buzzard gathering

So, do you think that this cop is at all intimidated by my gesturing? I personally believe that he looks pretty scared by this Detroit woman! He just stood there and was afraid to move while I gave him my opinion of what I thought!

I was just in Milwaukee over the last weekend for the Bead and Button magazine bead show. It's my fifth year going and it's just a weekend of shopping, beads and fun. This year our group consisted of myself, Sharon from Akron, Ohio, Audrey from Sharon, Wisconsin, Anne and Kat from the Des Moines area.

We all arrived at different times on Thursday (or very early on Friday morning) to the Courtyard in Downtown Milwaukee. The beaders were out in masses and it was a very busy weekend. One of my best purchases is from "Buy the Kit". I have a great kit from Nikia Angel - a herringbone lariat that is wonderful!! I also splurged on a kit from Cynthia Rutledge. Both these women put together some great kits and have wonderful ideas. It's hard to come up with that original idea for a pattern or a kit. One of these days, I'll have my thinking cap on and have a great idea.

Another item that I have bought was from The Craft Kit Company in the United Kingdom. This is the best storage system that I have found for my beads. It's a little pricey for my wallet, but I don't splurge like this very often. I have several of them now - Liz's case, Jane's case, and Polly's case. They are perfect for camping because everything is so contained and portable. Part of the fun is putting everything in the system - neat and tidy!

This was a really good year because we had time to enjoy the hot tub, pool and even see a little bit of the city!

This picture confuses me. How on earth would you "disturb" petrified wood? Shake it and wake it up?? Yell and scream and call it names ("You are just laying there like a bump on a log!")? I still don't know exactly what this means. But it's a great sign - one of those that don't make sense. Like "Warning, Men at work" - you never see a sign saying "Warning, Women at work" - those signs would take over the planet.

Week #22 at weight watchers: I lost 4.2 pounds and have a 5 month total loss of 36.6 pounds. That's about 1/3 of the way to my goal. This was my second largest drop for the year. It's weeks like this that make it all worthwhile. That and the fact that almost nothing in my wardrobe fits - I've bagged up 4 bags of clothes to give to another person who is getting into the sizes that I have just left. It's been a slow journey in some respects, but a fast one when I just sit and think about it. I've been on a "diet" - I hate that word - since January and I haven't had to eat cottage cheese. And I like cottage cheese. It really shows that if you work the WW program, it works. And it works well.