And again, I can't stop eating! I got a half wrap and soup for lunch, which was higher calorie than I planned for lunch, I had already had that chocolate milk splurge this morning, I've now had a serving of kashi go lean, 14 grams of trail mix and 10 grams of caramel popcorn in addition to my normal planned snacks for this point. At least I'm still weighing and measuring my crazy... I'll still come in fine for the day as long as I stop right now and stay strictly to what I've planned for the rest of the day. I just made some hot cinnamon tea w/ stevia, going to drink that and see if it stops the snacking. Any virtual frying pans over the head are welcome.

Michele - after I sleep late for a week you mean? I have several trips I'd like to take, I have lots of home projects I've been "saving," and things like that. I have no plans at this point to take any kind of PT job, though I might do some volunteer stuff. Most of my friends are already retired or about to be, so I won't lack for company.

Shannon - can't help with the frying pan, but perhaps this will do I'm having the same issue - I bought 2 bite chocolate Halloween cupcakes for my staff, and am tryin to resist them. Plus I ate my snack about 9 am! Now that I've had lunch maybe I can do better....

Anyone remember Tiny Tim? Am I sooo old?

Anyway; I'm posting about temptations and impulse buys. Our local grocery store had large fairly good quality chocolate bars on sale (4 for $5 instead of $2.49 ea.) so I immediately bought 4. SALE!!! WOW!!!

How dumb was that? They are now calling to me from inside my filing cabinet (the snack stash away from DH's chubby hands) and I can't just throw them away because . . .

SALE!!! WOW!!! AIIIEEEE!!!

Anyone else do similar things or am I really that ridiculous?

Dagmar (back off, evil chocolate bars, waaay baaaack )

How about wrapping them tightly in plastic/tin foil and putting in the freezer - a much less easy place to get at for me anyway....

Dagmar:

The buy is good, you just have to find a way to portion them out.

How about freezing individual squares? and portioning them in baggies to last for a certain time?

Duuuhhh??? Thanks! Never thought of that but it should work really well.

How is chocolate when it's thawed? Relatively same texture and appearance? (Can you tell I don't use the freezer much?)

Dagmar (chocolate free for now)

Dagmar, thawed chocolate is just like the fresh stuff IMO.
The only possible effect that you can have is that the chocolate gets a whitish surface appearance because of cocoabutter separating out. This is no problem, you can eat it just the same and the texture and flavor stay the same

Just a flyby to say hello and ask if it's a bad sign when I have to lay on my bed to zip up my jeans (it's turned cold)? Sadly, I do know the answer to that question already.

Hi everyone,

It is finally fall here and I am so thrilled! The first front came through and the temperature dropped 10 degrees during the day and 15 at night, and it's quite enjoyable to be outside. A bunch of friends have a big group camping trip planned this weekend and the weather will be perfect!

I ate dinner last night and wanted to go back for toast... wasn't hungry, just wanted it. Anyway I happened to change into my PJ's first and caught a glimpse of my belly hanging out of my underwear in the full length mirror. I had decaf tea, plain, instead. I'm going to have to remember that trick. There's definitely something to Meg's idea of eating snacks naked in front of the mirror! (Not that I doubted Meg for a second!) Anyway my Jawas were pretty well fed yesterday and are on track so far today, too.

Sheila, it'll be ok. Now you know the jeans are tight (just like mine)... let's get moving!

Dagmar, yup, you can definitely freeze the chocolate as everyone else has said! I do that too with sale items. I try to remember that it's not a caloric bargain...am not always successful remembering this.

Shannon, step away from the sugary things! Sounds like your sweet tooth is in full blast right now. How about hot (plain) tea or chewing gum?

Pat, I know anything involving budget right now is not fun but at least you have your conference to look forward to. That sounds great!

Michele, I think USAA stopped writing policies in Florida. I know they won't give me renters insurance here (and I'm a long-time member of the bank). A lot of companies have stopped writing policies in Florida, a lot of remaining companies raised rates something astronomical like hundreds of percents over the last few years. Several friends whose houses were in really good shape had their companies try to drop them for supposed infractions (e.g. too many tree limbs around the house) and they were able to fight successfully - companies just looking for an excuse to drop people in a hurricane area. BF's house is admittedly not in the best shape, and has some structural issues that existed when he bought it. Sort of sticky - he bought it from friends, and for that reason alone won't walk away from it (I think he should, frankly - he's too nice for his own good). He talked to the insurance agent yesterday and actually at this point is pretty hopeless. He had a really crummy day again yesterday, trying unsuccessfully to repair his boat & truck. Ok, didn't mean to go off, I'm just mad on his behalf. I wish they'd told him that instead of taking his money (and he never made a single claim) for 3 years, then dropping him.

On that note...lol... have a great day everyone! No really. It's the "hump day" and then we're on the downswing to the weekend.

Land's End Jacket

Help! I love the above jacket from Lands End. Here is the question I have - according to the size chart I need an 8 for my bust line. Everything else I wear is a 2-4. Will the 8 be way too big everywhere else?

Megan - the weather is great here, too! Sunny outside my window, 67 degrees. A nice 53 when I came in. Not too cold, but enough that I get to bring out my cute socks again. And that is totally annoying about BF's house. Sorry he is going through all that!

Dagmar - you can totally freeze the chocolate with no ill effects. Heating and reforming is what messes it up, freezing doesn't do anything that I've noticed. Though, I would still likely eat it frozen...

Sheila - Oh no! Sorry about the jeans!

I did better the rest of the day yesterday with the snacking. I didn't eat anything else at work, tweaked dinner a little so I got more protein, then my evening snack was some lf vanilla yogurt I put in the freezer to make a little thicker mixed with crushed up Annie's Graham Friends (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate chip), little light chocolate syrup and some fat free redi whip. Stopped the ice cream craving cold and was only 175 calories. Woo hoo!

DH & DSS are both at home today with stomach issues - I'm hoping to avoid them. Found out today that three kinds in the aftercare group at daycare have strep. I don't have time for strep, let me tell you.

Good day everyone!

Shannon - love the coat and the color. Good thing they don't have my size! Why not try the 6 as a compromise. You aren't likely to have too much heavy under it as compared to us northern dwellers.

I skipped my cardio last night. I simply ran out of energy at the end of the day. In fact was tired all day. I also started feeling real achy. So I made dinner (excellent Thai soup), watched the National Parks program on PBS, and went to bed at 9. I feel some better this morning, but my eyes are starting to burn and a have a little nuisance feeling in my throat and I keep getting hot. I don't have a fever or any congestion, so I'm doing all my "stay away germs" measures - lots of hot tea, rest, yada yada. I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO BE SICK!

Megan - you don't know how much I'm looking forward to this conference! I'll pick up 3 other directors who are flying in Wed and we'll head out to the hotel. We always all have dinner together that first night, and just catch up as very few of us see each other in person during the year. I also have a couple of movies lined up to see in my room (on my laptop, but who cares - I can do that lying in bed... ) as well as some nice walking on the trails there. Oh, and yah, attending the meetings. The food is good as we're only a small group conference-wise and we get a lot of input into what they serve. Dinner is on our own in any case.

Whoops, Sheila. Tight jeans are a good warning sign.

Okay, back to work. Happy Wednesday.

Shannon-- that sounds like a yummy dessert!!

Does Lands End do free returns? I've ordered from Zappos and gotten several pairs of shoes knowing I would only keep the ones I liked best and sent the rest back.

Michele - I bet that they do. Should check that out. Hey, did you hear that Amazon bought Zappos? Is that real or did I imagine reading it somewhere?

Shannon, if you have a Sears near you, you can return your unwanted purchases there BTW, love love love the red jacket

Dagmar~Tiptoe Through the Tulips!!

Shannon~very cute coat, but I have no idea on sizes. Can you go to Sears and try one on? The Sears here sells Lands End.

My gnocchi sauce was wonderful! I took a recipe from Epicurious and really changed it around. I'll post it in the recipes section.