Hope your toe feels much, much better after the doctor has a go at it. Mine have been giving me trouble again. Sometimes I just want to have 'em removed, but who wants nail-less big toes?

While puttering around the foundation of the house earlier today, I discovered termites. Dang it, dang it, dang it. The sellers of this house had to treat for them before we bought, but that was six years ago. If the termites were out in the yard more, I wouldn't be concerned, but they're right down on the foundation, right where the wood strip is between the concrete block foundation and the brick exterior walls. Shoot -- no extra money for treatment, either.

Good photo op, though. Heh.

Okay, to balance out the gross, here's a macro shot of our neighbor's lilac blooms:

Haha, thanks for the balance of photos, Kimberley--I can totally live life without ever seeing a creature that has more than 4 legs ever again (strfish being the exception--I can handle those, even though they sort of have 5 legs ). I keep cans of Raid in my apartment so I can spray a bug if I see it since I actually hate them so much I can't get close enough to squish them. Jeez, how girls am I

So, I went to my TOPS meeting tonight like a good girl. According to their scale, I am down 2 pounds since last week (even after eating breakfast at McDonald's and having a big salad for lunch), so that was pretty encouraging.
Well, just wanted to stop in and say hey. Who knows what I'll be up to tomorrow--probably sleeping most of the day away, so don't be surprised when there's no early-morning post from me! Catch ya ladies later--have a Fabulous Friday!

Good for you, Jill - that's great!

I love taking macro shots of insects, flowers, whatever -- I love the details you see when the pictures are viewed. Sometimes some little critter is hiding in a bloom and I never see it until I've enlarged the image. Guess I'll spare you the photo I took of the spiderlings I took a few days ago...dozens of tiny spiders that together could have fit on a penny. Amazing little things!

My MIL asked if I wanted to swim with her, so there came my missing exercise day. We were at the YMCA from 8:20-9:20pm and I swam fairly vigorously about half of the time we were in the water. We sat in the sauna for a few minutes afterward (boy, did that feel wonderful), cooled down with showers, then headed over to my mom's for a surprise visit.

It was a nice evening all around. My dogs smell my mom's dog, Blueberry, on me...You'd think I was a piece of steak, so interested are they in me! High treason, I know.

Here's one of the jealous ones, Emma (are you tired of photos yet?).

Can't argue with 2 lbs lost, Jill! Good for you. Hey, 9 toes is still plenty, right?

I'm down another 1.2 lbs, happy about that. I had trouble sleeping last night, a little tougher getting to the gym at 7am. I think we'll go have Thai for lunch then stop at the Barnes and Noble to get Zagat's Manhattan shopping guide for the couple we're having dinner with tomorrow night who just moved here. YES, Aimee, there's a SHOPPING guide to NYC! When you're ready to come I'm going to get that for you (if it's any good, I actually haven't looked at it yet, ha).

Weekend weather sure has been crappy, overcast AGAIN. Looks like Sunday will have to be botanic garden day. Hopefully it won't rain.

Aimee, are you going to try for the insurance test you think? Did I tell you I worked for a large sized clothing store for a summer when I was in college? At our local mall, called Bayfair. The most memorable moment was when they made me watch a shoplifter (she came in there a bunch of times to shoplift). What a weird situation that was for me. I had to nicely follow her around the store. I liked the women who worked there; it was small and I could study during the quiet moments. They bought me a cream puff pastry when I left, . I used to use a lot of earnings to buy the clothes too. The store's not there anymore, I think they replaced it with a T-Mobile or something.

Have a good Friday, everybody!

Goodmorning! I am up!! I'm trying to get up earlier than I want to, if that makes sense. I was SO tired last night but still didn't end up going to bed until 1:30 am! I was pretty much useless all night, on the way home from work I got a coffee, and some fast food.. don't know what came over me.. if anything.. hehe.. I was just SO fricking tired and didn't want to cook.

Marge - a shopping guide to NYC? Omg! Thats crazy! I'm one of those shoppers that when they are in a different city has to look in EVERY store... possibly very annoying, but I also enjoy shopping alone. I remember following quite a few shop lifters, mostly it stopped them from taking anything. Once I asked this size 2-3 woman if she needed help (in a plus size store!), and she said "uhh.. I'm like waiting for my BOYFRIEND". It was too funny, but she got the hint and dropped the bathingsuit and left. Silly woman! I'm not sure about the insurance thing, I talked to my mom about it and she didn't seem all too impressed, but I'm having issues finding something I might love. This far I only know that I need something that makes me think, and uses my skill of solving almost any problem. heh. So far all my mom and I have come up with is Insurance Adjuster, I think it looks pretty interesting. We'll see though!

I'm not feeling the whole idea of getting on my scale today, yesterday I got on it after I'd eaten, and it was at 260, but I also had a realllly heavy breakfast. Maybe I'll skip it this week, I'm getting on track with my eating (the ice cream is GONE! ), and just head onto next week. Everytime I think about going to get on that scale it gives me a nasty feeling in my tummy.. SO weird huh?

Kimberley - you are back to swimming! It's been a little while since I've heard of you going to the pool.. glad you had a nice night!

Jill - I hate spiders, hate hate spiders. I have these "slippers" with almost a shoe like bottom, I wear them when I go pee in the middle of the night so I can kill any spiders I see.. lol. This has only happened like 2 times, but they are totally my lifesaver! 2 pounds at TOPS? thats great!

I am off to have a healthy breakfast, get some errands done, I'll bbl!

-Aimee

Good afternoon, ladies--happy Friday! I got my toe fixed this morning--they went ahead and put acid on the root of the side of that toenail and said there's a 95% chance it won't come back. I said I'd heard that before, and I'd see him again next year At least it will be fixed for the immediate future. I popped 3 extra-strength Tylenol as soon as I got home so it wouldn't hurt like he!! when the novocaine wore off. It's actually doing very well--I had it done at 8:30 this morning, it's now 3:38pm, and I still don't really feel any pain. Yay!

So, after my appointment, I called my mom to let her know I was okay (she worries about me with my, umm, bumpy medical history and because I'm so far away). I told her I was heading to WalMart to buy a food processor (so I could try Kimberley's spinch-in-the-sauce idea), and she told me no! Apparently, my mom has already talked to my sister and they have all decided to come visit me for my birthday (in July) and take me shopping to buy lots of new apartment stuff (such as a blender and a food processor, for starters, and I know my mom wants to get me a better vacuum cleaner). So I agreed not to buy one. Guess the sauce will have to wait. Instead of a food processor, though, I did buy myself a really nice wok. Then I came home, napped on the couch for a few hours, and got up and made stir-fry like I have been planning to do for the past few weeks now. I kept track of every calorie that went into that wok, and I now have 8 meals of stir-fry that have less than 200 calories each. Add to that the brown rice (which is still simmering on my stove) with 170 per serving (and I am only cooking 8 servings so I won't have too much in each container), and I've got 8 meals with less than 400 calories each that include lean chicken, VEGETABLES, and whole grains. Yay! I just cut up 1.14 pounds of lean boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, added a whole bag of stir-fry veggie mix (red peppers, corn, and broccoli), added a whole bag of sugar snap peas, added 1 cup of crushed pineapple, and added bottled teriyaki sauce (carefully measured quantity). It's pretty darn good! Now, if only I had room in my freezer for all 8 containers...

So now I'm just waiting for Jeff to get here. I called him last night, and apparently he has had a cold all week, so we get to just lay on the couch and play sick all weekend. Sounds fine to me--I've slept quite a bit last night and today, and I still feel like I could crash for a few more hours!

Well, hope everyone has a blast of a weekend (despite some icky weather spots)--catch ya'll later!

Shoplifters tick me off sooo bad, and so many times employees are powerless to really do much about them. I do secret shopper jobs and, while it's not tailing shoplifters, it's still fun. I got to do a shop at Value City (a local discount store kind of like TJ Max and Marshall's) and it paid me $25. Shop AND get paid for it - how fun is that?

The scale was my pal today, told me I'd lost a pound. I'm now 225. Howie said, no, I could not subtract the pound of cooked cabbage and low-fat sausage I'd eaten last night, LOL! So a pound's cool...And there's no point obsessing, because it's coming off and the diet changes I've made are permanent. I can't get all weird about what I eat the day before weigh-in or I'll drive myself batty.

We went to the arboretum to walk instead of working out at the YMCA. We walked to the Japanese Garden area (pond, pagoda, rock garden, rhodedendrons, various types of mosses...just gorgeous) and took a break before heading back. He takes a little longer than me because he still has to stop often due to back pain, so on our way back he said I could just go on ahead if I wanted to.

I did, and had some time to take more photos at the cypress swamp. It just so happened a group of gradeschoolers was there on a field trip, so I got pictures of the kids and the pond life they scooped out into trays for observation. Hearing children exclaiming excitedly over snails and frog eggs is so awesome; it's been a while since I'd heard kids more excited about nature than about their video games.

I was writing my post when you posted, Jill. Glad your toe's not killing you this afternoon! I've never had a doctor do anything to mine; maybe I should have them checked out some time. And GREAT for you putting together those stir-fry lunches! Go Jill!!

Hey ladies!!

Jill - SO glad your toe is better.. you can wear closed toe shoes again! I'm even MORE happy that you are eating veggies!! I cannot imagine not eating veggies all the time.. I was wanting something for lunch, didn't want to prepare much, so I made steamed broccoli and asparagus. Does that make you shudder just thinking about ONLY eating veggies? With NO sauce? Just keep your veggies up gal!

Kimberley - Woohoo! 1 pound gone forever!! I don't really watch what I eat the night before a weigh in.. unless I know it's realllly salty, I know I'll end up retaining water, and if I eat only protein the night before.. it... stops me up.. lol. I'm in a fight with my scale.. I just don't FEEL like getting on it.. poopy icky! heh. You are almost to your min goal!! Woohoo! you go! That place looks like a really beautiful place to walk.. My bf's mom loves to take pictures as well, and is sending us new pictures a lot. She likes to take things to extremes though, she went from going for walks taking pictures to being a photographer. That woman is crazy busy, she gets bored easily I suspect.. she actually has 3 home businesses that she runs all by herself. I can't imagine that myself..

Alrighty! I am off to work.. I get the lovely 5:30-9:30 shift.. woowee. heh. Have a great night

Goodness me, this place sure is quiet! Whats going on?!?

Alrighty, tell me why I always have some story to tell you guys? Tonight after work I met Josh, he was off at 10pm, and we went to the car. It wouldn't start. We tried for 30 minutes, nothing doing. The mall security came over and took Josh to get gas (for some reason I stayed.. still not sure my logic.. I insisted I stay). So they put that in. Tried it again, nothing. Kept trying, still nothing, but the battery died from all the trying. A couple guys tried to boost us, we had to move our car, so we pushed it closer to their car. They tried that for 45 minutes. Then they pushed it while I was on the phone with GM roadside assistant, I think they tried a few other things, but I was trying to give directions to the people. Afterwards the guys left, and Josh and I waited. He got the security number, and we called them to come back and boost the car again. And it started!!!! Yay! Lucky too, as we drove home, we saw a HUGE accident which actually had the place we were cut off to the way the tow truck was going to come from. It was a pretty major accident, 3 cars, 4 ambulances, 10 cop cars, and 3 fire trucks. We passed pretty close, it was pretty scarey. Cars can be so humbling. We are both alive, and thankful to be home with a car that works. It will be traded in this week.. for something WAY more reliable.

Well I am off to bed, I am SO SO tired, SO tired. Be good!

-Aimee

Oh, gosh, Aimee -- If your car hadn't zonked out, you might have been in that wreck. I'm so glad you're okay!

Jill, how's the digit down south there?

Howie and I are up early, enjoying coffee and our Saturday morning radio shows on NPR. We got out of the habit of listening for some reason, but it's so fun! Here's our line up for today:

Car Talk
Whad'ya Know?
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
The Splendid Table

That last one's a new one for us. It's a food show, sounds interesting. This evening, we're going to a friend's house for a birthday dinner. Howie's going to skip the cake and ice cream, and I think I will, too. I'm going to eat lighter-cal stuff during the day since I'm not sure what his mom's cooking for the dinner.

So, what do you like to do on Saturday mornings when you're not working?

Kimberley - I think it's just us on weekend duty! When I don't work Saturday mornings.. I usually sleep in. And then watch a few reruns on TLC, nothing too exciting. I think I'd like to spend my mornings walking along the ocean if I could do whatever I want.. I remember a few years ago I lived in Vancouver, I was 1 block from the ocean and spent every morning walking along the seawall, it would calm me and was a wonderful way to start the day. I don't get the whole radio thing yet... I imagine it will come with time. Maybe, I would love to be hiking a different mountain each morning, or running along the seawall. I really love to challenge my body. Maybe thats why I'm trying to gain so much weight? Alrighty! It's been a crazy long day, so I am off to get some sleep.. I'll talk to you tomorrow!!

-Aimee

hello I'm here, I'm alive, I'll come and help out on weekend duty!!!!! I've been so busy of late have only been popping in and out of 3FC when I have a moment.

My employer has let me have two weeks off the dreaded telephones (unavoidable in a call centre) to train newbies!!!! Bless 'em. We starte dthe fortnight with 6 and were down to 5 by the end, apparently one left because I shouted at him!!! I'm quite sure I didn't shout, but I did give him a telling off, nothing he didn't deserve!!! So our five little survivors are now off to their departments, and I am back doing my normal job, except I now have a week off, hurray!!!!!!

I had an interview for a promotion this week, I want to join our underwriting team. I was told it would be very competitive, but as it turns out there are two vacancies and three applicants, so fingers crossed

Tell Howie I think he's mean Mrs Gardenwife, I would have let you count the pound from dinner!!!! LOL!!! Great pictures, I am sorry to hear about the termites, dang the little critters.

I went swimming this morning for two hours, well one hour swimming the last hour playing and chatting. I have competitions with the others who come a bit later to see who can swim underwater the longest. I don't normally win, which is a bit embarrassing, seeing as they are all in their late sixties, early 70's and I am half that!!!!

Aimee, I have no idea what I want to do career wise, I am just coasting along at my employer and looking for opportunites as they arise, I do envy those people who know from the cradle what they want to be when they grow up! Perhaps I just haven't grown up yet!

Oh, the joys of call centers. I worked for a large one here, trained classes of new hires and new-to-customer service reps on the computers and in sales/customer service techniques. It was insane how minutely every little statistic was tracked on each employee; I hated that Big Brother mentality, especially when I had high sales and a good customer retention rate when there were problems I troubleshooted. Bah!

Made a tasty dinner for the moms today -- Pork roast, cauliflower hash browns, salad, and strawberry shortcake made with low-fat Bisquick. I posted the first two recipes over at Dave's Garden. You will only be able to view the first post as non-subscribers, but that's all you need to see to get the recipes!

Gardenwife's Pineapple & Garlic Pork Roast -- That one I came up with last night

Juan-Carlos' Cauliflower and parsnip hash browns -- he's the Calorie Commando on FoodTV.

Had some kind of tummy upset that had me running to the bathroom frequently for a few hours, but that's calmed down. Wonder just how many calories went down that drain...Heh. Looking at the bright side, there!