HI,
I don't know why, but I didn't get an email that you two had replied the last two posts. I have been pretty busy. The leaves are at their peak this week. It has stayed very warm until yesterday when we got some rain and then it was very fall like.
I planted all my bulbs and started raking. We have one tree in the back yard ( don't know the name of it, it is not a common one) and it lets go of it's leaves in just a few days. I like to think of it as a very courteous tree. Then there is a large elm and 2 big maples in the front yard and they just let go of their leaves a few at a time. I think of them as packrats that can't let go of anything, .
I trimmed the bushes out front for the last time this year and cleaned up one car for the winter. It was the convertible, so DH had to put the top down and go for a ride. Probably one of the last rides before winter.
I'm now down to 209 this morning. I feel kind of sore as I"m incorporating bodysculpting (light handweights with mild aerobics) into my exercise routine. I'm still BF'ing every moring and doing the gazelle for 20 min. as long as I'm not too busy with yard work. My goal for this month was to be at 207, so looks like I'll make it. I keep running into roadblocks, like situations where everyone is drinking and I just don't do it, because I know it will stall my progress. Besides, I hate that hungover, not sure if I will live feeling the next day.
Anne, big birthday wishes to your mom
I hope she had a good one. What are you having for Thanksgiving dinner? I'm still thinking about it, but I think I'll just have a traditional one with stuff that I will eat in addition. I can not eat the dressing, use starch not in the gravy and mash some cauliflower for faux potatoes.
Yesterday, I made cream of cauliflower soup. While I thought it was pretty good, DH wouldn't even taste it. I told him what was in it (cauliflower) and he said ick. Reminds me of a little kid. When he will try cauliflower dishes, he is always surprised how good they taste. I did learn that you shouldn't substitute cream in equal amounts for milk. The recipe called for 4 cups of milk, so I added a qt of cream. I think 2 cups of cream with 2 cups of chicken stock would have been much more palatable. I used the notstarch and it was just as good as using cornstarch. It thickened the soup very nicely. I can't remember how much it was, but for just thickening soups and sauces, it is great to have around. There are 2.3 g of fiber carbs in each serving.
Aleka, is your noisey neighbor closing down his cottage for the season or is he a local? The race season is over here, for the most part. They have a few little races on Sat. but they don't have too many attend. I like to see fall come for that reason and also, because those kids are back in school and have something to do beside getting bored and looking for something to get into (trouble).
The more I read Dr. Phils book, the less I agree with him. I don't agree with his diet at all.
Hope everyone is doing well, Nikki

nikki, glad to see that you posted. Congratulations on getting down to 209. I know you will make it to 207 by the end of the month. You will be below 200 in no time. It is still warm here, in the 70's. Our foliage just started to pop within the past couple of days. It seems that we just commented on the lack of color, then there it was! Our leaves have started to come down a little bit, not enough to rake yet. When they all come down, DH usually makes one last pass with his little John Deere tractor and mow up all the leaves.
When we are in social situations, sometimes I have a club soda w/lime, and DH has ginger-ale, mostly we have non-alcoholic drinks if we have to drive a good distance. Closer to home, he'll usually have 1 beer and I'll have a wine spritzer to cut the alcohol down a bit.
Do you miss having stuffing with your turkey? If you do miss it, why don't you make Suzanne's stuffing? I think I will make it for my Thanksgiving dinner. I think I will look for celery root to make instead of mashed potatoes. The only thing I will have that isn't low carb is butternut squash. I absolutely love it.
Do you think a low-carb store would have that Thickin-Starch?
Yes, our noisy neighbors are up and they will be closing up their mobile homes (they are brothers) and hopefully we won't lay eyes on them until next May. One of them sometimes comes in Nov. to hunt.


ANNE, hope you have a good feast tomorrow.

Have to start breakfast. We're having Suzanne's pancakes, but they will be un-Suzanne, because I'm adding cranberries & walnuts to them.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Aleka, what kind of sausage do you use in SS dressing? I tried it once and it was so dripping with fat that even I, the queen of fat, couldn't eat it.
I think I saw Thick and thin notStarch at our health food store, otherwise on line its at www.expertfoods.com. The ingredients are vegetable gums (acacia, guar, carob, xanthan)-whatever those are.
I will have to make SS pancakes sometime. Do you use syrup and what brand, or do you make your own? I tried Atkins pancake mix and syrup and thought it was both nasty and took a long time to get the taste out of my mouth.

Oh man, I went to check out the price and can't believe I spent that much on a small package of thickener. That was back in the day, before budgeting. Well, it is nice to have and since I don't use it too often, it will go far.

nikki,
I haven't made Suzanne's stuffing, but a friend of mine did and she used turkey sausage. When I do make it, I will use the HOT Italian turkey sausage because DH & I like spicy food. Another thing I do all the time no matter what I'm frying, is to drain it on 2 paper towels, one ontop of the other to absorb a lot of the grease. One thing I cannot stand is anything greasy.
For maple syrup I use Country Cottage made w/Splenda by Maple Grove Farms. I really like it. I have seen on SS board in the past, and noticed that a lot of people used that brand. You could possibly find it in your grocery store. If you can't find it, let me know and they may have a website you could order some from. The pancakes turned out delicious this morning. I really like the food on her WOE, but there are too many other rules to follow with the food combining.
Thanks for the website. I'll check it out. There are a few natural food stores in my area, by that I mean within 25 miles I'll get the name of it and see if I can find any. Have you had any of the low-carb pasta, Keto? I saw an add for it in Prevention, then went online to see where it's sold. If it's not too..too expensive I might get some.
Take care. Aleka

Aleka, I don't think I've seen that brand of syrup in our healthfood store. It's a small store and they have a lot of stuff, but not too much of anything I'm interested in. They do have low carb pasta and I bought a bag. I haven't tried it yet, it's setting on my low carb shelf where I put all the stuff I've bought, then don't use. I still have lots of SS dressing mixes up there. I did make Atkins brownies this afternoon and they are pretty good. They aren't as good as regular brownies, but if you put some low carb ice cream or maybe some whipped cream on them, they would be just great for a birthday party, to replace a cake. They make an 8x8 pan, so if you either split it in half (they are thin so this would be hard), crumbled them or made two pans, then layered one layer of brownie, one layer of whipping cream, another brownie layer and more cream on top, this would be a fabulous dessert for a special occasion and still pretty low carb.]
Finding any kind of sausage here other than pork sausage is hard. I'll have to look for it.
Anne, have a good Thanksgiving and don't work too hard.

nikki, I find the maple syrup in the grocery store where they sell all the other brands of maple syrup. Suzanne is now selling brownie mix, and there is a recipe on the HSN site on how to make a crust out of the brownie mix for her cheesecake recipe. The brownies sound delicious. In some grocery stores I find the turkey sausage where they sell fresh sausage, and in some stores where they sell chicken & turkey. Hope you have good luck in finding it.

Have a good evening.
Aleka

Hi,
This was one of those days, we should have stayed in bed.
Our satelite dish was replaced last week with a new one. The guy said (after he had already installed it) that it wouldn't work as well as the old one, because it needed to be moved off the house and down into the yard to avoid the trees. If I wanted him to do it, it would cost $100 and I'd have to call the company and have it scheduled. I told DH and he said we could do it ourselves. So all day, we've been trying to do this. He did get it off the roof, put more cable on it, dug the hole and put in a pipe for it. Cemented the pole in the ground, put the satilite on the pole and we can't get any reception. After I called a million numbers and talked with lots of very unhelpful people and uncountable recordings, I finally got a real person that was sympathetic and said they would send a service person out free of charge to get the signal back on track. It just won't be til Wed. I was so angry and upset, I actually started to cry when she asked me for my name and address. I'd given it out so many times before, just to be transferred to someone else that said that they were the wrong person and on and on. It didn't help that DH was also ranting and raving all over and wanting to take a hammer to the dish.
On top of all this, my old cat is dying and it's tearing me up. She still goes into the field to hunt, but her breathing is so labored. The vet gave me medicine for her, but it's not helping. I know I should have her put to sleep, but every time I look at her, it's like she's telling me she wants to live. She's my favorite cat and this is really hard for me. I've had her for 16 years.
Well, got to go. Sorry this is such a down post. I sure hope you guys are doing better. One postive-I didn't revert back to any old habits to cope with my stress, no food off plan, no alcohol (that was a hard one), no binge eating. We did eat out for supper and I had one small steak, one small chicken beast and a cup of cream of broccoli soup. I imagine there was flour in the soup, but that was the only thing I'd eaten since breakfast, which was eggs and bacon, so I figured that was ok.
Anne, I do hope your Thanksgiving was a good one. Aleka, I'll look for the sausage again, maybe this year it will be available. Nikki

nikki, I am so sorry about your kitty and the awful day you had with the satellite dish. What a day you had. It is very frustating to be passed from dept. to dept. when you're trying to get some help. Thankfully you were finally able to talk to someone. Your poor kitty. What did the Vet say that was causing your cat's labored breathing? Both of our cats died at 16, one with an enlarged heart and one with kidney failure. So, I know what you are going through.

ANNE, hope you had a good Thanksgiving yesterday.

Have a good one!
Aleka

HI,
Thanks, Aleka. It's hard to let go of an old friend, which is how I see my cat. She is always there, looking at me every time I walk out the door, on my lap when I set down.
We have a new little cat, Stripe and he will help me to get on with things when my old cat finally breathes her last. I was just figuring up how old I will be when Stripe is 16 and I'll be in my early 60's. Seems impossible.
Anyhow, it's a new day. No tv is refreshing. DH didn't think so and went to bed at 7pm and is still asleep. I found that I had lots of computer time and was able to get on my gazelle for another 1/2 hour sprint.
I was putting this foam sealant in the foudation cracks yesterday and some how, I got in my hair. You can't get it off your skin or hair, it has to wear off. So I cut out the big blobs and will go get a hair cut today. Fortunately, it was only in the ends. I don't know how it happened, my hair was in a pony tail.
The weather is now very fall like here. Cold and rainy. I'm making chili for supper. Speaking of that, I better get it in the crockpot, Later, Nikki

Hi Everyone!

I had a great weekend and was able to stick on my program.
I had turkey, ham and green beans and butter.
This weekend we are celebrating Sean and Davids 14th birthday.
Where does the time go?

Nikkic, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. Pets are a member
of the family and it can be very painful to watch them suffer

Our weather is windy and cool. We are in for heavy rain and
I am praying we don't have a flood in the basement.

Aleka, I find anything low carb in Canada is a fortune. Not only
that there is very very little in the way of products. GNC is the
only place I know of that sells Atkins mixes but I can afford them.

Hope you all have a great day.
Anne.

Hi,
A better day is ahead, I'm sure. The Directv guy is coming this morning to fix our satillite dish, so I will be able to see the shopping channels again. I'm sure HSN is worried where I've been, QVC isn't as I ordered over the internet. OH, he's here, yeah! DH is taking care of him, so I can finish this quick note.
I bought the Food for Life low carb bread at our health food store yesterday. I had it last night, toasted and it wasn't bad. There are 4 carbs in a slice, but only 3 that count, according to Atkins. I still count them all . It cost 4.29 a loaf and I figure if I only use it a few times a week, it won't break the bank if I buy a loaf every month or so. It came frozen.
Anne, I'm so glad you had a good weekend. Goodness, it seems like just yesterday that you were saying the boys were 13. Time does pass quickly.
Got to go, have a good one, NIkki

Good morning,

We had a good rain storm overnight with lots of rain and wind. That took care of a lot of leaves. I've noticed a few bare trees in our front yard this morning. The rain has finally stopped, but we're to have wind for the next couple of days, and it's supposed to start getting colder, where the high will be in the 50-60 deg. range. I was supposed to meet a friend early this morning for a drive to the southern part of NH to The Christmas Tree Shop, but thankfully she postponed it until tomorrow. I wasn't looking forward to driving in the kind of rain we were having earlier.

ANNE, glad that you had a great Thanksgiving. A very Happy Birthday to your two sons! and many many more!!!
My FIL's birthday is Fri. and we're meeting my IL's for lunch at a seafood restaurant where he can eat free on his b'day.

nikki, how is your cat doing? I certainly know what it's like to lose a faithful friend. The other Boston Terrier we had before Lacee was my constant companion, she followed me around the house, sat in my lap, and we had a very special bond. I was devastated when we had to have her put to sleep. YAY!!!! Your satellite dish is back. I hope that you will e mail HSN to let them know where you've been. I have found 2 brands of low carb bread and each of them has 6 gm. net carbs per slice. One brand is Arnold and I forget what the other one is. I don't mind it, it is rather chewier than other bread.

Have a great day.
Aleka

Patches seems to be getting along. Her appetite is great, she is still hunting and she has returned to sitting at the back door and waiting for me to come out. Her breathing is still labored, but I decided that as long as she's eating and hunting, I won't worry about it. There is nothing more medically that can be done for her as her lungs are so badly damaged.
I was waiting all month for the TS on QVC yesterday, the Maxx New York handbags. I wanted to get them for the girls for Christmas so that's what I bought over the internet. I hope they are as nice as they look. Everyone on the Q's BB said they were worth the money, but some said they were grandmotherly looking. I had several points in my Mastercard savings account where they give you free stuff for points that you accumulate, so after saving them for years, thinking I would use them to take a trip to the Carribean (never going to happen), I cashed them in on gift cards and will put them in the purses. I got cards for Penneys, Bath and Body and a restaurant so the girls will have a nice purse that should last for years and money to spend shopping. I thought it was the perfect girl gift and they are real femine and will love it.
Nikki

Good Evening All:

Nikkic, I am glad to here Patches is doing ok. A good appetite
is always a good sign.

Sounds like you have picked a great Christmas fift for your girls!
I am sure they will love it You are smart to start your shopping
now. I too am beginning to look.

Guess what Joan Rivers is on Shopping Channel this weekend

Hi Aleka. We had terrible wind in Toronto today. It poured all night but we were lucky and the basement didn't leak! I thought
I would look like Phyllis Diller by the time I got to work today
with the strong winds. It was too much.

Have a great evening everyone!

Anne.