Hi All:
Sorry I haven't been around for awhile but work is nuts and so is my life
at home.
About a week ago my second oldest son Michael was at a friends house.
They were listening to music (probably too loud) and a neighbour came
down to complain. One thing lead to another and a fight broke out, police
were involved etc. My sons only crime was pinning a 17 year old who was
punching his friends father in the face. Well......ever since then our lives
have been turned upside down. This young thug and his friends have it in
for my son. They are calling our house threating to kill my son. I don't know
how such a small thing got blown so far out of the water. My son does not
want to go to the police for fear it will make the situation worse. He is
fearful going outside the house, going to work ect.ect.ect. I had to tell my
mother to be sure she keeps her doors locked at all time. These same thugs
invaded the apartment of one of Michael's friends and beat the kid and his
brother up. I don't know what to think. Like I needed another
problem I am hoping that it will blow over. These days you
don't know what the heck to think. I am plenty concerned I'll tell you that.

Nikki, sounds like you are doing great with WW. How many points do you
eat per day?

Aleka, I am with you on the subject of freezing rain. Haven't had any yet
but man do I hate it.

Lynn, I have started my shopping. I still have alot more to do though.

Anne.

Anne,
I can't imagine how stressed out you are about this. How old is your son? I sure hope it does blow over. Nikki

Good morning,

This is funny, my favorite color is blue also. Most of my clothes are in different shades of blue. My furniture is navy blue w/white & tan flowers. Nikki, my mother's favorite colors were blue & white. She had a medium blue carpet with blue & white wallpaper. Also, before I got married my parents bought a white artificial Christmas tree and we strung blue lights on it and blue balls, all the same shade. After I got married my parents didn't want to put up a big tree so they gave it to me and I put it up for many years. I often think of that tree and how pretty it was.

Anne, this ontop of everything you've been through. I really hope it does blow over. That's awfully scary.

Lynn, that's wonderful you've gotten all your Christmas shopping done. Now, hopefully, you can relax and enjoy the season. I am in the process of doing mine. As a matter of fact we're heading out later this morning. I love diet soda (what you call pop). Right now I am addicted to diet Vanilla Coke and diet Cherry Coke.

Nikki, I haven't tried that new pepsi yet. I saw a 2 litre bottle of Spiced Pepsi, (not diet) which is only around for the holidays. I saw it a few weeks ago, but haven't seen it again. I have seen the Skinny Cow Ice Cream but haven't bought any. Walmart carries, I think they're called Health Smart, but I'm not sure. They're made with Splenda and they're only 1 WW point. One box contains chocolate and chocolate & vanilla swirl. They also have an orange & creme swirl and a raspberry & creme swirl. We used to get them all the time when we lived in NH. I guess you'd call them ice cream bars, even though they're on a stick. They're good size and you get plenty.

DH was out yesterday morning so I dug out my WATP 2 mile walk and did that. Boy, did I get a good workout.

Gotta go take my shower.

Enjoy your day.
Aleka

Hi,
Anne, I'm thinking about you and your family. Hope you are alright.

I'm eating 28 points a day until I reach 224 lbs and then it goes to 26. I am saving my flex points for the weekend. DH is off, it's his first weekend off in 6 weeks and he wants to go to his hometown and go to the bars to visit and catch up on the gossip. This is never something I want to do, I'd rather stay home and clean the toilet. At least, I'll have plenty of points so when I drink too much beer, I won't have to feel bad about the calories at least. I'm walking 3 miles a day with the WATP 1 mile and 2 mile walks and I'm doing this body sculpting tape I have 3 times a week. My goal was to walk 10 miles a week and I've already got 7.5 miles in since Monday. At least this way, if I don't get it in on the weekend, I will be at goal anyway.

Aleka, my sister had a white tree with blue lights and blue ornaments when I was a kid. I thought that was the neatest thing and I think, that was the beginning of my love of blue and white. Before that, I'd never seen a tree that was anything but the usual multicolored lights and live green.
I've tried the WW ice cream sandwiches and they are good, but the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are really good. I got them at Walmart. They have mint, with chocolate cookies layered on the outside and vanilla/strawberry with vanilla cookies on the outside. There might be more favors, but these are the ones our Walmart is carrying. DH loved them so much, he ate 3 of them. That's what I get for sharing my treats Guess it will keep me from over eating them myself I tried one of those new Pepsi's last night and they taste just like (as far as I could tell) regular Pepsi. I've also tried Coke C2 and it was good, but it still wasn't like regular Coke.
Guess I better go work out, take care, Nikki

Hi Everyone: Couldn't get on the computer before now because the dog was being groomed and we had to wait to get the call to pick her up. Remember I am still dial-up. Anne, how awful for you and your family. Mob rule is the way of the GTA now. DD had to go to her high school for a reason I can't remember a couple of years ago, the school in a very good part of the GTA and there were police patrolling the halls. She was stunned to say the least. She is 28 years old so has been out of there for 9 of 10 years. I worry about my GS. Unfortunately going to the police will probably make it worse. Kids do have a short attention span and hopefully they will move on soon. You and I have talked about our fabulous young offenders act before, and this is another reason to show it is not working. Your life has been **** lately, I sure hope it improves soon. Still havn't got my tree up, maybe tomorrow, I don't know were my time has gone. I would have loved a blue and white tree. DD & DH always made a very big deal out of having a real tree . Every year the 2 of them spent a whole weekend looking for the best tree, now we both have phony ones. Once again you girls have products Anne and I can't get here. Wallmart carry's products from the countries that they are in. I would love some of your products here. Well that is it for now, time to get started on dinner. I am having boneless skinless chicken breasts and I don't know what!

Hi,

Went shopping yesterday and found the Floridian Christmas ornament that I had been looking for to send to our former neighbors and my cousin. I even bought one for myself. On our way back we stopped in to visit my ILs. They took us to a store that sells a lot of decorative things for the home. We found that certain something for the wall above our sliding glass doors. We had been searching for something for quite a long time. So, it was a very productive day all around.

Lynn, there are schools like that here too. I'm just glad I went to school when I did, back in the 50's & 60's. I bet Mya looks fabulous after her grooming.

Anne, you and your family have been in my thoughts. I hope everything is going ok with all of you. I agree with Lynn, calling the police will probably make things worse. It is a shame that society is that way now.

Nikki, you are doing so well with WATP. I've had the C2 Coke, and didn't care for it. WW also has some nice desserts in the freezer section. I've seen WW bread in some stores and bought a loaf once.

Take care,
Aleka

Good Morning Everyone:
Nikki, Michael is 20. I have had a service called "call privacy" put on my
phone. To be able to call our house you must display your phone number
so no more calls from "private number" or "unknown caller" I told my son
these punks are what I call "idlers" They have a whole lot of nothin to do
but cause problems....... I said if they knock on our door it'll be the biggest
mistake they every made. Police would be there in a couple of minutes!

Nikki, explain flew points to me. Can you go on less points and save points
for treats on the weekends???

Lynn, the Young Offenders act is a disgrace. The punk causing all the
problems is 17, go figure.......It scares me because I think about Mattie
Baronowski. Did you hear that awful story yesterday about the mother
stabbing her family! What the **** is wrong with people these days.

Hi Aleka, my mother and sister are getting a dog in the spring. I think it
will be nice for the family. We need some nice news with all this nonsence
going on.

I have been coming to work 1/2 hour earlier everyday. Farida and I can't
cope with this workload and is as nasty as ever.
I was at my lunch hour yesterday and Farida lost a roll of toonies($50.00)
I got the blame. sent me an extremely nasty email. I am forwarding
all email correspondence from fo my home email box. I want to be
sure I keep copies in case I ever lost my job because of her. Better safe than
sorry.

Talk to you later.
Anne.

Good morning,
I have joined a couple of challenge threads on WW. One is to lose 2 lbs a week and it runs until 1-2-05. I don't know if I will actually do that, but it might keep me from gaining weight over the holidays. The other challenge is to do 100 crunches a day until the 1st of January. I popped in an abs tape I have and thought it was 100 crunches, but counted later and it was 355. I did 335 and I was really surprised with that.
Anne, the Flex points are extra points you get every week (35 points) and you can use them anyway you want. You can spread them out and use them a few a day, or all at once (like I will do later this week), or not use them. The amount of points I can eat during the day is based on my weight. I get 28 points a day and when I hit 224, it goes to 26. Also, there are AP, activity points that I can use for the amount of exercise I do, but I don't eat them all. I figure why exercise if your just going to reeat the calories you just burnt up? But, it's a good thing in case I run out of points at the end of the day and I'm still needed a little something to get by until tomorrow. I dont' know how much this is like the previous WW diet. I decided I can't do the Core program, because you eat until your full and honestly, I have no idea when that is, my stomach is too stretched out to be able to eat like I should.

When my kids were teenagers, we had some boys that were bothering them. We live out of town and the boys (I think they were boys) came out and would bang on the windows, peek in the windows, call the house and raise ****. I worked nights, and the girls were here alone and scared to death. They called the police, but after coming out here a few times, the police said we would have to handle ourselves (not all police are like this, this is the local sheriffs dept. and they are a bunch of lazy guys that would rather sit up at the gas station and drink free coffee). I guess when they got here, those kids would be gone anyway. So, I called the phone company and they started to trace the phone calls. The police downtown did get involved with that and went and talked to the kids as well as their parents about the phone calls. I installed motion detector lights around the house and that was very effective. Plus, one night DH who was DB at the time, parked at the bottom of the hill until they drove up and parked and then he chased them off. It stopped after that. I think they decided to go terrorize some other poor kid. Also, I sent the girls for some self defense classes (karate). It made them feel more in control and even though it was just for protecting themselves, you can fight back this way. Plus, it was good exercise.
I sure hope things start to get better for you and your family Anne, you guys have been though plenty. The new dog sounds like a great way to breathe a breath fresh air into your lives.
I better go exercise, goodness the time goes fast, take care, Nikki

Nikki, At one of my WW meetings, the leader told us to eat all our activity points. She said that sometimes that can make it slower for you to lose weight I never ate my activity points and after she mentioned that I've often wondered if that was one of the reasons I was losing so slowly.

Aleka

Aleka, that's good to know about the AP's, I won't feel too guilty if I eat them then Some times, I have a hard time eating all the points I should in a day and others, I do need a few extra. It depends on what I'm having for supper, some dishes can really burn the points up. I know when I get to the place where I can only eat 22 points a day, I will really start to use up my AP and probably the flex points as well. That will be a real challenge to eat that little of an amount.

Nikki, 22 pts. is all I am allowed and at times it does add up quickly. Last year when I went to WW, everyday I would eat 22 points and no more, and more often than not I didn't have enough to eat. I hated using my Flex points until the weekend. When I first went to WW a couple yrs. ago, they didn't have Flex and my point range was 20-25. Eating up to 25 pts. was doable. But, it's just a mind thing. I used to practically live on 0 pt. soup. I think I'll have to start making it again. Oh, I've meant to ask you. Have you tried the new Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits? OMG are they ever good. 6 crackers = 2 pts.

Aleka

Aleka, 22 points seems like such a little amount to me, but I'm so use to eating a huge amount all the time. I haven't tried the new Triscuits, but I will look for them.
Do you have a good recipe for the soup? I've seen several of them on the site, but haven't made one yet. Nikki

Hi everyone,

We had a really gloomy day yesterday and it only got into the 70's. I was in sweat pants all day.

DH has come down with his 2nd cold since we've moved here. I told him that we should move back to NH where he rarely ever got sick.

We have a local E-Z listening radio station down here that has been playing Christmas music 24/7 since the day after Thanksgiving and will continue to do so until after Christmas. It was nice at first, but it's kinda getting old about now. We went to Ft Myers the other day and there is an E-Z listening station down there that is doing the same thing. I'm wondering what's going on, as I've never heard of it before. Maybe it's a FL thing.

Anne, that's wonderful news about your mother and sister getting a dog. Something good to come into your lives. What type of dog are they thinking of getting? That is a good idea of putting what we call, Caller ID. Have the jerks been harassing you on the phone? Hope everything quiets down for you and this blows over quickly.

Nikki, I do have a recipe for 0 point soup. I know I packed it somewhere...I just have to find it. Here is a recipe for veggie soup my MIL gave me when she was going to WW. It' not a 0 point soup. She told me she gave herself 1 pt. if she used the fat-free minestrone soup, and 2 pts. if she used the regular minestrone soup.

1 can Progresso fat-free Minestrone Soup
1 15 oz. can chopped or diced tomatoes, undrained (I used the kind that have added things to it like chili peppers)
1 7 oz can green beans, or other canned vegetable of your choice, drained
1 7 oz can yellow beans, or other canned vegetable of your choice, drained
1 15 oz. can yellow hominy, drained
1-2 Tablesp. chili seasoning taco seasoning, or seasoning of your choice (optional)
Put it all in a pot and heat.

Sometimes I would use the bags of cut up broccoli and cauliflower instead of the green & yellow beans, or I'd throw in some zucchini & yellow squash. I add the seasonings to give it more zippity-dooda. When I first made the soup I wasn't too sure about hominy, so I added a can of corn. Then I had some soup my MIL had made with the hominy and it tasted pretty good. So, I've been adding hominy everytime I make it.

lynn, how are things going with you? Glad that you're having a good time at Curves and with your group of ladies.

Have a great day.
Aleka

Good morning,
Aleka, thanks for the recipe, I will print it off and use it next week. It's a good time for soup around here. Although, they say tomorrow it will be 52 and I'm planning on going out to the lake and walking on the trails
We have lots of radio stations that play Christmas music all the time during the month of December. It gets really old after awhile. Several years ago, when the kids moved out, I decided to stop listening to the radio in the car. I had listened to their loud, constant music for so long, it was refreshing to hear silence. I still don't listen to the radio anymore. Sometimes, I do have to, when DH is in the car, because he doesn't enjoy my radio free time like I do
I don't know what I weigh, but my pants are getting loser. I will weigh again on Monday.
Last night, we went to the local Mexican place for supper. I had this great salad with marinated shrimp. It was so good, I didn't even have to use dressing on it. I also drank quite a few beers, but I hadn't eaten most of the day, so I had plenty of points to use up. I ended up using my AP's too, but none of my flex points, so I felt ok with that. The beer went straight to my head though. I haven't drank for over a month and not eating, I was drunk as a skunk.
Better get busy, have a good one you guys, Nikki

Hi Everyone:
Thanks God its Friday
I have a week off next week. It's a mixed blessing. When I come back my
work will be up to the roof but on the same hand I need some down time.

Aleka, last weekend those guys were calling. My son was pretending he was
one of his brothers.... He is still really scared. He told me he was scared the
one creep would stab him. In Canada we have something called the young
offenders act. If you are under 18 it doesn't matter what crime you commit
you can only get a max of 3 years. Its disgusting trust me, all these young
punks know they can get away with any crime they choose. The kid he is
so concerned about is 17.
I think mom and Lynda are looking at a terrier ?spelling of some kind. Something cute. I want them to get a Basset hound but they feel the dog
might be a bit to big.

Nikki what do you eat on a typical day? Are you full? I bet the variety is
wonderful. I have to admit I'm tempted to switch over.

Hi Lynn, isn't it cold!! Sure is starting to feel like Christmas!!!

Talk to you guys later.
Anne.