Hello there!

Hope you guys are having a good weekend. We've been having unseasonable temps. Yesterday it was in the 70's. Today it's about 20 deg. cooler...so back to reality.

We had a lot of excitement here in the wee hrs. of the morning on Sun. A drunk driver took down a telephone pole just around the corner from our street, left his vehicle, and ran. Lacee wanted to go out around 2:00 am and when we woke up we noticed that our power was out. DH took the dog out armed with a flashlight. He saw a lot of flashing lights through the trees, then saw one of our police cruisers coming down our street and you could tell he was searching for someone. Then a little while later he came back out. A few minutes later, another cruiser went down our street, we could tell this wasn't one of our cruisers because our PD drives SUVs. We figured it was either a State Trooper or someone from a neighboring town. We got our power back around 5:00 am. One of the roads leading to the development where we live (we have 2) is totally blocked off. The power co. has been out there about 12 hrs. working. There are wires everywhere. The last time we looked, the cable and telephone repairmen were there along with a fire truck and the police. They did catch the guy, but don't know what happened to him. Luckily nobody was hurt or killed. I think the guy is in deep doo-doo.

nikki, your coats sound really lovely. You seemed to have gotten them fast. Usually it takes forever for something to come. I also love the smell of leather. Your recipe for the taco meat sounds delicious. I copied it and plan on making it some night. I made Suzanne's egg crepes earlier and I will make her lasagna with them. DH & I both love that dish. I am planning on making her cheeseburger pie for supper.

ANNE, how did David's checkup go Friday? Hope everything went well.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Aleka

Hi,
Well, you did have a bit of excitment, Aleka. Glad your power is back on and that no one was hurt. That will probably cost that guy a lot.
We are having a very boring weekend here. DH is working and sleeping, it's raining and suppose to rain for the next week, possibly. It's also rather cold. I have cleaned the house and am just looking for something to do. I'm still teaching DD to drive and we will go out this afternoon to do that. I asked her to set some goals for herself so she can see how far she's come. She is a good driver and is doing well. Still needs to practice parking and backing up and just needs to feel more comfortable over all.

The last 2 coats I bid on went for more than my maximum bid, so I'm out of the woods. Need to get one for DD #2 still, and have a bid in on one for her, then that is it for awhile. It's nerve racking, but I sure love to get a good bargain.

I've never made the egg crepes before, they seem hard. Does it take a little practice?

Take it easy and have a good weekend you guys. Hope things are going well for you Anne, Nikki

Good morning,

Our neighbors came down for a visit yesterday afternoon and we were discussing the accident. He told us that he heard that whatever happened also destroyed part of the road too. We noticed that there was a tarp covering some of the road where they were stringing wires. DH went out after our neighbors left and the wires were back up, but the pavers were there doing the road. They were paving in the dark. When we went to bed around 9:00 pm, we could still hear the machines. DH & I will take a walk later today to see if we can see anything.

nikki, how did the driving lesson go? Sorry you were outbid on that coat. Good luck to you on the other coat. Making the crepes is easy. It does take some practice to flip them over and not have them all mooshed. The first two came out that way, but I don't care because it's going into the casserole dish for lasagna and it'll come out all mooshed up anyway. I have realized that if I let it cook a bit longer, and the top is almost set, I don't have as much of a problem turning it over. I use a soup ladle to put them in the frying pan. DH doesn't like a lot of her recipes I make, but he does like the lasagna. I didn't make the cheeseburger pie last night because our neighbors left around 6:00 pm.

ANNE, how was your weekend? Hope it was a good one.

Have a good day!
Aleka

Good soggy afternoon everyone:

You would not believe the rain we have had these last days.
It is not suppose to let up until Wednesday. This is my first day
back at work after a week off but I honestly don't mind working
when its like this outside

Aleka, that was quite abit of excitement you had!! Drinking and
driving always a bad idea. Thank God no one was injured.

Nikkic, those recipes look wonderful. I will make the cauliflower
this week!

I am on the fence thinking about getting the flu shot. We have
a big campaign going at the moment and I can't decide what to
do. I always wonder if this shot makes you more vulnerable to
gettting sick at least for the first couple of weeks following the
needle.

Have a great day all.
Anne.

HI!
It is raining here still too. This morning, they said that if it had been snow, we would have 20 inches, but it's rained all day, so it would be more now. Of course, the basement has a small stream running through it. Nothing is on the floor to get wet, so it's just water running through to the sewer. Someday, we hope to have that problem fixed.
Thanks, Aleka for telling me how to make the crepes, I've wanted to for a long time, but figured they would turn out like scrambled eggs. The driving lessons are going very well. I hope winter doesn't scare her into waiting until next summer. It scares me driving in the winter sometimes too.
Anne, I've been thinking about the flu shot too. I know that it is suppose to be safe, but I still have to wonder. They say that it will make it easier to tell if you have SARS if you've already had the flu shot and then get flu like symptoms. What a comforting thought. There is a new spray you can inhale that is like the flu shot, but the side effects and precautions are so many, I would not even think of taking that.
I have been on a roll today. I put a slipcover that I"ve had in the basement for 2 years, on the couch. The couch was destroyed by one of the cats (shredded). It changed the whole room. I went to a discount store and bought a new throw rug for in front of it and new pillows. Then I removed all the clutter from the living room, put in the new stuff and it looks a whole lot better.
Take care, Nikki

Good Morning Ladies:
What a night we had!!! mopping up the basement
all night long.......
I think the rain is suppose to be letting up sometime today.

Nikkic, I will probably wait a couple of weeks then go ahead and
have the shot. I keep thinking about my dad and figuring if
it saves me from giving something to him.........

Aleka, hows your weather? I hope you are doing better than
me!!

All the stores downtown are decorated for Christmas. Seems
abit early but it will be here before we know it

Have either of your two tried low carb pizza? I am thinking of
giving it a try.

Have a good one.
Anne.

Morning,
Anne, I think that's a good idea, getting the shot. DH got his last week and he really wants me to get one. I will, I've had them before and I'm not against them, just that nasal spray flu stuff.
I've not tried the low carb pizza yet. I made some homemade Atkins bread the other day and it was not very good. I did try a new kind of low carb chocolate bar from Walmart and it was as good if not better than Herseys. It also gave me really, really bad gas. Even the cats wouldn't set on my lap.
Got to go make breakfast, Nikki

Good morning,

I guess the 3 of us are having the same type of weather....rain. Our ground is saturated, there are puddles everywhere. Luckily our basement or garage aren't flooded. It doesn't look like the weather will change very much in our area this week. One good thing, at least it's not snow.

ANNE, that is awful about your basement. We've had that problem a couple of times, so I know what you're going through. Hope you don't have anymore problems. That's a good idea about you getting your flu shot. DH & I don't get one, and we've been very lucky..."knock-on-wood". I haven't tried the low carb pizza either. I have made Suzanne's using cream cheese that I like, but DH doesn't like it. What brand is it? Let us know how it is when you try it.

nikki, what was the low carb chocolate that you got? Malitol does that to me if I eat too much of it. One time I had bought some s/f jelly beans and ate quite a lot of them. BAAAAD MISTAKE!!! I have been eating the De-Lite ones and enjoying them. I try to have 1 every other day or so. When I make the crepes, I mix the eggs as if I was going to scramble them, except I don't add any liquid to them (when I have scrambled eggs, I usually add some water) then get a ladle and pour it into the pan. I use PAM instead of butter to grease the pan, only because I want to watch my saturated fats. We had the lasagna last night. I hate driving in the winter too. Luckily it's not often that I have to travel too far. When I do, I'm in a panic until I get home. My car is all wheel drive so it makes it a little easier to get around in the snow.

Have a great day.
Aleka

Aleka, I don't remember the brand of bar that it was, I'll have to see the next time I shop. I ate 2 of them, since I had no lunch and had no time to stop to get any. Probably one won't be so bad.
I've always added milk to my scrambled eggs, now, I add cream or sour cream. I won't add any to the crepes.
Aleka, are people in your area upset about what's going on with the Episcopal Church? I see reports about it every morning on the news. Seems like there are more important things to be concerned about, but I'm not in the middle of it either.

Anne, the stores have been getting Christmas decorations in for the last month here. The shopping channels keep running Christmas programs too. I do my shopping all year so I can get done by this time. The problem is, I keep seeing more stuff I'd like to get. It's hard to resist. I end up getting too much stuff for the girls. They have never complained though

Hi there! I normally post on the atkins thread and just lurk around here, but what the heck?

I had the flu shot last week and I'm sick this week. Not all that good, but my dh got really sick on saturday and is still in bed while I got sick yesterday and while I don't feel great, I'm back at work today and feeling better. So I got sick, but it could have been worse!

Also, I happened to try making low carb pizza over the weekend. I used CarbSense garlic & herb pizza crust mix. It's really easy to make and instead of making two 12" pizzas, I made one 18" pizza and used the leftover dough for garlic cheese breadsticks. The breadsticks were ok, but the pizza was great! I rolled the crust out pretty thin and baked the crust alone before adding toppings and putting it back in the oven. Even my carb-eatin' husband liked it. At only 4 grams a slice (that includes sauce and toppings) it was devine.

nikki, the only info. I have about the Episcopal Church is what I see on the news. Some people seem to accept it and a lot of people are upset about it and think he should step down. I am quite surprised that this all has come from NH because this is a very conservative state, where "liberal" is a dirty word. I honestly don't know anyone who does go to the Episcopal Church, as most of my friends are either Catholic, like me, or Protestant.

Aleka

I think you and I were posting at about the same time. It's very nice to meet you. I'm glad you popped in to post. The pizza crust sounds great. Where would you get CarbSense? At a Whole Foods Market? I don't recall seeing it at our Natural Food Section in our grocery store. Sorry you and your DH are sick. That happened to my late father one year. He got a flu shot and got the flu anyway. Hope you both are feeling better soon.

Aleka

Hi Aleka - nice to meet you. I have decided that I live in low carb heaven. There are low carb specialty stores pretty much within 10 minutes of any place you are in the Portland-metro area. If I can't find one, all of the grocery stores have low carb sections. I bought the pizza crust mix at Albertsons (it was $6, but worth every penny!) Check out www.carbsense.com they have a retail locator so you can find what stores near you carry their products or where you can order it online.

Hi StarPrincess, nice to meet you too! I found CarbSense Pizza mix at our GNC, but didn't buy it. I'm so glad you posted about it, I've wanted to know about it. I tried LowCarb Success Hot Cereal, Butter pecan flavor and it wasn't so good. It's so expensive trying to find low carb products that are good. Some are great, some really bad. I like most of Atkins muffins. The Banana nut, blueberry and orange cranberry are great. I bought but haven't tried the corn muffins yet. I don't normally eat corn, but thought I'd try it for dressing this year for Thanksgiving. I miss having cornbread dressing, it's my favorite part of Thanksgiving. At least it is a good alternative.

PS-I see your weight lose is very successful, Congratulations!!

It has gotten rather chilly. I guess that cold front has finally gotten here. After it stopped raining yesterday afternoon DH & I put stakes in a few driveways along our street so that when he and our neighbor plow they know where the culverts are. It was so raw out that my hands were so cold that they hurt.

StarPrincess, I clicked onto the link you posted and found a Low Carb Heaven about an hour drive south of us. I live in the boonies where I travel 10 miles just to do groceries. Living in the woods has it's advantages and disadvatages. Next time I am down that way I will stop in. I will definitely look for that mix. Have you tried the Keto pasta? I have seen it advertised in a magazine and was thinking of buying some. You are doing great with your weight loss. I have been thinking of possibly trying Atkins, a friend of mine went to the Dr. recently and he suggested that she go on it. I would like to do it with her, but I know I would get sick of eggs every morning. Would you give me an example or examples of what you eat for breakfast? Thanks, I would appreciate it. I do have the book, Atkins for Life, but don't have his New Diet Revolution.

nikki, that's a good idea about using the cornbread mix for stuffing. I love Bells instant stuffing, but I know that's a no-no DH doesn't care for stuffing so I know I'd end up eating the whole thing, not in one sitting though. I plan on making Suzanne's stuffing this year. Are you still getting rain?

ANNE, are you still getting a lot of rain? Hope everything is going well for you.

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka