South Beach Diet - Thursday's Chick Chat

Good Morning,

We're into the dog days of summer, another hot, sticky day is looming ahead of us here. I could never figure out why they call them "dog days"? :shrug:

I'm supposed to have the morning off, and I plan to get the bedrooms freshened up for Caitlyn and Carley. My DD is bringing them out this afternoon, and they'll be staying with us through Monday. I should run by the grocery store, too. I'd like to bring the girls over here to wait for them, but Audrey has a piano lesson at 5, and afterwards Cindy said to drop the girls off with her at polo, so it may not be convenient, since both the piano teacher and polo are about 45 minutes in the opposite direction of my house. Oh well, I'll figure out something.

How's your day shaping up?

Morning, dog days came from dogs laying around and not doing anything. It is to hot for people to want to do anything so they lay around like a dog. Not to bad here; has been in the 80's. Think I am going to steam clean screens today. Yes, I have an exciting life :)

Has anyone seen my coffee??

Cottage, you're going to have so much fun with Caitlyn and Carley. Got any special activities planned?

Shy Moment, good luck with those screens!

Me, well, went to that class yesterday with the 2 lbs. pilates balls. It was 75 minutes, but kept a pretty relaxing pace. There are pieces of me that are sore this morning, but nothing unbearable. We worked our upper bodies quite a bit, which is what I needed. There was one great ab move...standing with feet hip distance apart, hold a ball in each hand and trace one big horizontal figure-8 with them. It really hits those obliques!

I also got a call yesterday from that ad firm I interviewed with in July. They want me to come back in for a second interview today. Please send more positive thoughts my way!

Everyone have a lovely day!

oooo Betty...crossing apendages for you!!..an ad firm..that's great!!
Cottage, how about just getting a taxi license? busy lady!
Shy, that's a good job to get behind you! I need to replace a few screens on my house..for some reason, the previous owners used some kind of weird "striped" "ribbed" screen on some windows.



It is hot as hades here already. Stormed again last night and the steam is coming off the bricks on my patio already. Smothering, humid heat!!

I got up at 3 and got a lot of work done so I can hopefully play in the garden for a few minutes if I don't keel over out there.

I had a real break through on some genealogy research yesterday. Won't bore you with the details, but I was on cloud nine yesterday after I found a particular document from 1859 in Tampico Mexico. I have a mystery I've been working on for many, many years and this document sheds some light on the mystery. My cousin and I have gone nuts trying to get a lead on one particular ancestor and his son and this opens up a new door for us. It seems they may have gone from New Orleans to Tampico (http://margaretmedia.com/mexico-creole/connection.htm) for a few years before the Civil War and perhaps afterwards too..still a mystery, but every puzzle piece helps.

Going to defrost some of my shrimp stash to grill today. yum.

Yawnnnn... I hope DH will make me a cup of coffee. I'm too tired to do it myself. I'm waiting for my neighbor to pick me up for our walk. Hot and icky here too. Last night wasn't too bad, but sleeping tonight will not be easy. Another day of work and housechores. I promised DS he could have a sleepover tonight. The kids haven't had many friends over since we had my niece here as company, so now they are eager to make up for lost time.
cottage - have a fun time with all the girls.
Betty, I'm sending some luck your way.
femme, I'm still jealous of your shrimp stash. I love all seafood, but shrimp and blue crabs are my favorites. I did some genealogy a few years ago. It was fun and time consuming! I did trace my family name back to pre-Rev war times.
shy, my life is just about as exciting as yours, but I think you may be the better housekeeper. I've never steam cleaned my screens..

Have a good one chicks! The weekend is almost here.

Oh, Cat. What fun! You'll have to keep us updated on what you find out! Tom has traced his lineage on his dad's side back to William the Conqueror. Crazy!

Betty, congrats on the second interview. I hope it turns out to be more of what you were looking for. I remember you saying you didn't think that all of your talents would be used, but maybe they're looking to expand their horizons? Good luck!

Rennie, have fun with your screens! Sounds like quite a day, indeed!

Linda, I hope your day with the girls is loads of fun!

Tom got home from work today and said that he had his yearly physical this afternoon. The doc said his cholesterol is spot-on perfect, which is excellent news since his dad has a history of heart issues. His blood pressure was a bit high but he said he was nervous. I was so excited about him getting great reports, because I'm the one who feeds him, so I must be doing an OK job!

I have a weird rash that developed tonight on my hips and across my belly and another patch in the center of my back. I have no clue what it's from - same soap, same laundry detergent, no new foods. It's not itchy so that's good at least. I had an awful bout with hives when Connor was about Avery's age - had an allergic reaction to amoxycillan so bad that my face swelled up and I actually fainted from the itchiness. I don't just faint, so that was a big deal (three all natural childbirths with no screaming or anything, and I faint from itchiness!). I'm hoping this doesn't get that bad. Especially because we'll be cooped up on a 17 hour plane ride in four days!

Any ideas or remedies???

Kara

I thought "dog days" had something to do with the time of year when you would see mad dogs, so I looked it up. Here's the def from wikipedia:

The term "Dog Days" was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun.

Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" (from Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813).

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Hey Schmoodle. Simul-posted with ya! Hope you get your coffee in and have a good walk!

Kara

Oh, that's sad. My dog is brown (chocolate lab).

Kara

Morning Ladies:
I had an epiphany last night! I'm eating lately to fill empty space. so one new habit I'm enacting today is I have to write my emotions down before I eat so I know if I'm hungry or just bleh If I'm bleh water or tea!

So Tired! I went to bed after 1 and got up at 6:15 we had to take DH's mom to the train station so I GOT to be at work at 7:15 and nary a coffee in sight! GF couldn't make it last night so no almond milk! IF i get desperate I'll do coffee with protien powder

Cottage you have a busy day planned out!
Shy about as exciting as mine
Betty I heard pilates balls were ereally good ab tools Good vibes on the job!!
Femm that's so exciting!!
SChmoodle I love wikipedia!
Kara good Job on Tom's checkup!! I'm going to check out that exercise website!

Tonight I'm on my own so I'm going to make a big Pot of veggie packed turkey and vegan crumble chili and take part of it and make my version of taco bake
Do you guys put any crazy veggies in your chili? I use Okra ( A favorite tho a bit slimey) and a frozen "fiesta" veggie pack from Stop and Shop
I'm also going to do what I DId with my meatloaf and grind up some squash to SNeak in more veggies!
Muhahahahahahahahah! ( organ music swells in the background)
OK back to work!
Kier

I have just the perfect brown dog to sacrifice, if she doesn't stop doing her business on Cindy's diningroom rug! :devil: She's done it two days in a row this week, right after we let her in from being outside!
Thanks, Shy and Schmoodle for the explanation of Dog Days, now I've learned something new!

Cat, that's exciting news on your genealogy search! My DD is very into genealogy, too, and has traced Jake's side of the family back to William the Conqueror, too! I wonder if we're related, Kara? ;)

Kara, I hope your mystery rash disappears as quickly as it appeared! Just a thought - have you been wearing anything with latex in it?

The bedrooms are cleaned, groceries bought, and I've been to Curves. Now I can just putter around for a little while. Cat has me thinking about shrimp now, maybe I'll make some Shrimp Scampi for supper tonight.

KO I keep meaning to try that squash-grinding thing with my DH. He refuses to eat it, but I think if he didn't SEE me sneaking it in there he wouldn't know. ;) I've heard cornbread with squash in it is very good. Oh wait, that would definitely not be SBD!!

I got a whole night's sleep last night (well, 7 hours, but more than lately) because we put Chester in the crate and he slept all night. Hallelujah! I feel so much better than I have the rest of this week. I have my 3 things I HAVE to get done before Brazil and I know I can finish one today, if not two! Yay! Of course that doesn't count my gigantic freelance project I have at home that I really need to finish before Tuesday...no joy like knowing I am going to work all weekend! But, we really need the money and I can always use the experience for my resume.

Betty, Good luck on your job interview! Kara, I have no idea what to do with rashes except Aveeno baths!

My grandpa has done all of our ancestry work. My maiden name is Schumann and he did a lot of work just to find out we are not related to the composer (which is probably good, since he was mentally ill). My paternal ancestors came over in the 1840s from a place in Germany near the Swiss border. I'd love to go there someday! The funny and kind of embarassing story is my great-great-whatever grandfather came over with his second wife and her daughter. The wife died while they were in transit so he married his stepdaughter. ACK!!!

There was some talk a while back that my maternal ancestors came over on the Mayflower, but I never really heard much about it and don't know what that was backed by.

P.S. Shrimp is some of my favorite food. I developed a severe reaction to clams while I was in college so I am SO happy I can still eat shrimp and crab. We had a shrimp boil the other night (with potatoes and corn--don't tell the SBD police). Yummmmy! And I got 1.2 lbs of shrimp for the price of 1 lb. (counter guy must have thought I was cute! LOL) and it was only $5/lb which isn't bad for the easy-peel stuff. Although I am sure your stash, femme, came at a much cheaper price!!

Good morning to you, Jessie! I'm famous for sneaking veggies into different recipes. Oh, if Jake only knew what he was actually eating sometimes! :D

Betty, Sorry I missed you earlier. Those weight balls sound like something I'd really enjoy doing. But 75 minutes? I'm going to look into them, though.

I haven't been *wearing* anything with latex, but since I've been showing signs of fertility and we're not looking to have any more children at the moment... Never had a problem before. Do these kind of allergies come wham-boom like that? Or take nearly 24 hours to show up (I guess it was nearer to 20 hours from "exposure" to when I first saw the rash)?

Linda, how funny would it be if we *were* related. Being from the same area and all, I guess it's not so far off.

Kier, I loved your organ music and evil laugh! Brought a smile to my face.

Jessie, when we get to Germany you've got free room and Beach-friendly board if you want to come investigate your German ancestors!

Kara

Just a quickie bc I Should be working
Jessie I Sneak Squash, and mushrooms into as many things as I can it makes any and all meat Much much moister without having to use breadcrumbs and the like! Next time I want to try the dried mushrooms
Garbanzo's are also good to sneek in for moistness and a boost of fiber!
THo I have been craving corn bread! but not now!!
GOALS GOALS
bbiab
Kier

I'm back (patting myself on the back for walking two days in a row)! Maybe I'll make my August exercise goal...
My support contractor just called and told me he was quitting, not to expect any further work from him, effective immediately. I expected as much, since he recently moved to Tennessee without notice, but it stinks as now I have his work to do as well as my own. Damned contractors! Oh, wait, I just cursed myself.
KO, funny you should mention cornbread. I made some for the kids the other night, and half is still in the fridge. I'm tired of looking at it and wishing I could have some, so if they don't eat it for lunch, in the trash it will go.
Is this board getting a little kinky this morning? Is that allowed? I thought there were other boards for discussions of latex garments :-)
Better go get busy, I think I feel some burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies coming on.

Quick drive by for me this morning, have tried 3 times to post and work keeps getting in the way, how dare they! LOL

I am gimping around like a 90 year old woman this morning, my knee is giving me fits! Never had this issue before, is this signs of aging? For the love of pete I am only 38! Forced me to wear flats today, oh pity me!

On a happier note my daughter is coming down from Michigan today to spend some time. Planning on taking her to help me pick out something to wear to the class reunion! We will then take her home to Michigan when we go up for the reunion on the 11th.

Everyone have a great day and I will check back later!

Steph

Morning. Slept until 8:30 and STILL tired. At least I slept some last night. I'm wiped out. Have a lot on my plate today, figuratively speaking. Tons to do! My "brother" Abdul is coming home for a few days so I'd like to see him. It's been a month at least. Also have to teach piano and do stuff around the house, de-clutter-wise.

Better get a start on my day. Feel like curling up and going back to sleep but too much to do! Have a good one ladies.

Lisa

Fly by post here - too much work, not enough time, and too many meetings today... Why do I work again? :)

I just found out last night at PT that I probably only have 4 sessions left - depending on my next eval. I can't wait! Even though it's 'forced' exercise, it's just not the most convenient thing to do on someone else's schedule. I've got the things I need to do, and any special equipment, so I'll do it at home - on my own time. I won't have to leave work early, skip out of meetings, or plan my week around when I've got PT anymore. :)

Kara - try washing in COLD water - I know, but warm water opens the pores, and will allow any infection, or irritant into the pores - cold water does the opposite. Also try Kids Benedryl for the itching when you're awake, Bactine spray is good too. If that doesn't work, off to the Dr for you. I'm SEVERELY allergic to Poison Ivy, and those are the tricks I use for a mild (read 'normal person's bad') reaction. Usually I end up on 3 rounds of Prednisone and prescription steroid creams.

Hey gals...

Just getting in to post today. My girlfriend had surgery on her heel a few weeks ago and needed a ride to the doctors. She can't drive for 6 weeks, so we chauffered her to the doctor. Other than that we are sticking close to home today. Laundry, some bathroom cleaning, and other stuff need to get done today!

Jessie The Bible study we are doing is called "Unfailing Love: Growing Closer to Jesus Christ." It isn't a Beth Moore study, but a Sisters study. So far I really like it. There is a great age range in our group- from 35 to 70s. I love it! I had never done a women's Bible study until last fall and now sign up for everyone they offer. I love it!

Weezle Hope you are able to get a lot done today and also enjoy time with Abdul. Make sure you are eating!! :hug:

Pacer How old is your daughter?

Kara Hope you are able to find out what is causing your rash. That is great that your DH's physical went well. My DH had one on Tuesday and it wasn't so good. They saw some irregularities in his EKG, so will be undergoing some more tests on Monday. I think all that is going on with us as well as his job is a lot of it. He is a stress case.... I am proud of him, b/c he has worked out the last 2 days since the physical, so that is good.

Betty How did your interview go??

Cottage I am impressed by how much you accomplished by 8:30!! I love productive days like that.

Okay, I need to rustle up something to eat..... the kids had an early lunch as they were starving.

Hi everybody! Well today was a good eating day for me all day! No slips or questionable things passed these lips! No sireee! :carrot:

Worked with my homeopath friend today. I'm helping to enter into a computer, a shipment of homeopathic tinctures he's waiting to come by sea. 2,657 tinctures from USA. He's setting up two clinics that's 5,314 labels we need to type, print and eventually stick on bottles when we make the dispencing medicines! Whew! It'll take a few months for the meds to get here. So have a while to tackle this massive task.

Iammare- Wow! 28lbs lost in July! You go girl!
Lisa- I wish I could sleep till 830....630 is the latest I can sleep, regardless of when I go to sleep :(
Steph- I feel for ya, I'm 38 and recently started taking glucosamine for joint pain! Wassup with that????
Schmoodle- Good job on 2 walks in two days! WTG!~Dog Days of Summer Hmmm. Interesting explanations.
Kier- awesome idea, squash, mushrooms and chickpeas in meat...Inspires me to make meatloaf tommorrow!
Kara- Sorry to hear about the rash, good to hear it's not itching. Sometimes rashes happen as a detoxification, then goes away after a few days. Keep the area clean & keep an eye on it. Seek medical advice if it spreads more.
Betty- WTG on the second interview. THose balls sound interesting.
ooh Rennie- will you come clean my screens when your done with yours? lol! The dust in this country is so fine, no matter how well things are cleaned, it's dusty an hour later!
Cottage, Jessie, Cat-:wave:

:grouphug: Hugs everybody!
I'm off to bed. Have a great day... (g'nite Kara!)

Hey Kiko! I love those stay at home days! Too bad they are so far and few between, for me....

I'm back home here with the girlies. It's stinkin hot, so we're going to swim in the pool while we're waiting for my DD to come. Right after I last posted, I got a call from Andrea, asking if I would mind getting some groceries for her and bring her a Starbucks, and Cindy called asking when could I come out, and my Dad called to tell me my cousin in Minnesota was a witness to the horrible bridge collapse out there, so I've been pretty busy!
It feels soothing to just sit in here enjoying the air conditioning, but the girls are finished with their lunch and pestering me to get in the pool, so I'd better go before they start whining.

indigal
lol I live out in the country. Got one of those new steamer machines, wow is the thing great. So many things I can do in half the time. I was surprised how easy it is to use. My children think I live to clean. I would never let them know I enjoy cleaning the house most of the time:dizzy:

Ok, so I ended up grilling the shrimp and decided to go with a salad, then got to thinking about dressing, then thought REMOULADE!! So I started looking around for recipe that would be easy to adapt and found this one (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22725,00.html) I substituted olive oil for the veg. oil and instead of ketchup, I used some tomato paste and splenda.
It turned out so good I had to take a picture for my recipe file (I take pictures of stuff to remind me what I did!). The recipe made a TON of remoulade sauce...I could have 1/4 or 1/8th it for just the two of us.

Is it wrong to want to unplug the work phone????? My brain is fried! :faint:

Femme That looks sooooooo yummy, kinda puts my yogurt to shame I am going to eat if I get the chance!

Oh crikey there goes the phone again! Only 1 hour and 38 mins to go!

Oh, Cat, what are you doing to me? That looks like the perfect summer supper. I'm making up my menus for the next week, and I may have to try that. I've got zuchinni lasagna in the oven right now, and it's making the house stinking hot, but it smells good. I am so hungry, I really want something good, so I hope it turns out. As soon as it's out of the oven, I'm going to wrap it up and take it to the pool with us. I can't wait to dunk myself. DH and I will eat it, the kids just had pizza that DD brought home for them.
Hang in there pacer! Hope your knee is better.
Kudoes to you Indigal! And good luck with your big project.
Weezle and Kiko, hope you got your stuff done and had nice, peaceful days.
Congrats on the PT, iammare.

I am in the mood to buy myself a present for losing the 20 lbs. I was doing some window shopping online today. I'm thinking clothes, but I don't want to buy summer stuff that I'll only wear for a couple of months or so, and then hopefully it won't fit next year. I might be able to make it through the summer with the ratty big shorts that I've got. Maybe I'll wait until September and buy some jeans. By then I'll really need them (I hope).

Hey all, no time to respond to all the posts. It's been a fairly quiet day in the ER, but right now I'm having the hungries! I'm sleepy and hungry for chocolate, so I thought I'd browse here for inspiration.

Day 2 on phase 1, crossing my fingers!

Hugs:hug:

Hey everyone! Today has been a busy day. I spent most of the day trying to fix my computer, but at this point I think it has to be a hardware issue and I'm going to have to take it in. Yuck.

Finally went grocery shopping and they were out of black beans except for ONE can! Can you believe it! Maybe that's a sign that I've been eat them WAY too much. For the past week I've had black beans as the center point of every single meal. Black beans on salad, on brown rice with a side salad, with spaghetti squash, in soup.... What can I say, I love them! All that was left at the store were all the seasoned ones with enough salt for a week.

Now I have all the fixings for some good meals this weekend- crabcakes, pesto spaghetti squash, and of course, spinach salad!

Kitty, thanks for the rash advice. I'm hoping it just clears up itself or at least doesn't get worse before the plane trip. Still not itching, but this morning it's on the palms of my hands and the underside of my lower arms a bit. I took Benedryl last night before bed. Usually I avoid medicines if I can help it, but since the last time I got hives I ended up on steroids because they couldn't control them with anything else, I thought I'd try to nip it in the bud. The Benedryl knocked me out so I don't want to take any during the day when I have to be alert to keep Avery out of the toilet and all... Luckily, there's still no itching. Maybe it's the fat trying to escape? I don't get sick very often at all, but when I do it's always a mystery something! Today is my running day, too, and I really don't want to skip it but I don't want to make the hives worse either and I sweat like a PIG when I run! It's really disgusting but I figure the healthy benefits from the running are worth it, especially since I can shower off the stink. Mare, I have actually been taking cool showers lately because it's so hot here and that cools me off a bit.

Off to make some breakfast. Egg whites and veggie sausages with a sprinkle of mozzarella and some salsa on the side. Mmmmmm!

Kara

Hey chicks a quickie to say hello. Been busy with the wee ones and getting ready to go away on sat night. Going camping with at my brothers trailer with oldest dd and my mom on sat night and dh and youngest dd are arriving on sunday. As well as my sister her boyfriend his daughter and her daughter. I love family time. So you won't see me back here till Tuesday. Have a great week end chickies.

Have fun, LC! I love camping!!!

Kara

Kara, if that rash continues to spread, I'd have it checked. Especially before your trip. Something is going on in there, it's just a good thing that it's not itchy.

Cat, your supper looks yummy! Everyone here had already eaten by the time I got back home, so I ended up just eating some grilled zucchini with a little sprinkle of parmesan. Shrimp Scampi is on the menu for tomorrow, unless we end up going out!

There you are, LC! I was wondering where you were! Have a great time this weekend, I love my family time, too!