[Jean]

Happy Saturday, Flowers!
I just brought a load of clean clothes upstairs so had to stop in and see if anyone was out and about today.

Hope your weekend is going well. It is a cold and gloomy day here in my corner of the world.

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Maggie]

Good afternoon Magnolias. We just got back from going to town. Seems we go there quite a few times a week but we so enjoy the ride down and through the mountains. We saw 4 coyotes today cavorting. Don't usually see that many in one place so it was a treat. The weather has cooled (down to 61 degrees as I type) some and we have been having a few sprinkles on and off. I sure hope that it is raining more than this down south to help douse those fires. My car sure could use a wash but we felt it a waste of money to stop and have those exuberant teens that stand in those service station corners with hoses and rags ready to do you a good job. We saw quite a few different groups today out to raise money for their pet school project. Some for band, some others for pep club etc.

Cowboy ordered me a panini maker from Chefs, which sure tickeled my fancy. This one is job rated and a much better appliance than what I have been using. He aslo got me a little train set to use with my glass village. We are going to build an area on which to put them for the Christmas holidays. There is one whole wall that can be used in the front room. We got a couple sets of the mini clear lights yesterday that are the kind if one burns out the others keep on glowing. That way I can put them under my houses and just have bulbs where I want them. We will channel the board to hide the wire....... got it all planned out. I need to get busy and build a train station now. But have to finish my court house first.

Have a lovely day flowers.

[Maggie]

Good afternoon folks. It is nice here at 61 degrees. There is a bit of cloud cover though and I am in hopes it will decide to rain again. If it doesn't I want my car washed.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day that the Lord hath made. We went out to lunch after morning worship services and we split a chicken fried sandwich and Will got the fries. Worked well with us. The friends we were out with were saying they should have split theirs also. All of us could stand a chance of losing some weight except one person that was there. The more we split meals it will catch on with them.

Have a lovely afternoon ~ evening.

[Jean]

Just peeking in before I head off to bed. Playing with grandchildren makes me tired!

It's cold and rainy here tonight. The sun came out late this afternoon just in time to go down!

Maggie -- What is a panini maker and what do you do with it? I've never heard of that one. Splitting lunches sounds like a good plan -- it seems that some restaurants are serving such large portions. You are doing so well with your village! I should send my Christmas stocking to you to finish and someday I could hang it up! Now I have 3 more to make! I keep telling Bob I should retire just so I could get all of my projects done. I've been trying to get pictures into albums for years.

Hope you all have a great week!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Maggie]

JEAN panini's are sandwiches that are grilled and I believe they are invented by the Italians. The first ones I remember ever having were made with foccicia bread. I make it on occasion myself and use a low point version. It is bread sort of like pizza dough. The pinini maker is kinda like a waffle iron but instead of those little squares this maker has lines. The sandwiches are pressed between the top and bottom and come out with lines on them and since it is non stick they are low fat since you can make them without any type of oil or butter. I usually use low point bread and without any mayo either. They can have turkey and lettuce and tomato and onion and a bit of shredded cheese to melt it all together if you want. Anything you can put between bread can be put into the maker so it is just up to your imagination what you make. I wouldn't suggest you use peanut butter and jam though. You can make a panini without a "maker" by using one of those grill pans and putting a weight on them but you have to turn them over to do the other side. I have been making them that way with using a cast iron skillet with foil on the bottom to set on them when I used my cast iorn grill pan. It works but I would much prefer to have the job rated panini maker which will also be an excellent indoor grill for meats and fish since it will grill items up to 3 inches thick. I love these sandwiches with some of that low point veggie soup especially in the winter months.

[gma22]

Monday evening: Hello ladies. I completely forgot to post to you this morning when I sent posts to others. Jack had a heart attack at 2:30 am this morning.

I got good news and bad news at the hospital. Good news is Jack is doing well with the 2 shunts and the angioplasty. He is resting comfortably and has a nice pink skin again. Bad news is this afternoon we talked to his cardiologist and we thought it was a minor thing but turns out is was a major heart attack with the front artery 100% blocked and enlarged to 3 times its size. Dr Anderson said if I had not called the paramedics when I did he would have died. He did have permanent heart damage but we don't know right now how serious it is. I thank Jesus for protecting him. He is everything to me. He cried this afternoon and told me, "You know I was really really scared and I said, "I know." and he said, "I wasn't scared about dying you know I know what will happen when I die, but I was scared I would be separated from you!" Ok, that did it. I had been holding it all in and the dam burst with that. Kelly has been an angel and taken such good care of me. When the chips are down, she has really come through.

I love you all and will keep you posted!

Faye

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!
It has been a gloomy, rainy day in my neighborhood! They are predicting freezing rain for tonight and I sure hope they are wrong again this time. It is 35 degrees and raining so anything is possible.

Maggie -- Thanks for the panini information! I don't know if that is what they are called but I have seen the sandwich makin' machines advertised on TV. They always make it look so easy just like the pictures in cook books. I don't know why but my stuff never looks like that!

"Gma" -- I am so sorry to read about Jack! What a scary thing for you both! Will he have bypass surgery for the blocked artery? I will be thinking of you and will keep you and your family in my prayers. Keep us posted!

I need to do some ironing so better keep moving. Have a good day tomorrow!

Jean -- in Iowa tonight!

[Maggie]

Nothing much out of the ordinary going on around here. It did rain buckets during the night but cleared up today. It seems like it jumped from Summer right into Winter for it snowed just a few miles up the mountain from here. I can't say what the winter is like here because this will be my first one but I do know how to deal with winter. Been working on my glass today. Made a friend a little outhouse of all things. She fell in love with the one I made to put behind my little glass cabin. She has her bathroom decorated with outhouses so it will be cute sitting on a shelf.

FAYE I will certainly have you and Jack in my prayers. What a scare you must have experienced. Hope all goes well and you will have him home soon. {{{{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}}}}}}}

JEAN how much time do you get off for Christmas this year? Seems like they are cutting holidays shorter and shorter. WW has a book you might like ~ In One Pot ~ it has 200 favorite one dish meals the family will love ~ so it says. And Cowboy bought me a new book also full of Stew ~ lots of recipes of stews in it using a varitey of different meat. No nutrition information but I can plug it into my Master Cook progam and figure points of the ones I do decide to make.

[gma22]

Good morning ladies. I have a few minutes before heading out to the hospital so I wanted to get a post on.

No phone calls from the hospital last night, so I am breathing a little easier. I know day by day it will get less stressful for me. I am still tired a little as I only got about 5 hours sleep, but I will try and take rest breaks throughout the day until Jack gets moved into a regular room.

Just wanted you to know you are all doing terrific with your programs and I want you to do even better. When you grab for that HOHO or keep your butt in the chair when you know you should be exercising, just think about Jack and know YOU do not want to do that to yourself or your family. Remember, we thought Jack was totally healthy! We need to get tough with ourselves ladies and quit kittyfooting around about losing this weight. It is important to all aspects of our life. I am ridding my home of all such foods (there isn't much but still high fat boxed foods for Jack) and making my home a healthy environment for the both of us!

I will try and peek in later.

Hope you all have a spectacular day. It is going to be sunny and 80 here today!

Love and hugs to you all!

Faye

[Maggie]

A lovely 55 degree day int the neighborhood. I slept in for I stayed up late, late last night. Made a nice brunch and Cowboy joined me. When I do that he just eats a piece of fruit and is ready to eat when I get up. Just as we were finishing up a friend called and said she was on her way over. She came bearing a gift ~ freshly made home made fudge. I had told her earlier that I wasn't going to make any this year and she wanted Cowboy to have some. She smiled and said that I could have some too because WW lets me eat what I choose if I count the points. She is really very supportive of me in my program. The gifts of food has begun........ another lady brought over salsa and chow chow which was excellent. She won a blue ribbon in the fair for her entries. I am going to return her jars and she will give me more. She said she would. What a gal. Life is good.

FAYE you do need your sleep and do eat properly for you need to keep up your strength to be the care-giver now. That was a smooth move to rid your home of those potentially harmful food items. My prayers are with you my dear. Thanks for the update and please do keep us posted. I can only imagine what you must be going through. {{{{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}}}}}

Cowboy just got back from the nursery ~ figuring what to plant for a nice screen. Got to go now ~ drive up to Midpines and have a fat free, sugar free vanilla cappuccino.

where are you? How is that arm? I miss you!

[nanacas]

FAYE: So sorry to hear about Jack's heart attack. I am sure they are doing all the right things to and for him. You are certainly doing the right thing in preparing the house for his homecoming and cleaning out all those fatty foods. With your help I am sure he will soon be on the road to recovery. Your Jack's attack was a lot more serious than the one that my Jack had 7 years ago. He ended up having 2 stents and is doing fine...he still is walking 5 miles a day. I wish I had his stamina. Our love and prayers are with you at this time.

Maggie: I didn't know you were in the part of CA that had snow. How close to the mountains are you? Your DH sounds like a keeper, what with all the nice things he does for you.

JEAN: Hope you are enjoying the grandkids. They sure have a lot of energy for such small people. LOL I picked up Cam the other day and he is growing in leaps and bounds...at 10 yrs old he is 47" tall and only needs 3 more inches to reach his mother's height. He will be a big man as his father was 6'3'.

It has been a rainy day today and we may have a few more before it clears for the weekend.

Gloria in MA....watching for the Sun.

[Maggie]

GLORIA Glad to see you! I live in the mountains real close to Yosemite.

[gma22]

Just a short post as I am totally POOPED! I brought Jack home today. He is doing well, but very weak. It will just take time, I guess to get back to normal. The doctor called it "heart stunning." He said when part of the heart dies, the rest is "stunned" and so when you look at it like on x-ray it looks all dead but it just takes time for it to sort of unfreeze itself and pick up the slack for the dead part. That is why there is so much weakness right now.

His prescription meds are horrendously expensive and he is going to be on 5 of them. Our insurer is kind of lousy with presciption costs and it will cost about $100-150 a month for meds not including his baby aspirins, but to tell you the truth it is better than total out of the pocket.

Well, I am going to go. I am so tired.

Faye

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!
It is cold in my corner of the world . . . 27 degrees as I am typing. The sun finally peeked out late this afternoon and hopefully will shine again tomorrow. I had bell practice tonight so am late getting myself organized for tomorrow.

Maggie -- We get out Dec. 19th, for Christmas vacation, and the teachers go back on Jan. 5th which is a "work" day for us. We finish our first semester before Christmas so have that day to get ready for second semester. The students come back on the 6th. Someone said it would be another 20+ years before the calendar is so kind again . . . I'm not planning on being in school then. The cookbook sounds like a good one! How many more buildings are you going to make for your own village? You must have quite a few by now. Hmm, hmm, hmm! I can almost taste that fudge!

"Gma" -- I was surprised that Jack got to come home so soon. I know that hospital stays are much shorter these days . . . thanks to the insurance companies. The cost of prescriptions is awful and I can see why elderly people stop taking their meds. I hope that you will get some rest although I'm sure it will be hard not to be constantly watchful over Jack. I hope all goes well for you both.

Gloria -- Nice to see you! I like seeing the grandkids one at a time and then I don't feel like I am showing any preference. Ian is so busy that he doesn't have much time for snuggling any more whereas Madaline isn't mobile yet and I could sit and hold her all day long. When everyone is together, I am tired afterwards! They are little for such a short time! What else have you been up to? We miss you when you are AWOL!

I am heading to bed. It was a short night last night and I am feeling it tonight. Have a terrific Thursday, Flowers!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[Maggie]

Just a check in before hitting the hay. I stayed up till 1:30 working on my glass works ~ I much prefer to work at night. Must be part bat. But since weigh in is in the morning and I go @40 miles and I have to be there my 10 I can't sleep too late.

FAYE I am so happy that your dear husband is now home where you can keep watch and know how he is doing and give him some tender loving care. Isn't it just shocking what the cost of meds are. But they are necessary so what is a body to do but to bite the bullet.

JEAN I have 14 items now built and that is including the little gazebo that will go in the village display. I want to get a train station built before Christmas and will have to make my own pattern for that one. I am finishing up on my Court House. OH and I want to make one of those little old jails to go behind. There is a historic one here and it is so small. Just a brick square building with one high barred window. Kinda like the ones you see in old westerns. That will be a real easy one to make. I don't know if I will make anymore than that this year. I have some gifts I want to make for friends. I'll send you e-mail pictures of the village when it is all done if you want.

Nighters all.