BC, no PM in my box. Did you use KCTinter?

__________________
Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

Teel and Ilse.......... read the "Cathy" comic that is in today's newspapers. She says it all. You are preparing your houses for DATING!

Peg, sorry the travel bug got you..... no fun at all.

__________________
Judy
highest = 180, goal = 140
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Alida, I think my boxes were full, so my PM bounced and I didn't see the message. I'll recapture that thought tonight. Sorry!

__________________
BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Back home and much better. Ate way too much. Full dinners at each meal, including desserts. Any day now I need to buckle down.

Well, it's almost 4:00 pm and I need to do ALOT of writing. In addition to a sermon, I am writing a personal blessing for each of the confirmands. That takes some thought after the ways that I have known these kids for the past 10 weeks!

Thanks for your kind words, Brenda. I'm always a little shy of sharing my religion here on this forum because of the restraints, with which I agree by the way, laid down by Andrea. I guess you guys will let me know when I go from preaching to meddlin'.

Was so proud of DH this afternoon. The State of Massachusetts gave him a wonderful tribute for his work the past two years as Interim Exec. He is really a distinguished and comforting pastoral kind of guy. You know that he is also a pain in the ***. But, I don't share that with anyone else. Those Baptists did pretty well on their vote. They decided that on matters of sexuality, the decision about disciplinary action of any kind is better left up to the local church. There had been a move to get the State to take a stand. They didn't. But, that is good rock solid Baptist principle. (American Baptist)

Well, off to writing for my humble church which will be packed tomorrow!

Peace, Peg

__________________
"Live the questions and some day you will live along into the answers."
Rainer Marie Rilke

Atkins since 2003
5'8" 206.4/197/175
64-3/4 years young

Peg, glad you are back and better. It's nice to hear that your DH got such a nice tribute. I looked his picture up on his denominations web page -- nice looking guy!

TB and Ilse -- how did preparing the houses for dating go today. With the fancy closet boxes, Teel, sounds like you have your date ready for the prom.

Alida, We got our information on next year's insurance at the faculty meeting Thursday. The cost for DH and I is $528 per month for the mid level choice. The state of Texas has a great policy for employees, but does not consider teachers as state employees. We did not even have a state wide policy until three years ago. They do pay $225 per month toward my insurance costs. We used to get more, but they didn't bother to fund the cost, so they had to cut our stipend. Uhh, are you getting the feeling that Texas teachers aren't overly happy with the legislature. We haven't had a raise in 6 years and looks like we will be lucky to get $1000 p/yr this year. Cheap cheap cheap........... They are constantly on us to produce, but we are one of the lowest paying states in the country. New teachers are not staying and before long people like me --- those who have too much in the retirement system to be able to get out--- will retire. I'm glad my kids are grown.

Donna, I hope your legs are getting better and that you had a chance to enjoy games and gardening this weekend. You said, you are surprised that our health care costs are so high.......... you are right, they are high, but we essentially have "care on demand". There is no waiting for most procedures -- well except organ transplants.

Ok guys........ This is the end of April. I'll open May for us tomorrow morning.

__________________
Judy
highest = 180, goal = 140
Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters. No more fooling myself!

Judy, the state does sound pretty miserly with the education system. Governer AS (not sure what his middle name is, though I'm tempted to make a guess) seems to be making California teachers pretty crazy, too. He "borrowed" a couple of billion from the education budget and refuses to pay it back. Educators are fighting to get the funds returned. I know from my acquaintences who are educators that resources have been terribly stinted for years anyway.

But, isn't there some loophole in the Texas system that allows you to qualify for two pensions if you switch and work for a day doing something else - like clean windows? I ready something about that for some state and I thought it was Texas, but maybe it was someplace else.

Another realtor came out and looked at the house today. She said it is in great shape except for the side fence Though all of my other fences are sturdy and in great shape, the one that's on the sidewalk is propped up by hope and a few scrap boards. About 25% or more of the corner houses in this neighborhood have tall fences on the sidewalk. But the code requires a fence over 3 ft tall to be set back 12 ft. I've heard that the inspectors never cite illegal fences unless there is a complaint, but I've never wanted to take a chance on that.

Years ago, I tried to get a variance so I could rebuild the fence, but the planning department wouldn't even talk about it. So, as I couldn't legally build a new fence, I wasn't about to take down the old one. It gives a little bit of privacy to my side yard, which is otherwise completely exposed.

There's some uncertainty about whether I should remove that fence before showing the house. Two realtors think it should go and two think it's better to leave it as is. The condition of the fence is already included in the disclosures. Frankly, I don't want to spend the $1000 to 2000 it would cost to get a nice fence installed; and I don't want just to remove it, which would eliminate the privacy screen it provides (and kill the spring flower show). But, I don't want it to be viewed as deterrent to getting a better price, either. No good solution to that one, I'm afraid.

I think I'm supposed to have the cats offsite during the realtor's tour next Friday. I'll take them to my sister's condo. They are strictly indoor cats, so I know they will be freaked by the experience. I am worried about what to do when realtors call and want to show the house. I don't want to throw the cats in the car every couple of hours and drive them over to DS's place. So, we bought a kitty condo today. I can put the cats in the workshop while they are showing the house. I've got the kitty condo in set up in the house now so they become familiar with it. It's stocked with their favorite food and a bed and their boogie mat. I hope they adapt to it in the next few days.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.