How about people that talk during speeches or lectures? Or talk on cell phones during movies? I'll never forget the guy that got off the plane from MN in Mazatlan, and as soon as he cleared customs he whipped out his cell phone and talked business as we followed him all the way through the airport, onto the shuttle, and kept making calls all the way driving into the city from the airport. As the van pulled up the the hotel, his girl friend elbowed him in the ribs and said "If you don't put that thing away for the week you can go home now", and got out. Took him a second or two, but he stuck it in his pocket and got out too. Wonder how that went? Sarah

I hear ya loud and clear barefoot babe - been there last 3 years and I am just S L O W L Y getting past my stall point where I always quit. Get MAD at yourself for quitting last time and stick with it. It's mathematics if ya talked to a dietician - eventually the weight will shift. Its true - keep the faith. I have been bouncing - since late Feb from 145 - 143. BAck and forth, back and forth. Do you notice while you are stalling/plateauing that your body is changing - clothes are a little more loose? Shape changing - even slightly? I found my weight sticking but body changing - a lot. Just peeked at the scales this morning for damage control and see if this week has been as bad and looks like my weight is snailing its way down again - like half a pound. My weigh day is Monday, I have a weekend away with LOTS of already paid for meals. I promise to enjoy myself but also pay attention to what I eat - I promise myself. My body changes has settled down again but my weight is trying to move. Its been a very, very slow process for me. I figure if I give up now I will be kicking myself by summer that I let myself down. Hang in there - I am walking beside you on this one. I am grabbing your arm and pulling you along with me! Let's stick with this. Don't give up. Even if ya have a bad day - let it go and get back on track. One bad day compared to a good, healthy week of taking care of yourself should not topple your goals. I will pull you along and you can pull me along. We are here for each other! Have a fabby day today. Get out and TREAT yourself with something else to take your mind off things. My treats have been fun earrings - you should see the collection I have since starting my diet! Get something new for yourself. You need a treat. Cheers, McPeg

We are starting nine days of vacation today. Yippee! In doing my maternal genealogy DH & I have located about a dozen graves of my ancestors from the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries throughout New England. Many served in various military capacities. For the past 15+ years we have used Memorial Day as a time to visit the graves & do maintenance. Many are in very rural areas but located on private property. Others are in rural cemeteries that have virtually been lost to time. We cut back encroaching forest growth, straighten the stones, & plant a daylily. The oldest military grave dates to 1687. It took us 5 years to find the site. The headstone was buried halfway...we knew it HAD to be the right grave so DH started digging. We were able to get a tracing of the stone's engraving for verification. It's quite a hike off the road to reach the grave site. We notified the historical society of the location back in the early 90's so Samuel's grave now has a permanent Veteran's placque & flag. Buried near Samuel we located the graves of his second wife & 2 of their children who died in infancy. Other graves are in more prominent cemeteries & we visit just to pay our respects & leave one rose. We'll start our trip before dawn on Monday & won't be home until well after dark. All we can reach in one day are those graves in MA & NH. The rest we visit periodically to keep them maintained. Today & tomorrow we'll do some garden work & BBQ. Next week, we'll take the ferry to Orient Point & spend the day garden center hopping. Then, we'll toss a suitcase in the car & take off for a few days...location unknown as of yet. Have a safe & great long weekend, everybody! /tricia

I belonged to a pot luck monthly dinner club for about 12 years. There were 5 couples and we alternated so you had a month when you were host and 4 months off. The host provided the meat course and all drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, and the guests brought vegetables, salad, hors d'ouvres and dessert. And that also alternated. It was very interesting because one gal didn't cook....at all! But was willing to learn....sow e had a few interesting things in the first few years...until she learned to read a recipe! LOL! When wew ent to their house, they almost always served steaks that he grilled ( and very well too I might add!) and hordouvres were things like a big bowl of shrimp, or a side of smoked salmon, sometimes some nice cheeses and deli spreads....but the vegetables and salads were the adventure! Over the years we all learned some things. One gal never made desserts and had no idea how to make a pie or cake, but she learned that brownies and icecream were good as were fruits and bought pound cake. I am bad at veggies to take, I don't make veggie casseroles, but learned to take fresh veggies to be quickly steamed on site or a dish of veggies to be roasted. But I have never liked no list potlucks. Years ago I hosted a lot of cast parties for the community theater. Very often there were 75 to 80 and once I counted 120 people....sitting on the stairs and standing anywhere they could find a square foot to stand in! It was the custom for the host to order food and soft drinks and to tell everyone how much their share was and then everyone would bring something to share. The usual "cost" was about $5 per person...that covered drinks meat and buns for sandwiches. So I decided I could do better.....and made a gazillion buns with one other person's help and bought a ham and had it shaved and bought a big beef roast, cooked it and had it shaved and bought and roasted a turkey and had my DH carve it. And used my own plates and silverware. Costs for that amounted to about $1.50 per person. I counted on others to bring potato salad, and brownies and such....and got bags and bags of chips and commercial dip... So the next time I made coleslaw.... and provided a sign up sheet for chips and dips, raw veggies, desserts and specified cookies or bars, potato salad and posted a category for "miscellaneous"....and some idiot brought a frozen pizza that had to be cooked, watched so it didn't burn and cut and served....and it only served 8! I hate to be surprised when I am hosting a huge party. Linda C