[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! We had a two hour late start this morning; the wind was blowing like crazy and a light snow was falling. It is -2 right now . . . brrr! Tomorrow is ITED exams in the morning with an early dismissal at 11:30 for teacher in-service. Thursday morning is more ITEDs, normal afternoon, and then Friday!

"Gma" -- The sweater is beautiful! I like the buttons down the side; thanks for sharing the pictures with us.

Susan -- Congrats on getting your bp numbers down! Hopefully the rest will be lower too. I'm glad Stan is feeling better; he certainly ate a good breakfast!

Maggie -- Your dinner menu sounded yummy. I love leftover meatloaf.

I am off to bed. Have a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

It feels chilly here but the temp says 50 so there you go. The meatloaf will make good paninnis with low fat cheese and my pesto spread for lunch and some of that strawberry mousse. That is if there is any mousse left by then for Will just loves that stuff he might just eat it for breakfast. We watched part of a demo dvd from Cold Steel tonight and their use of the knives is very impressive. They sent that dvd with the latest catalogue, actully 2 dvd's with one of them being double sided. Good promo stuff. We go there when we go down south to our doctor for it is in the same county in a neighboring city ~ actually the same city where we get our motel room. We always get a motel because we take agg opp and don't want to impose him on any of our relatives.

JEAN Sounds like your week will be ending nicely. What kind of exams are ITED's. I don't think I am familiar with those initials. I think I guessed the first I to stand for Iowa.

Every one sleep easy.

[gma22]

Evening gals! I was so tired last night and fell asleep about 6:30 so am awake for an hour or so now. I balanced my check book and credit cards, cleaned the cat box, put away the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and fed the animals for the morning so all my chores are done except to dust upstairs later on in the morning.

Susan: It is nice to hear your BP is down and that Stan ate a good breakfast. You guys sure have had to ride a roller coaster these last couple years. I hope they can get him straightened out.

Our virus program warning for new stuff just popped up and it dings like a bell. Scared me to death!

Jean: Testing days are always such a pain because the kids think it is a get out of school day or something. It is chilly here too but nothing like yours. It is around 26 and windy, which makes it around 10 I think. It rained all day yesterday and I was worried about icing, but I checked outside and most of the deck is dry, just a couple puddle places that have iced over because of the standing water.
I appreciate the comments about the sweater. It didn't turn out like the pattern and I hope it isn't too big. I chose a medium size for the pattern and even used smaller needles than it called for to make sure of gauge, but it looks a little big to me. It is supposed to fit snug on the body and it definitely won't do that. It might be the type of yarn I used as it has some stretch in it, but the brand's style for the sweater has been discontinued so I had to substitute.

Maggie: Your meal and leftovers sound yummy. I am learning to cook without leftovers. It takes time when I get home from the grocery as I have to separate and bag up everything because of the portions in the meat packages, but that's ok. My problem is freezer space. We really should buy a small chest freezer to help with overages. My refrigerator freezer is jam packed right now with frozen lunches, smoothie fruits, frozen veggies, meat and the like. We had shrimp, oven fries and corn on the cob last night for dinner. Tonight is thin boneless pork loin chops, gr beans and roasted potatoes.

I guess I should go back to bed and try and get some sleep.

Have a great Wednesday everyone! Stay warm and dry if you can.

Faye

[Maggie]

FAYE
I like cooking at least 4 servings at a time because of the lack of freezer space we have in this motor home. When we lived in a house I used to not do this because I preferred to make a meal at a time, but now it is so much easier with what I have to work with. I am so glad that Will is one of those men that likes left overs. Some men just absolutely won't eat them, some women too I guess. Anyway we got to do what works for us. My little cross top freezer has mostly frozen fruit and some WW type frozen meals in it. A few pork chops and hamburger patties. Chopped veggies to make a quick stir fry and that sort of thing. It certainly doesn't hold much. But I deal.

I am off to bed now.

[QuilterInVA]

Looks like everyone slept in this morning and needs some brew to wake them up - it's 11:40 and 35 degrees with rain right now...and I just got another cup of coffee to drink while I wait for the UPS delivery man to get finished. I had to order lots of office supplies and building maintenance stuff yesterday.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Don't let the chocolate devil get you! Flowers are good,

[Jean]

Happy Valentine's Day, Flowers! We got out of school at 11:30 for teacher in-service; we had ITED testing all morning so the kids were more than ready to leave. I read out loud for over an hour and felt like I couldn't get enough water in me. Tomorrow we test again in the morning and have regular classes in the afternoon. Bob is coming home around 1 and we are going out for lunch since it is his birthday. He has a meeting at 5 and I have bell choir at 6; I'm sure the "nice" places to eat will be overflowing tonight.

Maggie -- Iowa Test of Educational Development = ITEDs. Personally, I think it is a new name for the Iowa Basic Skills tests we took as kids. As usual, some kids made designs on their answer sheets, while others tried to muddle through parts that they didn't understand. The principal wants the names of those who visibly weren't trying and he is going to make them take the tests over. That is a total waste of time in my humble opinion. Since we are on THE list for No Child Left Behind, having the ESL and special ed. students take the tests is pointless in getting off that list. It used to be that their scores were not included with the rest, but if they did that now, we wouldn't have many scores to turn in.

"Gma" -- You are a smart lady to have your chores done so early today! Your menus sound yummy!

Susan -- I had to chuckle at all of your coffee drinkers! I did have a cup at school which is unusual for me. Hope your day at work is a good one!

I'm off to do a load of laundry. Have a nice rest of the day and a terrific Thursday tomorrow!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

Happy Valentines Day Magnolias.

It is 11:30 here in sunny California. The sun is shining and there is a slight breeze with the temp just a degree under 50. Not much happening in this little burg. Will gave me the cutest little metal memo holder that is held closed with the pen. He said any time I need a refill he will furnish one plus when the pen quits he knows where he can get refills. A Valentine that keeps on giving.

SUSAN Thanks for the cup of coffee. I needed that! It is my first for the day and I am totally enjoying it.

JEAN Is that how that "No Child Left Behind" works? I didn't realize that they could take the test over. Or is the principal just padding the score that way?

Have a lovely day Magnolias.

[gma22]

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! Hope you and your honeys' have a great one! Jack took me out to dinner on Saturday night so we wouldn't have to deal with the crowds. It was also our "dinner out" for the month where we didn't count points. He and I talked about it and decided to combine the two. We went out to Corky's for bbq.

The only thing fattening Jack ever buys me for Valentine's Day is chocolate covered strawberries from Dinhstahls. They are killers and best left in the store so none for me this year.

Susan: Actually, I was up at 5:00 with Jack. It makes for a long day, but I am not all that tired this afternoon. I had the upstairs bathrooms to clean and some dusting then I knit most of the day. I have two of my sweaters going now.

If you folks are dvd watchers, rent "The Illusionist." It is a great movie. I watched it yesterday afternoon. I put it in thinking I would knit while it was on, but got so engrossed by it, I put the knitting down so I wouldn't miss a minute. It is a really good movie, especially if you like magic (not witchcraft, illusionary magic.)

Well, I guess I am going to work some more on those sweaters. Jack will be home in about an hour so I have to start dinner around 3. Have a good afternoon everyone!

Faye

[gma22]

Good morning gals! It is chilly here this morning. We got a smattering of snow yesterday morning, but it was gone as quickly as it fell. It is 24 here, which is quite chilly for this part of the country.

My sister called yesterday saying she was bored. She works for the city schools and they were out because Tuesday they got hit with a snow storm and have 3 feet of snow! I see they are expecting more today so she may still be home. I talked to her for a long time about WW stuff. She used to go and quit because of the expense. I told her she should at least follow the program even if she couldn't afford going to the meetings any longer. She lives alone now with her husband in a nursing home so she can eat however she wishes. She lost about 40 lbs but has put it all back on. I don't know why we do that to ourselves. If we could just learn to stay with what works and consider it the way we will eat for the rest of our lives, instead of a quick fix between point A and B. I truly believe that the only ones that ever keep the weight off are those who have learned to eat in a certain way forever, be it WW, South Beach, fat and cal counting, whatever. It really must be a lifestyle change. That's not to say you can't whoop it up a bit occasionally, but overall you have had to change everything about how and what you eat, when, where, everything and make it permanent and routine for you. I think that is why WW works for me. It gives me freedom, but it also reigns me in with portion control etc. You learn you can actually live without second helpings, or with 2 oz pasta instead of an overflowing plate full and still be satisfied. Making enough for Jack and I for one serving apiece instead of fixing a whole bag of something etc.

Tomorrow is weigh in so we shall see how I did this last week. I missed a couple extra days walking so hope that doesn't mess it up too much.

You gals have a great day and stay warm!

Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Hi, ladies! Had to take my husband to outpatient infusion theraphy for his iron infusion theraphy this morning so my day seems long and it's only lunch tume. I have to go back around 2 to get him. I just hope this does the trick and he gets to feeling better. It hard and scary to see him getting weaker by the day.

Good luck on your weigh in, Faye! I get weighed and measure tonight if I make it to Curves, otherwise tomorrow.

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It has been a lazy afternoon. I haven't gotten much accomplished except some correspondence taken care of. I showed a tad of a gain today at WW which was 4 tenths of a pound. An ounce under 1/2 pound. I am putting that behind me and am determined to keep my FOCUS and show a loss next weigh in. I put a roast in the crock pot this morning before leaving along with some small red potatoes and a packet of dry onion soup and a 1/4 cup of water. It is just after 4:30 right now and the odor is a killer. It smells sooooo good. I am going to make some biscuits and green salad with roma tomatoes and a (undecided as of yet) veggie for dinner.

FAYE You are so right that we have to make this reduction in eating a way of life. We must change our old habits for good new ones and continue with the new ones or we will gain it all back and I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT!

SUSAN I certainly hope this infusion helps your husband and he gets some strength back. {{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}} for you. You must be having quite anount of stress during this time. Take care of yourself.

Have a lovely evening Magnolias

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! It was kind of a strange day at school today. We did more testing in the morning and then went on our regular schedule at noon. One of the teachers gave a health test -- the kids hadn't studied so I'm sure the ones I read to failed it. I thought it was dumb to give a test this afternoon anyway.

Maggie -- I'm not sure if a student can take the test over again or not; perhaps it is a scare tactic that the principal thinks will work. He also uses the scores to determine student center privileges and open campus for next year. We've had a lot of students out sick so it will be a challenge to get them made up. At least we don't have to read the make-up tests. I'm sorry about the tiny gain, but know you will keep your focus and have it gone in no time.

"Gma" -- You are wise to get your chores done first and then enjoy your knitting and TV time. Are you still working on your own sweater?

Susan -- I sure hope the iron therapy works for Stan. Both of you deserve a break after all that you've been through.

I need to pick up before I head off to bed. Have a fantastic Friday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all! It is chilly out this morning, but we are going to have a nice warming trend and it is supposed to get up to 50 today and keep climbing into next week. They are predicting in the 60's next week, which is great! Looks like overnight temps will rise into the 40's. Maybe this is a move toward spring, I sure do hope so.

I got two pair of sandals yesterday from Land's End and boy are they comfortable. I put one pair on and walked around the house in them all evening to see if they would bother my feet, but it was like walking on air. The other pair, which are this pretty tourquoise suede, are just as comfortable. They are a thong type, but have a strap around the back. I have trouble keeping thong sandals on my feet sometimes.

Susan: I hope the infusion did the trick and Stan starts to feeling better. Hope your weigh in went well yesterday. As usual, I am nervous about mine, but I stayed within points and exercised 5 out of 7 days so I should lose a smidge anyway.

Jean: Do you guys get off Monday for Presidents' Day? Jack is off and we have a plumber coming in and fixing out leaky bathtub faucet, AGAIN. It is the only faucet we have problems with and it seems every few months we have to have someone come in and fix it. Jack has neither the knowledge nor the tools to do so. He once tried in our bathroom and wrecked the whole thing so I make him leave plumbing stuff alone. I am coming along on both tops, the peach one and the ribbon top. I haven't started the blue ribbon one yet. I put the ribbon top on circular needles and am knitting it in one piece until I get to the division for the arm holes than will take half the stitches off and put them on straight needles and knit up to the shoulder bind off, then take the other stitches off and knit the other half
until the shoulder bind off, then sew up the shoulder seams and it is done. It is so much easier doing anything on circs if you can because the weight of the yarn is distributed on the needles and wire and not hanging weight from the straights. I am going to do the blue ribbon top the same way and if I had thought about it, should have put the peach top on circs too, but it is coming along ok. I do one then get bored and do the other.

I noticed we have a new airline that is going to be flying out of Memphis starting in May. Frontier Airlines is going to be making flights out of Memphis starting in May. I think they will have three flights to Las Vegas and one flight is supposed to be a none stop. There is only one nonstop flight to Vegas and that is with Northwest and they don't leave until 7:30 PM and you get in around midnight! We took that flight when Jay and Alicia got married and it was delayed 2 hours because of weather in Vegas and boy was that ever a long day. By the time we got our luggage, bought shuttle tickets and rode from hotel to hotel delivering other passengers, with ours being almost last, I think it was 2 am or something like that. We hadn't had dinner because the stupid restaurants and fast food places in the airport closed early so we were starving. We ate in the hotel 24 hour cafe, but I remember being so tired I almost couldn't eat. That wasted a whole day and the next day it rained all day so we stayed at our hotel and that wasted another day of vacation for us. We learned to go ahead and rent a car so we could go where we liked no matter the weather.

Maggie: Keep at it and those lbs will come off. The closer you are to goal, the harder it gets. You consistently cook good healthy meals so you will get there.

Well, Jack will be up in just a few minutes so I need to unload the dishwasher and go upstairs and make the bed.

Keep your fingers crossed I have a loss! lol

Faye

[gma22]

I had my weigh in and I am down another 2 lbs so I got my 10 lb ribbon today!

Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Doing the happy dance for Faye! Congratulations on the loss and getting your ribbon.

I lost 2 pounds this week as well. So far, since December 13 I am down 7 pounds and 6 inches and have lost 2% of my body fat (which comes out to 4.67 pounds). I know my clothes are fitting a whole lot better and I'm feeling great.

Everything went well for Stan yesterday, now just to wait and see if it helps.

Weekend = laundry, clean house, go grocery shopping, go to fabric store and get stuff for quilting classes, go to Curves on Saturday...life is just too busy anymore!

Have a good weekend, ladies - type at you Monday!