HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! I hope it is a great day.

Marci, once again, you outdid yourself. I love it!

Love, Besh

Happy Birthday John!! I hope it's a great day and an even better year for you!! I am glad you are back giving us your male perspective!!

Marci, you outdid yourself AND you beat me to RABBIT, RABBIT!!! I have to get up pretty early to beat you I guess. LOL

WOW, John's Birthday. I just knew today was going to be special! :0) Happy, Happy Birthday, John. You make this little corner of the web very special with your open and honest views. Thanks for hanging in here with us! May you celebrate many, many more!

Happy Birthday, John! I hope that you have a wonderful day.

Marci, you sure are the early bird! Rabbit Rabbit indeed!
Going on over to look at the pics....

Tikanas

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN, our ONLY SS Daily Male! We all LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you and are THRILLED when you check in with your wit and opinion. We THOROUGHLY ENJOY your male perspective on life and your never-ending love/hate PURRRRspective on cats! You are the only guy EVER to have the gizzards to endure our ups and downs, TOM rants (hee-hee), and our sappy responses to each other.

John, you are a man among a group of women who love you dearly, every day, every post. We are ecstatic that your birthday has arrived and we are here to CELEBRATE it with you!

Stay young at heart and STAY HEALTHY --- I'm sure with your fantastic cooking skills that you are making a heart healthy pumpernickel flax seed cake for your birthday party, topped with an ALF decoration.

Have a great one, John! Enjoy this day the way YOU want to!

Love and of course, SMOOCHIES!, BJ

PS: Maddie will sing you her famous birthday song soon!

I wanted to say exactly what BJ said, but I couldn't fit it on the marquee!!! LOL
Marci

LMAO, Marci! Yes, we are women of few words, except when BJ has something to say!

Maddie, rev up those vocals or he's gonna have to listen to me......not a way we want him to spend his birthday.

DeeMarie~ I'll make this short:

SO TRUE!

:)

John - come out, come out, wheverever you are! Come on and face us like a MAN, you can take it. Hope your birthday was all you wanted it to be, on the golf course and cat free. Hey that rhymes. If you're lurking, that would be so wrong, just waiting on Maddie to sing your song. hehehe

BJ - thanks for the call, it really made my day - we have to do that more often. As you can see, I didn't make it here yesterday.

Marci - I agree, you keep outdoing yourself!

It's my day off and I need to get busy, the dog NEEDS a bath, the house needs cleaning, laundry is piled up and I would like to do something fun, but definitely not in that order.

Good Morning,

Raeanne, definitely do something fun FIRST!!!

Yes John, come out and tell us how your birthday was. Maybe you are still celebrating!! I hope you are having fun.

Maddie, maybe John is not coming out until you sing him happy birthday!!

Not much new here. I have been very busy but not sure at doing what!! LOL I have been getting alot of early morning riding in which is great because I beat the heat and when I get back home I have the whole day ahead of me still. Only problem is that it's now pretty dark out now at 4am when I get up :( I hate to see the daylight dwindle.

Last night we had spectacular thunder and lightning for hours and hours. It hardly ever rained but we sure got the light show! The heat and humidity continues.

I am off to do chores. Hope everyone has a chance to check in today.

Hi,

I'm checking in. The heat is slowly creeping back here also. The last few days have been beautiful, no humidity, but its baaaaaaaack. DH went back to work yesterday. Good and bad. LOL

For the next month I am planning on cramming in as much summer as I can. Beaching it, gardening, reading and I suppose getting my house together until school starts in September.

Went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. I loved it. I have to watch the first one again now to see the differences. DH and I went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith the other night. Not bad, but entertaining. I think Angelina Jolie is beautiful and DH doesn't like her lips!

Make it a great day!

Love, Besh

Hi all,

Thank you soo much for the birthday welcomes. I had a whirlwind weekend that ended having to work last night, im tired but had a great time. I just wanted to say a quick thank you and will fill in the details with a bit of sleep under my belt.

have a great day, you sure made mine :)

John

BJ, you have me ROTFLMAO!

My weekend was super-duper. The Balloon Festival was wonderful, we stayed for over 18 hours partying and getting that big old balloon up, up, and away. DH also served as a part of the chasers. There was loads of give-aways (can you say candy, candy, and more candy?), music (Styx), and a glow ceremony to die for!

Sunday afternoon we did indeed drive over 2 hours to Hershey Park, walked around, went on a few (safe) rides, as DH is afraid of roller coasters...sheesh! The Gene Pitney concerts were over-the-top fabulous. I love that man's voice, and he did not disappoint me. DH and I met some really nice people there, and got home about 1am. We are both tired this week, but agree it was like a mini vacation.

I'll be clearing out another closet or two at home this weekend. My worldwide director has invited us to a pig roast on Saturday night (did I tell you guys that at this forum?) DH has always wanted to attend one (I've seen my share of them on trips to Hawaii), so we will be going. Not sure how many points are in roasted pig? LOL!!

Still eating within points, but the scale is stuck. I'm not worried about it for now.

Check in everyone!
Take care, eat healthy, and NEVER NEVER GIVE UP!
DeeMarie

4 ounces of luau pork is 6 points. The whole pig yields about 40 lbs of cooked pork, after dressing the pig for cooking.

Earth Oven Roast Pig by iChef.com

Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients

ROAST PIG

Instructions

1. The night before have some strong men dig pit 10-15 in" deep Find small (1to2) lb lava (porous) rock and some hard wood. Eucalyptis,Oak,etc. Layer wood and rock to make huge mound in the pit and set on fire about 3AM. Coals and white hot rocks will be ready about 7. check each hour.
   
   2. Salt/Pepper pig inside and out; rub hard. pig should be room temperature. Cover rock/embers with wet banana leaves - 3 to 6 layers. Possible to use seaweed, corn stalk leaves. Cover this with layers of wet burlap sacks. start at outside and layer like shingles on a roof to the middle. Put pit on a small section of small wire fence section like you keep chicks in.
   
   3. With tongs put several hot rocks in pig cavity near thickest part of meat. Spread one layer banana leaves on burlap and place pig in the middle of the pit. (encased in the wire). Banana leaves over the pig and then cover with burlap again starting from outside and like roof shingles to the middle.
   
   4. Shovel the dirt back in the pit completely covering. Don't leave any holes.
   
   5. Sprinkle lightly with garden hose. Steam will escape but keep well covered. About 4 or 5 in the afternoon it will be done. Also fun to put in a few chickens/whole fish/goats all wrapped tightly in foil. Very carefully shovel dirt from top of pit. When the middle burlap is seen start rolling it back toward the sides and ends.
   
   6. Pig will be thoroughly cooked with meat falling off bone. Put on picnic table and let the guests pick their own pieces. Serve with Hawaiian POI and sea salt. Treat POI like bread never eating it alone but with hunks of pork.

I think the price of the luau is worth not having to cook the meal yourself!

Hi goils and John!

I have ran for 2 solid weeks and still have 5 days of shows to look forward to! I'll catch up in the next couple of days--some interesting things going so, so be prepared for a long book! LOL!!!

OK, John, you hunk o' burning man! (and by (blushing) popular demand....) (and sorry I'm late!)

Ahem.

Meee, meeeeee, meeeeeeee (gasp, choke, snort)

(getting out my sultry, s3xy, whispery voice (eat your heart out, Marily Monroe--)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU SWEET, S3XY, BRAVE (LOL) MAN, YOUUUUUUU
HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU....

(Man, I need a bath after that! LOL)

John, I'm so glad to have you back posting--I know we all missed you when you weren't here, and delighted when you popped back in! I think you're wonderful, and I hope you had a very happy birthday! ((((((hugs)))))))

I swear I will be back and catch up and post this whirlwind that I'm living--wait until you hear about the day a lifelong friend of mine rented a boat for just us two, and we spent all day eating junk and gossiping! :):)

Love and miss youse all! :):)

Maddie

Day one of my early childhood workshop and it was a great day. The speakers were excellent and all the sessions were interactive, which kept us on our toes. We learned innovative ways to teach through puppetry, music and books. The one instructor NEVER reads a book without some kind of visual prop. She is a great motivator and I could sit through her workshops every day and never get bored. She is a born storyteller and teacher.

John - Glad to see you popped in to see all your birthday wishes!

I only slept about 4 hours last night and I am literally dead on my feet. I need to stay awake though, so I can sleep good tonight.

Later,
Marci

YAY! Good show, Maddie! ---GOOD SHOW!

John! Sounds like a great b-day!

Raeanne~ great talking to you on the horn----as always!

Marci~ Literally dead on your feet, eh? Hmmmmmm.....sounds like a job for.......

SUPER UNDERTAKER!

Laters! I gotta get some yard work done before the sun sets. DH is in another 'mood' and is griping every day about the pitfalls of having a wife like me. wah! :) The midlife continues...and I'm going to the OUTSIDE of the house---until the sun goes down!

BJ, (((HUGS))), "the pitfalls of a wife like you"???? I would love to have a wife like you!!! You have so much energy and ambition. I wish I had half of it. You are such a great Mom and a great person. Do you want to come live here?

Maddie, glad to see you back. I had an instant visual of you and your friend floating around eating junk food and telling stories. I love it!

Marci, did you have a good sleep? I hope you weren't looking over your shoulder for SUPER UNDERTAKER!

DS and DF (fiance) got an apartment. We went to see it last night. Really nice. 2 bedrooms, dining room, living room, big kitchen and pantry. Not bad for a first apartment. They are stripping all the wallpaper and painting before they move in. Still seems kind of strange to me, but I am happy for them. DS#2 is so excited because he gets his brothers "suite" downstairs, which is the best bedroom in the house, or at least it has the best closet!

Have a great day!

Love, Besh

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[HUGS to all of ya]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

BJ, would you marry me? Perhaps your DH would like my DH? Can we play "Trading Spouses" that way?.....girl/girl and guy/guy? LOL I've got a list for ya, a BIG list. You can tell Steverino that he needs to step back and bit and count his blessings. All that energy and raising 4 girls too? pullllleeeeeezzzze

Maddie, if you get a chance, please e:mail me your home phone #.

Really busy here at work, but today it revolves around my Community Outreach Team, which jazzes me up!!!!

Hi everbody!

BJ (((((hugs))))! Husbands occasionally need attitude adjustments.....

DeeMarie, what is your Community Outreach Team about?

Midweek BBQ this evening which is always fun! I'll try to get back here later as I have something to share. (a little embarrassing....)

Tikanas

Hello All,

Marci, you are too funny. Yesterday I was going to put ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ to you here but I didn't!!! Of course I would have loved to do the graphics too!

BJ, MEN!!!! What can I say. Mine is behaving again but who knows for how long???? He's like Jekel and Hyde.

Okay Raeanne, what did you do that was fun yesterday??

Besh, we should make a plan to meet for lunch while we both have the opportunity. I can get to Salem with no problem.

Tikanas, don't leave us hanging too long!!!

Things are status quo here. I am getting lots of riding in and love it. My house is cleaner too!!

Tikanas, we are a huge corporation of over 100,000 employees worldwide, and I work in a smaller office (510 of us!). Because I have a reputation centered around volunteering for chairing United Way Campaign, etc., the VP of our division had asked me to run a project centered around being a 'good neighbor'. They gave me almost $60,000 the first year to help out the community. The first thing I did was make an appointment with the Mayor (where my office is located), and ask for her top 10 places she'd like to see helped. She gave me a list, and I started to spend! LOL Anyway, about 3 years later, and we have a team of about 8 of us giving scholarships, donating to organizations relating to veterans, seniors, general outreach, and we have a yearly budget of $140,000!!! Not bad, eh? Of course, it's not my 'day job', but I love serving on the Team (which is now headed by one of the directors). Our Human Resources department is way too small (aren't they always?) to handle all the requests that come in, so a group of us sort of took it over. Takes about 10-15% of my time, and I don't mind a bit of overtime to help run the show. Was that more than you needed to know? LOL!

DeeMarie, I think that is a WONDERFUL thing to be involved with! My hat is off to you.

Okay... here is my confession:
When we were assigned birthday partners, I got the whole concept WRONG!! I thought that we were to send a package to our partner on OUR birthdays (sort of a reverse B-day gift giving thingy) like we do at my Women's group. I even asked Marci MONTHS in advance and got a whole list of what my buddy might want. So here it is coming up on MY b-day and the sweet person who has my name has written to me in attempt to get to know me a bit better. DOES ANYONE GET WHAT THIS MEANS??? Yes, it means that my buddy received NOTHING from me on HER birthday!!! : (

So, since I really screwed up, my buddy will be getting a nice gift on my birthday after all, with a BIG apology for the mix up. I am sooooo embarrassed!

I really need to pay attention....

Tikanas

Tikanas - Funny that you should mention the birthdat list.
I have had to make some revisions to the list. And I was trying to think of a tactful way to ask you if you had sent your birthday partner anything yet. I know this is an "Un-birthday" exchange, so we can send something anytime of the year, but we usually do send something on the actual birthday. I don't like to step on anyone's toes, but I also don't want anyone to be left out. You have solved my problem all by yourself!! Thanks!

Now the new revised list is as follows:
Raeanne sends to Gretchen (February 8th)
Gretchen sends to DeeMarie (February 18th)
Marci sends to Raeanne (March 3rd)
Tikanas sends to Patti (March 20th)
DeeMarie sends to BJ (April 23rd)
NHSuzanne sends to MagicKitty (May 2nd)
Patti sends to Besh (July 21st)
Maddie sends to Marci (August 11th)
Jen sends to Tikanas (August 19th)
Lynne(MagicKitty) sends to Jen (August 23rd)
BJ sends to Joanne (September 26th)
Besh sends to Maddie (October 5th)
Joanne sends to NHSuzanne (November 20th)

If you have any questions or concerns, let me know.

Thanks,
Marci

Good Morning All,

I overslept for my morning ride!! I NEVER oversleep and I can't believe it. I was supposed to be up at 4 this morning but when I opened my eyes I knew something was wrong because it was light out! I jumped out threw on some clothes and my friend, Linda was just leaving! I feel bad because she got up early too. I don't know why she didn't come in a throw cold water on me!! Oh well. I don't know if I set the alarm or what but I never heard a thing!

I was cleaning out old email files and in my miscellaneous box was email from Marci, Tikanas, and Raeanne. All from a yearago ,almost to date, offering support for the trouble I was having with DH. This must be a seasonal thing with him!! I re-read them and still find comfort in them.

Tikanas, what is going on with your sister? Have you seen her or spoken to her? You talked about that in your letter from last year. You shouldn't be embarrassed about the birthday thing.

Thanks for posting the birthday thing Marci. I have the last birthday of the year!! That's interesting.

DeeMarie, good for you on your community work. It's nice to have a huge coorporation that wants to be a good neighbor.

Raeanne, are you still doing your Reiki? How are the Morgans? I thought of you yesterday when a male loon flew overhead yodeling his heart out! It always seems out of context when one flys overhead! I never knew they yodeled while flying until I moved here six years ago.

I guess I will take advantage of the cool of the morning and get some things done.

Check in everyone!

NH Suzanne - the loon, very interesting, the Indians believe that the loon calls you to listen to your dreams (while awake or asleep). "It may also be telling you that all of those hopes, wishes, and dreams that you have tucked to the back of the heart are about to come to the surface. The haunting call of the loon may be signalling you not to compromise them again, or you may truly find yourself haunted." Yes, I am still doing Reiki, but mostly to myself and my dog LOL. I set my table up in my DD's room and when I have company or she comes home with friends, I take the table down and there it stays until I get the urge to put it back up. The last I heard the Morgans are doing well and the one with problems has made a full recovery. Sorry you missed your ride, but sounds like you may have needed that extra sleep.

DeeMarie - it is awesome what you do and they certainly picked the right person for the job!

BJ - do we have to start referring to you as "Super Undertaker" now, the title fits in more ways than one. I don't know anyone that undertakes as many things as you do - I guess that's Steve's point LOL.

Tikanis - I would say you are in the clear, since this year we are celebrating "Un-Birthdays". Just don't go sending her any tacky Christmas ornaments! LOL

I have a ton of errands to run today, so I have to get busy. DD's will be home with friends this weekend, so I need to get some food in the house.

Make the most of your day.

NH Suzanne, Has it been a year already? My how time flies!
No, I have not talked to my sister in well over a year. Through the ol' grapevine I hear that she has not changed her passive aggressive ways so her absence has been welcomed rather than regretted. I simply don't need that kind of grief!

Raeanne, at least my tacky Christmas ornament was also VERY practical in a pinch. HA HA!! But no, I will be sending something nice.... : )

Marci, thank you for arranging the exchanges. I will pay more attention in the future. Nice to know that I didn't screw it up altogether!

Still hot here. I am feeling tired and run down (been sleeping poorly) So I have decided to be lazy today. Air conditioning is on, Iced Teaa is made and I am going to relax a bit.

I hope that everyone has a terrific day!

Tikanas

Hi goils!

I've only got a minute, but I just had to post this one!

We're at the National Street Rod Show here in Louisville until Sunday (today was the first day). I love seeing the cars, but getting to yap with the owners is an even bigger treat, so I've had a blast all day.

And then this spectacularly beautiful woman and 2 men come to our booth. The bearded one looks familar, but the woman had caught my attention, she's that breath-taking. Anyway, back to the guys; we're selling all sorts of LED belt buckles, dog tags, etc, and the display just screams. So they wandered over to see it, and ended up wiping us out of the LED items. They go to pay, and the bearded guy pulls out a pair of dice, rolls them on one of our display cases, and the guys start shooting cr@ps to see who would pay for all of the stuff. I am thinking that I know the guys, and the voice is familiar, but who the heck are they????

Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill from ZZTop. And the stunning chick? Dusty's daughter. Well, duh! I knew I knew them, but I was so shocked that I just went brain-dead. Makes sense since ZZTop is really into street/hot rods. And there's 10,000 of them in the parking lot.

So, whatta day! Makes me wonder what tomorrow will bring! :):)

Oh, and a crew from The Outdoor Channel is there, and they are auditioning for a "Host-your-own-fishing-show-for-a-day", and one of the producers wants me to audition tomorrow.

Maybe I don't want to know, but I'm sure as heck gonna buy a lottery ticket!!!! LOL!!!

Gotta go-battery is low--

Hugs,

Maddie

MADDIE!!!!!!!! That is so awesome; I just know that you've got a good chance for that show. Personality +++++

Continued [[[[[[[[[[[[[Hugs]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] for NH Suzanne and anyone who wants to join in. Life can be confusing at one time and so fulfilling another. Makes you appreciate the good times, I guess. Still have not heard from my brother, but I suspect that he abuses alcohol. It would explain a lot of his pulling away more and more over the last few years. It breaks my heart, but it's not my problem.

BJ, I still have some stuff in mind for another 'unbirthday' for you. hehe

Marci, I gotta tell you that I've used that site over and over...the site where you wrote Besh's birthday wishes in the sand? It makes a great impression, and I've sent out some last-minute birthday and thank you wishes to co-workers. Thanks again.

Well, I've got to get back to work if I want to get out of here by 2pm.

Take care, eat healthy, and NEVER NEVER GIVE UP!
DeeMarie

I am sitting here waiting for the cable guy to show up. Even after upgrading to XP and getting a new modem, I can't access the internet at certain times. Figured that I had done everything on my end to fix the problem and now I think there might be something wrong with the wiring. We shall see.

DS is coming home tonight for a short visit, so someone will finally get to use our new sofa bed. I am excited to see him, but he has so many plans for the weekend, that I will have to be content with the quality of our visit, not the quantity! LOL

My conference ended yesterday and for the most part, it was great. We got some great ideas yesterday for bringing books to life and I plan on getting several ideas ready to use this year. The teacher was great and the 3 hours went by so fast! I can't imagine getting up in front of 100 fellow teachers and entertaining them for 3 hours!

DeeMarie - Glad you liked the site. I have used it often too.

Tikanas - I got the Zucchini Lasagna recipe and I hope to try it next week. Thanks!

Besh - I got the soup recipe also. That sounds good, but I am like you, I think I would like it better hot. It is filed away for future use.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Marci