Andrea I think you made a good choice for Loki. I'm glad they are looking at his habits and problems carefully before placing him. I hope he finds a strong leader who has the time it takes to train him to be a good dog.

Dogs do take a lot of time. When Mudpie passes away I'm going to force myself to take a long, long (probably 6 months) look before committing to dog ownership. I would be getting an adult dog so there will be a lot of retraining involved. Luckily my dog will get enough exercise so that the training will be easier. A tired dog is a happier dog.

thanks for all the beverage suggestions. I think anything with carbonation contains carbolic acid - which is why my teeth are cracking now. I will probably opt for cucumber and fruit waters and iced tea and coffee, caf and decaf.

Dagmar :yoga:

Bevvies???
 

Forgot about all the milks - cow, goat, soy, almond, etc.

Anyone drink goat's milk? Or tried oat milk? I've seen these two lately in the grocery store and am tempted to try them.

Dagmar :shrug:

Frankly I'm afraid to try those "other" milks. My doctor suggested I move to soy milk or almond milk but they just have no appeal to me at all. I don't drink a lot of milk but it is nice for that rare occasion (like this morning) where I craved cereal (with my banana). Yesterday I had a banana smoothie. And how does one cook with the "other" milks? Do they react the same? Now that DS is coming home (Saturday) I'll have milk all the time (otherwise I only have it on hand in small amounts for the recipes that require it). Once my MIL suggested the kind of milk for folks with lactose intolerance--whatever they do to it gives it a longer shelf life than regular milk. It worked great in recipes but both my kids drank some and said it wasn't as good.

We're proceeding on our business change so it appears the next few weeks will be filled with extra work. While I don't look forward to the extra work at least it should help the day go by faster.

Speaking of faster, can you believe the year is almost half over? Crazy!

Andrea-- I'm sure you have very mixed feelings about Loki, but it sounds like you made the best decision. How are your kids with it?

I don't drink milk, but I do have almond milk in my oatmeal each morning (and I order it when I get acai bowls). I'm not sure about using it in cooking, etc., but the calories are super low and it has lots of vitamins, etc.

I am plumb exhausted. Couple of nights of not enough sleep coupled with anxiety about dd and temps well over 100 degrees have wiped me out I think. I managed to squeeze in an Insanity DVD before the choir banquet last night. So, while that appeased my mind, I think it taxed me further. The dinner was what would be expected-- buffet style with just a few choices-- caesar salad, two pastas and bread. I had a reasonable portion of everything except the bread. There was also cake which I didn't have. I wanted it but I convinced myself it was costco cake and I came home and had half a cantaloupe. My weight is up .6 from yesterday but up 2 pounds from where I was last week, so I need to reign it back in. I can't let my exhaustion cloud my food/exercise choices. I'm hoping the coffee will kick in soon. Thursday is the last day at school with kids, though I work through the following Thursday. More challenges coming later this week like our end of year staff party....

I'm very fond of the unsweetened almond milk. I have a friend doing a 12-day Detox plan and she has me convinced to try making my own. I bought the raw almonds but haven't taken the other two steps yet. I've tried oat, rice, soy and cashew milk; the only one I won't repeat (ever) is soy milk - yuck! Goat milk I have heard can take some getting used to; when I find it I'll try it.

Have to figure out my "fat camp" operational rules by the 15th - I think I'll target whatever waist and hip measurements will get me into size 8s of my favorite brand of pants. I have a pretty good idea of how much exercise I can fit into my schedule and what kinds I'm willing to do how often. Should be interesting ...

DS starts driver's training next Monday - I can't believe that I've managed to keep a kid alive for almost 15 years! :D

Becky-- must have missed it-- what is the "fat camp" you mention?

What is wrong with cow's milk? :dunno: alinnell, why did your doctor tell you to switch? I love milk. I drink organic 1% milk. It is a great source of calcium and protein, plus vitamin-D fortified. I have no problem with lactose. I don't get why everyone is so down on milk these days.

LOL Jay, I'm with you. Those "milk is poison" website drive me nuts. Unless you have an actual physical problem with milk (as many do), or an ethical issue with the treatment of dairy cows, I see no reason to switch. Skim milk doesn't have many more calories than the other milks, and most of the other ones come sweetened so have added sugar. As for the ethical part, you can often find locally sourced milk from humanely treated cows if you're willing to pay the extra money for it.

FWIW while I was on no dairy due to my kids' intolerance, I drank rice milk. Of all the different "milks" -- IMO, if it doesn't come from an animal, it's not really "milk" -- rice milk is the only one I like enough to actually drink. Probably because I like horchata. All I know about goat milk is that compositionally it's the most similar to human milk.

In any case now that I can have it again, I'm restocked on skim milk, plus we are fully stocked on organic whole milk for DDs.

There is nothing wrong with it. And my doctor didn't tell me not to drink it. I had mentioned I don't drink a lot of it and he suggested the other milks to try. Regular milk just doesn't keep long enough! On occasion I can get very small bottles (8-12 ounce) that are sufficient for a week. But rarely can I get those in skim (my preferred). My MIL suggested the kind for lactose intolerant because it lasts longer (it does) and she said the "other" milks also last longer. Nine times out of ten, if I buy a carton (even just a quart) it spoils before I can use it all. From time to time I'll catch it before it spoils and freeze a cup or so, but then you have to remember to thaw it before you need to use it. It's just a hassle.

I do have an issue with the treatment of dairy cows (conventional) and an even bigger issue with ultrapasteurization. Since we rarely eat cereal for breakfast, there isn't much milk consumed at our house anyway. No great loss. We buy a half gallon every month or so of organic milk when it's needed, but no one in the house desires it as a beverage.

Michele, over on the Chicks Up for A Challenge forum, there's a thread for a summer challenge, "new-fat-camp-12-week-sizzling-summer-challenge". I've decided to join in and see if I can't move the needle on my composition and get a little smaller this summer. 12 weeks sounds pretty doable and my head is about ready to play ball. And swim, and Frisbee, and TRX, and Kinect, and garden, and HIIT and all that good stuff. The start day is Saturday. Woo!

Becky-- sounds interesting!

Right now I'm up for interesting. My work day is crawling. It's beautiful outside and I just want to be out there. I'm craving something sweet which is dangerous. I tried to make a cup of coffee but I guess our office Keurig is broken so I wasted my cup-- grrr--- made a cup of diet hot chocolate instead so hopefully that satisfies my sweet tooth for now.

alinnell, you're using milk as a "condiment." I go through a half gallon of milk a week, all by myself.

Blue Diamond also has a new coconut milk (& almond milk mix I think), but it does taste faintly of coconut so you do have to like that sort of thing. The reason the lactose reduced milk 'doesn't taste as good' is because it has less sugars in it - lactose is milk sugar - no wonder the kids don't like it if they are used to full sugar milk. Cow's milk gives me thick mucous in my respiratory passages & it doesn't matter what fat % it is so I don't drink it any more. I like the unsweetened Vanilla almond milk because it (and rice milk - although it is 3x higher in calories than my almond choice) are the closest to the mouth feel of skim - none of that sticky, cloying, fatty feel in your mouth after you've swallowed. Calcium is a non-issue for me as I have been tested just within the past month and my bone density is as good as a 20 year old of my weight & height (I'm 50).

I make gluten free pancakes with almond milk & they turn out fine. I generally don't do any other baking, but coconut milk and almond milk work fine in all my other recipes that have cooked sauces/'gravies'.

Liana

Wow. We buy 1% milk 2 gallons at a time, and they're gone inside of a week. 3 DS's who drink 2 glasses a day each will do that. No soy here (ewww), but I'll use a bit of vanilla almond milk in recipes occasionally.

I like cow's milk but mostly on cereal and in coffee and tea. We use about 2 litres per week and more in summer as we have smoothies for breakfast some days. I really don't like skim milk so we drink 1%. The organic stuff is out of our price range up here so I get regular supermarket milk. I've tried almond and soy milk on cereal - dogsits where there was nothing else - and didn't like the result.

I keep thinking a glass of milk with dinner would be nice but usually I'm trying to get my water quota for the day drunk then. I really don't like water so usually I mostly avoid it during the day and force myself to drink a big glass with dinner.

I think i will switch out my night time bread and butter for a glass of milk. I might try putting a bit of cinnamon or something in the milk a couple of hours before I drink it - liven it up a bit and make it more of a "treat" thing.

Dagmar :hat: :lol: