Sugar Shakers - Sugar Busters Weekly Support Board 11/3-11/9

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This is the
SUGAR BUSTERS WEEKLY SUPPORT BOARD where all of you who are following this WOE, or are thinking about doing so, are welcome to come join in and be a part of our wonderful group.

Other than finding support and friendship on this board, we also try to do something during the the week to add a little difference to our board.

MONDAY-MOTIVIATIONAL MONDAY
TUESDAY-TUESDAYS TIPS & FACTS & CHAT AT 9:15PM EST
WEDNESDAY-WEIGH-IN WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY-THURSDAY RECIPE DAY
FRIDAY-FRIDAY FUNNIES


Please take some time to check out our extensive recipe boards. Our RECIPE BOARDS can be located at the link below:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=89

Look for our QUARTERLY RECIPE BOARDS to post your favorite recipes and to see the most recently posted recipes. Recipes from the quarterly boards will be archived in proper categories at some point.


We have SEVEN INFORMATIVE BOARDS!!!! Please take a few minutes to visit them! New information is continually being posted, so please make sure you visit them often!!! The boards are listed below as well as the link that will take you to the boards:

THE RECOMMENDED READING BOARD
THE TOOLS & TIPS BOARD
THE FOOD INFORMATION BOARD
MOTIVATIONAL & INSPIRING THOUGHTS BOARD
MY FAVORITE SB LEGAL FOODS
SB 2002 BIO BOARD
SB 2001/2002 PHOTO ALBUM BOARD

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=87

We also have a SB WEEKLY EXERCISE BOARD that you can log your daily/weekly exercises on which is located on our weekly support board:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33976

Then there's our latest addition to the SB BOARDS which is called OFF THE EATEN PATH This board is for everything NOT related to SB. You can use this board to post questions or comments on just about anything (okay, within reason). A book you recommend, a cleaning tip, a great website deal, etc. etc. Here's the link:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=90


NEWBIES! (aka new members) If you would like to REPLY to any of our threads, please hit POST REPLY not NEW THREAD, then type your message in and hit SUBMIT REPLY. If you need to edit your reply, just click on edit located in the body of your post and make changes as you need to, then hit SUBMIT NOW.


WELCOME! :D

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GOOD MONDAY MORNING EVERYONE!

Will post my usual morning post sometime later, but wanted to make sure I got our
MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY done early in the morning, so here's my contribution for MM, there's 2 of them to read today, read between the lines:)


http://members.aol.com/debelli/monday_morning_thought.jpg

EFFORT WORKS

It's amazing what some good, sustained effort can do. Effort is far more effective than worrying, far more effective than complaining that things aren't going your way.

Whether the situation is wonderful or whether it is dismal, focus on what you can actually do with it. Focus on where your efforts can be put to best use.

Don't let the details of what has already happened cause you to lose sight of the efforts necessary to move forward. Direct your attention to what you can do now. Then go ahead and make the effort. Go beyond wishing, thinking about it, planning to do it, and just get started.

Positive effort will make a far more meaningful difference than arguing about who is to blame. If you feel passionate about the situation, put the energy of that passion to good use, by putting it into positive, productive effort.

Always remember that your effort can take you where you want to go. The faster you start, the sooner you'll be there.

-- Ralph Marston


*******************

A NEW DAY

Let all that has happened before serve as a guide but not as a constraint. Each moment is an opportunity to be more fully alive, more filled with positive purpose, than you have ever been before.

Each day is a new beginning with which you can build upon the best of what has been. Each day you can move forward to make life even better. Today is a new day. And on this new day there is a way, something you can now do to move toward your most treasured dream.

Your shortcomings in the past are all over now. This day is your chance to get it right, to make it work. On this new day your biggest disappointment can begin to be transformed into your most stunning achievement. On this new day, what were once obstacles standing in your way can become stepping stones to your dreams.

A new day is now in front of you. Make of it the best you can possibly imagine.

-- Ralph Marston

**************
Have a wonderful day, and a fabulous week!!!!!

Debbie
194/1??/129
SB since 3/22/00
Reached goal 6/10/01

Quickie...

Will be back later today to post have an appt with the college counselor at MICHAEL'S school then yoga class, not sure if I'll do the class or not, all depends, but have to go there anyhow to leave a book for the teacher.

Later....

Good Morning everyone.... Well here is my new start. And Debilli's motivation A NEW DAY is a perfect new beginning to me. Hopeing to be way more aware of the carbs for a week or two. I'm needing a jump start. I'll walk at the campground this morning and make a turkey breast for dinner. As you can see my day is really planned out. Looks like the weather is beautiful to go along with everything else. Now lets see if I can take one hour at a time and get through this day. It was a nice and relaxing week end. But I'm glad its over. Hope everyone has a good day....

Good Monday Morning.

Hope everyone survived the weekend. All the candy is gone and ready to forge ahead.

No problem with the candy. All is gone except 3 suckers and 2 smarties (candy for the wee ones). Will give them to a co worker for her DD. We had homemade pizza while they rang the bell. The crust was left over and frozen, it was a little thin. BUt it was ok. Sat eating at the track was fine. Acutally I was never hungry. Ate some turkey and salad. Skipped the desserts. Did have some wine. But I think it was ok. Had wings for dinner and watched that marathon UK game at a bar. Only had 1 glass of wine and the rest water.

Did have a MCDona;d's sausage egg biscuit on the ride to get wood after church. I was kinda stuck. I figured the egg and sausage would bring down the high GI of the bread. It was going to be my only carb for the day,but ended up having 1/4 of a sweetpotatoe for dinner. All in all I was pleased with my weekend eating.

Gator, glad you had fun at the game. Wow those kids go all out don't they? That is pretty low when they say things about the coach's wife.

Teensey, wow you are one skinny lady. Great pic.

Lynn, I know you will hate leaving your tree house. Nov 10th is not far off so you have better get started on that list.

Emma, sounds like you have all kids of techo problems. When it rains it pours. Good luck

Monet, the pumpkin was wonderful. So detailed.


Melf, Happy belated anniverary. Glad you have the empty nest again.

Dave, congrats to the old farts on the win.

Sef, glad you liked the joke. Those dirty old seniors!

Deb, the pumpkin was great. Lauren did a wonderful job. Wanted to ask about Michael's SAT? Does he feel he did good? Such a shame about Lauren and the T&T. Kids can be so cruel. Good talking with you yesterday.

Chris, sorry the Bucs lost. I was pulling for them,.

BOb, DId you see the UK game. What a nail biter. The colts pulled another one out yesterday. That Freeney guy save Payton's butt. Good luck with the computers today.

Toni, you hit the nail ont he head. Your day is planned out. Plan each day and you will do great. It's those days when we have no plans for food and we fly by the seat of our pants that we get in trouble. You can do this. We can do it together.

I quickly skimmed last weekend's post, so if I missed anyone, it was not intentional.

Have a great day. Be back later.

Jackie

Good Morning!
Trying to start the week off right by posting as well as a new start on this WOE. Did great yesterday. Did not eat ANYTHING off plan. Scale is down a lb from last week, so maybe it will continue.

I've been in a really foul mood since Sat. & I HATE it. Have to do something to improve the mood as well as the figure.

Got to get going. Have to bring DD to the dr to get birth control. Her OB/GYN would not prescribe them when she went for her 2 wk check up after the baby because of Medicade rules. She has to see her GP which she did not have, so we've had to work through all the red tape. Her GP today will refer her to a GYN for the BC. What a mess.

Have a great day everyone!

Good Monday Morning everyone. Survived Halloween with no candy encounters, but did not avoid the popcorn at the movies this weekend. I am so bloated up today from the salt. When I was at the gym this morning, I swear you could smell salt and grease coming out of my pores! Hope you were all able to stay on plan this weekend.

jackK- Sounds like you had a good time at the track. The track here is about to open in a few weeks...so I am very excited. Don't know what I am more excited about, the races or the corned beef!!

Toni- I am with you on the limiting of the carbs. I find I do much better if I exercise severe portion control with them!

Deb- How did Michael make out with the SATs? Where is he thinking of going to college?

Hope you all have a great day. Will be back later!

Morning all!

I think I'm finally back to normal--thanks for all the good wishes! When I got home from B-ham I was wiped out. I crawled into bed Sat night and did not get out until this morning. But I feel fine today.

I answered "other" on the quiz and will now explain. I did not have any Halloween candy so I did meet my prediction on that. I attended a dinner on Friday night where the restaurant is very famous for its orange rolls. I had one of those. I chalked it up to my new-found philosophy. I tried it, it was good (worthwhile cheat) and went right back to eating OP.

Saturday was kind of odd--since I didn't really get to watch any football games. I came home in time to see the last three minutes of the NC State-UVA game. State won it in those last three minutes, so I guess I got to see the good part!

Jackie--I understand about getting stuck! It sounds like you did great and you should be pleased!:)

Toni--Hey! It's a good time to get back to basics as they say! That's what I'm trying to do too--so far so good.

Deb--Sorry I missed your call yesterday. I must have been asleep because I didn't leave the house all day! Have fun at yoga!

Let's commit to having a great OP week everyone!

Susan

Hello everyone.

Dang it all!!! I had a post going and the stupid page went nutso and I lost it. I know I won't remember what I had put in here, so I'll have to start over.

My weekend was horrible!!! If it was food, legal or not, I ate it. I don't know what got into me. Oh well, it's a new day and a new week. I'm more then determined to be good from here on out, even if I have to kick my own butt, or have Autumn do it for me!

I've got to go back and look at the posts from the weekend. Hubby hogged the computer all weekend and I didn't even get a chance to look at it much less touch it to read anything.

I've got a pretty full day. Have to run up and down the basement stairs to get that neverending laundry done, the rest of the house could use a good cleaning too. Have to run to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Geez, I had better get a move on, I still need a shower.

Gonna go look over the posts from the weekend and get ready to head out. I'll check back later.

Jenn

Good morning guys! Just wanted to check in to say hello to everyone. Its going to be a busy week, my grandmother just moved down from NY. She came in yesterday and got admitted into the hospital last night. She had congestive heart failure. I am waiting for my SIL to come and watch Dominic so I can go see her. My mother is there now and said she is doing OK.
Halloween candy is getting thrown out today, I cannot have it in this house ANYMORE. Not that I did that bad over the weekend but I did have some...a bite here and a bite there...but it could of been worse. Today is a new day, and I promised to be OP until thanksgiving.

JACKIE- Yes Im sorry too, they played horrible. Its like we had no offensive line...among other flops. Gramatica should of gotten the first field goal then it would of been tied then OT. But whatever...I cant stand football anymore...it stresses me out too much.

DEB - Did you get my email. Sorry about not getting with you all weekend...I will call you this week...just let me know when you will be home in the morning or afternoon!

BOB - See my post to jackie.

gotta go SIL just pulled up

Chris

Gheeeezzz, where do I start. I was pretty much down to 122#, but am at 123.5 today, and it will keep going up if I don't chill out on the candy....there I said it...I was bad. Friday night was o.k. since I planned it; I had a glass of wine, a slice of pizza and three baby candy bars. But Saturday and Sunday, every time I walked by the freezer with all the little frozen candy bars, I ate one. I probably had 8 Sat & 8 Sun. I think getting back into our normal routine today will help a lot. I won't be sitting around here eating all day, since I won't be home. I plan to get to the gym. I didn't work out one day last week since the kids & I were sick.

It finally feels like Fall around here. We got some cool temperatures over the weekend, and we should be in the low to mid 70's this week. I made Deb's pita bread, but it didn't puff up like hers, but was still tasty; I used it as my pizza crust last night while DD made a pizza for the family on a Boboli pizza crust. I also made the zucchini loaf recipe, but made individual muffins, instead of the loaf. I like them better. The loaf always seems to hold the moisture more in the middle. With the individual muffins, they seem to be moist throughout.

My kids have been sleeping in the past few days; it must be the weather....you wanna stay under the covers.

Well, I have to say that Britt had a great, fun Halloween, and brought home a few pounds of candy. Lane & I didn't have a great Halloween at all. When we got to friend's house, she was playing in the backyard, and we were watching and talking. Well, the lady whose house we were at had cut up some apple wedges, that Delaney happened to "try." Well, she got one stuck in her throat and started throwing up apple and mucous. She started playing again, and seemed fine, until the pizza came. I cut it into tiny pieces, but she couldn't keep it down, she would throw up the pizza and mucous. She started to drool, and couldn't drink. SO, off I went to the ER, while Britt and dad stayed to T&T. We went to 4 different treatment facilities before I found someone who could help her. They ended up taking x-rays and finding something stuck in her esophagus. They sent us to Phoenix Children's Hospital where they told me they would have to sedate her and scope it out of there. I was all by myself and having to go through this. I had been trying to call friend's house since I left, and it was busy....they had unintentionally left phone off hook. When I got to PCH, they took her right back and said that they were going to do everything they could to get this apple chunk down so they don't have to sedate her. They started giving her carbonated beverages to open it up as well as some other drinks. Well, to make an already long story a tad shorter... they ended up getting it down without having to sedate and scope her. It was a very scary thing, especially since I am so careful with what I give her, and cut everything up so small. She was such a trooper, and we didn't get home until 1:00 a.m.

I am going to post this before I lose it, and then re-post some replies.

Nat

Okey dokey...on to some replies:

Deb: Great pumpkin. Sorry to hear about Lauren's Halloween. What a cute idea to hand out books for little kids. Glad you have a lot of food recipes to get you through Thanksgiving; I am sure that will be my next downfall. I made your pitas yesterday, but they didn't puff up as much as yours; do you roll them really thin? I didn't. Also, with a pizza stone, do you warm it up before using it, or put it in cold? Mine didn't come with cooking directions, only cleaning directions.

Monet: Neat pumpkin that Ruth made for you.

Yellow: I've toyed with getting a Tanita scale, but will re-think it now.

Melf: Welcome back; I can understand your frustration; hope all gets back to normal soon. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

green: I have a Kodak EasyShare digital and love it, but don't know much about the others. My parents got a Fuji and said it was way too sensitive, you have to hold it really still to get the picture.

Teensy: LOVE YOUR PICTURE...YOU SHOULD BE SO PROUD!! You look awesome.

Emma: Hang in there. You'll have to burn off the beer first, but it is mostly water weight, I am sure. Good luck with your meeting.

Toni: Good luck getting back OP; you will do great.

Gator: You always do so well. You deserve a splurge every once in awhile on special occasions, so long as you can get back.

Jack-K: You did great with your eating; you should be proud.

JackieO: Glad you stayed away from the candy. Popcorn isn't so bad for you, after all.

Fillise: You'll be fine. Glad you enjoyed the roll.....just don't make it a weekly tradition (Ha).

jecrites: Me too....I was not so good. It's a new week and a new day. We'll get there.

chrisd: Sorry to hear about your GM; I hope she is better soon!!

Well, I better go get some stuff done around here, and make some oatmeal; I haven't had breakfast yet.

Take care, and have a great OP day.

Nat

Pancho
What a scary thing for you to deal with! Choking is like the worst thing!

For everyone who fell off the wagon and climbed back on Wahoo for you!
I was not so great. Halloween I was at my cousins house and she is such a great cook and baker! Cookies and pie are my downfall and guess what? She make an apple/cranberry pie and yummy chocolate cookies with frosting!
I ate like 7 cookies and a piece of pie. Then I ate a mini Almond Joy and a mini Snickers bar.
Oh then Saturday I ate Wendy's for lunch and MacDonald's for dinner. THEN Sunday I had MacDonald's for lunch again!! I love the cheeseburgers! I think it was because I was planning to start South Beach induction today so I lost my mind. :ink: :ink:
Then last night I said to my lovely daughter "I don't feel like starting SBD tomorrow, you wanna wait?"
She said NO!! So I felt like a bad example and did start it today.

For those of you who keep losing their posts, why don't you type your post in like Word or Outlook (e-mail program) where a draft gets saved in case you have to stop posting for some reason. This way a copy is there. Then just copy and paste it into the SB forum.

Hey Everyone!

Just got back from riding with Ruth to get lab work done. The doctor is checking her for all the problems I have...hyperinsulinemia, thyroid problems, autoimmune diseases...and the poor thing HATES needles. She about passed out when she had her blood tests for her marriage license! She insisted I go in with her. I did...and tried to distract her. What are moms for?

After the lab, we went to IHOP for breakfast. I ate some hash browns, and their Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes with a bit of maple syrup on them. Not a good start to the week, I know. :o

We came back from the lab the scenic way. There is a road that runs through a rather rural area surrounded by new subdivisions that is really beautiful. It was fun, but it sure feels hot here! I wish the pool were still open! I would go jump in it!

No work for me until Thursday. Hooray! I need to do some housework, since I spent the whole weekend reading!

DEB: The pumpkin was made by my married daughter, Ruth. She has always been really artistic. Her first attempts at pumpkins, even as a fairly young child, were always ambitious, and she was usually successful. I think her creativity and design skills are what make her such a good cake decorator. She is the lead decorator where I work, and finds it great fun to be able to boss me around. Pay back time, she used to claim. Until Tom said once in response to me, "And it can be payback time for you, too, dear, and you can be like she was and just not do what she tells you!" Everyone laughed but Ruth!

PANCHO: What a scary situation with your daughter! I would have been going bonkers having to handle it all by myself! Glad she is ok, and they did not have to do anything invasive to clear her esophagus. I can relate to the candy thing. I have heard its siren call, and have not been altogether successful avoiding it. :(

FILLISE: I am glad you are feeling better, and got a chance to rest up.

JECRITES: We all have those falls from grace occasionally. Just get right back on program and don't let it keep you down. Sounds like you need two computers at your house! ;)

MELF: I am sorry about your foul mood. I felt cranky for several days too. Maybe we can blame it on the weather? Hope things are better now!

JACKK: Sounds like you did really well over the weekend. The McDonalds biscuit hopefully was not too bad, due to the protein, as you said. I told myself that as I was eating hash browns this morning with eggs and bacon. I have to face the fact I am the worlds most gifted rationalizer! :(

TEENSY: The picture is great! You have done awesomely well! I am so happy for you!

Ok, time for me to get something done. Will check in later!

Like Fillise, I also chose "other." I had no trouble with the trick or treat candy here. I never do Halloween. We were out of town this year, but when we are here, I just turn off all the lights and go in the back and read until all the hobgoblins are finished. I sound like a grump, but I just LOVE!!! those little candies. So, I figure it is something I am doing for myself not to have any of it around. I could get sourballs or some sort of hard candy, but I figure it will just get left in the bottom of the bag or thrown out, so why bother.

( I don't care for the hard candy that much, so it's not much of a temptation.)

However, I did pig out during the weekend with all sorts of stuff, as I described in my Sunday night post. I even ate some candy that someone had at their home for trick or treaters there. So, "other" it was.

I'm back on track now. Protein shake for breakfast and soup and salad for lunch. With sautéed chicken breast on the salad.

Jack-K--we watched most of the UK game and were pulling for your guys. But they just don't seem to be able to pull out a win. They had it in their grasp. We finally went to bed after 5 OTs. We'll be pulling for you at the next game, for sure!!!! Your guys can do it, they just need to believe.

We had a big tree planted in our back yard this morning. We lost a huge laurel oak that shaded our patio. It died very quickly. So we had a live oak installed. It is about 25 feet high. (Instant mini-shade) I'll miss that old tree.

Gotta go. I have a very busy day and week. Just wanted to check in. I read all the posts. HI everyone. Glad you're doing OK. Stay on plan.

Well today is my first day OP. I finally decided that today was the day. Tell me if I am doing okay so far:

For Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. I had 1/2 Grapefruit and 4 oz (small container) of Dannon Light and Fit Nonfat Yogurt (Strawberry). Don't like the plain. I tried it and couldn't stomach it.

For snack at 9:30 a.m. I had 10 almonds and 2 pieces of fat free swiss cheese (small thin slices)

For Lunch at 12:30 P.M. I had a Chef Salad with Olive Oil dressing and 1 cup of cottage cheese and a s/f jello with fat free whipped topping.

That's it so far. I have to eat every 3 hours because my blood sugar drops and I start to shake. I want to do this right. For dinner I was thinking about having a grilled chicken breast at Pollo Tropical but instead of the rice they give with the meal, I was going to make my own brown rice. Do you think the yellow rice is safe? What else can I have as a side at Pollo Tropical? Can I have the black beans?

Thanks!

Ilana

Hey All:wave:

Finally home!!!! Took the kids to school, killed about 40 minutes at STARBUCKS before I had to head back to school (see below for that) ran to the library, didn't take the yoga class though, but got a few DVD's they were holding for me, went by the appliance store, gas station, grocery store and now home. Don't have to p/u the kids today from school so I'm home for the rest of the day, well, may go out to KMart later, not sure.

CONGRATS to all of you who didn't eat any Halloween candy! I, like FILLISE & GATOR, also picked OTHER. I had indulged in so much candy BEFORE Halloween, but come last Wed. when I got back on track I was determined not to eat off plan til Februrary's SB GET TOGETHER, so I didn't have any candy after Tuesday.

For those of you who asked, MICHAEL said the SAT's seemed harder this time around in the verbal area but easier for the math. He's in Calc. II so he does very well in math-just have to wait to find out now. Next, he wants to take the ACT's which the counselor said is more science orientated which he should do very well on. I finally found out what his first SAT scores were from the first time he took it, they were 1410. I found out his PSAT's, for which he got the National Merit Scholarship nomination for was 1480.

The meeting with the counselor went well and it was long, almost 2 hours. She's very nice and absolutely ADORES MICHAEL. It was enlightening, to say the least and I hope this jump starts him to start getting in those applications already. His top choices are Harvard, NYU (he wants that the most I think), Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Washinton U (this was new to me) ummm, can't remember the other ones at this time. He's only applied to UF, his last choice actually. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

My day yesterday SUCKED big time! ELI was due home and promised to be home at 12:30pm so we could go out. Now, ELI is NEVER home when he says he'll be from work, but since it was his day off I figured home on time, or close to it. He had a meeting at 9am with his employees, though he left to prepare for it around 6:30am. Well, 12:30pm rolls around, 1:00pm rolls around - at 1:15pm and with steam coming out of my ears:mad: I finally left. I had to go to the gas station because, WOULD YOU BELIEVE...I had yet ANOTHER nail (actually, a screw) in my front BRAND NEW TIRE!) Tried for a good 15 minutes to fix it with the plug myself to no avail, so a nice gentleman who came for air himself helped me out. Well, as I was leaving the cell phone rang and who would it be???? Didn't even answer hello since I knew who it was and just began cussing him out. He said he was stuck at work and had no idea when he was coming home. This was suppose to be his day off! I was just ready to ship him right off to BOB'S! I ended up going to Broward by myself, I needed to go up and get some things so I took myself out to lunch at OLE OLE and to the HFS, produce and meat places and then headed back home. It was late when I got up there and I didn't have any time to do much else. He walked in about 3 minutes after I did, I was still taking stuff out of the car. I didn't even want to be around him I was so mad. I know he didn't want to work but it keeps happening. I have to tell you guy, before I left the house to go to the gas station, and he was late already, I could just FEEL the anger in me and I knew if I didn't get out of the house right then and there I was going to lose it and go food hunting. Not that I would of eaten anything off plan but I knew that when I got the peanut butter out and had a spoonful that if I didn't leave the jar was going to be really low by the time I got through with it and I'd probably have eaten lots more than I should, so it was a good thing that I left. Stayed totally OP and proud that I did. As for him being late ALL the time, not much I can do other than give him the silent treatment and continue to let him know how he disappoints me by doing this almost daily. :shrug:

ROSE, DM brought me some nice pics of you and RAY that I will try to scan and post. You look MAHVELOUS darling! Hope you get it all packed up in record time. How long are you going to take to drive back home, 2 days?

EMMA, sorry to hear about the computer troubles you are having, I can sooo relate. I wish you all the best on these upcoming meetings and presentations, you'll woo them!

TONI, good approach, one hour at a time - you can do it!!!!:spin: Hope you had a nice walk. Hey, I'll call you just about any time if you want - just let me know:)

BOB, you REALLY need to find a way to download one of those programs where you can get a call and it won't knock you off the computer for up to 2 minutes!!! Geez...............I mean, this ain't chopped liver calling, you know!

GREEN, I take it a nurses job is never done:rolleyes: Hope DH is feeling better today. This is the first time we'll be meeting in a state OTHER than Florida. I thought, with FRUITS invitation, it would be more centrally located so people who can't come to FL would possibly be able to go to LA. Why can't you come? I haven't a clue where you live. We usually try to do a big get together once a year but many on the board meet up with one or two others throughout the year whenever they can - it's a blast. I've meet about 24 people or so - I've lost count!

GATOR, sounds like you had fun! Glad to see you checking in!

JACKK, glad I got to talk to you yesterday, despite my sucky phone and it's problems. You'd think, in a metropolitan city such as Miami we'd not have these areas of problems where the cell phones cut off as they do-sorry about that when we talked. Good job on no candy!!!!

MELF, good way to start the week by getting OB. Glad to see you OP and down a pound. You weren't the only one in a foul mood, as you see above:)

JACKIE, what did you see this weekend at the movies, besides the inside of a popcorn bag:s: Check out above to see what I mentioned about MICHAEL & college:)

FILLISE, sorry I missed getting to talk to you as well. Wanted to ask if you will be joining us at the SB GET TOGETHER in Feb. - which I am so hoping you are going to say yes!!!!

JEC, funny, but not really, that I tried to call you yesterday and this past weekend you weren't OP - would of been good to talk to you, but unfortunately, the number I have for you, I got a recording that it's not a working number. E-mail me if you have a new number, that is, if you ever want me to call;)

CHRIS, hope all is okay with your GM! Has she had past problems with her heart. Thank goodness she's near family to be close to her. Please let us know how's she's doing. Call anytime, I'm usually home in the evenings. Just remember, if you get one of the kids, and they appear to be on the phone, tell them it's LD and you NEED to speak to me, otherwise, esp. with MICHAEL, he thinks his friends are more important and half the time he tells people I'm not at home when I am and if they leave a msg. I usually don't get it, even after I ask him if anyone's called. :mad:

PANCHO, OMG, that's awful what you had to go through with DD! :fr: I would of freaked. Thank goodness they were able to get it to go down without her having to go through all that. The pita has to be rolled thin. When I make it I enlist the use of my scale and measure out 8 balls, about 2.7 ounces, or thereabouts, I think it was. I roll them, oh, about 6" in diameter, or something close to it, but pretty thin. When I use the stone I do pre-heat it in the oven. To clean it, mine suggests to use just water and says, in time, it will darken. It says not to use soap as it may end up with a soapy taste. My DS found another one for me at a garage sale this past weekend. Don't need another one really but figured, it would be just a matter of time before someone broke mine and I'd need another one anyhow, so I'll just put it away for now.

CHERYL, good luck witht he SOBE diet. LAUREN started last Tuesday and has lost 5 pounds as of yesterday. This is the first time she's been on a diet and I have to say, she's doing fantastic. She calls me if she's unsure if she can eat something or not, like last night, about corn. She hasn't cheated once!!!:D So, did you actually start it today?

MONET, at least RUTH will go get blood work! MICHAEL refuses! He hates needles. How he'll be a Dr., I'll never know:shrug: Hope all her tests come back okay. Enjoy your days off!!!

MOM, sounds like you are doing very well so far today - CONGRATS!! Okay, the yellow rice is white rice, just tinted so that's a nono:nono: You CAN have the black beans, not a problem. How about a side salad? I don't go to Pollo that much, and it's always for LAUREN since she loves it there, so I'm not sure what else you could do since I don't know the menu by heart. Girl, though I don't cook, we're gonna have to find you a way to cook something, you can't eat FF all the time!!!!:) Any questions, you know how and where to reach me. Good luck!

To everyone else, I send you a hearty HI!!!:wave:

Okay, it's almost 2pm and I haven't had a darned thing to eat, so I'm way overdue. Going to probably have some rotiserrie chicken I bought yesterday.

Will check in later, ya'll!

{{{HUGS}}}:grouphug:

Debbie

I was just trying to check in during my lunch hour and lost my whole post. I can now relate to all of you that this happens to all the time.

Deb- Sounds like Michael did great on the SAT. I only took the ACT because I went to college in state. The mother of them all was the GRE for graduate school. I still get anxiety thinking about that. I hope Micheal gets into whatever school he chooses. Besides seeing the inside of the popcorn bag, I saw Lost in Translation, which I enjoyed very much. I am going to be accountable to you and tell you that tonight I plan to go back to the movies, however, I will NOT see the inside of any popcorn bags. I think I am going to go see Runaway Jury with a friend. It will be interesting to see since it was filmed in New Orleans. I hear it portrays New Orleans in a favorable light, so I am curious.

Pancho- So sorry to hear about the incident with your baby. Choking is so scary. I am sorry that you had to handle the whole thing by yourself.

Mom2Jared- Congrats on your 1st official sugar busters day. Sounds good so far. I am not familiar with the restaurant you are speaking of, but ask if you can get double the beans and hold the rice.

Cheryl-Before I began South beach induction, I had a huge carb fest. It did get it out of my system though and allowed me to be very successful on induction.

jecrites- Just climb back on the wagon today!

Susan- Glad you had a good trip. I liked your philosophy about the worthwhile cheat and then getting back on plan.

ChrisD- Hope your grandmother gets better soon. She is in my prayers.

Closing up shop for the day.

Guess we will have burgers for dinner. There is no food in the house. Need to go to the store. Thank goodness I share an apple with a coworker everyday at lunch or I would get no fruit.

It is in the low 80's. Beautiful day. Guess we will get our walk in.
Back to my new wt routine as well.


Melf, funny thing, as the figure improves the mood seems to improve also. Hope you shake your funk. WTG for a good day yesterday and one pound gone.

Ashley, laughed at the salt and grease coming out your pores. Too funny. Have you thought of taking yur own to the movies you can't you just resist that movie corn? We have great hot corn beef sandwiches at the track in Lexington. Never had one at Churchill though. I loved that book (Runaway Jury) Hope the movie is as good. Stay out of the popcorn.

Fillise, glad you are feeling better. I would count that roll as your starchy carbs for the day and not worry about it.

Jecrites, Today is a new day and a new week. The important thing is not to let it get out of control. You should get some exercise runningup and down those steps.

Chris, best wishes for your GM.

Pancho, what a scarry thing with your DD> I'm glad they didn't have to scope her. Hope you are back on track today.

Cheryl, I'm glad your DD insisted you start today. Sounds like you were spinning out of control (been there, done that). Hope it works for you.

Monet, When I am bad a get a waffle at the waffle house, I rationalize it as ok since I ask for SF syrup. :lol:

Gator, just don't know what it will take UK to pull out a win. Next is Vandy and hopefully that will be one, but then comes GA and know we won't win that one,then Bob's UT. Maybe we can pull that one out if they play us like they played Duke.

Mom, your meals sound ok as slong as the yogurt was sweetened with aspartamine (sp) and the whipped cream didn't have sugar. Don't know the restaurant, but think the beans would be ok. The rice would not.

Monet, hope Ruth's test turn out ok.

Deb, Tell Lauren congrats onthe 5 lbs. That should motivate her. Eli won't know what hit him with the silent treatment. Workaholics really should think about what they are missing. Time with loved ones can be so short.

Bob, how was your day with the new puters?

Have a great OP evening.

Jackie

Hi again everyone.

Well I've made it this far today with no cheats at all!!! I think it was because I was out of the house most of the day. I had to return something to the BX, then I had to get gas or I would have been sitting on the side of the road on the way to Wal-Mart. The only food type things I got from there was some WW pita bread and tortillas. Then it was just the normal everyday stuff I had to get like dish liquid, trash bags, toothpaste, forgot the deodorant though:o . After that I stopped by a friend's house and talked to her for a couple of hours, then I had to get home to meet the bus. Haven't gotten a whole lot of laundry done either.

Had a ham sandwich for lunch with some sourdough pretzels. I'm planning on making pita pizzas for supper. Need to get some fruit in there somewhere too. Didn't have breakfast, I know that's bad, but most of the time I'm not hungry. I am planning on getting breakfast back in my routine sometime soon though.

Pancho, I am so glad that your DD is alright. How in the world did it get stuck and stay there? My grandma gave Kerri one of those lifesavers mint things when she was about 2 and she choked on it, luckily my mom was there and had been through some child CPR and smacked the crap out of her on her back while lifting her up and it popped right out of there. I was scared to death. Of course that's different then it getting hung up and staying. Just think how dull our lives would be without children!

Monet, I'm taking today an hour at a time. It really helped me to get out of here for a while though, all that candy trying to sneak in my mouth, but I'm not letting it in!!! It would be nice to have two computers, then I wouldn't have to deal with him hogging it all the time, or even another monitor where I could log on too!

Gator, You'd be surprised at the kids that would eat the sourballs. I have a friend who's oldest child is allergic to chocolate, the poor little thing doesn't get much of his halloween candies because of it. Then there are kids like mine that don't care if it's chocolate or not, as long as it's candy they'll eat it.

Deb, I have no idea why that stupid thing does that. Every now and again it will tell people that it's not a working number. It's beginning to really piss me off too. I just went back and looked at the telephone tree and that's the right number, and it does work because I tried calling my friend in La. who was out of town and she returned my call when she got home yesterday. Cell phones...Geez!!!

Gotta go help with the homework and check on that neverending laundry. Talk to y'all later.

Jenn

Well, I did not manage to stay out of the Halloween candy. I had about 10 small pieces over the course of the week-end. Also had nachos at the football game. Yikes.

Well, it was a great football week-end for me, though. The high school team won, the Longhorns won, and the Cowboys won (although, Cowboy fans, was that an ugly game or what!). Greenrn, didn't I see that you are an Oklahoma State fan? We play you guys this Saturday. Should be a great game!

We tried a new seafood place on Saturday night. I had grilled tuna with a fruit salsa on top that was really good. I love fresh tuna, but so many places overcook it. I love it rare or it gets dried out. It was perfect. I made chicken parmesan (no breading) for dinner last night and I've got a pot roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight.

Deb, sorry I missed your call on Saturday. I wasn't ignoring you, but was still at the game. I think I almost have Lyn talked into riding to the get-together with me (right, Lyn?????). It should be so much fun. Are you planning all types of fun things for us??

If I could be selfish for a moment, please keep Jordan in your thoughts this week. Their group starts something called The Crucible tomorrow morning at 2:30 a.m. It's a 54 hour ordeal, extremely physical, very little food or sleep, and culminates with a climb to the top of a mountain on Thursday. They have to finish or they get set back in their training. This is the hardest thing that they will have to do in their training.

Better run.

Talk to you guys later.

Trish

Thanks for the advice Deb, Jackie and Jack. I went to Pollo and got a grilled chicken breast and asked for extra beans. When I got home, I threw away the roll and made some brown rice with chicken broth like the SB book suggests. It was excellent. I have a headache today which I am assuming has to do with cutting out the junk food. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Jack: Yes the yogurt had aspertane. I can't have any sugar at all due to my diabetes. It is the Dannon Light and Fit Nonfat Yogurt.

So how did I do for my first day?

Ilana

Ilana, I think you're doing pretty good so far. On the yogurt, I'm not a huge yogurt fan, but I know a lot of people eat the plain yogurt and just add some NSA preserves or fresh fruit to cut down on the artificial sweeteners.

Trish

Are artificial sweetners bad and not OP? I tend to have s/f candies sometimes that have aspertane or sorbital in them. I love the yogurt and if you guys feel that it will hamper my weight loss, I will stop eating them. I just bought whole gain cheerios today and will have that for breakfast tomorrow.

Ilana

MOM: I have heard that aspartame is not a good choice for diabetics. Splenda is supposedly better. Have you considered getting plain yogurt and adding Polaner all fruit to it to sweeten it? I love it with the strawberry or apricot in it. I also have no sugar added apple butter which is really yummy in plain yogurt. Be careful with the s/f candies, as they contain maltitol, which can have a laxative effect, and the effect seems to get worse and worse the more you eat! I used to be able to eat a whole box with no problems, and now two pieces sends me running... :o

Hi guys:

It is nice to be back into the normal routine. I have done pretty well today, except I've had about 5 little candy bars, and a handful of FF. I did get to the gym though and got a great workout in; that always helps with the eating too.

Cheryl: Funny how we "rationalize" things isn't it? I've been there before. I did it before I started WW, and before I started Atkins, and before I started SB. "I'm gonna start tomorrow and be derpiving myself of all this junk....so I'm going to get as much of it in as I can today." Pretty silly of us, but I'm sure we've all been there. I hope you are doing well on the SOBE today.

Monet: Enjoy your days off work this week!!

Deb: Way to get out and clear your head instead of your peanut butter jar. Thanks for the info. on the pitas; I had thought you said that you only make 4 out of that, and that is what I did. So it was big, and pretty heavy. Next time, I will make more and roll them much thinner. I'll get it right one of these times.

jecrites: Glad you are doing better today and staying OP. Our children surely keep us hopping and worrying endlessly!

Trish: I'm sure Jordan will do just great; it is just your job to worry. I will keep him in my thoughts throughout this time. Join the club falling off the wagon; I'm climbing back on on a little more slowly, but surely.

Mom: As far as Aspartame affecting your weight loss...I think that is a "Your mileage may vary" thing. You will have to experiment with it. I think a lot of people avoid it because there are some people who are sensitive to it, and there are warnings about it since it is "unnatural." A lot of people prefer Splenda in items as it seems to be safer than some of the other sweeteners. Try some agave syrup too. It is all natural and very low on the glycemic index. It is like honey and you can use it on a number of things such as cereal, oatmeal, iced tea, coffee, use it for baking, etc... Some people like Stevia as well, and it is all natural. You will have to experiment and then eat what you feel comfortable with. Good luck to you! Blue Bunny does make a yogurt called Blue Bunny Lite 85 with Splenda and they have a tone of different flavors, you may want to try it.

Well, I better run!

Take care,
Nat

Good afternoon....

First off, Deb......I hit the wrong button on the poll. I said I wasn't going to eat any candy......but I did have one bite size Baby Ruth. I think I hit "I ate one piece LIKE I SAID I WOULD". That is not what I said!!

Didn't do much this week end. Friday night we had a total of 5 trick or treater's. Same as last year!

Saturday was the potluck at my Mom's. Grandma is starting to get ansy about going back home. They are getting her up and around on a cane now. She said she would get one of the home monitors, like Life Alert when this first happened. But now she is hemying and hawing about it. I just wish she would wait until spring before going back home alone. I hate the thought of her being alone through the winter. But she is determined.

Sunday I just cleaned house. Not much new there.

Oh, by the way. The applesauce brownies have been banished to the freezer in the shop! They just wouldn't quit calling to me at all hours. They really are good, but not good for me!! I am going to try the apple oat bars next. These are great items for Christmas goodies. So I will make a batch of these and freeze them too.

On to a few replies.....

Toni-- Sounds like you have it all under control. Good for you!!

Jack-k-- I have a long way to go before I will ever be considered skinny!! But thanks for the kind words. My dh husband hates those pants, lol. Sounds like you did great over the weekend. The weight will start melting off again.

Melf-- Woo Hoo, down a pound!! Sound like you and dd are getting the big runaround.

JackieO-- Drink lots of water.....it will flush out the salt, and extra fluid.

Fillise-- So happy to hear that you are feeling better.

Jec-- Slow down....you are making me dizzy!

Chrisd-- Sorry to hear about your Grandmother. Hope all will be okay. Praying for you and your family.

Pancho-- Wow, what a scary night. What a way to spend Halloween huh?? Sure glad that she is okay now. Did she end up with a sore throat?? Glad they didn't have to give her anything.

Cheryl-- Well, I want to say WTG on the fact that you got started this morning with the induction.....I am at a loss of words for the rest......((((hugs))))

Monet-- Your dd did a wonderful job carving the pumpkin. She is very talented. I wish I could turn out stuff like that. I always see in my mind what I want to do.....but it never turns out the way I had planned. Thanks for the pat on the back. You have been a great help to me!!

Gator-- Waving a big hello to you!

Deb-- Loved the pumpkin eyes...... AWESOME job. Oh my.....maybe Eli should stay gone for a while longer? At least until the anger is gone?? Or as you said.....ship him to BOB. You must be sooo proud of Michael. My boys couldn't wait to get out of school! Thanks for the kind words. Still look pretty heavy to me!!

Mom-- I eat the Blue Bunny Lite 85 yogurts. They are made with Splenda. I just think we need to limit our use of artificial sweeteners. I think for some people, anything with a sweet taste can cause cravings......so it can be an individual thing. Sounds like you are off to a great start!

See you all later!

Good evening everyone. Thought I'd check back and see how you all were doing. I've had a great day and am really pleased with myself. I walked in the campground this morning and this is what I've eaten. For Breakfast- 2 boiled eggs, small can V8 juice, and coffee
Lunch-Hot Wings, homemade slaw, slice of homegrown tomato.
Snack- SF jello, and cheese
Dinner Turkey breast, green beans and salad with SB cider vingarette.
Hope I can keep the good eating up...

Pancho- That must have been so awful with your daughter. I can't imagine what you both had to go through. Glad everything came out alright.

Cherylco- How did the first day go on the South Beach Diet? I'm trying a week or two of it to. I really need to have that jump start..

Monet- Hope everything goes well with Ruth's blood test. I'm a real baby with my blood work and have to have so much I don't know why I'm not more used of it..

GatorGal- Wow nice you could get a tree that big after the death of the other. Well today is a new start so hope you do well.

mom2jared- That sounds like a good place to eat. Hope you do okay with your dinner...

Debelli- Sounds like you didn't have a very good day. Hope things got better. You should be proud of the way you managed your eating. Deb if you get a chance to give a call that would be great. I'm gone between 10 AM and 12 for my walk but home all the rest of the time.

jackieO- Wow you're starting South Beach to. I wouldn't want to have to live on this. But I hope it does good for me and the rest of you gals doing it.

Jack-K- Hope you have a good evening and a nice walk. Sure sounds like you need to get some grub in the house.....

jecrites- Congrads on making it through the day.. I'm trying an hour at a time too. Sometimes that is the best we can do...

Trishaloo- What branch of the service is your son in? I'll keep him in my thoughts. My son is a drill instructor in the Army..

Hope you all have a good evening.......

Teensybean- Guess we were posting at the same time. Glad your Grandma is getting around. Send those brownies this way. LOL... No not really I'd be afraid I'd pig out on them.... Hope you have a good evening.

Thought I'd hop on while MICHAEL eats and talks on the phone (a talent he's mastered).

ELI is STILL not home. He's been gone before I woke up at 6am and here it is, almost 7pm - he tries to convince me that he only works 60 hours a week. Umm, when he took this position they told him he was only to work 45-50 hours - yeah, right! If he'd only realize that with all the hours he puts in he doesn't even earn minimum wage!

JACKIE, I guess ELI, I and his friend are the only people I know that didn't like LOST - I hated it! Only thought there were a few funny parts. TRANQUIL liked it too and couldn't understand why I didn't like it:shrug: LMK what you think of Runaway Jury, I heard it was good. How'd you do with the popcorn issue? No need to be accountable to me, but to yourself;) Me, I can come kick butt come February if you don't stay accountable to yourself:s:

JACKK, I'd love to tell LAUREN congrats from you but she'd get pissed. She doesn't like it if anyone says that she's on a diet. You should of seen the attitude she coped the other day when my DS said something, which my DM told her, not I. I don't know if the silent treatment will be an asset to me or to ELI - he may think of it as a good thing so he doesn't hear my *****ing!!!!:lol:

JEC, cell phones, love them and hate them at the same time! I've never heard that kind of a message before, so was thinking maybe you changed the number and forgot to say something. If it's a good number, I'll just try you another time.

TRISH, so glad you and LYN are going to be coming together!!!! Fun things - did you think last time was fun? This will be more so, so get ready. LMK if you have any ideas to make it even more special this go round. I'll keep JORDAN in my thoughts and I'm sure with the dedication he's showing thus far, he'll do great. Can't wait to hear how great he actually does - though it sounds so brutal!!!

MOM, good job, you're doing great:cp: Yes, the headaches are from the detox and will pass in about 3 days - hold strong and don't give in to the cravings and after the 3rd day those should disappear. These first 3 days are the hardest. Artificial sweeteners, I particularly don't care for them, esp. don't like Splenda, it does a number on me, but in moderation, you'll probably be fine. Blue Bunny makes a pretty good yogurt that you may want to try as well. Again, you may want to get a small container of Horizon FF Plain Yogurt at Whole Foods and try to add about a tablespoon or so plus a little sweetener to make your own - far better than anything you can buy, at least in my opinion. I'd try to stay away from the candy, at least for now. Try to detox from the sugars. Your body and mind don't quite realize this is fake sugar, it's sweet and that's all that it can think of.

PANCHO, okay, just HAVE to ask, what candy bars did you eat? Just curious:?: Okay, for the pitas, it does call to make 4 but they were so big that I made the recipe and just made smaller balls and made 8 instead. Either way, just roll it thin enough and they will puff up. First time I made them mine didn't puff up either. Second time it was better but not perfect. Third time, a charm:)

TEENSY, when I was 129 I still thought I looked big, at 122 thought I still looked big. Not matter what, I think I still look big at any size, big or small. I'm not well proportioned.:shrug: Proud of both kids, they both are doing awesome in school, I really can't ask for anything better. LMK how those new apple bars come out when you make them.

TONI, I usually try to call people after 9pm est or on the weekends because it's free. Give me a good time and day and I'll be happy to call - would love to chat!!!

Okay, I'm caught up and besides, MICHAEL has asked me twice to give up the computer, so my time is up.

Will see you all tomorrow!

{{{HUGS}}}

Debbie

GOOD EVENING EVERY BUDDY!!! :wave:


DAY 1 OF THE NEW COMPUTER SAGA!

It proved to be a good day! There are some glitches, but that's to be expected with anything new. My portion of the system is actually very easy to manuver. The nerves and anxiety were all for nothing! I'm sure as our SEASON progresses, I will get stressed again, but I know it's "doable"
THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE IN ME!!!

THE "EX" SAGA!!!

THE CALL CAME THIS MORNING AT WORK!!! It actually turned out to be a plesant conversation. He wanted to talk about his Mother, and I listened, giving my 2 cents every now and then.
Since I haven't talked or seen him for many many years, I learned
today that he hasn't had a drink in 10 yrs! He has been working for the same company for the last 8 yrs (which is a miracle in it's self).
We talked for about 1 1/2 hrs and when we finished, I really felt better about the whole situation. My feelings are not that I want to rush back into his arms or anything, but it was good to clear the air (so to speak). He appreciated the call that I made to the funeral home on Friday, and knowing him as I do, he was sincere and I could tell. There was no romantic talk, just a conversation between two people who have known each other for 24 yrs. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

Gotta run, Everyone have a great evening!

BOB

HiedieHo All!

Where did the day go? Been on the computer too much today doing Habitat business, started before breakfast! Went to NH, made three different kind of desserts for the women's Bible study tomorrow. The Triple Layer Jello, the Quick Choc Mousse Cheesecake, and something I heard on TV, but have not tried. Use orange SF Jello, mix w/ hot water as instructed, replace cold water w/ equal amount of LF or NF Vanilla Yogurt. Supposed tot aste like a orange creamsicle. I tasted the spoon after mixing and I bet it will come close to that flavor sensation.

Had to take my big furry baby to the vet this afternoon. He squirted blood this a.m. on the dressing room floor this a.m. Vet poked a long rod up poor kitty's butt and it did not come out bloody. Tests showed no parasites, etc. Many the blood did not come from there, maybe he spit it up. Doctor said everything felt normal. Beaar may have picked up a bug. Gave hime three shots. Hope they help.

I had two good things today. Went to WD and decided to get DIL a plant that advertised buy 1 get 1 free. There were no signs at flower section. Girl said not this week, must be thinking last week. Went up front got flyer and showed it to her. She said they had not given her any info on it. Gave me my 2 plants and as I left she was putting stickers on the plants! Then in vets office as girl was putting Bear's info in computer I was reading signs. When she told me amount of bill, I said all I haad to do when she was working was read signs, one said Seniors be sure to ask for your discount. Girl said oops I forgot, redid bill and knocked off 12 bucks!

TONI: It always amazes me, the Small World thing!

GREEN: I don't do sewing anymore. I used to make our clothes, recover the furniture, make curtains and drapes. The whole smear. Did some machine embroidery. Did I tell you my DD is a nurse too? She does OB/GYN. Works at three or four different hospitals in the Baltimore area through an agency.

PANCHO: I have CRS so forgive me, was you that asked about the sauerkraut recipe? If so.............shred cabbage, stuff into clean quart canning jars. Add 1 t. salt, fill to top of jar with water (may have to slide a knife down through cabbage to get water through so there's no air bubbles, screw cap on loosely. Line a shelf that is in a cool place (not next to the water heater!) with a heavy layer of newspaper and set jars on it. Forget about them for 6 weeks (actually you won't be able to the sauerkraut smell will keep reminding you!). Open jars and top off with enough water to fill jars to top. Screw lids back on tightly. Viola! Sauerkraut. I made it that way for years. Hmmmmm? Was it Teensy that asked?

Well, want to do my nails and read the paper. Should get to those bills!

My MM: You're A Keeper.._

A Keeper...

It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my Mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So...while we have it...it's best we love it.....and care for it .....and fix it when it's broken.....and heal it when it's sick.

This is true.....for marriage.....and old cars.....and children with bad report cards.....and dogs with bad hips.....and aging parents.....and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away -- or -- a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.....and so, we keep them close! I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'! Now I give it to the people I think of in the same way.

You're a Keeper!

Take care, Shirley

Yes I started SBD today. Was surprisingly simple. I think because I ate so much crap food for 2 days I was happy to eat good! My daughter did good too.

Monet
What a great idea to mix the all fruit preserves with the plain yogurt!! I'm going to give it a try after I get past these 2 weeks of no fruit.

Toni
What a great meal plan you had today! I love fresh tomatoes!
It was fine on SBD today. I just have to watch it to make sure I don't mistakenly eat an induction no-no. I'm not really a big meat eater so it's weird to fill up on meat. It's SB with no fruit or starchy carbs. Eats, meat, cheese, low carb veggies and nuts. Oh and the book says not to be hungry so portion is up to you.

I fell asleep earlier when I was laying down with Jess. Good thing my husband called or else I would have slept until he came home...lol. Gosh, that 45 mins nap made me more tired than before...yawnnn.

Some replies :

Debbie : My husband, Phil is a broadcast engineer and he starts work around 3.00pm. He used to do the overnight shift and I really don't like that as when we were up, he was sleeping. He is also a part-time home builder during the day...yeah, he wished they are more hours in one day.

I am sorry that Eli disappointed you. I know I would be mad too....oh yes, very mad! When I read your story earlier, it reminded me of a radio interview I heard a while back. A successful businessman was being interviewed and he mentioned how busy he used to be and how much money he earned. He was just so into his work and his priority was his job and making lotsa money. He said that he came to his senses one day after he realized that his family no longer likes to be around him. They planned their activities without him and hoping that he wouldn't come. (They took vacation without him too) He wasn't like by his family much at that point and he said it sucked to know that your OWN family doesn't want to be around you. Then he realized what was important to him and soon changed his priorities. {{{hugs}}} to you and hope that one day...soon Eli realized that work is JUST work...will always be there but YOU and your family is wayyyyy more important.

Teensybean : Thanks for sharing the pic. You looked great!! I don't know how much you weighed before but you sure look very good now!

Toni48 : I used to wait up for dh almost every night because of my night owl nature but lately after the time changed, dd started to wake up at 6-something am so I felt so sleep-deprived. I tried to sleep a litle earlier, at least get my 7 hours in but that doesn't always happen. The good news is, dd is back on track so I get a little more time to sleep in in the mornings.

green rn : Hope your dh is feeling better already. My dh hurt his back few months ago while planting som big trees. That really hurt him and since then we have had the landscaper put the big trees in...lol. AS for why I tested my blood sugar 1 hour to 2 hours after meal that day, yes, you are right. I wanted to see how much rise the general tso chicken affected my blood sugar. Just for a peace of mind...lol. When I was pregnant with dd 3 years ago, I had gestational diabetes so I was on the ADA diet and was asked to check my blood sugar 2 hours after each meal plus fasting. Now, I am glucose intolerance and my dr only wants me to take my fasting in the morning ocassionally...he said it is most accurate. So far since I started SB, my fasting numbers have been lower and I try not to eat too late and snack before I go to bed. That seems to help. Oh, there was an explanation I heard a while back from some diabetics in another website about high fasting. They said that sometimes at night your blood sugar might dropped very low and your kidney (is it kidney...lol) will make some sugar to rise it back to the safe level hence the high fasting number. Some said that they eat a little light snack before they go to bed and said that helps. I used to do that but now I don't. I really don't know if that is true. Just thought I let you know anyway.

chrisd : Sorry to hear about your grandmother's admission. I hope and pray for her speedy recovery.

pancho : What happened to your dd was so scary indeed. I am so glad that she is okay now. {{{hugs}}

Monet : You and your dd must be very close and it is so nice to feel needed even when out kids has their own family isn't it? Okay, my dd is only 2 1/2 years old but I know time flies :)

gatorgal : I don't do Halloween as well. When I was at the old house, I just have the outside light off and the trick-or-treaters seemed to understand that there were no candies in that house...lol. Since moving here 10 months ago, I have came to know more neighbors here than at the old place which I stayed for 4 years. So, I did prepare some candies (actually hoping to get rid of dh's candies...lol) just incase some kids came by but none did because we were at the other end of the subdivision.

Mom2jared : Congrats on your first SB day. Your menu looks great except that I would have starved to death if it was me...lol. I need my starchy carbs every meal or else I will start to shake very soon after lunch. As days go by, eating SB way will be easier and you will be more familiar with what you can and cannot eat, mostly what you can't eat which is not much. That is why I love SB. It has so many varieties and I can still have my starchy carbs...lol. Okay, you can tell that I like my carbs right? lol. I have to check my blood sugar once in a while, just to make sure I am not eating way too much of them either. I am also not familiar with the restaurant you mentioned. You can probably ask for another veges to substitute your rice if they have one in menu. Beans are just fine though.

Does anyone knows any SF ice-cream that has no sugar alchohol in it? I tried Breyers SF for the first time and it was much better than I thought but my tummy can't handle it even if it is half cup. Gosh, I cannot leave the house for the whole day..lol.

I make eggplant parmesan for the first time today and it was not too bad, although too salty (my fault). I got the inspiration from here and forgot who put out the recipe, thanks! I am going to try chicken parmesan sometime this week.

I have another question : what do you eat for breakfast? I am running out of ideas, from eggs to peanut butter sandwich...getting tired!

Thanks and am very proud that I am up-to-date in reading the posts here but then again, as I am typing, I realized more posts appear...oh well...lol. Have a goodnight everyone!

Julia

Morning All:wave:

Wanted to get on the board and catch up while there isn't too much catching up to do:)

Not much to tell since my last post, so I'll dive right in...

BOB, happy all things went well with the phone call - you had to do what you felt was right. From your previous posts it sounded like you were struggling with a decision.

SEF, sorry to hear about the kitty scare but glad to know that vet didn't find anything. Who knows, maybe kitty found some edible blood containing bug and munched on it, squirting it's icky blood? Good job on the plants AND the vet bill! Always ready to save money, it's the spending I'm not too good at;)

CHERYL, how old is your DD that's doing SOBE with you? LAUREN has done the first week and I'm soooo impressed on her and her diligence not to cheat. She didn't check the scale today but I do see a slight difference in her face. I know she's sooo looking forward to starting phase II of this diet so she can eat some decent food, it's been hard to find foods she likes on SOBE for her.

KEN, I don't think men think in that manor, or at least not many of them. They are workhorses and ELI is the lead horse. Not much I can do or say and *****ing really doesn't help the situation, he's been this way since the day I met him:shrug: You KNOW you can have BREYERS ice cream, something like vanilla, you don't need to have the SF one AND if you find the lactose free, which is delish, it's even lower in sugar AND fat grams. It's the portion you need to worry about, something I myself cannot control. Strawberry and coffee flavors are also good.

BREAKFAST IDEAS

WW Eng. Muffins
Baked muffins
Quiche
High Fiber Cereals with milk-Uncle Sams, Fiber One
Eggs or Egg Substitute-make a great omelet, hard boiled or scrambled
WW Pancakes or Waffles-FEARN has a great SB LEGAL MIX!
Cottage Cheese-add a little sweetener and cinammon
Plain Yogurt-can be topped with some fresh/frozen berries
Whole Grain Toast-top with a little butter if desired
No Sugar Bacon- Gwaltney's is a great brand to try if you can find it!
Hard Cheese-melted on your toast or in your eggs
Fruit-as your meal, or 1/2 hr before, or 2 hours after
Muffins-lots of recipes to make some SB legal muffins out there
Oatmeal
Breakfast Burrito
Kashi for Breakfast
French Toast (make with egg and Ezekeil or other SB legal bread)

Hope that helps!

Well, I'm going to basically stay home and continue my cleaning efforts. Besides the garage sale in about a week and a half, my parents are coming for a day or two tomorrow while their house is being tented for termites, so I have to get it where they have someplace to sleep!

Will check in later!

Toodles

Deb

Good morning everyone. Well here goes another day. We have one more day of nice weather here then a cold front is moving in. Cooked my turkey breast for dinner last night and it was so good. I just love those cooking bags. Makes the turkey oh so nice and not dry. I tried a cider vingeratte dressing from the SB book. It was just a simple one. But I'm a die hard Ranch fan. Hope I can do as good today.

Debilli- How bout calling Sunday. Then we can see how my week has gone eating wise. LOL.... Thank you so much. I'll look forward to hearing from you. If Sat. is better thats fine too... Boy those are some long hours Eli has to keep. When I had my own cafe I had to work horrible long hours. There was never enough time for anything. Hope you get all that housework done. I've got lots to tackle, starting with the bathroom. But think I'll walk first...

Bob- Congradulations on mastering your new job at work. I'm glad it came together and is working out. Wow that worked out great with your EX. Maybe this all worked out for the best since now you've cleared the air and got rid of the doubts of talking to him. I think you really handled that great gal!!!!

Sef- I love "The Keeper" that was just beautiful. I hope your kitty is okay. Thats really scary.... Wow you did great on the plant buy. Sounds like you're a busy bee!!!!

Cherylco- Hope you do well on the Beach today. Its amazeing how much the two eating plans are alike. I was really eating to many carbs. And I also kind of over ate on those things Sunday before, knowing that this is it!!! Hope we do good....

kengjw- I know what you mean about breakfast. I made some muffins last week and they came out good. I ate them for breakfast. It was a nice change. But alas this week I'm back to eggs but have hard boiled them.

Well time to get busy. Will check back later....

Good Tuesday morning.

We got our 3 mile walk in last eveing plus some extra. D says we need to get it in while it's not raining. I think he is trying to kill me. :lol: Did do my wt training and floor exercises when I got home. Didn't want to, but I did. Got out and voted this a.m. Not too much to vote for. I voted for the lesser of 2 evils. That is such a shame to say, but it is true.

Jecrites, try to get back to eating breakfast. It really plays an important part in wt loss. I just read an article on it last night in Health mag. Congrats for making it 1 day. Just take it one day at a time.

Trish, special prayers for Jordan. I bet he breezes through it. Hope you are back on track.

Mom, sounds like your first day was fine. I forgot to count your starchy carbs. Did you get some fruit in too? The headache is from the junk. I had one for 3 days when I got back on track. Amazing what that crap does to you. I eat yogurt, especially when I try to limit my starchy carbs. I get burnt out on it quickly though.

Teensy, so the brownies were good? Let me know about the apple oat bars. I'm interested in trying them.

Pancho, be careful, a candy bar here, a candy bar there. Just be very careful. You have done too great to let it slip up on you.

Toni, your eating for the day looked great. You are getting right back on track. I knew you would. I guess we are getting your weather. It is beautiful here again today (80) but cold front is heading our way. Supposed to be unseansonably cold this weekend. Glad we got some fire wood. Good luck with your eating today.

Deb, Eli left before you got up, Wonder why? Have you cooled down yet and started talking to him yet? DId I read correctly, you told Kengjw that you can have Breyers regualr ice cream?

Bob, glad the call from the ex went well. Now you can have a clear conscience (not that you needed to) but feel better about the whole thing.

Sef, WTG on being on top of those bargains. Gotta ask for them sometimes. Hope kitty is ok. Loved your MM. You're a keeper too.

CHeryl, Glad you and DD had a good first day on the SBD. Keep it up.

Kengjw, I usually have oatmeal, or eggs for breakfast. Some days, 1/2 pbj sandwich or yogurt. This week I am sticking to oatmeal and 1/2 grapefruit.

Need to get busy here. Be back later.

Jackie

The board would not let me post for nothing yesterday. But luckily I was able to save my post. It's a little outdated now but here it is:

I actually had a good weekend of eating. The scales were kind to me this morning. Let's see if it holds till Wed. Thanks to Deb's advice yesterday and some serious thought I think I am back on track again mentally. So much of eating correctly has to do with the right frame of mind. I did decide to help myself by not buying any chips this week other than Roberts little cans for lunch. If they need chips I will buy them on an as needed basis. It's not like two of my kids don't work at the store.

Nat...how very scary for you an Lane. I'm glad it all worked out with out them having to scoop it out.

IIana...WTG on your eating. I would eat the black beans. I also like guacamole.

Monet...instead of looking at it as a bad start to the week..just think...what a great week, I started with a treat to myself now back OP! :)

Cherylco......I hear you about all the temptations. I'm not much on sweets but I could like some of that pie...yum yum. I just bought apples today to make them a couple of pies around here. I think if the apples will hold I will save them for Thanksgiving.

ChrisD..praying for your grandma.

Jenn...sorry you lost your big post. And that this weekend was an eating weekend. I do that every now and then. It's like you want something and unless you get it nothing hits the spot.

Waving at everybody else. I gotta scoot. Time for me to call out their spelling words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday Morning

Still ate pretty good. The kids wanted hot dogs and chili so I ended up picking up chips. I did NOT dive head first into the page or open the second one. So I'm making headway. :) Cukes were on sale so I was able to fill the fridge with them. I like to salt them and snack on them. It's been a long time since I bought them because they haven't been on sale. They were 3 for a dollar.

Colleen....I forgot to tell you how great you looked in your photo. You must be close to goal.

Bob....I'm glad the call went well and that your ex has gotten control of his life.

Toni....could you send the cold front this way. It's been so warm I've had to use the AC the last two days.

Deb....thanks for the breakfast ideas. I wish my stomach wanted breakfast. I told my husband about our talk and trying to eat more. You wouldn't believe how sweet and supportive he is. He doesn't even think I'm silly. :)

Julia...I'm that way...a nap will make me so tired sometimes.

Cherylco...glad you had a good day with SBD.

Sef....the dreamcicle dessert sounds wounderful.

Jack-K......you go girl with all your exercise. I played hookie yesterday but am going to do the walk video again. Sat. I did it and my arms were aching. So I know it's doing some good using the weights.

I'm moving slow this morning so I'm gonna get my booty off of here. Finish checking email and get moving.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Love and hugs,
Crystle

Hello everyone.

Yesterday turned out good for me. I didn't have anything illegal. I even stayed out of the candy when the kids got a few pieces after supper last night. I made pita pizzas, and Autumn didn't want that, she wanted mac & cheese, so I made that for her, and no I didn't have any, just the kids.

Hubby had a friend over last night to watch Monday Night Football. We've known this guy for a few years. Hubby used to work with him at Barksdale, and now he's been stationed up here. He even liked the pita pizzas I made for supper.

I had breakfast this morning too! Made some oatmeal, and actually enjoyed it. Going to do something with chicken for supper tonight. Not sure what it'll be yet. Oh, and I did get in some fruit yesterday. I had a banana, (I know we aren't really supposed to have those, but I'm on a med that says to eat a banana or drink O.J. and didn't want the O.J.), and some cantaloupe.

Pancho, I only wish I could have stopped at just 5 little candy bars! I did good yesterday, not one thing off plan, and I'm doing good today too, it was the weekend that got me!

Toni, How was your taking things one hour at a time? Mine ended up being pretty good. Doing it again today.

Deb, Only reason I know the stupid thing does that is MIL has called me and it's done her that way. I definately know about the cell phone love/hate thing, and the workhorse of a man. That's the bad thing about the military, they can call you up at whatever hour they want to and tell you to go to work and you sure don't get any kind of extra pay for it either.

BOB, Glad to hear your part of the new system is easy. Also glad to hear that things worked out good for you with your phone call from the EX.

Jack-k, I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal, but it was pretty good. I guess my bod was craving something from it. I'm hoping to continue eating breakfast. One day at a time, right?

Country, Way to go on passing up the chips! Sometimes I can't control myself when they are around, so I don't buy any unless we have family come visit and they want some; then I try really hard not to have them but I end up doing it anyway. Guess I should tell them to get small bags just for one person and eat them all at once so I won't be tempted.

I think I might just throw some spices on the chicken and bake it, make some broccoli, and maybe some "flavored" brown rice (I put either chicken or beef bullion in it), and maybe even put on a pot of beans of some kind. OH! I forgot to mention this, yesterday when I was at Wal-Mart, I was walking down the "pasta" asile, and they have that brand of WW noodles that I've seen some of you mention, I can't remember the name but I know it's H-something Mills. I'm planning on getting some and trying it at some point.

Ok, I didn't get the laundry finished up yesterday because I was gone for quite a while, so I've got that to finish. I'll talk to y'all later.

Jenn

Good Tuesday morning all:

Thank you all for your kind words about Delaney; she is feeling better and is back to her loving, stubborn self today.

I just ate two slices of "legal" toast...one with apricot "fuit" sweetened jam & one with agave syrup, and some skim milk. I really think I've had my share of the chocolate bars & will do well now until Thanksgiving, which will be my next "planned" eating off-plan day. I will have my family take all the leftover pies/cakes except for a few slices for Britt & DH. I know that I will also have a few cookies when we bake our Christmas baskets for friends/doctors/relatives.

I am meeting with a woman with a company called Golden Grandmas today. She is an older woman who owns this company, and "babysits." We have rarely left our children with anyone, and I think DH & I need to get out every once in awhile. I am nervous about it, but I know all will be alright. Our 10th Anniversary is on the 13th of this month, and my DH has a work Christmas party on Dec. 5th we'd like to attend. She seemed kinda bothered that I wanted to come by and meet her first. I am also going to ask for references, and if she seems upset, then I'll have to find someone else. You would think that she would be happy to see a mother genuinely interested in the welfare of her children, and not take it personally. I'm sure she is a great lady, but I don't know her at all, and therefore would like references and to meet her.

Teensy: Sorry to hear GM is so adamant about going home; maybe she will change her mind and decide to stay a bit longer. Also, sorry to hear the brownies turned out so good;) . I'm gonna have to try them. I don't think Lane had a sore throat but she is too young to tell me. She wasn't pulling at it or anything though.

Toni: You're doing great. Keep up the good work.

Deb: I THINK ELI NEEDS TO GET A NEW JOB!!! He's probably taking years off both of your lives. The candy bars that I indulged in were Snickers & Twix bars, and one Almond Joy. I can't wait to experiment with the pita recipe again....I want them to look like your picture.

BOB: Glad the computer "stuff" is moving along without too many gliches. Sounds like you had a pleasant conversation with Ex.

Sef: Hope your kitty is better soon. Way to get those discounts. I did not ask about the sauerkraut recipe...it might have been Teensy. Thanks for the MM; it is so sweet & so true.

Cheryl: Glad your first day on the SOBE diet went well; good luck with the rest of the two week induction period.

Ken: Try some of the Blue Bunny brands; if there is sugar alcohol, it's not much since it doesn't affect me when I eat it. I usually get the drumsticks or fudgesickles, but haven't tried the gallons yet. You just have to set aside some time when you can go to the store (alone) and read labels. I spent time thinking of several breakfast ideas to post for you, but then Deb posted them and a ton more; thank God for her. I'm sure you won't be bored with breakfast anymore. So, I won't bother posting my ideas, I'll just say....ditto, ditto, ditto!

Jack-K: Way to get back into the exercise routine. I think getting to the gym really helped clear my head and get me back on track. I missed all week last week due to the kids getting sick, and me getting that little cold. Thanks for the advice; I think I've had my share of those little candy bars. I also think that I have gotten my metabolism at a great place right now...I was at 123# this morning. I think that doing this from time to time is o.k., since I don't want to lose much more, if any. If I stay 100% OP all the time, I'd probably drop below 120#. Have a great OP day.

Country: So glad you had a good OP weekend. I think I am back on track today too. I love cutting up cucumbers and eating them with a little lemon juice and salt & pepper. I also like cutting them lengthwise and eating them inside my hot dogs. I hope your day is a great OP one.

Well, I better go get kids dressed, etc....

Take care!
Nat

Busy morning on the board:D

Thought I'd hop on before this new show that I started watching comes on. It's called STARTING OVER - anyone watch this?

TONI, will try Sat, if I don't reach you, on Sunday. Actually, ELI worked even longer hours when we had our pizzeria, and he's forgotten it's one of the few reasons we sold the place and here he is, doing the same thing once again. He doesn't think he works that many hours, but I told him this week, we were going to keep track!

JACKK, ELI always goes in earlier than needed, esp. when he's scheduled to open the store as he says it's the only time no one bothers him. He says he can never get his work done with all the interruptions he gets, even by customers who will try to walk in the back room to say hello to him. He'll even sit with customers which gives him a backlog of stuff. Talking yes, happy, no and he knows it. Of course you can have Breyers! It's all natural and far better than the artificial crap they put in the other stuff - it's all about moderation and how much you eat - that's the key:)

COUNTRY, if you eat a little breakfast daily, even a small amount, most people feel better, but it will take time if you aren't use to eating breakfast - like ELI who only will eat breakfast if we're on a trip or he's on a trip for work. Glad DH is supportive, and then, why wouldn't he be:) LMK if you make any changes and how you do:)

JEC, don't worry about the banana, BEACHFAN ate them the whole time on SB and had no problem getting to goal. They effect people differently and if you don't have trouble, don't worry.

PANCHO, ELI's thinking about a new job only because of the new mgr. they got in his area now, but he loves this job, just not the guy. I hope he really doesn't leave, maybe a transfer to another store possibly. I could do without the Almond Joy, I don't like coconut unless it's fresh, but Twix are okay, not that I'd turn my nose up at a Snickers if it was there. I love Butterfingers, Reeses, Peanut M&M's, Heath Bars, heck, if it has chocolate I like it!!!:lol:

Okay, I'm outta here!

Deb

Good morning to all!
thanks you ALL for your prayers for GM. She is stil lin the hospital and will be through the week. She definitley had congestive heart failure and that may of been caused from the flight. the pressure in the cabin. She probably should of never flown, but who knew. She will be in for a few days for observation. her EKG came back a little abnormal so they are checking into that as well. i will go back up there tonight when DH gets home. I dont want to take Dominic there. Too many germs.

Anyway....

PANCHO - OMG how scary is that...and for you to have to go through that by yourself. Dominic may have to get a scope down his throat and they will have to "partially" put him out for it. He has a throwing up problem, so they have to check his esophogus to make sure of no blockages. He has already had an upper GI. Its horrible to see them in the hospital or anything like that. thank God Delaney didnt have to get anything shoved down her throat. Does she have a sore throat or anything now?
All the cansy bars you mentioned are my favorite...but Im a HUGE Reeses fan too!

DEB - Ok, so did I miss your pumpkin pic somewhere. I keep reading about it...where is it? Breyers a YES?????????? Whats up with that? Regular Breyers??? I think Im gonan call you in a few minutes if Dominic allows me.
good for Lauren on the 5lbs loss. She must be so happy!

MOM - good luck on your journey!

have a good day guys!
If any of you watch 8 Simple Rules (John Ritter)...its on tonight. 1 hour special...dealing with the loss. I almost cried just watching the commercial.

CHris

Greetings Sugar Busters Peeps!!! How is everyone this morning?
Work has been crazy since the second I got in the door this morning. It has been personality disorder central over here. I did go see Runaway Jury last night and I did like it. Didn't have real high expectations for it though, as I typically don't like that genre of movie. Not a huge Grisham fan..you read one, you've read them all. I did enjoy the shots of New Orleans. It is nice to finally see a film where they don't make the citizens look like complete morons with that phony southern or cajun dialect. Oh, and by the way, I am happy to report that I avoided the popcorn. It was quite difficult to go to the concession stand and buy just a diet coke. You know my food addict mind was thinking of asking the man behind the counter for a little handful and eating it before walking back into the theater where my friend could see me!!

I will try to post some individual posts this afternoon but am swamped right now. Talk to everyone later- Ashley

Good afternoon everyone!

Here's an update on the ongoing saga with my ex. I took Jared to the Speech Therapist this morning (Ex and I are taking turns) and I got to speak to his therapist who told me that she recommended a Neurologist and Audiological Evaluation for Jared and told Ex this last week. So there you are. I asked her if she would put this in writing and I gave her my address. When Ex called me to check on Jared, I told him what the Therapist told me. He said "I don't have time to discuss this because I'm very busy". Can you believe that? Also, he calls me an irresponsible parent yet when I got Jared back from Ex he was sneezing and coughing and Ex told me to call the Doctor. I told him that if he was this bad over the weekend, he should have called the Doctor and not left it until Monday. Makes me so mad!!!

Anyway, I am on day two of SB and for Breakfast I had some Cheerios and skim milk (SB milk said I could have whole grain Cheerios) Is that alright? Lunch I had a Bacon Ranch salad with grilled chicken and light balsalmic dressing from McDonalds. Snack was two pieces of swiss cheese. I haven't touched the junk food at all even though it is in my house for Jared. Don't know if I lost any weight yet but I'm hopeful.

Bye for now!

Ilana

Doing my daily check in. I have only one more paper to write for my French class, and then I can coast in with just 2 quizzes and one final exam to worry about. Hope to get the paper done by tonight, but have to do some research first. Glad I have the internet to rely on.

Had oatmeal this morning for breakfast and then one scrambled egg. Had chicken for lunch and will have fish and veggies for din-din. Got in a 20 minute walk today. Got up late and rushed around and had time for 20 minutes before I had to leave for class. Maybe my DH and I will walk tonight so I can get in some more mileage.

It's hot again here in Orlando. And a bit muggy. We have all our windows open, but I could almost do with the A/C. It has been a bit rainy, which is good for our new tree.

Looks like everyone is doing OK with the eating plan. Re the SF icecream, just have regular, high fat ice cream in a careful portion, and it will be OK. I think it is best to eat real food, and not the fake stuff. If you keep it to 1/2 cup serving occasionally, it will be OK and will not harm you.

Debbie, hope you are over your "mad." There's a country song about a couple who have a fight before going to bed, and the wife gets up in the morning still PO'd, thinking that she's right. The chorus says that she doesn't want him to make her laugh, and she just wants to be mad for a while longer. I can identify with that.

Gotta go.

Eeeek! There's been like 40 posts since yesterday morning!

I was up and out of the house early this morning and didn't get back until 12:30. Good meetings this morning and I bought a new purse that I've had my eye on for a while--it's very cool.

Deb--I don't think I will be able to make the Feb meetup in NO. That weekend in the state meeting for the ALGOP and I have to be there. I'd MUCH rather be in NO--but this is business and I will be having to work for my clients running in the Repub primary. So y'all will have to have fun without me.

BOB--I'm glad the phone call went well. Now that's over with and you don't have to worry about it anymore!

Mom2jared--Sounds to me like you are doing pretty well. Do you have a Super Walmart nearby? They have a brand of yogurt called Blue Bunny that is sweetened with Splenda--It's great! I usually have a 6 oz carton every day for a snack.

Chrisd--so sorry to hear about your GM! I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there!

Oops, I gotta get back to work. Sorry to have missed everyone else. Will try to catch up later!

Susan

I had a nice long post, thought about posting it, got ready to do a UPS and thought it has been ok lately. Bam. computer crashed. Will try to quickly remember what I had, if I miss you sorry, it's not intentional.

Deb, doesn't the Breyers contain sugar? I can't eat 1/2 cup at one time. More live 4 of them.

Country, Are you and your buddy still walking? Haven't heard you mention it lately. What great advice you gave to Monet. No wonder you have so many kids and can home school them. You have such a wonderful and positve outlook. It made my day.

Fillise, nice treat for yourself with the purse. I need a new winter one too. Good going on the eating.

Jecrites, our meals sound the same today. I had oatmeal (with some walnuts in it) and having chicken tonight. Threw it in the crockpot with a can of soup before I left. Good eating yesterday!

Pancho, hope the grandma works out. You deserve some alone time with DH. Are there any friends who would trade off with you?

Chris, hope GM does ok. DOes she have to fly back home?

Ashley, proud of you for not indulging in the popcorn. I liek Grisham, but you are right, read one....

Mom, you need to get the therapist to tell your DH what she told you. Let him hear it from her first hand. Maybe he will pay more attention. Your meals sound ok, maybe add some fruit. Cheerios in the yellow box are legal.

Gator, you are so busy. I don't know how you have time for anything much less walking. Good eating too.

Need to run out of here. Hope the chicken I threw in the crockpot is ok. I'm not much on chicken and need ideas for some different ways to fix it. It's not raining yet so we should get in our walk. Hopefully will get to the store. The cupboards are really bare.

Have a great night. Hope the scale is good to everyone tomorrow. Good luck.

Jackie

GOOD EVENING!!! DANGIT....IT's ALMOST DARK OVER HERE ALREADY!!!


DAY 2 COMPUTER SAGA!!!
Of course, as with anything new, the glitches are there....EVERYTHING WE DID YESTERDAY SHOWED UP ON OUR REPORTS TODAY!!! :rollpin: They are working on the problem, that along with others...It HAS TO GET BETTER.....IT CAN'T GET WORSE?????? :yikes:

Dr Phil is telling everyone what to eat today, and he's getting everything right! He's really pushing whole grains, veggies, chicken and fish...NO RED MEAT... The people on the challenge are doing really well...they've lost a lot of weight. If you haven't read his book, get hold of one and do so...I bought it, and have found some really good points in it.

Sounds like everyone has had a pretty good day, and I hope your evening goes well too!

Thanks for the comments on the "EX"....I'm so glad that's over with (phone call)...I was actually shaking when I went to pick up the phone. You just never know! AND YES!! I sure do feel better after getting it over with.

I've got to run and fix supper....I'm throwing some flounder in the oven and bake that, then I guess I'll put together some veggies to go along with it. Not really :hun: , but KATE says she's STARVING!!!

Have a good one.....:wave: to everyone!!!

BOB

Hi,

Sef: I confess, it was me that asked for the sauerkraut recipe. Thank you for typing it up. I was surprised that it doesn't need to be processed in at least a hot water bath. Only cabbage, salt and water and time, huh?

I have started some of the chores that need to be done to leave. Guess I'd better continue.

Quickie...computer is free but there's a storm outside and I'm going to shut the computer down if it starts getting bad as far as lightening. The rain is slamming loud against the window!!!:fr:

Good news with MICHAEL today. Few weeks ago he took the test for MENSA, thought it was extremely difficult, but I guess not as much as he thought as he was excepted!! He was elated! Now he can be one of the top 2% nerds of the world:lol:

Okay, I'm outta here, going to see what it looks like out there.

ELI is off tomorrow, if I don't get to check in later, will try sometime tomorrow morning.

TOodles

Deb

Y'all have GOT TO READ THIS STORY!!!

http://www.wral.com/health/2604569/detail.html

BOB

Good evening everyone. Just popping in to see how everyone has done today. I stayed right OP yippee!!! Another day. Also walked. Ate what I did yesterday. But tonight we're having roast, broccli and salad.

Jack-K- Seems like we always have the same weather. Its so good to get to walk outside when its nice. Thanks for the nice encouragement. Its hard for me to think I would have been where you are if I would have just stayed OP... Dang its hard to lose weight. But so rewarding.

CountryMom- You sure are doing well. Stick in there gal, you can do this.....

jecrites- Taking an hour at a time is working. And also planning is making a difference to. How long and what degree do you cook your pita pizza at? We're going to do this girlfriend. We can we can we can..

Pancho- I think its good if you can plan your off program time and then get back on. I'm hopeing when I reach maintance I can do that.

Debelli- Sat. will be great and I'll look forward to it. I hope Eli slows down a bit.....I never have watched that show. "Starting Over". Is it a morning show?

Chrisd- I hope your GM is continueing to get better.

jackieO- Wow gal you sound way to busy... You've got my head swimming. LOL... Hope you able to take a breather this afternoon.

mom2jared- Wow I didn't even know McDonalds had a salad like that. It the chicken breaded or plain? It sure sounds good.

GatorGal- You sound so busy too. Hope you do well with your exams. I'm sure that walking will help keep the tension away too.

Fillise- Howdy there... Hope things slow down a bit. But popping in is great.

Bob- Wasn't Dr. Phil good today. I about died laughing when he was talking about eating to fast and it takes 12 to 20 min. for your brain to get it. Then he said "heck you could eat a flock of chickens by then" Those people are sure doing good. Yum flounder sounds good to me.

Guess I'll finish up here and then in to the kitchen. Want to make some turkey salad for tomorrow.

Bob- That was a great article... Thanks for posting it....

Well guess what? I turned on my cell phone today and noticed there was a message. It was the lady who owns the Golden Grandma service and she was cancelling our appt. today. She said she had an unexpected meeting after school, but then said that it would be best if I found someone else. Can you believe it???? She never even met me and was offended that I wanted to meet her and get references. Wow, was I shocked. So now we are back to square one. Thank God I found out now though...I wouldn't leave my children with her for anything!!! Pisses me off that someone can run a business that way. ALSO really bothers me that other people call her on the spur of the moment and leave their children with her without meeting with her first. I am trying to work out some arrangements somehow that I can get out with my DH for our anniversary and Holiday party. I do have a friend that I can trade off with for a few hours during the day, but not at night; I live too far out for anyone to leave their family to come watch my kids.

Anyway....I have been pretty good today. I only had two mini candy bars & a tiny tootsie roll and I had some blue corn chips with guacamole. I am slowly weaning myself off the candy (ha).

I plan to go to the gym early tomorrow a.m. which will be a great way to start the day.

jecrites: Glad your back OP; way to go girl. Keep up with the breakfast; it is really important.

Deb: Bosses can be such a pain in the a--. I hoe things work out for Eli at work. He must be in some sort of management position with all the hours and late night calls. Congrats to Michael; that is a huge accomplishment! My dad was once a member of Mensa.

chrisd: How old is Dominic? Brittany had a gag reflex from the time she was about 1 year old. Anytime she would cry, scream, cough or laugh too hard, she would throw up everything in her gut! When she started coughing while eating and get chronic stomach aches, we had to see a GI specialist. She was scoped, when she was 4, and they found out she had Eosonophil Esophagitis. It is a fairly new condition; they use to diagnose and treat kids for GERD, but they have learned a lot about this new condition. She basically had elevated eosonophils on her bloodwork, and they were apparent on her esophagus when scoped. She has to use a Flovent inhaler, sometimes 8 times a day, and swallow it to coat the esophagus. She then can't eat or drink anything for 3-4 hours after doing it. She was doing 4 puffs morning and 4 puffs at night, but is now down to 2 puffs once a day. Hopefully we'll be able to wean her off it for a little while again. What all are Dominic's symptoms? Good luck!

jackieO: Way to stay away from the popcorn cologne (ha).

Mom: You are doing great; keep up the good work. Try not to cave into the pressure of the crap your ex is pulling. Sorry your DS isn't feeling well.

Well better run. I will check in tomorrow a.m.

Nat

Toni: The salad at McDonalds you can get grilled or breaded chicken with it. When they first came out, they were delicious. I think they are taking a lot of shortcuts now and throwing them together and they are not as good as they were originally. They are also putting a lot of iceberg in them now instead of all green leaf and romaine. BUT, it is the best option on their menu!

Take care.

Just checking in before heading out the door (off to job # 2). Things were crazy today. Usually we are dead during Nov- Jan (the holiday season), but lately business is BOOMING, which isn't always good in my line of work (therapist). But, I specialize in addiction and usually no one wants to get sober before the holidays.

Sef- I live and work in Metairie, but went to school all my life in New Orleans. Slidell is pretty close and if you are up to it, I would love to meet you one day. If you don't usually drive to the city, I could meet you in Slidell.

Nat- I think the message from Golden Grandma was a blessing in disguise. Anyone that is not comfortable meeting you or having you check their references is obviously hiding something. I hope you find somebody you trust to watch your children so that you and your husband can enjoy yourselves. Sorry I don't live in Arizona, or I would be happy to watch them.

Toni- I was cracking up laughing over your Dr. Phil quote about eating a flock of chickens. Portion control is my main issue so a lil 4 oz chicken breast is never enough for me. I always joke that the chicken has to have a breast the size of mine!

Bob- Congrats on facing the fear and going ahead with the phone call. Sometimes doing the harder thing is more rewarding and relieving in the long run.

Fillise- Enjoy your cool new purse. You deserve the treat.

Deb- A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Michael. That is incredible. You and Eli must be so proud. What an accomplishment at such a young age!

JackK- Hey Girl! What's been going on? It sounds like you are doing great on the exercise. I am sure WIW will reflect your hard work tommorrow. Are you still working with your friend that's the trainer?

To everyone else, have a great night. See you in the morning-Ash

Hey guys, I need to ask a question. I was posting my menu for yesterday and today on another Board and someone told me that they felt I was eating too much s/f items and that it could hamper my weight loss. Is that true? Also, I know fast food is not the greatest choice but as I told Deb, I don't cook at all. Just never had the time to learn. Are the McDonalds salads OP or did I just goof?

Either way, today I feel great. The headaches are gone and I am less hungry. Whether I am OP or not, something is definitely different.

For Breakfast I had cheerios with 1/2 cup skim milk.

For snack I had two slices of swiss cheese.

For Lunch I had a McDonalds Bacon Ranch Salad with grilled chicken and light balsalmic dressing and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.

For snack I had s/f jello with whipped topping

For dinner I had a roasted chicken breast with leftover brown rice from last night and leftover beans from Pollo Tropical.

For desert I had a s/f ice cream bar.

I just realized that I am not drinking enough water. I will try to remind myself to do that.

Night all!

Ilana

IF ANYBODY NEEDS ME, I'LL BE IN THE DETOX DUNGEON!!:o

Ok big blab here...

Deb

My daughter just turned 16. Unfortunately for her she's got fat genes on both sides of the family and she's only 5'1 so there's no stretching it out LOL
Her 10 year old brother has the chub problem also and both of them started doing SB with me when they saw how well it worked and I would recite sugar facts to them as I was reading and they realized sugar was bad.
Now my son is a soda hog and switched to diet coke, I don't know what's worse diet or sugar, and they both stopped eating potatoes and switched to brown bread and rice.
They both went down (daughter size 22 to 18, son 16 to 12) And I noticed a huge difference in how my son acts. He's doing so much better in school! My son is not as strict as us but that's ok, he usually only junks it up at family parties.
I kinda worry about my daughter cause she does not eat eggs or veggies. She'll eat raw peppers, cucumbers, some carrots and has only recently begun eating lettuce so I worry she's not getting a good balance. But considering her pre-SB diet of potatoes, rice and more potatoes, this is great! She's loving the SBD induction cause it's all meat and cheese!

Oh and I've seen starting over, it's good. It's like the MTV Real World for adults.

Pancho
I'm also very nervous about leaving my kids with anyone. As a mater of fact the only people who've watched them has been family. It's one of those times you like living close to them LOL
I would be very cautious about this grandma lady if she was cranky about you meeting her first. Maybe you should see what she does if you ask for a couple references!
Oh I read further and saw she cancelled! Sounds like a bad babysitter anyway. Isn't there anyone you can ask for a reference, like someone from um church, the neighborhood, or how about if your friend would consider a sleepover since your so far out?

jackieO
Way to go on avoiding the popcorn! :high:

BOB
Great article on the Atkins couple!
Love Dr.Phil! My favorite thing he says is "And how's that working for you?"

Another legal day on SBD!
I have a headache but don't know if it's from evil TOM who made an apperence today or what. Is it possible to be having withdrawls from no starchy carbs?? Either that or the junk I ate over the weekend really messed with me.

Oh and I found these totally awsome no sugar added mini cheesecakes at the healthfood store. They are SO good!
Desserts of Distinction no sugar added cheesecake
"Our low carb version of our traditional ultra rich and creamy New York Style Cheesecake. This cake is so delicious you won't believe each slice contains a Net Effective Carb Count (ECC) of only 1 gram! We sweeten our low carb cheesecakes with Maltitol, an alcohol sugar - the sugar substitute with no aftertaste!"
yummmm...

Just checking in, lost 1 pound and diet going ok. My working is keeeping me from having a lot of time + not sleeping very well
wake up about 2am last 3 days, unfortunaly Sp once I wake it almost impossible to go back to sleep.

will read board when I have time and respond.


SuperDave

Good WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY MORNING!:wave:

Have a few minutes to post before I have to jump in the shower and get ready to go out with ELI who SUPPOSEDLY is off today (just waiting for someone to call to tell him he'd have to go in, which I hope never happens, but wouldn't surprise me!)

Thanks for the good wishes for MICHAEL for getting in to MENSA. He's elated, though I don't quite understand what the big deal is all about. He's smart, we all know that!:rolleyes: He doesn't need to be in there to let us know. We keep joking with him that he's now in the top 2% of the top nerds of the world. Thank goodness he doesn't look or act nerdy (like his father).

HAPPY to report that since last week and after my horrible experiences of seeing the scale go up 8 pounds in less than 2 weeks that I'm down 5 1/2 pounds since last week. Whoa, let's not get excited though, I'm still almost 20 pounds above my goal weight! Better, but not cigar here. Here it is, officially in writing, today I'm 148.5lbs - sad isn't it:?: Well, I wasn't saying how much I had weighed for ever because I always thought I'd get back down and not have to say I was up. Then I found it wasn't so easy and I just said I was up on the scale (more like up, up and away!) ANd it just got worse, until I got to this point. So, I'm posting my weight because for me, it helps me stay OP, not that I have any intentions of going off, but seeing those numbers and sharing those numbers with you all on the board just makes it more reality and makes me know just what I have to do moreso. Oh well, I know I'll get those pesky pounds off again, that and death are one thing I'm sure of in my life (keeping them off permanently is another):shrug:

What a surprise I had yesterday! Went out to get the mail, raining as it was, with the umbrella, totally looking like **** since I was still in my housecoat, hair all messed up. I see a purple flower rounding the back of my van and a man approaching me with the absoutely most gorgeous fushia/purpely colored orchid! First embarrased, and then surprised, nothing that I was expecting and even more of a surprise when I opened the card. It's from the President of the foundation for the board I am on for MICHAEL'S school. Her name is AUDREY and she's a fantastic woman. I couldn't believe someone would be so sweet to do that for me, I actually cried.

I hope you understand that what I am going to say, as I don't want anyone to take this wrong or to think I'm trying to make anyone feel bad, it's not my intention. I was never going to say anything, but with telling you about this plant today it just feels like it's okay to say something.

As you all know, I had a really crappy month last month with my eating. As I've said, throw me a new loop in life and I'll hang myself with it! Well, Oct. 4th was my birthday and basically, no one really remembered. Of course, my parents remembered, LAUREN always remembers, ELI knew about when it was, then figured it out thanks to LAUREN. MICHAEL, well, he can be on a planet all his own. My DM had to tell my DS, she never remembers exactly when it is.

Anyhow, to know me is to know that I put great thought in to other people, esp. when it comes to purchasing a gift for them. Whether it be a birthday or holiday gift, I always think ahead and place a lot of thought in to what I buy people. It's NEVER a last minute decision what to buy. Also, to know me is to know I don't like going out to dinner for my birthday and THAT being my present. I hate it. In general, going out to dinner late, on a weekend night is not for me either - busy and waiting times, by the time you finally fit, you're starving to death! Anyhow, dinner out as a gift, to me, it's a cop-out for putting a little thought and effort in to something one could buy. After my 40th bday, I made it even known moreso-or so I thought.

Well, the night before my bday ELI told me he HAD to go out and get me a card, so he and LAUREN went out together-that was the first mistake! He made me feel like he felt he HAD to go out and get a card. He had 364 days prior to buy a card, but he went the night before. Though maybe that wasn't his intention to make it sound that way, I think I wanted to take it as such. THEN, I got nothing for my birthday from him - NOTHING. Please, don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm a materialistic person, but something would be nice to show someone that you think enough about them to put some thought and effort in to buying them a small token gift. I'd be happy with scented soaps, nothing elaborate! LAUREN got me some insense, MICHAEL, I got a card the next day that he made on the computer at almost midnight the day of my birthday, never once acknowledging it during the entire day. And like I said, from ELI, nothing. So, with that I was upset and still, I honestly don't forgive him for this. He CLAIMS he had a present but he hadn't wrapped it-I guess it takes a month to wrap something because I haven't seen it yet. I wasn't born yesterday, he has nothing and never had anything. I guess for one day a year I'd like to feel special-is that so much to ask? Instead, I felt like crap and that's when the eating binge began.

So, yesterday when this plant came it was such a surprise, a very thoughtful surprise that actually made me cry. AUDREY'S birthday was the end of Oct. and I had no clue, but she mentioned it and that she had a wonderful birthday and went on a wonderful trip, whereas me, I had a sh:censored:ty birthday and one I'd like to forget that happened. For her to send me this just brightened my day, to know someone really cared enough to do this knowing somewhat how I was feeling really made me feel special today.

Well, as I said, I wasn't going to say anything but it's just been eating me up inside for a good month, actually, I'd been eating everything in sight for almost a good month due to this!:rolleyes: I tell you guys everything and I really didn't like keeping this from you as it was impacting me, impacting my WOE of SB, which impacts the board because you all were reading about how bad I was doing but I wasn't telling you the reasons why. But then I felt that if I said something that you guys may feel bad for not saying anything and I didn't want anyone to feel as such. Okay, I have to admit this as well since I'm coming clean... this is my 4th birthday spent moderating this board and it was the first time no one at all said anything about my birthday, so I have to say, that too impacted how I was feeling and eating. I never say that my birthday is coming up but someone always remembered in the past. I won't go out of my way to tell people when my birthday is, I don't broadcast it.

So, there you guys have it - like I said, I tell you everything and I always do, maybe it's a bit delayed sometimes, like this. But, it's over and done with and I'm back on track and that's what counts:D

Time to reply to some posts before I have to get going...

CHRIS, I continue to hope your GM recovers without complications. Who would of thought that she not only had this heart trouble but that taking an airplane would land her in the hospital. How was she yesterday? Any ideas when she'll get out? Yes, you can have regular Breyers BUT make sure it's vanilla, strawberry or coffee, none of the good stuff mixed in it like CANDY:nono: AND, if you can't stop at 1/2 cup, don't have any at all! The lactose free vanilla is the best choice.

JACKIE, good job going without the popcorn at the movies. Sometimes I'll take blueberries in a baggie with me (when in season) but if you want something to munch on, pumpkin or sunflower seeds. In one of my books it suggests, what I think I remember being wheat grains that have been "popped" in a skillet and which are suppose to taste like popcorn. Will have to find that and pass it along. That would be great if you and SEF can meet up! If not, you'll surely do so at the get together!!!

MOM, I don't think men deal with things the way women do, esp. when it comes to kids. We just seem to know and men are sorta clueless and without thought. It must be a gene defect on their parts:lol: Your menu looks fine to me considering you don't cook. Do make sure to drink your water. Glad to hear you're feeling better and different, in a good way:D Stay on track and you can look any and all junk food in the eye and it won't bother you a bit. BUT, take a little bite of something and you MAY go in a tailspin and splurge uncontrollably (I say that because that's whay I seem to do!). As for too much s/f items, if it's just those two, than I wouldn't worry about it, that's not too much. What I can say, is the more people you ask things about, more than likely, the more different answers you're going to get, depending on the question, that is;)

GATOR, good luck with the French exams. Maybe one day you and MICHAEL will be able to converse:) Not sure if I'm over my madness yet!!

FILLISE, so sorry to hear that you can't join us. I have to hope SOMETHING may change so you can, even if you can only come on the weekend, is that possible?

JACKK, remember, some of the sugars listed in the ice cream are naturally occuring from the milk. And as I mentioned before, doing the lactose free vanilla, it has less sugar. BUT, as you said, you can't eat 1/2 cup, then don't touch it - that's not a typo as I'd wish, it doesn't say 1/2 gallon;)

BOB, got Dr. Phils book from the library just to see what HE has to say, as I read ALL the latest diet/diet related books I can. Haven't cracked it open yet, too many movies to watch! Hey, ready to have me ship your sweetie to you - it comes with perks, like Starbucks!!!:lol:

TONI, good for you for staying OP yesterday. I'm sure today will be yet another good day for you (no pressure there!) Yes, Starting Over is a morning show, at least down here it is-it's about women who want to change their lives and they go live in this house and try to work on things. It's interesting to see what they do. Look forward to talking with you!

PANCHO, maybe it's a blessing in disguise that she cancelled and you won't be using her-maybe she has something to hide! References are a definte MUST and if she didn't like that there's a reason for it. How about a mom that you know from one of the play groups? Too bad LAUREN isn't around, she's a great BB sitter! Yes, ELI is the Mgr. of the store - whopeeee:rolleyes:

HEART, do I need to call you???????????? Get your butt in the wagon and bring it down the right path - you're too close to that 100 mark to go backwords.

CHERYL, fat genes were designed by my family I think and I'm probably the biggest hoarder of them! LAUREN will be 16 in Janaury, so our kids are close in age. LAUREN is about 5'4" tall. I think it's harder for the kids to be on this WOE or SOBE than adults as they are more picky. I'm trying to get her to make sure she drinks enough water. CONGRATS to both your kids for their losses so far, esp. your DD, it seems she's doing really well. Hopefully you'll find more things that she'll eat, it's too limiting and she doesn't need an eating problem on top of the weight problem. WIshing you all luck! How many grams of fat in that cheesecake?

DAVE, glad to see you checking in. CONGRATS on your 1lb loss!!

Okay, gotta run. Will try to check in later today at some point.

{{{HUGS}}}:grouphug:

Debbie

A quick post to Debbie :

{{{{hugs}}}. I am glad you let us know what is in your mind. Gosh, how did you keep those things in for a month?? :) Is there a way you can let your dh knows about your feelings? I know maybe you already did that many many times..

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!:hb: :gift:

I don't know how else to comfort you except a great big {{{hug}}} and hope you will better now. I am kind of immune to dh's personality. I know he remembers my birthday and other special days but he is just not very good in gift-giving or planning some nice things for me. He knows I like to eat so he always take me out for dinner and I am totally okay with that. Many times, he will ask me what I want to do for my special day...besides eating out...lol. Last year, he felt bad when he didn't get me any gift for Christmas although I did. So, he asked me what i want and I told me exactly what I wanted. A shopping spree...LOL. I was happy because I get what I want. He does send me cards on most ocassion and I knew he get them last min or the day before...lol. This year, I already told him what I want for Christmas...an exercise equipment...lol.

Okay, I know it is not all about gifts but I feel that it takes too much of my energy/emotions to expect him to know what I want. Most men do get tense up and stress over special ocassions as they find that they are trapped in having to do something. It makes them even more insensitive...LOL. Sorry, didn't mean to give out any lessons but hoping there is any way to make you feel better by telling you by situation.

I will be back to catch up on other posts later.

Julia

Well let me start my post with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY - BELATED TO DEB. I do have to admit that I have never read anyone's personal profiles, so unless you mention it is someone's birthday, I don't know. I also haven't even filled out my profile yet :o , but intend to one of these days. This is also my first year on the board, so I had no idea that your birthday was coming up. I don't know how to do all the pretty graphics, but I would if I did. YOU DO AN AWESOME JOB MODERATING THIS BOARD, AND DESERVE MUCH RECOGNITION....YOU ARE ALWAYS WHAT KEEPS THIS BOARD UP AND RUNNING. AND, the fact that your birthday was a bummer at home as well, really must have been sad for you. I'm glad you fessed up and are doing better with your eating!!!

I got to the gym this morning at 4:30 a.m. since DH had an early meeting to be at. During my treadmill time, I was called to the front because someone noticed that my tire was nearly flat. I had to leave and get air in it without finishing my workout:( . OH well, I was nearly done.

WIW - I'm at 123# this morning. My eating has gotten slowly better. I had a zucchini muffin on the way to the gym this morning, and had some NSA yogurt when I got home with ground flax seed and nuts. I have stayed away from the mini candy bars today, but the day is still young (just kidding).

Ashley: You are right; the call was a blessing in disguise. I will find someone eventually. It is tough to leave your children with someone when one is too young to talk and tell you if anything goes wrong. At least my 5 year old can inform me of anything that isn't quite right.

Mom: Everyone is different. Some people cannot eat the SF "stuff" at all, and other lose just fine with it. I think it is a personal preference and you need to get a feel for it. Just starting out, it is better to try to get away from the "sugar" all together, and then allow yourself some rewards as you get more accustomed to "no sugar." The salad from McD's is fine. There are a lot of foods you can order out and do just fine with.

heart: I wondered where you'd been....just fess up like the rest of us and climb back on board;) .

cheryl: All my friends have families of their own, so wouldn't go for sleeping over. My parents live here, but have a pool with no fence (major paranoia for me), plus they don't have much interest in taking care of babies/children. They raised 3 of their own, and raised my older sister's daughter (who is now 20). My mom has cancer and I don't want to burden her with watching them so I can go out. I am checking into a few options. My DD goes to a private Christian school, and I was talking to one of the teachers in her class yesterday...she mentioned that she knew a few very responsible girls who may be interested. One is a senior this year, and one graduated from the school last year and is in a church group with this teacher. I am going to see if they may be interested. I have seen those cheescakes, but decided to steer clear of them due to the maltitol.

SuperDave: Congrats on the 1# loss....way to go!

Deb: Way to get that scale going in the opposite direction. Hang in there; you will reach goal again. What a nice surprise from Audrey! Once again, Happy Belated Birthday...wish I'd have known.

Everyone have a great OP day....I will check in later.

Nat

Oh, Debbie I am so sorry that this happened to you. I know you didn't intend it to be so but I personally feel so bad. I now have you permanently on my calendar so this won't happen again!

My daughter is like you and is always so considerate of others birthdays and then her husband does last minute cards on the computer. Every year she gets upset. I told her that maybe birthdays are not important to him and maybe she should just not do much for his day. Not to be mean but maybe to make him aware of the neglect or maybe he wouldn't care.

Anyway, I am glad that you feel we are all close enough that you can share your feelings and things will be better.

Good morning everyone! Well GM is doing a bit better. She will probably be in until Friday! Its been a busy week with going back and forth to the hospital. Im getting ready to go back now....just wanted to pop in and say hello and get some replies in.

First off....

DEB - HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! I am so sorry about all that. So I looked on my calander to see what day Oct 4th fell on and sure enough it was that Saturday that I called you and you sounded like crap. I asked what was wrong because I knew that you didnt sound right. So I feel like **** because I actually talked to you a few times that day and never realized it was your birthday. Apparently I wasnt the only one. Im so sorry for that! thanks for coming clean, but I wish you would of done that sooner. Ive read the Bio boards but that was a long time ago...so I never remembered. Im sorry that this is the first year that no one has said anything to you on the boards. Right now Im glad to be a newbie! lol. Well hope next b-day is a better one.
About the ice cream..I CANNOT stop at 1/2 cup..thats a tease..so I will not be having any at all! Congrats to Michael, thats great! Hope you are enjoying Eli's day off.

JACKIE - No, she doesnt have to fly back, she came here on Sunday to live. She was in a 2 family house in Brooklyn..but she was the only one living there...it was time to get her out and down here...she will be living with my Dad.

PANCHO - Well this past Monday was 2 weeks that he hasnt thrown up. Thats the longest he has ever gone. It started when he was about 1ish. He is 27 months now. He went for an upper GI (horrible experience) and everything came out normal..Thank God! Then the Dr. said to just watch and see how often its happening and when you come back we will see if he needs a scope. Well he had his appt this past Monday but I had to cancel it, due to GM getting rushed to the hospital. So I will have to reschedule that! He really doesnt have any symptoms...it mostly happens at night either during or after dinner. Sometimes he can get something caught and start to gag...sometimes it happens when he is screaming for a long time...sometimes it can happen when he isnt eating anything at all. So its NEVER consistant...its a big pain in the A** is what it is...LOL! I cant tell you how many times I have had to clean my rugs...God forbid I can get some warning and bring him to the bathroom or at least on the tile. But, i have to say I have been better with catching it, and most of the time I am able to catch it in a cup. Its not just a little spit up, I can sometimes fill up one of those Solo cups. I hope that wasnt too much info for ya! lol

Gotta get to the hospital...thank you EVERYONE for all your thoughts and prayers!

Chris

Happy WIW.

Gosh it's almost lunch time and I'm just getting on here. I truly hate when work interferes with my SB time. :D

What is happened to our exercise board. Hardly no one is posting on there. Come on, get out there and then post it.

The scale is fickle this week. Being 100% OP and it is going up. Who knows. My skirt is really big around the waist today though.

Hope everyone has a big loss today.

Bob, As with all computers, it's a love/hate thing. Great when they work right, hate them when they don't. I hate this time change. It is dusk when I get home and dark by the time I'm half way thru my walk. It really makes me lazy. All I want to do is veg out.

Deb, A big :bravo: to Michael. Nerds make big money. Hope you have a nice time with Eli. Talk to him ok? Congrats on the 5 1/2 lbs. I knew they weren't fat pounds. As far as the 148, I'll trade you. You shouldn't be suprised about the flower (except I thought it was from Eli), you are so sweet and do so much for others that they want to show their appreciation. You deserve it.I do feel so bad about missing your birthday. I think I remembered it last year, but not this year. I am so sorry. Yes, I would be devestated too if no one remembered, especially if not with just a HB. Men, well it wouldn't matter if they had 665 days to get something, they would still wait to the last moment. So you have to chalk that one up to being a man. I agree on the dinner thing, even as much as I love to eat out, don't count it has my gift. I really think you need to sit down with Eli and tell him how you feel. About the BD and his work. Get it off your chest once and for all. It will only help you. If you don't they just go on existing as they are. Again I sincerely apologize for not remembering, you always remember everyone's and I have it written down. So happy belated birthday. :hb: :balloons: :grouphug:

Toni, congrats on another great day OP. It is very rewarding to lose wt. I just get tickled to death when I can put on nice stylish clothes.

Pancho, what a bummer about Grandma. Best you found out before you made the trip. Glad you said that about the salads at Mickey D's. I thought they were really good at first but also find lately they are not so good. Thought it was just me.

Ashley, sometimes the only way to make it through the holidays is drunk. Just kidding. You will be giving me therapy. No I'm not working with my trainer anymore. Since we bought the home gym I have stuck with that. I was getting bored with it so I switched to a routine I found in Fitness Mag. I may call her again after the first of the year. For some reason the scale is not being good to me. I have been OP but it wants to go up.

Mom, bunches of sf items could hamper your loss some, but sometimes we need them to survive. Your menu looks good, but you need to add some fruit. Don't forget that water. You only had 2 starchy carbs plus the beans. I don't count beans as a starchy carb but some do.

Heartmom,Do we need to send you a rope or live saver? Are you head first in the T&T bag?

Cheryl, I can understand the difference in your son. When you lose wt you start to like yourself and have more confidence. Congrats to both of them. You are such an inspiration to them.

Dave, congrats ont he 1 lb loss. Hope things slow down for you. Try to get some sleep.

Chris, glad GM is doing better.

I haven't been posting my stats either as hoping to get back to where I was. But Deb has inspired me to post and maybe it will help.

Have a good day. Hope to be back later.

Jackie
257/156/145
10-10-01

Hi! I am new to this site and SB.

I tried Somersizing in 2001 and lost 20 pounds in 7 weeks. I went from 190 to 170. I went on vacation and started eating junk again. I went back up to 200 over a year or so. I tried to Somersize again but couldn't get started. I didn't have any willpower...I'll start tomorrow...I'll start the next day...Oh, a party...etc.

My Aunt was successful on Atkins. I thought it would be something new and different. It was for sure! No combining food and just new and different. I was constipated the whole time despite taking pysillium fiber. I quit that after two weeks.
Then I thought about trying the Curves low carb plan. Too much eating for me! You have to eat a small meal/snack between bkfst & lunch and lunch & dinner and after dinner...Too much to think about!

Then I was somewhere and read about SB. I thought to myself...Now this may be something I could live with! It has much more variety of food. I went and read the book yesterday at MediaPlay. I have a pretty good understanding of the concept. I went to WM last night and checked a few labels. I already have a fridge stocked full of good things that are acceptable but need to purchase a few more this weekend. I plan on starting the SB WOE on Sunday. I've already ordered a pre Thanksgiving plate for tomorrow. Friday I'm going to a Mexican party which is hard to stay legal...I'm having a taco salad minus the shell. That's pretty legal! Other than that I am ready to lose this weight for ever. I want to be able to wear the things I want to and look good and I want to feel good.

Quick/Sad story:
On my birthday this year I had a cookout. My cousin brought a 1/4 sheet cake from Publix. I'm a birthday cake junkie...Love the real icing...not that cool whip crap...(that was me for 26 years)
Anyway when everyone was gone there was over half of the cake left. So, Miss Sweettooth ate one piece a day until it was gone. After a week I was so tired and couldn't do anything but come home and lay on the couch. It was so bad. It is so amazing how that sugar and starch just makes you miserable.

I'll let you know how it goes! Sunday I'm going to weigh in and measure. I am also starting the Curves at home workout on Sunday as well. :smug:

Hey Everybody! First, for the business at hand...WIW. If you don't know I'd rather take a beating than climb on the scale, but in order to keep myself accountable I have decided to REGULARLY participate in WIW. This morning I was down 1 pound. I am pleased. Just 17 pounds to goal!!!!

Deb- So sorry to hear that we missed your birthday, even though I am new to the board, that is still not an excuse. I agree with other people that you contribute so much to this board and do a fantastic job of running it. The downside to that is that everyone relies on you to inform us of birthdays and such, and the favor doesn't get returned. I am glad you have decided to come out and express these feelings, because unresolved they become toxic. I am sorry you endured a month without saying anything and hope you are able to express your feelings to your family members. Sometimes it's just a question of asking for what you need. No one can read your mind or meet your needs if you don't tell them. It would be ideal if your husband knew exactly what you wanted, but often we set up our own expectations and then become very dissapointed when they don't come to fruition, when we never asked for what we needed. My recommendation is just as you expressed to us how you felt (forgotten, sad dissapointed,etc)- you express it to all the people in your life whose relationships you value. Just keep the focus on how you felt, and not what someone else did or didn't do. That way no one can argue with you about your feelings, they are yours, and defenses aren't set up. By no means am I saying that you should start reminding people about your birthday, they should remember it on their own. But, if it's truly important to you, you should be able to express how you felt about the situation and ask for what you need. You did a great job telling us. Don't let that stuff eat at you (literally and figuratively). I really appreciate all that you do for us individaully and on the board, and am truly sorry that I didn't recognize your birthday. I am also sorry that you were experiencing all that internal pain. ( I apologize if this sounded more like a therapy session than an apology-guess it is a hazard of my job).

JackK- I would go with the fact that your skirt is big around your waist as progress rather than the # you saw on the scale. Most of the time I notice that before the scale catches up. Those home gym sessions are paying off!!!

chrisD- Glad your grandmother is better. Continued prayers for her.

Pancho- At the gym at 4:30???? Now, that is dedication(or insanity). But, I am very impressed. I thought going at 6 was horrendous. Let me stop feeling sorry for myself about now. Sorry to hear about your tire.

SuperDave- I have missed you posting on the board. Congrats about the pound loss. Hope your sleep improves.

Gotta run. It is lunch hour and I have the fun chore of going to buy a bra at Saks for a wedding I am standing in. The dressmaker refuses to fit me until I buy one that is so tight it cuts off my circulation...something about giving me lift. The wedding is in 2 weeks, but I avoid bra shopping like I do the scale so today I am confronting both fears. I still don't see how I am going to fit my linebacker shoulders and back into a 36...but OH WELL!!!
I will check in with you all later--Ashley

HiedieHo All!

Was just too busy to get on board yesterday and then when I had time in the evening I was too tired! Never satisfied are we? The ladies all enjoyed the desserts. I told them we were having a tasting party for refreshments. The Orange Popsicle dessert was very good, but didn't quite make the popsicle part. I would make it again as it was good, refreshing. Actually the desserts made a nice presentation. Everyone wanted a taste of all three, so when they were in the dish with a small dollop of LF whip on top it was very colorful and fall looking, red, orange, brown and white. I made extra to take to the NH.

Bear is still a little mopey but seems to be okay. The bllod definitely came from him. As I saw him in the bathroom trying to d something. I was distracted by phone and when I loooked back there was the blood. Only question vet raised was perhaps it didn't come from the back end. I will have to keep a better eye on him, and let the d-mn phone ring, that's what I have an answering machine for!

Did I tell you it pays to clean out your pocketbook now and then? I did mine and found a Xmas gift card from Penneys for $100 I hadn't used and a gift check from my bank for Penneys for $10. Armed with them I went to Penneys Sunday after church. They were having their 50% off sale, buy one get another for .88. So I had a ball!

My DD called to say she would be coming for Christmas to get her stuff. When I asked about going back with her she started dancing around the issue. This after I said I would never ask again. At this point I will not go. I'll keep my word on the things she can have but that's it. I get so upset and eat and it doesn't hurt her a bit does it?

I did not go to swim yesterday or today. Am trying to give shoulder a little rest. Even though the water is good I still push myself trying to keep up with the instructor, even though I promise myself I will go my own pace. I tell myself you have to expect pain.

YELLOWROSE: Cabbage, salt, water, time. The old lady (who ws about as young as I am now. but I thought her old then) had been doing it that way for years. We never had any go bad in any way whatsoever. Sorry I forgot it was you that asked but I am now that old lady!

BOB: That couple were on the Today show this morning. It is amazing to lose that much, or at least it is to ma.

JACKIEO: That would be fun. Seems like weekdays are pretty busy, maybe some Saturday or Sunday. I've only driven twice both DIL had doctor appointments, once at the headach clinic at Tulane and she was too sick to drive. Another time to a doctor for check-up after her breast reduction surgery. If a chicken had a breast the size of mine, it wouldn't be a chicken it would be a large turkey!

DEB: HOw sweet the flower story. Things like that make us feel so good especially when we are feeling so down! What do you tell us? It's okay to vent here. You shoud have gotten it off your chest a long time ago instead of holing it in and eating! You know deep down your family loves you, just sometimes the expression of it gets lost in the shuffle. I don't think anyone here realized it was your birthday. You always post evryone elses and since you are a part of this board it is not blowing your own whistle to mention yours too! Belated Happy Birthday, I think you are wonderful and help us all so much!

About time I did some things around here, dryer should be just about done.

Take care, Shirley

Hello everybody.

You mean it's WIW already. I had completely forgotten about it. Doesn't really matter since TOM is due next week and I wasn't planning on getting on that hateful scale anyway.

Whew the day has gone by already. Went to the library this morning, left some Party Lite stuff there just in case anyone is interested. Cleaned up the kitchen and picked up a little in the living room, at least it doesn't look like a huge tornado hit it. Ran to a friends house to find out she was at work, (which I had no clue she worked)! Ran to her job and talked to her about some people to come to the Party Lite party. I've got to get this stuff sent to the girl so she can get the invites sent out. Geez I've been so lazy with this thing. Gotta go talk to the neighbor about coming also. I'm just now about to have some lunch.

Jack-k, Hey, we did pretty much have the same thing yesterday. I ended up just throwing the chicken in a pan with some cream of mushroom soup! Everyone else had rice, I had some leftover cauliflower "mashed potatoes."

Toni, I normally preheat the oven at 350 while I'm cooking some meat to go on it, and after I get it ready to go in the oven, I cook it prob around 15 min or until the cheese is all melted and gooey. Of course I use the low fat cheeses on it and some olives. Hubby likes it better then the pizza places around here! You are so right about an hour at a time, I've done good since I started thinking about it that way!!!

Pancho, Sorry to hear that lady cancelled on you. It was prob for the best anyway since it sounded like she had an attitude about you meeting her first. Things are just too scarey now days to just up and leave your kids with anyone and everyone. I think I would see if there was some way to report that she doesn't like to meet the parents of the kids she watches. Everything you see about leaving your kids with someone says to make sure you meet them and check them out first. I hope you are able to find someone you really trust to watch them so you and DH can go out. Breakfast is actually going pretty good for me this week, I can't believe it either.

Deb, I'm sorry your birthday was bad. I know you don't want us to feel bad for you, but I've been there also. I definately would have told you Happy Birthday had I known. Guess I should look in everyone's profiles once again and write down all the birthdays.

Sounds like someone is outside, gotta run and check that out right quick. I'll talk to y'all later.

Jenn

I had all my work done at 8:15. The girls in the office & I ran out to get flu shots and when I got back all h*ll broke lose and I have not had another minute to get on here.

Lunch was a pot pie. It was delish. Hadn't had one in awhile. Don't know what's for supper. I will go to the grocery first and see what I can find.

Ashley, you are chipping away at those pounds. Keep up the good work. Good advice to Deb. I'm sure that bra shopping will not be as painful as you think. I thinkyou will be pleasantly surprised.

Sef, glad your desserts were a hit. Wow you hit the jackpot. It is such a good feeling to reach into a pocket and find a goodie. I hate the feelings your DD leaves with you. Stand tight and don't give into the eating. It only hurts you.

Jecrites, how funny, I threw the chicken in the crockpot with a can of cream of mushroom soup too. We had cauliflower with cheese and green beans.

I may not be on here at all tomorrow. I have a 9:00 meeting and at noon I'm going to the race track with our insurance co. Then at 5:30 I have another meeting at the track. All my day will be spent out there. Will try to check in sometime though if I don't have a lot of work when I get here.

Have a great evening.

Jackie.
257/156/145
10-10-01

OH.....MY....GAWD!!!! DEBBIE, ME OF ALL PEOPLE!!! I'M SOOOOOOO SORRRRRRRRY!!! WHAT'S EVEN WORSE, IS THAT I PROBABLY TALKED TO YOU THAT DAY!!! GAWD...NOW I FEEL LIKE A PIECE OF :censored: PEOPLE THAT HAVEN'T BEEN HERE FOR LONG CAN BE FORGIVEN....BUT ME??????? :nono:SORRY, CAN'T POST TODAY...I'M HITTING THE FOUR POSTER AND PULLING THE COVERS UP OVER MY HEAD!!! YOU DO SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE HERE AND WE DON'T SAY IT ENOUGH HOW MUCH WE APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DO! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE FORGIVE ME!!!!! I'LL GO TO LOWE'S AND GET THE LUMBER....YOU CAN BUILD A BIG OLE DOG HOUSE OUT BACK AND PUT BOTH ME AND ELI IN THERE AND LOCK THE DOOR!!!

:wave: To everyone.....


BOB

WHAT CAN I SAY EXCEPT DITTO WHAT BOB SAID!!!!!!!

The famous Olympic skier Picabo Street (pronounced Peek-A-Boo) is not just an athlete, she is a nurse currently working at the Intensive Care Unit of a large metropolitan hospital.


She is not permitted to answer the telephone, however, as it caused simply too much confusion when she would answer the phone and say,


SCROLL DOWN=================



















Picabo, ICU.

Deb-- I too am so sorry that I missed your Birthday. I do know how that feels as dh has done it a couple of times....also Valentines Day!! Knowing this, we now have an idea of why you have been going through this eating **** of yours. I just wish you would have said something alot sooner.....then maybe we could have helped you enough so that you wouldn't have slipped this far back. Being new is not an excuse.....I may not be too swift on the computer....but I can definitely read! I have no excuse. Please accept my apologies. :(

Okay, finally have a couple of minutes to post. I'm skipping WIW. I've been a real porker from Fri- Mon. Really, I don't know what got into me, I just kept eating and eating...and all bad foods. I'm puffy of course. I did good with my eating yesterday, and even exercised. Today I exercised, but I've eaten too many starches. My appetite is enormous from all the sugar I've overloaded it with. Anyway, I will make a HUGE effort tomorrow to limit my starches to only 2. I've been drinking lots of water, but still not flushing out. Plus, TOM is due anytime now. Why I do this to myself who knows?! At least I'm able to catch myself before I really do some damage. Okay, enough complaining. Boogie is sick to his stomach today. He's been to the bathroom about 7 or 8 times today. Hopefully, he'll feel better tomorrow.

DEB- I can really relate to the birthday thing. I HATE my bday for very similar reasons. NO ONE remembers. It makes you feel like if you meant something to your family then they would remember. I know it's not really that, but that's how I feel. It would be nice if my family would make a little fuss over me on that day, but nooo...this time I let it be known how I felt and that next year, things better be different!

Alright, I need to get off this computer and fix supper. DD has been back here 2 times in the past 10 minutes declaring how hungry she is:hun:

Good afternoon:

I have been pretty good today. I am now eating guacamole with blue corn chips instead of the candy...not much better, but I'm getting there. I plan to have a snack bag of m&m's with my snack size popcorn tonight during The Bachelor (I do this every Wed. evening).

I went bra shopping today; if I lose anymore weight in my boobs, I'll be a size A. I was a 40DD before the reduction, and have been a 36B, but the cups are starting to pucker. I actually found a few B's that fit today! I also bought some warm jammies for Lane, and some semi-matching holiday outfits for the girls. Also dropped $18 on cards (birthdays, anniversaries....); they cost so much. I was at the outlet store, so bought a few more Christmas gifts for the girls...better stop now!

chrisd: sounds very familiar with Dominic. We got to the point with Britt that if she started to throw a screaming fit, we would say, "Britt, you're going to throw up," and if she didn't stop screaming, we would go and place her on the bathroom floor until she was done, and instruct her to throw up in the toilet. It is so frustrating when she knew she could avoid it by not crying, but did it anyway. It was nice to finally figure it all out though. You should ask your doctor about checking for eosonophils on the esophagus when scoping. I thought children were too young to develop a ring/stricture down there. Keep me posted on his condition/prognosis.

Ashley: Great job....17 more pounds to goal; you will be there before you know it. I usually go to the gym around 6 a.m. on Wed. when DH is home with girls, but he had an early meeting and if I wanted to go, I had to go early. Since I missed all week last week, I figured I better do it. It's difficult when the weather cools off and you'd rather be under those covers. I go early on Saturday too, but the gym doesn't open until 7 a.m., so I sneak out before anyone else is up. If I wait until they are all up, I'd never get out. You would be surprised how many people are at the gym at 5 a.m. during the week before going to work. It's nice to see! I too went bra shopping, as I noted above....not too fun with a screaming toddler wanting to play with all the bras & underwear.

Sef: Wow, what a fun surprise...I never hang on to anything like that long enough to collect dust. I'm usually out spending it within days of getting it:lol: .

Well, I am going to go make an OP dinner and enjoy my popcorn and m&m's (I love to mix them together). The Country Music Awards are on too, so I'll have to tape something. I like Country Music, and the awards are always fun to watch. Kids will be going to bed a little early tonight!

Have a great evening!

See you all tomorrow!
Nat

My sister just discovered an awesome recipe that I really need to share. the only problem is the butter, but I didnt use as much as they ask for..I cut it down by 1/2 stick. TOM is here and I need something sweet so right now, i dont care about the fat in it. Here it goes...

DOUBLE ALMOND COOKIES

2 Cups WW flour
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (1cup) butter softened
1 cup agave
1 egg
2 tsp almond extract

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, almonds and salt..set aside. Beat butter and agave until creamy. Blend in egg and extract. Gradually mix in flour mixture.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 min. or until golden brown.
Makes 3 dozen.

This is a must try!

Chris

Deb I'm so sorry I missed your Birthday. I honest to God didn't know. I'm new to this Board but that's no excuse. If I knew it was your birthday that day, I would have driven myself to Miami (what's 60 miles) to take you out to lunch. Men can be so forgetful when it comes to birthdays. Congrats on Michael making it into Mensa. Gosh, I don't know anyone who is actually in Mensa.

Today was a good day. I was at work and felt some cravings but I got through it. The chocolate was in the office but I had a piece of fruit instead.

Btw, do I need to count my starchy carbs? I wasn't even paying attention. I went to Whole Foods today and bought the WW English Muffins. What can I put on them?

Ilana

Deb
About the b-day thing. If it's important to you, and your family (especially dh) know how you feel about it then it is painful when they blow it off. And you have a right to be mad. My dh tends to be pretty oblivious about things and I used to hold it in mope about like that would actually accomplish something. Now I flat out tell him "What you did really hurt me".
This makes him feel like crap, and I don't waste time moping.
I totally understand you'd like him to WANT to do something nice for you just because he wants to make you happy. But it looks like he has a mental block about your b-day. Blow his off and see if he gets a clue.
Oh and the cheesecake has 16 grams of fat.
My daughter just turned 16 October 9th. She wants me to take her for her drivers permit tomorrow waaaaa
And happy birthday to the greatest moderator ever!!

Pancho
hummmm, so basically your sister sucked up all the babysitting on her daughter! ;) I hope you find a safe sitter!

Dave & jackieO
Way to go on the losses! :hat:

I'm a little perturbed that TOM showed up the second day into SBD because that's an automatic 5-6 pounds of bloat so I can't tell if I'm losing. But still sticking to plan on day 3! It's kinda boring though. I don't know how anyone does Atkins for any length of time.


:sunny:

I wasn't going to post tonight but after just weighing myself, I am so excited. I lost two pounds. I can't believe it. On Monday I weighed 145 and now today I weigh 143. I hope the scale isn't lying to me. I checked it three times just to make sure and that it was calebrated correctly.

SB is working!!!

I'm a believer!

Thanks for all of the support. I definitely could not do this without all of you!

Night!

Ilana

Will be back on later. Just found a way to merge wayward threads in to our thread. Only trouble is, it gets inserterd to the date and time when it was posted. We have a post by KITTY that I've merged on to this board from yesterday but many of you have posted since then and may not see it since before now, so here's the link to the area of the board where the post is:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33977&perpage=40&pagenumber=2

You should be able to click on the link and it should take you directly to her post so you all can reply:D

THANKS!!!

Good Thursday morning.

I have just a second before I leave for my meeting but wanted to catch up.

We went to the grocery (2 hrs and $300) I told you I was out of food. and it was late so we went out to eat. We went for fish. I wanted the fried fish so bad. But I was good, got the broiled and a salad. Came home at 9:00 and did my floor exercies and most of my routine.

It is raining here. Yucky day for the races. At least we will be inside in a suite.Don't know how long we will stay. My boss doesn't like to do anything fun, plus I only klnow 1 man from the insurance co. so I may not want to hang around. Get a good lunch (all legal) and leave. Then I have to go back at 5:30 for a safety prize give away. DH is taking me out for wings tonight so I don't have to worry about cooking.

KittyKat, Welcome to our board. SBis a great way of eating, something you can do for life and not even think about it. You will get lots of support here and great friendships too.

Heartmom, Glad youa re out of your eating frenzy and back on track. You are too close to that 100 mark to slip now. Hope Boogie is feeling better.

Pancho, we have a card factory outlet. The cards are all 59 cents. Theya re not the quality of a Hallmark, but they do. I love cards and they have gotten so expensive.

Mom, SB says up to 3 starchy carbs a day. That is your cerals, pasta, bread, rice etc. I try to stay at no more than 2. Congrats on the 2 lbs. Keep up the good work.

Cheryl, hows the SBD coming? Happy birthday to your DD. Your wories are just starting.

Probably won't be back until tomorrow. Have a good day and evening.

Jackie
257/156/145
10-10-01

Good Thursday Morning Everyone:wave:

Dreary day here, woke up to rain and dark cloudy skys:rain: Doesn't look like it's going to clear up down here any time soon.

My house feels like an ice box. Don't I wish it was weather related due to cold, but no:nono: Mom and Dad thought it was too hot in the house and have knocked the a/c down. Down to the point the windows have condensation on them! At this time, DM is out-snorring DF!:lol: Guess I better find the coffee pot and start to brew them coffee before I hear them complaining-we normally don't drink it at home and will only pull out the French press or coffee maker when company comes.

Speaking of coffee...ELI has already brought home 3 bags of coffee beans for me to take to our SB GET TOGETHER in February, so I'm starting to hoard the bags of coffee for our next event:) If you haven't let me know that you are truly interested in joining us, please do so I can make sure I bring enough for everyone. If you have a certain SB coffee you enjoy, e-mail me and let me know so I can try and get that one for you. If you don't care about type but need decaf, LMK.

Thanks for all the belated birthday wishes.:D I hope you don't mind that I reply to all of you who sent them collectively. Truly, it wasn't my intention by telling you all I had for you to feel you had to say anything. In fact, after I had posted I was trying to decide if I should come back on the board and edit my post, asking no one to send belated wishes, but it just didn't seem right, so I nixed that idea. Sometimes it's hard to say things in a diplomat way:shrug: At least I know I'm not the only person this happens to. I know that, but I guess even knowing that doesn't make it any better for the person. I am not the kind of person who can be tit-for-tat and not give ELI a present just because he doesn't give me one, I've thought about it, but I just can't do it, it's just not me, not my style. I always think ahead, way ahead and it's always buy ahead. Heck, I've already bought all his Xmas presents! About 2 weeks ago he was "complaining" that he had asked me to look for a new Game Boy for him since his was starting to die down (the man cannot sit on his "throne" without playing a game of Tetris!). I thought to myself, "what nerve!" here he's saying this and I didn't get a present for my bday? Little does he know, I had already bought him a GB at a garage sale 2 weeks earlier!!!! What can I say?

Anyhow, what's done is done. ELI's lack of helping me have a nice bday will be forever engraved in my memory but I hope and pray next year will be different. As for the board, not to worry, it surely doesn't make me feel any different to any of you, I'm here regardless and guys, you're stuck with me! ;) It wasn't intentional on anyone's part and really, I don't expect anyone other than myself to know who on the board is having a birthday, in fact, many people I don't know their bday either, either it's not listed on the bio board due to them not wanting to post it, or you don't have a bio on the bio board. But if it's up there, you can be rest assured I'll know about it and acknowlege it. You can't escape the aging process from being told to the entire board if I know about it. Just call me "THE MOUTH FROM THE SOUTH!";)

Okay, let's get off that past history...

CHRIS, your perception of talking to me that day was right on target. Actually, when you meet me you'll be able to read me like a book, I don't hold anything back and someone can just look at my face and be able to tell much.

JACKK, I too wondered about the exercise board - I'm guilty for not being on there. I've just been sooo tired:tired: I'm hoping to get back on there next week. I really wish the cooler air would come first though. Trust me, ELI knows about how I feel about both the BD and work issue. Not much else I can say and I don't think he's going to change the work, the BD, he better if he knows what's good for him!;) The scale went up after being 100% OP? Can you relate it to anything in particular, like TOM, mid-cycle, etc? I'm sure your efforts will be rewarded, just be patient and continue OP.

KITTY, http://members.aol.com/eldemila/sb_sign1.jpg Glad you joined us! I am much like you, once I've tried a "diet" and failed, it's hard for me to have the same dedication as I had when I tried it the first time and I usually don't succeed when I try it again. With SB, I made it to goal, stayed there over a year and then started to pack on the pounds again. Finding the same dedication has been hard and something I haven't quite mastered yet, but I'm working on it! Right now, my dedication is 100% and I plan to stay that way til at least Feb! You are so right, SB is a WOE you can do for a lifetime and I think with your head on straight you'll be happy you chose this WOE. Please don't hesitate to ask any and all questions, and think of this as a learning experience, as you'll be learning all along the way. After 3 1/2 years, I'm still learning! Oh, I just LOVE the Publix cake with the buttercream icing when it's frozen! Let's not even discuss the Publix peppermint stick ice cream, I may just gain thinking about it:) Good luck on Sunday - we can't wait to hear how you're doing!!!

SEF, sounds like you had quite a shopping spree on Sunday - what goodies did you buy? Sorry to hear that DD skirted around the holiday issue. She's going to regret her actions later on. Me, I can't WAIT to have you with us in February!!!

HEART, why does any of us do this to ourselves? You'll get back on track, I'm sure that you will:) If I can, you can, we all can.

MOM, CONGRATS on your 2lb loss:bravo: You should be proud of yourself! Keep up the great work. Hope to meet you for lunch one day soon, no need for a special occasion to do so:) For you, since you don't have much to lose, I'd say the usual 2-3 starchy carbs are fine, but if you go over, don't have a cow about it, it doesn't have to be perfect. What's most important is to know what a portion actually is. When I make the WW muffins I toast them really well and then just take a stick of butter and glide it over the top. This uses much less than using a knife to slap it on. OR, you can use some sf preserves, if you like.

CHERYL, I think you should order one of those magnetic bumper stickers I got for the car now that DD will be driving. Good luck! MICHAEL is doing better, LAUREN hasn't driven much at all. It's very nerve-wracking to say the least!

To all who I didn't post a post individually for I send you warm {{{HUGS}}}:grouphug:

As you can see, from the time of this post I got side tracked. Parents woke up and I had to pretend I was a hostess:rolleyes: Time for me to get ready and go out, have a few errands to do before I get the kids. Parents will be residing here again tonight. MICHAEL wants to have a party for ALEX here at our house on Saturday and it needs to be cleaned. Have lots to do. Will check in later.

THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!

{{{HUGS}}}

Debbie

http://home.new.rr.com/kitanniweb/atkins/8.gif

Good Thursday morning:

I am back down to 122# this morning; I knew I'd see it again. I even had my mini popcorn with mini bag of m&m's last night when I watched The Bachelor. I am going to try to get to the gym today when DD is in school since I have a dr. appt. tomorrow, and I usually go to the gym on Fridays.

I noticed a recipe on Rizza's site for a pumpkin cheesecake that looks tasty. I think since it is "pumpkin" time, I may give it a try this weekend. I also want to try Teensy's applesauce brownies; maybe next week. I will have a few goodies baked and put away for Thanksgiving. I may endulge in a few bites of "forbidden" desserts, but mostly want to allow myself a little mashed potatoes w/gravy, stuffing, noodles....and food that I never eat anymore that I've always eaten for Thanksgiving in the past.

heart: I hope Boogie is feeling better today; you should be the one who is sick;) . At least you caught yourself before it got totally out of hand, and you are making an effort to get back on track.

chrisd: Obviously, you've tried the cookies if you are recommending them. They sound tasty, but I think I would add the full amount of butter. If the recipe makes three dozen, the butter amount shouldn't be too bad, per cookie. I'll have to try these after I make Rizza's pumpkin cheesecake and Teensy's applesauce brownies. So much baking, so little time...ha!

Mom: Next time you are at Whole Foods, check the aisle with all the jams/jellies; they have a few brands with no sugar added & no sugar substitutes...they use fruit concentrates instead. That is tasty on muffins. I also like to have a little bit of butter with some agave syrup...that's really tasty. I think you should be limiting your starchy carbs to 2-3 in the beginning and then experiment with them. Some people, me included, do a little better with a few more starchy carbs. Congrats on the 2#; SB does work!!! You will probably be down even a little lower in the a.m. I am always down 2-3 pounds when I weigh first thing in the morning when I first get up (after emptying my bladder, of course - ha). Keep up the good work.

cheryl: Keep up the good work, and don't get discouraged with TOM; it will always be there. I did Atkins for 2 months, and was totally OP until I went on vacation. I had lost 8 pounds in about 3 weeks, and then had 3 off-plan foods while on vacation (ice cream cone, sandwich on bread and FF), and gained 5 pounds back. I then lost that 5 and about 4 more before I got so frustrated with the yo-yo-ing that I started SB, and things really started rolling for me then. I can "splurge' from time to time and only see a gain of 2-3 pounds, and it always comes back down. It is a great way of eating.

Kitty: Welcome aboard; we look forward to getting to know you better in the coming weeks.

Jack-K: I didn't mention that I got the cards at a "Paper Outlet" factory store at the outlet mall. The cards were supposedly 50% off...I just had to buy about 9 of them. Oh well. Sounds like you are doing fantastic w/ exercise and eating OP...keep up the great work.

Well, I think I'll go throw a roast in the crockpot with a packet of Italian seasoning and a beer, and let it cook all day and have some sandwiches tonight.

I'll check in later!
Nat

Good morning!

PANCHO - yes i made them last night..they were soooooooo good. What a nice treat, especially with TOM here. Thanks for all the info about the espophogus...I am going to look all of it up tonight on the internet.

DEB - Im good like that! :) It was also the day I was taking my preg. test. Remember?? I think I talked to you like 4 times that day!


Chris

KittyKat
Welcome to the board! You picked a very healthy doable way to lose pounds and feel better! I've been doing SB since July 2002 and have lost 35 pounds. Not only that but they are staying off!!
I kinda went nuts this past weekend and I've been stalled losing so I'm doing the first 2 weeks of South Beach Diet, which I think is just like Adkins. I could never do this long term. You'd have to be a serious meat lover, which I'm not.
SB is very well balanced and I miss my fruit!


mom2jared
Congratulations on the first 2 pounds gone!

Deb thanks for explaining about the post from Kitty cause I thought I was losing it more then normal cause I know I didn't see her there yesterday LOL

I am definetly up several pounds. I can't shake this fluid off, ugh!! Really ticked about it, but I know I need to just give it some time. At least I have my exercise class this evening. Boogie seems to be better today. Just being a pain in the butt,lol. He has such a bad temper! But I guess he got it honest from the both of us. Not much going on today, staying at home for now. Just relaxing and watching the tube. Well, Boogie is hollering he's hungry so I guess it's lunch time.

Pancho : How on earth did you able to get yourself out of the bed and go to gym at 4.30am?? I imagine, anyone that tries to wake me up at this early hour will probably see the ugliest side of me...:lol: WTG!!!

Debbie : I am hoping that I will be around this board for a long long time as this is really a wonderful board. I am going to put some effort to fill up my bio soon and look at some of the bios there as well. Thank you so much for your breakfast list, my goodness, did you have that list written down somewhere or just remember it just like that?? I am going to try some cereal although I never liked them but will try. Where can I find that pancake mix? I would love to have some pancakes for breakfast!! Yum!!

My congrats to Michael!! Hey, I like nerd, always attracted to one...I think..LOL. My dh is what some would call a nerd, technology nerd to be exact and "used" to dress like one...lol. He told me once that if he is given the MOST NERDY awards, it would gladly received it. He said, the world is rule by nerds!! LOL.

Kittykay : Welcome to the board! I am fairly new here too and I am also from Georgia, but south of Atlanta. You are absolutely right about SB is a way of lifystyle that I can live with for a long long time. I don't feel restricted at all and am getting very excited about all the things I can eat and tried so far. Oh so yummy! Oh, you will feel good even before you can see your weight loss. The wholesome food we eat makes us feeling so much better inside out. I hope you stick around :)

JackieO : WTG on that 1 pound loss! You are getting there!!

BOB : Thanks for the laugh...Picabo!! LOL.

Heartmom : Hey, hop back in and you will be just fine. {{{hugs}}}

chrisd : Thanks for the cookies recipes. I want to start baking a little and sounds like this is a great recipe to start.

mom2jared : Woo Hoo!! WTG!! You are doing great! I have to have my starch in each meal. Say, bread for breakfast, pasta/rice/sweet potatoes for lunch or dinner along with meat and veges. Without starch, I find myself getting hungry so fast and then start to shake. You can experiment with 2 or 3 starch a day to see how your body feels.

Oops, dh just came home and he is off today so I might only be back tomorrow or tonight. It's time for my lunch (a little late). Cooked seared basa fish with a little butter and lemon, stir-fry fennel and seasoned brown rice (with chopped veges). Oh, I am getting hungry...lol.

Good day everyone!

Julia

Baked Shrimp and crab salad/casserole..yum!

1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 (6-ounce) can crabmeat, picked free of any broken shells
1 (4-ounce) can medium shrimp
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup buttered cracker crumbs or bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a medium casserole dish or medium glass baking dish with butter.
In a large bowl, combine the bell pepper, onion, and celery. Add the crabmeat and shrimp, and then the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, tossing gently with a plastic spatula to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle crumbs over top. Bake until a golden brown crust develops, about 30 minutes.

Yield 6 to 8 servings.

I have made this recipe twice so far. The first time, I made it as what the recipe says. I found that the veges gave out quite a bit of liquid so the dish came out slightly runny. So, the second time, I make some changes and it tasted much better, IMO...lol.

I mixed in some grated cheddar cheese with the mixture (don't know how much, it is up to you, more means cheesier) and then top some cheddar cheese with the crumbs. Make it legal, use WW breadcrumbs. I also add some sour cream too, maybe a tablespoon and it tasted soo good! I plan to add some white fish next time. A good and simple side dish.

Some questions :

1) Agave, where do you get them? I know monet mentioned Harry's here in Atl right? What do you usually use them in? Drinks, baking?? Does it have much aftertaste?

2) Scales : I still haven't get one yet but hoping to do so soo. The last time I went to WalMart, I saw most of them were digitals. Dh and I are not comfortable with it so we are thinking of the conventional one. Are there some brands that you recommend or maybe I should avoid? Oh, when I was there (Walmart), I did weigh in and saw a 4lbs lost. :D My neighbor asked me the other day, did you lose weight?? :)

That's all the questions I can think of now. Thanks.

Julia

HELLO FROM A GLOOMY DAY ON THE WEST COAST OF FLA!!!


It's been :rain: all day off an on, and right now the sun is out, but more is on the way! The black clouds are coming from over the DUNGEON MISTRISS'S way :s:

DEB....YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK UP.....I CAN'T HEAR YOU TOO WELL OUT HERE IN THE DOG HOUSE!!!
I'll remind you when the time comes closer, but I'll need a new stock of TAHINI from that Middle Eastern grocery we went to...the ones in the plastic jar with the green writing that doesn't have to be wizzed before using! Of course, who knows, I might slip down there before we go...I'll have to help ELI construct his little shack out back :lol:
I'm so glad that Michael is such a down to earth kid. His head by all rights should be big enough by now that I could speak to him every day from over here! Be glad you've got two WONDERFUL children...How's Lauren doing on her SOBBE diet?
I guess I missed something...why are the parents lodging at your house? Please tell them hello for me...will you?

CRYSTLE...I absolutely LOVE that email that you sent me today.
I've got to forward it out...hope I can get the pics to show up...you know me, that's not one of my talents! :dizzy:

JACKIE...I just love rainy days at the track! All the GOOD LONG SHOTS come in...We used to go out to KEENELAND on rainy days just for that reason....lay up in the clubhouse, get plastered and bet the horses! GAWD....I MISS THOSE DAYS!!! Maybe next time I get to Cathy's, THE DOWNS will be running and we can go!
I would love for you to meet Cathy, and I know she would enjoy you! Hope you have a good time!

KEN....Where south of Hotlanta are you? If y'all keep joining our little corner of the board, you'll soon have enough people to have a big get together of your own!

KITTY...{{{{{WELCOME}}}}}} I hear you're from Hotlanta too.
Where are you located?

LAURIE...Read an article recently about fluid...it said to eat at least 8 stalks of celery a day and the fluid would be gone! Haven't tried it, but I'm going to!

MOM...CONGRATS ON THE LOSS :bravo: You can do it....keep it up!

NAT....CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT BOB KEPT THAT WHINEY WENCH???? I would rather have seen him keep
Mary and then ditch her at the end...I'm pulling for KELLY JO! How bout you? CONGRATS ON THE LOSS :bravo:

CHERYL...you'll get back on track...me...on the other hand...I love meat...especially a good steak! Haven't had one in a while, been trying to stick to chicken and fish! Good luck!


OK...Looks like I'm gonna have to hitch up the wagon and go get KIM...she's slacking again...GOT TO GET HER BACK ON THE BOARD!

I'm off...OPRAH is SHOPPING, and giving the people in her place everything she's buying! GAWD....I WOULD LOVE TO GO TO THAT SHOW!!!

BOB

HA HA bet you thought I fell off the wagon again. Nope I didn't. My computer mouse has been broken so I couldn't use the computer. And now I'm so far behind. Will have to go back and read all the posts now. I've been walking and eating right. So all is fine here. Got a fire going in the wood stove and its nice and cosy here. Well I better get to reading the posts and see what I've missed.

I thought this was very interesting....try it and see what you score.

"Your Eating Print...it is the sum total of the foods, behaviors, situations, and moods that prompt you to lose control of food in your life. These trigger foods, trigger behaviors, trigger situations, and trigger emotions never truly leave you. You may diet, you may fast, but ultimately you will return to the pattern of your Eating Print--unless you learn to permanently avoid and control these triggers."

"Do You Use Food As Therapy?

Rate each statement on a scale of 1 to 5. A rating of 1 means the statement is rarely true of you, a rating of 5 means it is almost always true. If you completely disagree with the statement, the score is 0.

1. There is no problem that can't be solved with chocolate.

2. I like to treat myself to a nice dinner (or some other food treat) to celebrate accomplishments or a job well done.

3. On previous diets, I've sometimes cheated because I just felt I deserved a little treat.

4. When I'm particularly stressed or upset, I usually feel better after I've eaten something.

5. I have a favorite restaurant where my friends and I usually go to celebrate or just to get together.

6. I have a particular food that I always crave when I am under stress.

7. I always gain weight when I'm under pressure.

8. Whenever I've gone off a diet plan, there was something unpleasant going on in my life.

9. I always overeat when I go home to visit my parents.

10. I always overeat after a fight with my boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife.


If you scored 21 or less, you're doing pretty well--you may occassionally turn to food for solace, but you're basically an unemployed Food Therapist. If you scored 22 to 36, you are employed as a Food Therapist on a part-time basis. But if you scored 37 or more, you are one of the legions of people who turn to food first and foremost to solve (or at least temporarily relieve) your distress...... If you turn to food for solace, you are confusing immediate pleasure with long-term happiness. The alcohol addict who takes that first drink and the dangerously overweight person who eats an entire bag of cookies both believe they are indulging in pleasures. But they are distructive pleasures that will eventually cost far more than the pleasure was worth.......When you find yourself reaching for your particular "food tranquilizer," stop! Think about not just what it tastes like but what it is going to do to you. Ask yourself:
-what kind of "reward" makes you miserable five minutes later?
-what kind of "treat" makes you throw out the clothes you once loved.
-what kind of "cure" ruins your looks, your health, and your self-esteem?

For many , uncovering the Eating Print is the most liberating and reassuring moment of Food Control Training. Cooks who thought they were hopeless binge eaters discovered that they were really at risk in only area--the kitchen of their own homes. Pickers who thought they needed some ascetic program of weight control discovered that what they really needed was finger control. And Horders who believed they could never control the ravenous hunger that hit them at the end of the day learned that all they really needed was a regular eating schedule. For the first time, these men and women are able to see that their weight problem for what it is--not a mountain to climb, but a few specific patterns to master. It is truly attainable.

BOB
______________

OH.....MY....GAWD!!!! I SCORED A 40!!!!! :eek:

BOB

This is from a book called "THIN TASTES BETTER" by DR STEPHEN GULLO
He preaches low fat, but what he says here really hits home!
See what you think.....



"Myth 1: Saying "No" to Food is Saying "Yes" to Deprivation

A few years ago, an overweight man at a dinner party told me he had gone off his last diet because he was 'tired of feeling punished.' The question that immediately came to my mind was, punished by whom? No one was threatening him with divorce or unemployment if he didn't stay on the diet. This man had exhausted himself by fighting (and eventually losing) a battle with an enemy that didn't even exist. Food Control Training is not deprivation. Living thin does not mean living without. The feelings of deprivation that you may have experienced on past diets were a product of a mind-set you imposed on yourself. No one was depriving you. You did not check your free will at the door when you signed up for the diet program. Your food options were--and are--always open. The winners at weight loss know this instinctively because they've already eaten it all. They know that when they were eating it all they were not happy, they were miserable. The more they ate, the worse they felt and the worse they looked. That life (of being fat and out of control) was not some mythological paradise and the winners never forget that. They don't surrender their free will when they go on a diet, they take it with them. When they are faced with a trigger food, they don't say, "Oh gee, I really want it, but I can't!" They say, "Sure I can have it, but I choose not to. It's not worth it--it's not worth being fat" They know, from experience, that only the thin say, "No, thank you." Don't be tripped up by the fact that you many not always feel happy about saying thing. No one is always happy about what they have to do to make their lives better. But they are happier for having done it.......Feeling deprived is really just another way of surrendering to the control of food. It is a denial of your freedom and self-determination. You don't need a diet or a doctor to control your food intake. You have the knowledge and the power to do that all on your own. You simply need to use it......You cannot focus your life on food and be thin. Being a foodie is antagonistic to living thin. If getting control of your life and weight are your goals, then you have to pick what is important to you and go with it. The beauty behind this deal is that once you make the decision, life becomes so much easier. Dieters spend so much time worrying about their failing willpower, they don't see that control power is more important than willpower. Once you master control, each day is no longer a continuing battle requiring willpower because the new way of eating and thinking about food becomes as automatic and natural as breathing.

Myth 2: Doing without hurts

These trigger foods have no place in your new life of thin. Remember, the reason you are passing up these foods is because they have caused a problem in your life. Eating them was not a paradise, it was responsible for misery. Not eating them can only make things better. Besides, you've already tasted it all, there are no more surprises. You lnow the taste and texture of virtually every treat imaginable--what more can it give you? Think of it like a businessperson: It's simply not a good trade-off. It's not a good deal. The evidence of the Eating Print is irrefutable. If you haven't been able to control a particular food in all the years you've tried to lose weight, do not torture yourself with talk of "I'll just have a little." With these foods, it is actually easier to pass up the food entirely than to try to have a little. Where there cannot be moderation, there must be elimination. (And there cannot be equivocation, for ambivalence is the core of lapsing back into the old patterns.) I can think of nothing more masochistic than tasting a trigger food, reactivating all the old urges and cravings, and then trying to be satisfied with a little bit when you know there is more there just waiting to be eaten. That is what leads to feelings of deprivation. That is what leads to despair and binge eating. Simply say that this food is not for me, it is not worth the chaos and the weight gain that it will bring into my life.

Myth 3: Doing without is abnormal

Frequently, I hear people say, "Oh, but I just want to be able to eat normally." I remind them that being fat isn't a normal condition. And I wish for them that they can live their lives at a normal weight. I wish that for you. That is far more important than worrying about what they next person is eating or what they think about what you're eating.

Myth 4: If you can't have it, you'll binge

The same people who cannot imagine saying good-bye to their favorite foods usually believe that they will go off the deep end and binge if they try to totally avoid those foods. Even some health professionals fall for this myth. After all, they say, forbidden fruit is always the most seductive. But what they don't get is that for tens of millions of us, having a little is much harder than having none. That's why we freely choose to strive for this goal. It is not imposed upon us by some higher power or authority, causing us to rebel like an adolescent with food. They have got it backward. For most of us, bingeing has nothing to do with avoidance. It has everything to do with availability! Trigger foods that are available, that you allow yourself to have, are the ones you will find yourself bingeing on. That's why you have a problem with weight in the first place. You binged on the same foods time and time again......If you abuse the high-calorie/high fat variety, you'll abuse the low ca/low fat variety, perhaps even more. (And for us low carbers, translate that to low carb treats)

Myth 5: You'll never enjoy food again

The great irony of our foodie culture is that is has such an extraordinarily limited imagination. Most modern American rely on a very small, very dull, and not particularly healthy assortment of foods that they eat over and over again--the same few vegetables, the same few meats, and the same snack foods that satisfy an eat-and-run lifestyle. Despite the fact that we can buy practically any food--no matter how exotic or out of season--at any time of the day or night, few of us venture beyond the limits of our favorite foods. "But I can't live without them! I can't live without them!" That is what the deprivationists would have you believe. They claim the lure of these morsels is so powerful that trying to eat without them is like trying to breathe without air. But the foods that this society considers so vital--the sweets and snack foods that so many people live for--did not even exist for most of human history.

Boxing it in

One of my clients is a middle-aged attorney named Gilbert. When I first met Gil he had a list of trigger foods and situations as long as his arm. Over the course of two years he managed to get them under control--except one. Gil's problem trigger is a rich, flakey confection called rugelah. He loves it. Left to his own devices, he would happily eat his way through an entire bakery. He's tried to go cold turky, and he's decided he simply does not want to do it. This doesn't mean Gil has resigned himself to spending the rest of his life fat. On the contrary, he's absolutely committed to maintaining his healthy weight. But he has arrived at a compromise with his most persistant trigger--one thta allows him to enjoy it on occasion without losing control. He has mastered the art of boxing it in.

Regelah is a classic holiday food. Gil's compromise is a simple one. He allows himself to enjoy rugelah--as much as he wants--at two parties each holiday season, no more, no less. He doesn't buy it the rest of the year; he never has it at home, but he enjoys it to the fullest at his two allowed parties. He has moments of wanting it at other times, but they're bearable because he knows he'll have his chance later......By boxing in your trigger to specific, carefully limited situations, you can have the best of both worlds--an occasional taste of one of your old favorites without the loss of control. Boxing it in only works with trigger foods that are indeed controllable. If you have a trigger food that always sends you into a tailspin, it's not a candidate for boxing in. As always, when choosing your "boxable" foods, absolute honesty is required. Otherwise they will box you in to a life of fat.

When you can't have everything you want, you can still have everything you need!

Foods cannot possess you, seduce you, or deprive you of your free will. The only power they have is the power you give them. And whenever you turn that power over to food, you are depriving yourself of the right to be thin, the right to be healthy and fit, the right to own the clothes you want and to look the way you want to look. That is the real deprivation."

BOB
_________________

Here's some more.....

Step Four: Changing Your "Food Talk"

"We all talk to ourselves. We may not want to admit it but all thinking human beings have a constant stream-of-consciousness chatter going on. In fact, if you've ever been on a diet, you've probably had entire conversations just about dessert, conversations that probably went something like this: "Gosh, that looks delicious!...(But what about my diet?)...I'll have them hold the whipped cream...(Sure, that will save some calories!)...and I won't finish these potatoes...(I'll probably be too full to eat dinner later anyway!)...It's been such a miserable day...(Everyone deserves a treat now and then)..."Oh, waitor! Will you bring the dessert cart around?"

Sometimes these conversations may end on a different note. Instead of calling for dessert you motion for the check. Instead of leaving the restaurant guilty and satiated you leave feeling righteous and frustrated. But whatever the outcome, the basic script is the same--full of longing for, and idealization of, food.

These internal dialogues--the snatches of thought that seem to come from nowhere--are your Food Talk. Food Talk is like a cassette tape inside your brain filled with the messages and food beliefs that were passed on to you by your parents, your culture, and your long-dead ancestors. Whenever you are near food, particularly your trigger foods, you can be certain that a lot of the messages it contains are destructive. They are encouraging your foodie mind-set, fostering your feelings of deprivation, and eroding your control over food. It's time to get in there and change that tape!

Most of my clients find it easy to see the absurdity of the deprivation mind-set when they are talking with me in my office. They recognize that their trigger foods are enemies, not treats. They know that the real deprivation is in never living thin. They see that their old foodie beliefs were irrational, illogical, and destructive. On a conscious level, they make the shift from foodie to realist in only a few sessions. But the conscious shift needs reinforcement.

Food Talk isn't conscious. It is not rational. It was "taped" long before your logical thinking processes were even developed, and it has been reinforced ever since. It strikes without warning and often without your being aware of it. As a result, even the most conscientious dieters find themselves thinking, "Wouldn't that be delicious!" when they know perfectly well it will not be delicious in the long run--it will only be fattening.

The Food Talk of those who succeed at weight loss, however, is very different from the Food Talk of those who valiantly try but fail. In years of studying the thought patterns of people who succeed at weight loss, I have discovered that the Food Talk of the winners is almost entirely free of foodie messages. They have made a cognitive switch in their self-talk about food. Their internal dialogue is full of supportive, positive messages about thier bodies, thier health, and their sense of control over their lives. They don't fall for the Great Lie ("I'll just have a little!"). They don't negotiate with food. And most importantly, they don't berate or abuse themselves. Simply put, the Food Talk of the winners is motivating, not demoralizing. Faced with the Great Lie, they dare to talk back.

Your Food Talk can help you or hinder you. Indeed, it can be the difference between success and failure. It can speed you along the road away from the deprivation mindset and foodie-ism, or it can drag you back and keep you enslaved to your trigger foods. The choice is yours. Because with time--and practice--you can rerecord your internal tape and free yourself from the old Food Talk. But first, you'll have to identify the messages that are undermining your control.

Identifying Your Food Talk

Rewriting your Food Talk--the fourth step that leads to successful weight loss--means changing your head as well as your weight. Food talk is rarely as obvious as the fictional conversation at the beginning of this chapter. Many Food Talk messages are subliminal--you feel them and respond to them, but you aren't consciously away of hearing them. To counter these subtle messages, you need to drag them out into the light of day, and the easiest way to do that is with a little free association.

Go back to your list of trigger foods that you made on page 42. On a seperate sheet of paper, for each individual food, write down the first ten words or phrases that come to your mind about that food. If possible, have a friend read your trigger list to you so that you are responding to a verbal cue.

Write down whatever comes into your mind, as it comes into your mind. Don't edit yourself. If the first word that comes into your mind when you think of champagne is sex, go ahead and write it down. If you can't think of ten words or phrases, fine. There are no right or wrong answers. You are simply trying to get a handle on what you really think and feel about these foods.

Once you've gone through all your trigger foods, take a look at the words you used. Is there a pattern? Are your food phrases

-about the food's taste and texture (rich, creamy, luscious, and so on)?
-about how the food makes you feel (comforted, exhilarated, satisfied, sexy)?
-food-glorifying (heavenly, perfect, scrumptious, the best, and so on)?

The words you chose are at the heart of your Food Talk. They are the messages you receive whenever you are in the presence of these foods. And more than likely, they have very little to do with the reality of these foods in your life.

For example, consider the words that one of my clients wrote in response to the word chocolate--mousse, pudding, heaven, happiness, rich, comfort, freedom, milk, delicious, perfect. This woman had been at least 50 pounds overweight for more than fifteen years. She had spent thousands of dollars on diet plans and thrown away entire wardrobes when she gained the weight back. She was the first to admit that her problem was chocolate. She knew that whenever she returned to eating chocolate she lost control over food and gained weight. But even with this knowledge, when she heard the word chocolate most of her responses were positively adoring.

This client, like all the winners at weight loss, eventually erased most of those responses from her internal tape and replaced them with realistic, positive messages that enabled her to say no to chocolate without feeling depressed and deprived. How? Through a technique called Cognitive Switching.

__________________
BOB

And finally.....


Cognitive Switching

Congnitive Switching is a simple process of replacement and repetition--replacement of the old Food Talk phrases with new, functional messages and a repetition of these new phrases so that they become part of your unconscious.

To do Cognitive Switching, you need a few simple, inexpensive tools: a tape recorder, some cassettes, a portable tape player (like a Walkman), and of course, your knowledge of your Food Talk and it's roots.

You weren't born with negative Food Talk. It takes outside influences--advertising, school lunches, trick-or-treating, birthday parties--to make children sugar fiends and junk food junkies. And your inner language reflects that.

The Food Talk that feels as much a part of you as your blood type is really a mix of other voices--the well-meaning voices of your parents or grandparents, the voices of Madison Avenue advertising executives, the voices of ancient ancestors who lived in fear or deprivation, and the voice of a primitive, petulent, and remarkably persistant part of your psyche that Sigmund Freud would have called the id.

The id is the most primal aspect of your being, interested only in immediate gratification and quick satisfaction. It is impulse central. The id is the ultimate spoiled child. It isn't interested in your high blood pressure. It doesn't care about the bulge in your waistline or the bloat in your face. It doesn't care about your cholesterol level. It's not concerned with the fact that you find it difficult to climb the stairs. It just knows what it wants and it wants it now!

In most aspects of your life, you keep the id in check fairly well. You may want to throw your neighbor's stereo out of the nearest window, but you don't actually go over and do it. You have a system of personal and social checks and balances that reminds you to rein in those impulses.

No such system exists for food. The lessons you were taught by your parents, society at large, and even your genetic code all say that food is good. So your id, reinforced by all that programming, runs rampant every time you are faced with your triggers. It starts playing that old Food Talk tape and top-volume--demanding the foods you most want to avoid and blocking your memories of how much trouble those foods caused you in the past.

In the moments when your negative Food Talk seems to be screaming most loudly, it helps to remember just where that Food Talk originates. Before you surrender to those impulses, before you accept their false promises and specious logic, ask yourself, Do you really want to take orders from these people?

-Do you really want to be ruled by the fears of ancestors who died thousands of years ago?
-Do you really want to be jerked around by the capricious impulses of your id?
-Do you really want to fall for the promises of purveyors of junk food, who neither know nor care about your weight problem?

Of course not. That's why you're going to make the cognitive switch.

Making the Cognitive Switch

Foods have no power of their own. They can't pull a gun on you and force you to devour them.

Any hypnotic power that foods hold over you is the power that you have given them. You mesmerize your self by saying the wrong things to yourself about food and by listening to the messages of your id and the foodie value system. Every time you tell yourself, "Oh, I have to have it!" you are reinforcing the backward value system that got you into trouble in the first place. It's a process of self-hypnosis: We come to need what we tell ourselves we need. It's an internal advertising campaign for the food.

Cognitive Switching gives you an ad campaign for health and long-term happiness. By giving you powerful campaign slogans or aphorisms--something like "I don't take the first little taste...I don't begin. I don't have any problem"--it turns you around so you're facing forward, not backward, so you can get on with the business of enjoying a life free from the domination of food.

Over many years of working with the winners to rerecord their internal tapes, I have come up with a list of healthy slogans that you can use to replace ones that have been causing your to fail. Many of them come directly from my clients, for after talking to literally thousands of men and women in the course of my work, I realized that the winners seemed to share a common language. Those who lost the weight and kept it off spoke to themselves with key messages. These are the new messages that you can record on your internal tape.

You do not have to stick to these words and phrases verbatim if you don't want to. In fact, when you record your actual tapes--and I will tell you how to do just that right here, right now--you can and should use your own words, concoct your own aphorisms geared to your own needs. Us the cognitive switches listed in the box that begins below as a guide, and be as creative as you want.

Cognitive Switching is like an "off" switch. When a harmful thought from the foodie culture slips into your brain, your mind will spit the out thought out and replace it with a new phrase. Over time, this switching will become effortless. You won't have to consciously think, "Oh, now what was it the Dr. Gullo suggested I say?" It will just be there in your mind.

COGNITIVE SWITCH-OFFS

LosersWinners
"Just one won't hurt."
"If I could just have one, I wouldn't have been fat for the last ten years!"
"One was never enough before. It won't be enough now.

"I'll just have one peanut." "Stop lying--in twenty years I haven't been able to have one."
"I've gained more weight with my fingers than with my mouth!"

"Oh I can eat extra, the label says
no fat"
"No fat doesn't mean not fattening"
"It doesn't say no calories."
(Low carb treats made with sugar alcohols or artificial sweetners could be used here instead.)

"I paid for it, I might as well eat it."
"Calories cost more than dollars--you have to wear them."
"If I eat it, I have to wear it."

"It's only 20 calories"
"It's not how many calories, but how many I'll eat."
"It's not the calories, but the calorie units that count."

"It's a sin to waste food."
"It's a greater sin to waste my body and my life."
"It's a greater sin to make myself fat."
"It's a sin to raise my blood pressure."
"It's a sin to clog my arteries."
"It's a sin to die before my time because of a few calories."

"I hate to throw food out."
"Better to put it in the garbage pail than
become the garbage pail."
"Protecting my body is more important than protecting my leftovers."

"Oh, it smells so good."
"So good? That's the smell of fat."

"Oh this food tastes so good. I can
never get enough of it."
"Why not be honest--stop calling it a food. Call it what it really is--an appetite-stimulant pill."

"I blew it with French Fries, I might as well have the ice cream."
"There's no such thing as blowing it."
"What's done is done. Let go of it and move on."
"Don't use one mistake as an excuse to make others."
"The sooner I stop, the less I'll have to wear tomorrow."

"I deserve a treat."
"I deserve to be thin."

"Losing weight is a better treat."
"Don't settle so cheaply. I deserve a healthy life of thin."

"It's been such a stressful day."
"It's more stressful to be fat!"

"I'm feeling so blue."
"Food won't help. Happy or sad, it's better being thin!"
"Eating doesn't erase feeling, it just makes you feel worse."

"I've been so good, I deserve a reward."
"Living thin is the best reward."
"I don't reward myself with things that cause me pain."

"I feel so frustrated, I could devour everything in sight!"
"If I devour it, fat will devour me!"

"It looks so good!"
"It's not how it looks on the plate or the table, but how it looks on me."
"Not on my thighs it doesn't!"
"It looks like every other food that made me fat."
"What's so 'good' about it? It's given me obesity, hypertension, and misery."
"I don't like it enough to wear it."

"I just can't resist it."
"I've come too far to take orders from a cookie!"
"I do not negotiate with baked goods."

"It's so hard to say no."
"Only the thin say 'No, thank you.'"

"I love pizza."
"It's better to wear Italian than to eat it!"

"When I see it, I crave it."
"I don't take the first little taste...I don't begin, I don't have any
problem."
"Cravings are feelings, not commands."
"It's just a feeling. I'm not bleeding, there is no pain, I don't need to call
911 for the rescue squad."
"Cravings only last a few minutes.
Thin is worth a few minutes!"
"Stop looking at it--what are you looking at? You already see it every
day on your thighs."

"It's not fair that I can't have dessert!"
"I can have dessert. I choose not to."
"It's not fair that I've spent the last ten years being fat because of
dessert!"
"It would be more unfair never to be thin."
"When I was eating desserts I was fat and miserable."

"I can't deprive my family of their
treats."
"I won't deprive my family of their health."

"But it's on sale!"
"No sale is more important than my body, my health, and my right to be thin."
"Thin begins in the supermarket."
"If I don't buy it, I dont' have to wear it."

"It's free, I might as well eat it."
"Calories aren't free--you have to wear them."

"I'm on vacation--I should be able to
eat what I want."
"I've taken a vacation from good judgment with my eating for years, I don't need another seven days."

"I've been doing everything right and still haven't lost the weight--what's the use?"
"It took years to gain this weight--why can't I be patient with my body a few more days."

These Food Talk exercises are a friendly tap on the shoulder when you most need it, gentle reminders of what the food really means in your life. They are like a friend nudging you and saying, "Uh, excuse me, but don't you remember what happened the last time you ate that food?"

(These two posts are pages 99-111 of Thin Tastes Better" by Dr. Stephen P. Gullo)

__________________BOB

Hi Guys:

Today has been a pretty good day. I went to the gym after dropping Britt off at school, only to be called off the treadmill 25 minutes early since Lane was cranky and screaming. I then went over to Toys R US to buy a few more Christmas things, and walked out spending $135. I gotta stop now!!! I did get a free stuffed Nala (from Lion King - $30 value) for spending so dang much money there. It will look nice sitting under the tree; it is pretty big. It is amazing how fast those dvd's & videos can add up...it didn't feel like I spent $135.

I ate the biggest burger of my life today. I went to Carl's Jr. and ordered a guacamole cheeseburger (I did bring my own bread). The darn thing must have weighed 5 pounds. I did eat the whole thing and it was good. They put some sort of thousand island sauce on it though that I wiped off. The rest of it was delicious, but I am still full; it's definately a man's burger!!

chrisd: I highly doubt you will find much information on Eosonophil Esophagitis, as it is a very newly diagnosed conditon. This lady that Britt sees was voted one of Arizona's Top Docs, and she has done a lot of research on it, and is still educating many other doctors about it. Too often, dr's are diagnosing gerds or some other reflux disorder instead of this, and treating it incorrectly. If you need any other info., I will give you all I have. If he has bloodwork drawn and his white blood count/eosonophils are high chances are he could have it.

Ken: How did I get myself up at 4:30 to get to the gym???? Well, I told myself that I only have to do it one day a week, and there are several women who are there at 5 a.m every morning before they have to go to work. If they can do it, I can do it one day a week. Agave syrup tastes almost exactly like honey, so you can use it in so many things....hot tea, oatmeal, baking...the list goes on and on. I can only find it at one health food store here, and had to order in online prior to that. I do have a digital scale from Wal-Mart, but I also have a Health-O-Meter regular gauge one, and they are right on. I just like the digital better. Congrats on the 4# loss; it is so nice when other people start to notice.

BOB: NO, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT BOB KEPT STELLA (the whiny one). My husband thinks I am petty, but I cannot stand to hear her whiny voice. I think he was smart to let Mary go though. She was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous (the prettiest of the bunch, I think), but was too anxious to get the family going. I think he also felt a barrier with her family not speaking English. I am definately pulling for Kelly Jo, and think he has already made up his mind that it will be her. BUT, I predict that he won't propose! I think he will say that he want to pursue the relationship, but is in no hurry to marry. We'll see. I look forward to next week's episode when they bring the other women back (that Le-Ann *itch).

Well, I never got the roast on to cook, so I will go throw some chicken in the oven, after I change Lane's diaper....hmmm, maybe I'll do the chicken first:lol: .

See you all later!
Nat

Hello everyone....hope you have been having a good week. It's almost over.....

We have been hunting most of the days. Seen a couple today......but they were the wrong sex. Then as we were coming home right along the road, on second look, was a buck. But of course you can't shoot then!! Oh well, we still have time.

It is so cold. It is supposed to warm up to the 40's this week end. It has been 0 degrees here in the mornings. This is why I dislike winter. Don't know why we head south.....yes, I do. I don't want to leave home!!

Put a big roast in the oven yesterday, with potatoes for dh, and onions, carrots, and cabbage for me. So we will have leftovers tonight. That one easy night for me!!

Brant is supposed to be here tomorrow night to go hunting with Ted. So I am going to try another new recipe. It is called "Cider Pork" I have some SF cider that I will use. Sounds yummy!!

Jack-k-- Wow you were out of everything huh? Usually I spend like that when I am out of everything that I get at Costco....laundry soap, dish soap, paper plates etc.... Wings sound good. I am going to have to get busy and make some. Have fun at the races!! Do you ever win anything??

Deb-- How long are your folks staying? You must be very proud of your son, Michael. There is nothing wrong with being a nerd.....they keep the world running!! Who else would keep things going for someone like me?? I understand absolutely nothing......

Pancho-- Good for you girl. Glad you are back down. I seem to be stuck again. I think that since I have such a small amount to lose now.....10 pounds, it is going to be ever soooo sloooow!! I have a couple of different recipes for Pumpkin Cheesecake. If you don't like the one you try let me know.....I will look up mine.

Cheryl-- :wave:

Heart-- You were so close to the new territory mark.....hope that you get back down quickly. Drink lots of water....and continue your exercising. Glad you had such a great time!

Keng-- Lunch sounds great.....I will be right over.

BOB-- you wouldn't stay out in that dog house long if you lived here. It is too da*n cold!!

Toni-- Good for you....still OP! We are burning the pellet stove....it is so cold. I don't like this at all.

Well gang hope to be back tonight.

Hi y'all.

Ok, I was doing good reading the posts that I have missed today from just plain laziness UNTIL I got to BOB's!!! That's so long I'm gonna have to come back after supper is done and everything is quieted down a bit to read that. I just wanted to pop in right quick and let everyone know that I'm thinking about y'all, but after all my running this week, I took today "off" sorta. I haven't done anything that didn't really really need doing, like some darn laundry. Eating is still great, which I'm very shocked at that with all the Halloween candy lurking all over. I'll start thinking about it and decide that I want some, but then I turn around and give myself a kick and grab some fruit or nuts or something like that leagl. So I'm pretty proud of myself right now, just hoping the weekend doesn't ruin it all for me. Well I gotta go before I burn things up in the kitchen and have everyone mad at me. I'll talk to y'all later.

Jenn

Off to the FOUR POSTER.....SURVIVER NIGHT!!!!!!!!!

BOB

HiedieHo All!

Went to NH this morning and took the three desserts. Needless to say they were a big hit. The main topic of conversation was a news story and the lady who plays the piano in the Joyful Noise group. She will be giving a presentation at a local church on quilts and their symbolism during the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. Patterns were altered in a special way that gave a code letting runaways know if a house was safe or in which direction they were to go, much the same as some spirituals had a double meaning for the same purpose. She has made a quilt depicting the different stories and codes. Very interesting. It was nice that the article was about someone the residents are familiar with. Especially today as the Joyful Noise entertained in the same NH this afternoon. On this Thursday each month I feel like I live there!

Made a simple supper, just browned some Taiplia (don't know how to spell) in a teensy bit of olive oil for flavor,seasoned w/ S&P, dill and lemon. Made steak fries for family.

JACKK: Thanks. I know food doesn't help but then I'll get brooding on things and off I go! I go for yhr carn items! But I am really trying. DD called again on Monday to say she triwed to call DIL for her BD and did not get an answer. Said the machine did not kick in and why didn't they answer; did they change their number? Like it was a conspiracy against her. That was the day I was at the vet's, I know DS was home. She wasn't going to call again as she was on way to work, so let DIL know she tried.

PANCHO: Don't know how I missed that little red envelope for so long. I know at Christmas I wanted to save it for when I lost a few more pounds. NOT!! didn't happen! Maybe subconsciously I wanted to forget it? You know the mind does strange things, especially if it's the head of a strange person! I like country music too and was wtaching the awards last night.

DEB: Bought 2 pairs slacks, 2 matching tops, 1 sweat outfit (me! can you believe it, I'm always warm, but after swimming I'm sure there will be some cool days) another blouse, a new watch and cubic zirconia earrings all for less than $140. I'm glad you want me! Hmmmmmmmmm. Know my DS and DIL do too. DIL warning me not to give DD anything that I hadn't planned on! The things are mine after all. They probably will be in FL when DD arrives, depends on the dates. I've also gotten lectures on not helping carry things to load up for DD to take. Do those sentences make sense?!? Did I mention congrats to your young genius?

BOB: 36! Cognitive switchoffs where have I see/heard them before? Your articles were so interesting a regular fount of info you are! Thanx for the jokes you sent.

Trying to decide do I want to crochet or do the newspaper puzzles.

I think Bear is feeling a little better, not staying under the bed and is meowing for food.

Take care, Shirley

Well, here it is, Thursday evening, and I don't think I have been on since Tuesday. Did anyone miss me? :( Doesn't look like it! I am tired, and going to hit the pillow in a little while. I worked today, and am scheduled tomorrow as well. Today was ok, but the dang phone was driving me crazy. Everyone do me a favor, ok? If you are going to call a bakery to order a cake, at least know how many people you want to serve, the flavor cake, and what you want written on it BEFORE you call! I can't believe the people who think its perfectly ok to put me on HOLD while they figure it out! I am expected to do a certain amount of production each day too...it is after all what I get paid such a high salary for...to decorate, not stand around like some kind of a nobody while people yak about whether the name is spelled with one t or two!

Ok, rant is over. Hopefully, I will not yank the phone out of the wall tomorrow.

Eating today was better than it has been for a few days. I chalk that up to going back on my Phentermine today. It tends to suppress appetite.

I tried to read the posts from the last time I was on, and I just could not get my brain to function. I hope I will be forgiven, even though I know I don't deserve it.

KITTY: Where in the Atlanta area are you? I live in Peachtree Corners. I am delighted to see another Georgian on here. Keng joined recently, and there is one other member who has been absent recently. Guess I will have to call her and find out why she is absent. If you live over near here, Harry's Whole Foods has a lot of neat stuff we can have. They also have a good supply of Agave and at the best price anywhere! Welcome to the board! Oh, and I am glad you like Publix cakes...I am a cake decorator at Publix here in Atlanta! ;)

DEB: I can relate to your frustrations on your birthday. I have had that happen. Tom's family was always very low key about birthdays. His is the 26th of December, and he swears his mother would stop his father as he went to hand him the last present under the Christmas tree, and say, oh, not that one, its his birthday present! Often even in Christmas paper! My family was more into birthdays. One year, my mother forgot mine, as did everyone else. Tom did not do much, and the kids did about like what Michael did on yours. It hurts! I am so sorry you had to suffer that pain. But I am also going to point out, as you have already figured it out, that over eating did not help the pain at all. You only hurt yourself. I don't know what happened with Tom, but about three years ago, something changed. He came to a realization that he was a lousy lover. (I don't mean physically but emotionally) He did not want to be that way, and he started changing how he handled things. Now he is wonderfully supportive emotionally. Can you talk to Eli and tell him how hurt you feel when he acts that way? Maybe calm, deliberate communication without accusation, but evidence of your pain would make him see the error of his ways.


BOB: Thanks for the emailed funnies. I LOVED the one about the widow...tee hee!

SEF: Don't give in to your daughter. You don't have to give her anything. If she is so unappreciative of you, then she doesn't deserve a thing. Please remember you are a beautiful, precious child of God, and He loves you beyond belief! You can be my mom, and you don't have to give me a thing. Your activities and sense of humor remind me of my mother, who died seven years ago. I miss her so much some times! Reading your post makes me want to smack your daughter.

PANCHO: I followed your saga with the babysitter. I suppose the woman felt her business was reference enough? Was she bonded, or did she have any kind of certification? Here is a suggestion: do you attend a church? Call the person in charge of children's ministry and ask them if there is someone they could recommend. All our babysitters came from church. I only had one bad experience, and it was just a girl too young to handle the kids. I did not use her after she left my baby in a poopy diaper all night cause she did not want to change her. She never SAID that, but it was obvious. At the church I worked at, all child care workers were background checked and trained, and many churches are going that route, so it would be a logical place to start.

Ok, I have been full of advice tonight. Sorry...:^:

Off to beddie bye for me! Take care everyone!

Good evening everyone...I cant believe this week is almost over already. With going back and forth to the hospital it seems like this week just flew by so fast. GM is still there...and now they are saying probably will be until at least Monday. Seems like they are finding one thing after the other. Shes starting to ***** about things, I guess that means she is starting to feel a little better. :)
Went on the scale today and I am up almost 5 lbs..but I went on like 1/2 hour after I ate, plus TOM. Im praying thats why its up. i will die, if I really gained that much. I will go back on over the weekend to see what it really is. I have to say I have been eating a lot this week. All legal stuff, just a lot of it...I blame it on TOM.


PANCHO - I was at Toys R Us also today and was able to get a Simba and a Nala. They are really nice, even nicer that they are free! :)
So, you are right...I couldnt find anything on that esophogus thing. But, he did have blood taken about 3-4 months ago and everything came back normal. Maybe it was just a phase..tomorrow will be 18 days without anything happening...so I will just wait it out and see if and when it happens again!
I cant wait to see next weeks Bachelor. I couldnt stand Leanne. Very upset that Mary is gone, I liked her a lot. But, of course pulling for Kelly Jo.

KEN - Good luck with the cookies...I just finished the last of them..they are really good. Very almondy! :)

BOB - I cant believe Savage is gone. I kinda liked him. Im so mad that they didnt vote Jon off...how arrogant is he??

Off to bed..have a good night!

Chris

Just a quick check in before heading off to bed. Don't seem to have much energy tonight. Think I will hit the hay early.


Sef-- I don't know much about the situation with your dd other than the fact that she is sounding very selfish. I hope that you will stick to your guns! The presentation sounds wonderful. Very interesting! I bet some of the quilts were gorgeous.

Monet-- Of course we missed you.....just know how busy you are. Figured you would be around when you had the time!! I haven't ordered a cake since I got married!! My sil was our baker....she loved doing all the kids birthday cakes, and she did a great job!!

Chrisd--I know the stress that going back and forth to the hospital can cause. Only for me it is a 70 mile round trip. Was sure glad when it was over. Glad to hear your GM is starting to feel better. I am sure the weight gain is just fluid. Drink more water.

Sweet dream you all!!

Just checking in again. I'm still alive! My DH is taking the day off and will do a bit of work at home before we go to a local art show out at Downtown Disney. Then we're off to Gainesville for the weekend.

I haven't lost any weight, but am staying the same, even after the disaster last weekend. Haven't walked as much this week. My French class is gearing up for the big push to finals. I have turned in the last of my compositiions and just about worked my head off this past week to get them done. I didn't want to wait to the very last minute, so cranked out 3 papers in one week. Thank goodness that's over. Now I just have 2 quizzes and the final to contend with. Have enjoyed the class a lot and hope to take an advanced French oral communication class next semester. The oral communication is what languages are all about. I'd love to go to the 4 week abroad class in June, but don't know yet if I can go. My DH isn't too keen on it. Otherwise, I'd go for sure.

Well, I havent had breakfast yet. So have a great day, y'all.

Good morning all. Don't have time to post to everyone. Its grocery shopping day and I have to go get ready to go. Made cheeseburgers last night. Need to get some more vegetables in my diet. So I need to pick up some today. Hope everyone has a great day....

I've been up since 4:15 this morning! TOM is here and not feeling well at all. I actually started about 2 hours before exercise class yesterday and I had to stop halfway in the class and go home. I thought exercise was suppossed to HELP cramps not make it worse. Now I have even more fluid on me and I'M SICK AND TIRED OF IT!!!!!!!!:mad: BOB- I'm definetly going to eat some celery today,lol. I'm going to have to be strong with my willpower today- no added salt. That means no canned food, no PB, no lunchmeat or cheese:nono: Crap, what the heck is left?! Guess I will have some fruit and veggie salads today, maybe a couple of eggs. This has got to work. I'm thru ranting,lol. I wish I felt like exercising, oh well. I'm not stepping on the scale until next WIW, hopefully it will be back down to 175-176. I have no idea what it is now, but I know I will go postal if I get on it right now. I'm bored now. I didn't clean up after supper last night- so I got up and cleaned the kitchen by 5:30 this AM! Not much else to do. Boogie's been up for about an hour now watching PBS kids. He loves it. It keeps him occupied for at least a couple of hours. I love the way he counts- one, two, three, five six! He's almost got it packed down. PANCHO- so I take it that the Finding Nemo is good? I'm going to get it this evening when I go to WallyWorld. Alright, guys- check in later.

Good morning everyone,
I feel bad because I haven't posted all week. We went to a wedding Halloween night, stayed away from the potatoes, but did have 2 beers and some cake. Managed to stay away from the halloween candy too. I've only walked on the treadmill 2x this week too. We've been getting the house ready to be painted(interior) next week, plus dance class, and all sorts of other things. WIW was pretty much a maintenance thing, no change. I'm hoping that next week will be better. It sounds like everyone else is doing pretty well. I bought the turkey for Thanksgiving and put her in the freezer, we've got 10-12 people coming over.
It's a long weekend this weekend, going to Lake George for a little R&R, shopping and hiking. Hope to take some good pics.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Barbara
270/226/135

Good Friday Morning!:wave:

My parents just left to go home, kids are at school, ELI at work and me, I have the house and all the mess all to myself:)

I have a few things to get done today, more things though in the afternoon, before getting the kids. I'm way behind in posts so I'm just going to jump right in...

PANCHO, M&M's reg., peanuts or another type? I bought so many bags of the mini peanut M&M's at Target the other day, .02cents a bag! They were marked 75% off and I had coupons for $1 when you bought 2 bags - what a steal! Not touching a single one of them. Hoping to use them for LAUREN'S party in January. Last year for TG I made a pumpkin pie that had cream cheese in it, was delish. Not sure what I'll do this year, maybe a pumpkin loaf cake. Haven't tried that before, though I do love the pumpkin pie!

CHRIS, I can see you have a VERY good memory! Oh, to be young again!!!!;) Called UF today. May see when I can take MICHAEL up there in early December. Will let you know if and when. DM wants to go, so it will be a full car. *****ing by GM is good-hope she gets sprung soon. Don't worry about being up 5lbs - you sure didn't do that from eating all the wrong foods and too much of them. Be patient, it will go down just as mysteriously as it went up.

CHERYL, it's something new I found I could do recently, move posts, but if it's an older post then it sorta screws things up. BUT, I think I can figure out how to make it more current-just by doing a post myself. This will work when someone's started their own thread, but wouldn't work if they posted on a really old thread. I guess it's going to take some time to tweak.

HEART, I forgot to mention, I just found out our neighbors son, who had a heart problem, just got a transplant about 2 months ago and is doing well, though I hear he's all puffed up from the drugs. He's the one who I mentioned that his DM had the tag for the car. I haven't seen him yet. He's a freshman in high school but he's so tiny you'd think he's still in middle school. Sorry to hear you had a sleepless night:tired:

KEN, I actually posted the list for the breakfast foods long ago. I had them in my old computer but lost them when I got a trojan horse. I remembered I'd posted them on the board before though and just did a search then copied them. I hope you're around for a long time too. The pancake mix, you should be able to find it at a HFS and if not, I do have recipes to make your own mix, possibly already posted on the board long ago, so let me know if you want me to find that for you. Speaking of nerds...did you see EXTREME MAKEOVER last week? The nerdies guy, they made him over and OMG, it was amazing to see THAT transformation. I thank goodness MICHAEL does not look like a nerd! I LOVE the basa - how'd you fix it? Hope to one day get to meet you when I venture through GA one day-if you get to meet up with MONET, you'd love her. I met her at HARRY'S last time I drove through. You should try to meet her up there one day. Agave, I use mostely for baking, too expensive to use in drinks IMHO, good on pancakes watered down a tad (or straight if you like) No aftertaste at all, to me, it tastes like light cornsyrup. As for the scale, I've had digital and dial, and I like dial better. I personally like the HEALTH-O-METER brands. Check out BED BATH & BEYOND, or LINEN'S & THINGS for larger selections AND you can use those 20% coupons!:D Isn't it nice when others notice your weight loss - CONGRATS!

BOB, tahini, pita, coffee, whatever you may need you know I'll bring it up. I mentioned to CHRIS that I may try to take MICHAEL up to UF early Dec., but nothing for sure, but will let you know. LAUREN is doing very well and I've been so surprised how well since this is her first time on a diet. I do see a slight difference in her face. I know, come Tuesday, she's so looking forward to eating some different foods. Sorry, dog house is too good for ELI. You can have that humble abode, he can sleep outside, near your feet!!!:lol: Parents were here for 2 nights while their house got tented for termites. Hear from QUILTER? I sent an e-mail about a week or so ago and got no reply. May have to give her a ring! Don't worry, I scored a 35, not far behind you! How'd you get all that text from THIN TASTES BETTER? That's the book I've recommended people to read - good job BOB!

TEENSY, okay, 'spalin about the sex and hunting thing:?: Warm up to the 40's??? OMG, it's that cold already? We're dying with mid 80's here! Don't worry girlfriend, I feel very stupid around MICHAEL and his friends. I'll have to get a copy of this poem he wrote last week, then you'll REALLY understand what I'm talking about!

SEF, sounds like you got some great stuff for such little money. What is DIL warning you about giving DS? Where in FL are DIL & DS going to be? Thanks for MICHAEL'S congrats:) Glad to hear BEAR is doing better!

MONET, of COURSE you were missed, what would give you a thought otherwise? I remember you had to work later in the week, just figured, after all those days off you needed some time to recuperate after being with the WWotB;) Heck, I can talk to ELI, sure, but it seems the mans brains just don't retain what the heck I say. :shrug: Figured, maybe when I'm dead and gone he'll come around!

GATOR, have a nice weekend in Gainsville. Hoping to take MICHAEL up there next month to check out the honors dorms and the school. Can't wait to hit the HFS in the area as well, among a few other stores - need more time!!!

TONI, thanks for checking in!!!

Okay gals, I'm outta here. Have a wonderful day, and a fabulous weekend. I'll check in later with you all.

{{{HUGS}}}:grouphug:

Debbie

http://home.new.rr.com/kitanniweb/atkins/9.gif

Here's one of MICHAEL'S graduation pictures:)

Hello! Thanks for all of the warm welcomes! :grouphug:
Thanks Debelli for moving my post.

I am actually a wee bit south of Atlanta. I live in Clayton County...Where the schools are bad! It's near Hartsfield Airport. I grew up in Forest Park and have basically lived there or in Clayton Co. all of my life. BF and I plan on moving a little further south or west since everyone is leaving me! My Dad moved to Newnan about 7 years ago. My Mom moved to Zebulon (past Griffin) about 6 years ago. My cousin is moving to Barnesville (past McDonough) whenever she sells her house. I want a newer/bigger house with more land and privacy.

Monet-I'm not sure where Peachtree Corners is located? I so love Publix cakes! Buttercream icing! Mmmmm...Bad for me! :devil: My Mom's old friend used to decorate cakes. I bought a lot of the Wilton stuff to do it but am too lazy and not very creative. I have made a promise to start trying it all out next year! Then maybe I can get a pt job at Publix! If I was really good at it I would like to work at a catering/party planning company. I would love to do stuff like that. Maybe one day! I currently work in the accounting world...No degree.

Kengjw-Maybe if we get up some more people we can all meet up sometime and have a SB lunch! That recipe looks good! I will probably try it. Is it for maintenance. The crackers...Whole wheat?

Chris-My BF loves TB Buccanners! He's a huge fan! He places bets all the time! When they played the Falcons, he was the only one out of all of his friends with TB gear on!

Better get to :comp:

TTYS! (Talk To You Soon!)

YEAH, it worked! Here's another one:

Last one, I promise!

Yeah, all three pics worked. There you have him, my cute nerd!!!

WOOD, we were posting at the same time. Hey, you're 2 days on the TM are better than my big fat ZERO of doing any exercise!

KITTY, glad you were able to mosey on over to this board, where all the partying takes place;) I do hope you GEORGIA PEACHES can meet up. Do keep in mind that we are having a SB GET TOGETHER in February in LA should you decide to stay with us and want to join in. :)

Okay, off to do other things since I potchkeyed around with the pictures already:rolleyes:

Deb

Go figure...I was at 121.5# this morning after eating half a cow for lunch yesterday. This weight thing is kinda funny; although I won't complain. I had baked chicken, small amount of ranch style beans & Caesar salad for dinner last night. I've had yogurt so far this morning with flax meal and nuts in it. I will have a zucchini muffin soon.

I am going to jump into posts so I can get laundry started, dinner in slow cooker and something done to this face & hair.

Teensy: Hope your pork recipe turns out well. I'll let you know about the cheesecake; I'll probably make it this weekend. Those last 10#'s seem to take the longest time to come off, but they eventually do.

jecrites: Good luck this weekend; it is always the real test.

Monet: Of course you were missed. Sometimes people just don't have a clue. I'd tell them you are busy and to call back when they have it all figured out. As far as this "Golden Grandma"...she is just one of a few ladies that "babysit," therefore no need to be bonded or insured. I do attend a church, but we are so far out from anyone. We live in a rural area, and sometimes people don't want to come out here, especially at night, when it is so dark. Britt attends a Christian school and I am looking into a few of the "recommended" gals from there. One is a senior there and is an aide in Britt's class so she already knows Britt & Britt knows and likes her. The other one graduated from there last year and is now in college, but is always looking at making a little $. Thanks for the info.; it is appreciated.

chrisd: You got a Simba & a Nala???? You must've dropped more cash then I did;) . I really hope that BOB picks Kelly Jo, and not the whiny Stella. Mary was gorgeous and very sweet, but I can understand him not keeping her. If she was down to the final 2 and then he dropped her...OUCH....she would be a real mess. I think he will pick Kelly Jo, but he won't propose...just my prediction. He's not ready to settle down again. I think he will tell her that he wants to pursue the relationship but not get married at this time. She's the opposite of Mary; she's quite young (23).

heart: I liked Finding Nemo, but Britt thought it was too long. The beginning was a little frightening, and the shark made a few appearances and was a little scary, but overall a very cute movie. Britt wanted the Piglet Movie and I was looking for a shopping cart as a joint gift for her and Lane, and that is what brought me to Toys R Us. So, I could've technically walked out of there spending less than $40, but NOOOOO I had to look around.

Wood: Have a fun weekend away.

Deb: I love plain M&M's mixed in with my popcorn. If I am eating them alone, I'd pick peanut or almond. I love the nuts...not too crazy about the peanut butter or crispy ones though. I was going to ask why you bought the M&M's regardless of the great price, but if you are saving them for Lauren's party....alright I won't nag on ya;) . Make sure to have someone else in the family hide them somewhere where they will remember them come February, but you won't be able to find them. I love anything with pumpkin in it. I am going to go peruse recipes on this board later today and see if I can find some recipes for some pumpkin muffins or bread or something.

Well, have a great day, everyone!!!
Nat

AWESOME PICTURES, DEB!!!!

THANKS FOR SHARING. HE DOESN'T LOOK TOO NERDY TO ME! LOOKS RATHER CUTE!

NAT

Hi,

I am going to try to hold on to the computer until Sat and then it will need to be packed away for the trip to Dallas. I am still continuing with my list and I think I am doing more things off the list than on it. Maybe I will just add them so I can cross them off.

Deb: Such great pictures of Michael! Thanks for sharing them.

Bob: Thanks for going to all the trouble to copy the information and get it to us. Interesting stuff.

Monet: Actually, I did miss you and was going to ask about you. I am always glad to see you posts.

Gatorgal: French class sounds verrrry busy. I remember classes and the big push at the end. Especially hated to study for finals when I would have rather been Christmas shopping. Are you going to be at the New Orleans meeting? I enjoyed our visit the last time we were together.

Okay, back to lists.

Okay, so I'm on a roll here. MICHAEL showed me a new way to work on pictures.

Here's 3 in 1 that my DM took of YELLOWROSE and her absolutely DH, RAY while in NC. The other guy in the middle pic on the left is my DD!:D

Okay, that didn't turn out like I'd hoped. Here's hopefully a better looking upload of 2 of the 3 pics.

DEB- Has Michael lost weight? He no longer has that baby face, quite a cutie! BTW- what was the original heart condition of your neighbor? Most people think having a heart transplant is a simple solution for a messed up heart- not true. I feel like it's trading one set of problems for another. I couldn't tell you how many times I've been asked why doesn't he just get a transplant. And like I can just go out and pick one of a grocery shelf. I even had my Aunt call me one time and tell me that a little boy Boogie's age had just died, could Boogie have his heart!! Geez, there needs to be more awareness about organ donation and transplants. But you know, unless you have experienced something like this or know someone who has, you really don't know how it works. Before Boogie, I didn't have a clue what Congenital Heart Disease meant. Also, when asked at the DMV if I wanted to be an organ donator, I would reply no and think gross. I was very naive and misinformed. Now I tell everyone that yes, please donate all you can of me! It brings me some comfort now, knowing with my death that I can bring life to someone else. Okay, I'm off my soapbox,lol.

I got back on the computer to look at ABC's website. I think I'm ordering most of my friend's kids stuff from there, plus Mom and Dad. They got this palm thingy, an electronic personal assistant, with games and stuff on it for $8.95. My friend has 3 kids close in age(preteen and one teen), so I think I'll order 3. My Dad's been collecting coins and I ran across a WWII penny collection for $5.95 and a nickel one for $12.95. They also have alot of Nascar stuff for racing fans. I'm trying to avoid the stores and having to search and search. I already have Ashley's and Boogie's on layaway and I also have the Daisy collection thru ABC in my closet for Ashley. I hate last minute shopping.

I'm trying to do good with my eating today, yes I know it's early but I've been up for awhile. I've had an apple, NSA yogurt, and 2 scrambled eggs. Okay, going back to the ABC site..check back later.

Hey Everybody! Hope all have an on plan weekend. I am going to do my best to stay on plan, however, I have a wedding and two parties to attend. Last night, I went to get fitted for the wedding I am standing in on the 21st. The dressmaker actually had to take in some more on the skirt because it was too loose in my waist. When I had the dress completely on, she commented how I had a great shape with perfect proportions. I almost cried when she said this because I am so used to thinking I have an apple shape that will follow me for life, I hadn't taken the time to notice that sugarbusters has converted that apple into an hourglass. I am still far from where I want to be but pleased anyway.
Things have been stressful at work. We had to inform the police yesterday of a viloence plan that one of the clients had against me and my supervisor. Death threats..another fun part of the job. I really don't think this person would harm me, but it is quite unsettling anyway. We have to take all threats seriously.

I don't have much time to post but will try and check back later for individual replies. I did browse some of yesterdays posts and will try to catch up. The secretary is out today so things are CRAZY. We really can't run the office without her!!!
If I don't get back, have a great day and an even better weekend- Ashley

TGIF.

It has taking me a while to get on here. I started reading the posts this morning and I was totally exhausted. Not tired, just my whole body is exhausted. I could hardly lift my arms. I'm not hungry at all. Don't know what it is, probably my RA. It doesn't seem to be flaring, but who know how it acts. Anyway I was reading posts but too tired to make notes so now I don't know where I left off. So if I missed you, I'm sorry. Hopefully Monday I'll be back to good notes and posts.

My boss brought in my favorite do-nuts. Glazed twist. Theya re loaded with glaze. I shut the box and got some cheese. Good thing I really don't have an appetite today.

No big plans for the weekend. May hit a craft show with DD. That will probably cost me. :lol:

Oh well, on to posts before I get to tired to type.

Bob, the next time you are in Lou, we better meet up. I would love to meet Cathy too. I love Oprah's Christmas show where she has her favorite things and then gives them to the audiance. I would love to be there. I'm about half way throiugh that book you posted from. Didn't have the energy to do the test. Sure wish Kim would get back on here.

Toni, You are doing great. Glad you are still OP.

Pancho, you are making a big dent in your shopping. I have't even thought about it yet.

Teensy, sorry you haven't got your deer yet. Hang in there. I never bet much so I don't win much. I had the show horse int he first race and got my money back and then down hill from there. The last race I picked the winner but didn't bet it. Story of my life.

Jecrites, glad youare resisting that candy. Just keep kicking yourself.

Sef, I wouldn't give DD anything they way she treats you. Glad bear is feeling better.

Monet, of course we miss you when you don't post. I always know how many people I need to fee, but never sure what size cake feeds how many. Hope today is not frustrating.

Chris, prayer for your GM. I doubt that you are really up 5 lbs. Keeping my :crossed: for you.

Gator, have fun in Gainsville, You deserve a good weekend of rest.

Heartmom, don't get on that scale. We don't want you postal. Give it a couple of days and you will be back to normal. Have a good OP weekend.

Woodfrogs, have a nice long weekend. I'm jealous.

Deb, Michael doesn't look like a nerd at all. But he does look intelligent. He also looks like you. Very handsome. (Michael not you). You were right, all the pics were great. The last one will bring tears to your eyes.

Lynn, I thought you meant you were doing Ray's list too. Have a safe trip. You are such a lovely couple. Not what I had pictured. I thought you were blond.

Ashley, You are such a beautiful girl, with a beautiful figure. You shouldn't be surprised when people tell you that. I know we never think of ourselves like that. I know it madeyou feel so good especially when they had to take the dress up more. Be careful. Don't disregard those death threats. People are so strange these days you never know what they will do. Have fun at the wedding and parties.


Have a great day. Will try to check back before I head home.

Jackie

Good morning...quick hello before heading back to the hospital.

DEB - what a handsome little man! He looks so much like you...from your pics anyway! Send some recent ones of Lauren now. Yes my memory is ok for some things..but not for others. I will talk to you tomorrow morning right?

JACKIE and TEENSY- I hope you are right about the weight.

PANCHO - Yes I think I may have to agree that he wont propose...he seems like he has no desire to settle down yet.
Not a lot more than you, but my mother was there and also spent over $100. She went back to get them for my twin nieces today too! GM's cant get for one and not the other....:)

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND GUYS!

Chris

p.s.

KITTY - Tell BF I said GO BUCS!!!!! :)

Hello all--Just a bried pop in to say hey! I haven't been on since Wed. and I see that the board has been pretty busy!


I'll only be able to get in a few replies---

Deb--so sorry about missing your birthday. Quite honestly, if you don't tell us at the beginning of the week who has birthdays that week--I don't know when anyone's birthday are! I can relate though, I had a really crappy birthday this year too. Still, for Eli and Michael to forget and then for us not to know. . . it stinks!!!! I was in quite a funk after my birthday as well so I certainly understand that.

Monet--I haven't been on since Tuesday either! I know you've done this before, but I misplaced your recipe for WW pie crust. I have some good mountain apples and am hankering for a pie. . .please!

OK got to go--trying for a complete reorganization of my office space in the house this weekend--EEEK!

Have a good OP weekend everyone! Tomorrow is Auburn v. Ole Miss. Must also come up with tailgating food that I can and SHOULD eat!:lol:

Susan

Deb- Just got a chance to look at the pics you posted. Michael is ADORABLE. Smart, good looking....he is a package deal (Too bad he's not about 10 years older)

YellowRose- You look great! Keep up the fantastic work!!

jackK- Hope it's not your RA flaring. Maybe just some new upper body exercises? Sometimes it is worse 2 days after I start a new routine. I am hoping that's all it is and doesn't get in the way of you having a great weekend. So, lets just blame it on that new workout you got from the fitness magazine. Yeah, that's it...denial is such a great thing. Take Care. I will talk to you on Mon.

Hey Guys and Gals!

Just got Jared back from his father and I have him ALLLLLLL weekend. Nice to have him back! I think I'm going to take him to the mall when he wakes up from his nap.

Something funky is going on with my stomach. I keep going to the bathroom if you know what I mean. Is this detox?

My mother is telling me about how much sugar there is in fruit. I have been eating pears and plums. Also, she said cheese isn't good either. She is a nurse who has a Nutrition class. Apparently she doesn't follow her own advice because she is diabetic and hasn't lost any weight. The scale is moving in the right direction so I'm happy. Hopefully it will keep going and not stall like it tends to do.

Great pics Deb! Michael is a cute boy. If only I was younger. Heavy sigh!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ilana

Fillise, hope you master that office. I need to do that with my closet. WTG on taking some legal food to the game with you. Have fun.

Ashley, I don't think the routine is the cause. The girls at work say I'm cranky too. no, TOM is not near. Who know? Have you heard from Fruit lately. She is MIA.

Mom, fruit has natural sugar. If you are eating fruits and veggies, it's the fiber that could be keeping you close to the potty.

Jackie

I didn't get on last night but so many new posts today...lol. I went to Target this morning to check out a booster seat for Jess. She is outgrowing her carseat and she is only 30 lbs, must be around 37 to 38 inches tall...have to measure her because lately, everyone kept telling me how tall she is. We bought her the Grace Turbo Booster seat which is on sale for $50. I read a lot of good reviews about it yesterday night so hopefully we made the right choice co'z she is stucked with it for a long long time. Yep, her last carseat. I also checked out some analog scales and few scales gave me different numbers. The cheapest one and the Taylor $19.99 works about the same but some more expensive one actually gave me slightly higher numbers. I am confused so I ended up not buying any. Oh, according to the 2 cheaper scales I mentioned above, I am now 118lbs, which means I have lost 9 lbs. According to the expensive scales, I am now at 124lbs, which means I lost 3 lbs. Hmmm...which one should I choose?? LOL. Btw, I am only 5 ft 2 1/2. Well, I will hold it out until I check out Bed and Baths. Thanks Deb for your suggestion.


Some replies :

BOB : I am in Fayetteville, which is close to Clayton County, where Kitty is. I love it here, lotsa land, quiet and nice people. The tax is high though and the school system is one of the best in GA! Yes, someday, I would really like to meet the rest who lives in GA.

Monet : I would be frustrated too. You know often we forgot to think about how the other person would feel. I have to remind myself if I order a cake or anything over to phone to get my info ready. I totally understand your frustration. {{hugs}} Oh, Publix is our fav store and we shop there every weekend. We go to the one in Peachtree City but we used to shop in the one in Pavillian, Fayetteville. I have heard of Peachtree Corners but then again, I don't know where. I love Publix's cakes especially their cream cakes. They make one Chocolate cream cake and I think that it is the best chocolate cake ever!!!! LOL. I don't care too much for cake but that chocolate cake was a hit to me and dh (he doesn't like chocolate too). I really have to go to Harry's to get some Agave. I found an online store and they are about $4.00 one 1 bottle. Which Harry's did you go to?

heart : Hope you are feeling better now and get some rest too. I felt bloated around Halloween when I cheated and it took me few days to feel better.

woodfrogs : Have fun on your trip!

Debbie : What is HFS? Is it the recipe link on top of the page? I will try to look for it. Nope, I haven't watch Extreme Makeover for a while now but I used to. For all the shows that I watched, the changes were dramatic so I am not surprise. Oh my, oh my, Michael is a cutie! The phone must be ringing off the hooks...lol. He doesn't look nerdy, just studious and intelligent! I am going to try to find the Health-O-Meter brand because the few brands I saw seem to give me different readings. I would love to meet up if you driveby and I hope to meet Monet someday too. Oh, now I have to get Agave because of the good reviews I get here. I certainly don't like Splenda or the other artificial sweeteners. I bought Breyers Vanilla and chocolate fudge yesterday and it was really good. The best part is, I noticed that Breyers have one of the lowest sugar per serving compared to other brands (not SF types). It has about 14 to 15 grams compared to 21 grams. Dh said he was glad the "fake" stuff is out of the fridge. How terrible! LOL.

Kittykat : Dh and I stayed in College Park for 6 months before we bought our first home. That was about 4 years ago. Where do you plan to move to? I like the south too as I love the space, the security and the people..absolutely wonderful! Yes, maybe we could meet one someday! As for the recipe, you can used Triscuits or WW breadcrumbs. Both will work just fine. Cheese itself would be just fine too. You can definitely used the low-fat mayo and low fat sour-cream (if you don't follow the recipe like me...lol).

Pancho : I haven't leave Jess much since she was born. She is 2 1/2 years old now. Both dh and my family is not here so our first choice has been taken away. We have some friends but they were all on the other side of town. Since last year, we met some wonderful people when we were building our home and now we are all neighbors/friends and we go to the same church too. One of them have 17 year old dd and she loves Jess so she offered to watch jess if we need to go out. She has watched Jess once when we were moving to our current home and she managed to put Jess to nap....wow! I was amazed...lol. Now that she school starts, I don't really want to bother her but she said she is willing to watch Jess for us on Sunday but not too late. That was so nice of her. I really like her and feel comfortable with her watching dd. I am thinking of a date with dh soon :) I hope you find someone you are comfortable with. I know that's very important!

JackieO : What a wonderful comment from the dressmaker! I am sure you will look great in your dress.

mom2jared : Glad you will have Jared with you all weekend. Have fun! Hope tummy feels better soon. Once in a while I have one of those especially when I ate too much, legal or non-legal stuff. It usually didn't last more than few hours for me.

Good day everyone!

Julia

Hello everyone.

It's late once again for me to be posting. I had to call the docs to get a refill on Katie's nose spray and then sit and wait for them to call me back and let me know they were calling it in. Ran to Wal-Mart to pick it up.

Man of all things to get in the mail, I got a catalog from The Swiss Colony saying "Your Account is Pre-Approved" Yeah right, that's all I need, a book full of chocolate stuff!

Still doing good with the eating. Made burgers last night and some broccoli and beans to go along with it since we really needed to have some veggies. Gonna have chicken once again tonight. Don't know how I'm gonna fix it yet though.

Deb, Michael may be a nerd by his smarts, but as far as looks go, I wouldn't call him a nerd, he's cute!

Teensy, I'm going by memory right now, wasn't it you talking about hunting and not getting anything yet? Hubby has been hunting a little this season and he missed the same deer 4 times one day! He's hasn't been too lucky so far. He just left here a couple mins ago to head back to the woods. I wish you good luck with your hunting.

Jack-k, I am still kicking myself, and still not one piece of candy! I even ignored all the SF kind at Wal-Mart while ago!

Well the girls should be in from school in a few mins, and I told Autumn we'd run to the BX after they got in just to kill some time since it's Friday. Gonna go for now, talk to y'all later.

Jenn

I missed your question earlier about Basa fish. I usually pan-seared it on both side until they are cooked thru which takes only few short mins. Then I add..maybe 1 TB spoon of butter and few tablespoon of water to thin it out slightly so I have a little more sauce The salt and pepper and lastly some fresh lemon juice. If I have parsley, I will tear some in too.

Oh, I did season the fish with a little bit of Lawry seasoning, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder and pepper. Sometimes, just salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder. I have also baked it in aluminium foil with onions, red bell peppers, scallions, lemon slice and some olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder and chopped garlic. Both came out good.

How do you like to cook Basa?

Julia

Hi everyone! Work today was ok, I did fun stuff all day. Mainly, I made the gourmet desserts for the decadance case. Things like tropical fruit topped pies, cheesecakes and Boston cream cakes. I also did some strawberry ones. Its time consuming and took me the whole morning. I am thankful I don't have to work again until next Thursday! And today, I only had to answer the phone a couple of times. That was the best part of the day, I think! :)

Not sure what is up tonight. Last night, I had a salad for dinner. I may do the same tonight. I think this is a key for me...eating a very small dinner. I would skip it, but unfortunately, the rest of the family, my wonderful hubby especially, seems to think we should eat dinner! Imagine that!

Time for me to go rustle up some grub.... :wave:

KENG AND KITTY: Peachtree Corners is Northeast...kind of between Norcross and Duluth. If you are not sure still, think about the circle of 285, and the Y of 85/75 in the middle. Peachtree corners is up the right side, outside the Perimeter off 85. Julia, I go to the Harry's off 85, at Steve Reynolds, in Gwinnett. They have a good supply of Agave on the shelf right now.

DEB: I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the girls only email! What a riot! Nice pix of Michael. I still need to take Laura to a photographer for hers. I was NOT going to pay the ridiculous price for the packages from the ones the school had taken.

Hi,

Deb: I'm not sure you were suppose to put my picture on the board. I am suppose to lose the weight by Feb. and everyone would think I was always that weight. Now, my secret is out! I am going to start running when the camera comes out....oh but then, someone might take a picture of my backside....not good. HA! When that picture was taken I had not had my hair cut for months and months. I was waiting for a trip to my hair dresser in Dallas. Next year I will find a good hair dresser in NC.

Jack-K: You might have thought I was blond because of my Yellowrose logo. Melf thought I would be a redhead like Trish and herself. I can't think, other than that, why you thought me blond. If my hair keeps turning "silver" I could tint it easily to blond or red.

I have been working very hard at this packing thing all day. I think I will take a break, have a glass of wine and do my nails....poor things.

AFTERNOON FROM THE SW SIDE OF FLA!!! :wave:

Still can't get the problem worked out with the new system to give us more work...I only had 5 accounts today....our boss said to just wait until the initial newness is over with (they are running a help desk 24hrs a day for the first two weeks) then she will be back and we will sit down and work on it. My fear is that when we do get the bug figured out, we will be hit with a massive amount or accounts that have just been hanging out there! OH WELL....IT'S TGIF!!!

OK...this is a total DRIVE THRU...I'm off to fix supper, but wanted to give you the MOVIE PICKS for the weekend

FINDING NEMO
LEGALLY BLONDE 2
DIRTY DEEDS
DEBUT
FRIENDS AND FAMILY

There you have it...I'll be back later to catch up on the posts!

BOB

FRIDAY FUNNY

There were three priests, a young one, a middle-aged one and an old one, who were taking a train to Pittsburgh. At the station they sent the young priest up to the counter to get their tickets. The ticket girl was a young beauty who was VERY well endowed and wore a VERY low-cut shirt. The young priest looked her in the eye and said, "I'd like three pickets to t*tsburgh."

Mortified, he turned and ran back to the other two priests. After telling them about his blunder the middle-aged priest agreed to go purchase the tickets. He walked up to the young beauty and trying not to notice her "assetts" he looked her in the eye and said, "I'd like three tickets to Pittsburgh and I'd like my change in nipples and dimes."

Just as mortified as the young priest, he ran back to the others incrediably embarassed about what he had done. The stern older priest decided that this was rediculous and that he would go purchase the tickets. He walked up to the young girl, looked her in the eye and said sternly "I'd like three tickets to Pittsburgh, I'd like my change in nickles and dimes, and young lady, you should be ashamed at yourself! I bet right now St. finger's got his Peter pointed right at you!!!"

Women and public toilets


This is funny but the sad part is that it has probably happened to all of us sometime along the way...

My mother was a fanatic about public toilets. As a little girl, she'd bring me in the stall, teach me to wad up toilet paper and wipe the seat. Then, she'd carefully lay strips of toilet paper to cover the seat.

Finally, she'd instruct, "Never, never sit on a public toilet seat."

And she'd demonstrate "The Stance," which consisted of balancing over the toilet in a sitting position without actually letting any of your flesh make contact with the toilet seat.

But by this time, I'd have wet down my leg. And we'd go home.

That was a long time ago.

Even now in our more mature years, The Stance is excruciatingly difficult to maintain when one's bladder is especially full.

When you have to "go" in a public bathroom, you find a line of women that makes you think there's a half-price sale on Mel Gibson's underwear in there.

So, you wait and smile politely at all the other ladies, also crossing their legs and smiling politely. And you finally get closer. You check for feet under the stall doors. Every one is occupied.

Finally, a stall door opens and you dash, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter.

You hang your purse on the door hook, yank down your pants and assume "The Stance." Relief. More relief.

Then your thighs begin to shake. You'd love to sit down but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold The Stance as your thighs experience a quake that would register an eight on the Richter scale.

To take your mind off it, you reach for the toilet paper.

The toilet paper dispenser is empty. Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on-that's in your purse. It would have to do. You crumble it in the puffiest way possible. It is still smaller than your thumbnail.

Someone pushes open your stall door because the latch doesn't work and your purse whams you in the head. Occupied!" you scream as you reach out for the door, dropping your tissue in a puddle and falling backward, directly onto the toilet seat.

You get up quickly, but it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with all the germs and life forms on the bare seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper, not that there was any, even if you had enough time to.

And your mother would be utterly ashamed of you if she knew, because her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, "You don't know what kind of diseases you could get.

"And by this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, sending up a stream of water akin to a fountain and then it suddenly sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged to China.

At that point, you give up. You're soaked by the splashing water. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a Chicklet wrapper you found in your pocket, then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.

You can't figure out how to operate the sinks with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past a line of women, still waiting, cross-legged and unable to smile politely at this point.

One kind soul at the very end of the line points out that you are trailing a piece of toilet paper on your shoe as long as the Mississippi River!

You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and say warmly, "Here. You might need this.

"At this time, you see your spouse, who has entered, used and exited his bathroom and read a copy of War and Peace while waiting for you.

"What took you so long?" he asks, annoyed.

This is when you kick him sharply in the shin and go home.

This is dedicated to all women everywhere who have ever had to deal with a public toilet.

And it finally explains to all you men what takes us so long.

woodfrogs
Wow a wedding Halloween night? What were the colors?
Are you talking about going up to Lake George NY? been there one summer. It's nice.

Deb your son might be a nerd, but he's a handsome one! LOL Love his guitar strap! Me and DD are always goofing on each other, she say's I'm a computer nerd and I say she's the band nerd. Sings in the jazz band.
We loved you girls only guys, still drooling!

Chris
I always gain 5 to 6 pounds of water with TOM, goes away day after TOM.


jackieO
How nice what the dressmaker said! Think of what she said to you this weekend if you get tempted!

mom2jared
Fruit is natural sugar so it's ok. Just stay away from watermelon, pineapple and bananas.
Never take advice from somone who won't follow their own LOL!

For the last hour or so, I have been checking out all the links Debbie provided on the Information page. It is nice to put faces to the names. I have also filled up my bio and did attach a link to my dd's webpage. I did that webpage so my family in Malaysia can follow her progress from time to time. The only pic of me (with dd) is in "More pics" which was taken in summer this year. I was weighing about 128lbs I think. Hopefully soon, I will have more up to date pics.

Nice "seeing" all of you.

Julia

Here is my Hippy Halloween pic..it shows up all washed out, though. My shirt was brighter than that, and I have braids in my hair and PEACE painted on my headband.

Here's Boogie in orange..

Ashley as a witch(tooth blacked out)..

Boogie(trying to be a scary skeleton) and Ashley

LAST ONE!! Ashley posing...

Is it just my computer? Those showed up really horrible on mine. They're so blurry you can't make out facial features. Sorry, I tried.

Great pics! You looked great! I also checked out your online website and read about Boogie. You are so right, he is so full of life and handsome too :) How old is Ashley? Is your phone ringing off the hook yet? ;)

Hi gals/guys:

Everyone is in bed and I am up and should be in bed. What a day I had. Delaney fell asleep for nap this a.m., slept 10 minutes and then woke up with poopy diaper. She would not go back to sleep once changed. We dropped Britt off at school, and then I had a dr's appt. They kept us waiting nearly an hour, and Delaney screamed at least 45 minutes of that time. I finally told them I was going to have to re-schedule. They then ushered me back and told me the doc would be right in. Well, Delaney never let up; she screamed throughout my appt. It was so frustrating for me and the doctor was obviously put out. I had to leave without scheduling my next appt. She then fell asleep in the car, and woke up again within 15 minutes, seeming refreshed. I stopped at Wal-Mart to make a layaway payment and she screamed the entire time in the store. After we picked up Britt, I had to take her to the doctor, and Delaney had really had it by now. She screamed non-stop for the entire 75 minutes we were there. She was miserable. Thank heavens that they have their wonderful, sweet times...because if it was all like this, I'd have to wonder what I got myself into. I am so glad to have a quiet house to myself right now. My DH went to bed; he was too tired to hear my complain about my day.

I am going to go to the gym early tomorrow and then go shopping or go garage-saling. I am going to get out for awhile, and let DH handle the kids and house.

heart:Way to get a move on that Christmas shopping. I am pretty much done. I love the Halloween picture; I think you look very thin! The pictures all turned out well on my computer and the kids look adorable.

jackieO: What a well-deserved compliment. That outta be enough to keep you on-plan throughout the weekend.

Jack-K: All I have to say is pass the Gingko....you actually remembered that much "stuff" without taking notes, and were actually able to post replies without taking notes...I cannot believe it. I do not have a very good memory and could never do that. Have a good weekend.

Mom: The sugar alcohols could be sending you to the bathroom. If you are eating foods with maltitol or sorbitol in them, they can definately mess with your system. Fruits are high in sugar, and that is why they s/b eaten in moderation. Glad you are seeing the numbers go down on the scale.

Ken: That is so funny that Jess is 2 1/2, and 30 #. Lane is almost 16 months old and is 28 #'s. She is tall too, so she is well proportioned, but just a big kid! Britt was always tall and lean. So glad you have someone you feel comfortable leaving Jess with; it is such a big step. I sometimes wonder if we are just destined to stay home until the kids are raised;) .

Well, everyone...Have a wonderful weekend.

Nat

Good Saturday Morning:wave:

After lying in bed, not being able to go back to sleep, I got on the computer at 4am, read e-mail and surfed the web and now will try to catch up on my posts.
I'm pooped:tired: This is 2 nights in a row I haven't slept well, both times dreams waking me up with a little help of the bathroom light being on this morning (ELI left for work about a 1/2 hour ago).

Eating continues to be 100% OP. NOW, if I could just get back in to my exercise routine, the pounds should come off a little bit better. I'm going to shoot for Monday and try to get to bed early on Sunday. Stepped on the scale today and am down another 1 1/2 pounds from WIW. I don't know if that will hold, but at least, for today, I'm happy. Yesterday I was up, and I knew it wasn't from anything I had eaten, today I'm down -one never knows:shrug: Just know that when this occurs and you're being honest with yourself and you KNOW you're doing everything the way you should, with a little patience, the scales will go back in the right direction. I'm staying off the scales until WIW now and whatever it is, it is, but should it be up, it won't be from doing something wrong, that I can assure and promise you!

Thanks for all of your kind words about MICHAEL'S pictures. I'm not going to tell him you said he was cute though, I don't want that big head of his to swell up. Would you believe, the kid cuts his own hair? Have to admit, I was thrilled with the way these pictures came out-the bill, that was another story!:rolleyes:

Yesterday was picture day on the board - I just LOVE seeing pictures of everyone. Post them when you can!!!:D

BREYERS ICE CREAM - Gals, as I mentioned before, you CAN have the regular Breyers, but REMEMBER, only a 1/2 cup (actually, the serving size listed on the container is LESS than a 1/2 cup but it's bad enough to try to eat ONLY a half cup) AND it can't have "stuff" in it. The 3 best choices are VANILLA (lactose free is the best) COFFEE or STRAWBERRY.

One of the GI websites says: For example, the glycemic index of ice cream is 37 and the glycemic load is 4, based on consumption of 50 grams of ice cream. 65 grams of ice cream equals 1/2 of a cup (Edy's Grand), so 50 grams of ice cream is less than 1/2 cup. Realistically, who eats less than 1/2 cup of ice cream at a time? (surely it's not me who can eat that little!!!)

So please, be careful with portions, whether or not you're eating regular OR SF brands!!!

Lots of garage sales today, hope some are good.

PANCHO, those M&M bags, some of them are open due to me going in there and pulling out the coupons but honestly, it doesn't bother me in the least to have them around-I'm doing fine, heads on straight, at least for now. I'm going to put them up in the closet and forget about them. I sorta have that outta sight outta mind mentality. I LOVE York Peppermint Patties - had some stored away that I just threw out yesterday, I knew they were old but when I found out HOW old, too embarrassing! Hope you find some goodies at any of the garage sales you go to!!

HEART, actually, MICHAEL lost weight and has gained some of it back, he had gotten really thin, where it didn't look good at all, now I think he looks fine. Not sure what type of heart trouble JARED had, and I hate to ask and sound nosey, but next time I see her I'll see if I can ask in a non-nosey way. Loved the pictures!!!! You look fantastic and I love seeing the kids, such innocent faces, how could they give you any grief:s: The reason the pics look distorted is due to the resolution I think:shrug:

JACKIE, you sound like such a socialite this weekend - enjoy all the festivities. Isn't that wonderful your dress has to be taken in - thank G-D you aren't claiming it having to be let out - you are definitely going in the right direction! OMG, that's terrible that someone would threaten you - I hope the police take this seriously and that absolutely nothing becomes of this persons threats.

JACKK, hope you're feeling better and more rested. I'm not a big dounut lover, not a big lover of fried foods in general but if you could find me a Velvet Creme donut, the one with the butter cream icing in it-I'd be open to eating one, maybe two - they aren't around here anymore and they had the best!!! You know, I can't leave well enough alone - I just went on Google and looked to see if there are any in the country and there's one listed in Miami! Thankfully it's not close to me AND hopefully I'll totally forget about it, or better yet, it's old info and has closed down! Wouldn't bother now, not to worry, but should I ever be off plan and have that in mind, be in the area, it be open, I'd get one;)

CHRIS, will have to get LAUREN'S school pic to post, she doesn't like it, but what the heck, it's her! You can tell you have a little one, I had to laugh when you said what a handsome little man! MICHAEL towers over all of us!:lol: Will talk to you later!!!

FILLISE, have fun watching the game.

MOM, as others have mentioned, your body is ridding itself of the junk AND you are adding fiber, so this is good and will pass quickly. Pears and plums are just fine, not to worry, just don't eat too much fruit. Natural occuring sugars, fructose, is okay. Cheese is okay but you want to try to eat lower versions of it. Many people don't measure cheese and full fat is okay, if you are going to eat just 1oz, but most people eat far much more than that, so better to eat lower fat versions and try to limit it to a few ounces a day. What are your plans with DS this weekend?

KEN, first off, thanks for posting your BIO on the BIO BOARD! It was nice to learn more about you and I really enjoyed looking at the pictures on the website, though one page, the pictures wouldn't load (I think it was the 2yr old page). It was nice to see a picture of you, though not very clear I have to say. You remind me of my cousin MICHELLE who is Guamanian. The scales, get one that's sturdy and well known. Weigh on just your one scale because each scale weighs differently. You could put your scale in one room of your house and then in another and weigh differently. Have to ask, are you small framed? The reason I ask is because I saw your goal weight, and your height and that's really too low for someone of your stature, unless you are really tiny boned. I'm 5 feet 1 1/2" tall (and yes, I agree, that 1/2 really counts when you're short) and that would be totally out of the question for me, that's below the lowest for my height. Hope you don't mind me asking:) Sorry, HFS=health food store. Okay, I ASSUME you are eating around the fudge part in the ice cream-correct assumption;) I hate Splenda, it's usually Stevia or if non is around, Sweet & Low You can go to the SEARCH tab at the top of any of our pages and do a search, just do it within the SB BOARDS, or you can tell me what you're looking for and I'll find it for you. The basa, well, first, since I can't cook for me to make something quite edible is amazing, but I can't take all the credit on making this fish. I used the leftover salad dressing from my fav. restaurant, OLE OLE on it. I put salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika and bake it half way. THEN I put the salad dressing, minus the oil it's in, so it's just the wet spices and top it with grated parm cheese and bake it the rest of the way - to die for!

JEC, got the same catalog - it's in the GARBAGE!!!!!

MONET, if you don't go to the school photographer, do they still allow her to have her picture in the year book? MICHAEL'S school, the deadline for seniors was end of August. Actually, the pics of him were not much differnt than the ones I got of LAUREN from Glamour Shots at one time, if I remember correctly.

ROSE, you look wonderful in those pictures!!!!!:D I'm sure you'll be pampered and have a great haircut when you get home, and besides, your hair looked great when I was there AND I think when my DM took the pictures!!!! Please have a good trip home today - can't wait to hear from you when you get back home. What time are you hitting the road?

BOB, saw a foreign film last night, YANA'S FRIENDS, was cute, esp. the end - was in Hebrew and Russian. How are the movies you got? I p/u 2 WEEK NOTICE, XXX and something else at the library that I'll try to watch some of today, oh and a Russian film called the THEIF. Cute FF, esp. the toilet one! I'm not a squater but I won't if one has been there (always shows) has to be clean otherwise I'd rather burst trying to go elsewhere AND I usually have my own covers in my purse;)

CHERYL, DD sings in a jazz band? That's so neat! Missed WOODFROGS msg about Lake George, isn't that upstate NY? I think my cousins live near there, or have said they've been there. They live in Glens Falls, NY. I sorta wish I was a computer nerd, then I could at least understand more about them - me, I'm electronically challenged!!!

I seem to be caught up. If I missed anyone, it's not intentional, blame it on being tired:tired:

Will check in later - have to get the family room cleaned up this afternoon and go shopping for MICHAEL for some food for the kids he's invited over tonight for ALEX'S birthday, but I plan on getting back on while he's involved as LAUREN is going to a friends house for movie night.

Have a great weekend

Debbie

http://home.new.rr.com/kitanniweb/atkins/10.gif
And it will be 11 after today!!!

I'm up early on this Sat morning, not that I want to be. Jared went to bed at 8 and work up at 6:30 A.M. I don't know why he wakes up so early so since he's up, I'm up.

I don't have very much planned for this weekend. I took him to the mall yesterday afternoon and at Noon today he has his speech therapy. After speech therapy, we are probably going back home so he can take a nap (yeah right!). My parents want us to drop by their place (they live 10 minutes away) at 3 p.m. and I guess we'll have dinner with them. It's then a blockbuster night. Tomorrow is up in the air.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ilana

I slept around 1-something am yesterday and got woke up by dh when he came back later. I was surprised that I didn't feel to tired when dd came to wake me up this morning about 7-something. Nothing much plan for today as dh is working. Will probably go out for a walk, clean the house and I am sure lotsa playing time with Jess.

mom2jared : Jared must be excited to spend his weekend with you so he wanted to start it early :) Sounds like a fun day ahead.

Debbie : 4.30am? I hope you are able to get some R & R later. WTG on the 1 1/2lbs lost. Yes, you must be doing something right :) Actually no, I am not eating around the fudge, afterall it really wasn't so much (1/2 cup) to begin with. I figure that I don't eat it often, only when I am dying for some sweet stuff. I love vanilla though but that day have the urge for some chocolate fudge, which actually taste like plain chocolate. I think I will try coffee next time. You know, the funny thing is, I always think I am medium-frame...in Malaysia anyway but here in US, I think I am small-frame. The reason why I put my goal weight as 110lbs was because it gives me "something visible to look forward to" besides the advantage of a healthier eating and benefit to my blood sugar. I figure that if I am 118 lbs now, 110 is doable...just a rough goal. I came to SB because of Glucose Intolerance and didn't really think of losing weight as a goal but I know I can lose some weight. I used to be 110 but that was long time ago...lol. It will be an added plus for me if I reach that goal but I am happy as it is that I am losing weight now with just eating right. I was around 110lbs 6 weeks after I gave birth to jess and could fit into my teenage jeans...lol. That felt wonderful. No, I am don't mind you asking me questions, keep shooting whenever you have any :) The basa sounds delicious. What an idea! Thanks. I am hoping to visit a health food store this weekend, to find some Agave and check out on the pancake mix. I never thought that I will look forward to visiting a health food store...lol.

Pancho : Jess used to be a screaming baby until she was around 4 months old. I know how it feels to have a screaming baby. Jess will go out of control if she is tired so I am careful to plan my schedule around after her nap. Too stressful to try to control her. Jess was a small baby and her ped used to say that too. It seems all of a sudden she is growing taller than what everyone thinks she will. With the amount of food she eats everyday, I am surprised she is only 30 lbs and she really can eat! That is what wonderful being a baby, you can eat like a pig and burn it off quickly...lol. {{{hugs}}} Have fun on your own today :)

ANOTHER DRIVE BY!!!!! IT'S BEAT MIAMI DAY OVER HERE ON THE WEST COAST OF FLA!!! GO VOLS~~~~~~~~



If you haven't seen FINDING NEMO! , you've JUST GOT TO GET IT!!! It was WONDERFUL!!!

LEGALLY BLONDE????? :nono:

FRIENDS AND FAMILY???? YES!!

I'll let you know about the rest....


The game is already on, and we've got the ball! Gotta go

HAVE A GREAT SATURDAY!!!

BOB

Hi Everyone,

I still have a long list of things to do in order to leave tomorrow. (Sunday) but I can at least see that it can be done.

Debbie: We have a shut down list that we need to complete before we leave tomorrow but I am thinking we will leave by 11:00AM. We have a stop we will make at a grocery store to get supplies for lunch and plan make it to Birmingham, Al to spend the night. That will be about 6 hours of actual driving time which shouldn't be too bad of a day. We will get to Dallas on Tuesday afternoon and I have an appointment for a haircut Wednesday as well as a pedicure that day....busy, busy!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend and I will be on the board later in the week from Dallas.

HiedieHo All!

Spent yesterday shopping and running errands. Made a nice pot roast in the crock pot so supper was easy. Yesterday I also stayed OP. That's one day at a time.

MONET: Hard to miss someone when you've been remiss yourself! My intentions are good but I have been so busy. I'll be glad to be your Mom, DS and DIL say I am a good one. I don't know what I would do w/o them. I wish I could have the same kind of relationship w/ DD. I promised her those things and I can't break a promise! Glad you get to do some fun stuff at work. Isn't it a waste though when all that work is done and they don't sell?

CHRISD: Hope your GM will be okay. When you get older the docotors always seem to be able to find something wrong. After 40 it's patch, patch, patch!

TEENSY: My guns don't have much ammunition. I guess I feel guilty that she is as she is. I must have done something wrong along the way the past 41 years. Always trying to placate or agree.

DEB: Isn't it nice to have people visit: isn't it nice when you have the house to yourselves again. What a handsome boy! Not nerdy at all. He should have the girls knocking down the door! Loved "Girls Only", although the best one was the one that played music with his........ahem.

About DD, when my DH was ill he insisted that things the kids would inherit someday should be divided up. So DS & DD took turns picking things they wanted and a list was made. The idea being they were mine as long as I needed or wanted them. When I moved to NJ in '95 I had to downsize and also needed money so sent the lists to each of them and told them to pick what they really wanted and I was selling rest. DONE. When I moved DS had just come back to the states after being overseas 15 years, They bought a house and I gave them the furniture on his list (if he hadn't returned just then it would be stored). DD was in HI and renting, so it was decided that I would keep her stuff and continue using it rather than store it and have fees to pay. Then I moved in w/ DS and downsized even more. Some of DD's things are scattered throughout the house rather than store it, the rest is in my rooms and I use it. Now DD is back on the mainland and has bought a house and would like her things. I said the things that were scattered about she could have as DS only has them to save her storage. But I coldn't give her the other pieces as I am using them and cannot afford to replace them. So DS has most of his things, I am still using a few items, and DDseems to think she should have all her things. DIL was telling me not to give in they are mine until I don't want or need them anymore. DD is not upset that I still have a few items that will eventually be his. So that's it in a nutshell. I'm in the middle of the shell and she's trying to crack me!! She just doesn't seem to get it. Just looked at the size of the nutshell here. Sorry.

JACKIEO: What a boost to the ego to receive a great compliment. Sometimes we do see the change in ourselves that others do.

JACK-K: Hope you are feeling better. "Arthur" of any type can be so annoying because it's not always consistent.

JECRITES: Swiss Colony likes me too! I unfortunately like them too. Throw that catalog away!!!

YELLOWROSE: Now there's no need to cover silver with any other color. Silver is pretty. Always liked it and I'm gradually getting there strand by strand!

HEART: Great pics. You look wonderful.

PANCHO: The joys of being a mother!

Things to do. Haven't had breakfast yet! Guess it will be brunch now. Or is brunch really elevensies?

Take care, Shirley

HiedieHo All!

How about a couple of belated FFs:

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes too, but I can't remember getting E-coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring).

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson by running in the halls with leather soles on linoleum tile and hitting the wet spot. How much better off would we be today if we only knew we could have sued the school system.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known what either was anyway) but they did give us a couple of baby aspirin and cough syrup if we started getting the sniffles.

What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything._ (Everything?)

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself._ (What!_ No trophy just for being on the team?!)

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, PlayStation, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable stations.

I must be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize through the denial of the dangers could have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a mile down the road to some guy's vacant 20, built forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger. What was that property owner thinking, letting us play on that lot? He should have been locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete with a self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm.

Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have died!

We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent bottle of Mercurochrome and then we got our butt spanked._ Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day
dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked (physical abuse) here too ... and then we got butt spanked again when we got home._ (For our own good?)

Mom invited the door-to-door salesman inside for coffee, kids choked down the dust from the gravel driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (Remember why Tonka trucks were made tough... it wasn't so that they could take the rough Berber in the
family room), and Dad drove a car with leaded gas._ (And no seatbelts.)

Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I am sure that I nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when we went on two week vacations. I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the family tent.

Summers were spent behind the push lawn mower and I didn't even know that mowers came with motors until I was 13 and we got one without an automatic blade-stop or an auto-drive.

Of course my parents weren't the only psychos._ I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes?

We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we survive?
******************************************
Angels

An old lady dies and goes to heaven. She's chatting_it up with St.Peter at the Pearly Gates when all of a sudden she hears_the most awful, bloodcurdling screams. "Don't worry about that,"_says St. Peter, "it's only someone having the holes put into her shoulder_blades for wings."

_
The old lady looks a little uncomfortable but_carries on with the conversation. Ten minutes later, there are more_bloodcurdling screams. "Oh my God," says the old lady, "now what is_happening?"
_
"Not to worry," says St. Peter, "She's just having her head drilled_to fit the halo."

"I can't do this," says the old lady, "I'd rather_go to ****."

_
"You can't go there," says St. Peter. "You'll be_raped and sodomized."

"Maybe so, says the old lady, but I've already got_the holes for that!"
**********************************************
Something for DAVE:

Guy's Side of the Story

Finally, the guys' side of the story._ We always hear "the rules" from the female side._ Now here are the rules from the male side.__ These are Men's rules!_ Please note, these are all numbered "1".

1. Learn to work the toilet seat._ You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down._ We need it up; you need it down._ You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides._ Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want._ Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work!_ Strong hints do not work!_ Obvious hints do not work!_ Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it._ That's what we do._ Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem._ See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument._ In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done._ Not both._ If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings._ Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color._ Pumpkin is also a fruit._ We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong, and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong._ We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine._ Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as sports, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know men really don't mind that, it's like camping._

Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh. Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them an education!! Peace on Earth, MAYBE
******************************************
Ole's pickler

Ole worked in a pickle factory. Unfortunately, he had a very powerful desire to put his penis in the pickle slicer. This went on for years and Ole couldn't stand it any more. So he decided to seek professional help for this odd infatuation of his.

He spent a few months with a shrink who finally gave up and told Ole that since Ole's desire to put his penis in the pickle slicer was so obsessive, the only way to get over it would be to actually do it. Ole gladly agreed to do it the next day at work.

The next day he came home from work very early, about 11 AM. His wife, Lena asked why he was home so early. Ole explained to her for the first time the desire he had had to put his penis in the pickle slicer. He explained that he couldn't take it any more and today he did it and, as a result, he got fired.

Lena gasped and ran over to him, yanked down his pants and briefs, only to see his penis perfectly normal and intact. She looked back up and said "I don't understand ...what happened to the pickle slicer?

Ole said, "I think she got fired too."
******************************************
The preacher's, Sunday sermon was,"Forgive Your Enemies."He asked, how many _have forgiven their enemies? About half held up their hands.

He then repeated his question. Now about 80 percent held up their hands.

He then repeated his question. _All responded, except one elderly lady. "Mrs. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don't have any."

"Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?"

"Ninety-three." she replied.

"Mrs. Jones, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a person manages to not have enemies in the world?"

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, and said,
"It's easy, I just outlived all those *****es."
****************************************
This is too funny:

For all those men who believe that there's no reason to buy the cow when you can get the milk free,_ nowadays 80% of women are against marriage, as they have wised up to the fact that for 6 ounces of sausage, it's not worth buying the entire pig.
**********************************

Enough already!!!

Take care, Shirley

Jumping on very quickly before heading to my Mom's. The hunter's were up and off very early this morning. I went back to bed, and got up late. Had to get the stew going for their dinner....it is simmering on the stove AWS. Now I have to go get the babies ready to stay by themselves....picking up anything that Buddy can get a hold of to play with, water, etc...

Probably won't be able to get back here until sometime tomorrow, if that. Want to spend what time I can with Brant. Don't get to see him as often as we would like to.

Everyone have a great weekend, and I wish nothing but total happiness for all of you!!

I know I have been playing hookie this week. Not really I have read the posts. I have just been so busy. I loved the pictures!!!! Everyone looks so wonderful. Heart...my 18 year old is in love. :) I had to tell him to quit hitting on the picture you couldn't hear him...LOL You look so thin!

Deb...thanks for calling me today. All you wisdom really does help. I promise it's not going in one ear and out the other. I talk so dang much you might think I'm not listening but I am. Even when I don't want to hear it..LOL You tips and motivation are helping alot in this transition period. I hope you were able to go back and find that program. By the way awesome pictures of your son. I love the one with the guitar.

YellowRose...you look Marvelous! Praying for a pleasant trip as you travel back to Texas. It's a great week. Kinda cloudy but nice and cool.

JackO..you go girl! WTG on the alterations and the compliment. It's the compliments that really help to keep us encouraged I think.

Jack-K...you are in my prayers also. I'm sorry that you are feeling so tired and blucky.

Monet...hey. Good to see you on the board. I did notice when you were gone.

Sef...you did nothing wrong. Your daughter grew up to be the person she is because of and in spite of your teaching. There comes a point when we are just who we are. Trust me there are aspects of my 18 year old I refuse to take credit for..LOL He is so NOT like his moma. Enjoy your things and dont' worry if she gets upset with you. You should enjoy the things that you and your husband enjoyed together. (((hugzz)))

Waving at ya Bob! I'm in the middle of dealing with these pumpkins...I just know I am gonna miss somebody. The micro just went off. Thinking of you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and hugs,
Crystle

Heart your pictures were fine.
What Deb said about resolution is most likely right. If your kids play computer games on your puter the resolution is probably set to 256. 16 or 32 bit will make things look clearer.
You look awesome! Very svelte!

Deb
My daughter really has a beautiful voice and she sings in the jazz band and the choir at school. She's been singing since she got on stage at a cousins baptism and belted out the "A your adorable, B your so beautiful" song when she was 6.
We started lessons last year. At 40 bucks an hour it's a bit painful for me but she's not into sports, really enjoys singing, doesn't drink or smoke or hang out with bad kids. The singing keeps her busy and around a great group of kids so it's worth it.

I have to go grocery shopping blech....:stress:

Hi all:

Don't have too much time to post, but thought I'd jump on and say hello. I had a marvelous morning. I got up at 6 a.m. and went to the gym, and then went shopping. I hit Big Lots, and the outlet mall. I even went to Stabucks and enjoyed a Latte with sugar-free vanilla. I didn't get home until after noon. It was so much needed. I really enjoyed being able to shop hands-free, if you know what I mean.

I got a letter from my dd's pediatric dentist the other day, thanking me for sending referrals to them; they included a $20 gift card to Blockbuster...I thought that was really nice.

Had a quick question for anyone who knows (probably just you, Deb). I was at Auntie Anne's Pretzels today and they now have a whole wheat pretzel. Do you know if it is legal or what the ingredients are. I guess I could check their site.

Well, I have lundry going, and we will be leaving for church in a few hours, and I still haven't showered.

I will check in Monday a.m. Have a great OP weekend, everyone!

Nat

Hello all. I've had one of those days from **** today. Debilli I'm so sorry I couldn't talk when you called. My little house had filled up with some women unexpectly coming over. I hope you don't give up on me and call Sunday. I was really looking forward to talking to you.....

EVENING EVERY BUDDY!! :wave:


Getting ready to settle down. Last load of laundry for the day is in the wash. Tomorrow is WALMART day.. Haven't been there is eons...Might do a little shopping for the holidays..Still have to pick up something for my Nephew...his birthday was Oct 27th, but he was in Vegas and we've not celebrated yet. Need to look for some slacks for myself...all of mine are too baggy..not that I'm complaining, but I'm just not in the mood to shop for me.

I'm going to watch the last two movies after I get piled up on the pillows in the four poster.

CONGRATS to all the winners today, and heartfelt sorry to the losers...

I'm off...

LYN...have a safe trip home...

Talked to the DUNGEON MISTRESS today while she was out doing her Saturday shopping...she woke me from a sound and I do mean sound sleep. When I looked at the clock I about died..it was almost 11am...:eek: That took a chunk out of my morning and the plans that I had in mind...oh well....tomorrow is another
day!

NITE NITE!!

BOB

Found this intresting info on the Prevention website in the SBD forums:
Sugar free Metamucil is 100% natural psyllium husks. You can take it 15 min. before each meal...it slows the digestion process and it is taken as a sugar stopper to slow down the absorption of glucose and lower the GI of a meal.

The soluble fiber in one tablespoon of psyllium is equal to 14 tablespoons of oat bran, another soluble fiber. For this reason, in contrast to oats, psyllium is added in relatively small quantities to other cereal grains to make food products.
Soluble Fiber:

The job of soluble fiber is to absorb water in the intestinal tract and slow down the amount of time needed to empty the intestine. Eating these fibers makes you feel full and may help in weight loss. These are also the fibers which are credited with helping to lower bad cholesterol levels in the blood. Examples of foods that contain soluble fibers include:
Dried beans and peas.
Lentils.
Oats.
Barley.
Psyllium
Sesame seed
Flax seed
Fruit, especially bananas, apple pulp, citrus, grapes, apricots, cherries
Vegetables, especially potatoes, cabbage, carrots
Psyllium and Cholesterol

Through the years, researchers have found that patients with mild to moderately elevated cholesterol levels can achieve a sustained reduction of about 10% in cholesterol level by consuming psyllium twice a day and adhering to the American Heart Association's (AHA) Diet.

Hey, guys. I've had such an awful TOM this time. My back is killing me. Not for sure what the deal is with that, maybe my ovarian cysts are back? I couldn't drag myself to get outta bed this morning and go to exercise class because of it. It seems to be letting up now. My eating yesterday was good..considering I felt like crap. Today I've been legal, BUT I lost count with how many starchy carbs I've had- so wayyy too many. But I feel good that it's the weekend and I haven't "strayed". Tomorrow, my Mom invited me over for KFC. I plan on taking a bowl of salad with cheese and ranch dressing and shredding my chicken in it. That way I'll get full and not feel like I'm missing out. I've done this before and it's really good. I went to a couple of yard sales this morning on the way to Wally World. Got some good deals on the kid's clothes. Got Boogie a pair of Navy blue jog pants for 50 cents, an Old Navy pair for 50 cents, and the nylon sport looking pants for 50 cents-all look pratically new. Got Ashley a pair of Revolt jeans which are two-toned colored for 25 cents, 2 pairs of overalls for 50 cents each and got me an Old Navy t-shirt for 25 cents. Not alot, but worth going. I went to Hudson's and found a cute pair of denim shorts, for Ashley, for $1.80 and a turtleneck for Boogie, for 60 cents.

PANCHO- You should have seen Boogie at Walmart today. It was horrible. He threw a fit from the time we walked in, until we left. So embarrassing and you can feel your blood pressure rising. Right now, what gets me is that he wants something and then he doesn't want it, and then he wants it, and doesn't want it. You know what I mean? He makes something so simple, like getting him something to drink, such an ordeal. He'll ask for some OJ and then you start to pour it and he starts screaming no, he wants something else, then you pour whatever and he starts back saying he wants OJ again-UGH! This goes on for a long time and all throughout the day. Someone give me a nerve pill,lol. Makes you want to go off the deep end until , he wraps his arms around me and says "me not be bad no more- me wuv ew." And about five minutes later, he's back to throwing a tantrum,lol!

KEN- thanks! And Ashley is 7 and thinks she knows everything!

BOB- We just watched Finding Nemo this evening- loved it!

Country- I'm blushing! And that wasn't even a good photo,lol. You don't look old enough to have an 18 year old son!

Guys, thanks for the compliments. You know it was funny when I got the pics back yesterday. I was looking at mine, and hubby was beside me, and I said "you know, I don't look fat in this pic." Hubby rolled his eyes and was like, um that's because you're not, I've been trying to tell you that! But it's so hard to see yourself the way you might appear to others when you've been so big for so long. I think no matter how much weight I lose, or what size I get down to, I'll always think of myself as being too big. I know it's a mind thing. Maybe one day I'll overcome it.

DEB- just go ahead and ask your neighbor, say you were just wondering, even mention Boogie if you want(his condition is called hypoplastic left heart syndrome or just HLHS for short). If she's like me, then she might like the fact that you've taken interest and don't be surprised if she gives you a little "awareness"- tells you about his condition and goes into detail,etc. I like for people to ask me, that way I can get the word out about the seriousness of congenital heart disease. Just don't say, oh was he born with a hole in his heart? This is a joke among some of us heart parents. I guess the only way to explain it, is most people only know about holes in the heart and it stops at that. Lack of awareness. I'm hoping this year that the governor here will proclaim Feb.14 th as Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. Many states already have their proclamation in. I tried last year, but never heard anything about it. It has to start with making the public aware that CHD is the #1 birth defect and killer of infants under 1. Then more will be put into funding for research, etc.. Only 1 or 2% of AHA's monies actually go towards CHD funding. Let me get off my soapbox,lol. This is such a touchy subject with me, I could go on and on, but I'll spare ya.

Hellooo! Its been a roller coaster day for me.

I went to meet up with my old Moms In Touch group this morning. I have not seen a few of the women in the group for two years. I was disgusted that the whole group could only spare one hour to visit over breakfast before they all had to run off and do other things. I am NOT that structured, and when I see someone I have not seen for a long time, I sure don't want to rush through the visit. Especially when it is someone who had a significant part of my life for so long. The group met weekly for about six years to pray for our kids and their schools. I came away rather depressed. People just don't seem to care anymore.

I went to the store from breakfast and got what I needed to fix my dinner for church on Monday. This month, it will be chili with toppings, salad and bread, as well as desserts- probably a homemade cake or two.

While I was at the store, my older daughter, Ruth, invited herself and her husband over for dinner. I had to think of something, and found a nice easy recipe to try. It was simple...just boneless chicken breasts with sliced onions, a can of cream of chicken soup and some tarragon, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper with a bit of milk. Turned out pretty good. Ruth heated up some leftover rice, and put the sauce on it, and said it was really good. The rest of us had a small baked sweet potato and LeSeur peas, and green beans along with the chicken.

I spent some time this evening reading about some new research on thyroid problems, and found some very interesting information. I am going to continue looking into it, and perhaps follow some of the recommendations they make for certain thyroid problems, especially T4 to T3 conversion problems, which is my situation. If it helps, I will let you all know about it. :)


Its about time for me to crawl in bed. I hope everyone is doing well. I am hoping I can get on here and post some replies tomorrow... sweet dreams everyone!

SEF:
THE MEN VIEW IS QUITE ACUTE, i DO NOT FIT ALL THOSE , BUT AT LEAST 70%.

ONLY GOT A FEW MINUTES AND SOME GOOD NEWS I LOST 4 POUNDS AND HAD THE DOCTOR SCALES TELL ME MINE ARE OFF BY 3 POUNDS. OH WELL THE MAIN THING IS SOME DAY I WILL GET THERE.

WE HAVE HAD RAIN FOR THE LAST 4 DAYS SO THAT WITH COLD WEATHER MAKE ME A LITTLE MOODY.

DEB: NICE GOING SEND ME AN EMAIL SAYING SORRY FOR YOU LADIES ONLY, AS ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS DELETE MY NAME FROM YOUR LIST ON THAT ONE, OR IS THIS SOME KIND OF TEASER . ( IT WORKED) BUT I UNDERSTAND YOU DO NOT WANT TO MAKE A 20 YEAR NAVY VET, FATHER,GRANDFATHER BLUSH NOW DO YOU. i NEVER SAY NEVER BUT IT WOULD BE A LITTLE HARD TO DO.


MY BACK AND LEG IS FINALLY ALL HEALED AND I AM BACK TO MY EXCERISE AND WEIGHT LIFTING. MY LADY THERAPIST ALL GAVE ME A BIG HUG ON MY LAST DAY, WILL MISS THEM WE HAD A LOT OF FUN AND LAUGHS AND EVEN GOT SOME OF THE OTHER PATIENTS INVOLVED. OH WELL LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT.


EVERY ONE HAVE A SUPER WEEKEND AND WILL TRY AND STAY UP WITH THE BOARD MORE NEXT WEEK. MY GRANDDAUGHTER CALLED ME AND ASKED IF I KNEW WHERE HER POPPIE WAS AS I WAS MISSING IN ACTION. MEANING I HAVE NOT CALLED OR SEEN THEM THIS WEEK.

SUPERDAVE

Good Morning All:wave:

Thought I'd hop on while everyone's still sound asleep and not asking for a turn on the computer.:D

Garage sales yesterday - soooo many I couldn't get to all that I would of if I could, just to many and not enough time. Can't say I bought all that much, but what I did buy was big and bulky. Bought 2 of those 3-drawer plastic bins, like dresser drawers, $2 each, then a smaller one for ELI'S SB papers to use when he's working on his stuff in the dining room, also 3 drawers, $1. I bought a round glass eterge that my sister had actually fell in love with but wasn't sure if she was going to buy, I liked it, so I got that-now just have to figure out exactly where to stick it. It's not that big, about 17" round, and it's 6 feet high with 4 shelves of glass. A few video tapes, brand new Lancome compact with 2 eye shadows and blush together for .50 cents, found ALEX'S Mom a table for their home, dark cherry wood, 4ft long (like a sofa table) had a few scratches near the front, on the top, $5.00 - she was thrilled!!!! A few other odds and ends, but nothing exciting or worth much. Oh, I did buy these things for the telephones, where you can plug a phone in to any outlet and use it - does anyone have any of these? If so, do they work?

MOM, you should be happy JARED sleeps all those hours, almost 11 hours, wouldn't I love to be able to sleep that long. Just wait! Before you know it, JARED will be staying up all hours doing homework, some nights not sleeping at all. Then you'll be claiming the opposite;) What movie did you get from BB to watch?

KEN, something to look forward to is a good thing but one thing that's important to remember is to make your goals realistic and should you not get to a certain weight not to fret, it's a number and how you feel and look to yourself is more important (unless you have a distorted image of yourself like me, but then, I have a distorted body to go with the distorted image):rolleyes: Just can't imagine anyone your height being 110lbs.

BOB, wake you up? You said you were lounging in the 4 poster, Geez, woman, how long do you expect to sleep on the weekend???? Besides your head is so full of fog that I called you at 10am, not 11am!:lol:

ROSE, looking forward to hearing from you soon and how the ride home was!!!

SEF, you go girl:bravo: Taking it one day at a time is good, only thing you can do. Thanks for checking on that file for me-can't wait to send it out to people I've met since I had it last time. Was on the old computer. I would love to find such talent around these parts;) Or, maybe that should be I'd like to find those parts around here!!!:lol: Thanks for posting those FF, I got lax on doing it last week.

TEENSY, hope you are enjoying having DS around this weekend. Look forward to hereing about this weekends hunting tails;)

COUNTRY, sometimes I wish people wouldn't listen because some times I get going and can't stop. It gets worse if I'm trying to do 2 things at once, like look at garage sale items and talk. If you listen to me sometimes gawd knows what I may be saying. Loved talking to you too. Remember, that invitation - it's sincere and opened. Hmmm, I see age is setting in - you forgot to send me that link that you forgot about while we were talking:lol: Can you send it, pretty please???

CHERYL, LAUREN would love some voice lessons too. During the summer when she was in CHICAGO she had them but nothing that was scheduled. I was surprised she could sing as she could. Does DD listen to a lot of jazz music? LAUREN is stuck on show tunes and loves Broadway music. Funny, you'd think kids now a days wouldn't like much of either but it's nice that they do. What are your DD's future aspirations? Good article - reminded me I have some of that in the house.

PANCHO, I too like Big Lots and of course, going to STARBUCKS, well, that's a given when I'm with ELI;) Cool about the gift card, nice that they acknowledged what you've done for them. Aunt Annies, well, first, I wouldn't worry so much about you eating one once in a while, but if you are asking me if it's legal, not really. Would you believe, the one that's lowest in fat is the jalepeno (or at least I remember it as being such). If they used SGWW flour, it would be okay, but I can't say it is because others reading this post would say I said so, but for you, it's fine as a treat once in a while.

TONI, no need to apologize at all. Will try to remember to call you sometime today.

HEART, once again, you've proved that you're truly a great bargain hunter. You and I could be a good team:) I always think I'm too big, even when I got to goal and below. It's something we have to work on but in time, hope will come. You're younger so it's going to be easier for you, unlike me, who's older, has more hanging skin, scars, etc. but something many of us have to work on. Will try to ask TRACY about JARED.

MONET, sounds like a feast instead of a simple meal - well, at least from someone who doesn't cook;) I never invite myself to my Mom's - she's over here so much and the kids love when she cooks for them. When they were here last week, kids were so excited because they knew they were going to get some good vittles, and they did, well, all but MICHAEL:shrug:

DAVE, CONGRATS on the loss this week:cp: Okay, I have to say, when I sent that out I was going to delete your name from it and actually looked through the e-mail addresses trying to figure out which it was. Unless it's easily identifiable with your name in there somehow, or I've known your e-mail for years, I won't recognize is, and thus, is the reason I put my little apology in there for you. I could of gone through the BIO BOARD, but many of the e-mails I have are not on the bio board and actually, I had to go, so that made me also take the lazy route. Hope you didn't mind too much - heck, at least he wasn't naked. Now, if I had sent the PIANO PLAYER, then I could understand-this was a bit more tamed. Besides, didn't you look like that a few years ago??????;) Seriously though, I hope I didn't make you feel bad.

Okay, I'm going back to bed to read a little. ELI is off today, so will be out of the house for as long as possible.

Have a great Sunday!!!

Deb

Morning! I got up a few hours ago, and have been quietly puttering about. I love having Sunday mornings to relax like this. Our church has worship service at 6pm. It makes the whole day special!

Tom just got up. He stayed up almost all night reading. I love when he does that, so when I do it, he can't comment on it! haha!

I have mentioned this eggplant recipe before. I finally remembered to find it and so here it is! I will post it on the recipe board too.

Stuffed Eggplant

1 large eggplant -- sliced
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup black olives -- diced
3 medium pimiento peppers, canned -- chopped
2 teaspoons basil -- or 6 fresh leaves
4 Tablespoons parsley
1 clove garlic -- minced

Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt, and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the peppers , olives, garlic, ricotta, parmesan, basil, parsley, and adjust seasoning. Rinse eggplant slices, and brush with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Broil for a few minutes, turn, brush again, and broil. Remove. Brush with more oil, on one side. Place two Tablespoons of filling on the slice, and fold the ends over to meet. Secure with a toothpick. Serve.

Ok, gotta go continue puttering... hope everyone is doing well!

Hello! I am starting SB today! I weighed in this morning at 198.5. My first goal is to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year.
If I understand correctly I am to have lower fat meats, cheeses, milk, non starchy veggies, fruits and 1-3 starchy carbs a day.
I have the shopping guide so I know which foods are a no-no. I understand to eat my serving of fruit 30 mins b4 or 2 hrs after meals. Starchy carbs are whole wheat pasta, bread, oatmeal, sweet potato, brown/basmati (sp?) rice and ww crackers.
I slept pretty late today and probably did not start the day off right but for breakfast/lunch about 11am I had about 12 keebler harvest bakery seven grain crackers with some spinach dip I had made. It's not the best choice but not the worst! Then BF got up and wanted sausage, eggs and toast. I cooked that for him but didn't eat any.
I've got to go to WM today and get a few things.
As far as yogurt, I bought some of the BB light 85 yogurt with splenda. Is this okay for breakfast or a snack maybe once every two or three days? I have tried to make up a menu and vary my breakfasts throughout the week. Like this:
M-cereal w/ milk
T-ww toast w/ butter
W-eggs w/ bacon
T-fruit
F-yogurt
S-omlete w/ sausage
S-fruit
How does that sound?
I hope I can make it on this woe! It sounds much more doable than anything else. It is very similar to Somersizing. Except with Somersizing you can't combine pro/fats with carbs, etc. It's a little more strict.
Here's the menu I have planned for tomorrow:
B-Yogurt
S-red grapes
L-2 slices ww lc bread w/ turkey, lettuce, tomato & mustard, celery and cucumber w/ ranch dressing
S-few ww crackers or some cheese
D-cheeseburger pie, green beans & squash
S-sf bb bomb pop
That's possibly 3 servings of starchy carbs if I eat the crackers.
I checked on the crackers. Serving=17 crackers. Per serving=6 grams of fat, 1 saturated, 20g of carbs, 1 fiber, 4 sugar and 1 protein. The ingredients has tons of stuff listed. I may try these in moderation.
Well, off to clean the house, shower and head to Wally World!
Have a good day and I'll let you know how I fared tonight!

BOB--Congratulations on the big win for Ewe Tee. I know you must have been excited.

Deb:
Over time when you get to know me better, I was not serious, actually I thought it was kind of cute, really. I have a great sense of humor. I think it was cool. You all be careful out there.

Four Popular Diets All Work Well, U.S. Study Shows

Updated 2:22 PM ET November 9, 2003

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - No matter what diet you are on, if you eat less and lose weight you also lower your risk of heart disease, doctors told a conference on Sunday.

Weight Watchers, the high-fat Atkins diet, the extremely low-fat Ornish diet and the high-protein, moderate carbohydrate Zone diet all help people lose weight and all reduce cholesterol, but in different ways, the researchers said.

"On average, participants in the study reduced their heart disease risk by 5 percent to 15 percent," Dr. Michael Dansinger of Tufts University in Boston told a meeting of the American Heart Association.

"Instead of saying there is one clear winner here, we are saying they are all winners."

And, as might be expected, the closer dieters followed the plans, the more weight they lost.

Those who stuck it out for a full year lost, on average, 5 percent of their body weight -- or about 10 to 12 pounds.

While the dieters reduced heart disease "risk factors" such as cholesterol levels, overall blood pressure did not drop much and the study did not last long enough to see if this translated into a lower long-term risk of heart disease.

Instead, the researchers used statistics that show lowering cholesterol by a certain amount, for instance, reduces the risk of heart disease overall.

Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, who heads the Heart Association's nutrition committee, said the message is clear -- lose weight however you can to reduce your risk of heart disease.

"I think weight reduction trumps a lot of other stuff," Eckel said.

For the study Dansinger and colleagues chose 160 overweight people and randomly assigned 40 to each of four different diets. They weighed an average 220 pounds (100 kg) and needed to lose between 30 and 80 pounds.

All agreed to follow the diets to the best of their ability for two months, although none were enrolled in the full programs that Weight Watchers and Dr. Dean Ornish advocate.

They include exercise, group meetings and food diaries for Weight Watchers and stress reduction for the Ornish diet.

After two months 22 percent of the dieters had given up. After a year, 35 percent dropped out of Weight Watchers and the Zone diets and 50 percent had quit the Atkins and Ornish plans.

Dansinger and other researchers said the study suggested there is no one-size-fits-all diet best for everyone.

"The type of person who is going to go for a low-fat, vegetarian diet is not, in my experience, the kind of person who is going to go for a high-meat diet," Dansinger said.

But for people with high cholesterol levels, the Ornish diet might be the most beneficial, Dansinger said.

"The Ornish diet, low-fat vegetarian, was best for lowering the bad LDL cholesterol, while other diets were better at raising the good HDL cholesterol," Dansinger said. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol is the stuff that clogs arteries, while high density lipoprotein carries fat out of the blood.

The Ornish diet cut LDL by 10 percent and Atkins lowered it 2 percent to 3 percent, Dansinger said.

Ornish said doctors often place too high a value on high HDL levels. "If you reduce fat, there is less garbage, less saturated fat and cholesterol, so your body needs less garbage trucks," he said.

But Dansinger said his study was one of several that has suggested the high-fat Atkins diet, in the short-term, does not raise the risk of heart disease.

I didn't forget...LOL AOL is rejecting my email for some reason. You are about the third person it won't allow me to send to. The url is:

www.jasc.com

Love,
Crystle

Thank you so much for calling Deb... I think you gave me the boost I need. I'll start journaling in the morning... Hope I can be natural at it and not try to eat how it will look good. Hope everyone had a good week end and we're all ready to start a new week.

Hello Folks,
Hope everybody is doing good. Sorry I haven't been here this week. Will not offer any sticky excuses, but will be back tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening.

Later for now,
LJunel (slim and healthy)

Hey Guys and Girls!

Eek!!! Just stepped on the scale and it looks like I gained back a pound. No idea how that happened. I was a good girl this weekend. Okay, last night for dinner I had a few tortilla chips but that was because I was at the mall with my parents and Jared and I hated what my mother bought me for dinner. That was my only choice at the time. I think TOM is on its way which probably accounts for some water weight gain. Right?

Night All!

Ilana