Hi guys
On my way out the door for my root canal. EW. hoping I still will be able to go to work tonight. I just have stuff I need to do.

Ammi~ Sorry, I missed congrat'ing you on your WI results as well. 4 lbs in wonderful!!!! I hope I have a decent week this week too. I would love to at least come close to my target this month

k, time to do this and not put it off any longer. I need to grab something to eat as well since I prob wont be able to for much of the day. I WISH that only helped me lose weight. The minute that I stop eating I start gaining. On the plus side, if I cant eat today it might be a good thing. Tonight is coffee and sweet night at work. I am craving sugar like mad all week. Oh well, these are the struggles of not being perfect! Enjoy your day ladies

Brenda

Good Morning Ladies!

LAnne: I always loved dancing...but I was very happy to hang up my Toe Shoes because ballet was not my forte.(and my feet hurt!!!) I did love jazz and tap, maybe because I liked the music better? Now I just live vicariously through my daughter who has been dancing since she was 2. Maybe someday I will try again.

Annie: Thanks for the wishes for Brit...she seems better, the Dr said her liver enzymes are slightly elevated, which is hysterical because Doug's came back elevated Friday too!! I guess it's true that the dog resembles the owner, but I didn't know it applies to bloodwork!!!

Valerie: I know what you mean about not being able to ask what's wrong...I took her face in my hands and looked into those big brown eyes and told her I wished she could tell me! But she seems much better, thanks! Oh, and I know you love horses, but EWWWW..."horse puckies". I can't stand it when my neighbor uses it for the garden, I can't imagine cleaning it myself!

Michelle: Thank you for saying I was pretty ...it's such a nice thing to hear from someone other than family! (especially when it's not directed at just my face!!! )

Kayley: I am sorry your finger is still hurting...and I can't believe you still go to the gym!! I would be milking it for all it's worth!!!

Catherine: Awww...your basset was so cute!! He knew just how to "play" ya, but he always said "thank you", even though I bet you were thrilled to have doggie slime on your glasses!
I too have always loved taking things apart and putting them back together. I used to do it to my bike when I was bored as a kid. I have alot of stuff flying around my brain, but lately it has been hiding!! If I don't write it down, it's gone forever!!
I can't believe you did the taxes when you were 12!!!!!
What are you a genius in hiding??
And the enchiladas sound yummy I love mexican food!!!I don't think anyone will have a chance to notice if yours are different.

Ammi: Great job on the -4!!!
My headache is much better, thanks...sorry you had one too! 2 out of my 3 kiddies had one also, and so many people at work too. We are all our own personal barometers!!
As for the dress...it's so funny...Sammi's was over $200.00, the boy's tuxes were $300, and mine, of course, was $35.00. I love the Lane Bryant/Romans Catalogs!!!!

Heather: I was wondering where you were! Although I am not a teacher, I work in our Middle School and have 8 weeks left...so I know what you mean about being busy. Hope all is well.

Sharon: I am sorry your boys are still sick...poor little guys! Still hopefully just wiping the noses,right!
It's funny, Sandy's eyes are really gold, must have caught the flash so they look green! But she is a plus sized girl...even though ever since we have gotten new furniture, she plays with the baby cat underneath the table like a jungle gym, and has lost some weight! So it's true for animals as well as humans about the exercise thing (darn it!).
Brittney is what we think is a pit bull/lab mix, with the typical pit ridge on her forehead. They have her listed as an American Stafordshire, but I kinda like "Pitadore" better!
I am sorry you feel down...sometimes it sucks being a woman...in more ways than one!! Next week will be better...it has to!!

As for me...today is Doug's Birthday, so I am saving most of my points for dinner. As of this morning it's either going to be Cheescake Factory or Smokey Bones...depends on what the King feels like.

Have a Great OP Day!

Hello! A quick fly-by.

Happy Administrative Professionals Day to all of you who may fit that description. I got my clerk a little "grow-it-yourself" forget-me-not in a cute little "thank you" pot. She seems to like it! I also brought decadent pastries from this little bakery I pass every day on my walk to work. I bought myself a bran muffin to keep from eating the others...and cut it in half put the other half back in the box with the other ladies pastries...Not much of a victory considering how incredibly fattening they are...but at least I only ate 1/2 that way. Used to be I'd have had one of the chocolate-filled, glazed croissants! I'm just hoping they are eaten quickly!

Annie - AWSOME loss! Good for you!!!

Catherine - can you post your tortilla recipe? I've been wanting to learn to make them but have never managed to find a recipe I didn't think would be awfully fattening!

EVERYONE ELSE! Have a terrific day!

Lillion-a quickie post on tortilla recipes. First off to keep the calories down, the thinner the better. Get a good tortilla press. I was also trained to use a cut up (but clean) trash/grocery/plastic sack in the press. You don't have to oil it because the tortilla doesn't stick to the plastic. Put the plastic down, the ball of dough, then another piece of plastic, and press like crazy. Get a heavy cast iron frying pan, griddle, or comal (big round griddle made of clay or cast iron). You can roll them out between two sheets of plastic if you can't get a decent press, and use a non-stick fry pan, but I prefer a high temp comal. A tortilla steamer to use in the microwave to reheat them or soften them for rolling is very useful. The recipe is just 4 cups of masa harina 1/2 tsp. of salt and 2 1/2 cups hot tap water. You can't use regular corn meal or polenta. It takes masa which is a corn flour that has been soaked in lime to break down the hulls before grinding. That will make about 1 1/2 dozen, and each has about 50 calories and .5 grams of fat.
They dry out quick, so keep the dough and finished ones under a wet towel or plastic while grilling them. Flour tortillas are different. They have to have some fat added. Normally lard, which if properly rendered has less saturated fat than butter. I use canola oil. Three cups of flour (I use whole wheat), 1/4 cup oil, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 cup warm tap water. That makes about a dozen. I had to really think about this stuff, because I am not used to using recipes. I mix the salt into the water before mixing. For corn tortillas, you just mix everything together. For flour ones, mix the oil in until crumbly like you were making biscuits. Then work the salted water in and knead around 5 minutes until it is kind of elastic. Then put it back in the bowl, cover and sit in a warm place for an hour or so. Neither of these match the fresh ground corn masa ones my Godmother used to make, but to get close, you can add a can of pureed hominy. Just drain the can and run them through a food processor or blender, and add them to the dried corn masa. Cut the masa to 1 1/2 cups, and the hot water to 1 cup to make the same amount as the regular recipe. I'm still waiting for my latin grocer to have some more black bean flour in. All of this stuff can be picked up in any Latin grocery store.

VILANDRA - Don't be silly! Always take the LOWEST reading!!

DONNA - Well, if puckies bother you, I guess you won't be cleaning the boy's sheaths anytime soon (you know, where they hide their winkies away?). Even I wear a glove for that little chore!

Gotta go! I hope the rain stops soon - I have 3 riding lessons tonight, and only the first one is indoors. While rescheduling wouldn't break MY heart, there are two little girl hearts involved, and I hate to disappoint them.

Carrots to everyone!

Good Morning Ladies,

I just love that bunny! lol. I haven't used any smilies in so long that I saw that bunny on Val's post and had to use him. Sooooo cute!

Patty: How are your migranes? I hope you are starting to feel so much better!

Val: Maybe you are wanting to cheat because you need those things in your diet? The optifast is supposedly 100% nutrition. I have to say last night I was determined that I need a sandwhich made from the turkey meatloaf I made for my dear hubby. I went into the kitchen and opened the frig and I actually started to talk to myself. I came to the conclusion I may just be thirsty and after I drink my 32 oz. of water with fresh squeezed lemon in it if I am still hungry I would re-evaluate the sandwhich situation. I am pleased and proud to say I didn't go get the sandwhich. I knew that my Optifast is 100% and I didn't need it. This is hard hon. You are doing something really hard to be on mostly liquids. Hang in there. I am with ya, Sharon is with you and Lisa. We are all doing the same thing. We're here for you! P.S. I love the smell of horse puckies. It means there are horses nearby. lol.

Mechelle: Good luck at the Dr. today sweetie. I hope you come away with Great and wonderful news and your proper meds!

Kayley: Glad the finger is getting a bit better. They do hurt when you jam them! Congrats on the new Car! Yippee!

Emily: He swim girl. How are things going? How is nursing school going?

Donna: Okay I have to say that you my dear are very beautiful. You look nothing like a matronly aunt. Your family is so beautiful and you look more like a than a matronly aunt! Glad that your fur baby is feeling better!

Catherine: I think you should try out for Jeopardy. I think you could and take names! Make yourself some money! Tell your DH that he made my day to say such nice things and wishing me luck. I truly appreciate it. Oh to you if you feel any jealousy about me. You are so much my Hero. I see how far you have come and I am experiencing all the things you did before when you were my weight except the wheel chair but believe me there are days when my back is hurting and my hip is hurting soooo much I think about getting one and then I think about if I did I may never get out of it agian. I truly look to you for inspiration and you help keep me going. Your enchillada story made me smile. When I fist got married waaaaaay back in 1985 all my hubbies friends would come over at dinner time just to "say hi" they were all single and of coarse I cooked dinner for my man nightly and they would hope to get invited. I have been cooking since I was 10 years old, lunches, breakfast, dinners etc. My mom was gone and my dad believes woman are the cooks. lol. I am a pretty good cook I have to say. I take pride in making things taste good. I just smiled when I saw your enchillada thing. Fun times to recall.

Ammi: There is a soap opera over here called "Days of Our Lives" and a long time ago the one who plays Dean on Supernatural was on there as Sammi Brady's twin brother Eric. I remember him from that because he was a cutie then too. lol. I don't think he is related to the Dad in real life but the dad is coming back soon I have read in TV guide. I always look forward to seeing him. I don't want to say too much because I don't know where you are on Supernatural yet and what is happening with their family. So, I will shhhh for now. lol. Did you make it to the gym?

Sharon: So sorry you are feeling down How are you doing on your diet program?

Brenda: Ouchie. Sorry about your root canal. Those hurt. I just saw on your ticker that you my friend are only 9 pounds away from being in the two hundreds! You have been doing soooo well.

Lilion: What a sweetie pie. I am an Administrative Assistant, when I work. lol. I loved it when my employer recognized me. What a great boss you are. Now, stay away from the sweets!

Missy: I have to weigh on two scales at home because I am too fat for one. I always get 3 different weights and I take the highest so I won't be dissapointed. I think you should go into a hospital or something to get a true weight. Just go to the Dr. or somewhere and then you can have a real one and get it close to your scale at home. Just my opinion. Good luck hon.

Well, I have been on this computer for about 2 hours now. lol. I need to go and do some exercises and clean my house more. I am so tired I have been only managing to get a room done at a time. Sometimes even less. ugh!

Blessings all,
Annie

Valerie: I am hoping you are talking about horse "winkies" because my boy's are 16 and almost 18!!!!!!

hi Annie imhad a good day yesterday... today is fair .. maybe slowly easing away... i am hoping it will rain and get rid of this pollen here too. looked at my nose spray and realized it had expired so off to the store i went to buy all new meds! soon maybe soon i will be back at 100 per cercent thanks for asking.good luck on the exercise and house cleaning... all mine has taken a back burner to illness .! oh well i have time to do both soon enuff i guess

The finger is still hurting QUITE a bit, and it's a bit of a chore to type, so I'm still not going to be doing personals for a bit...I know you ladies understand!

My friend called me today, and told me there was a fire at our gym! I called them, and there was a small electrical fire, due to the electrical storms we were having earlier...but they're open again. Whew! Thought I almost had to break out my workout dvds and annoy our neighbors downstairs! lol!

I've found that if I soak in a hot bath, my finger feels a lot better, so I'm going to do that, and then head to the gym this evening, although, I'm sure I'll only be able to get like 20 mins or so before my finger starts to hurt from the bouncing! I'm going to try and do my leg weights while I'm there, cuz I miss my weight training! And that shouldn't mess with my finger at all.

Well, a hot bath is calling my name! Hope you're all having a great Wednesday!!!!

Did you ever go to a driver's license/photo ID center, dreading it, knowing that they always take a bad picture EVERY time? Today was no different after I had left my ortho appointment--which, by the way, is going to be the last one--I am now officially on an "as needed" patient status there. I AM HEALED! LOL. You can say I am A-OK for dancing. Heh.

Anyway, my state photo ID expires this coming Monday, and I had to take my "camera card" down to the photo center at the state building to get my picture taken for the new one, which will now be good for another four years

They actually got a shot the first time around down at PennDOT that I actually LIKED. No more two chins and I have CHEEKBONES sneaking in! Hee! Compared to the pic from the ID taken back in 2003, put them both side by side and you'd think it was two different people with the chipmunk cheeks and the chins in the 2003 one. LOL.

I'm keeping the old one in a scrapbook with a couple of "fatty" pics to show peeps down the road and just to remind myself of "way back when" and not to backslide.

Tomorrow is the weekly weigh in. This should be interesting.

Hey everyone-

Well my Dr. appointment went really well. I really like my Dr. she was very nice and very good in explaining things. Some doctors can just fly through and not take the time to explain or answer questions. I got my prescription for my thyroid medicine. So hopefully I can get this thing under some control. She did put me on a low dose of another blood pressure medicine. My blood pressure was 140/90 which is high, but nothing like the 171/110 I had a few weeks ago!!! Hopefully I won't have a severe reaction to this med. So far having a good day and I feel like I am finally getting things done health wise.

CATHRINE~I know how you feel! I have literally kicked my scale before! Right now I had DH hide the scale because I wanted to take a break from weighing. I guess weighing 5 times a day was a little compulsive! You know you were right about the blood pressure. It is still pretty high so she put me on blood pressure medicine. I think it was a combination of them both. Hopefully I will see some good results soon! Hope you enjoyed your enchiladas!

AMMI~Thanks! I did get a lot of info from the Dr. I really like her so I am sure she can help me get some of my health stuff under control! I really hope so because its about time!

KAYLEY~Hope your finger is feeling better. And thats great about the Dr. scales!

WYLLENN~Wow you have ton going on! Hope you get it all done!

SHARON~I hope your boys get well soon. And sorry you have had a hard time but I am glad you are feeling better!

BRENDA~So sorry you are having to get a root canal! ouch!

DONNA~Your welcome! And I loved the pics of your pets so cute! Have fun at the birthday dinner! Sounds really good!

MELISSA~I am not sure about the whole scale thing. Sometimes my scales can be really off. But good luck at your WI! And the pic of Jasmine is so cute! I bet she loves that she has a whole room to herself!

ANNIE~Thanks! I went over to a new Dr. in Spokane valley and she is just great! I really feel like I can finally get things rolling with taking care of my health stuff. So I am actually pretty excited about it! Good luck with the cleaning. I have so much paper work I need to file. I keep thinking if I ignore it will just go away! Wishful thinking!

LANNE~Thats great about your ID picture! Good luck at your WI!



Well I hope you all had a good day so far.

Just been to the gym and did my work out!!

Annie - nursing school is going ok, I have 14 weeks left!! My last ward is going to be oncology so will be sad but hopefully really interesting and a great learning experience!

Chat soon

Hi All,

I’m late posting today because I’ve had a busy day. I did the school run, I went to the shops, I exercised, did some washing, and I cleaned the whole house, so busy busy busy. Everything’s done now though, so apart from a bit more washing I should have a pretty relaxed rest of the week

Kayley - I’m glad your finger is feeling at least a little better. Good for you for pushing yourself to do that extra time on the treadmill despite your poorly finger. You are one motivated gal

Any news on if you got that dream car you mentioned?

Heather - so glad you managed to squeeze in a post to let us know how you are doing. You are certainly having a hectic time of it. I bet you can’t wait for the next 6 weeks to go so that you can have a bit of breathing space.

Sharon - your CD lady came out to weigh you a day early last week didn’t she? So does that mean your WI is tomorrow? I know you are expecting a gain, but who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised. All that you’ve eaten might have kicked your metabolism into high gear? Whatever happens, I know you can move past it and keep on losing on the liquid diet. I have every faith in you, it’s time to have faith in yourself

Brenda - I really feel for you having to have root canal work done. I had some done a few weeks ago and boy did it hurt afterwards. I hope you’ve got a good supply of pain killers

Thanks for the congrats on my 4 lbs loss, I can’t tell you how good it feels to finally be on the right track and losing again

Donna - go on, I can take it, tell me, did you go to the Cheesecake Factory with Doug for his birthday? Do they do ANY food that’s not sinful?

Wow we did all seem to be having a bad day with headaches yesterday, mine is fine today, I hope yours and the kiddies have gone today too.

What a bargain you had for that dress, it looks SO much more expensive than that.

Lilion - how sweet of you to buy that gift for your clerk. Good for you too for only eating half of that bran muffin. It’s weird to think that something that sounds so healthy can be high in calories.

Missy - Jasmine is so adorable especially in that pink t-shirt.

Sorry I can’t help you on the weighing question, though why you get such a huge difference between readings I have no idea! with your official WI tomorrow.

Happy belated birthday to you. I hope that the added cals you ate in those treats will have been worked off with all the work you did getting the room ready for Jasmine

Annie - great minds think alike I saw Valerie use and fell in love with it too, so I used it in my first post after seeing it

I am so PROUD of you for not giving in to the urge to eat that sandwich

You’ll have to email me with all the spoilers about Supernatural, especially the story about the dad coming back, how on Earth are they going to write that into the show. He gave his life for Dean’s, did a deal with the devil and all that.

No it wasn’t our day for the gym today, it’s tomorrow, and yes hopefully we will be going.

Patti - I am glad you got your new meds, which nasal spray to you use? Daren has Beconase for his rhinitis. He doesn’t think much of it though.

I shall keep my that you will get some rain to help get rid of all the pollen. It’s rotten how it can make you feel so unwell.

LAnne - I’m so happy for you that you had such a wonderful experience getting your photo taken, and actually liking what you see. It’s quite novel isn’t it to not cringe when looking at photos of ourselves

Not that you’ll need it but at your WI tomorrow. I bet you’ll have had another great loss

Michelle - I’m glad you had such a positive outcome at the doctors and that you really like her. It really makes all the difference to have a doctor that takes the time to explain things etc.

I better go now, Ugly Betty is starting, bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi - Well, I figure I didn't hurt my foot, so I really can't use that as an excuse! Granted, I can't do as MUCH, but 20 minutes is better than nothing! Actually, I got a call from the guy about the car...and I should have it by May 10th!!! It's a REALLY great deal! I'm VERY excited!

I think I forgot to congratulate you on your loss this week! BRAVO!

I also need to get that e-mail out to you about why I quit my job!