Sudokuaholics Anonymous 10

There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.

Katharine Butler Hathaway


It's the friends you can call up at 4:00 a.m. that matter.

Marlene Dietrich

Suzy, glad you were able to deal with the feral kids. It is always fun when you can get them back, without really trying.

Rolanda, if you can send me a link to your house, I would love to see what it looks like. Good luck with the open house tomorrow.

Theresa, good luck with your quitting smoking. Remember that we are all here for you.

Don't remember much else. Hello to everyone that I missed. I read the posts but don't seem to remember them. I do think of all of you often.

Monday will be the last day I have "little monster." Today we took him to Build-a-Bear Workshop to make a special stuffed animal. He chose a dog that we named Striker. We tried to think of all the fun things we did this summer and bowling was one of them. When I suggested Striker, he liked it. We each put a heart into his dog, including hearts for his dad, my hubby and Harley. We told him that when he went home he would have a piece of all of us with him. We also told him that the doggies could send messages to each other and Striker would report to Skyler(Dylan's dog) if LM missed behaved at home.

Theresa, you can do it!! That's all you need to know, the rest will work itself out. You're ready, you're sick of the financial drain and the health impacts, going outside in the heat/cold, craving when you can't have one and feeling miserable, the smell.. You are ready and you can do it!!

June, that sounds wonderful. Very peaceful and appropriate.

Nola, how are things down your way.

Tami, Striker sounds perfect. I bet he cherishes that little dog for a long time, even when it's not cool anymore.

Suzy, Mitchell has a dog that one of my friends helped him make when he was 4 and she made one with Dylan when he was 2. Both boys still sleep with their special doggies, but Mitchell won't admit to it

Suzy, are there Build-a-Bear Workshops, or something similar, down under?

Tami, I'm not sure.

We have them here Tami, but they're pretty pricey.

We have Bear Factories, though I have a feeling there aren't as many as there used to be.
I have a Bear made in one of the Canadian Build a Bear places, my daughters brought him back for me a couple of years ago... a Mountie of course made with white fur with red maple leaves.

Dylan had his 7th birthday party at Build-a-Bear. It was not as expensive as some of the other alternatives and it was easier to keep it small. He has about 4 of the animals and wants another one. They did have a golden lab and they also have Harley-Davidson clothing for the animals. May have to make one soon

I finally got book 6, Land of the Painted Caves, yesterday and so far I am enjoying it.

TAMI, you zoomed through the books! I am glad you are enjoying them. I hated to see the end of th Earth's Children Series. how many more days till school starts?

I have never been to Build a Bear, like Theresa I thought it was kind of pricey.

I had a bunny rabbit I slept with into my late teens, I am not sure when I gave up Harvey. A boy I liked in eighth grade won him at a school carnival and gave him to me. I think girls can sleep with a stuffed animal and admit it longer than boys can.

I had a bowl of beans for my dinner. I cooked them yesterday, white dry beans cooked with the bone of a small ham I had bought, Rest of ham was sliced and frozen for future meals. The beans were yummy.

Tricia, Buidl-a-Bear is a little expensive but for an occasional treat it is fine. I will probably be done with book six by sunday. I go back to school on August 15.

Tami, I think build a bear is more of an occasional thing down here. I don't know of any permanent shops but I have seen one of those temporary kiosk thingies in the middle of the mall in the shopping centres...you know the ones, they restrict walking area and the people come out at you with flyers and offers! Hate them!

Morning Everyone.

My sleep in was interrupted this morning.. Mum rang me, I think she forgot when in Sydney she is 2 hours ahead of me.
She did ask if I was awake ~ duh am now Mum!!
She is having a wonderful time.
She is over the moon, because she saw the boy yesterday...
she didn't think she would ever see him again when he went to Melbourne.

Have stuff to do...
sorry for the swearing ~ gninaelc in readiness for tomorrow's Home Opening!
and throw the items from the bottomless basket into the sloshy machine.

Later Aligaters ♥♥♥

Gail, there are two permanent stores near me but the kiosks appear during the holidays at other locations. I also hate when they start throwing fliers at you. I love the ones that try to get me to sit in a chair while they show me how to straighten my hair. If I wanted to sit in a chair for an hour and straighten my hair, I would do it myself, NOT in the middle of the mall. I usually walk by and ignore them.

Me too, Tami, as I said to hubby this week when it happened, 'Did I make eye contact with you, no, that means I am ignoring you!'
Woman had the hide to poke something at me with a shaking motion!
I don't have cute babies, so I don't want baby photos, I already have a mobile phone I am happy with, I don't want moisturizer, I don't want my makeup done, I don't want to play paintball (as if!) and no, I do not want cute little ringlets in my hair!!!

I have enough ringlets of my own and I hate make-up. The paintball sounds fun, but only if I can aim the gun at the people that are pushing it I know, I am a troublemaker.

Good night everyone. Time to get my beauty sleep. I will be back in the morning with a fresh pot of coffee. See you all then.

I could do with some ringlets.. well maybe not that curly, but some curls would be noice!!
Do not seem to have the same probs here in Perth, yet, with the 'flyers in your face' !

Hi everyone! Nothing happening here at the moment ... Hope you're all well. :)

A skunk just sprayed not far from my open kitchen window. Boy that smell cleans out the sinuses.

Oh Theresa you made me snort! Just think you will be able to smell skunk even better when you have given up smoking, they say taste and smell improves!
Just for the record, nup, not giving up.

Good night friends, time to call it a day. I got some ffuts done today, hope to do more tomorrow. I can't seem to make a dent in what needs doing though.

Hugs to each of you, with extras to do you till my morning.

Hi, All! No time to read or comment tonight. It's nearly 11:00, and I still have ffuts to do before getting to bed. Tomorrow morning I need to be at the blood donation center to donate blood and platelets - at least 2 hours of sitting. Unfortunately, I can't sleep, as I will need to keep squeezing the little ball every few seconds to keep the blood from clotting, which would completely waste any blood collected.

I probably won't get back here tomorrow either, as we have a 3-hour drive each way to a family reunion in the afternoon. I just realized, I will be able to sleep in the car! Hooray!

Love and {{{HUGS}}} to all of you. I'll be thinking of all of you! Take care!

Broni - you made me snort and, nup, nor am I! Nor is Amelia - did you know she's a smoker too.
Just had a wasted trip up to see Mum. She slept through my visit, even while a nurse and I chatted as the nurse trimmed Mum's nails. There was no waking her. At least her colour looks better in recent days.

No trip to be with her is wasted Cyn ♥

Theresa, I have never smoked so have no first hand experience to give. Years ago a friend of ours decided to give up. He decided that he would put the money he had been spending on cigarettes into a savings account. He decided that he would like to buy a caravan so knew what his target was. He was astounded at how quickly he acheived his target. He gave up smoking and ended up with a lovely caravan in just over a year.

I quit when I realized that I was spending more money on cigarettes than on dog food for my (then) 24 collies. I figured that by quitting smoking, I was getting free dog food.

In a little while, I'll be harnessing up Challenger and taking him for a nice drive. My next epidural is in 2 days, and I won't be able to drive for several days afterwards. I REALLY need this epidural.... it's been 4 months since the last one and I have lots of pain in my back and sharp pains shooting up and down my left leg.

Theresa, I promise not to ask how you are going, not to nag you if you confess to cheating, to be empathetic and not judgmental, in other words not to make you want a smoke even more...

I've never seen a bear kiosk down here in the boonies, but I thought there might be shops in the big smoke.

Cyn, what Gail said..

MizT, I got a little bit of ffuts done today too. Not enough, and tomorrow I will have to do lesson plans...

Gail, I bought a $10 book of coupons that are useless to me to support the special olympics from people a bit like that. I always buy raffle tickets to support causes so I let them nag me. A couple of days later I walked past them again - already got one thanks - but I forgot to tell hubby, so we now have 2 $10 books of useless tickets...

All of this talk about ringlets when I have spent my whole life blowing most of the curl out of mine!!

I have straight hair so don't have to try to smooth mine out, which is a good thing as I cannot be bothered doing anything special with my hair apart from wash it and brush it.
My best friend, now my sister in law (she doesn't speak to me any more for some reason) used to have lovely long slightly wavy hair when we were young. She started having epileptic fits when she was about 25. Her hair started to fall out, not to the extent that she went bald, when it grew back in it was tight curls which she hated but all her workmates envied as they used to spend a fortune on perms to get the same look.

I'm sitting here alone, even the one dog who is at home has abandoned me for the garden, waiting for the carpet fitter to arrive. His time slot was anywhere from 12-5pm. Guess what time he will arrive. I had wanted to go down town as there is a special event on at the Pandora jewellery store today. If you spend £75 you get one of their leather bracelets free. As both my daughters have pandora bracelets I was going to get a charm each for them for that banned present giving festivity in December (see I avoided saying the word this early in the year). The bracelet I was going to keep for my youngest's 21st birthday in January. Looks like I will miss out

-Oh Brenda....that's always the way. When something special comes along that you want/need to do, waiting for someone , with an open window of time happens and then they come late and make you miss it! Well. perhaps it won't happen this time...I do hope you can get to the jewelry store...the gifts sound wonderful. I like the way you got around mentioning that gift exchange day in December too....lol.
CYN...agreeing with Suzy and Gail....never a wasted day♥
Finally feeling very little pain in my sit down...but simply twinges ....biggest problem now is overly sensitive reactions to mosquitoes ...extreme itching and swelling that require ugly looking but very soothing calamine lotion applications...so all in all...I'm doing well...hope you all can find less pain among the every day annoyances too.
Hugs and better day vibes to all of ya....Peace.

Good morning everyone. Coffee is ready, help yourself.
Brenda, sorry you won't get to take advantage of the sale. Can you call the store and order what you want? If you explain why you can't come in, they may agree to honor it for you another day.

Theresa, I also promise not to nag you about smoking. I will support you and be here for you anytime you need me.

Heidi, enjoy the ride with Challenger today. I hope you have a horrible epidural in two days.

Julie, hope you have a good day.

Cyn, I agree. Any day with your mum is not a wasted trip. You will know you were there, even if she doesn't.

Hello to anyone else I have missed. See you all later.

Morning friends. Looks to be another sunny day today, but not as hot as some areas.

Brenda, I once did all manner of things to my hair, following the fashion. Hot rollers, perms, frosting, teasing, hair spray, the works. Now, I wash, air dry, brush it back into a pony tail and catch it with a clasp. Arms will just not hold up to holding up over my head And I get that frosted look naturally now.

Did I tell you Al's brother came to visit, and he brought me a 3 gallon bucket of figs? I love figs! Not enough to make preserves, besides too hot to stand over the stove cooking them, but will be lovely to eat fresh. I had figs for desert lunch and dinner.

BRENDA, sorry you will not e able to shop for the charms today. Sounds like a nice free gift they are offering.

SUZY, what a nice promise you made to Theresa! Support without judgment, we should all follow suit. Good luck on your lesson plans.

Cyn, what Gail said!

heidi, have fun on your buggy ride today. I hope it is cooler out today. Do children come out to wave and watch as you go past? Good luck on the epidural, going for 4 months instead of 3 is a long time for you.

Julie, glad you realized you can sleep in the car on the way to reunion! Enjoy the gathering and hope you do catch a good nap.

Skunk is terrible smell! Ewwww, Theresa.

I should go and make coffee, do not see Tami here with a fresh pot this morning. Hugs to each of you with extras.