[gma22]

I just had to pop in and give you a heads up on a wonderful packaged, frozen meal. It is the new Lean Cuisine Brick Oven Pizza. I bought the gourmet mushroom and it is delicious. It is chewy, crunchy and satisfies besides being delicious. You have to try it sometime!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

Just got back from getting my hair cut ~ now I need to color it tomorrow. Got it cut short ~ short ~ short and I like it. Picked up some O'Brien frozen potatoes and chicken broth to make that low point soup tomorrow. Will isn't a soup person but he sure likes that. He said he would take me out to breakfast before my hair cut if I wanted. Well last night I looked up breakfasts in different restaurants and decided I wanted to eat it at home before going to town. I spent 3 points on a boiled egg and half a naval orange instead of a huge amount of points eating out. Breakfast seems to be the highest point meal. For lunch I had a grilled chicken sandwich from Sonic without sauce for 6 points and it was yummy. Now I have enough points left for a nice dinner.

FAYEfor the heads up on the LQ pizza. I started my next shopping list with that and am looking forward to trying it. I like the LQ products so I am sure I will like that pizza.

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! I feel like I've spent the day spinning my wheels! I did round up the rest of the Christmas stuff and have that put away for another year. The BD aide called and invited me to lunch so spent two hours with her; her son is marrying a black gal and hubby is having a hard time with that. They live in Texas and evidently mixed marriages are more common down there. We were to meet another out-of-town couple for mid-afternoon coffee, but when they didn't call Bob went for a hair cut and I went to give blood. Finally they called and we ended up going out for supper with them. Two hours later I'm looking at the rest of my paper pile to sort through. Tomorrow is a teacher work/in-service day and I'm going to get a perm in the afternoon.

"Gma" -- Well, at least I had two ingredients for equal parts -- just the wrong two! I'm glad your swelling is down and hope you are 100% again. I see where our WW meetings have gone up to $12 a meeting. I like your weight/goal strip or whatever it is called. I must admit that your breakfast menu didn't sound very yummy to me! I ordered a strawberry waffle tonight since I seldom make them at home. It was delicious!

Maggie -- Josh doesn't know any better because he was raised by stupid parents who obviously don't know any better! I was so surprised by your phone call! That was so thoughtful of you!

Susan -- Enjoy your shortened work days. I would love to do that.

Hope you all are enjoying a nice evening and have a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

JEAN If you get one of the monthly passes WW offers and pay the first payment at your meeting, then you go on the WW website and give them your information it only is $39.99 a month. They send you a card each month after they deduct the amount from your checking account. I love it because it is cheaper and like a car payment you have it automatically deducted ~ it is taken care of. So it averages out to be about $10 a meeting instead of the $12. Plus if you ever want to cancel it is easy to do.

[gma22]

Good morning all! My swelling is completely gone and I am getting a handle on the weird wind burn type stuff so all is well with me. On the flip side, Jack may be developing the swelling stuff AGAIN! The bottoms of both feet swelled badly last night and throbbed all night and put that with his full blown cold now and he is not going to work today. I told him it might be his new work shoes (they get new shoes every year and he just went and got his) but he says it did the itching stuff first like it did before. I gave him an Allegra and we will see if he swells anywhere else, if so I am calling his allergist and getting him back in. His fever broke last night so his side of the bed is wet so I told him I would get up and take the animals downstairs and he should just get into my side of the bed and go back to sleep until 7 when he can call in.

I did well on my first day out, got in my treadmill work, ate correctly and did get in most of the water. I may have to do the treadmill later today as the noise of its beeping goes straight up the stairs and wakes Jack up. I like to get done first thing in the morning though so when he calls in, I might hop on then and tell him to close the bedroom door. I am not weighing myself until the end of the month and then will see if I made my goal for the month. It is less stressful than if I am hopping on that scale all the time to see if I have lost.

Jean: I used to hate yogurt, but I like most of it and it is a good breakfast food. When I am dieting, I try and eat it several times a week. I had cherry yesterday and it was quite good. The one flavor I don't think I am going to try is the orange dreamsicle one, UGH! I didn't like that ice cream and I don't think it would be too tasty in yogurt! Today is oatmeal, egg beaters and fruit breakfast.

Maggie: I think you will love that pizza. It isn't made with pizza sauce but a mushroom sauce and just covered in mushrooms on the top. I found it to be really delicious. The crust reminded me of focaiccia somewhat.

Well, need to finish chores and get some knitting done. My hands hurt yesterday most of the day because they were cold and I couldn't seem to get them warmed up so I need to get quite a bit done today.

Have a great day everyone!

Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! I am supposed to be cleaning the clutter out of the closet, but had to send my cousin a 'happy birthday' email and couldn't get online without checking in here. Am I addicted or what! The sun is out and it is windy so it feels colder than the thermometer says it is. It's going to have to go some to reach 45 and melt some of the snow.

Maggie -- The WW receptionist told me that there have been some problems with the online passes so I stayed away from that. After my one 'bad' experience with purchasing online, I am leary about committing to something and not being able to get out of it if I so choose. We'll see, I may decide to try it after all. I should be able to do this without paying anything to anybody, but I like meeting the scale each week. If I only knew 30 years ago what I know now!

"Gma" -- I'm glad you are feeling better and hope Jack is on the mend soon. I feel for him having the swelling return again. I haven't eaten yogurt in years, but to me it tastes sour. I've even tried adding vanilla to it. I'm not a milk drinker so maybe I associate the two as being in the same category.

Well, I'm off to get a perm this afternoon. I'm not in the mood but hate going after school too. Have a great day and smile!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNINGMAGNOLIAS

It is a sunny day in the neighborhood but on the chilly side. I had a successful day yesterday point wise and am working on getting enough water down me. I don't tend to drink as much in the winter time and that must change.

JEAN What sort of problems? AH, yes ~ 30 years ago ~ I wasn't this fat for sure! In fact I was still working and in good shape.

FAYE That is good that the swelling has gone down for you and not so pleasant that it moved over to Jack. That poor dear. I like your idea of only weighing once a month. After all that is the true picture since our bodies do fluctuate so much during that 30 or so days. I totally stay off my at home scales and only weigh once a week at meeting. And tomorrow I face the iron monster.

Catch ya'all later

[gma22]

Good morning to you all! Jack is on the mend and going to work this morning. He says the bottoms of his feet are sore from where they had swelled (this was another symptom of the immune thing) but that his cold is much better and it is breaking up.

I bought the neatest gift for my son and sil at Sharper Image online. It is this slim handheld batterycharger that had connections for your cell phone, lap top, etc and you can charge your car battery with it also. Well, none of my sil's electronics fit the connections so he wanted to return it to the local store here. Long story short, I contacted the online store to ask them if that could be done, got some stupid email the first time about a product I never even purchased, then this morning I see they responded that we should keep or dispose of it as we saw fit and they were issuing a credit. I guess they sold out of them and don't want them back. I bet they don't work for other people either, but to my opinion having a battery charger for just the car is nice oh and it has this heavy duty flashlight at the end. So, since we are taking Thomas to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday I am just going to pick it up and Jack can have it and we will get him something else. I need to find out if the same thing happened with my son and we will get the money back on that one too!

I got the yarn for my dd's sweater, more yarn for the blanket and yarn for my sister's sweater yesterday. I started my sister's sweater and it is going to be really cute. The all cotton yarn was a little difficult to work with on small needles as it kept slipping around, but once it changed to larger needles and garter stitch it made it easier.

Maggie: Truthfully, 30 years ago I already had a good start on being this way. My son was almost 10 lbs and I gained a ton of weight with him and I didn't have any guidance about taking apres baby weight off so I didn't. By this time I was pregnant with the second one and though I didn't gain as much weight, I didn't take off any after she was born either so, by this time I was probably 250 and adding just a couple lbs a year makes a lot of weight in the end.

Jean: How did the perm come out? I know sometimes it does ok and sometimes not. I am letting the gray just grow out in my hair to see what color my hair is totally. If I am not white haired, I will probably go back to coloring it. It is time for another haircut I noticed.

Well, Jack should be downstairs any minute so I better go.

Have a great day!

Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Hello, ladies!

Faye, I hope Jack gets to the bottom of his swelling problems soon...what a misery.

I love the SBD Pizza - whole wheat crust is very filling and toppings are good. 15 grams of fiber, too.

So far I am doing well with being back on plan - journaling everything everyday, going to Curves (I love it) at least 4 times a week, drinking 80 ounces of water. I know what to do, just every once in a while I have a senior citizen brain fa_rt and start eating large portions. I weigh every day, write it on my bathroom calendar. Actually, the National Weight Loss Registery says those who keep it off weigh daily and jump on it quickly. But we all have other ways to measure progress - eating better, exercising, drinking water...clothes feel looser, more energy, feeling better about ourselves.

Jean, I hope your perm came out just the way you want it. I haven't had one for years, keep it really short and spiked on top. Strawberry blonde. I'm tempted to let it grow out and see what color it is, but then I see the gray and run for the color.lol.

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

What a lovely day. The sun is shining and it is sprinkling and the rays are through the limb laden rain drops.

I am glad to report another pound down at WW today. Afterward we went shopping and picked up 3 flavors of water bottle inhancers. I like to use it in at least one of the bottles I drink each day. Also got a couple of those LQ mushroom pizzas, FAYE, and I am looking forward to eating one. Got some other things good for my program.

JEAN How did your hair turn out this go-round? Hope it isn't fried.

FAYE That gadget sounds like a great idea ~ to bad it didn't work for them. That weight has a way of sneaking up on us when we aren't focused doesn't it. We are going to have a good year you and me. Yeppers, down this road to thin we go just having a good ole time doing it.

SUSAN Sounds like you have a plan that works for you. Evidently it does because you have lost so much and are almost at goal. You do know how to do it. I salute you. Your hair sounds like mine except for the color ~ mine is Clairol #110 and spiked short. I love it this way ~ used to wear it long and have natural curls and now in my addage it is thinner and looks better short. In fact this is a hairdoo a lot like the one I wore when I was a life guard way back when.

Everyone have a lovely afternoon.

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! Well, one day down in the new semester. Study hall schedules are a mess as usual, attendance lists are not updated on the computers as usual, and no one knows for sure which PE class, opposite study halls, they have as usual. Once again I change rooms every hour although my schedule of rooms and whom I work with (teacherwise) is different from last semester. I spend no time in the BD room which is A-OK by me. I've decided that whatever happens this semester happens. It's actually pretty easy work for having my health insurance paid 100% and a $15,000 life insurance policy, IPERS, and paid holidays. I just have to keep reminding myself of the benefits from time to time.

Maggie -- I was making reference to excess weight problems. My mom always told me that it was easier to lose weight when your were young rather than to get it off as you got older. She was so right! I think the perm will be ok . . . I always feel like it is too short at first but it does grow. My hair is it's natural color . . . dark in the back and silver gray on top and sides. There are some lone dark hairs mixed in the gray which I think is kind of weird. I've had people ask my who colors my hair for me. That just tickles me no end!

"Gma" -- I will for sure know more about my perm tomorrow. I am supposed to wait until the second day to wash it. It always looks good when I leave the salon and she always tells me that it is so easy to work with. Yeah, right! I have two left hands when it comes to using a curling iron so don't even try. If I'm desperate I will use a roller to tame a stray curl or else I have a blow brush that works pretty well and it doesn't burn me. I'm glad Jack is feeling better again. The Christmas gift sounds like a neat idea -- too bad it didn't work.

Susan -- I'd say your diet plan has worked well for you and you have the evidence to prove it! I've never been brave enough to color my own hair. I did have it done once in the salon and it came out way too dark, faded fast, and I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Back then you weren't supposed to perm and color both, but I guess that is ok now because I know a couple teachers who do that. I must say that their hair isn't shiney and pretty.

I'm heading for bed early tonight. I played musical spots last night and felt like I hadn't slept much when it was time to get up. Have a fantastic Friday -- I love two day work weeks!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning gals! Sounds like everyone is doing fine! I am on day 4 and doing great! I got hungry after dinner (only had one pork tenderloin bbq and some bbq chips instead of before the usual 2 and something else fatty) so I went and got my sugar free, ff Twizzlers and had a serving of them. They are so nice and chewy they helped and I didn't eat anything else. My tummy was growling in bed, but looks like it survived ok!

I thought you would get a chuckle out of the cartoon at the bottom. Apropo for me, don't you think?

Jean: Maggie, Susan and I all have short spiky hair, we think you ought to get spikes too! I need a haircut but I have developed several cowlicks and the lady that cut it last did something so that I have had a lot of trouble with the front unless I glue it is place. Yes, I said glue. I use a product called hair glue and that is pretty much what it is! You put a dab in your hair, arrange it the way you want and when it dries, it won't move. Of course, you don't want to get romantic with it in, you could poke his eye out!

Susan: I am coming right along. I am determined to once and for all make this work. Tomorrow is Chuck E Cheese day and I am NOT having any of that nasty pizza. I am taking my own dressing and get salad from the salad bar if we eat there. We are going so early to beat the crowds that we are going to suggest to Thomas we can eat somewhere else afterward if he likes. I have cut down on my carbs, salt and sugar though I have not cut them out. I am keeping a food diary, though towards evening I forget to put the last meal in! I am only doing 20 minutes a day on the treadmill but I work it as fast as I can to get my heart rate up etc. So, I feel real confident about it all.

Maggie: Let me know how you like the pizza. I sure did enjoy it. I don't care much for healthy choice or WW frozen meals, but I do like several lean cuisine ones. I wish they would quit putting ginger in every darn asian one they make though. They put ginger in stuff the Chinese restaurants don't put ginger in. I don't like ginger except in cookies or gingerbread and since those are off limits for awhile..... I think I will be the lady in the red hat and purple purse you posted! I was going to go and walk outside today to do something different, but it is raining here again today so it is me, the treadmill and Neil Sedaka and Jim Croce again this morning.

I am almost halfway done with my sister's sweater. I found a mistake yesterday and had to rip rows and rows out and start them over, then read the directions wrong and ripped out some last night, but it is now coming right along. I am almost ready to do the decrease for the back arms. They put a cute pattern on the yoke and boy is it easy. You do a row of garter stitch where you knit one than yarn over then knit than yarn over, etc. The next row, you knit and drop the yarn over loop. It makes the stitches look stretched and kind of a lacy type thing. I just hope the sister likes it! I was going to get her a gift card, but found a lovely sterling silver necklace that would go wonderfully with the aqua sweater so think I will get that.

Well, I still have treadmill, dishwasher unloading and I need to start some housecleaning again today. Why does it keep coming back around???

Faye

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

A tad bit windy here in this bit of the country. It will tend to trim the dead branches off the trees. I am having a low point day so need to plan my day's food. So far for breakfast I did consume a small carton of orange yogurt and ate a boiled egg. I will boil some more afterwhile since I ate the last one. I like to keep some in the fridge. I am also going to mix up a batch of that hot coco since I am almost out if it.

JEAN get your hair spiked ~ A new look for 2007 for you and you won't need a perm.

FAYEThat cartoon is a hoot! YIKES deadly spikes! A gal has to do what she has to do though. I spray mine with Paul Mitchel's lite wax followed by a lite hair spray which makes it soft spikes but they stay put for sure and all come back when slept on. Ever listened to James Brown when exercising? I love "I feel GOOD" that he does. You go girl ~ here we are on Friday and still on program. Feels good to be back at it does't it. I have some of those WW Fruities that are like the old JuJu Bees like the dentist uses to remove crowns with now days. Anyway a whole pack is one point and I think I opened this pack a couple of weeks ago and it isn't even half gone yet.

Everyone have a lovely day.

[Maggie]

FAYE so much for telling me about that mushroom pizza. I just finished my lunch with that and some fruit and it was so delicious. I am so glad that I got two of them and now I don't want my freezer to be without so I'll get more when next shopping is done.

[Jean]

Happy Friday, Flowers! It's a cloudy day, but fairly warm and the snow is melting! We were supposed to get some rain this afternoon and we could use some if it doesn't get cold and freeze. We had a special ed. sub already today. I'm hoping the schedules are pretty well set and attendance will be on the computers come Monday . . . wishful thinking probably. The special ed. director has come up with this nifty (NOT! ) plan that we will do group work on vocabulary/oral reading the first 20 minutes of every study hall and then move on to homework completion for the last 20 minutes. I would say that 97% of these kids NEVER take a book home let alone do any homework at home. I can see the incomplete list growing by leaps and bounds. You can tell she doesn't sit in study halls with 4 different grade levels and with approximately 15 students in room. It will be interesting to see how the plan plays out.

"Gma" -- Many years ago I had my hair cut really short (over my ears) and decided I have UGLY ears so I've never had my hair that short again. My hair has some natural wave to it and I just don't think I would like the spike look on me. One of the aides has her's spiked and she lets it get too long before a haircut . . . looks like she just rolled out of bed. I noticed Amanda had some hair 'goo' called "Bed Head!" The cartoon is cute! We once had a cat that would lick anything made of yarn; I still have an afghan with a hole in it from where she licked it and I mended it. Bob had to make sure his socks were picked up or she'd drag one under the bed and lick it. She was a weird cat . . . we thought she was part dog because she would chase tennis balls outside and follow us to the neighbor's when we would go over for coffee. She'd wait by the door until we came out and then follow us back home.

Maggie -- The main reason I get a perm is to add some body to my hair. I just feel like I have more hair for some reason. Do the LG pizzas come in any other flavor? I must admit that I pretty much stick to the WW frozen dinners. When Bob was in Vietnam I overdosed on the original TV dinners so we don't often have them now. Once in awhile I get a fancy to make a pizza from scratch but that is very rare. Hmmm, pizza for supper is sounding better all the time!

I'm off to figure out what leftovers can be warmed up for supper. Maybe I'll make a grocery list and go tomorrow. I haven't been there since before Christmas; Bob picks up bread and milk on the way home from work.

Have a nice evening and a wonderful weekend!

Jean -- from Iowa!