Marie, sending good thoughts your way. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Marie... :hug:

my love is with you Marie.. May G-d bring you a full recovery.

Evening all......Marie you know we are all here waiting for the better Marie to show up painfree and bopping to loud joyful music.

Okay had good intentions to do personals since i have been lazy, but ain't gonna cause i wanna gloat. I made the World's Bestest ever Dessert. It is beyond good. I'd mail you all a bowl but homeland security would steal it. It was strawberry rhubarb pie without a crust..........As close as fitday can figure about 30 cals per bowl. Sweet and tart and pretty and tasty....and did I mention easy to make.... stewed the rhubarb in small chunks (2cups), in couple cups of water, when tender add alot of Splenda and then sliced strawberries. Brought back to a boil and thickened with corn starch. When reboiling take off heat and cool. Put in bowl and chill.......It is every Spring I can ever remember as a kid......Dh is grinning and took a pie with filling to friends who had never even heard of rhubarb , think am getting orders for more. Few calories in the berries...cornstarch is biggest baddy.....

Home most of tomorrow and will do personals then....welcome newbies. Pull up a chair, pour of cuppa and join in the coffee klatch....some one is always peeking in if you need some support or just a shoulder. We do have a posse that will inflict lumps with the always handy rolling pin on anyone who isn't nice/good to our golden chicks.

back tomorrow hugs k3

I'm back....Zoe, I didn't know you were eating one meal a day. How's that working for you? What happened to your healthy breakfast? As to my mom's chair, I liked it much better with the floral pattern on it. I actually hate the brown velvet-like material I purchased for it. I had to find material to match my new chair and our only choice was a solid...boring! Brenda...I'm really jealous of your 5'10" height, lucky you.

JessD...I can't remember if I welcomed you, welcome. You certainly have been thru a bad season or two. Congrats on the 45 pounds and isn't it fun buying new clothes!Carol Sue, thanks for the suggestion on Linwood Barclay books, don't think I've read him before. As for your sleepless nights, you might have spoiled your grandkid, Yup. What's better than snuggling up to a warm granny!
Mary...what kind of lights did Joe put up? Ceiling lights, wall lights, lights on both sides of a mirror? You'll have to show us pictures. We have an old fashion medicine cabinet in one of our bathrooms and it HAS TO GO!I copied some of this information unto word and forgot who mentioned Faye Kellerman books. Was that you Mary since it was under the information about Joe's lighting.ladysheets...I saw where someone asked your name and I can't remember so this is for you...I'm appreciating our wild game meat more and more nowadays. With all the junk they pump into beef and pork, makes you wonder what you're eating. Game meat is still untainted and we love it. My dd hasn't been moose hunting before but we've eaten lots of antelope, elk and venison over the years.
Donna...you mentioned cooking in the crock pot like it was a faux pas::rofl: I use a crock pot at least once, sometimes twice a week. Today I made corned beef and cabbage in it, no brainer. Have you ever tried a whole chicken? They are delicious in a crock pot, ya gotta try it. You get really yummy broth that you can make chicken soup with after you've had a couple meals of chicken as the main entree. We've been watching ads on tv lately about Reuben sandwiches, that' why I purchased the corn beef. Tomorrow we'll have the Reubens, yum!
Isabella...where's your pictures of the new kitchen and orange cabinets. I have to see pictures to believe it.
Rosey...I added Wilbur smith to my list of books to look for. You gals are the best source of good reading material. I've not seen his name before but I'm pretty selective in my books since I get all large print. Many of these authors don't publish in the large print.
Lynn...how did your daughters run go in Alaska? Too bad you couldn't go up and cheer her on. When are you going to retire completely?
Glynne...same for my hubby, he isn't picky at all. We actually enjoy leftovers better than when freshly cooked, the flavors all mingle together. Now you have me wondering who had the picky hubby that wouldn't eat leftovers. I'll have to go back and check.
Freda...see note to Zoe. Ugly chocolate brown. I like color and brown doesn't suit me but it goes well with the rest of our furniture. I did make a pillow for it with some of the pattern in the couch to spruce it up. The original material was still on this chair when I recovered it for mom many years ago. It was a very rich dark burgundy in a velvet material but worn bare in many spots. That's why I choose another velvety type material this time around. Hi KarenMo...I know you're busy packing and I hope this move will be permanent for you and Tim. Isn't it nice that we can buy what we want in our older age. I remember many years ago when we purchased our country home, we couldn't afford it. That's when I quit using the dryer and hung all clothes up on the lines outside. It really cut down on our electricity bill back then. It seems like our kids have it harder than we did but I think they have to have everything now and pay for it later.:?:
Karenfla...I'll have to get my camera out in a couple of weeks and show you what I have growing on my meyer lemon tree. Yeah, LEMONS! I didn't know I'd get them this early, the baby tree is only about 1.5 feet high. I counted at least 16 little bitty globes.
This is driving me crazy wondering about the food poisoning hubby, be back after I back up a couple of pages.

Just wanted to say "prayers for you Marie". By now you should be out of surgery, if you went in on time. Speedy recovery. Got to get home quick, the babies are missing you. But be sure to listen to the Dr. about how long to stay in the hospital. Believe me, they won't keep you any longer than necessary.

Hi Everyone,

First, I am thinking about you, Marie, and hoping all goes well today.

Bobbi, you made me laugh. I really think of myself as "completely retired." My online teaching is my love/passion. I won't stop that unless/until I can no longer do it. I probably don't think of it as "working" because the pay is so low. My DD once figured out that given the number of hours I put in, I'm making about $2/hour.

Rie, this is the problem - I do not really have an "exercise agenda" now. I know I do not want to do another 1/2 - too physically stressful for me. But I really should do a 5k or 10k just to keep myself in shape. Want to meet someplace for a 5 or 10k?

Isabella, I made a version of your ww pasta w cheese & tomato sauce. It was GREAT! I used lo-fat ricotta mixed with part-skim mozzarella. Layered the pasta w the cheese and the sauce and baked it with some mozzarella on top.

Today, I am going to the college where I used to work & meeting some old friends and advising the person who now has my old job about starting an Alumni Association. We had one meeting with about 10 alums, but no real association building.

I will check back later this evening.

Lynn

So glad Marie, that you are out of surgery and doing well. I'll give the same advice my MIL gave me: "Don't lift anything heavier than a tea cup for the next 6 weeks." And get lots of rest.

I didn't get on at all yesterday as I was busy doing something (????). Oh, yes, we had a snow storm and DH had a snow day off the bus and we worked on the kitchen. Well, he did. My back has gone into a spasm again but it doesn't seem so bad tonight.

Bobbi, my cupboards are an antique white and the walls are orange. We're waiting on the counter top to be installed. I bought it last week and arranged to have it cut to size so we could have it any day now unless there is another storm and can't get it delivered. Then we have the floor to install. I finally found the knobs and pulls that matched the hinges. We looked in about 6 or 7 stores over the past couple of weeks.

Karen3, strawberry rhubarb anything is delicious, lol. Now, you must try blueberries and rhubarb. That combination in a pie or jam is superb!

Lynn, glad you enjoyed the pasta dish.

Zoe, your weekend sounded lovely.

Welcome Jess. We'll get to know each other soon.

I'm writing this from memory so I'm not going to remember much, lol. It's late and I'm tired from the day's activities so I'll sign off and hope everyone is well and happy. xoxoxox

Hello everyone, finally getting here. Went to the gym this morning, then working here at home rest of day. Had let the laundry pile up a bit so had more loads than usual. It was a pretty day and Joe worked outside mowing etc. He really enjoys that.

Rie - I'd have stayed home too. I don't like driving in snow although I'm sure you are much more used to it than I. Glad you were there for your friend.

Isabella - Sorry to hear about your back! I hate back spasms and get them a few times each year. You may remember I had a bad episode in Dec. Recently my back has been sore, not really spasming but I've been concerned it might begin, sure hope not. I never know what causes it, do you? I hope yours goes away soon.

Donna/Rie - Glad you heard from Marie and that she came through it ok. Guess sore is to be expected but hope she heals fast. I agree with the not lifting advice.

Bobbi - You've really been working hard on dd's kitchen! I'm sure she is thrilled with what you're doing. Does she work on it too? It seems like home remodeling always turns out to be a much bigger project than one imagines in the beginning!

Rie - About the WA caucaus...it was interesting but I was somewhat disillusioned and frustrating too. The acoustics in the room were so bad that it was very very difficult to hear what was being said even at our own tables let alone the others! Not sure what you mean by not counting. We did elect delegates from our precincts and their votes will count. We who represented our precinct did vote (twice) on which candidate we want to win but no, the delegates are not bound to vote the way the majority voted. What upsets me is that this is the ONLY time WA voters will have a say in choosing of a Republican candidate. In the past we have always had a caucaus plus a regular vote. That's the way I feel it should be. So I voted (very informally..show of hands) but it may mean absolutely nothing! Well we should know by tonight how they all did. In fact Joe is calling me right now to watch..so gotta close this now.

Hi Rie,

A while ago (before Isabella disappeared), Isabella, Bobbi, and I were "walking to CA." We had a thread going in the Sticky area where we tracked our exercise in miles/kilometers and discussed the different cities/towns we were in based on the amount of exercise we had done. I think I got to someplace in OH before we stopped.

I say we DEFINITELY take on Marie. Competition will make us step up to the plate.

Think about how we should structure the challenge and let's go!

Lynn

Bobbi - I could write a book about the odd ideas my DH has. First of all, any ailment you get he says it's from something you ate. He said my heart surgery was because I was eating cucumbers. If I had listened to him when I had the peritonitis I would have died from it. I chose to go to the ER instead of listening to him saying I ate something "bad". He thinks bacteria gets into food if it's not eaten in the first hour after it's made. Also, eating leftovers to him means that you're too poor to have "new food" every day. He would never want anyone to think he's poor. So many people have told him how food tastes so much better the second (or third) day but he won't change. It's a good thing he has so many redeeming qualities.

Glad to hear Marie is doing well. Can't wait til she home and feeling up to posting again!

Good morning GG’s,

Four days down, two more to go. I got out on time last night ~ what a treat. DD Sara and DGD Maddie were here when I got home ~ that was a much needed dose of happiness/fun.

DH was down on his knees scrubbing the floors (company coming the weekend). I worry that he will hurt his knees. Wish he would just use a mop, that would be good enough. I appreciate his hard work.

They put me on a machine at physical therapy yesterday ~ I loved it. I wonder if they have one like it at the “Y”. I doubt it, but can hope. It was called a recumbent cross trainer. You sit down on it and it has bars that work like the arm pieces of an elliptical and foot pieces that you push out away from you. It didn’t hurt my back like the recumbent exercise bike did. The only thing was that the bottoms of my feet got tired (not painful) feeling.

Carol Sue ~ people get some crazy notions don‘t they? For me, my DH wants to blame every ailment on my extra weight. I am well aware, that it affects things. I have to laugh though (sometimes) my neck has been hurting lately (I guess part of my messed up spine issues) so according to his thinking ~ I guess my head has gotten just too fat for my neck to be hurting like that ~ LOL.

Lynn ~ I was toying with a similar idea to encourage me to do my walking and make it seem fun for me. I was going to locate the GG’s on a map, and “walk” to see each one of you. But, I do so little at a time and not with the regularity I hope to, so figured it would just end up frustrating me. Maybe somehow I can come up with some version of that idea that would work.

Marie ~ hope you are doing well and not in too much pain. Be careful after you are home and take care of you.

Rie ~ you’re not getting chicken in your old age ~ getting wise. Glad you did not attempt those awful roads. Sounds like you were where you were supposed to be ~ being able to listen to your friend.

Well, gotta get ready for work. I’ve done my stretches (for my back) and need to leave enough time for my walk.

Here is a picture of that machine I used yesterday at physical therapy.

Hope you all have a good day.

Take care

Maybe we could see who wants to join & then pick some equi-distant place for each of us to aim at. NOTE: in our last thread, we used a formula of 1 minute = 1 mile. So, if you exercised for 30 minutes, you earned 30 miles.

Lynn

Mary, From the washington post Bloomberg report

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney won a straw poll in Washington state’s Republican caucuses, gaining a boost heading into Super Tuesday on March 6 when 11 states hold Republican presidential contests.

The choice isn’t binding. Romney won 36 percent of the straw poll votes, cast as participants entered the caucuses, according to results posted automatically on the Washington State Republican party website.

Hello ladies! Happy Hump Day!! I took off work yesterday afternoon to get my lawn in order. I wasn't home this weekend and the weeds were literally so tall that I had to weedeat them before my son could mow. Expecting several days of possible rain, so wanted to get it done yesterday. Did that and put down weed/feed. So scary, on my last pass with the spreader a dead limb fell out a tree onto the path I had just walked 30 seconds earlier and where son had been mowing, too. (We had TERRIBLE winds yesterday, today, too) So thankful neither of us were hurt, because it was really heavy.

Food is going pretty well. Treated myself to a small soft-serve frozen yogurt yesterday. It tasted SO good!!

I've done 3 miles of WATP each day this week so far. Slowly trying to add in more arm work.:carrot:

Hi everyone,i'm on dh puter,my lap top has amind of its own. Its "POOF" day.payday in other words poof its here and poof its gone :dizzy: need to run errands and dh has adr apt. Bobbi you mentioned wanting to read wilbur smith.go to his web page as he has several diff series of books,the courtneys and the ballentines,and several singles. i think my favorite was the Burning Shore. happy reading. i also play scrabble to keep the mind sharp but i play in pogo. glynne i used that machine when i was in rehab. i liked it but harder than it looks as my legs and feet where dead wgt.wtg on finding that you can without pain. Hoping marie is home with her fur babies. well hes up so must get going hope your day is awsome. ttfn rosey :wave:

yesterday
breakfast
coffee
atkins protein bar

lunch
sm green salad with tuna

snack
coffee mocha
just the cheese snack

dinner
moose hamb goulash 1 c

Hello, I am new here,

I live in Christchurch New Zealand, and i did my intro on my other post on the 50+ forum.

This thread moves fast, and I shall have to get to know everyone. It seems the most important thing at the moment is to send good wishes to Marie. I don't know here, but it sounds like she has had surgery and will be home soon. I look forward to getting to know you Marie, take care during your recovery.

I am also a 1 meal a day person, at the moment. It suits me fine. I got into it by accident. I had a week, 2 weeks ago when i was home alone for the week for the first time in over 22 years. I decided i would eat only when i got hungry, not when it fitted in with other peoples activities. It turned out I ate once a day. Very interesting.

I have taken up running this week, and have entered a 5k race on 20th May. Today will be my third day of running.

So hello all, and good luck with your weight loss.

Auto

Rie, I think you were quite wise to stay off the roads when they are full of snow. Even if you are a careful and prudent driver there are always drivers who "own the road" even on a bad day. I just creep along if I'm on a snow covered road. And listening to your co-worker was probably better than any old meeting.

Mary, I do remember your bad back awhile ago. I'm trying to rest as much as possible. I've dug out mom's walking stick to help getting up and down. I don't know what starts my back in spasms, either. I can be doing nothing more strenuous than picking up a toothbrush and it can start up. It's worse today because I should have rested yesterday but wanted so badly to shop for the knobs and handles for the cupboards.

Lynn, I'm all for walking/biking across country. I loved doing that. I can't walk right now but I'm on the bike most days. (Not today, back too sore.)

Carol Sue, I love left-overs and often purposely cook more so we can have them again. Soup, in particular, is much better the next day. Your DH and I would be at logger heads if we were married. LOL My DH will eat the same thing all week and seldom complain. He has other downfalls but I'll discuss those as they tick me off. :D

Gayle, you should buy your husband a brand new mop, wrap it up and give it to him as his very own. Maybe, he'd take care of his knees better if he had his very own mop. If his knees give out he'll gladly use a mop. So nice of him to do the cleaning, though. My DH does floors all the time but with a mop. That cross trainer looks interesting. Wouldn't mind trying that out.

Bobbi, who are you making the Teddy Bears and Bunnies for? Your lemon tree is amazing. All I can see is snow everywhere. I've never used Myer lemons but I've read about them.
Annie, so glad you or your ds weren't hurt. But I must say I'm more than envious of people who post about gardening this time of the year. We just had a storm on Monday and the snow is piled up and glistening in the sunlight but not a green blade (grass or weed) to be seen.

Donna, hope your day is going well.

Rosey, loved your description of payday- "Poof day". So funny but so true.

Hi Marie. Are you able to read anything today or are you sleeping it off? Hope you don't have too much pain.

Well, I'm off plan for today. Not in food but in exercise. My back is sore and so is my stomach. It seems that when my back spasms all the middle body muscles get involved. I find myself holding everything tight and that makes my stomach muscles get sore from unusual usage.

Last night I cooked a small package of mixed whole grain rice for use today and later on. I'm glad I did as I wasn't in much condition to do much cooking today. I had cooked and seasoned lentils in the freezer so that and the rice were the basis for dinner today. I chopped salad vegetables while sitting and made Mazidra. I could eat that several times a week. Other than that I'm surfing the web, channel surfing and generally lolling around. Hope this back gets better soon as we're travelling the weekend to DGS's 3rd birthday party and that's a 4 hour trip both ways. I can always take pain killers until I feel no pain but I'd rather it just went away.

DH put the window framing back up today. That makes the window look much nicer. The walls are looking good but the pink counter top is glaringly ugly next to the orange walls. LOL Can't wait to get the new top installed.

Well, I'm gone to stare mindlessly at the TV. Have a great day.

Hello eveyrone! Sounds like everybody is very busy...

Marie, I hope you are feeling better and don't try to push yourself too fast!! Relax and enjoy being pampered for a little bit--

Annie-- glad that you and your son weren't hurt. The wind has been terrible here the past few days too. The temp is nice but the wind could go away and I wouldn't miss it at all.

Welcome Auto--- jump in and grab a chair. We look forward to getting to know you.

Rosey-- did you get your new "puter" yet? I love mine and would be lost without both my desktop and my laptop!

Isabella-- you have definetly ran off and left me in the dirt for our 1000 miles in 2012! I just got so sidetracked and haven't been doing much of anything but "waiting" Grrr! Not much longer.

Bobbi, we are all waiting to see pics of th new kitchen.. Sounds like hubby is getting ready to move on to his next project. My sister and her hubby have a 56 chevy that belonged to his Dad, they had it about 75% restored and drivable when it was in the garage sitting next to a new Lexus when the tornado came in May. The house, garage and the Lexus were destroyed, the 56' was damaged but is already well on its way to being back to where it was.

Donna, how is GM doing? I keep meaning to ask and always go off on some other subject. Still haven't heard anymore on FIL yet but see a trip to Mass. in the very near future.

Gayle, I bought one of those H20 steam mops and I LOVE IT!! The floor feels so great when I use it and no chemicals at all that I need to worry about Ginger and Sissy walking on----plus no "sticky"

Rie, I don't drive at all in the snow!! If it looks like it is going to snow and I'm out-- I head home fast! Or if I haven't left to go anywhere --- I don't! Just call me chicken!!! I know-- how did I ever survive in the mountains in Colorado?? Stayed home a lot!!!

I know I have missed so many but I need to get clothes out of the dryer --AGAIN!!

Everyone have a good day!

Zoe--- meant to ask how you are doing? Are you in countdown mode yet? PARTY!!!!

Yes, Bobbi, DH is a very picky eater. This is the reason why we eat out so often, because we can each choose what we want to eat. The things that I cook that he likes are very limited. In the restaurants we go to the waitresses almost know what he's going to order before he orders. LOL

Our house deaal is done! YAY!! We close next week and will be moving!

Don't have much time to post today but wanted to check in at least. Went to the gym this morning. I walk but doubt I'll do the walking thing you are discussing...sounds great but probably too much for me to post these days.

Isabella - Sorry to hear your back is still bothering you. What you describe sounds exactly like mine!

No time for more personals today. I need to do some grocery shopping and lots of other things. Hope you all have a great day!

ETA: I ended up with nine prizes in Feb and have already received them all.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

DoInG tHe HaPpY dAnCe for you!

Lynn

OK Goldens,

I am posting a message in the 50+ site to recruit people to our "walk to somewhere" challenge. If you want to join, let me know there & we will try to figure out a destination.

Lynn