Manick - Hey lady! I have been lurking for a bit this week - posting here and there, but not too much. I am the Technology Coordinator for our district and this is the last week of school and I am entering my busy season as soon as all the staff and students leave for the summer.

Mod...I am glad that your kitty is doing better. There is nothing worse than having a sick pet. Our babies (Harley (female cat) & Davidson (we call him Davy) got fixed last week.. LOL Right now, they hate us, but are slowly coming around. We have a lot of outside cats that have been having kittens

I have been noticing cold hands, feet and my husband has noticed the cold bum... !!! I used to think it was due to poor circulation... not so sure now. You guys make me laugh.

Everyone - I feel like I have missed a couple of episodes of my favorite show.. I am going to have to go back and re-read a bunch of stuff. All I can say is... "This too shall pass" eventually everything will be resolved and/or get better. And, YAY! Good Job! (((HUGS))) to everyone!

RE: the scale. At the beginning I was weighing myself mid-week and then on Sunday morning. The past couple of weeks I have only stepped on the scale on Sunday morning. I haven't felt the pull of the scale yet, but I am sure that I will eventually.

That Giant Metal Cylinder Thingie That is Buried in the Ground (sounds like a movie title) We live in the country, so cisterns (that is the metal cylinder buried in the ground is) are all over the place. Farmers used to bury old buildings and would put cisterns in the ground and would use them as burning pits for garbage - pretty much anything. We had a huge one in our back yard and ended up digging it up because I wanted a garden in that spot.. *my husband loves me*. We found huge rocks, broken dishes, old bottles and other stuff in the hole. We had our own archaeological dig.. lol

I have been grilling our supper every night this week. I love our new grill! Speaking of dinners... get this - as I have been losing weight, hubby has been gaining! LOL He is eating the same thing I am (he doesn't need to diet and could go all day without eating without it effecting him). The only thing I can think of is that he is eating regularly. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before he wasn't. He is telling me that he has to be more active now.. lol.

Our asparagus is sprouting out of the ground at an obscene rate! I have frozen 20 quarts so far! Plus we have been eating it every night either steamed or grilled. At the rate it is growing, I am going to have enough frozen to last through the winter. Did you guys know that if you eat a lot of asparagus your urine starts to smell funny bad? LOL - well, it does.

Our plum trees and apple trees are full of blossoms can't hardly see the branches and they smell sooo good! Looks like I am going to be busy in the fall with those too! The rhubarb is growing like mad too right along with the currents, gooseberries, blackberries and raspberries. We had a 'normal' winter and a wet cool spring that these plants like - that is all that I can explain for all of the produce. We are going to plant the rest of the garden this weekend as well - tomatoes, cucumbers, radish, broccoli, green beans, squash, peppers, jalepenos, kohlrabi, beets, sugar snap peas... (our garden is 50 x 70. I have been wanting to start an herb garden too, but I think that is next year's project. I want to build a raised bed for that, but not sure where I am going to put it.

Whew... that is enough rambling for now. I will post more often so they won't be so long..

chey -- i have certainly heard that about asparagus -- but who cares, right?? it's one of my favorite veggies. it sounds like you have a great set-up garden-wise, i'm jealous! I'm dying to have a veggie garden, but seeing as I'm going away for the summer, it doesn't seem like the best time. next year, I hope!

well, i just heard john pull up, so i'm going to sign off. i had a great evening -- it was a vounteer appreciation dinner at Planned Parenthood, where I answer phones, and it was really quite swank! very fun. dinner was the hors' devoures, which I have no idea how to count. all i know is that i wasn't binging. good enough. AND, a friend who I haven't seen since Oct noticed that I'd lost -- always a good thing!!

S

Shrink - We love asparagus too. We have two patches that grow wild and about 7 years ago we planted another really large patch and have only been harvesting it the past couple of years. It takes a while to establish an asparagus bed - you can't pick it the first 3 years after planting.

The currents and gooseberries are another thing. Those are a pain. I like to make jam, and cook with currents, but it takes forever to pick those. I have to figure out what to do with the gooseberries other than make jam. Those darn things are prolific.. we have 5 bushes and the birds are really the only ones who are enjoying them when the berries are ripe. The bushes are pretty, but they have large thorns.

Good going on the celebration dinner. Those little snacks are one of my weaknesses. I think I would have binged. It is awesome that a friend who hasn't seen you for a while noticed that you have lost weight. Positive reinforcement!

I've just come back this week and am struggling a little trying to get back on track. I have stuck w/in my points range, etc, it's just an adjustment period. I started Sunday so on my WI day I'm hoping to have lost something to keep me motivated.