WebWomman, my son is being an inconsiderate jerk (I'd rather use a different word). Nothing much new there.

Freda, I love the saying that the grown kids step on your heart. How true. I thought of you this morning when my doggie stepped on my toes. I knew she'd never step on my heart.

KarenFL, I looked at the Rina forecast just for you. They don't seem to know where she's heading. Except to my favorite Mexican resort in Cancun.

Mary, great job on the 153. You are cruising. FYI, you get the rebate on executive membership and the AMEX card. They're separate programs so you get a bit back.

Chickadee, a professional karate fighter??? Does he already have a black belt and such? Or is he starting as a newbie?

Carol Sue, interesting about your husband and walking and parking. The challenge thread isn’t a challenge between the posters. It’s a challenge with ourselves to stay on plan over the holidays. Hence just posting that a day went the way it was planned. Good luck on the cardio visit today!

Donna Marie, good luck selling your DS’s toys without him knowing. That will prove difficult.

Zoe, thanks for the pita bread link. It was helpful since it listed the ingredients and there was soy protein and soy flour – both allergens that will kill me. But because you mentioned pita bread, I will look at my local market and read the labels. Maybe there’s a 60 cal one out there without soy or peanuts in it. And I thought of you when one of our directors asked if I would do outside consulting. I agreed with the caveat that I work at home with my doggies. He agreed so I might do some of that.

Val, I’m so relieved you’re starting to feel better. If you still have a fever you shouldn’t be going into work. But alas, the work ethic gets us every time. Doesn’t it? I definitely gag if there is the slightest skunk smell in the vicinity. Why are they on earth?

Bobbi, I’m like Lynn. I look online and only read headlines unless something interests me. I’m glad that Friday is the end of your flooring frustrations.

Lynn, my son wrote nasties on a facebook message. Apparently he forgot the world doesn’t revolve around him.

Rosey, excellent idea buying used stuffed animals for the pups. Where do you get the squeakers? My dogs shred those as they shred the stuffed animals.

Donna, that image from the inmate’s piercings is just disgusting. Wowza. Kai sends SamCat her impish good cheer. She was ill last night and wouldn’t eat. Since low blood sugar triggers most of her seizures, I was conning her to eat anything. She only chose some cookies and cream ice cream. This morning her tummy was well and she did her pirouettes for breakfast. The skunk bath recipe is: 32 oz hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup baking soda and 1 t. Dawn dish soap. Mix it up, don’t dilute it. Then use a rag to rub it into the doggie. Voila, smell gone except around the mouth that caught the darn creature…

KarenMO, I bet many organs that work will come up for sale. DH and I have been watching for a used tandem on Craigslist (and elsewhere). I ordered and paid for a new one on Friday. Saturday, the same brand one I ordered came up on our local Craigslist. But it was a 2003 and mine will be brand spankin’ new. I’m not to upset I spent and extra $1400..

Work was not bad today and life in general wasn’t bad. Actually it was a good day. Halfway through the work week and my first big state ed report that is due on Friday is almost done. Time for dinner (for the pups) so I must go…
Marie

Hi everyone. marie i get the squeakers in e-bay in pet toys.just type in replacement squeakers. (((hugs))) rosey

Good evening GG’s,

Three days down ~ one to go. Sorry ~ I will have to do personals on another day. The evenings go by so fast. By the time I change clothes, make and have supper (I am such a slow eater ~ with out a little bitty spoon) and get my stuff ready for work the next day, there is not much time left over.

My stupid knees are giving me such a terrible time. I had finally gotten them feeling better but have had kind of a set back. Maybe God is giving me a nice big dose of pain to help me remember before I try to stuff another candy bar or what ever in my face (one of what Zoe called an “oh **** moment”) that my knees would be better off if I would quit that stupid stuff and get this weight off.

A few comments:

Donna ~ you have asked about the “new management”. We are starting to get a feel for things. They are making it mandatory that we can no longer wear what ever scrubs we like ~ we are having to pick out a certain color and that is all we are allowed to wear ~ as you would say ~ Bahhhhhh!!!!
One of the color choices was pink ~ bet the male nurses/nurses aids just can’t wait to wear pink. We wonder why during these hard economic times they want to make everyone spend on clothes when they already have some.
The new dental insurance and health insurance they have for us is more expensive. One of my coworkers said that we won’t have much of a pay check left over.

Mary ~ your description of how the number on the scale used to affect your choices sounds exactly like the kind of head games that go on in my head when I see that number. I was weighing every day ~ some people say it helps so that you can catch things before they get out of hand, but I ended up doing exactly like you had described. Treating myself if I was good, or saying oh ~ the heck with it ~ I have tried hard and gotten nowhere ~ and treating myself. Either way let to eating for me. So, I have been just weighing once a week at weight watchers. I could pretty much know if it was going to be up or down by how I had eaten during the week.

Bobbi ~ I look at the Woman’s Day Magazine, Family Circle, Readers Digest and Guideposts. I also like the Parade thing that comes in the Sunday paper. I used to like to read books, but can’t seem to settle myself down to concentrate on them. And frustratingly, can’t always seem to remember what they were about. I seem to do better with short article type things. I use to like to read the news paper (back when we lived in Maine). It was fun, because you knew the people you were reading about. But then moved to Kansas City ~ and didn’t know anybody I read about in there. It has been the same in the other places I lived. So, now I get my news ~ either on the radio ~ I listen in the morning as I get ready for work, or on the internet ~ the news items. I read the headlines and pick and choose what interests me.

I liked your idea of writing down on here what I eat ~ maybe that will make me stop and think before I shove something in my mouth. I wouldn’t want you all to know how awful I am sometimes.

So here’s todays foods:
Breakfast ~ Kashi go lean crunch 1C, ½ cup skim milk, ½ banana. 1 cup of coffee with 1T powdered creamer and sweetened with splenda. 1 container of dannon Greek yogurt.
Snack at work ~ 2 cheese sticks.
Lunch ~ turkey sandwich with lettuce and miracle whip lite on whole wheat bread and fruit salad (contains bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi)
Snack on the way home from work ~ 1 apple sliced up
Supper ~ progresso lite Italian vegetable soup, 5 wheat saltine crackers. Salad of lettuce, celery, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, kraft fat free ranch salad dressing, ham chunks (1 serving of small canned ham) ¼ cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese and mushroom slices.
Snack ~ crunchy granola bar

Well, it is almost time for bed now. Hope you all rest well.

Take care

Just a quick note because there was talk of canned soups. Does anyone else make stock for cooking? We save meat trim in one bag and veggie scraps in another in the freezer. About once per month, the scraps go in the stock pot and boil away all day until it is greatly reduced, then through the strainer. chill overnight and then skim the fat off the top. freeze in ice cube trays, then transfer to storage bags.

Lovely for cooking or drinking a healthy snack. I put two cubes in a cup tonight, microwaved, then added hot water to fill. Lovely and frugal.

I will be back tomorrow.

Rie

Bobbi,

Is your new flooring installed yet? I'm curious because I'm in the process of ordering hardwood to replace vinyl and worn out carpeting on my first floor. I can't imagine what the chaos will be when we have to move all the furniture. ;-)

Morning...Still don't know how we did yesterday. Director must be having problems posting the game. Getting excited about going to Daytona 11/8.

Bobbie.....I read so much....about 3/4 of a book aday, Southern Living, Foodnetwork, Simple&Delicious, ABL Bridge Bulletin, Fl Bridge mag and Gun Dog. Sometimes buy Woman's Day. I have read 144 books on my Kindle since Jan and get at least one book a month from BOM.com. Oh forgot ANA mag. Daily local newspaper....life is off tilt if I don't do the puzzle with am coffee.

Karen...enjoy the keyboard. So glad my windows are open and can listen for your music. I watch the beginning of those shows with Ty and come back for last few minutes after they move the bus. There is so much screaming it gives me a headache.

Marie...The only thing you can do with DS is ignore. Don't answer. Don't respond. Anything you say will be used against you. Some day he will wake up and realize how smart you really are. Kai is a GG...too sick to eat but can eat ice cream and cookies....Thats my kinda girl!

Gayle....Each unit has a color??? Gesh they did that 20 yrs ago. ER was burgundy and I still have a couple of those scrubs.

Dinner will be leftovers....made spare ribs with pickled red cabbage. So much better 2nd time around. Going have an easey peasey day. Only thing on schedule is nails at 12N. BBL....k3

Rie - Again, I want to hire you as my personal chef. You have so many good ideas most of which I never heard of. I recently started saving leftover vegetables in the freezer for vegetable soup. That's the extent of my fugality.

Bobbi - I love magazines, and I used to subscribe to several when they offered the specials. But when I retired I realized that with a lower income I had to cut the fat and I cut back on my subscriptions. Now, my daughter-in-law and I trade magazines. I get WW and Fitness and she gets Prevention and Family Circle. I have bought used magazines at flea markets, and when I have a doctor's appointment I go in a little early so I have time to read some of their magazines.

I also signed up for Coke Rewards online. You enter the code from inside the bottle tops and when they accumulate you can get premiums. Some of the premiums are magazine subscriptions. That's how I got my subscription to Fitness. When I bought my elliptical, I got 2 free online subscriptions. I signed in to the website and selected from the list they offered. Each month they send you an email when the latest issue is available. You have to read them online, but it's easy once you get the hang of it.

Hi GG's,

Just got back from the hospital. My SIL (sister-in-law) husband is there. She called me at 7 this morning and asked me to go with her. There was a mess last night. Did a lot of complaining today, and I really hate to do that. I know how hard it is, working on the floor. But some things are unacceptable. Like not suctioning a trch pt for 2 days. It's raining today, and a little chilly. Never know this time of year. My DGS's birthday is the 30th. and his party is the Haunted House, Hay Ride, bon-fire. He sprained his ankle yesterday and is on crutches for 2 weeks. Figuring how how he is going to manage to do all that is going to be interesting.

Bobbi, Is your floor in yet? It will probably take a few days to get everything back together after the floor is finished. As for magazines, I read Real Simple, Prevention, and Health. If i'm sonewhere one is laying out I will read almost anything. I read abotu 1-3 books a week and have one going in the car on autio-tape. Those are some lucky workers, getting homemade rolls.

Val, I make homemade stock too, same way you mentioned. I was so upset a few weeks ago. I looked in the fridge and all my stock was gone. I asked DH if he knew what had happened to it. He was cleaning the fridge and threw it all out. Thought it was junk instead of liquid gold.

Marie, I'm glad the challenge thread is just for posting challenges you set for yourself. I'm afraid I'm not really competative against any one else. I just let them win. I do like to set challenges for myself.

Z, Bribes...anything will do. A spa day for 10 lbs., a pedicure for 5 lb. Any thing you really want works well for me. I will set a goal and I can have that thing if I meet my goal.

Carol Sue, I do coke rewards also. I get my magazines there too.

Gayle, we used to be able to wear anything we wanted (scrubs) but now nurses have to wear navy blue. Unit clerks are beige, Pct's are burgendy....

Rosie, My Benny has lots of toys and he plays with his little blue bear that he's had forever. He watches it very closely. When we doggiesat my DGD's new puppy last week he left all his other toys out and hid that one. Sharing only goes so far!

Karen3, I look forward to my morning paper and the puzzle too. Great way to start the day.

Freda

Weight down again today! I'm really beginning to notice the difference with my clothes and a little bit of that general lighter feeling now and dh mentioned again today that my tummy is flatter! This is when it gets to be fun so I hope I can keep losing. I'm always afraid I won't, but I'm still determined. When we were at Costco, I was tempted to get a mocha freeze but I thought of all the calories and carbs and said, no better not.

We overslept this morning and didn't get to yoga stretch. We do this frequently but I refuse to set an alarm. We will get there when we get there...we're retired! Todays a busy day anyway. We went back to Kohls to pay for the things we'd put on hold then went to Costco and they upgraded our membership but the gal didn't quite know how to handle it mid-way through the year like it is so she's going to call me about how they'll do it. But we were allowed to go ahead and use the coupons so got free rotisserie chicken, free 36pk water, and free coffee plus also good coupons $1.50-$5 off meat, salad, tuna and chicken. It was fun to get so much groceries for only $29 which included 3 pks or organic ground beef! Didn't have time to browse as I like to do because of my doctor's appt. I am just resting now but will be leaving soon for my eye appt.

Rie - I used to make stock occasionally but not often. And when we first retired and I was then making lunch for us both...I'd make what I called "Leftover soup" throwing in whatever bits of meat and veggies we had in the fridge. Sometimes it had a little pasta or rice in it too. It was never the same twice but usually tasted pretty good. I mostly used canned broth though. I mostly use canned soup now but I do love homemade soup and it's fun to make.

Glynne - What I hated about nursing was all the nit-picky little rules about things that had nothing to do with patient care and were just silly! It just made the job more difficult when all the nurses wanted to do was take care of the patients and get our work done! When I read about what you are going through, I am so glad to be retired!

Donna - How is Lily doing? Be careful in that snow/ice!

Karen31 - Congrats on getting a keyboard!! I hope to get one someday. Our oldest gs loves his and has it in his room at college.

Meals so far today:
breakfast - tried making my own version of a MF oatmeal but didn't work...too many calories and carbs. I liked it better but it didn't taste all that well either. Will keep working on it.

am snack - MF Smore bar - pretty good!

Got to go to my appt..

My DD's cat dressed for Halloween.

Lynn, If a cat could swear I think your DD's cat would be saying some pretty nasty stuff. She does not look happy! ha

Hi Everyone,

Marie, no he does not even have a belt yet, never even did this type of thing before, but he quit his job and moved to be closer to the place that has the lessons. Don't know where this is going, I am guessing, no where. He will realize he needs a job.

Today was super good, becasue after tomorrow I am off for a week. Happy Dance Happening Here! My DH and I will spend three days together bumming around and I am hoping to have a heart to heart about his CLL and how I want him around a long time. But then I get some me time away from work, just me and the sewing machine. Heaven.

I think I ate too many carbs, I had steel cut oats yesterday for the first time on P2 and today I have had a tummy ache all day. So, may have to change that plan and try something else.

But you guys are just as busy as ever. I don't make soup stock, but I want to try the bean soups everyone talks about for SB. I am feeling good about my progress, and I haven't looked at that scale since Monday morning. Maybe just feeling good is good enough.

Heres to a good evening for everyone.

Chickadeee