Good morning--- still waiting to hear news on Tim's Dad. If it was my family we would have the phone lines on fire with calls back and forth! But his family is so different, not saying they don't love each other just as much as my side does but they handle it different. At his age and his health in general I'm thinking that we are going to be making a trip to PA. very soon. I haven't said that to Tim though. Again, if it would have been my Dad we would have already been on the way! I'm not really looking forward to an 1100 mile road trip though. Anyway, I'll let you know what is happening as soon as we hear something.

Hope everyone has a good day.

My DD knitted me a beautiful turquoise alpaca sweater. She won a blue ribbon for it at our local grange fair. Only problem is that although it feels soft, when I wear it, it itches my neck.

So, today I went to the local knitting store and got a hank of cashmere yarn to wear around my neck under the sweater. It is variegated and has the exact color of turquoise in it. I haven't knitted for a while. I was REALLY surprised when the saleswoman asked me if I wanted her to make it into a ball. She had a wooden yarn holder that connected to a wheel with a handle. Within a couple of minutes I had a ball of yarn!

My biggest challenge will be keeping the kitties away while I am knitting.

Have a great Saturday,

Lynn

Happy Friday, Yippie!

Lynn - I use to knit, loved it, very relaxing, until it affected my vision (I lost focus) which then caused headaches. But I do miss it. I bet your sweater is beautiful.

Rie, sounds like you are on the mend. I know when I get sick, I allow myself so many days, then I put mind over matter and make myself feel good on the outside and the inside seems to follow along. Good for you. And I have decided that I need to stay away from oats, today my tummy was just as upset, that is a carb that does not agree with me, too many rumblings all day long. One thing good about SB, is it is allowing me to weed out what makes me feel bad.

Karen hope everything goes well.

Rosey – sounds like you are all set. I wish my DH would go away for a day or two (I love him dearly, but I would love even more after he comes back.) It is just nice to have a day to myself. But I will do that next week when I am on vacation and he is working, Things are different in my house, I hunt and he doesn’t!

Mary – eye exams. Glad yours went good. I have to go and I hate the thought of buying new glasses, they are priced like a luxury item! But we need them.

Marie – Apple, my DH will not allow that in our house. I have heard good and bad about them, I am thankful that he knows how to build and fix computers and he doesn’t charge me.

Gayle, I think the walk in tub sounds wonderful, I think I saw one in a magazine, does it have a seat in it. How nice would that be? Keep dreaming about it, dreams do come true in one form or another.

Donna Marie – congrats on your loss. I need to hear good news like that, it keeps my hopes up.

Gee, I am just glad it is Friday I have 9 days off. Now I have to plan how to spend them.

Hope everyone has a great evening.

Chickadee

Karen, MO, I’m thinking of you and your DH. I hope his father is all right.

Val, I am going to try your tomato soup recipe! Thanks for posting it. I’m glad you’re feeling better.

Congrats Donna Marie on another pound eliminated. You’re doing great.

Bobbi, enjoy your new floors!

Nancy, good luck on finding the boot house shoes. Sometimes new is nice.

Carol Sue, bummer on the fridge rebate loss. $85 does make you cringe, doesn’t it?

Chickadee, I hope you feel better. I converted to Mac a while ago. I told DH once when I rebuilt his Windows computer (April 2009) that it was the last time and that if it did its virus nonsense again, I’d buy him a Mac. He owned a Mac by the end of July. BTW, he did have current virus protection both times. He loves his Mac now. I’m just mad that they had a hiccup at my expense on their new iOS.

OK Zoe, that’s just weird. You should have taken a picture. I hope the highway was free of snow. And I don’t envy your snow forecast. WTG on the 2 pound loss. Progress is always welcome.

Like Zoe, I was out driving today for work. Three hours up and three hours back. The training was worth it though. But now I’m tired and its only just before 5 in the evening. I’ll never make it to bed time. Best part of the car trip is I stayed on my eating plan. I didn’t use it as an excuse to eat. But I did want to…
Marie

Just got a message from Tim's sister and Dad is back home and doing better. She said he will needs lots of rest and PT but already looks better just being home. Thanks for all the prayers!

Wow, we are a talkative bunch, aren't we! I was surprised (pleasantly of course) by how many posts since I last posted. It's been a busy day again for me..seems like I will never get any housework done beyond the daily stuff..and this is the third week now that I haven't gotten much done. Had some phone calls to make that took a while and other computer stuff to do. Dinner was easy as we are still eating that rotisserie chicken we got free at Costco. I had 6 oz of it tonight with a big salad and I am stuffed right now!!

Breakfast: 1/2 bottle Slim-Fast - Karen31 have you seen the new bottles?
Gym
am snack/lunch: veg beef soup with added fiber. Still hungry and it looks like a low calorie day so also had a mocha frappe (extra fiber and protein). I've been making it with not only chocolate (no cal/sugar free) syrup but also peanut butter (no cal/sugar free) syrup! Yummy!
pm snack: MF brownie with about 1 t. of pb spread on top (also yummy!)
Dinner: Rotisserie chicken and salad with a little mayo
Can still have one more snack tonight. Will likely be another brownie.
So calories are 892 plus a plain brownie will make that 1002 calories.

I haven't tried the new bottles yet--are they pretty good? I usually only buy the cans of powder and mix it with fat free milk.

Bobbi - You seem to be doing very well on your calories. Keep up the good work!

Gayle - If you get the walk-in tub will it replace your only tub or do you have another one? I was just thinking ahead, because if someday you would decide to sell your house, you might be limited on buyers because anyone who has small children would probably want a regular tub. I always think of things like that before I make changes to my home. If it's something that's a real necessity due to health issues then it's a different story.

Also, I am with you not wanting the bariatric surgery, and no offense to those who have chosen to have it. I worked for a big company and a lot of people there had the surgery and it is definately not the walk in the park that people think it is. Many people say it's the easy way out, but it's not easy. There are so many risks, and significant changes you have to make afterwards. And if you don't change your lifestyle, you can gain that weight back, just like on any diet. I can see where it is necessary for some people whose weight is causing very serious health problems that can only be corrected with the surgery, but it shouldn't be only for weight loss. JMO

Karen32- I'm glad to hear that your FIL is home and doing better. I was hospitalized for 5 days with pneumonia and it is so much harder on your body than I ever thought it would be, especially at his age.

Marie - Yes, $85 is significant, but when you put it in perspective, I have spend $85 in a slot machine in less than an hour, so I guess everything is relative. Ha Ha

Me? I got a pretty good report from the cardiologist. He scheduled me for a cardiac stress test on the 8th to be sure, but I feel good and I'm not having any symptoms so I am expecting good results. You never know, though. I am supposed to have another surgery in December, but it all depends on the condition of my heart.

Good morining GG's,

It is a chilly one here this morning. I switched to my cold weather breakfast ~ old fashioned oats and warm apple. (Nancy ~ I'd be getting out my warm slippers now too.)

I'm sorry I had hoped to get to the personals yesterday, but DH needed me to go on an errand with him. Then he (with a guilty look on his face like a little child) kept tacking on "just one more thing" ~ voting, then a grocery store. He also wanted to go to Best Buy and check out one of those tablet things. But he backed down on that one and one of the three grocery stores he wanted to stop at. I guess he figuerd he'd better not push his luck.

Zoe ~ that is weird about the two different looks of the trees. We had something like that up home. There was a place along the road where when it rained, it was like a line drawn across the road ~ one side of the line wet where it had rained and the other side of the line complelely dry.

Hello to everyone else ~ gotta go get ready for work.

Hope you all have a nice weekend ~ stay warm.

Gayle - Tell your DH to really shop around and check the features of the tablets and go online and check the reviews on them. I got a Pandigital because that's what my DIL had and she likes hers and the price was right. But it has a short battery life that is a pain. I think it's 6 hours. I use the e-reader on mine and I'm constantly charging it.

That's funny that your DH wanted to go to all those stores. It's usually the woman who wants to do that. My DH loves to shop, but he like to go to one place then go home. I like to go to the farthest place, then stop everywhere else on the way home and that drives him nuts. But with the price of gasoline today, I think it's better to make one big trip for all your errands instead of going out 4 or 5 times.

One time we came home and our side of the street was soaking wet from the rain but the houses across the street were dry as a bone. We didn't get to see the rain, though because we weren't home.

I finally bought some Halloween candy, but so far, the bags are still unopened. Our grocery store had it for $2 a bag and I had a coupon for $1.50 off 3 bags. I asked DH if he wanted Kit Kat and he said no. But yesterday we were in 2 different stores where he picked up a bag of Kit Kat to put in the cart and I told him no because they were $2.49. I yelled at him because he didn't want them when we were in the grocery store that had them $2 a bag. So we will go back to the grocery store today and get him his Kit Kat. LOL I have another of the coupons, so he can actually get 3 bags for $1.50 each. It would be different if we had to go out of our way to get the $2 bags, but this is our grocery store we are in several times a week, a mile from our house! All this for 10 trick or treaters! LOL

Good Morning,

Pouring here today - already a little snow mixed in at 10 am.

I am meeting a friend for lunch and a movie - Anonymous.

Went back to the gym "full time" (60 - 120 mins) and my weight dropped back down to 143. In order for me to be able to eat 1200 calories, I need to be a full-time gym-lady.

I plan to do my personals tomorrow.

Have a GREAT Saturday,

Lynn

Hi Goldens!

Just popping in here for a quick hello. I did walkitout for 2 hours this morning and got over 18,800 steps. I have learned to blow my nose while marching in time to music, a skill that will be valuable some how in the future. Tee Hee. Darn Cold! (just thought that I would brighten your day with that little visual).

I am off to finalize my costume - a wall street occupier. I am also going to treat myself to a great big soy latte because that's how I want to spend my calories today.

Lynn, cool on the gym. How many points do you have before your silver medal? I can't believe how many I have for my bronze. I think I might get it before the end of the year. Yay!

Everyone else, stay warm and enjoy the day!

Rie