Hi
I can't believe it's already August. Soon the State Fair will be here and then fall will be on the way. Anne, your favorite time of the year is just around the corner.
Well, I decided to quit whining and figure out what I can do now about my weight. I sat down and using the meals that I have planned and the food in the house, I came up with a plan that fits into Jorges suggests for eating. It's something that I can live with, but I'm wondering what to do about the supper time. On this plan, I should eat supper at 7pm. That would be fine and I'd stay more satisfied throughout the night. But, DH works nights and when he wakes up, he likes to eat supper shortly afterward, around 4pm. I'm going to have to talk to him about this and I know I'm going to have my hands full trying to make him understand that I will no longer be eating supper at the same time, but that I don't mind cooking a meal for him and then eating the leftovers later. He will say not to bother and then want to eat a bunch of snacks. 4pm is also the time that I'm suppose to eat an afternoon snack. This will be interesting.
Guess DD wants to try driving again. She had a small set back last time and was too nervous to try for awhile. I wish she would get more comfortable with it.
Aleka, I was wondering about that cake mix recipe. Is it just a regular cake mix and do all you add to it is a can of diet soda? What is your favorite flavor of soda? I have a refrigerator full of all the varieties of diet rite.
Later, Nikki

Aleka, never mind. I went and read that thread about the cake and it sure does look great. I printed out the post about putting some sf jello on the cake and then flavoring the ff cool whip with sf/ff pudding and putting some pineapple in it. That looks super. I think I'll use a white cake and use tangerine diet rite. Then top with sf lemon jello. Should be a great treat. DH won't like it, he doesn't like cake anyway. More for me!

Good afternoon,

We are having a rather warm humid day. We're having off and on rain showers with the sun peeking out for a second or two.

nikki, let me know how the cake w/tangerine soda comes out. We drink only Waist Watcher, and my favorite flavor is vanilla. When we move to FL we can only get Diet Rite. We've had some of the Diet Rite, as a matter of fact we brought home a few 12 packs the last time we were down there. I love the tangerine flavor, cola, and white grape. I was a little skeptical about the cake, but it really turned out well. It's a lot moister than traditional cake, and it kind of sticks to the pan, but is easy to scrape out because of the cooking spray. The jello idea sounds yummy. I was thinking possibly of making up some s/f pudding and frost the cake with that. What caused your DD to stop driving? You probably mentioned something at one time but I've either had a blonde moment or I missed it. Good luck in explaining your new WOE to your DH. Would it work if you serve him his supper, you eat your snack, and if he questions anything tell him that you're just not that hungry and will eat your supper later?
Yep, fall is not far behind. I'll miss it this year, but fall for me will probably be in January or February

Hi ANNE, lynn Hope you're having a good weekend.

Aleka

Aleka, I decided that if I can spend almost $20 for a case of beer for DH, then I can spend $20 for fresh produce and a box of cake mix for me. So, I went to the store and bought quite a bit actually for $20, since there is a lot of produce on sale now and it's all so good looking. I got a chocolate cake after all and will top it with cola and then plain lite cool whip. I'll try the more exotic version another time.
DD is really anxious about driving, although she does a pretty good job. The last time we went driving, she was backing up and stepped on the gas too hard. She just about drove into a deep ditch and I was yelling at her to put on the brake. At the last minute, she did. That shook her up and she said when I yelled at her, it made it worse. I explained to her that I was scared and not able to be calm at that time myself. I don't think I mentioned it before, because I thought it wasnt' that big of a deal and she'd be able to drive again in a few days, but that was over 2 months ago. We just got back and she did fine today, but she won't drive for a long period of time. I don't want to sound like a here, but I am really tired of driving her everywhere. We have to plan our days around her schedule. If I get a job, I don't want to work evenings, but that's when she works. If I work 6am-2pm and she's working 4-10pm, that means I won't get alot of sleep. She is the sweetest person and never expects too much, so I feel guilty for even feeling like this. Still, someday, I won't be able to drive, so she will have to, even if that day is along way off.
I was thinking about doing that with DH. I might just get busy washing dishes and talking to him. If he's distracted, he never pays attention to what I'm doing anyway. I hate eating at 4pm, I'm never hungry then, but later, I'm starving, so I bing all night long.
Nikki

nikki, good for you for getting something you wanted. Let me know how your cake turns out. Sorry about what happened with your DD and driving. That would've scared me too. Maybe if she starts out slowly she'll gain more confidence. Here is another WW dessert that surprisingly is very good. Take 2 Tablesp. fat-free (I use the lite) Cool Whip and sandwich it between 2 chocolate graham cracker squares then freeze. You have a nice "ice cream sandwich".

Aleka

Aleka, that "ice cream" sandwich sounds like a very low cal kind of dessert. Just what I'm looking for. The last dessert/snack of the day is suppose to be between 30-50 calories. That is just a taste of most things. I was thinking of 8 oz of tomato juice, 1 cup of popcorn (no butter, but have you tried that hot salt from morton's? I was thinking of putting that on popcorn, it's very hot), 1 cup of cherry tomatoes or 1 cup of sf jello with 1/2 cup of fruit. Well, I know those aren't all under 50 calories, but they are close. It's hard to get under 50 calories and still think your eating more than water Talk to you tomorrow, Nikki
Oh, PS, I talked to DH tonight about eating at 7pm. I told him I've read that if you eat every 3 hours, your blood sugar remains constant and your metabolism works better. I said for me, if my first meal of the day is at 7am, my last meal would then be 7pm. I also said, I'd be more than happy to fix supper for him and then eat later. I have no idea if he heard me, he didn't say anything back. (Man, some times, I think I'm invisible). I guess I'll find out tomorrow night if he was paying attention

Good morning,

nikki, I know what you mean about being invisible. Sometimes while we're eating lunch I'll tell DH what I plan to make for supper that night. About mid afternoon he'll ask me what we're having for supper. I have an idea. We should carry a tape recorder and record our conversations. Then we can play it back and not have to keep repeating ourselves. I bought some of the Mortons hot salt last spring, but only used it once and really liked it. Chef Paul Prudhomme has a spicy seasoned salt that we've been using and we're almost out of it, and once it's gone we'll start using the Mortons. I love anything that is spicy. Once I get my books unpacked when we get to FL I'll look at Jorge Cruise's 2nd book more closely. I did look through it when I bought it and it really looked interesting. I think in his 2nd book he goes into more detail with his WOE. Let me know how it goes eating 5 small meals a day. I'm used to eating 3 meals, and possibly a snack if I'm overly hungry, but I try not to do that very often. I am often hungry, but will not eat. DH wants to get more of our downstairs cleaned up today. I had planned on cleaning out another kitchen cabinet, but he wants me to help him. We have to get the house ready, even though our machines are still here, so the Re agent can start showing it. Hopefully someone will be here this Fri. to look at the machines DH called some moving companies and they'll all be coming various days this week to give us a price on moving. 7 more weeks!

ANNE and lynn, miss you guys!

Have a great day.
Aleka

Good morning,
So this morning, I started to exercise again. I started with Body Flex, since I figured that would be a good warm up and also, I need the deep breathing. When I rolled up my stomach the first time, I was amazed at how out of shape I am. After finishing that, my stomach felt like I had been in a boxing match and took all the blows to my abs. Then I followed that with the 8 MM and I just couldn't do the whole thing. Again, I was amazed at how out of shape I am. You'd think with all that gardening, I wouldn't be this bad off. I guess nothing replaces real exercise. On the website, they give you daily exericses (you can print them out, they are different than what was in the book and harder) and then if you want, you can add a 3 cardio bonus days a week. I decided to do that and this week the cardio is power walking. It's raining, so I decided to get on the treadmill. I could only do 10 min and that was pushing it. Again, I was amazed. This just inspires me to get back on track, however. I have gained so much weight this summer, I'm heavier than I've been all year. I took before pictures and I look simply aweful. Nothing tells the story of how you look like a full length picture.
Aleka, my DH says that he has so much on his mind, he can't remember everything. Strangely enough, it's usually something I've told him that he can't remember. I wonder about that....
Seven weeks, that's not long at all. I remember when I was married to my first husband, we moved to Wisconsin. We put everything in an uncovered UHaul trailer. It was piled so high, we looked like the Beverly Hillbillys. Of course, we had didn't have much really. I've moved 26 times in my life, mostly when I was married to that first husband, he was always looking for the right job, but he never worked very often because he's not into working. When we moved here, I told the girls that was the last move (by that time, I was single). I'm feeling for you. I know what a challenge moving can be. I always loved it when I'd move into a new place. I love to decorate.
Anne and Lynn, hope things are ok with you,
Nikki

Hi!

We did get a hole cleaned out in the finished part of the basement and I got a few shelves in the storage/laundry room (it's separated by a wall and door) cleaned off. Now we have all the packed boxes that were on the spare bed in the cleaned out hole. Now at least the spare bedroom is a little neater looking. We have a busy day today. A repairman is coming to fix the dishwasher between 8:00 am and noon, then we have one guy from a moving company coming sometime this morning, and another one coming sometime this afternoon.

nikki, congratulations on exercising again. How are you feeling this morning after exercising yesterday? You will work into doing more reps. Just do what you can. You were probably using different muscles while gardening than with BF & 8 MM. I have read that gardening is great exercise. I have also gained a lot of weight since I stopped WW a couple of years ago. I'm heavier than I have been in a long time. You really have moved quite a lot. This will be our 4th move, it includes our move from our homes to our apt. when we got married. I also like to decorate. Speaking of which, do you ever watch Trading Spaces on TLC? DH & I are addicted to that show. If you haven't watched it, 2 couples that are friends swap houses for 2 days and along with a decorator completely redecorate 1 room. Sometimes you can get some good ideas and sometimes you wonder what in the world were they thinking. It's usually on Mon.-Fri. at 4:00 pm EST.
Last night for supper DH & I had a frozen Salisbury Steak Life Choice frozen dinner. It really was very good. Neither one of us can get over how much food is in those frozen dinners compared to the other "diet" dinners. I actually had a hard time finishing both pieces of salisbury steak. Whenever DH choses frozen dinners they are always some sort of fish. He told me last night that next time he's going to get a Life Choice turkey and try that. The turkey is my very favorite and I've given him some to try. Gotta go make breakfast so that I can shower before anyone comes to the house.

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka

Hi,
We got a powerful wind storm this morning. Luckily, we are ok. Lots of people have trees down or are without electricity because the electrical poles are down. I drove through town and saw a large store sign that was bent in half, the pole had to be over 6 in thick, although it was hollow. Amazing what wind can do. We're suppose to get another one this afternoon. I won't doubt this one will be even worse. It's now hotter than blazes and very humid.
Aleka, when I went to work for the VA, I had to list all the places I'd lived, for security reasons, I guess. I was kind of shocked at how often I'd moved too. We rarely unpacked things and lived out of boxes for 11 years. I've lived in Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin. Once, we lived so far north in Wisconsin we were almost in the peninsula.
Yesterday, I drank alot more water than I have been. Last night, I was going to the bathroom every 15-30 min. I figured I must have gotten some extra exercise in too, all those trips
Better run, got to pick and freeze beans today, Nikki

nikki, Thank goodness you made out ok in that storm. Wind certainly can do a lot of damage. I just heard on the noon weather report that we may get some good thunderstorms come rolling through later this afternoon. He was also saying that by the end of the week it should be just like fall.
Enjoy your afternoon.
Aleka

Good Morning Everyone!!
Sorry I haven't been on line in quite a while. I had one nightmarish time
while Tanya was on her vacation. The cash office where I work is non stop.
We handle all patient payments, patient valuables, petty cash for all of
St. Michael's Hospital (this is a huge job) we open all mail for Accounts
Recievable, We do all bank deposits. (there are five separate bank accounts) And the balancing.....

Now, when one of us is away sends over a staff member that is pretty
usless. It's like trying to manage this job by yourself. What is further
frustrating is this. thinks the job is a snap. When she comes out
with ignorant remarks like that I would like to kick her right in the A--.

Happily I have a few days off to recover from this experience. Tanya is
having the party now. She is back and I'm away.

Wow Nikki, sounds like you have had some really rough weather I too
want to get back to the body flexing. I felt so much better. I find when the
days are hot and humid my knees just kill........

Aleka, I can just imagine how busy you are preparing for your move!!! I bet
you are stressed to the max.

Hi Lynn, long time since I spoke to you.

Dad is only using his oxygen when he walks around now. When the techician
came out to our house to re-assess him. he told my dad he no longer needs
it when driving or at rest. He said the radiation is what impacted my dads
breathing so negitively. Dad just turned 73 on Sunday Aug 1/04. He has
done amazing if you figure he has been battling this illness since he was 56!

Talk to you all later........It great to be back on line.
Anne

Good morning,

It was rather warm and humid yesterday. But, we had some T/storms come through early evening and things cooled down nicely.

My girlfriend, who usually have a weekly lunch date with, came to my house yesterday and we had a late lunch and of course we had our fried clams. I have to stop eating them because they're not helping my weight problem. Why do they have to taste so good??

We started cleaning out the spare bedroom and closet. I got the bureau drawers all cleaned out and the draw in my little desk that goes with the bedroom set. Stuff is piled high on the bed, which we have to sort out today.

The repairman to fix the dishwasher came and it was going to cost too much to fix it, so we've decided to sell it as is and let them know up front about the problem. Also, the 2 guys from the moving companies came to give us an estimate. We have 2 more coming this week. We got the closing papers to sign from the title co. The amount of deposit they have written is 1/2 of the deposit we actually made. We called about it. They were supposedly looking into it, but we haven't heard back anything yet. We do have copies of the cancelled checks.

ANNE, it was wonderful hearing from you. WELCOME BACK!!! I'm sorry you had to go through all that stress these past few weeks. Hope you enjoy your time off and recouperate. Glad that your Dad is doing better and doesn't need his oxygen as much. I'm the same age now as your Dad was when he first got sick. That's a very sobering thought. Belated birthday wishes to your Dad.

nikki, how did your exercises go yesterday and also eating 5 meals a day? The more I read about eating small meals a day, the more convinced I am that this is what I should be doing, especially for a woman who is in menopause. Does he require you drink protein shakes or eat energy bars as some of your meals, or do you eat real food?

Have a great day everyone.
Aleka

Hi,
Anne, welcome back so glad to hear from you. Bosses that don't even have a clue as to how hard your job is can be so annoying. They couldn't do it themselves, I bet. Glad your dad is doing better and that the O2 is being used less.
Our weather was especially bad last night. Winds reaching 80-90 mph, roofs getting riped off. It never got that bad at our house, but was that bad just a few miles away. We've been so lucky. The canvas roof blew off our gazebo, it was ok though and nothing was hurt. I really like that little thing, it's so beautiful and relaxing out there. Yesterday, it was in the 90's in the afternoon and the humidity was so high, you could hardly breathe. Just sitting still, I broke out into an aweful sweat. DH took DD to work in the convertible and barely made it home. The serpintine belt broke. We spent most of the afternoon trying to put a new one on, but he doesn't have metric tools, so we never could get it on. In that heat and humidity, it was a miserable job. I was surprised he didn't take a sledge hammer to the car before we quit. Tomorrow, we were taking it in anyway to have the timing belt changed and a tuneup done, so I guess one more thing will be added. I'm sick of car expenses, it's where all our money is going anymore.
The diet is going pretty good, if you excuse the brownies I ate last night I made them for DH and had a bite, which lead to a piece and another piece. Other than that, everything is ok Really, though I do like the eating every three hours. I'm not hungry in the evening and that's a big plus. I do get hungry by the time the three hours are up, but you should be hungry when you eat, right? It's something I need to learn. I don't eat enough to feel really full and I'm relearning that too. That you don't have to be stuffed, just to the point of satiated when you eat. Aleka, there are no bars or protein drinks, it's all real food. You can do those things if you want to, but it's not necessary. I've not been following his diet exactly, because on his diet, you use low fat or ff cheese and I don't have any. I've cut back my portions drastically, and added more veggies. You can have a brownie for dessert, but obviously, I can't, because one little brownie leads to 1/2 a pan for me. Oddly enough, I must have decreased my calorie intake yesterday so much anyway that the extra calories from the brownies made little difference, I still lost a few more pounds yesterday.
The Body Flex is killing me. It's stretching out my neck muscles like they haven't been stretched in a while. I suppose that is how the neck is suppose to get toned up. I hope I get rid of this double chin. I've already notice a big change in the way my abs feel from it. I'm also doing the 8 min moves in the morning and it seems like 8 minutes lasts for an hour. Then, I do 10 min on the treadmill or on the stationary bike to finish it out. With some stretching afterward to cool down. It takes around an hour to do it all, depending on how much whining I do
The basement flooded yesterday and there was a lot of stray kitty litter on the floor. I'm not sure how to clean that up, it's the clumping kind and when it gets really wet, it turns into a kind of a gel that dissolves into liquid if you sweep it. Thought about taking a hose and washing it into the drain, but don't know if it would lump in there. Man, I'd be in trouble with DH then I doubt it would clump, it has to dry out to do that. Guess I shouldn't have procrastinated about sweeping up the litter the day before
Better get moving, Nikki

Hi everyone,

It's rather cloudy and chilly this morning. It looks as though the rain is going to stay south of us.

We had another mover look at our stuff yesterday. So far his company is a better choice. A well known New England furniture maker uses this company to pack and ship their furniture all over the country. That alone says a lot. But, we're having someone else come later today.

nikki, glad that you only got minimal damage in that storm. You really are having some awful storms. It hit 90 for the first time this summer 2 days ago in our state's capital, and it's Aug. That is how damp and chilly our summer has been so far. Sorry about your car. Thank goodness your DH was driving it and not you. Good luck with it today. Glad that the eating is going well. At least when you're hungry you know your next meal isn't very far away. Once you get used to just being satisfied you wonder how you could ever overeat again. I'll look at the eating plan in his first book and read it thoroughly to see if it's the same as in his 2nd book. Sometimes they tweak their eating plan in their 2nd books making it easier to follow. Congratulations on losing some lbs. Would you have any set backs if you skipped a day of BF until your neck feels better, or just not do that particular exercise? Hope your neck feels better today. Did you get the kitty litter cleaned up? What if you used a shovel on it to get it up? Mentioning about kitty litter brought back a lot of memories when DH & I had cats, before he became allergic. One winter day I got stuck in a snow bank in my driveway. I remembered reading about sprinkling kitty litter in front of your wheels to give them something to grab onto. So, I ran in the house to do just that and it worked like a charm.

ANNE, hope you're having a good time on your holiday.

lynn, hope to hear from you soon.

Have a good day everyone.
Aleka