HO HO HO! Bobbi! I'm always nice to Tim---How do you think I managed to get a Convertible!!

I almost alway have good luck with Slimfast and I like it. Usually, when I'm not in Holiday mode, I do breakfast and lunch silmfast and then have a dinner with whatever I want-- within reason and healthy. And that usually works for me. I will get back on track after our Annuversary-- right now there is egg nog for Christmas and Champagne for New Year's/Anniversary! And we have plans to go to Red Lobster for our Anniversary so I'm not going to worry about anything until after. But then I will make friends with my Wii and Leslie Sansone and shoot I may even let Richard Simmons out!! I just can't stay very disciplined right now.

I hope everyone is have a good Christmas season-- I know that isn't always the way it is. But remember to always keep a big smile on your face--- it makes people wonder what you've been up to!!

Hello to everyone and I need to get going. The girls and I didn't get out of bed until 11 this morning.. We were awake and 7:00 then went back to sleep, then woke up again at 8:00 and texted back and forth with my sister and then just didn't want to get out of the nice warm bed!! Love being retired!! But have to get something done!!

Good evening ladies. I'm packing again for the camp. Dh went to the camp yesterday afternoon and spent the night. I'll meet him after work today. Sunday when we come back after church we will go to wal mart to get groceries for the foods I need to prepare. Monday is work and cook cook and cook. Phew. I'm working the day after Christmas and that's it for the year. I'll go to the camp Thursday after work and stay until the 5 th.

Katen31 I'm with you on the dieting after the holidays. Shhh don't tell karen fl. She'll get on us. I'm going to watch what I eat for the most part but not so much Eve and Xmas day.

Mary I love your pic. You did a good job taking it yourself.

Carol sue good to hear from you. It's been awhile.

Hi Bobbi, rosey, gayle, dee and Donna.

Out of time
Hugs cajun

If it's not one thing it's another with me this year! I sure hope 2014 will easier! My neck and arm are still hurting really badly. Motrin (800 mg) helps for alittle while although does not completely take the pain away. I got one hour sleep then lay awake hurting...too soon to take more Motrin...finally at 3 am I gave up and took Tyl PM then a little later took more motrin so slept from 4-7. I was hoping to go to the gym this am but didn't feel up to it. I don't like that I'm not gettting my cardio esp...I try to do a little here and there but know it's not enough.

I've overeaten the last three nights, so I'm up 2.6#. My bs jumped up too but is coming down again now. Usually MFP works so well for me as it warns me what I'll weigh if I keep overeating, but these last few nights I've thought I was done eating, had done ok, then got tempted by something. Last night I made a beef vegetable soup and baked some bread (from frozen) to have with it. Got tempted for more bread just before bed! Not a good thing to do! At least I only ate one slice. Light eggnog and the homemade bread are my main tempters these days. Usually don't have them in the house.

Karen3 - Yes being retired is the best. don't know how I'd be able to hold down a job now with all I got going on these days. Thank God I can sleep in.
You and Cajun are lucky you can indulge now and then, those of us with diabetes can't so much.

Bobbi - I have your smoothies in my computer cookbook...hopefully once I have the all clear I can try them.

Deelou - I'm like Bobbi...only thing that really seems to work for me is counting calories. If I stay under 1600 I will lose, 1600-abt 1620 or so I will maintain, anything much over that I gain. If I keep it to 1200 of course I would lose much faster but I feel like I'm starving then. Like Bobbi I usually try to get lots of fiber but these days I can't do that because I'm supposed to "rest" my colon. I am not actually resting it (as in clear liquids) but I am trying to stick to a soft, low-fiber diet for the most part.

Thank you all for the nice comments on my selfie I have another pic I would like to use (because it's one of the few I actually like) but it's with short hair and that doesn't seem right since I don't have short hair these days. LOL

Decided to try this pic. This is my passport picture, just renewed it so got my pic taken. Which picture do you like the best? I prefer this one but if I could make it bigger it would look better.

Good evening GG’s,

Did any of you ever try Meowee’s protein pancake recipe (Favorite Recipes threat ~ page 1, #3) She lists as one of the ingredients ~ rolled oats. Does that mean the old fashioned oats or the quick oats?

Mary ~ your hair looks soft and fluffy in your most recent picture (avatar). It looks pretty like that. Are your cough and the various pains better? I so wish that they would go away so you could feel good. As you are, I am hoping 2014 will be a better year. I’m not good at gift wrapping either. They look ok, but nothing fancy ~ I just enjoy doing it and have fun that way. They think I use too much tape ~ LOL. Mary ~ I do feel a little more chipper ~ maybe things are kind of starting to fall into place ~ a routine sort of and maybe I am not feeling so lost as I was at first. I miss my coworkers, but not the frustrations of the job. And some of the family problems have kind of settled down. Too much stress and I would end up feeling bummed out a lot of the time.

Saraphin ~ I should try and do like you (I will probably be sorry if I don’t) but I sort of don’t want to ~ just want to enjoy the day and eat things and enjoy. It maybe is not as much of a problem as it used to be ~ I don’t seem to be able to eat the quantities like I used to or stuff myself full of sweets ~ I end up not feeling so good. Why did it take me my whole life to listen to my body? I think I bound and gagged it and didn’t listen to it all those years ~ LOL.

Cajun ~ enjoy your days off from work and enjoy spending time at your camp doing what you love.

K31 ~ have you gotten to take your mustang for a spin yet?

Bobbi ~ what is a good fiber goal for the day? How do you get as much as you need with only 1000 calories? Yes, Bobbi ~ I reuse the zip lock bags and like you do not reuse ones that have had meat in them.

Deelou ~ I am trying to follow the guidance of my diabetic friend ~ who has had good success with weight loss and getting her blood sugar numbers and other labs back within normal range. She eats meats, fruits and vegetables and trys to stay away from the breads, potatoes, rice, cookies, cakes, sweets, candy. I am not perfect, but seem to be making slow progress. She also walks every day.

Lynn ~ glad you got to feeling better and were able to enjoy some of the local activities there in Florida. I would love being able to enjoy the beach. Are you gonna get to hook up with K3? That would be so cool.

Delmarva ~ congratulations on reaching your weight goal. You’ll keep it off ~ you have come this far ~ you can do it

Donna ~ sorry you have to wait so long for your hip surgery. Wishing for you for a cancellation ~ but also for what ever is “best” for you. I just want you to be done with that pain.

Rosey ~ the bracelets are beautiful. You are so talented and creative. Hope Mr. Cranky Pants isn’t tooooo cranky. Enjoy the holiday with your family.

K3 ~ did you have a nice visit with your daughter? How is she doing? We went driving around last night so Maddie could see the Christmas lights around the neighborhood and there was a palm tree with lights on it that made me think of the discussion that took place about that.

Hello Carol Sue ~ how are you doing?

Forgive me if I have left anyone out.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Take care

Hi everyone.. this is my 2nd attempt to post hope it doesn't go poof. I spent the day on the phone and puter trying make my way thru the redtape in getting health ins.. sheeesh and grrrr. thanks to Obama care our retirement ins was cancelled and we had to choose befor jan 1st.. it took forever trying to pick the right plan. so steve will be covered by medicare,gap ins thru Humana( covers what medicare doesn't,) and Humana prescription ins(separate from the others.. all this will cost us 380+ $ for him. the strange thing is his company he retired from are providing me coverage till I turn 65 in may.. that will cost us 188$ a month and that includes prescription coverage.. strange that his company will cover me and not him..anyways its a done deal..we were paying 168$ a month for full coverage . grrr stomp stomp thankyou mr. president anyways hope Obama care doesn't hit you all in the wallet..sigh rant over and now I feel better.... maryea I feel so bad that you are in pain,cant your dr help figure it out,or maybe its like a lot of us as we age we just ache all over,ido anyways a very gentile for you. steve must be feeling alittle better as he helped me declutter today.. yikes im such apack rat and the back bedrm which we don't use is the recipient of anything and everything like a giant junk drawer.. but glad steve helped so im almost ready for the big day.. are you? wishing each and every one Christmas blessings,you all are such a wonderful part of my life rosey

Rosey, I will tell you when you go on Medicare as we did 5 years ago, your cost per month would have gone up anyway...I do not remember actual numbers but hubby worked at GE, great coverage for the three of us...when we went on Medicare and supplemental it went up about 25% and lost dental and eye coverage.....also no hearing aids if needed???AND we still needed to cover our then 11 yr old...so overall....it went up about 33%. I think now it would be worse but this year we are ok as sop coverage and dd is still thru GE....

We are home and exhausted by the trip. On the way North we sat on Rt95 for almost 2 hours behind a terrible accident. Semi cab was burned up. Weird sitting in my car with huge trucks surrounding us. We were on a bridge near Brunswick GA so no way to detour. Trip back was better but holiday and after work traffic stacked up.

My DD is scheduled to have her stomach stapling done in Feb. She asked me if I knew any Hi protein shake type things in coffee flavors. She wants to be prepared. OMG did I tell you that the surgeon told her within 24hrs post op she'd be off insulin. That alone with worth the surgery.

I'll be back later...need groceries, start the mail etc etc etc k3

Just got home from the gk's dance recital. The little one (4) was so cute and the older (7) did so well. He seems to be a natural at tap, and we are very proud. We did not stay for the whole recital as I my neck/back are hurting plus our dd wasn't staying either as she wasn't feel so good either. I didn't get much sleep again last night but the pain wasn't quite so bad at least.

Karen3 - Nutrisystem makes a good coffee shake. I've never been on the diet but tasted the coffee shake at my sister's. In fact I recently ordered some from ebay. It's a little more coffee tasting than I usually drink (my mocha's are more like a milk shake with a teeny bit of coffee), but I quickly got to like them and left kinda craving them! I don't remember the nutrition except she was on a diabetic plan so not many carbs but I'm pretty sure it was high in protein.

Rosey - So sorry about the increase in insurance premium...I've heard this happening a lot. I can't imagine paying that much for insurance! Esp for just the two of you. We don't have dental insurance...we could get it for a premium but we just use a dental discount card which only costs $129 a year and save for the remaining dental costs. We also don't have vision insurance. We expected to save for dh's hearing aid but finally the VA came through for him as it was a military related hearing loss.

Glynne - I haven't tried the protein pancakes but I think my dd makes them and the kids like them. I don't think it would matter which oats you use except not the instant kind. Yes I think my hair looks better in this passport picture...strange as pp pics are usually pretty terrible. If I can stand to let my hair grow a little longer, the wave will be only in the ends and it will look better. Since i don't like to work with hair, it does what it wants.

Just a quick post here this afternoon-- I still have bunches to get done today. Gayle-- on the protein Oatmeal pancakes you use the quick oats, not the instant. I still make them, Tim doesn't like cottage cheese and heloves these!!!

Ok just a quick Hello to everyone and I'm out of here........

hello girls! wow i just counted 14 golden girls, now that's a lot to remember! so i won't detail my thoughts to each person, needless to say, your posts are interesting, as always!

so i see you are all getting ready for the big day , with dieting still weighing heavily on your minds. well, me too. now i need to decide what i'm going to do. so let's do it.



for breakfast i will have my usual optifast muck (shake)

lunch. hmm. well that is THE MEAL so i will join in, and have a SMALL serving, no potatoes or starchy vegetable, no gravy, no fat. that will be my small meal.

i will have one SMALL serve of dessert.

dinner. prawns.
another SMALL dessert serving.

i might track in mfp and try to stay under 1000 calories. here's hoping

i am closing until after xmas girls, so i'll talk to you all then…have a wonderful time and don't undo too much HARD WORK.

saraphin xxx

hi everyone..just a quick hello,but wanted to tell K3 that there is a web site that was very helpful to me after my surgery. it s called theworldaccordingtoeggface all run together.. run by a gal who has had the surg. she posts lots and I mean lots of bariatric after surg recipes using protein powder etc.. it was so helpful to me with information and food ideas..1 week after my surg I was off all diebetic meds and my a1c continues to be 5 or lower.. if your dd has any questions I would be glad to help wishing her good luck, personally it the best thing I ever did for myself..oh in amazon there are many protein foods and snacks..and a coffee mocha with protein powder in it called click..check it out.. hope this info is helpful I will be back later gators rosey

Thank you Rosey....I have been reading some of her blog....went back to when she first decided to have the surgery and her feelings. It was like listening to my DD this past week. I sent DD the site. Also the protein stuff. She wants to be prepared. At this point she is insulin resistive and her bs are terrible. Scares the pants off me.

Read about "dumping syndrome" and why....simple sugar passes too quickly thru the stomach and stimulates a dumping out from either end. I was kinda laughing. My baby girl hates to puke so I know that sugary stuff will only be tried once.

Still exhausted from the trip. Got groceries today. My wonky right knee gave out in the store and as I was falling a young man caught my cart and I stayed up right. Thank goodness I wasn't listed as clean up in aisle #7! k3

Oh my K3 ~ glad you are ok