[gma22]

We talked so much yesterday I have to start a new thread!

Gloria: Yes, my birthday was Sept 28th. This is the worst half of the year for us with regards to birthdays and such. Our grandson's is June 25th, then dd's anniversary is July 12, then dil's bday is the 21, then Aug 16 is sil's bday, then my birthday then dh is Oct 10, son's is Oct 22, dd's is Nov 16 and our anniversary is Nov 18. We then have Thanksgiving and Christmas so I always say we are broke from June on!

I am doing quite well on my program and really like the Ediets so I am glad I went with them before ordering Nutrisystem. I talked to a couple other people who said the same thing about the food, most was not very tasty. I figure if you are paying $310 a month you should have food that tastes good! Besides, I also found out you have to "add" everything. For example, if they send you a hamb patty, it is without a bun so you have to buy those, if you want cereal of course you have to provide the milk, it includes no veggies or fruit or anything with the entrees so there again you have to add stuff so all in all, your grocery bill/Nutrisystem food combo just for yourself could be $400. With the e-diets, you have a lot more choice AND the coolest thing is if you have a meal that you don't like on their menu choice for the week, jut hit a button and it changes or hit the fast food button and you can pick from a variety of ff restaurants in a list with a list of food that is equal in fat and cal to your menu selection. For example, say you don't have time for breakfast at home, well you click on ff and it might give you a Burger King croissant for breakfast as a choice instead, etc.

I am going to have lay off the walking for a couple days. I don't know how, but I did something to my bad knee and it is really hurting. Guess I will do some weights and sit down exercises for a couple days to see if it improves. Funny thing, I don't remember slipping, turning it or anything to make it hurt this way. It is acting like it does when I dislocate it, very stiff and sore and achy. Who knows?

Well gals, I have to post at my other thread and get it going this morning.
Have a great day!

Faye

[GailR]

Jean! FOUR grandchildren?! I'd ask how that happened but...well...never mind! I remember when my Amanda was born and you couldn't wait to be a grandma! Now you have surpassed me in numbers! Looooove being a grandma! Glad to hear you now have heat where you work at. It seems the university can never get it quite right when it comes to heating and cooling in the building where I work. Right now all is well. It's raining also in my neck of the woods. I feel as though it's been raining for eons now. Rain started waaay back last week and it hasn't stopped yet! I think someone said something about you having a birthday? Is it today? If so...as Maggie says, HIPPO BIRDIES to you! ...and I had a feeling you would be shocked to see me here after all this time...SURPRISE!

Faye, happy belated birthday to you! Or would that be HIPPO LATE BIRDIES to you! I will say this that Nutrisystem is a lot cheaper than Jenny Craig! I was paying on average each week between $95 and $105 a week for food there and I still had to buy dairy, fruit and veggies! BUT...I loved the JC food. And I miss the blueberry streusel muffins and a lot of other things. I'm sure that ediets will work for you--I remember that feature too! I'm such a copy cat that I went looking on ediets.com and am now thinking I may join that in the near future. Maybe. I have a tendency to change my mind a lot. <having a light bulb moment> Perhaps that is the reason I never stick with one diet plan long enough to lose ALL of the weight. And by the way, I have more weight to lose than just that 50 lbs. down in my signature. But "50" is such a nice round number...

Sharon, I know you chuckle but Santa Cruz still sounds "glamorous" to me! The Pacific Coast sounds exotic to me. I'd love to stick my foot in the Pacific Ocean one day before I die. Wayne and I love sitting on a deck/beach watching the ocean and waking up to the sound of surf pounding the shore. When we were in St. Thomas for Heather's wedding we'd stare at that beautiful blue water for hours. We just couldn't take our eyes off it. Yeah...we're easily entertained!

Maggie, in July we have one birthday party for all the July Birthday Babies in my family--we have four that celebrate. Sometimes we go to Bob Evans for breakfast to celebrate. I love eating breakfast out! We just found out that a new Bob Evans restaurant is being built about 5 minutes away from us and Wayne got all excited! (We're easily pleased.)

Gloria, I think I posted a few times a loooong time ago but that's alright if you don't remember me. And don't feel badly about my weight loss. I've been a yo-yo and the past year (or more) I've regained a lot of my weight back due to a lot of complications in my life but I'm back on track and I must say it feels really good to be in control. Just hang in there!

Well...last night was a real challenge for me. Not food-wise...but technically challenged that is. Right after Wayne and I finished the family room down in the basement, we went out and bought one of those HDTV's. We get our television through DirecTV satellite. The technician came out Tuesday to upgrade our tv reception to HD. It worked...for a day. Wayne woke up yesterday morning and nothing worked. He rebooted the satellite and was able to get some of our channels back. But then he got a tad annoyed and phoned me at work and ASKED (nicely...pleadingly) me to handle it when I got home. Handling it meant that I was supposed to phone DirecTV and work with them. Ya' know how that is...we all have our limits to how much we can handle...so I went home yesterday evening (DH and I are on different work schedules by the way for those who don't know) and I spent almost 90 minutes on the phone with Advanced Technical Support to find out the problem is with our remote control. So they are Fed Exing a new one to us and then I get to phone them back and go through a series of clicking buttons (and jumping through hoops it seems) to program it. Oh what fun. <she said that with sarcasm> I'll get through this. I know I will. But technology is moving to quickly for me. Thank goodness for the calming effects of knitting!

Well, it's taken me awhile to type this post--I'm at work and I should be working... As I work I'll think of a short-term goal for weight loss. A Christmas Goal perhaps?

[Sharon]

Just a quick check in for me. Bill and I are going out to lunch in a few minutes. I am down another pound. I am so excited. It brings me so close to a major goal of mine.

Gail, you know you have a place to stay and a tour guide if you ever make it out here. :

Got to run.

[GailR]

Congratulations Sharon! IF I ever get to the west coast....

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

On the way home from WW when we stopped for gas (down a few cents BTW) I got a bottle Perrier to sip on the way home. Then we went to pick up our mail we went on down to my favorite place to get a sugar free fat free vanilla latte ~ oh yum do I love those. He makes them nice and hot for me also. I am down this week and love being a looser.

FAYE I wish you well with the e-diet system. I have heard it is a good system and I hope it works for you. OUCH with that knee. You know that I don't have to do anything at all for mine to start hurting either. May be atmospheric changes that causes it for all I know. At least ~ knock on wood ~ both of my knees don't hurt at once. Hope yours feels better soon.

GAIL I have more than 50 to lose (as you know) and decided to do my goals in chunks. Shivver ~ OH Now I know why we don't have a TV. I have to hand it to you to be able to figure out the problems though. Your good! HEY when you do come to the Pacific coast I want to know when because I will beat a path to Sharons to meet you. I hope to meet Sharon before that though and we can both come meet you at the airport. BTW do you have one of those thermomiters from Dottie that you can track your weight loss on that is a little program like her points finder?

SHARON That is great that you are down a pound. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU Make good choice and enjoy your meal out. Have another good week.

JEAN Hippo birdies two ewe. Hope your day has gone well at work. I know you will peek in when you get home. See ya! Are you doing anything special tonight?

[nanacas]

A quick post. Just had to join in with a HIPPO BIRDIE to you.

Also CONGRATULATIONS to all you 'losers'.

We have cable, internet via our local electric company and although we don't have HDTV two DD's do and the company will send someone out to either set up or correct a problem. It is nice dealing with local people!

Got my windows done today and it feels warmer and quieter already. Yeah! That is until Spring!!!!

Our family birthdays are quite spaced out....2 in Jan., 2 in Feb., 1 in Mar.,2 in April, 1 in May, 1 in June, 2 in July, 3 in Aug., 2 in Nov. & 2 in Dec. The Annivs. are June, Aug., Sept., and Oct. So we have really spread it around.
That is 4 Kids, 3 in-laws, and 9 gks. Broke year round.

'See' you later. Gloria

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!! It's been a beautiful day in my neighborhood! After the cold and rain it is most welcome. It was a good day at school and we get out at 1:30 tomorrow for the Homecoming Parade. Next week will be back to a 'normal' routine, I hope!

"Gma" -- When I have some time to myself, I'm going to check out the Ediets site. I've heard others say that they like that program too. Good luck! I'm sorry to hear about your knee and hope it is very temporary!

Gail -- Thanks for the birthday greeting. We have a digital cable box and one of the cats stepped on the remote which put some sort of message into the box and we couldn't get anything -- sound or picture. I suggested calling tech support and got THE look . . . I was busy doing something else while DH was unplugging and plugging in the box then frantically pushing buttons. The parental control announcement came on wanting to know the ID number and I kept telling him we didn't have one because we didn't turn on the parental control option! He finally did call and the tech said right away that he could tell DH had been trying different ID #s! He finally did get the picture back after jumping through the hoops over the phone. Of course it was all MY #^&*!@ cat's fault!

Sharon -- Congrats on another pound gone forever! Come back when you can stay longer.

Maggie -- Thank you for the birthday greetings also! I don't know where the days go but they sure seem to disappear too quickly . . . and the weeks, months, years too! I went back to read about the bull story -- scary!

Gloria -- As long as you are in the window cleaning mode . . . head westward! Our's are all spattered again because we've had rain which we do need. Thank you for the hippo birdie greeting!

I need to pick up some clutter so I can see the counters in the morning. Have a fantastic Friday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning gals! Nice and cool this morning without being cold. No walking for me for one more day though. I will just do some upper body stuff again I guess. I am hoping the ole knee with right itself in a day or two like it usually does when I am having trouble.

Jean: A BIG HIPPO BIRDIE to you! Hope you had a great one!

Sharon: CONGRATULATIONS ON THE LOSS! Good for you!

I was looking at this stuff for Halloween and came upon a recipe for carmel apples that I am going to try. I have snacks/drinks for T's soccer game the 24th so thought I would make them. You just melt the carmels with water in microwave and dip them, then roll in crushed Butterfingers. Sounds yummy and I bet the kids would love them. If I get industrious, maybe I will make a few "adult" one with choc chips, nuts, drizzled white choco to share with the parents that come etc. Sort of a cheapo Mrs Prindables if you have ever hear of them.

Well girls, I have chores that are calling me. Today is dust and vacuum the upstairs so better get at least to the dusting until a little later then will vacuum when I know my neighbor has left for work.

Faye

[the slim me]

Hi, can I junp in and say hello? I'm a "mema" too, and there aren't a lot of sites for us ladies of a more advanced age. I don't know who every one is yet, but is sounds like a interesting, caring group. Freda

[gma22]

Freda: It is always good to have more ladies to talk to!

Wow, Jean, you and I must be wearing our deodorant as all our ladies are back and then some! How cool is that?

[GailR]

Good morning! TGIF! With any luck I'll be able to leave at 3:30 today!

I had a great evening last night...no, no, no...the new remote control for the downstairs tv has not arrived yet...but it was a great night--no snacking. I did some chores, moved some furniture in my bedroom (brought in a nice chair from the guest room) and did some knitting. I'm trying to finish up some projects before some yarn comes in the mail. I have a lot of projects in my future. I'm going try my hand at lace knitting this winter.

Maggie, CONGRATULATIONS on another loss! Makes you feel empowered doesn't it? I'm at a standstill right now and if I don't lose anymore by Monday or Tuesday, I may have to resort to going back to an official WW meeting for added motivation. I do not want to regain any of the weight I've just recently lost. Now that I'm getting over this respitory infection I'll start walking on the treadmill again. I'm sure that will help. IF I ever get to the west coast I'll let you know. I know what you're talking about--that thermometer at Dotti's site. I've never downloaded that. But that is a thought. I have used her points finder at work though.

Faye, I meant to say something to you about your knee. I certainly hope you are start to feel better. I'm a real baby when it comes to any kind of pain. That dusting and vacuuming can wait you know...just stop if you start to feel bad.

Freda, welcome! Just join right in! Anytime!

Jean, you know exactly what I'm taling about talking to those technical support people! I feel like I do everything except standing on my head when I talk to them. But one thing I've got to say for the people I've talked with they have the patience of Job!

Gloria, I need to wash windows. I need to do a lot of things around the house come to think of it. My parents are coming up for a visit next weekend so this weekend I will be doing a lot of cleaning. You know--doing that "company cleaning" thing.

Sharon, whatcha' doin' today?

Okay...break is over...gotta go get some work done...

[Sharon]

Good Morning!

Faye, I guess I missed you saying your knee was giving you trouble. I hope it is better today. The older I get, the more I hurt. My knee has gotten better since I have lost some weight.

Gail, I hate talking to techs. Bill and I usually have a discussion has to who has to call. It sounds like you had a good evening. I don't have any big plans. Pick up some ceramics and the ceramic place. Go to a couple of stores to price food for the next dinner. Did I tell you that Bill is doing another dinner? This is for the VFW chapter. They are going to be broke by the end of the year and need to bring in some money. This one is tri tip, salad, potatoes, beans and cake. I think they will have a lot more help.

Freda, welcome!!

Faye, I love carmel apples. They have some wonderful candy and fudge shops on cannery row in Monterey that carry some very different carmel and candy apples. Guess I will stay away from them when we are there.

Jean, One of our kittens stepped on the off switch on the power bar behind our TV. I was alone. Should have seen me trying to move the TV to turn the thing back on.

Gloria, I have too many birthdays in the next two months. Grandaughter is Nov. 30, DIL is Nov. 2nd, Grandson is Dec 23rd. $$$$$$$$$

Maggie, I did make some good choices. We went to Chilis. They have their guiltless plates. I had a chicken sandwich and they served a huge portion of perfectly cooked broccoli and shredded carrots with it. Very, very good. I like it better than Applebees meals. Much less salt. This weekend will be more of a trial.

Guess I had better get some stuff done. Talk to you later.

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

FREDA just come on in and join the group. We would love to hear from you OFTEN. Come when you can for we are really a good group of folks to have as cyberfriends.

I slept in! OH Ragg Mopp tried to get me up but I didn't budge. Little scudder thought I should be up and at em but I can't figure out why. Cowboy was up and he had been taken care of. Today is a very low point day so I am playing it safe and easing into the day. Right now I am enjoying my coffee which is toasted almond ~ black ~ in my tall stainless beaker with a couple little straws. Nothing could be finer to wake a person up. The coyotes were areound real close last night and disturbed mysleep. They said it was supposed to be getting cooler ~ a coolint trend I believe they said ~ then why is it supposed to get to 92 today! OH well we take it as it comes because we can't change it.

GLORIA storm windows. I remember storm windows and how they make the room warmer. It is that time of year back where you are to get prepared for winter. Do you have a fireplace or stove you burn wood in? I remember we had one of those stoves that had a catalitic converter in it. Put nice warmth in the room.

JEAN that is a hoot what that kitten did. I remember when Turn typed a message and saved it! It was in cat language and I couldn't read it but I found it saved in my documents.

FAYE hope that knee gets better SOON. Girlfriend that is the neatest avitar for you ~ where did you ever find it? If I ever run across any Luch stuff I'll send it your way. Those apples sound just too good. Do you partially cook the apples first or just dip em? I think it would be fun to dip those little red ones. I found a points friendly candy apple recipe using red hots I believe which makes them only 4.5 points each. The carmel apple recipe I have counts a hefty 11.5 points per apple. They sure do turn out pretty and the folks love them too.

GAIL I hope you do get to leave early today. Makes your weekend a tad bit longer to do what you want to do. CONGRATULATIONS on the no snacking! That is the one thing that we can do to help our programs. No snacking in the evening. Last night Cowboy said he would pop some microwave corn (which is only 1 point) and I love popcorn but thought about it a minute and I wasn't hungry. I told him if he wanted it he could go ahead and pop it but I didn't care for any. Every point counts. I use Dotti's points finder all the time to figure my recipe points I get out of Cooking Light magazine. I think WW made her remove it from her sight though. Wasn't it her husband that made those programs? Talented guy.

SHARON that was a good choice at Chilis. I think I have had that very sandwich and it was GOOD. They know how to cook their broccoli. There is a place in Texas ~ Good Eats ~ that makes the best steamed broccoli of anywhere with lemon on it. Applebees is good but not to rave about. I am glad that they did make some WW friendly choices though but I had rather go to the Sizzler. Cannery Row.... interesting place. I like the Cannery in Sosaleto ~ shops. Have fun on your trip to the coast. Hope the VFW gets some money in their coffers with that dinner.

The day is marching on and here I sit. Guess I should find something yummy and low points for breakfast. I have some of those little 1 point apples and Ragg Mopp waits patiently for the core.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's been a beautiful 81 degree day in my corner of the world and a gorgeous day/night for a homecoming parade and game. I remember some where the snow was flying and we were bundled up in winter coats. We got out at 1:30 but I stayed to clean up my piles and we had to basically strip the room of anything a junior high kid might want to 'borrow.' We even locked the keyboards and mice up! The junior high all state try-outs are tomorrow so they will be in and out of our classrooms. Next week is the high school try-outs so we'll have to put everything away again. The kids are supposed to be supervised at all times, but we all know how that works.

The doorbell just rang and the florist delivered a 'goldfish' plant and a sympathy card from our vet. The card is a tear jerker for sure. I still look for Maggie in her favorite spots.

"Gma" -- I had to at your deodorant comment! It's so nice to have more people posting again. You can come and dust my house if you run out of dust!

Freda -- Welcome to the Steel Magnolias! My college roommate lives in Troy, MI. Where are you? I live in the northwest corner of Iowa with my DH and two fur people. I'm an "only" and was also an only grandchild and niece on my mom's side of the family. I wasn't spoiled either! Post often so that we may get to know you and you will come to know us. We all have weight issues/thoughts to share with one another and would love to have you join us.

Gail -- I've found the isp techs are really patient. I was pretty DUMB when I first got online -- I still do some dumb things but at least I know what they are talking about when they tell me to click on something here or there. I like your little row of colorful houses! My hardest "snack" time is when I get home from school and especially if Bob is going to be late getting home to eat. I don't think that ever gets any easier either.

Sharon -- When the phone rings in the evening, we'll look at each other and I'll say, "that sounds like a Bob ring!" He always says, "no, I can tell it's a Jean ring!" Usually it ends up being a telemarketer of some sort. I'm usually the one who forgets to bring the cordless along when we settle in to watch TV and each have a cat on our lap. Does Bill get to choose the dinner menu or do the people putting the dinner on get to choose. This one sounds good! I hate to cook so that would be super for me! He must be good since you do so many. I've never eaten at Chili's but will be on the lookout for one the next time we travel. It sounds good and I like Applebee's too.

I need to get some laundry started so better keep moving. May you all enjoy nice weather and a relaxing weekend!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[GailR]

I did end up leaving work at 3pm today. I was able to get a lot of my errands done so I can...run more errands but at least I'll be with DH and we'll be hanging out together. A $100 gift card came in the mail from Sears yesterday (a refrigerator we bought from Sears for the kitchenette/bar area downstairs was delivered with a small dent on the side which no one can see as it is up against a wall but the deliverymen put the call in for the gift card for us) so I went on a little shopping spree. I bought a lot of glassware for downstairs--I think we have enough glasses of all shapes and sizes to last us a lifetime now. Plus, I bought a few other things we needed plus something for the grandkids. One of the things I got for free was the new Cinderella DVD that just came out. I went to the mall (it was on my way home) and ate dinner in the food court and I did pretty good. Then off to the grocery store. And now I'm home! Relaxing.

Jean, a neat feature the satellite company gives us is an on-screen caller id. I love it! If I don't recognize the phone number or the caller I'll let it go on to voice mail. For the last 4 weeks I've been fighting a severe case of sinusitis and my taste and appetite are not what it normally is...and that is a good thing. I'm still eating meals--I'm tracking points and everything--but the one thing I'm not normally doing is snacking at night. I hope it keeps up. Perhaps I'm forming a new habit. Wouldn't that be great?! I'm sorry about your pet--I take it you had a pet (dog?) pass away? That was very nice of your vet. I remember when our golden retreiver passed away, our vet phoned us to check up on him (he had been very sick and was at the vet's office weekly towards the end) and he felt so badly when I told him he had passed away that very day. I was touched that his staff and he sent us a condolence card. A little kindness goes such a long way, doesn't it? We still miss Toby. It's very difficult when we lose a pet--they are very much a part of the family.

I wanted to sleep in so badly this morning, Maggie. It was very difficult for me to get out of bed! I started waking up around 3am and couldn't get back to sleep so I read for about 40 minutes. I finally went back to sleep and then it seemed it was no time before the alarm went off! I started drinking coffee through a straw about a year ago--ever since I heard it would help keep the coffee from staining my teeth. And I love anything vanilla in my coffee. Just loooove Dunkin' Donuts French Vanilla coffee.

Sharon, you'll love this--I'm handling the HDTV and DirecTV and DH is going to handle the new cordless telephones we're buying this weekend. I told him if I have to mess with one more thing with one ounce of programming I'd probably go out in the backyard and scream and scare the geese flying over our house! Right now my house is in a mess (Wayne is painting upstairs now) and with my parents coming to visit next week I'm feeling a little...anxious. You know how I want things PERFECT when they come up. I get a little obsessed you might say. And the funny thing is Mom really doesn't care! But I do!!! And on top of that Wayne has painted about 6 different patches of beige on the wall--trying to figure out which color we like the best. It looks really funny. Thankfully, both of us picked the same shade of beige--it's called Pale Oak (Benjamin Moore paint). His plan is to have most of the painting done--he's a tad slow (he's fussy) by the time they arrive next Friday.

Well. I guess I'll go and settle in with the book I'm reading right now. Perhaps I'll do a little knitting. Maybe I'll just go to bed!!!