Hi ladies! We may not have had snow, but boy, the wind is a killer!! I just can't get warm today.
I had a short (6 hour) work day today, and then had my treadmill done. That went well- my blood pressure was up (even before we atarted) for some reason, but the TM was normal and "all my blood is flowing where it ought to", as the cardiologist said. And he ought to know, I guess!
Kendra, how interesting that you met your bf on the internet! I just watched a show about that - good and bad experiences, etc- last week. Did he live near you when you first started chatting, or did one of you change locales after you met? I'm so sorry that you sprained your ankle! Be careful- those things can take forever to heal even when you take good care of them. How are you feeling otherwise? Did you check with the doctor yet? No snow in Pittsburgh either, huh? So much for our state of the art forecasting tools!!
Jan, I took my little sweetie his hat today before my dr.'s appointment- he liked the hat- as long as it wasn't on his head! We did manage to get it on there long enough to take a couple pictures. Once I finish that roll, I'll post them. Hr did learn the word hat- "hat-hat-hat-hat"- I wish "grandma" would trip off his tongue that easily!!
Texaslady, I love the Pirate's Booty too- it's addictive. I think I may order some of those one serving size ones that Jan had- they are so handy! Maroon carrots???? Did you taste them? They don't sound too good to me!! Thanks for posting something about Jicima- I wouldn't have had a clue how to spell it!! I wonder if I'll have any luck finding it in this area?
Liz, are you okay? We haven't heard from you since your meeting with the lawyer, and I'm worried about you. Stop in and say hi!
Saara, how was the cruise? Were you able to make it class after all that?

I wonder what happened to [b]Monica, Lynne and Margie[b]? Has anyone seen them anywhere else?

I think it's time for a nice hot cup of tea. Talk to you all later. Have a great evening, everyone!
Carol

Hi to Janet, the 2 Nancies, Joyce, Linda and anyone else I may have inadvertently mised!

Carol, looks like you and I were the only ones around yesterday! I am glad the doctor's exam went OK. Its always good to know the old heart is still pumping...... blood pressure was probably up from your weather scare on Sunday! Last night I peeled the jicima I bought Monday. It is not as fresh tasting as the one Jan had (althought it was still good). Maybe the one I bought was too big around. There were some smaller ones at the store but I bought a big round one - maybe 6 or 7 inches in diameter. Next time I will get a smaller one!

Went and picked up dd's wedding gown last night after work. It is just gorgeous - course, I am prejudiced! I had a couple shots left on the roll we took at Jan's so I took a couple of the dress and will have them developed today at the one hour place and hope they turn out well enough to post - along with some of the pics from Jan's.

So another wedding hurdle is crossed. We went ahead and brought the gown home and will take it back for alterations this summer! We had to buy a petticoat - OF COURSE WE DID!!! - (those bridal shops will "dollar" you to death!) to the tune of $65. DD had hoped to borrow the one her matron of honor wore last year, but the top of the petticoat showed through her dress so we got one with a different waist ( now we have to find something else to "borrow" to go along with the "old, new & blue") . After I got home I checked the invoice and realized that the shop charged me $10 for the dress bag! Please!!! Like they couldn't GIVE us the dang bag after we spent nearly $1000 on the dress & petticoat!! Greedy, greedy, greedy! And I assure you the alterations won't be free either. Fortunately there will not be many needed - I don't think it even needs to be hemmed. It really does fit almost perfectly.

Time for me to go. Have a nice day everyone!!

How about that!
We can now read the whole word Booty! I do love the stuff, I can mostly just get the cheese variety, but it a real life saver sometimes!
And thanks for the reminder of the jicama, I do enjoy them, as does my husband, but never think to buy them...I get in such ruts.

I've never seen maroon carrots, but probably wouldn't be tempted, we get so programmed to the way things are supposed to look. i saw once where someone was making green catsup! BLEAH!

Liz, I hope you are o.k., would love to hear from you. It must be a very trying time. I'm, sorry for the pain you must be experiencing.

Janet, I'm anxious to hear your reactions to your trip, hope you have recovered from the trauma of the flight.

texaslady makes the scene seem so serene. did you get to have the picnic at the ranch?

Carol, good plan to go home and beat the storm!
Yes, I have been busily working on my eggs.

I'm watching our storms, hoping to get up to Mothers for her birthday on the 21st, will depend partly on the weather, as the pass between here closes if it snows. people are known to sit up there all night waiting for it to clear. NOT ME! I make sure it is clear before I leave home!
Casie was supposed to have soccer practice for the last 2 weeks , but hasn't been able to because of rain, he managed to squeeze one in last night between rains.

I am feeling really overwhelmed today by the 'state of crisis' that the youth of our country are in today! since the shooting in Santee,Calif, earlier this week, there have been 4 other schools involved with students being arrested for weapons and threats to teachers and students. right now another school in LA is on lock down while they search for a boy with a gun.
I just heard that they didn't find anything. I hope that means it didn't exist.

Linda and I are starting to deliver Meals on Wheels tomorrow, wish me luck!
~~~~~~
JOYce

Kendra, I am so sorry about your sprained ankle! I hope you're resting it, and will be feeling better soon. That is so fascinating about your meeting your bf over the 'net! Can you tell us more about it?

Texaslady, I think you're right, the bigger jicamas may be a bit tougher. Have you tried sprinkling a little cayenne or lime pepper on them? Re: the pickapeppa sauce, I've really only used it on the nonfat cream cheese, but I guess you could also use it like steak sauce.

Carol, glad your treadmill test went ok! After all the worries over the storm and negotiations with the airlines, it's no wonder your bp was a little high; glad your doctor gave you a clean bill of health, though!

Things are busy this week, as we're off for spring break next week and are tying up loose ends, etc. DH and I will be heading to Seattle and then Vancouver; it'll be good to have a change of scenery, but our timing isn't so great, is it?

Hi to Saara, Nancy, JOYce, Nancy, Liz, and Janet!

Regards,
Jan

Good morning everyone! I can't believe the week is almost over already!
Texaslady, I'm with you!! It would seem to me that after you spent all that money on a dress and accessories that they could splurge and throw in a $10 dress bag!!! I'm glad the dress is as lovely on your dd as you knew it would be! You'll have to get yourself "scanner literate" between now and October so you can post lots of wedding pix for us! Speaking of pix, were they able to find enough blue bonnets to take their engagement photos?
Joyce, green catsup?? Oh, yuk!!! I agree- catsup shouldn't be grn and carrots shouldn't be maroon!!! How nice that you and Linda have started doing Meals on Wheels! You are such a thoughtful, giving person. You'll have to put some pictures of your eggs on your website when you have them done.
Jan, are you going to be able to fly into Seatlle as planned? You must be getting excited about the trip by now! How is your dad? Please give him my regards. If you get a chance, would you please post (or remind us where it is posted) that wonderful amaretto cheesecake you served us?
Janet, where are you?

Talking about Joyce's eggs reminded me- Texaslady brought one of her beautiful "homecoming mums" to Jan's to show us. They are just amazing! So much work!!! The pictures don't do them justice!

Hi to Saara, Liz, NJNancy, TC Nancy, Rebecca, Kendra- did I miss anyone? I hope you all have a good day.

Well, I'd better run- lots to do at work today. I'll talk to you all tomorrow.
Carol

Good morning, everyone! I don't have much time - once again I hit the snooze button too many times!

Joyce - That green catsup is all over the place around here! I know they say it taste just like the red, but I am not sure I could look at the green stuff on my plate! Sort of like "Green Eggs and Ham"! Hope you do get to see your Mom and Sister soon. Tell Linda Hello for us and that we still think about her often.

Carol - DD decided to put off the pictures until the week-end of the 24th of March. While we were at Jan's, she and Matt drove up toward where they thought they would find wildflowers and there were none - yet! So she called the photographer and re-booked for a little later in the month.

Gotta go, everyone! Hi to all those lurking! Have you noticed that since the site switched over, we can see how many "views" our thread has? We have a lot of people checking in on us - I sure hope they will jump in and join us. We were all "new" at one time too - and now look what good friends we have all become! So if you are lurking - please come down and let us know something about yourselves!

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, I FINALLY made it to my meeting yesterday. I was all pumped up and ready to go, feeling good about myself and all that, went out to start the car and NOTHING! Nope, no power at all. So, when my dh got home, we went together. He got the car running, we went to the meeting, I weighed in and to my surprise, I lost 3.7 pounds! Now, take in mind that that was for two weeks. Even so, I felt GREAT about myself after all that. Only a pound away from my 10%!

Joyce- I saw that green catsup around the other day when I was grocery shopping. I have to agree with Texaslady and probably wouldn't eat it because it didn't look right!

Kendra- I hope that your ankle is feeling better. You met your bf on the internet, that is so cool. I have a friend that I met on the internet and she and her husband met on the internet. Great thing, this internet, isn't it?

Well, not much else here. Just enjoying the weather, in the hi 20's, low 30's! We can actually see the ground in some places! I just hope it doesn't melt too fast, what a mess! I am waiting for the streets to be clear of ice before I dig my bike out of the garage. I am really ready to use that! And living in a small town like we do, biking is so much easier than getting in the car and driving. But not too long now, spring is coming! I think....

But I better go. Big Hi's to everyone!!

Rebecca

Hi everyone!

I'm back. The cruise was great fun! I wasn't expecting much of it, so to my surprise it turned out great... I did drink too many empty points, but didn't eat too much, except for 2 slices of cheesecake at the buffet. And I didn't buy any huge bags of cheap candy to bring back. So I think I did OK eatingwise. The boat was rocking quite a bit, but I got used to it fast, but now I can still feel the rocking every now and then. I think I messed up both my physical and mental balance, but the latter one is a positive thing. I have a huge crush on this guy that studies political science, and I didn't even remember these kind of feelings exist! I feel like a teenager... Nothing big happened between me and him, but we just hanged out together, and he's just the sweetest guy!!! :blush: And today when I was sitting at a class room and the door was open I saw him walk buy and my heart started jumping...
I guess I can say now, that maybe this whole breakup w/ the ex bf was a good thing after all. I think we just stayed together cause we had decided to stay together, if this makes any sense. But now I'm starting to see that I wasn't happy for a long time. But I wasn't really miserable either, I just wasn't feeling anything. And now I'm just happy to feel anything, good or bad feelings. And I'm so enjoying this feeling having a crush on someone. It actually started couple of weeks ago, but I didn't want to admit it even to myself, but after I got some positive attention from him, I just couldn't stop myself. And the other thing is that he's a first year student so I thought he's a lot younger than me, but it turned out that he studied in a different university before, and is only 8 months younger...
Oh well, I've been already boring all my friends w/ this stuff and now I'm boring you all. But I just can't stop smiling
I hope you're all having a wonderful day! Saara.

Saarao Keep smiling! What fun to have a 'teen-age crush'! I am happy for you.

Congrats Rebecca Your perseverance is such an inspiration!! keep up the good work.

Tomorrow, I will be officially back OP! I can't do it on my own, so will go back to my meeting.


Carol, "great minds think alike!!"
Last night , as I was painting my eggs, I had the thought to photograph them for you to see. I hope to have a batch ready for the shop this weekend, so will photograph them befoe I take them in. I'm having such fun with them this year, and it keeps my hands busy and food free!

Must go hop in the shower and go get Linda, to deliver those meals!

~~~~
JOYce

Rebecca, way to go on the 3.7 pounds! That's wonderful; I'm so happy for you! I didn't realize that you also live in a small town. You're right, biking (and walking) are easier and probably a little safer for us. It took a while for folks to get used to seeing me out walking, and realize that they didn't need to stop and offer a ride!

Saara, sounds like the cruise was fun! Good for you, resisting those bags of candy. And what great news about your new friend! It's interesting how losing weight gives us the confidence to make changes in our lives, isn't it? I can relate to that, and also to your description of not feeling anything, a kind of numbness I guess, that went along with being overweight (for me, anyway). How wonderful to leave that behind, to wake up, so to speak! Keep us posted on this new bf, now!

Carol, yes, we're flying into Seattle Monday morning; haven't planned the rest of it, other than trying to find a good place to kayak (if I can convince dh to try that!). There are supposed to be lots of good walking trails in Seattle, so we'll try to do that too. Re: the cheesecake, will have to repost that; I don't see it in the recipes section where I thought I posted it. Will try to do that tonight! Glad you liked it! Will pass along your "hi" to Dad, and thanks, he's doing very well. DH took him to S.A. today to refill prescriptions and such, and he's looking forward to my sister coming Saturday.

Texaslady, I'm glad your dd was able to change the date for her wedding pics; that should be right at the height of the season, I would think! I was also interested to see the number of views we had. Would like to second your invitation to lurkers; come on in!

JOYce, I think we were posting at the same time yesterday. How sweet of you to do the Meals on Wheels project! You are one busy lady. I'm sure all the people you deliver meals to are so glad to see you!

Hi to Kendra (how's that ankle?), Janet, Nancy, Nancy in TC, and Linda; hope all is well! And Lynne & Kermit, if you're out there, stop in and say hello; we miss you!

Regards,
Jan

Jan, I pulled up the cheesecake recipe for everyone who asked about it. It was under Desserts - just had slipped far down the list. Should be near the top for a few days if anyone needs it. By the way, it was YUMMY!

Hey Girls!! I just spent my entire lunch hour typing a very long post...and then Netscape "performed an illegal operation." I'll say it should be illegal!! I'll try again tonight. I just wanted y'all to know that I am still here. It has been a very hectic week. I took off Monday because something very sad happened with my Persian cat (Motley), but I will tell you about that tonight...and of course, there had been a "catastrophe" at work while I was gone. I do want to say that I loved flying and had a wonderful time in Texas. It was as if we had all known each other forever, and Jan, her DH and dad could not have been more gracious hosts. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome, and to make sure that our every need was met. I'll tell you more details tonight. I also want to thank Texaslady for all that she did...especially making sure that I got to the correct gate Sunday afternoon and then waiting around with me. I appreciated that so much, and really enjoyed the company...and our talks. Have a great OP day!!

Janet (Kudzu)

P. S. Carol, have you had another "grit?"

Hi everyone! We've had a lovely semi-springlike day here!
Texaslady, I'm glad your daughter decided to postpone her picture taking- the wild flowers in full bloom are so impressive, judging by those fields we saw near Laredo, that I think it will be worth the wait for her to have them like that in your area!
Rebecca, I didn't see that you'd chosen the kitty cat before I did- I'll switch to something else! Congrats on the 3.7 pound loss!! that's fantastic! And only one more pound to your 10%!!
Saara, I'm glad you had fun on the cruise, and were able to resist the big bags of chocolate. I hope things progress well with your "crush"! See, things have a way of turning out for the best, don't they?
Jan, I'm glad the Seattle airport was not so damaged that you can't fly in there! Have a wonderful and safe trip!!
Janet, nope- haven't had another "grit"!! I knew you'd choose the butterfly for your sign!!! How's Krysten like hers, by the way? You didn't say.
Joyce, I'm glad you're going back to the WW meeting tomorrow- that added support really helps. How did the Meals on Wheels go?

Tomorrow is the baby's surgery. My son-in-law has to work, so I'm going to go with my dd. She was going to give it a go herself rather than have me take off, but I could just see her on the beltway alone with a screaming or even worse a vomiting post-anesthesia toddler in the back seat. No way. Grandma's going along. She had to take him for his pre-op check at the surgeon's office today- his office is in the building right next to where I work, so she stopped by afterwards. He did his "snuggle thing" with me the minute he saw me, and stayed "snuggled" on my shoulder for about 15 minutes before he started exploring. My coworkers thought it was so cute the way he does that. So do I!!!
Well, I'd better run. Have a great weekend, everyone!
Carol

Hi, again!
I LOVE this new board! so many fun toys!
Meals on wheels went fine. Our route is in a familiar part of the neighboring town, and I mentioned landmarks from my high school days, it turns out the man that was training us, was my High school Vice Principal! I had recognized the name, but never dreamed it was the same guy! I giggled to myself until we took him back and then I had to explode , telling Linda all the "stuff' i knew about him from 45 years ago!

Then Linda and I went to Chili's for Crispy Chicken salads. She ordered hers grilled instead of the crispy that is on the menu, I'll do that next time, it is such a good salad!

JAN good luck on your trip. We will going that direction in June with our trailer and granddaughter. Our daughter that lives in Spokane said that their airport had lots more traffic since the earthquake, some of SEATAC's planes from Seattle have had to go there, so that cut down on her flight time with her students.
But it is gradually getting back to normal.

I checked the WW meeting schedule, I will go at 9:30 tomorrow a.m.

CAROL, my thoughts and prayers will be with you and your sweetie tomorrow, I hope all goes well, he will appreciate having his snuggly gramma there. Is this for the tubes in his ears?

bye for now...
~~~~
JOYce

Guess I will start a new thread. We must be close to going to 2 pages. Join me on #53.