of the super flannel for more blankets. I’ll have to check them out, maybe Wednesday. Hope the sale lasts that long.

Bert and Patti, I guess one thing I have going for me is I am definitely a planner. I guess it is a hangover from the days when I was working 50+ hour weeks. I plan 5-7 dinners for the week before I do the weekly shopping. And I still hate shopping more than once a week, so I really do spend some planning time.

Good morning! Finally having coffee (once a month I have to wait an hour after taking Boniva, and it's not pretty).

It's gorgeous here today and yes, MY weather. James is not a fan of the cold - he has to golf in - gasp - long pants! Guys and shorts - weird to me, but ...

The chat about scheduling meals hit home here too. James's digestive issues make it hard to plan here. I have butternut squash to make soup and will probably make a big pot of chili this week too, so there'll be healthy stuff in the freezer for catch-your-own-meal nights, which happen a couple of times a week. Trying to make smart choices here too - we struggle together, which helps in an odd way.

Had the guts of both toilets replaced yesterday - they are builder-grade and the hard water and 8 1/2 years of use wore the original parts out. The plumbing company I use sent the nicest guy and he did both on a special 2-for-1 price I didn't know about, which was a blessing (especially because I just got me real estate tax bill on Saturday).

Karla, saw your family photos from Kerry's gathering - looks like you created a worthy celebration of his life.

OK, must get on with my day - post office, store returns, and I need a new toaster. The current one's old and no longer toasts evenly but it cost <$10, so no complaints. Party!

Well, THAT ordeal is over with. Clean bill of health, so I don't need to go again for 5 years. We went out to breakfast afterwards, and I was relatively behaved. I had a western omelet, an english muffin with homemade jam, and a few potatoes. Yesterday I only had 20 calories (cup of broth) all day, so I was starved. Going to try to not eat again until dinner, which is already planned. Maybe an apple later.

I've been really lax about tracking, so I think tomorrow I will get right back to it.

Paula, hope you are feeling better today. How did the inspection go?

Bert, the schools must be trying to cram everything in before the holiday season starts! Is this your last week of heavy travel for a while?

Janet, my big purchase today was almost as exciting as a toaster (and we need a new one of those too.) I bought el-cheapo blaze orange vests and hats. The surveyors are finally done and we want to walk the boundaries at the land this week, but it is hunting season and I know of at least five stands surrounding us.

Patti I need to get some fleece for blankets for the new baby - due in January, so cold yes! And the fleece one I made for Elise is definitely girly. I may try stitching and turning the outside edge too - I don't mind working with binding on the flannel, but on the fleece it is hard! I also need to work on a replacement mobile, and his quilt. My mom made a quilt for each of her grandchildren, and for the first two great grands. I finished a top she had started for the third great grand, so I guess I am taking up the role. I've never done much quilting, so it is learn as I go.

Scheduling meals: Especially in winter, I love doing soups and stews in the crock pot. I try to do two a week. Usually they are very low in points/calories. Here is one Carrie found and made last week - very hearty and tasty! I just couldn't eat the leftovers because quinoa doesn't fit on the low fiber diet I had to follow. 3 FP per serving, no nutrition info posted but it can't be many calories either.

https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/crockpot-chicken-veggie-quinoa-soup-video/

Diane