Hi!

Meowee-for doing well with the eating! It does improve the outlook to be able to stay on plan and see progress, doesn't it?

Hi to everyone else, too and hope you're all having a great day! Our furnace broke yesterday, so spent the whole day trying to track down a replacement part -almost impossible and the one we can get is so expensive, we've decided it's better to replace the whole HVAC system-so then I was lining up contractors for estimates. Unfortunately, most of them treat a woman like you don't have a clue what they're talking about-you know, us poor, little dumb females who have to rely on our men to make these kind of complicated decisions I had the facts charted out and decision 80% made before DH got home from work! Then, when we went over everything, he agreed with my decision (cause HE knows I've got a brain), so I can line up the work today. Just wish we'd known this was coming-I'm not the best at budgets, so something else is gonna have to wait. Oh, well, that's been our lot in life for the last 18 years, so we should be used to it by now That's the choice we made when we decided to do the homeschooling-we knew we wouldn't always have $$ like families where both spouses have paying jobs.

But, a good thing from the furnace issue was that I got absolutely ALL the laundry done! DH has the dryer vented into the house in the winter, so we heated with the dryer and the oven (roasted chicken and veggies-yummmmmm!). Today, off to town for some groceries after I talk to the HVAC guys.

Hope you're all having a great day!

RONNI ~ glad you have found a solution for your furnace problems, even though it has to be a new one, and that costs lotsa money; but at least you do have your income tax refund to cover that, and heating the house is an important need right now. As you know, I took business the second time I went to college, so I am always haranguing people about the benefits of putting away some savings for a 'rainy day' for unexpected emergencies like this. Hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?

Can't tell you how many times we have been so grateful that we did put a wee bit by ... as life is full of these kind of unexpected problems. I kinda believe that we should always 'EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED' ... I could make that my motto, I think!

MEOWEE ~ Well, the storms have finally passed here too; glad you are having better weather, which sounds similar to what we have here right now as well. Congrats on eating so well this month too ...

Well, we are just staying home today so DH can rest up his shoulder; we have a full larder, so we are OK. We had some sun on and off, but there is a bit of a wind too. Poor NIKO isn't too well today either; earlier DH found the evidence of an upset tummy ... poor fella!

So we have our hands full here right now too, but this too shall pass! Hope you all have A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!! Take good care ROSEBUD

HI LADIES ~ we have had snow on and off all day; some big, fat flakes too, which are kinda pretty really! Milder temps too, and I don't mind that at all. I just stayed home and did stuff around here ...

PURPLE ~ Sorry you lost your post; I think that happens to us all at least a dozen or more times. I have had mine disappear into LA-LA LAND many times, as have others. On those days, I use your tip to do the retype and put it in a file; save it and then copy it. Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often. Glad you had such a prosperous week playing cards, and a nice delivery trip too.

MEOWEE ~ yes, right now you are our biggest inspiration. I'm doing well on my meals, I am really trying to have better snacks though. Some days I do superbly and then I'll have just that ONE DAY, that I get off track, but I figure the damage isn't too bad to ruin the whole week .... I hope?

Don't have much news here right now, except we had a new young female Woodpecker at our feeder today, and she came back twice; plus we had big male Squirrel here today too. Well, it's the first time I have seen him that is, or it's the first time he noticed there was food here, more likely; and now that he has, he'll be back for more ...

Hope all you ladies have a SUPER SATURDAY!!! Take good care ROSEBUD

Thanks for the kind words, Chickies . . . happily I'm still on track. My carbs snuck up a little too high for a couple of days, but overall the calories stayed in the good range. Haven't seen any more movement on the scale for a couple of days, though. I have faith -- in us all.

We are having mostly sunny weather and the temperature is expected to sneak up to slightly above the freezing mark today . . . not exactly Spring yet, but I have faith in Mother Nature too. Spring will eventually arrive.

Hope the rest of your weekend is great.

Hi ladies ~ We had a lovely day today; started out with clouds, but then the sun came out to shine and warmed things up all day. The snow is starting to melt and I can even see some pavement on the roads. Yeah, that's a sign for us that spring is on the way ...

We had another new young male Woodpecker come by today; they really love the suets we put out. We put out one Peanut Butter one and a mixed seed one, and they love them. We had a lovely dinner of roast beef and lots of veggies with red potatoes. Just having a quiet night at home and DH is just playing with his music tape collection.

PURPLE ~ I am finding the same as you; if I sleep on my back, I have pain the next morning ... so I am going to have to make a note to sleep on my side, which doesn't have that same effect. When I start out on my back, it feels OK, but by the morning, I am stiff and sore. I used to sleep on my stomach or back, but then I switched, but I am going back to my side again for awhile and see what happens.

MEOWEE ~ one day last week, my sugars snuck up into the sixes on me; not sure what caused that, but with a few adjustments, the next morning I was back down to 5.4 -- just goes to show ya that you have to keep an eye on things all the time.

HI to VAL, and BEVERLYJOY, and RONNI, and NUMPSTER ... hope all you ladies are feeling good out there and that you all had a great weekend ...

Take good care and have a Wonderful new week! Your friend ROSEBUD

Hi chicks....DH and I went out of town last weekend to visit family. It was good to get away and not have to 'think' about DH finding a new job. Sorry to be MIA last week. I've been having such a hard time with anxiety and pain. I am trying to rely on Arthritis strength tylenol, ice, heat, stretching and meditation to get me thru the day. It has been really hard.

I really need to change family doctors. I got this one when mine left the practice. She is strictly clinical - never smiles, not warm or caring. I don't need a doctor to give me a 'hug' or anything...but, I just don't relate to the style of this doctor. When I was losing weight....she never noticed or said anything unless I pointed it out. But...since DH is without a job and I feel so extremely stressed out...I just don't feel like I have the 'energy' to switch. I know it doesn't make sense...but, it's where I am at with it.

I'll come back for personals...need to ice, ice baby!

Have a great day.

Hi there everybody . . .

Oh BEVERLYJOY . . . I hope things start to look brighter for you really soon. I too can understand what you mean about a slightly less clinical doctor. Mine is okay but I do wish he were a woman.

As for you, PURPLEORC . . . I am so very jealous of your weather. We've got another sunny day on the go, but our temperatures are going in the wrong direction. The expected high today is going to be -5C -- silly.

ROSEBUD . . . an occasional day of high BGL is not cause for alarm. Mine are an ongoing disaster of late -- having trouble getting the fasting level below 9 even with my regular meds and 17 or 18 units of Lantus insulin -- and I'm beginning to wonder if it could some how be connected with the increased symptoms of pulmonary edema. My biggest fear is that after 20 odd years of living semi-successfully with Type II, my pancreas may have decided to shut down completely (it does happen, unfortunately) which would mean needing to go on a mjuch more stringent insulin regimen. Guess I'll wait and see what the doctor has to say next week.

Nothing else too exciting around here -- it's School March Break and I imagine all the stores I need to hit today will be packed.

HI LADIES ~ we had a lovely day of sunshine and the temps got up to about +7c, so we decided to go for a drive out to our lot. Yep, it's still there but we just wanted to check the snow levels to see how long it will be before it melts. Out that way, the snow is much lower than in town, so it will melt pretty quickly. Our place had a bit more snow than other places by the road; not sure why, but a couple of weeks of warm weather would melt it all anyways.

I even made a picnic lunch: we had a sandwich plus a small piece of fruit pie to go with that, so tonight we just had a light hot turkey dinner (I just had turkey & gravy on a slice of whole wheat bread with 1/3 cup frozen peas and DH had potatoes with his). It was nice to have a treat as the last time was Christmas; and we haven't had apple pie in years, but I gave NIKO my crust to cut down on the calories a bit. I usually make a type of apple crisp, but we had these in the freezer from Christmas (they didn't get eaten). I left some pieces in containers in the freezer for another picnic as well; that way we won't eat too much at one time.

It was nice to at least go out for a drive to get out on a nice, sunny day; and with the roads clear most of the way, it was a nice drive as well. Later, I just came on and looked at recipes for awhile and read my mail. We are going to be checking over the next few weeks to see when the snow melts exactly as well. We can't wait to get out there; and I miss going for my walks and so does NIKO. He got so excited, he scratched DH's face, but he's OK, just left a wee mark.

BEVERYLYJOY ~ don't you have any pain meds for your foot? I forget exactly what's wrong, but have been praying for you. When I'm in pain, I take mild meds as needed, and get off my legs or rest or whatever is needed. Hope things improve for you very soon.

PURPLE ~ I slept on my side last night and my back felt much better this morning. I can't wait til all the snow is gone so we can go walking again. There is too much ice around this place to go walking in the winter; we live on a hill, so when it melts the water runs down on our side of the road and when it freezes up, it turns to a sheet of ice as does our laneway. I had hoped to walk up and down the laneway here, but many times I went out, it was a sheet of ice. So winters here will have to be indoor stuff mostly; and spring to fall, will do walking outside.

MEOWEE ~ gee, I'm sorry to hear how much trouble you are having getting your sugars down. Hope your doctor can figure something out for you. I have been looking at the sugar amounts in some foods, and boy, there is lots more sugar hidden in foods than we think ... so, no wonder some people have such a hard time getting their blood sugar levels down. Will send up some more prayers for you too ...

Well, that's about all the news from here; my feet are a bit sore, so it's time to put them up and do some puzzles, and maybe read a bit, if I don't nod off, that is. So take good care ladies, hope you all have a HAPPY ST. PATRICK's DAY tomorrow ... for all those who are Irish like us, and for those who aren't too! ROSEBUD

Top O' The Mornin' . . . hope your day brings the proverbial Pot o' Gold to you and yours . . . . . . Apparently the green beer is already flowing in Atlantic Canada -- the bars in Halifasx opened their dorrs at 7:00 am this morning and the patrons were already lined up to get in.

Nothing too exciting planned for me -- may just don some green clothing and take advantage of another day of lots of sunshine (but still cold) and travel off to town for a few things I forgot to get yesterday.

Nice trip across the causeway yesterday because the ice is starting to break up in the harbour and I saw three beautiful bald eagles sailing over the open areas in search of fish -- yes I do think Spring will eventually arrive.

Natural sugars (like in fruits and vegetables) are not a big problem, ROSEBUD, but you really need to watch out for the added sugars -- you have to read both the nutrition panel and the ingredients list on prepackaged foods to know what you are actually getting. My FBGL this morning was better, but still not very good at 7.6 as compared to yesterday's 9.0.

Have a great -- but semi-sane -- ST. PATTY'S DAY.

Good evening ladies

This is only a swift drop by as I do not have a lot of time today with it being treatment day at the MS centre. So no personal posts to people Oops I forgetting my manners HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY .

When travelling to the MS centre I saw trees in a small white flowers not sure what type they are to be honest. Though they sure did look pretty and a sure sign spring is here for us. I know that we are extremely lucky to have temperatures so high. Though today it has been considerably colder though when I first got up it was glorious sunshine.

Been struggling to keep my jeans up today so I decided when I got home to measure my waist out of curiosity. Which I did and I was really suprised how much I have appeared to lost around my waist since I last measured I now measure 35" I was 38". Not that I have lost any weight I am a little heavier than my ticker shows at the minute by 2 to 3 pounds which my body seems to stay at constantly so it has found its niche at the minute. I know if I was more ridge with my food regime and strung more days on plan together I would lose. I have been good for the past 4 days I have been on plan so I am proud of that achievement.

Tiime to go I am afraid gosh the time sure does whizz by typing. Take care one and all till next time.
purpleorc

Oh PURPLEORC . . . that is so terrific to have lost so much around the waist. Measurements are a much better goal than the old scale numbers anyway and getting rid of thickness in the waist area is great for your long term health . . . you rock, girl.

BTW . . . afraid I have to own up to a major chocolate meltdown today . . . so much for a perfect month of March. I will get my act back together tomorrow, I promise.

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY !!!


HI LADIES ~ we had a lovely warm day that felt like it was spring: can you believe it was +15c out there today, and that's 55 Farenheit? That is absolutely awesome for March, in this here hinterland ...

We woke up to sunshine and everything was icey, but the clouds rolled in and the temps still kept climbing. By the time we got back, the ice was melting in the early afternoon. DH went scrounging about and found some sand to put on the laneway just in case it freezes tonight.

Anyways, we had a good day mostly; I just didn't like all that ice that was out there today, and DH has fixed that now (albeit, with some coaxing on my part). I had to make a suggestion where he could find some free sand, but then he was on his way. Thank you GOD, for woman's intuition ...

PURPLE ~ Congrats on losing 3 inches around your waste; hey, that's just as good as weight. I have been doing my tummy tucks and such pretty faithfully only missing a day for soreness of my back and I can feel that my clothes fit better, and DH says he can notice a difference. So will have to pull out my stats pretty soon and compare; I wanted to wait long enuff to be sure of a difference.

Hope you had a good session at the treatment center. I managed to get in lots of walking today; purposely walked the perimeter of two of our largest stores here in town. My feet were a bit sore by dinnertime, so I rested them awhile before dinner. We just had a light dinner of a banger on a bun, as I had some w/w sunchips for a snack today; trying to balance that out a bit. I had some strawberries for dessert, but skipped the salad today.

MEOWEE ~ when I went to the store today, you could literally smell all the chocolate in one area, so I zoomed through it as fast as I could and exited another way; but I did have a small treat of some whole wheat sun chips, which isn't too bad, I hope. I think one chocolate splurge during Easter season is allowed for everyone. At Christmas, I found some very dark chocolate sticks that only had 16 calories each, so I had 2 a day for one of my snacks for only 32 calories. I hope they get them again next year; wish I'd kept the box to remember what they were called now though ... dang it.


HI to VAL: hope things are melting for you too; and BEVERLYJOY: hope you are feeling better; and RONNI -- hope everything's OK with you and yours, and that new furnace; and NUMPSTER ~ that wedding should be coming pretty soon; hope all is well down there!

Take good care friends ... ROSEBUD