Morning group,

Wow, feels like autumn. Its in the 40's this morning. Okay, its 49 but that is still the "forties"

Heather - Break a leg! Does that count as knock 'em dead for teaching as well as theater? Hope so!

Barb - You might not be too late for the Biggest Loser group here in this part of 3FC. I'd check with GGGirls. This group got started because the sign up date is very strict over on the other threads.

to all!

Morning!

Terri -- That works for me!

Today is not only the "first day of school' but the first day our dogs are on their food allergy trial -- they get ONLY their new food for the next 8-12 weeks. Thankfully, they can have carrots too. They LOVE carrots...

So, I gotta head out soon and get all nervous before the first class -- I ALWAYS get nervous before the first class!

It sounds like everyone had a busy, active and mostly pleasant weekend. Except me. I am alive, barely. WI was up a little. That was last Thursday. Friday was my law school reunion and BOY did I drink and eat too much. Saturday I was hung over all day. It occurs to me why I don't drink beer anymore. Hangovers lead to binging for me. Sat and Sun all I did was eat and be useless. I am not looking forward to this Saturday's WI. I'll be good all week and keep my fingers crossed.

Rain, rain, go away! It is lovely and autumn-like today, but the rain did come down this weekend! Just north of us got like 10" of rain and that means flooding down here. It's been wet and nasty. But we're way better off than people in Texas, so I'll quit complaining.

Time for me to clear my brain enough to work, so I'm off. I'll try to catch up with everyone later.

Good Evening Ladies -

I hope everyone had a Happy & Healthy day! I had a pretty good one here. DH is out of town so I cut out of work a couple hours early to hit the gym before picking up the boys. I was supposed to work out with my trainer but he was sick. We are meeting on Wed morning. I still had a pretty good workout getting in weight training and 30 min of cardio. I'm starting to get to know a few friendly faces at the gym which makes it more fun.

Terri - Yep...I joined into the BL challenge here. Just didn't make the other one. It's fun to have some kind of challenge going on. 40s?!?! Bah...it was 80s here today. I'm ready for fall weather.

BOOOOOO....I'm watching the Eagles game and the Cowboys just scored. It was an impressive score, but BOOOOOOOO!!!

I'm going to watch the game.....catch ya'll later!

Sweet Dreams to all!

Hi all,

Its a hectic Tuesday and I have Fall Fever big time. I want to be at home frolicking in the sunshine.

Last night I had another chiro appointment. This time I only had two places out which is a vast improvement. I think he finally got the neck problem found. I go again on Thursday. Its nice to feel much better.

Instead of exercising last night, I decided to do some trim mowing. I had thought perhaps I was done for the year but with all the rain, the grass has been growing like crazy. I did that and took apart a dog kennel in the barn. Got to make room for the fall hay to arrive here anytime.

We had our first pot of chili of fall last night. Yummy! And I have it for lunch today.

Tonight, I have the hair appointment from he##. The lady does great hair but she just won't shut up. She talks and talks and she's loud. Its like being assaulted. And she takes forever. I won't get home until after 7 pm so no fitness center for me tonight.

Ruby is touring the countryside this morning. I was moving them from the kennel to the backyard for their morning play time and she flipped herself out of her collar and took off. She's not run off as she's visible running through the pasture and woods. Occassionally, she would streak through the yard but not slowing down long enough to be caught. I finally left for work and told DH that there are two open crates on the front porch, eventually, she'll get tired and come looking for a place to lay down. I said that I didn't care if he got her back into the house or not. She may have just turned herself into a free running dog. The only problem with that is how the other dogs bark constantly while she's roaming the pastures behind us. She'll also come home when she's hungry. Damn dogs.

Better get busy. to all!

Good morning ladies, my how time flies when your having fun! Not so much fun around here though. I have been super busy getting ready for out of town guest. I am trying to work out menus for three days, that is how long they are staying. I want everything to be good but not fattening! Is there any such animal?

This morning I am trying to get the whole house vacuumed, and what a job that is. I have got to get a smaller place! I thought vacuum today, dust tomorrow. Then there is those three (shudder) bathrooms to freshen up. Does anyone else hate doing toilets and tubs? I guess the walk in shower is the worst job though. Who the heck invented housework? Must have been a male, cause they don't have to do it.:lol

Any thought on a good low calorie dessert, one that non-dieters would like also? I can't seem to come up with anything. Must be brain freeze!

Elmay, beautiful pictures! I envy you. Wish I could still go on adventure trips.

Terri, Ruby is your wild child. LOL! She sees the opportunity for freedom and goes for it. She won't go too far I bet.

gotta go, phone. Ta, Ruth

Hi ladies and Elliott,

Its my Thursday and its jeans day for us. We do jeans days usually on Friday to raise money for United Way. Today, for $5 we could wear jeans and the money goes to hurricane victims via the Red Cross. I love jeans days.

I survived my hair appointment last night. This time it only took 2-1/2 hours. She talked constantly about "noseeums" and about being bitten by them. I've never heard of them. She got on a roll more than once about politics. But, the most important thing, my hair looks good.

I've got my stuff to stop by the fitness center on the way home. Seems like forever since I was there but it was just last week. I should ride a horse tonight too since its dried out somewhat after all the rain. Seems like forever since I've ridden too - like I've forgotten how! As long as they haven't forgotten which is more important than me!

Tomorrow, I am going to try my first "working remotely" day. Since I lost all my management responsibilities, one of the first things I asked was if I could do alternative work arrangements. I hope this works and can be something I do once a week.

I better get busy. to all!

Hey Ruth! There's a ton of yummy desserts that can be low-cal! Do you guys still have strawberries in season? This is GREAT!

Sugar Free Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Cook in large saucepan until thickened.

Stir in one .3 oz box sugar free strawberry jello and 10 packages of Splenda or Equal. (You need to use a wisk for this.)

Add 3 cups sliced strawberries.

Place in a cooked pie shell.

Top with Cool Whip Free.

(Prior to topping)
121 calories, 5 grams fat, 17 grams carbs (mostly from pie shell)
makes 8 servings

I know the carbs are pretty high. I used frozen pie crusts and got the nutrition information off the package. In one slice of pie the crust has 90 calories, five grams of fat and 11 grams of carbs. So as you can see, if you omit the crust, the darn stuff is almost free and if you find a lower calorie/carb pie crust you can dramatically lower the calories and carbs.

Or, do the WW tricks. Make cake with soda (1 box cake mix to 1 can diet soda and cook as usual.) Any flavors, be inventive. I like chocolate cake with diet coke. Vanilla cake with diet sprite or diet creme soda, lemon cake with diet Squirt or similar citrus soda, strawberry cake with diet Shasta strawberry soda or creme soda, you get the idea. "Frost" it with Cook Whip Free or just put a dollop of low-cal ice cream on it. The lemon is especially good with Cool Whip.

Go to the WW threads here at 3FC and they have a ton of recipes.

Hope everyone is having a great day-Terri - isn't this weather spectacular?!

Ruth - check out the recipe thread here. Thin had posted some good pie recipes.

sssshhhhhhh.... tiptoeing in quietly, slinking to a corner in the back of the room, hoping the teacher won't notice.......

BOO! I see you Val!

Just popped in for a quick lunchtime hello! No time to talk. I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy day!!!

Hugs!
Barb

(((((Hello)))))

Anyone out there? Whatcha up to?

Had another good day here. I'm feeling like I'm on a roll. I know so much of it has to do with counting all my calories and being accountable to my trainer.

Two of my good friends at work surprised me today with a little "congrats on your accomplishments" card and an itunes gift card to let me know how proud they are of me. It was so sweet!

I'm still having shoe issues. Now the bottom of my feet hurt. I talked to the co-owner of the shoe store and she said it sounded like a friction issue and to play around with my laces. I did that tonight and nothing made it better. I didn't have any issues with the bottom of my feet in the other shoes. Fortunately they are very good with returns and she told me to bring them back in and we'll try another pair. I think that's what I'll be doing tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning is my weekly official weigh-in. I'm hopeful for another good week.

Ok...done babbling for now. How's everyone else?

Barb

Hi ladies,

Friday morning!!

I'm off today and headed to almost St. Louis to see my mom. I haven't seen her since June. She's getting to the point where traveling to see us is hard on her as she has arthritus in her back and the drive makes her hurt. She's had a very busy summer helping her brothers and sisters out and being bossy to them. But they have all loved having her and she is happy to be back among them as she left home at 17 and never lived close again until now. Little does she know, but I have material and directions for two quilts. Not that I am going to make them but she's the quilter. She's been making quilts for everyone else so now its my turn! I have a beautiful wedding ring quilt that she made years ago but its a queen size and our bed is a king.

Yesterday was my first work at home day. I started at 7:30 and officially quit at 4:30ish. I was very productive. Got several things done that I haven't been able to make myself do in the office. I think I was more focused on getting work done at home than I am when in the office. Hope my boss lets me do that again. The dogs loved it and DH loved having me here even if I wasn't talking to him. And my commute consisted of walking through the house, in my pj's, to the office bedroom.

Valerie - No lurking and slinking allowed. March yourself front and center. Good to see you and hope that you're doing well. How's the riding going with Gabe? Spanky and I are doing very well and I'm even getting Phoenix going again.

Barb - That is not fun that you're having feet issues. I have feet issues and its very discouraging. I have that sometimes where the bottom of my feet feel like they are on fire or something. I even get that when I'm doing a recumbant bike. You might need to talk with a podiatrist just to get an idea of what is going on and how to solve. Good luck because its hard to overcome the mental side of foot pain.

to everyone else. Time to hit the shower and hit the road. Daisy (a.k.a. killer) is coming with me to mom's. She's a perfect angel on her own. I boarded Ruby and Wile so DH would have less dogs to handle. He can deal with Duke, Danni, and Dixie. With Ruby gone, he could deal with Daisy too but I like taking her.

See ya on Sunday!

Lilion - I'll give a little wave to the south as I blast through Columbia.

Front? AND center? ...tiptoeing forward, head hung low.

I haven't been as bad as I might have, but not as good as I should. Things are busy, but I still need to quite using that as an excuse.

Gee, THANKS Barb for TELLing on me.
I hope you're feet feel better soon. That's such an obstacle to being more active, so I hope a different pair of shoes can solve the problem.

Terri, SO cool that you're keeping your ponies in work! Speaking of work, I hope things are better on that front??

JUDGE!??!? How ya been? RUTH, HEATHER, I hope all is well with you girls, too!