[Vickie]

This will be a week of great challenge for me!

I hope it's a busy chatty week.

I hope we all have wonderful losses!

[Katpo]

Good morning!

[CurlyTop]

HI! Thought I'd post and throw in what I started my day with..

Coffee - 2 cups with fat free half/half 1 pt
Banana
*I attempted to make some cornmeal pancakes - found a recipe on line that called for buttermilk/sugar/salt/eggs and cornmeal. I substituted Splenda for the sugar (only 2 tsp) and the buttermilk - well I substituted skim milk for the buttermilk and it was pretty much a disaster.

I wasn't sure if the recipe was wrong, or if the milk for buttermilk substitution had anything to do with it but the cakes were runny and the milk and eggs kept separating from the cornmeal. I strained off a lot of the liquid, added more cornmeal - well - it was a mess. I ate a few bites and the dogs got the rest. LOL

Anyhow - not sure if I'll have something else since it wasn't much of a b-fast. how dissapointing.



Tina

[Vickie]

Good Morning Chicks! It's a gray and rainy day here but I don't mind. I'll be snuggled inside working on bills in my fuzzy red robe. It's going to be an all day job. I've nothing else planned except to read, watch TV, and cook dinner. Tonight is Jim's favorite Chicken Cacciatore. I'm adding black olives tonight at his request. It's truly a delightful meal. Sadly, I ran out of parsley and basil last night so he'll have to go to the store for me today. One of the errands that I ran yesterday was grocery shopping so that he wouldn't have to go out today. Oh well! At least he can go through the express aisle.

I'm so far behind. Jim and I had a fabulous, but hectic day on Friday. We had a great lunch (Core plus 3 WPA's) at a restaurant near the ballpark. You know which one since I would never go to the one on the north side of town! Then we went shopping because I had heard that our favorite shop near the ballpark was selling reduced 2005 World Series items. Well....long story short...we didn't want any of the marked down stuff! I ended up buying Jim 4 very nice/fancy sweater and sweatshirts which were new but still had the 2005 World Series White Sox patches/logos on them. He's very excited but is not getting them until Christmas. $200 out the door but they are very nice. I must tell you that Jim RARELY wears anything but White Sox logo shirts. So when you meet us someday that'll help you identify us!

We came home for an hour on Friday with just enough time to freshen up and get to the movie. I LOVED the movie but Jim did not. He enjoyed the experience with the kids but thought the movie had no plot and really just stole from the first movie. I didn't liked it more than the first Santa Clause but definitely like it better than the second. I own the first two on DVD and will be buying this one as well. The pizza place was nice and we did have fun. I ate a slice of pizza with my salad but felt I had enough points to cover it. Jim doesn't eat meat on his pizza when he thinks I might have a slice so at least the points weren't outrageous!

I had a nice day with my Sister on Saturday morning. We did a lot of walking through the home party show. Kathy, people were there from Arbonne but they weren't very good at their job since they didn't seem to want to answer questions or give samples. They just wanted to sell to people already familiar. Oh well! My Sister bought Home Interier Candles since she adores their gardenia and she bought some Tupperware. I bought $100 of Gold Canyon Candles and had a ball standing there and smelling everything! If you ever have a change to smell these candles you should. They almost all have 2 wicks to avoid tunnels and they are the only candles that smell good to the end. I sound like I should be a demonstrator, don't I? Anywhoo....then we went out to lunch and I had a wonderful Core meal plus 4 points. We lingered and chatted. Then we walked through Bath and Body Works and Hobby Lobby to try to find a memory box for Cameo. Then I drove her home to her daughters house, went grocery shopping and came home and cooked.

I don't know how you all do that constant running. I'm so pooped today! I need some down time.

I'm going to go catch up with all of you now!

[Vickie]

Tina, I have a fabulous corncake recipe. I'll go look for it and see if it's on our board.

[Vickie]

I've been eating these since the beginning of Core and the are truly great. I couldn't find them in our recipe box so I'll add it later. I originally got these from Toni Gifford but have modified the recipe a bit to suit my own tastes. They are wonderful with my chicken chili and leftover cold or hot the next day for lunch! My DH loves them too.

Sweet Corn Cakes

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
8 oz Plain FF yogurt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/2 cup Splenda sugar substitute

Mix yogurt, water and egg together in bowl; add in cornmeal, Splenda, and baking powder and stir together until batter is moist. The batter will look too thin but do NOT ajust. It will thicken as it sets.

Let batter stand for 15-20 minutes. Quickly fold in corn. Heat pan over medium heat and lightly coat with cooking spray (I generally use canola oil to cook my cakes to get in my healthy oil for the day). Add batter to the pan in spoonfuls.

For best results, keep the cakes 2-3 inches in diameter.

Let first side cook until tops is dry around the edges; turn and cook other side.

[CurlyTop]

Vickie -

That sounds wonderful!!

I'll have to try it later..

Lunch:
Taco salad with FF sour cream/cheddar cheese, onion, tomatoes.. mmmm

snack - ff sf instant choc pudding, tblspn nuts, skim milk.. 1 pt

Dinner TBD

Tina

[Tejas]

Boy, those corn cakes sound delicious.

What a busy time you're having Vickie..thanks for including us. I don't know about Arbonne and these candles you folks have been discussing. I'll look it up on Google.

We had fun last night...one of my friends made steak dinners for us, dressed up Western style and had a Western movie for us...good fun all around.

Today, we're just staying close to home, doing chores and not moving around too much until dance class tonight.

Have a great day everyone.

Rhonda

[Vickie]

Phew! I was on the phone with the Niece for a long time. She calls when she needs a break from her kids!

Rhonda, your dinner and evening with your friends sounds like it was just delightful! I'm trying to appreciate my friends more while they are here now and healthy.

Oh Paula, what a horrible story about your work meeting. Shame on this guy. If I were you, I'd definitely meet with the boss. Since this guy is on your level, his opinion doesn't count. I hope you find that this guy is just jealous and that your boss does appreciate all that you do. No one wants to work in a situation like that! I sure hope Sarah is feeling better today after a couple of doses of antibiotic and cough medicine. Sounds like you have a great Doctor. I really appreciate it when they are careful with antibiotics. She really looked adorable in her costume. I know you didn't buy that anywhere. It's too cute. Did you make it?

Frouf, I'm so glad you're enjoying the Wicked CD but....don't search the internet for the story unless you definitely are not going to see the play. There are some surprises that are really so much more delightful and enjoyable if you don't know them before you see them. Does that make sense? My Niece knew them and I was so glad she didn't tell me before I went. Welcome back to the wagon! I will enjoy your company immensely. I really appreciated the incremental exercise advice. I've been dreading hopping back on the treadmill. I keep feeling like it will be too much too soon. My ankle is still getting better little by little. I don't think I'm ready for the pounding of the treadmill but maybe the bike soon.

Sandra, it is SO good to hear from you! I'm so glad that you are finding time to still come here to visit with us. I hope right now you are both splasing around in the water and having a fun time at the water aerobics. Congratulations of the beginning of a new season of archery. It's so cool to know a champion! When is your weigh in?

Ok....I'm starving and it's past time for lunch. I'm off to have a can of Lentil soup. Hey...I don't think I made a menu thread. I'll be back to check on you all later!

[Vickie]

Hey Kathy....are you at work?

Angela, how's it going after Halloween and preschool?

Melissa, we miss you.

Patti, where are you? We haven't heard from you in forever!

[blessedwithsarah]

Hi all, happy sunday. Sarah is doing much better - she has actually eaten breakfast and some lunch. Which I'm glad to see. It has been a battle to get her to take her medicine - she decided she hates bubble gum flavor so I've been mixing it with either fruit juice or grape juice. She is "star of the day" tomorrow for school - she is the lead helper and brings a show and tell. We've been using that as a threat to have her cooperate with the meds. Not sure what we'll do starting tomorrow. Oh well, we'll deal with it then. I think she is only on the antiboitic for a week (based on the amount in the bottles, of coures I never did ask.).

My work situation is a bit more confusing to explain - the one I had the meeting with is the head of our line of business, I'm a level below him. My boss is the head of finance for his line of business and another one - they are the same level. So, its weird since the CFO is who does my reviews ( I over see the plan assets) but the other guy is in charge of the products which is where my other project work falls. I made sure I stayed late friday and sent out meeting notes around 5:30 - petty I know, but I needed to show that I do work past 5:00 (although not usually! ) I spent about 4 hours this afternoon getting a jump on the project that was the basis of his acusations. Basically a very large project needs to be coordinated by me - when I was asked by the head of project mgmt when I could start it I said January. What I found out in that awful meeting is that the project has to be completed and live by July 31 next year - very difficult to get that done. So, by me not starting to January, I'm not committed. Although if someone had told me the July date, I of course would have said I'll start it right away.

Oh well - I just need to suck it up and get this thing done. I think I've got a good game plan on how to get this done. Its alot of system changes that I need to write up for the programming group and make sure the appropriate user groups sign off on what I'm coming up with. The one thing I do have over the bosses -- they both know that I'm the only one who can pull this off -- under regular timeframes and these riduculous ones.

Boy - I do envy Vickie and Sandra for being retired. I'm 40 now, my goal always was to retire at 55 - Sarah would be out of high school then. EEK - 15 more years of this.

Well, needless to say, my eating has been off. We did get chinese last night, it was yummy. I made a big pot of veggie soup today, had scrammbled eggs and kiwi for breakfast and I'll have something core for dinner. I have to stay in control!

Frouf, I'm gald your feeling better. Definatly call the restaurant. They should know about you getting sick.

Vickie, I actually found Sarah's costume at Marshalls for $12. I couldn't have bought the material to make a cosutume for that!

Have a good afternoon ladies!

[Vickie]

Paula, you sound like you have it all together now but I'd still talk to the other boss. I guess the one that really matters is the one who is doing your appraisal. I'm really happy to hear that Sarah is doing better. Poor baby.

Back to my budget. It's quite dismal. I'll also be cooking in a bit.

I hope you're all having a great Sunday.

[Katpo]

Hey, chickies. It's been one of those days. I did my regular shopping just now and Kate is on her way to town -- I'm taking her to Costco to buy her some stuff. Not sure what ... just one of those "let me take care of you because I'm the mom" things. Judd left today for Whiteman AFB and will be back on Thursday. I am ELATED because I can clean the house tonight and it will stay that way; also because I can sleep downstairs and have a good TV. I still haven't bought one to replace the crappy one in my upstairs sanctuary. Hmmm ... maybe I'll look at Costco!

And Shaun needs a cell phone. He can't get his own because of his credit, although he can pay for it. I'm tempted to send him mine and get us a new one. It is cheaper than anything he could get prepaid. You wouldn't think they'd need one, but there are only a few pay phones in the bachelors quarters, and so in order to use the phone he has to stand in line. They have to arrange this or that, and the schedule is tight. He has been borrowing one of his shipmate's phones but that can't last forever. He has gone to Gurnee Mills this afternoon to visit the Cingular store. We'll see what happens.

Other than that, just racing around this morning trying to get it all done so Judd could leave. The kitchen is a wreck because I just cleaned out the fridge and put dishes on the counter. I'll clean it up when we get back from Costco, and also need to sweep/mop. Other than that, I'm done for the day ... oh except for washing or changing the sheets on Judd's bed. If I have to sleep there for the next few days, I want nice clean sheets.

I also hope to see Sandra very soon. Sandra, yoohoo! Call me at work tomorrow if you want to and we'll figure out a time to get together. There's a Cracker Barrel near where I work (north Arlington near Six Flags) ... hint, hint!

[aghiowa]

Hi everyone. I'm resolving to do Core all the way starting tomorrow. I can do it...I did it before. It's just a matter of making it a habit again.

Vickie, I'm doing fine. I survived yet another week of preschool, and my turn isn't for another 4 weeks...woo hoo. I would quit, except that little dd loves it SO much, and it's so good for her to be around the other kids, esp since the older ones are in school now.

I have Thanksgiving at my house this year, so I need to start planning. Thankfully, my family is very casual about these things, and it will be mostly potluck, so my job won't be too hard. We could potentially have over 20 people here though. Whee!

Angela

[Katpo]

Angela, it's good to see you. Maintenance is the pits, isn't it? It seems like the things that I could eat before (like potatoes and corn) are a sure trigger for a gain now. It's like I'm walking a tightrope! I'm sure you know the feeling. Losing is MUCH easier than maintaining it, as anyone who has lost a lot then gained it all back will attest to.

Kate got caught in traffic on the way to town and didn't make it in time. She said she would try to come back tomorrow night after work since Costco is open until 8:30. If she'll come straight here (takes her an hour to get here ... Rhonda and Sandra, she lives up near Denton and we're in Mansfield, so you can just imagine), we'll go to the store and then I'll take the girls to eat. I am throwing out all of my "home" salad things tonight and will solemnly vow NOT to buy more. I don't like salads made at home, no matter how much I try. There's no need to stock a drawer when it's just going to go bad. I'll keep the onions and radishes to eat with dressing, but the lettuce and tomatoes will have to be tossed. They are yuck.

Sheets are in the dryer and now I'm working on getting my clothes ready for work this week. When Judd is gone, it makes my schedule a little more tricky. I have to get the dogs up and potty them in the morning before leaving ... but since I'm only working 10 hour days this week, 7 til 5, I'm sure it'll be okay.

Now off to take a bath, make my lunch and put the sheets on the bed in a few minutes. I'll check back in later.