Coffee's on! Grab your mug and pull up a chair.

Today's the first day of school for our district and even though my two are way beyone grade school, it makes me nostalgic. We always used to have a Back to School party the night before school started, with a special dinner and new box of markers or something. Funny, my kids like cars better than markers now.

But today has that end-of-summer feeling, even though the weather is still most decidedly hot, humid, and summer-y. And with Labor Day weekend coming up, I guess we're really coming up on the end of the season. I'd love a real fall this year instead of going straight from hot to cold.

With all the rain we've being having, my basil has gone nuts. I've never had this much before so am thinking of making pesto to freeze. Has anyone has any success with freezing pesto? Any other basil recipes to try? How about rosemary?

Saturday was a bad eating day for me, probably because I was so tired. I got my act together yesterday (whew!) but really need to keep things under control. It's such a slippery slope when I have a bad day because it's so easy to snowball into two or three bad days, then the scale goes up and it's a vicious cycle. We have a dinner out on Friday (which will be more calories than usual no matter how hard I try to keep the lid on - such is the nature of eating out) so my plan is to be 100% on track until then.

The gym opens at 5:30 am, so I'll be there on "my" elliptical. I usually wing my weight workouts (I know it's arm day, for instance, but don't decide on what to do until I'm there) but as a change, I wrote out the whole week's workouts. Today is the first of two leg days for the week so I'm doing BB lunges, hack squats, plie squats, seated leg curls, and calf raises. Can't wait!

Enough blabbing from me! How was your weekend and what's going on this week?

Good morning everyone.

Meg, yummm - pesto. I make it all the time and ALWAYS freeze it. It freezes beautifully. I freeze it in ice cube trays. When they've hardened I pop them out and put the cubes in containers and then put it back in the freezer. This way I have small portions that I can use to season fish, chicken breasts or whatever. I also freeze it in small containers so that I have larger portions of it. The rest of the family loves it on pasta. Well I guess I do too, but I don't eat it.

Today my middle daughter starts her first day of college. My oldest heads back to her dorm tomorrow. So lots and lots of last minute shopping, laundry and then packing to get her ready to go first thing tomorrow morning. My DH is taking her, I'm still not sure if I will go with them.

This weekend was the best I've had in ages, in spite of 3 parties. I did overeat just a tad though, but nothing terrible. I was fortunate that there was grilled chicken and veggies around. But I had a really good week prior to it and a great yesterday. And I am finally able to drop my ticker a whole pound, down to 131. It's the first Monday that I've had a loss in weeks and weeks. AND I LIKE IT!!!! That's a pound closer to my secret/not so secret goal of 125.

Have a great Monday everyone.

My retreat in the mountains went very well. I got a lot of exercise, a lot of rest, and a lot of food. Ah, well, 2 out of 3, and I really needed the weekend. I didn't feel like I missed DD so much, but I broke down in tears when I got back. I am exhausted again after one evening.

I "accidentally" got the large size of chocolate-covered almonds for the trip. I've been having a lot of accidents lately, and I need to think about that. Perhaps I'll go find/start a non-goal-oriented accountability/menu thread over in whole foods. The thread here has the four letter word in it so I'm not reading. Plus I need to focus more on oatmeal and less on granola bars.

Robin, I'm glad your parties went well. Meg, I envy you your energy. Hello to whoever is posting at the same time as me--always happens and today took longer because there was a coffee break!

Welcome Gary. Why aren't you here now? I'm more than 7 lbs above what passes for my maintenance weight as I type this. Everybody who's lost anything qualifies.

Anne

Good morning everyone,

The relaxing weekend I envisioned just didn't happen. Friday night I got really mad at my boyfriend and decided to have a glass of wine to calm myself down b/c I knew I wouldn't sleep at all that night...which quickly spiraled out of control. I made myself so sick, and spent all of Saturday in bed. Not very mature of me. We made up Sunday and talked it through and all, but I really feel like I've been through the wringer, physically and emotionally. We hardly ever fight and it upset both of us a lot, plus my body is quite mad w/ me since I just don't drink like that. But...it is completely my own fault. (I mean the fight wasn't, but my behavior afterwards was.)

I didn't eat much of anything Saturday and didn't make it to the gym, which closes at 1:00 PM Sat. and is closed Sun. But today is a new day, and I will definitely be there after work. And I will not be touching alcohol for quite a while.

Meg, Robin beat me to it - pesto freezes very well. My Mom always made up a bunch and freeze it in snack-sized plastic bags. We take tons of fresh basil and smoosh it down in the blender (watch your spatula top - we have de-headed many a spatula with this technique, we never learn, lol) and add lots and lots of garlic, just a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and maybe a few walnuts but they're not necessary. It makes more of a thick paste than liquid consistency. We always add freshly grated parmesan but wait until we're mixing it into the pasta or whatever - I recently found out that all these years and mom just doesn't like having to clean the parmesan out of the blender b/c it sticks on the sides so much. If you need more liquid and don't want to add more olive oil, I've heard low sodium chicken broth works well. Mmm, yum...I wish my basil grew better! It is very sensitive to the salt spray from the ocean on my porch.

Robin, congrats on dropping your ticker!

Lily, this is a Weight Watchers recipe for "General Tsao's Chicken" that I really love. Nobody ever knows it's WW when I serve it to them. It has a lot less sodium than any Chinese food from restaurant. I have the exact calories, fat g, sodium, etc. at home but I'll try to remember to bring it tomorrow and post.

General Tsao's Chicken
POINTS: 6
Yields: 4 servings

(Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken and sauce and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.)

3/4 cup canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp peanut oil
2 medium scallion(s), chopped
2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or 1 dried chili pepper, minced
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cup cooked white rice, kept hot

In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.

Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Hi everyone else.

Hi all!

Been away for a while, but in between last weekend at the festival, being a bit under the weather after that (thats wat you get for partying to hard ) and then a computer crash it took me a while. Luckily my BF is a computergenius and he managed to save all the data and transfer it to a new harddrive , gotta love the man for being a geek sometimes!

The house is slowwwly starting to look better, still a lot of work to do but we'll get there. I finally found my scale back last week and despite my misbehaviour last weekend i'm down half a pound from my tickerweight.

Oeh gotta go, BF is home early from work today (just walked in) so maybe we can do some extra stuff on the house today.

Back tomorrow!

Had a great weekend, but not a good food weekend. Back in the saddle today! Starting with a run soon.

Hi everyone. I might check in properly later but on the issue of pesto, has anyone tried adding chicken stock in place of some of the oil? We have plenty of basil and LOVE pesto but it is quite a calorie bomb and lightening would be nice.

We also freeze it individually in ice-cube trays and then put the cubes in a big ziplock bag. 3 or 4 cubes is enough for pasta for 2 people.

Good morning everyone! Just popping in to say hi. It's a busy day at work today.

Hi everyone,

I spent Sunday visiting with my MIL. She is really stressed out having oldest SD and new baby living with her. Samantha is lying to her and having a BF already picking her up on weekends to go stay with him. It really makes me mad , as she should be spending weekends doing everything possible to see her other 2 kids. I just feel totally at a loss and so sad for those other 2 babies that need a mom so bad and are getting the shaft on this. I don't feel like she's matured or grown a dang bit from all of this. All she wants to do is jump right in with the next man and not even fight for her kids. I'm to the point, that I think they will be better off without her. I'm ready to just forget about her and me and DH have the kids as much as possible. After all, it is impossible to force someone to stand up and be responsible. I've just never known a mother like this and it's hard for me to face that she is perfectly happy having someone else raise her kids. Sorry for the rant. I don't say much to DH about this as She is still his daughter and doesn't want anything bad said about her. BTW, she has confided in Shelbey that she is sleeping with the new guy and is not on birth control. I feel horrible that my MIL got stuck with her and all this mess. This may sound horrible of me but I think MIL dumping her at a Shelter for unwed mothers might be the reality check that she needs. Tough Love sort of thing.

My eating yesterday was bad. I did at least refuse the big plate of donuts my MIL offered with our coffee. I just couldn't bring myself to go that FAR off plan. I'm trying to tighten my reins today on my eating and exercise and not let a bad day turn into a bad week.

Thurs. I take Lacy to OK City to the gastroenterologist. I hope we can get some answers there.

Shane is still living here for now. I expect he'll move out next week after he gets his big paycheck that has 45 hrs. of overtime on it.

Megan, thanks for that recipe, it looks really good. I'll try it sometime after I buy groceries again.

Morning all! What a lovely weekend we had. Weather was absolutely perfect, and we finished yesterday with a sunset that would do the tropics proud. Almost unheard of this far north. The sky was completely red.

Lily - sorry to hear about your oldest SD. The 2 older kids are living with their Dad now? I'm glad that you can have them with you a lot. At least they're young enough not to feel it's their fault their mom isn't there. I don't understand people like you SD either, and why, if she wants to behave like that, doesn't she at least use birth control. Arghhhh. to you.

Megan - good for you, just pick up and get back into the routine of good eating and exercise. Just keep the memory of how you felt when you're tempted with the alcohol.....

Busy day here. I'm working only 3.5 days, and I have 2 grant reports and a preliminary budget to finish. They're all in various stages of completion and unless someone needs huge changes, it's plenty of time to finish them.

Well, if that was my vacation ... I've had it. I'm about ready to step out the door and back into the work-a-day world

It's tomatoes that are threatening here. I'll have to find a nice salsa recipe. Anybody?

Hello everyone

Had a pretty good weekend...Friday had dinner at home for my father's 47th birthday. My mom made a meatloaf (using ground chicken instead) which was delicious and I cooked mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, and corn. I also prepared a homemade guacamole and cut up tortillas into triangles, sprayed them with cooking spray, sprinkled some salt on them and baked them. That was a hit. I forgot to add baking powder to the carrot cake so you can just imagine how that came out! Saturday went out to a bar with my BF, his brother and his wife, and his wife's sister. I was good and only had a Bud Light. And then Sunday we celebrated my BF's litte sister's 15th birthday at Olive Garden. I had salad w/ dressing on the side, a breadstick, and the Venetian Apricot Chicken which was realllyy good. I checked the nutritional info online and fit it into my calories for the day. Then we went back to their house and had ice cream cake...I had a small piece and also fit that into my calories. Usually I regret saving so many calories for dessert but it was soo good..I guess I can thank TOM for increasing my sweets cravings but that cake definitely satisfied it.

In spite of budgeting all of this calorie wise, I did spend a little extra time in the gym today just in case, hehe. 40 mins on the treadmill instead of 30 and lots of strength training. I love the definition you get from toning -- sometimes when I'm walking I feel my outer thigh muscles and it reminds me that all the strength training is soooo worth it!

Meg, I know you can get right back on track this week. It's actually reassuring to me to see that super successful maintainers like you can and do slip up once in a while and still get right back on track.

Robin, WTG on overcoming a 3 party weekend & congrats on getting down to 131!! You look reallyyy great in the pictures you posted -- you must look amazing now. Please post some more inspiring pictures asap!

Anne, glad to hear you had a good little getaway. That accountability thread sounds like a good idea.

Megan, I'm sorry to hear about your non relaxing weekend. But I'm glad you were able to resolve the issue with your BF. That General Tsao's Chicken recipe sounds yummy. I am definitely going to try it.

Mars, congrats on being under your ticker weight!

Lily, aww those poor babies! I hope she has a wake up call pretty soon -- she is in dire need of one. Not being on birth control = more babies. I agree with the tough love idea. I can't imagine how upsetting this must be to your MIL and the rest of the family. And good idea on tightening the reins today -- you just got back to goal.. don't let it get away from you! You can do this Hope everything goes well with Lacy's doctor visit.

Pat, a red sky.. that sounds beautiful. Please snap a picture next time!

And a hello to Ennay, Baffled, Allison, Susan and anyone else I missed

Morning everyone. Or rather evening.

I spent the entire day doing major lanscaping. My garden was a complete failure due to hard clay soil so I have spent the entire day hauling dirt and rocks in anticipation for next year. (and I think I might be able to get some chard and lettuce before it frosts)

And I am not even done. I moved more than a truckload of dirt I can't believe how much I did. Being in shape has its benefits.

But everyones talk of pesto and tomatoes has me green with envy.

That Chicken recipe looks delicious.

Hi, everyone. I'm doing okay. For the first time in a while, I was under 120 pounds on Monday morning. I didn't buy any outside prepared food the whole weekend, and though I ate more than I usually do during the week, it was a more reasonable around 1600 calories compared to the over 2000 I've done in the past. Last weekend I did pretty well, too. I only ate "out" once -- I picked up a carryout dinner from a local seafood place that Saturday which was steamed snapper over rice with wilted spinach and an Asian ponzu sauce. It was good. As you can see, my weight in fitday has been more stable rather than the repetitive rise and fall based on weekend overeating.

Well, as some of you know, I've had a thing for eating the same meals over and over again. It was only several months ago that I broke the habit of eating the same thing for dinner every day (I'd done it for about 3 months in a row). Now, I'm still just rotating between 2 or 3 different dinners, but I've been eating the same thing for breakfast daily for about 3 years, and I've been on my current weekday lunch for about 4 months.

I usually get some sort of feeling before I suddenly wake up one day and decide to eat something different. Over the last 2 weeks, I've felt like I was heading for a change, but I didn't know what it would be. I was thinking it would be lunch, since breakfast has been going strong with cream of wheat daily for 3 years. I just couldn't imagine changing it. However, on Saturday, I started thinking about hot Grape-nuts, but had no idea why. I went out and bought some Sunday morning. Well, I had hot Grape-nuts for breakfast this AM! (I also had it for lunch Sunday, since I was so eager to eat it.) It's so weird how this happens. I had just bought a new box of cream of wheat on Saturday. It's probably been more than 5 years since I last had some hot Grape-nuts -- maybe 10 years. I wonder if this is a permanent change.

I'm so mentally twisted! My dad thought it was weird that I view this as something I don't really control. It just happens. Yes, I'm a weirdo.

Ladies, I've had a tremendously stressful day. I had a much needed talk with DH and told him it's marriage counseling or divorce. His choice, at this point it makes no difference to me. I feel totally hopeless, helpless and trapped. The problem is not anything new, it has been recurring throughout our marriage and I can't take it any more. I am very scared for mine and Lacy's future and how we will survive by ourselves. But, I hold very little hope that any counseling will help.

My son does not want me to get a divorce but Lacy wants me to. Shane knows that Victor loves me , but Lacy can't stand seeing me repeatedly being hurt. I feel completely torn apart.

It's really strange how I put up with all this crap when I was obese and felt like I didn't deserve anything better. I have now regained some self-esteem and feel like I do deserve better and I'm gonna get it , even if it means being alone.

I have made me an appt. to see a therapist for my own sanity.

All of this came about this morning after I received phone calls from 2 different loan companies where Vic had borrowed money for Gambling again without my knowledge. I feel like I have lost any inkling of respect and trust that I've ever had for him. I have became so suspicious lately that I've been calling his work to make sure he's at work. I've been checking the mileage on his vehicle for any discrepancy.

Deep down in my heart, I don't think I "LOST" my wedding rings or my diamond bracelet. I think they were used by him for loan collaterals for his gambling money. Even though he denies taking my jewelry, I don't believe him since he's lied about everything else.

I found out that he'd borrowed over $1000.00 from Shane . This really hurt me that he would take my son's hard-earned money. I also learned that he owes money to almost all of his coworkers.

I feel so sad and depressed. If it were happening to someone else, I'd tell them to get the **** out. Why do I have such a hard time doing that for myself. I think my biggest fear is that I have a very high mortgage and won't be able to afford it. Plus, without his insurance, I won't be able to afford my very expensive med's for my liver.

I guess what hurts the most is that although we have a beautiful home, a nice camper and boat, nice vehicles to drive and are able to pay our bills and live comfortably albeit not rich, it isn't good enough for him. He continuously gets totally depressed each week when he doesn't win the damn lottery. This addiction of his is every bit as devastating to a family as if he were an alcoholic or drug addict.

BTW, he cried and said he was sorry and that it would never happen again. I've heard this so many times that if I hadn't been crying, I would have laughed in his face. He did pick up the phone and scheduled individual counseling for himself and marriage counseling for us. Otherwise, his stuff would be being thrown into boxes about now.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions please feel free to chime in.