Sudokuaholics Anonymous 10

If you've forgotten to dream, to imagine or to embrace the concept of wishful thinking, then you'll never tap into your full potential. Even buying a lotto ticket is nothing to do with your chances of winning, for it's about buying into a hope. Save the money and embrace the dream instead, for if you hope for nothing that's what you'll attract.

The above post is my horror-scope for today, but I think it makes a nice TOPP.

Hi all. Just stopping in for a minute. Had a nice lunch with family and cousins. The day is going too quickly. Helping Mitchell finish typing a paper that is due tomorrow. See you all in the morning.

Julie, I am loving the cooler weather. I do have a few cool weather clothes, and Joy will help tomorrow night, we hope to get the weeds cut around the stairs to the storage building.

Heidi, once you stock up on apples, whatcha gonna do with them? I have an easy method for making apple butter

Julie, yep, the prep is the worse. After the prep, I get a nice long chemical induced nap during the tests themselves. BIL will be here 2 nights, realizing that I might be too busy Tuesday night to see to Al's needs.

OH, hope Julie finds and posts the remainder of the Irish Trip.

I just bought 5 lb. of Galas for snacking. I may get some others to make an apple pie for the weekend. No apples go to waste here. The horses love 'em, too.

Mitchell's paper is typed. I told him that next summer he is learning to type. I would complain more but my mom used to type my papers for me. At least I have a computer, not an old-fashioned type writer.

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. It makes me feel really special to be wished a happy birthday from so many people.

I don't know if I will be here in the morning. I have to report for jury duty and need to get an early start. I have to be down town by 7:45 and I usually leave my house at 7:30. Not as much time to goof off in the morning.

I hope all goes well with the jury duty, Tami.

IH has a question for my Aussie friends. He was wondering about the price of lamb there. Does anybody have a general idea of different cuts?

Lamb is a shocking price here these days, it used to be that we would buy a side of lamb for 99c/kilo, throw away money! These days, 1/4 chops(bbq chops) are about the cheapest cut of meat, about $12-15 per kilo, loin chops more expensive, around the $15-18 mark. If you want fancy cutlets, they can be well over $20. Roasting legs and shoulders are the cheapest way to buy lamb though, often on special for under $10/kilo, sometimes as low as $6. We don't ever buy diced or minced lamb, they charge like wounded bulls for that, have seen it at $29! That's why we buy the cheap legs and cut it up ourselves.
Hope that answers his question, of course that's AU$, and a kilo is about 2 pounds.

Thanks, Gail.

Morning..

All meat is expensive..

Morning Rolanda. I have just popped in to have a quick bite to eat, I am desperate to get back out in the front garden. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the weeds are growing. Have been out there all morning. Glorious ♥

Birds are signing here too, but no sunshine..

Gekko my friends.
Sun has been shining or as Rola says signing (must be deaf) hehe!

Hi, Friends! Just getting back after a number of hours of ffuts, out for a bite to eat with neighbors, more ffuts, and now computer time.

Oops! Theresa, thanks for letting me know that I lost part of the Ireland discussion of my post. I'm pretty sure I saved before submitting. I guess I just forgot to go back and check that it was all there. I tried to do a paste just now, but, of course, it's no longer there. I'm pretty sure I was commenting about our surprise at how much we remembered.

I remember we stopped in a town that was a disembarkation point of the convict/slave ships with a museum about that. It was shocking to read that some of the ships' captains treated those on board as badly as the Africans sent to be sold as slaves in "the New World." Also, sometimes the "crime" was petty theft, like stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. At another location we learned about the famine and how landowners would buy passage for all of the people working on their property so that they wouldn't have to feed them. Only ONE ship ever made it to the U.S. without a death, and it was because of the humane treatment by the captain and sailors, who shared their food. There is a replica of the ship alongside the famine monument - several bronze statues of emaciated people walking toward a ship, I suppose. (There's an exact replica of the famine monument in Canada.)

Theresa, thank you for your TOPP (and horoscope)!

Tami, thank you for helping Mitchell by doing the typing! Having him take typing/keyboarding next summer is a really good idea! We were lucky. Our D's high school REQUIRED a semester of keyboarding, which they took during their freshman year. That helped a lot when it came to papers! They both played a string instrument and took piano lessons for about 3 years, so the keyboarding came pretty easily to them. Second D had her arm in a cast the semester she took keyboarding. The teacher was shocked that she could type as fast as she did in spite of it.

Tami, good luck with jury duty tomorrow! Hopefully you won't be chosen to be on a jury for a long trial! When hubby had to report last month (south side of Chicago) he had to leave the house before 6:30 to catch the train. He was assigned to a panel that started to be questioned by attorneys after 3 p.m. and wasn't excused until about 6 p.m., so home about 7:30 p.m. As they hadn't filled the jury when he was excused, there was another group of 14 to go in for questioning. It's a LONG day for $14! We were just glad he wasn't assigned to the murder trial!

Wow, Gail! I'm surprised that lamb prices are that high there! It makes me wonder how high they were in Ireland. We never got into a grocery store to see prices. That might be a good idea on trips to another country: required visit to a local grocery store and petrol/gas station!

Gail, your spring day today sounds like our autumn day that we had today! Finally a sunny day with blue skies!

Hi, Broni! I didn't even spot that on Rolanda's post. Well - birds signing or birds singing - either way sounds pleasant. Of course, some sunshine would also help! I hope all of the DUGs are having a wonderful day!

Broni, did you hear results of your job interview yet? As MizT would say, inquiring minds want to know. I hope the results are whatever would make you happy and work best with your current needs!

I need to get a few things done before turning into a pumpkin tonight, so must go for now!

Hello to all I've missed! Positive thoughts, prayers, and {{{{{HUGS}}}}} to all who could use them (whether you admit it or not)! Good Night!

Oh, also forgot to tell you that we visited the National Stud Farm in Ireland and saw some of the top thoroughbreds. It's an amazing facility, including a Japanese garden and a museum. Another very educational place to visit!

Good afternoon all
With the price of lamb these days - it is my window-shopping in the supermarket these days. I walk past and admire it, look lovingly at it, but seldom buy it. My favourite cut is the rack but it's often $29.99/KG. I got it on special recently and Col and I enjoyed it so much!!

Gail, lamb is cheap where you are! Haven't seen a leg on special for under $8.50/kg in a couple of years now. Forequarter chops are well over $12, cutlets are at least $24, more often closer to $30. I heard on the news that the farm gate prices had dropped by about $100 a head, certainly not seeing it in the shops...

By the way, we pay through the nose because of where we live. I can't remember the last time apples were under $5/kg, and I've seen them in Sydney, driving past when shops were closed, so I've seen the ads, for around $1/kg! Even coffee at maccas is more expensive here than elsewhere!!! Go figure..

Should hear mid this week about the job Julie, not really sure I want to work full time anymore but the money would be handy. Called this guy who interviewed me Brian, David then got it right....Bruce! Reckon I have got a chance??
Just to let all of my very astute SA enquiring minds know that yes, I have been through a rough patch in my life but I am back! (be very afraid) hehe!

Suzy, Gail - anyone from south of the Qld border - what price are your bananas these days? We are still paying about $13/kg for them. Another commodity I window shop for because I can't afford. Heard a couple in Coles the other day (possibly grey nomads here in Qld for a holiday) say to one another - 'Bananas are still really expensive up here, aren't they?' - making me think they're cheaper in southern states.

Well Broni - if you've got a good chance of getting this job and I sure hope you do - we need to do coffee this week!! What do you reckon?

Hubby is at the Docs - he has an extremely sore shoulder. I think it's an RSI type/work related injury. Lets hope the doc can help him.

The birds sing too!!!

The sun has been shinning on and off today, with black clouds...

Bananas are (last week) $10.98 in my local shops and have been for a couple of weeks..

Around $10 down here too. Grocery stores taking advantage I'm sure as I heard on the news that there had been a bumper crop and we should be seeing normal prices by now...

I cannot believe the price you have to pay for bananas in Australia. Here at the moment they are 58p a kilo.
Lamb is expensive here too, so I don't buy it very often. Leg is £7 a kilo, rack of ribs £13, chops from £13-14a kilo depending on the cut. Meat in general is expensive over here, all prices are rising all the time too.

Coffee sounds good Cyn, only have the "dentist" Wed morning.

Brenda, the banana prices are the result of the floods, cyclones etc. At least that was the initial excuse, the farmers sure aren't seeing those prices.

I can't understand how ours are so cheap,remember we have to import them all. Our climate isn't conducive to growing bananas commercially.

The auction on EBay for our old Volvo car finished yesterday. We made more than we expected for the car. New owners are coming on Saturday to pick her up.

I really believe that Australian consumers are treated like a bunch of suckers. Buying stuff off the internet until the big corporations realise they have to stop the gigantic markups is probably the only way things will improve here.

Great news about your car!

Can one of my Australian friends tell me if you have the shopping site Amazon over there?
I'm looking into getting our Grandson's xmas present and want to have it delivered straight to them.

No surprises here - the (dumb) beauty boy on this year's beauty and the geek is from here! Hubby's comment was 'how did they choose which one?' And no, I don't watch the show, but they keep advertising the wretched thing!!!

Brenda, I'm pretty sure we have Amazon here, though I've never used it..

Thanks Suzy. If you buy books and music you can get some really good deals on Amazon. To be honest they sell almost everything over here and the deals can be good. We spend a lot of money with Amazon, so much that we pay an annual fee and get free next day delivery, works out so much cheaper.

Morning all. Had to make a quick stop in and bring the coffee. Couldn't let my friends do without because of me.

Julie, my mom made me take typing when I was in high school and I still managed to talk her into typing them.

Didn't realize lamb was so expensive. It is not something I usually buy.

Good Morning all...
Interesting discussion here re cost of food in Australia..... Lamb, one of my favorite meats is often thought costly here around early spring when it is more sought after...(Easter,etc) but during the rest of the year its fairly reasonable....and I've never seen the prices you folks are reporting...I say that happily because I would not be able to afford eating it as often as I do. Every time I buy bananas I think of you there, I can buy them at 59cents per lb....and enjoy them quite often...now I have to add the lamb in my thinking...wish there was a way of you getting fairer prices.
Broni....good to know life has smoothed out a bit for you...and we know that you could ride those rough spots and rebound with the best of them....good onya... Good fortune will come your way...just hope the money follows when its needed...
Julie,no wonder you were so tired when you returned from Ireland....you really packed a lot of fun and information into that visit.. so good to hear about your trip.
Hugs, and positive vibes for all....May life be all that it's racked up to be...full of mystery, adventure, pain and joy...with a balance that all can deal with, because w/o each, we'd lose our appreciation for the others. Peace!♥

Blood work done - need food!!!

Hi everybody!

Thanks for the input on lamb prices, everyone. IH was thrilled to read all of your comments.

SO glad your blood work is done, Theresa. When will you hear the results?