What are you up to today? This week?

[havanaholly]

Oh Holly..that sounds soooo gooooood!...

It was right yummy!

...A cactus flower is such an unexpected gift of nature. :lol:

We spent the week after Labor Day at Henderson Beach State Park at Destin, FL, and the dunes were covered with prickly pear and every last one of them was covered in blooms!

[Syphon79]

Yay! Finally have time to post on the forum -- the last couple of weeks have been stressful at work. BF was wondering why my hands were shaking all that time -- I told him they're having withdrawal symptoms from my mini projects!

Since this is the first normal weekend I've had since the craziness at work, agreed to go look at some houses with BF while the weather's fantastic here in Washington DC. Other than that, will be hunkering down in my dining room working on the Rye, the RGT Tudor, and the Loganberry Mill (which is being bashed as we speak).

Gosh, it's so nice to be back in the groove -- and I miss reading everyone's posts! :lol:

[havanaholly]

We missed you, too, Daphne! I'm glad you're having lovely weather, that means my son in Burke & his wife are also probably finally having pretty weather, too!

[Syphon79]

Haven't stepped outside yet Holly -- but the weather reports said that the DC Metro area's will have temperatures in the low to mid 50s. Definitely a sign that spring's coming -- and the anticipation of when the cherry blossoms will bloom!

Gosh, so many entries to read -- and as always, everyone's photos in the member's gallery are fan-freaking tastic! So much eye candy!!!

(needs to check if her lotto tickets have the winning numbers) :lol:

[heidiiiii]

I am told that it is warm out there today but it feels cold to me and I am wearing sweats! Fred bought me some Dayquil so hopefully I will be feeling better soon.

[Anna]

Hope so too Heidi! Over here it has been a gorgeous day, blue sky and sunshine and fairly warm in the unwindy areas and a south facing wall kind of warm LOL but as the sun has settled it is starting to drop below freezing temps once again >sigh<

Hugs

[havanaholly]

Here the sun has begun to warm the yard up after noon, but supposed to chill down again tonight. The forecast is for warmer weather, 70s by the first of the week (with thunderstorms with lightning and RAIN for Tuesday).

[Jo Med]

Had a PC problem this week, monitor kaput. I'm pretty sure it was the cable but it was an integral cable so couldn't be replaced. The PC was 8 years old and has served me well so I ventured down to PC World and got a new one. Will take me some time to get used to this, it has Windows 7 installed which is a hop step and jump away from what I was using. Spent today transferring my internet favourites and organising them, need to transfer pics next.

Granddaughter staying this weekend - its taken my son over a year to get proper access to his daughter after he split from her Mum so its hard going at the moment - no time for minis this weekend.

[havanaholly]

I went wild for supper. I made curried rice with cashews and tried some prepackaged palak paneer (spinach & cubed cottage cheese in a mild curry sauce; I'm definitely going to try for making my own low/ no fat version from "scratch" next time). I've been reading Mrs Manders' Cookbook (edited by Rumer Goden) and decided to make up my own recipe, so I took out a piece of wild salmon filet from the freezer, trimmed off the skin and cut it into 1" cubes. I heated a teaspoon each of olive oil and crushed garlic in the skillet and mixed them together until the garlic started to go golden, added another teaspoon of oil and tossed in the fish and the rest of a bag of 40-count shrimp and cooked them together until they were done, mixed some chives with fat-free sour cream and tossed the shrimp & fish with it, and then layered everything on plates. OMG! It was rather good...

[Anna]

Doing happy dance as I "found" my adress book that had sort of vanished in the ongoing cleaning mess... hehehe, now I have some things to find umm, OK, stress word "find" amongst all the other stuff...

Sheesh and :lol:

Hugs

[havanaholly]

Last of the packing out after breakfast and I'll see y'all next weekend.

[heidiiiii]

I am still under the weather. It is my stomach that is giving me troubles. Ugh!

Cooking a nice Sunday breakfast for everyone. Cantelope, strawberries, bagels, blueberry muffins, low sodium bacon, and scrambled eggs with orange juice. I will have some fruit and see how I hold that down.

[Starfire]

The wood strips for the flooring arrived yesterday and as soon as I finish sanding the joint compound and cleaning off the over spill that I used as stucco I plan to start staining and cutting to length for the floor of the new 1/4 scale English Cottage I started last week.

[Anna]

Can't wait to see it come together Beverly!!! Hoping that you start feeling alot better real soon Heidi, no fun at all being under the weather especially as I gather you are getting some spring over there...

Hugs

[heidiiiii]

Anna,

Yes! Everyone in the neighborhood is outside this morning. Cleaning up their yards, working on their cars, chit chatting...and I sit here in my sweats feeling cold like it is winter.

It has got to be close to 60 deg F out! Darnit!

I will be okay. My swimmy underwater head feeling is going away..my ears feel better..now I have to wait for the gastro stuff to go.

[Muriel]

Had a busy weekend away in London. Worked yesterday morning before we drove to london. Got the train to see Alice in Wonderland at the IMAX in 3D. Was my first 3D experience and must say I would have enjoyed the film a whole load more if it had been in 2D! Bits were impressive, but a lof of it also just made me feel sick. So was trying to enjoy the film with an upset stomach We then went to a Brazillian restaurant for dinner which was lovely. We try and meet up with our college (ie years 12 and 13 of school rather than university college) friends every 2 months or so. Three of them live in London so we go there sometimes, and we have the biggest flat where everyone can stay the night, so we have them all over other times. We met up for brunch this morning and then drove home dropping one friend off along the way and stopping by Hobbycraft. Oh, forgot to get superglue! boo.

Got a doctors appointment tuesday, so switched my day off from monday to tuesday. Feels very strange not having tomorrow off as usual! Can't start my miniing knowing i can continue it tomorrow morning So think I'll just chill out tonight and search for some mauve wallpaper with silver swirles on it (such a specialised wallpaper request from my Bullwinkle client - it is what she has in her room.) Will also have to figure out what to attach my brick wallpaper with for the outside of the house. Hmmm, not sure!

[Gill Howe]

I have just been working on the staircase of my Beacon Hill, it went much better than I expected.

[havanaholly]

We got home late this AM from our five days near the Coast at Ochlockonee River State Park. Our "neighbor" camper, an over-the-road truck driver from Canada, kindly helped DH maneuver our RV into a space that wasn't wide enough to park our truck, even without the two trees barely wide enough apart to fit the camper through (if the site directly across from us hadn't emptied out just before we were ready to hitch up we'd still be there!). There were lots of trails to hike. We got there a couple of days after the rain last week, and each day we found new trails that had emerged from under water.

It threatened rain all day Weds, so we hiked until lunchtime and then went over to Panacea to check our the Gulf Marine Specimens Laboratory, an aquarium with some really outstanding sea creatures, including a couple of sea turtles and one tankful of sting rays. We were there at feeding time, and one of the smaller rays came swimming straight towards us and came straight up the side of the tank to see if we were the people who were supposed to feed it. We went down ot Alligator Point, the first time in 20 years we'd been there (we almost bought a house there before we bought the one we live in), and the road had been rebuilt. Then we stopped at a new state park on the way back and the volunteer there told us about a paddle we could do on the rising tide.

Yesterday it started raining around 0600 and dumped 4" by the time it slacked off enough we could walk over to the overflow parking area at the Hosts' site without drowning. We went over to Carrabelle, on the Coast, to the Crooked River Lighthouse. They do tours on Saturdays, but they're restoring the lightkeeper's house and it was fascinating. I wish they'd had a Fresnel lens like the one in the museum at Cedar Key. Then we went over to the WWII Museum that recently relocated to the old high school. Eventually, if they get enough money, they'll relocate to their own building. From our campground to Carrabelle was originally an Army training camp for amphibious landings & warfare. We ate seafood for dinner both in Panacea & in Carabelle; the sweetest oysters in the world! come from Florida's Gulf Coast.

[bookmarm]

my mama turned 92 today, so we took supper over to her (ham, potato casserole, cold oven pound cake, etc.). Not an easy party, and she had a stomach ache when we arrived. Went to buy pepto in a downpour. Wish my brothers lived closer and provided USEFUL suggestions for her upkeep. Bro#1 replaced our 'useless' phone gift with one that requires her to punch more buttons than necessary just to answer. She is confused and can't operate the thing! My normally calm cool hubby was swearing a blue streak after she'd asked us to check to find out what was wrong with it. The last thing she needed to communicate with the outside world (she still lives alone) was a phone that would probably confuse even a savvy teen, but brothers don't care to hear the 'baby' of the family's opinion. Yes, we will probably try to buy a replacement for the simpler one we'd given her that bro threw out...sigh

Bursitis in my hip has gone beyond 'nagging' to 'miserable' this week, so I buried my fear of the needle to the bone and got to the doctor today for the injection. Very much better for several hours after, but some sore now. I think just from the actual injection. I haven't been able to sleep on either side for a week and I AM a side sleeper. Radiating pain down to my calf.

Happy thing:warmer weather and Spring has arrived here before the calendar says so! Cherry trees/tulip magnolia/forsythia in the yard are ready to burst! We bought two mostly thornless raspberry bushes and they are greened out before we can get them in pots.

Mini club meets at our house Sunday, and we will finally be working in the new basement family room/studio. Lot's a cleaning still to be done down there

[KathieB]

Off to a local home show this afternoon with friend NJ. She asked for company while she sells tickets for her quilt guild's raffle quilt. I think I'll take some mini quilt shop items along to work on. Might attract some potential raffle ticket buyers to the table.

[Syphon79]

Own a studio apartment that I've put on the market since November, and after winnowing through bids and dealing with negotiations, am happy to report that I've accepted an offer that was deemed fair. Closing is set at the end of the month, so I need to drive up to North Bethesda, MD to check on the unit. BF suggested just getting a cleaning service to come and clean the unit. But I want to come in and check things myself as well as making sure the cleaning meets my standards. :lol:

Gosh, it was such a roller coaster. My agent threw a couple of open houses to show the unit, and she reported to me customers who used the bathroom and made a mess (bless her heart when she promptly went in to clean it up afterward). Best one was a woman with a young kid came to see the unit via appointment. The kid threw a tantrum throughout the tour, so the mother put him on time out in the kitchen. For convenience, I left bottled waters and juices in the fridge that visitors are welcome to partake during the house tours (I'm paying the condo fee each month -- so all the appliances are operational). Not sure what the kid was thinking but he took what drinks he could reach (like the bottled waters), open them and pour the contents on the floor. My agent, not missing a beat, simply said "As you can see from this demo, the new slate tile floor the owner installed is very durable for spills and what not." Felt bad for the woman, because I arrived from work to check on the unit, and after my agent introduced me as the owner, she watched as I proceeded to clean up the mess.

Very relieved overall (no more condo fees!) but sad too since having that studio was how I met BF (he was helping an acquaintance move out roughly the same time I was moving in). But the soon to be new owner's loves the studio so hopefully she'll enjoy living in it as much as I.

So besides cleaning the unit, have to go to IKEA and shop for some bedlinens, then stop by my parents to check on them and the rugrats (my niece and nephew). Still feeling nauseated (not sure if it's a bug that's going around), but next weekend's going to be crazy so I got no choice but to get this done now.

[Anna]

Feeling a bit low on energy and have a rough cough but otherwise OK so hopefully that will just be it...

Have been outside for a while, preparing a substitute walkway to the door as the snow is starting the melt it is amking the path a muddy mess so now I have "dressed" a new path with small pebbles/stones and fully enjoyed the sun that has been trying hard to peak through the clouds now and again... Soon off to MIL to see what kind of mini-mischief we might be able to get into LOL

Hugs

[heidiiiii]

It is a miserable, cold and rainy day today. Fred and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things I forgot at grocery store. I was able to get both dogs these new fangled harnesses for toy dogs. I will take a pic of them when I put them in it. They are so easy to put on the dogs (and off) that they will not have to live in their harnesses all the time. Yay! They do not want any part of going out today so I put newspapers down and hoping for the best. LOL

I bought supplies for baked mac and cheese, grands biscuits, and I have some boneless chicken breast that I am going to make cordon bleu with. I finished up on the Member of the month (still have to do the Collector`s cabinet) and tonite we are going to play Just Dance.

I bought this Wii video dance game yesterday. We LOVE it. It is like exercise AND FUN! My friend has it at her house so last night for Ladies Night..we all danced. Worked off that chili! LOL Natalie and I plan on doing the gym every other day, the Just dance every day, and we will be walking the track for an hour every day.

My friend Tammy and I (and Natalie) are going to start walking the high school track in the afternoons every day. 2 times around is a mile. I want to see if I can get her to do 4 times around. She still smokes and is a wheezer so I will take it ez on her in the beginning. She is a diehard smoker and will never quit (anytime soon).

My doctor was glad that I quit. He did not know until I had my regular check up. He had heard a saying that is scary and true...

(good for woman or man). Fat woman smoking is like a dead woman walking.

So I am going to clean, cook, and ignore the bad weather.

[champagne]

Well, went and got my haircut, then stopped at MIL's to pick up all her tax stuff so Bill can drop them off on Monday along with his. Came home fixed a light breakfast then moved all the furniture in the living room and swept all the crumbs and cat hair out from under them. Mopped all the wood floors and changed the bed linen, cleaned the kitchen. Now I am in the process of cooking Sparky's chicken and rice for the week. Also, have to sit down and write Katie a letter. We heard from her Thursday night and my heart broke to hear her crying so hard that I could barely understand her. I was ready to fly to San Antonio to kidnap her out of the air force base but Bill wouldn't let me (LOL). I know she will be fine in a few weeks but as many of you that have been there know when your grown child is crying is tears your heart up. So went yesterday to the dollar store and purchased bunches of cards so that we can send her one each day to give her the encouragement and let her know how proud we are.

April 30 can't come fast enough. Already made the hotel reservations so that we can stay on the base at Lackland but haven't made the airline reservations yet. The house sure is quiet without Katie around.

[Sherry]

It's absolutely beautiful here today. We went out for breakfast and then to all the home improvement stores. I've been setting out elephant ear and caladium bulbs under the tree, swept and washed the porch. DH is building a huge plant stand for the back yard that he seems to think I'm going to help him move...fat chance!