Happy weekend to everyone! We're supposed to see 50's today. Feels like a day to forget my laundry and take the boys outside. Anyone have any great healthy recipes they'd like to share? I really don't think I can live on salad, chicken, rice and slim-fast alone. Hope everybody has a great day!

Looks like weve been al awfully chatty bunch this past week. Thats good. I hope every one had a great New Years. New Years eve we went to dinner with my family for my Grandmas 25th wedding anniversary. Im still so blessed and thankful everytime i see her. The boy and I went to about 5 different places. Man was i pooped by the time i finilly got to bed. Yesterday he FINALLY decided on a color for the kitchen. Mind you he bout the house 2.5 years ago. The kitchen has been drywall w/o and blinds for the past almost year now. Kinda irritating especially when your nosey neighbors like to stare in as im cooking or cleaning or doing laundry. Tonight i will be going out with a few friends to see a band that i really enjoy. Were supposed to get an ice storm tonight so im praying that it waits until i am home and im bed before it gets crazy.

Sidenote- Has anyone ever noticed that when we get new visitors they come in groups? Just an observation i made.
to all the newbies.

Hello to anyone that i missed and Happy Saturday!!! Have a great rest of the weekend.


Gary- Springfield is about 2 hours or so away from Toledo. Not too far. Glad to see someone got to bed at a decent hour.

Ronni- If i had my choice i would have been sleeping by 10pm. But i was luck enough to be the driver so i didnt get home until 3am! And then i slept all day on New Years. Hope you are feeling better. Prayers to your family and DS1


Liz- Welcome! This is such a great place and the support you will get here is great!

Numpster- Happy Belated Birthday!!!!

Laurie-Thats great on maintaining for 6months. Congrats.

Kathy- Welcome as well.

Bev- Welcome and prayers to you brother and family at this hard time.

3DMom- Welcome. There are TONS of places and recepies here. Its all about moderation. You can have whatever you want just dont over do it.

Catlaurel- Welcome. Congrats on the baby.

3D mom here is a recipe.

2 frozen (or thawed) chicken breast
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can of drained black beans
1 packet of taco seasoning.

cook in crockpot all day until chicken shreds. It is good alone (kinda like a stew) or in a pita or even over whole wheat pasta. Add a little cheese or FF sourcream..... YUMMY

COURTNEY ~ yes, you are correct; I have noticed the same thing. We get newbies in groups and then over time some just fall away one by one. Not sure why though. In the last place we lived, we had the same problem; only the neigbours kept coming by and up to our windows and looking in; some were kiddies, but others were adults, so I always had to be on guard. Thank goodness, we have more privacy here.

CAT ~ thanks for sharing that recipe; I have never eaten 'BLACK' beans but have navy and kidney beans. Wonder if they would work just as well? Will have to try that recipe; sounds easy. Gonna have to unpack my crockpot anyways; I have missed it.

WE have colder temps here too (-20C) but with lots of glorious sunshine; may go out for a bit of ski-walking after, but must bundle up good here or your skin freezes in those temps. Just taking it easy today and having fun cuz it's Saturday.

Take good care; prayers ascending for you and yours ... ROSEBUD

Rosebud...of course use any beans you want. It kinda like a chili so you can really spice it up any way you want.

The crockpot ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone!

3D - I saw your receipe and it sound good. Is a serving size for this 1 cup? Can you add onions and green peppers to this?

I just mad some homemade Basil tomato soup.

small onion - sauted in olive oil
6 baby carrots chopped and sauted in olive oil.
2 lg cans of tomatos -(I buy the one with basil and oregano and one
with onions and green peppers.)
Fresh basil - put in as much as you like for taste.
Splenda - 2T - or according to how sweet you like it.
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup fat free half & half (put in at the very end)

Puree this all together after hot and then return to pain to heat.

Rosebud-I actually think the black beans taste better with spicey foods.

O2b- Your tomato soup sounds wonderful.

Cauterwill- Thanks for the chicken recipe. Anything I can throw in the crockpot is great to me. And I love spicey foods!

Hi everyone! I feel like I really need to vent. I'm feeling down tonight and I'm not sure why. It has been a good week, but I feel like I need some me time. I would love to have one day that I can do nothing, no cooking, working, etc. I would love to have a day with just me an my husband. A date night.

I am not looking forward to going to work on Monday. I have been a secretary for almost 25 years and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of dealing with people, vendors, etc. Yes, I am very thankful I have a job, I'm just burnt out. I have a Medical Transcription course that I need to get done and then I could work from home. Please pray that I can get motivated to get it done and be able to be home.

Thanks for letting me vent I feel better.

Kathy

I need to read this more often...I get so behind that I feel bad for not commenting about everyone!

Kathy - I know that God understands your frustration and as you continue to release it to Him, He will give you what you want and need. I'm working on remembering that in my situation!

Everyone - thank you for the greetings! I may not always comment about everybody. It doesn't mean I don't notice or that I didn't pray...because when I read that you need prayer...I will do it right then. I just have no excuse. I just don't always comment. It's hard for me for some reason.

I do like to give overall encouragement! And I need it too. I have 55-60 pounds that i need to lose and i sometimes feel like an ugly moose. i know that's not true...but its how i feel some. i'm having MAJOR issues with getting away from the bad food! Is it just immediate post holiday or what? everywhere i turn there's chocolate! torture and i'm giving in...like a crack addict.

speaking of which. i think i've mentioned that i am a minister. well, today i went to a local domestic violence shelter where i used to go every saturday to minister (new ladies and no one wanted me to come for a while then today they did) and 6 women showed!!! One accepted Christ!!!!!! And I know we had some major revelation regarding allowing the seed to die so that Christ may restore. It was awesome!

Then, I had to go see a lady that had been there when I was previously going. She left because she WAS a crack addict and had to get her fix. Well, she has been clean almost 60 days now and is doing so good! She is working so hard and I'm humbled that God uses me in the life of people like this. Like He acutally TRUSTS me with showing Him to them. That never ceases to amaze me.

Well, I hope you are all having a great evening and peace be unto you.
Bev

HI GALS

Angie has to play bells this morning at second service so I have time to post before we head out

Not much going on around here. Pretty much the norm

Angie's "Before You Party" party on New Years Eve went well. She made chicken cacciatore with polenta and risotto.

Nephew heads back to Chicago this morning....I hope he makes it to the airport his group had a big party for him last night. He stayed there and his buddies were driving him to the airport this morning. Guess if he doesn't make it the NAVY will find him!

All my kids were down at the Charger game yesterday watching them win and of course DIL cheer. Caught a few glimpses of her on the TV.

Work is really busy. Had hope to have a four day week-end but we had to work Friday and Saturday. We are really swamped right now but if things don't improve on the car buying market I am sure it will catch up to us. We are really rushing a building we are building for a Honda dealership right now. They aren't selling cars and we have been building a new showroom for them while they are in trailers and have their cars parked on another lot they own....which is getting too crowded because those aren't selling either. Good prices on cars now...but who has the $$$$

I am finally getting over this cold I picked up Christmas Eve. Feeling pretty good and have been able to get a few miles in after work some days. I have entered the 1,000 mile thread in Exercise. I had 808 last year so I figure I am in the hunt. All depends on work and if I am home or not for getting my miles in.

Well I am going to send this off. We have had some computer freezes lately and I don't want to lose this. I shall return

Thank you SCOOTER. I am not so sure ALL the gals here at 3FC would agree though

YEP! And we are a pretty good group! Welcome!

We are stoked because YOU are here! Welcome.

Prayers for healing on your leg dear. Sounds like you had a nice time with your friends as usual.

Super....but wasn't much of a race The girls and I went out for 3.25 miles. I wasn't feeling great and they were all about sniffing EVERYTHING! But it was a glorious day here. Congrats on doing the 5K whatever way you can!

RONNI, I have been losing stuff too. Angie thinks it's the 3FC site, I don't know. Prayers for the car troubles. I am sure you know the results of the game now. I had to get up at 3:30 for work so I went to bed half way through the 4th.

Welcome REBECCA! My son was born March 25th 27 years ago.

AND enter EZ's 5k's! THank you for being such a great friend here BARGOO!


Glad you had a good time with your grandma COURTNEY. Good to see you back here. At my age there is no way I can stay up PAST a decent hour



AWESOME BEV!

REBECCA and KATHY Thanks for the recipes!

WILMA ~ GINNY ~ KAREN ~ TRISH ~ AUNT SUE ~ NITA ANN ~ NUMPSTER and ALL those I missed....

Bev,

Thanks for the words of encouragment. After going to church today I feel much better. I sing in the choir and on the praise team and the songs we sang were all about praising God. God deserves all the praise. He has been good to me and my family and has worked in our lives in many ways. We serve a great God!!

I love reading this thread because it is so encouraging. May God bless each of you and go with you through the week ahead.

Rayne, what a blessing to God you are! Have not got a chance to read all the posts but will catch up sooner or later. Grandchildren came and we had a blast . They loved climbing and running on the round bales of hay playing cowboys and Indians. Strange they got all the toys for Christmas and they loved playing on top of the hay more than anything. They are gone now and I miss them so much!

Wow, so many posts!

Bev - glad you are feeling better - I go through those days too! I'm not thrilled about going back to work tomorrow either. But, if it is a typical Monday - God will put me in a situation where he can use me, and I will be very glad that I went

Nita Ann - glad you got to see your grands! That was certainly a holiday blessing!

Rayne - speaking of blessings - sounds like the shelter is blessed by your sharing of your gifts and graces. And, how wonderful that you have actually been able to see the fruits of your labors!

Gary - glad you are feeling better! And, glad that you are so busy at work (even though balance is a good thing, I know the cyclical nature of your profession)

Rosebud - glad you have more privacy in your new home - I bet that pine tree still looks lovely too! Prayers continuing for your health.

CatlaurWill - the recipe looks great! I will try it with a veggie chicken substitute when I get a chance. And - I love my slow cooker too!

Courtney - we got the tail of that ice storm up here. Everything was crunchy this morning. Several churches canceled their services today (not our church). I hope you are safe and warm.

A quiet Sunday afternoon here. We had a lovely church service for Epiphany Sunday. Numbers were down because of the ice however.

I love this time of year at the grocery store. Since everyone is making new year's resolutions to lose weight and get healthy, our stores had lots of healthy things on sale - lots of fresh fruits and veggies, healthy staples, etc.

It was a blessing to go shopping and stock up on things that are almost never on sale

Hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

Prayers continuing for all!

Laurie

Laurie - I just looked at your pictorial journey and read your goal story. How inspiring. I have done the same thing. I had lost 55lbs on LA Weight Loss 2 years ago and gained it all back. You have encouraged to keep pushing on and don't give up. Thanks for showing me that it can be done and I can keep it off.

Kathy