:wave: HI LADIES ~ we had beautiful sunshine all day long; which was nice becuz it is a bit colder today. DH went out for a couple of short bike rides though and he said it wasn't too bad. He is trying to get some more exercise after not having much to do over the winter, but he has to work his way up; don't we all? I'll have to do the same thing with my walking come spring too!

HEY PURPLE ~ We used to have many companies that hired the disabled, but as I mentioned that changed about 10 years ago. After that, many challenged people started up their own businesses in the bigger cities and work together as a group hiring other disabled or challenged persons, which I think was clever. There are a few places that will hire someone for maintenance (floor sweepers); or as a Girl-Fridays or Mail-Boys, but it is very limited in numbers and to places like hospitals and such.

We also had homemade soup for the last couple of days for our lunch with some leftover chicken along with that today. Tonight, we just had bangers on a w/w bun, as we had our lunch a bit late today.

MEOWEE ~ our forecasters here are predicting snow for the rest of the week, but they were wrong about today, so maybe it won't be as bad as they are saying. Hope you make it to and from your appointments OK tomorrow.

HI RONNI ~ Your squirrel is chattering at you becuz he wants you to give him some food. It is possible that someone who lived there before you, was putting food out and he may be wondering why they stopped. I'd bet that is what he is complaining about. Squirrels love peanuts and sunflower seeds the most. We have a bag that is mixed that we put out that has both in it, plus some grain & plant seeds that the finches like too; we just put out a small can of this each day.

And the fact that some finches come and gape into your window is a second sign to me that someone in the past was feeding them at that house, becuz they will return for years to the same place looking for food, and finches are very brave and friendly towards people and will come right up to your house and windows to let you know that they are back. :lol:

TIP: We are finding now that if we put the food in a few different places that lessens the scrapping between them all, but DH swears that they are just bored and enjoy the excitement, becuz as soon as the competition leaves, they leave also. :shrug:

Well, the temps rose to -5c today, and it is supposed to be even warmer this week with those ****, so we'll see what happens.

HI to VAL, and BEVERYLYJOY, and NUMPSTER ... Hope you all have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY tomorrow as well!!!

:hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Hi . . . :wave:

Ugly, ugly day outside -- it is snowing and blowing like mad. I made it to the doctor yesterday but have definitely cancelled the dentist for today. I am going nowhere. It's beginning to look like the predicted foot of snow may be even more. Apparently, my section of the Province is definitely getting the worst of this storm. :mad:

Doctor appointment yesterday was a big fizzle -- my chest noises were nice and quiet while he was listening (maybe I should invite over to listen to me when I try to get to sleep at night :lol:). So he put me on a Flovent inhaler (usually used to control asthma) and scheduled me for a chest x-ray on the 16th followed by a return appointment with him on the 30th. We'll see. :shrug:

PURPLE . . . we have a similar system here. You get a special blue card to stick in your window to allow parking in special areas. Unfortunately ours do not include a picture and they are definitely misused a lot -- since the card usually stays with the car, people tend to park in the special areas even when the person to whom the card was originally issued is not among the travellers. :s: Of course, it can be difficult to tell sometimes because not everyone who is entitled to a card has outwardly visible signs of any disability. For example, one of my nephews has a sun allergy (no, he does not have any other vampire-like tendancies) and consequently has a disabled-parking-permit. Picture ID would definitely help to control the abuse.

ROSEBUD . . . I sincerely hope your snow stays away -- although I would like some company in my misery, I don't wish this stuff on anybody at this time of year.

Well, better go do the puffer thing. Hope I get better with it because I seem to get more on my tongue than into my lungs. :dizzy:

Hope everybody else has decent weather on the go and some sunshine. See you later .

Meowee-just wanted to make a quick note here, as I have to run to town soon. Did your doc give you an extender for your inhaler? Both DS3 and I have asthma and were given extenders that are about 6" long to put at the end of the inhaler, so the medicine has more distance to vaporize and you can inhale it easier without getting so much stuck in your mouth (icky and wasted, too). Here, they are free at the pharmacy when we refill our prescriptions, but can be washed over and over, because they just a simple, flexible, plastic tube.

Well, gotta run! Hope you are all having a great day, even though it sounds like the weather is against all of us;)

:grouphug:

Thanks RONNI . . . I will ask my pharmacist for one -- the next time I can get out of the house. :lol:

:wave: HI LADIES ~ Well, the sun tried to shine through some clouds today, but we didn't actually get any snow. The winds were strong in the morning, but calmed down and the temps rose to +7 C or 50-something F. The afternoon clouds looked like rain clouds but nothing fell. DH was actually hoping for rain to melt some of the snow we already have, but didn't happen. :D

MEOWEE ~ isn't that always the way; you feel unwell and have symptoms, but as soon as you get to the docs office, they mysteriously go away; supernaturally healed even! :lol: This happens to my DH a lot. He says by the time he finally gets an appointment, he's already recovered! ;) I hope your puffer helps you, and you are feeling better real soon. :hug:

:wave: HI RONNI ~ Hope you had a good day shopping today or errands, etc. I hope you and your family are keeping warm without a furnace; maybe a small heater might help until the warmer temps show up, which should be soon in your area (only one more week and April will be here). :hug:

HEY PURPLE ~ yes, like MEOWEE says we have disabled cards and I do have one of those. On really bad days, Dh drops me off at the door, but I don't have as far to walk to the car coming back out. Most places only have 1 or 2 spots, but we've managed OK so far.

I'm not sure if they entitle me to free parking, but they certainly are closer than the other side of a huge parking lot on a busy day when you are tired and sore. I have good days and rougher days; sometimes, I just send DH to do errands and pickups like today.

That's a good idea for a game for your RIZZIE: hiding biscuits or treats all over the house for him to find. We had a pair of woodpeckers here together today: one male and one female; becuz we have three suets out, each one could have one of their own. Normally, when one is here, the other leaves or is chased away; according to who is bolder or less timid. Now we have one on the roof of the large feeder and the Starlings like it (easy to access); one hanging on the side (the female likes that one), and one hanging in the tree which the males seem to like better.

The Starlings try to mimic (copy) the woodpeckers and jump on the suet bags but always end up falling off, so it is very funny to watch. The woodpeckers have special talons on their feet so they can hang on to anything and climb easily as well; the Starlings don't have that bonus on their feet, so they slip, but they sure get an 'A' for effort. They say that is why there are so many Starlings now; becuz they are so flexible and learn from all the other birds around them ... they are very clever birds! ;)

Speaking of foxes, we often see them here; especially along the sideroads in the country; and last year, DH and I saw a bunch of four, which like you said, are likely a litter that are hanging around together. They live together and hunt together too; sometimes mom is with them and sometimes she isn't. I think they wander onto the roads sometimes, while mom is out hunting for some dinner! :lol:

Well, we had a nice dinner of lean pork centers (boneless) with broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, onions, and rice with a mushroom sauce poured over them for dinner tonight. This is done like a casserole and baked in the oven until the meat is tender and the rice is creamy like a risotto.

Well, that's all the news from here; not much going on right now. Winter not quite over and spring not here yet; yukky in between time. HI to our other friends here; hope all is well for you and yours; take good care ... :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Rosebud-hi and to let you know that the people we're buying the new furnace from loaned us a used fan for our existing unit until the new one comes in (apparently they're back-ordered right now-probably due to so much flooding last year in our area and so many people in the midst of replacing the ones that were ruined), so we have good heat and have been doing ok in that area anyway.


Didn't get too much done today (yesterday at this point, I guess), but was totally exhausted by 9:30, so we went to bed early, but then I couldn't sleep and DH started snoring so loudly that I decided to just get up and come downstairs for a bit (and check out the 3fc site;)). I get to thinking when I can't sleep and now have plans in my head for painting the bathroom and hallway:lol: Got our taxes finished earlier and we will actually get a few $ back, but not much due to the local school tax (in Iowa we can't get any of that back, even though we homeschool, unlike other states:(). Oh, well, at least it's done for this year!

Well, I think I'll go see if the snore storm has passed and try to get a few winks! Talk to you all later!

Well what can I say . . . the "people in charge of measuring snowfall" have officially spoken (although I don't know how they can measure sideways snow). Anyway, we did not get the 12" that had been forecast. We got 16" (that's right, you read it right, sixteen inches) of the lovely white stuff. It's still windy and cold, but at least it has stopped snowing.

So far no trip to the drug store for an extender for the puffer, but I discovered I can hold my tongue down with a fork while I puff and now think the stuff is actually getting into the lungs. So far nothing good to report, but I do imagine it will take a few days at least.

Along with the bad weather I had two days of definitely off-plan eating -- way too heavy on the fat and carbs -- today, I have my act together again and hope :crossed: to stay that way for the balance of the month.

Have a good afternoon, gang and I hope it is full of warmth and sunshine because I n eed to live vicariously through the rest of you. :rofl:

:wave: HI LADIES ~ Well, we had a bit of a dreary day with clouds and drizzle all day long; the winds were cold and I ended up feeling quite chilled until I put the oven on for dinner and that warmed things up quite a bit, along with the furnace.

RONNI ~ I am quite glad to hear that you have heat again; and you probably already told us this, and I likely just forgot. This old memory doesn't work as good as it used too I'm afraid! Nice to get those taxes done and out of the way; it's even nicer, if you get something back! :D

SORRY, MEOWEE ~ that you got all that ****, but we only had a peek of sunshine today, then rain the rest of the day; but at least, we didn't get the ****that they had predicted.

PURPLE ~ hope you are feeling OK today after your treatment yesterday. DH and I tried that search game with NIKO, and I'm afraid it will take him a few times to get the knack of if; he did managed to find a few by himself, but the rest DH had to kinda give him a hint where they were. He is a pretty smart boy, so in time, he should figure it all out.

Speaking of NIKO, he just came barrelling into the house, and has gone completely rangy; DH left him out in the rain a bit too long for his liking, and he was stuck on some frozen bricks which he really dislikes; so needless to say, he was upset that DH didn't come and rescue him right away! He really hates getting wet and this is surely the source of his angst. He's been running around the house like a cuckoo-bird for the last 5+ minutes, so DH took him into the other room to put on some music which seems to calm him down quite a bit. He loves to listen to music and just lays right down and goes to sleep. ;)

HIYA to VAL, and BEVERLYJOY, and NUMPSTER ~ hope you all are having a great week too. Take good care and I hope everyone has a TRANQUIL THURSDAY!!! :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Good Morning . . . :grouphug:

The sun is shining and we are supposed to get a degree or two above the freezing mark by this afternoon. Hopefully, things will start melting. :crossed: Longer term forecast is calling for warmer and warmer over the weekend and rain. That will wipe out a lot of this mess.

In the meantime, I ache all over; I still sound like my coffee maker; and my blood sugar is staying relatively stable, but, unfortunately a bit too high for my liking. Things could definitely be better -- but -- things could definitely be worse. :lol:

Hope you all have a great day dawning . . . :wave:

:wave: HI LADIES ~ We had another day of rain up here and I'm sure it's helping the snowhills to melt; things that disappeared during the wintertime, are suddenly peaking up from under the snow! :lol: We are actually measuring these things each day, we are all so eager for these mounds to go ...

Well, I had a busy day doing stuff around here; did my hair today, and made a nice steak dinner with loads of veggies. I roasted one pan with lots of celery, onions, carrots, summer turnips, new potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower; and another casserole of mushrooms, onions, and kniblets corn.

Gee, I can even hear thunder out there as I am writing this. I should make this a short one and turn my PC off soon. Gonna see if that indeed was thunder as lots of trucks go by here at all times of night so it's kinda hard to tell. We are now living on a main thoroughway, so there's quite a bit of traffic along here.

Oh dear, the net is kicking off on me, so I think that I'd better do the same. Take good care all, until the next time ... Rosebud.:hug:

No sun for us this morning, but it is starting to waarm up a little as evidenced by the heavy fog earlier this morning.

I actually saw a robin yesterday -- he stood out really well against the solid white background. :lol:

:wave: HELLO THERE ~ I'm back ... yes indeed, that was thunder and lightening we were experiencing late last night, so I didn't want to chance losing another modem. I quickly turned off my PC and disconnected the internet and power lines just in case. During the night, the temps fell down low enough that the rain changed to *****; and some more fell this morning, but now some gorgeous sunshine has come our way! Yeah!!! I sure hope it stays ...:D

HEY MEOWEE ~ That's great that you already saw a robin down there. Last year, we had robins show up early too; when there was still snow on the ground. We were surprised to see them so early. We have a new member of the household now; our resident squirrel has taken up residence under our house somewhere, at least temporarily. DH spyed him coming out from underneath it today; he is stashing some goodies under there for sure. Then we saw him perching himself up on the snowbank in our front yard like he was a new lawn ornament or something; very cute though! :lol:

HIYA PURPLE ~ I sure hope that you aren't under the weather right now as you haven't been in lately; but I'm sure that you told us you were taking a small trip out of town on Friday, so we won't worry too too much, or is that bad grammar? Probably is ...;)

The most exciting thing around here is the continuing saga between our woodpeckers and the starlings vying for the suet cakes by the fur tree, but it is so hilarious to watch them each day. Kinda like watching a homegrown nature movie for free! :D

We had a nice bowl of creamed mushrooms and veggies soup (used some of the leftover roasted veggies from last night) for lunch today, and it was very nice. I am planning a type of fettucini with tuna in a light sauce with more of those veggies for dinner, as we're having our pasta meal tonight instead of on Wednesday as per usual.

Anyways, will just be having a quiet night at home and resting this bod for sure. HI to VAL, and RONNI, and BEVERLYJOY, and NUMPSTER ... Hope you all have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!:hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Wowee, we have sunshine, and a predicted high of about 8C/almost 50F. :yay:

Wanted to get here early this morning so I could get out and about to enjoy the weather, but a furry little nocturnal "somebody" managed to disconnect me from the internet overnight. Since I was trying to use my laptop I didn't discover the problem upstairs with the main computer until I was about ready to call the cable company and register a bitter complaint. Glad I decided to take a quick look at the main connection before I did. :o

Anyway, now I'm about to jump in the shower and get myself out to the busy, busy mall -- oh, okay, guess I'd better get dressed at some point between those two activities. :s:

Have a great day and I will see you all later. . . :grouphug:

:wave: HI LADIES ~ boy, everyone seems to be away on holidays around here! :lol: I spent most of my day on the telephone talking to both my sistas, and to my Dad last night. We had a very, very longgggggggggggggggg gab session! :blah::blah::blah:

So I really didn't get much else done around here today. We had clouds and cold temps (-10c) this morning, but by afternoon, the temps had risen and we had lovely sunshine for the remainder of the day. We had hamburglers for supper tonight, and quite late as well; but it was a relaxing kind of day nevertheless. BTW, NUMPSTER is doing well; busy of course, and still working long hours.

ANYHOW, I hope your absences means that you are all having a fab weekend full of fun adventures during this early spring weather. Take good care, and I hope you have a SUPERB SUNDAY!!! :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Good Morning . . . :wave:

Another gorgeous and sunny morning. I want to go out and play, but the laudry is definitely calling my name. Oh what to do, what to do. Since the next few days are supposed to get a bit nasty -- lots of rain and a bit of ice and a bit of snow -- my guess is the laundry will still be here tomorrow. :lol:

RONNI . . . finally got around to looking for the extender thing you mentioned. My drugstore didn't know what I was talking about abnd tried to sell me an aerochamber for $35 that only makes it take longer for the puff to get into your mouth. I'll keep looking, though. In the meantime, my tongue is still breathing well. :s:

Gee ROSEBUD . . . looks like we've got our own little thread on the go . . . hope some others show up again soon. :yes:

Surprisingly, the scale was showing me a nice number slightly under 209 this morning . . . surprising since I did seem to be retaining water last night when I went to bed as witnessed by slightly swollen cankles. And, wonder of wonders, I got my third in a row, decent FBGL reading of 6.4/115 this morning, too.

Now . . . if I could just get this cat to stop wandering across my keyboard and trying to chew on my fingers . . . :rofl:

:wave: HELLO LADIES ~ Well, Old Man Winter came by to leave us one more hoorah -- a lovely white snowstorm all day long; and a times, it was a total white-out, but oh so very pretty at times as well. DH just loves it too; but NIKO doesn't like it at all, as he hates getting all wet and that includes wet snow! :lol:

So, we just stayed home today and rested. I made a nice roast chicken dinner with lots of veggies and for dessert, I baked a bunch of apples (mixing two kinds in chunks with skins on) with a bit of honey & maple syrup & cinnamon; they were just scrumpteous. Just before eating, I sprinkled a mixture of buds & granola over the top: really nice.

We had piles of birdies here today and quite a scene again with the woodpeckers and the starlings. Funny thing is they don't seem to bother the males or the big mama, just this one little young female, so DH was getting annoyed and chased them away for awhile. She was then able to eat in peace and the starlings came back later. It's interesting how the worse the storm got, the more starlings and finches came and braved the winds and snow. Some were just sitting and swaying in the wind on the big branches: quite a sight to see! :D

PURPLE ~ it's nice to have you back visiting with us; sorry, your Friday trip was such a bust. Hope the return trip goes much, much better for you; but it was much farther away than I had orginally thought (170 miles each way). I bet you are excited about getting your newer car; less than two more days, and that will go by fast. That game sounds interesting; it reminds me a lot of BRIDGE, with a few minor differences. We have played another game called CLAYGE or CLAIGE (not sure of spelling) where each person has to bid on how many tricks they will or will not take. If you get it right, you get NO points, but if you get it wrong, you have points charged AGAINST you (like in golf). We have played that since we were in our teens and many family members play it still.

Our NIKO scratches when he is losing hair too; he is shedding just a wee bit right now. The first spring we had him (last year), he lost so much hair, DH had to vacuum the livingroom rug twice a day; so I went and bought a brush to help it along and like your RIZZIE, he hated it, but it was a softer combed brush so it shouldn't have bothered him too much. I got some hilarious pictures of DH trying to comb him; you'd have thunk he was being tortured or something, and it was quite funny to watch. I just think that he wasn't used to all that attention and maybe the hairs coming out felt kind of itchy or something ... hehe ... poor thing! ;)

Well, not much else going on here; DH has his favorite GOLDEN OLDIES on the stereo and he dances around a bit. It's nice to listen to as I'm posting in here too. NIKO loves music and just lays down and goes to sleep.

HI to VAL, and RONNI, and BEVERYLYJOY, and NUMPSTER ... hope you all have a MARVELLOUS MONDAY!!!

Take good care :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

OMG . . . this winter will not quit . . . so glad I stayed home and did housework yesterday. Rain and ice pellets today and a big bunch of snow starting tonight. :mad:

Meowee-More snow and ice and sleet? Yuck:p!! Well, at least you have the laundry to do;). I'm sure spring will come sometime, but it sure does seem to be holding out this year, doesn't it? Our crocuses finally bloomed, but will probably get snowed on tomorrow if our weatherman is right.

Purple-So sorry about the breakdown on your trip. My DH has always worked on cars and those tensioner pulleys can be a bear to fix-lots of stuff to move and disconnect to get to them. Hope the next trip goes better. Our dog has been itchy lately also, but she gets dry skin, so I'm supposed to give her fish oil capsules to help, but we ran out and haven't been to the vet yet. We got a curry comb (that they normally use on horses) to comb her fur and it works better than any brush we'd tried before. She sheds like a fake fur coat in a washing machine! Never saw a dog lose as much fur as this one. Our last dog would just lay down and we could use the vacuum cleaner on her, but this one is scared silly of the thing:dizzy:!

Rosebud-glad someone enjoys the snow, but tell your DH that he can just wait till next winter-the rest of us are tired of it;)!

Hi to Val, Numpster, and Beverlyjoy too! Not much going on here. Had a bad week food-wise and now I'm up 2 pounds from last week:( Back on track now:yes: Having some tummy issues and feel bloated and "off" all the time (MS-related?), so I'm trying more yogurt and got some flax seed oil capsules to take along with the fish oil capsules. I've never had this problem before-usually it's the opposite issue from lactose intolerance, so not sure what to do to deal with it. Oh, well, just another thing to learn how to handle.

Well, I must go write up some lessons for DS2 to take with him to work on between his p/s chem classes today. And, of course, must get DS3 on his work, but he's the difficult one lately-probably age-related as he's now 12 and totally unmotivated! DS2 was like this at that age, but now is prepping up for college tests, etc, so works much harder. Have a great day, you all!

:wave: GEE, MEOWEE ~ I was sure that I had put in a paragraph yesterday about getting your blood sugars down so far. Oh well, guess I erased it or something ... Anyhow, I just wanted to say -- CONGRATULATIONS on that; and ask you if you have any idea why and/or how that happened, so that you can remember for the future too.

My brother, who is diabetic, gave me some really good tips like how to set my needle gun so it doesn't hurt so much; and another lady said something to the pharmacist so he gave me finer needle tips which don't hurt as much. My brother also told me the best remedy for high sugars is to go for a walk outside for awhile, especially after dinner (inside will do if you pick up the pace a bit). This would always help him when his sugar levels went sky-high on him. Him and his family would dawn their jackets, and go out for a brisk walk around the neighbourhood, and that would always work for him.

HI RONNIE ~ Our girls loved having their hair combed; they would lay down and even fall asleep -- all of them hated the vacuum cleaner, esp NIKO and PIN PIN, but SWEETIE would just come and sit by me. NIKO runs to me or into the kitchen, as he hates anything with a loud motor which means you really have to watch him when walking down the street as he hates trucks that have loud exhausts too. We think there might be something wrong with his hearing, as he shows signs of that too.

YES, most of us would love to see the snow go; and DH says that he would too, but he has this odd theory (not scientific, I'm sure) that a new snow will ?burn? the old snow off. :chin: Hmmm ... isn't that a contradiction in terms? :yes: OK dear, whatever you say ... :lol:

Anyhow, it was cloudy here for the morning; and a huge flock of finches came by (50 or more) with several woodpeckers through the day. By late afternoon, the sun came out; but sure wish it had come earlier. The skies have cleared up, but don't know if it will be that way when we wake up tomorrow.

Anyways, we had dinner sausages with veggies, tators, and salad for supper tonight; and it was yummy. So I ate well for the day and I'm happy about that too. Well, tomorrow will likely be our shopping day as long as the weather is good and it's supposed to be quite mild.

HI to PURPLE, and BEVERLYJOY, and VAL, and NUMPSTER ... hope you all have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!!!

It's time for tea, and puzzles, and to put my feet up for a while; so take good care ladies ... :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Oh wowee . . . it's all wet, wild, and very WHITE outside. Looks like Mother Nature has decided to revise the old adage (at least for northeastern Nova Scotia) to "in like a lion; out like the whole pride". This is ugly. :mad:

At least some things are good -- in spite of my having had a run-in with some (over half a pound) of not very lean ground beef yesterday, my scale is still hovering at that "smidge" below 210. I will wait until tomorrow morning to officially change my ticker (just in case some miracle occurs over today).

The blood sugar level this morning was a great 5.2 -- thanks for asking ROSEBUD -- I think the secret is two-fold; I've upped my bedtime insulin to 20 units and I make sure to have a bedtime snack. For some reason that it working better than lower insulin and no snack. :dunno:

In view of the delightful weather :s: guess I'll be doing some more housework and maybe a little knitting today.

Hope the rest ofr you get a beautiful Spring day . . . :wave:

:lol: PURPLE . . . thank you . . . actually, as far as I know, almost everywhere -- well Canada and throughout Europe anyway -- uses the system you and I are familiar with. The US uses a different system and, since this site is mainly Yankees, you tend to see the other system a lot. I almost always translate just because of that reason; but around here I know that you and Rosebud are the main readers and that you understand this system.

BTW and just in case you care . . . :lol: . . . "Our" number (5.2) x 18 = "their" number (93.6 which I'd round up to 94). Just as obviously you can go from their number (mg/dl) to ours (mmol/L) by dividing by 18. When it comes to HbA1C there is only one system since that represents the average percentage of glucose in the bloodstream over the past 90 days.

You must be getting really anxious to get the new car, girl.

:wave: HI LADIES ~ well, we did get some sunshine today and it warmed up quite a bit today; so we did go and do a bit of shopping. Then we came home for lunch as I was a bit tired; but we decided that we would spread it out over the week so that I could get out again and get a bit of walking in on another day. I hope to get out at least 2-3 times a week if the weather co-operates and my health does as well. I seem to need one day in between to recupe though, so we'll see how it goes.

We got quite a bit of snow the other day; the roads are starting to clear up, but we hope that some melting continued for part of today. Later the clouds rolled in and they are predicting some rain or drizzle for the next two days so maybe that will melt some away too.

MEOWEE ~ wow, 5.2 -- that's pretty good; and it's good that you have figured a way to get them to come down even if it wasn't exactly what you'd hoped for. I know you would rather not have to take the insulin and don't blame you for that. I hope that the sugars stay good for some time now. Thanks for that info how to transpose the American numbers to the Canadian and UK ones; that is very helpful.

HI PURPLE ~ hope you have a fun time playing cards tonight, as I know how much you love it. Glad you got the van fixed up too, so you'll be on the road again soon. My DH is French, and we make a traditional meat pie called TORTIERRE here. I have made it with lean ground beef or a mixture of ground moose and ground pork. Moose is very, very lean (almost no fat at all), so it needs something added to it to make it not so dry. We like to have them at Christmastime especially; and we have a bakery that makes them the old way, then they freeze them unbaked and we sometimes buy a couple (just pop it into the oven and bake as you would for any pie). DH just loves them, but I don't eat them too often because of the fat content; now and then is OK. We just have a veggie and/or salad with them to balance the meal.

HI to VAL, and BEVERLYJOY, and RONNI, and NUMPSTER ... Hope you all have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!!!

We had leftover roasted chicken with lots of veggies with rice for dinner tonight; yummy & so very filling. Can't believe that another month has come and gone already, but I think we all welcome April this year. I'm gonna go set up the month of April thread for MEOWEE to set up as a red sticky now.

So, take good care ladies, and do have a great night too! :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

:wave: I think spring is here!!! *fingers crossed* It's been zero degrees celsius most of the afternoon for two days in a row now!! I GOT TO WALK OUTSIDE TODAY! For exercise without getting frostbite! wahooo!!!!

just had to share :) that

Rosebud - how long have you been on insulin? My mom just started it -- she had been on avandeia (Sp?) instead of insulin but her family has a history of heart disease and the drug is known to increase heart risks -- so after much prodding she switched (I like to think it helps that she watched me go through injections and become comfortable with it)

Purple pork pie eh? I've heard of stranger things -- so the gaps filled with 'jelly' is that just fat from the meat? How does that taste??

hi to meowee, ronni and numpster! keep it chill yo, eh? (ha ha.. ok so I'm pretty giddy from the spring weather) Meowee 5.2 is great! I dont think my Mom has been there in years -- hopefully now that she's on insulin it will help.

I'm skimming posts and I'll catch a line like 'roast chicken' you ladies eat well! I'm jealous :p

HIYA VAL ~ nice to see you drop by ... actually, I'm not on insulin (thank goodness); but METFORMIN which is a pill form that helps (I believe) regulate hormones that affect my blood sugar levels and a few other things too. I have been doing so well; when my sugars went a bit high a few years back (2005), my doctor put me on METFORMIN to get them back in line because there is so much diabetes in my family.

He explained that with MET and a healthy & balanced eating style, we could likely avoid full-blown diabetes, which we have succeeded at. Now, I had watch what I ate very carefully over these years, and I have never had what some might call a binge per se, but even with a few snacking mistakes here and there, my sugars are staying in the safe ranges and I am so very grateful for that.

When I mentioned needles -- I meant the needles that go in a neat little contraption that tests my blood. It kinda works like a bow & arrow action on a spring. You insert the needle; put the cap back on, then press the button on the front and the needle shoots out and quickly pricks your finger to produce a tiny amount of blood for testing. Then I put the tester strip into the auto-tester machine and up to the blood droplet; it sucks it up and takes a reading very quickly. It all works very fast and the drug store gave it all to me free, which I am grateful for. I did have to buy the strips and needles though.

Sorry, for the misunderstanding. My mother and one of my brothers had or have diabetes; and Numpster has just recently tested positive as well, but I think they are working on getting her sugars down with more balanced eating plan for right now. When she started eating more regularly, her sugars started to come back down into the normal range. We believe her body was producing too much insulin and spiking, in order to balance out the lack of food during the day, but so far it seems she is getting better.

I think the new eating plan has really helped me keep my blood sugar levels in line, but I admit it has been a struggle at times. I get cravings for treats now and then, but I am keeping them managable so far. I guess I should be more proud of myself for doing this so well for the last 3-4 years. :D

I had hoped to lose more weight by now, but maybe some will come off in time -- a little bit at a time; and now that spring is here, we can all get out and get some more walks in too, like we all did today.

It's so nice to hear from you; and I am glad you are feeling well right now. Take good care and do come back and visit with us now & then, because we enjoy hearing from you very much ... :hug:ROSEBUD:hug:

Okay gang . . . I'm closing this thread.