Annie - I'm glad the meds, healthy eating and cinnamon are helping your BP. I use cinnamon to keep my blood sugar stable...didn't know about its effects on BP. Sending you many hugs, sweet sista.

Shad - I would think being a chauffeur is better than dealing with some of the B.S. you've had to deal with. I hope your next gig is better.

Mel - So sorry to hear you're having shoulder pain. I hope it eases up soon.

Happy - I'm so sorry to hear about the death of the popcorn shop owner's son. I remember riding on the back of snowmobiles when I was a kid...but we never went that fast. I wouldn't do it now. And I have no desire to ever go ice fishing or anything that would take me out on a frozen body of water...as you said, you never know where the ice is thin. And I'm sorry to hear about your foot pain. I hope your foot is feeling better today.

Ceejay - I'm glad the dimetapp is helping your symptoms and allowing you to sleep.

Laura - If you have any good recipes for taco soup or chicken tortilla soup, please share. Good luck with WW. It worked well for me when I stuck to it. I prefer early morning weigh ins too, but I've done the lunch time weigh ins, and did okay as long as I ate similarly each weigh in day and wore similar clothes. I hope the meeting does get postponed, since your area is supposed to get a lot more snow than us. I'm hoping for just an inch or two at the most.

Sending healing to all of us!

MELLIE....I do hope your shoulder gets to feeling better, I so love reading your posts. xoxo

CEEG...maybe a haircut and highlite will make you feel even better.

CHELLE...hope your back is healing and the spasms stop. That is crazy. Glad to hear Doppler is getting better.

LAURA...so tell me how did the weigh in go? I did the same thing when we had WW at work. Did not eat all morning and barely drank anything...haha, altho this being your first WI you should of ate like a horse so next week you would lose...lol

Later chickies

Annie - Weigh in went fine. The ww scale might be kinder than mine at home because it didn't seem to add on all that much for the clothes I was wearing and the food and I drink I had this morning (nope, didn't go without today, but maybe going forward I will, LOL).

Michelle - Glad Doppler's better and that you made it to work today. Hope you don't get a lot of snow that has to be shoveled. It's coming down pretty good now here - we did end up rescheduling the meeting for tomorrow.

I have a recipe that's for something between the taco soup and chicken tortilla, pretty yummy - here it is below. Just noticed I'd put in my comments in brackets. Maybe I've posted this in the past?

SOUTHWESTERN VEGETABLE SOUP
4 cloves of garlic – crushed
4 cloves of garlic – chopped [I only had a jar of crushed garlic, so I used all crushed]
1 large onion – chopped
2 T. cilantro [I used 2 T coarsely chopped, since the recipe doesn’t specify], plus extra sprigs for garnish
3 boneless chicken breast pieces (raw)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1 T. each: cumin, chili powder, hot sauce (Tabasco)
2 bay leaves
˝ t each: salt and pepper
8 cups of chicken soup (canned, boxed, or homemade)

In large soup pot, sauté garlic and onion in a little vegetable or canola oil for five minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients listed above. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Remove chicken, cut it into cubes and return it to the soup. [I might shred it next time.]

Add:
1 can corn (or equal amount of frozen corn which has been thawed) [I used 1-1/2 cups of frozen corn.]
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 small can chopped green chilies

Cook 10 more minutes.

Remove bay leaves.

Garnish with:
Crushed tortilla chips, cilantro sprig, shredded cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.
==
With the snow coming down pretty good, I might have to play it by ear as far as going to the movies tonight. We chose "Side Effects".

I'm expecting the boss to tell us we can leave early if we want because she will likely be doing the same. I think she may be driving herself home from the train these days and is being extra cautious. In the past, her husband would drop her off and pick her up and I don't recall her being so concerned, LOL.

LAURA...thank you for the recipe...we are getting hit with the same storm you are, only thank the good Lord, it is rain at the moment. Be careful going home. Hugs

I've been out of it this afternoon. Must be the cold, wet,drab weather. Been cold and can't get warm

Laura
Thanks for the soup recipe. Be careful going home in the snow. WW is easy to follow. But hate converting calories to points.

Annie
Do you have things under control at work with all the unpacking.

Michelle
Ouch on the back pain. Hope it gets better. Glad that Doppler had you around to take care of him. I'm sure the ex dmil feels better with you around also.

hello ladies,

Sorry I didn't get in here today. Sister called in the morning and DH wanted to go out and look at some side by side ATVs so my morning disappeared right out from under me. Also I had to go to the grocery store. Sometimes I hate grocery shopping but other times like today when I am down to nothing fresh in the house I just love coming home with all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies to eat. And maybe a carton of ice cream (pistachio ) I am feeling much better than I did yesterday. Not Fred Astaire ready to dance around on my twinkle toes but I was able to wear a pair of slippers today. Didn't want to chance regular shoes so I wore my boots for an extra day. Good thing because we had sun and temps above freezing so there's lots of messy wet slush out there.

Mel - sorry that your shoulder is bothering you. Hope the Aleve does it's thing and maybe a hot or cold pack too? Feel better and don't answer the door.

Michelle - sorry to hear the back went out on you. Like Mel you have to be careful I guess because when you hit an episode it knocks you for a loop - particularly as you say when you are never sure if the muscles are going to seize up on you So glad you checked up on Doppler. That could have been a serious problem. I guess exDMIL and all are going to have to keep a close eye on him going forward. Glad he is doing better.

My sister said it rained, then they got a layer of icy freezing rain and then it was snowing like crazy when we got off the phone so I hope the afternoon was not too horrid for all of you south of here. Nothing worse than ice. Would rather have 22 inches of snow. Be careful kids.

Laura - thank you for the soup recipe. I will definitely print and try that one. I love Mexican food too - so easy to make and the soup sounds like something that gets better as the flavors meld. I have taken to a bit of sliced avocado on soup as a garnish and that's delicous also. Laughed about weigh in advice - first trip I'd wear heavy clothes, drink at least a bottle of water before weigh in and eat. I guess with a 12:30 meeting, that will be hard to hold off eating anything that day prior to weighing in. A trick that people used for Jenny Craig was that they would drink a glass of warm water (not tea) with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Apparently it's a diuretic like that. They swore on it if they were bad the day before. I prefer WW meetings towards the end of the week - mine were always on Monday and I was always less disciplined on the weekend. I hope you do well with the program. Please share any interesting recipes or tips. Are you really going to go to the movies tonight in that weather??? I watched the Oscars on Sunday. Didn't care for the host - not my kind of humor - I think the Oscars used to be THE epitome of class and glamour and they have lost that. Plus it's not the same without Cher in some wild Bob Mackie costume

Ceejay - go for the cut and highlights. Try purple ones life is for fun. It's only hair too. It will help ease the blahs of February although you should be well into spring blossoms by now. I like the Nyquil for putting me to sleep way quicker than the Zquill. I think there's something about the antihistamine that zonks us out. Glad you got a good rest.

Shad - my apricot eating friend - did you find more at the store? Have you decided to accept the 30 day extention they offered on the contract? I would not be happy about driving everyone around, but that's because I have no sense of direction. I would be delighted (and would buy you coffee or apricots) if you were to be so gratious as to pick me up for work.

Begeebers. Thank you Annie - I have a new potential password (or screen name). I write down words I like the sound of for later reference if I need a quick name or something that is not too easily guessed. I have told many people of your stripper name and it never fails to get a smile out of them, even if they have to think about it for a minute. I am so happy your b/p numbers FINALLY came down to something reasonable. I do remember a while back you talking about cinnamon. Like Michelle, I was aware that it helped blood sugar, was not aware of the link with blood pressure. Are you taking cinnamon capsules or just sprinking cinnamon liberally?

Speaking of cinnamon I tried Great Grains new protein breakfast cereal - Cinnamon Hazelnut. I usually can't eat cereal in the morning - too many carbs make me hungry - but this has extra protein. I ate it with a banana the other day and it was quite good. I might try a bit sprinkled with some berries and yogurt for a crunchy snack also.

I think that covers it for now. Hello to Ellen and Java and Patty.

Talk to you tomorrow...

Evening all,
Chaffeuring duties done for the day and hallelujah, I have some work to do.
However I am finding that I am running out of time keeping the natives happy and driving them from a to b. Will be easier next week when I get a co-driver and we no longer have a hire car.

Not much else to report. Still swimming for exercise when I get home. Still eating apricots. Not much appetite for anything else.

Be back tomorrow hopefully with some time for some personals. Roll on the weekend.

Happy Freakin' Hump Day...don't know if I am looking forward to the weekend or not. Gonna go to Cs house on Saturday and do some carpet spot cleaning and also clean the oven. Sis couldn't do it as I didn't supply her with oven cleaning stuff and I didn't get to it this past weekend as anticipated. Then on Saturday whether Chris likes it or not, I am having a house painting party. My bro and sil that will be renting from us is meeting C and I over there to paint on Sunday.

Thank God the rain did NOT turn to snow last night, as a matter of fact it was dry out this morning on the way to work. I tell you, I CAN be a weather forecaster.

SHADDIE...you sure do get paid nicely for being a chauffer, tell me do they tip well?

HAPPY...I take 3-1000mg capsules a day of cinnamon. The normal doseage is 2-1000mg caps a day, but since my body doesn't absorb vits etc. after bariatric surgery as normal, I have to take slightly higher doseages. Glad to hear your feeties are doing a bit better. Maybe the shot will help more than you expect. YAY!!

CEEG...man it is hard to get warm once you are chilled to the bone. Yuck! Throw a blanket in the dryer and wrap up, that is what I do. Kind of like Sassy when I put the towels on the couch to fold, if I turn my back, she is right in the middle of the warm towels. Lil stinker, but too cute to get upset with her. She is spoiled.

Hello to all my worldlie sisters...make it a great day/night.

Hugs.

Shad
Yum on the apricots. I love them.

Annie
Sounds like you have another busy week end planned, but think good thoughts.

Happy
I have the problem with to many carbs at breakfast I get more hungry during hte monring. I 've had eggs twice this week but can't do that all the time as I'm trying to get my ldl-bad cholesterol down to 50. Take it easy on the feet the next couple of days.

Laura

-----------------
My co-worker has been upset this week cause her son who had been living with her went awol. She found him last night on a crime stoppers feature on our local t.v. station. I felt so bad for her this morning. He and his live in gf were in Walmart stealing computers. How stupid. But I think he wanted to get caught. She's relieved that he's been found.

No news on my end. Tomorrow is my weigh in day so we'll see how good I've been.

CEEG....fingers crossed on the good WI. Wow that would be devastating to see your own son on crime stoppers on tv. YIKES.

So today's hat is Indy Fire Department Self Inspection form to be filled out by our Fire Captain. Sheesh need to get yet another hat. First order of business, order a fire extinguisher to be installed in our tiny suite. hahahaha. I def do not get paid enough for all these hats I wear. Blah

Morning all.

Ceejay - This damp weather makes the cold even colder if you ask me. WW has included their online tools in the membership, so I hope counting points isn't a PITA. Wow, how horrible to see one's child on a crime stoppers show!! I guess for her it was a mixed blessing - learning he's apparently alive....but living a life of crime.

Annie - Glad it's dry by you today. We got about, I dunno, 5 inches in our area, quite wet. Today it's still snowing very fine wet rain/snow droplets. Good and slushy all over since the temps are hovering around/just above freezing. Another full steam ahead weekend for you - I just don't know how you do it. So this new office space - how far from the old one is it? Has it changed your commute at all? Hope the unpacking is going smoothly, Madame Fire Inspector. I'm glad the cinnamon is working for you. I am loath to take any more meds/vitamins/supplements at this time, however, unless it's a sure thing.

Happy - Glad you're foot is feeling better and I hope it continues to improve and you get your money's worth out of that shot. Nice to hear you were up and about. I need to get on the bandwagon with more fresh fruits and veggies. I've typically shied about from them if I'm in doubt I'll actually getting around to using them. For example, salads just don't appeal to me in the cold weather, so I don't buy much in the way of salad fixin's this time of year. But on WW (and any food plan really) the fruits & veggies are the biggest bang for the buck in terms of calories/points, so I need to try harder to embrace them.

Shad - Yay for being busy with real work and not busy work. I've never had a fresh apricot, just dried and apricot preserves (which I haven't had in years, but is quite tasty as a topping for vanilla ice cream). And goodonya (prolly said that wrong) for the exercise.

Hello Mel!! How's everything out East? Is your shoulder feeling better?
==
The movie "Side Effects" was a good movie, but for some reason it's not something I'd recommend running right out to see. It didn't end up being quite what I thought it would be, but I liked what it turned out to be better. And there were a few good twists in there too. I was glad Channing Tatum's role wasn't very large, something about him I don't care for - I guess it's that he's not the best actor (IMO). Jude Law had the major role and he was pretty good. Rooney Mara was alright, but I was distracted by her atrocious hair in the movie, LOL.

Bf picked me up from the train last night and I walked this morning. Pretty much kept to the street because there are a good number of folks who hadn't cleared their sidewalks yet.

Haven't had a chance to get into the WW materials I received yesterday, so I'll keep my tracking in SP until I get a chance to get going with the eTools.

Okay, I have the icky meeting that was postponed from yesterday in ~30 min. and I want to be well-prepped for it. TTFN!!

Good morning ladies -

Quick check in for me, but I hope to catch up on personals tonight as my friend from CA left this morning and my roommate doesn't move in until next week sometime. We got between 6"-7" of wet, heavy snow where I live, and they got more further south, as in Milwaukee, Chicago, etc. I revved my car and tried to back out of my driveway very fast, but got stuck at the berm that the plow made. So I had to dig out the plow berm so I could get out to the street. When I got to my ex's house to drop Santa off, his driveway and plow berm were even deeper/taller. So I just parked on the street and walked Santa up the driveway, trudging through the snow. I figured it was okay to park on the street since I was only going to be there for a couple minutes and the plow had already been through.

I'm so hoping that by the time I leave work, one of my ex's neighbors snowblows his driveway (otherwise I'll have to) and that my upstairs neighbor snowblows ours. Unfortunately my back isn't better at all. It hurts the most when I stand up from a sitting or lying down position, and also occasionally "gives out" when I am walking. Oh well, I'll do what I can. I don't have insurance until Friday, so I can't see a doctor until then. Hopefully, I'll be doing much better by the end of the week.

I hope you all are doing well.

Sending much love and many hugs to all,

Great news!! I just got a text from one of my ex's neighbors....he used his ATV plow to clear my ex's driveway!! Yay!! That means I can get in and out to drop off/pick up Santa and in case ex-DMIL needs me. My ex and his gf will either be returning tomorrow or Friday.

Now I just have to hope and pray that the upstairs neighbors in the duplex where I live will clear our driveway.

I'm sorry your back isn't that much better, but shoveling snow sure isn't helping. I'm glad you won't have to do that at the ex's, and I sure hope your neighbor upstairs will do the job at your place. Why isn't this the landlord's responsibility???!!!