Good evening!!!!!
Well, got a few minutes to stop in and say hello before the next round of medication kicks in. I actually got a walk in today too......so I am in negative points land somewhere.....can't wait for a real cup of tea tomorrow (with milk, sorry Robyn).

Kerry-rule #1....housework just does not get done during the school year, or at least not in great quantity. rule #2.....if you are going to belly ache about housework not getting done then you should be doing it yourself. rule #3...if rule #2 does not apply then go back to rule #1 and hire a maid and quit bellyaching! Sounds as though you had a nice day with Dh's niece and her babies. And I hope you can get some quality time in with John Grisham.

Robyn- ouch!!!! Sorry about the sunburn, but it does sound as though you had a fun day. Watercountry is a fun place- we went there about 6 years ago and had a great time.

Sue- yup mass chaos while leaving sure sounds like the culprit!!!! Sounds as though you got some encouragment from that email.....yup, knowing your fate would sure be better to do so sooner as opposed to later! As for us with movies, we usually see them at home too. And I hear ya with the grown up date.....Did you find a campground with a pool yet?

Summer - did your house survive triple trouble??? Hope the mess was not too bad....and that the terminally tardy mom was not excessively late. (Murphy's law for parenting, the parents of the kid you love to have around always collect him/her early....the wacko kids parents always show up late).
That is such great news about the mac and cheese!!!!! What a major accomplishment to have power over a trigger food!! BTW, I am suffering thru the effects of phospho soda- an oral liquid that you take 2 rounds to clean out your system. And it works amazingly fast...can't wait till this is all over.....I go in tomorrow at 7 am, test at 8 and hope to be home drinking my real tea by 10. Not sure if the anethesia is called general, although it is not local. I will be somewhere in twinkie land....awake but not caring about what my surroundings are and what is happening to me. SOunds like good stuff for driving a school bus......

Dh has been his usual wacko self with regards to this....think I am going to ask him to just show up when I am ready to come home (he mentioned seeing me in recovery but then had a snide comment about that..I need this ??) Anyway, my friends, thanks to each of you for your support......can't say I am enthusiastic about this but I do not want to do to my family what happened with my mother.

Oh, and does anyone want a totally wacko kitten????? No excuses the full moon is over and this cat is off the wall!!!!
Gotta go....see ya tomorrow!
Ginny

Well, I can't say that this was the most wonderful experience in the world, but I have survived the colonoscopy. No problems found......thank the Lord and now I can have milk in my tea!!!!!! See ya later and thanks for all the kind thoughts.....
Ginny

Mouse, my guess about the cravings is that during the two weeks of phase 1, I have not had 1 carb...zero (0), zilch, nada. I can't have any now, not even from certain vegetables like carrots. Maybe it takes a total absence of carbs...almost like detox...to take away the cravings. My fear is what will happen in phase 2 when I begin to introduce fruit and high fiber carbs gradually. No joke, I'm definitely concerned.

Ginny, I'm so glad the ordeal is over.

The day that was supposed to be rainy isn't. However, the pool is in bad shape after 5 days of torrential rain. So, DD is entertaining herself in the A/C while I take care of the pool.

Be back later.

Summer, great minds think alike, as I just finished cleaning up our pool. (of course stupid me got chlorine on my favorite capris....aw they were a bit worn still looked good). Your fears about reintroducing carbs are not odd or unfounded. Just last week at WW a member reached goal and the leader discussed the stress and fears about reintroducing certain foods and how tough that can be. In a nutshell her take on it was to do things slowly.....and of course the ever present portion control. Slowly work on those carbs-and wait a week....keep close tabs on the scale. Sounds like you are doing great!!! Not that we want to lose you here (I will personally harrass you to death if you do!) but maybe at one of the SB threads there is someone who can also add some wisdom to the topic of reintroducing carbs.

I rested while watching a movie with Dd....and now I feel pretty much back to normal. Dh seems to think I can take on Mt Everest today. But that is him. (can't wait till it is his turn for a colonoscopy! if i can ever get him there for one).
Nuff from me for now.....
Ginny

Hi, all.
Ginny: Great news about the colonscopy. I will probably wind up having one in a few years; my enocrinologist/GYN promised. :snork: She has a way of making me do things I don't want to do at all. I figure it can't be worse than the endoscopy was... my biggest problem will be finding a driver, because I'll probably want my gastroenterologist that I have here in Baltimore to do it. The office she's with has locations in Southern Maryland, so its not far...
Summer: I guess so... but my diet was already so limited that I couldn't also give up cheese and the few other vegetables I could eat (there are carbs in bok choy, celery, lettuce, and cucumbers), along with the ONLY fruit I can eat (berries, which have carbs). I can't have chicken, either. So, basically, it comes down to lean protein, celery, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, bok choy, celery, onions & peppers. I don't like onions very much, and don't eat peppers at all unless they're mixed in something. I can't have any kind of whole milk or most reduced fat milk products because of a milk fat allergy... there are more carbs in the fat-free dairy products. Asking me to give up cheese or berries after all I've already given up (pasta, bread, tomatoes, carrots, yogurt (frozen and regular), oatmeal, chicken, chocolate, rice, soup, pizza, popcorn, potatoes) is just carrying things too damn far. The list of stuff I can't eat is way longer than the list of stuff I can eat... I'm not even allowed to have most of the low-carb substitute things like the South Beach products or the Atkins branded stuff. Before they put me on the diet, I was already eating whole wheat pasta and other whole wheat products.
Like I said, I've seriously reduced the need for the anti-nausea drug ... and its pretty clear that the food was what was causing it, because if I break it at all (even by accident: tonight I had beef with broccoli and no rice... but I forgot to ask them to leave out the corn starch, the carrots, the baby corn, and the snow peas... and I wound up dumping the rest of my dinner because I got sick), I'm sick. It sucks though, that I'm not really losing any weight despite eating an average of 1100 calories a day over the last month; also seriously lowered carbs. Before this, I averaged somewhere between 150-200 carbs daily. I'm right about 50 most days now. Not Atkins (which is what, 20?), but definitely LOW!
I do need to find a way to add some fiber to the diet... Any ideas for that? The vegetables and fruit aren't enough. Maybe I should borrow some of Ginny's phosphate soda (which, I've had before... for a CT scan, because the barium made me seriously sick... I actually threw up in the office).
For movie lovers, although this is definitely an adult or late teen (14+) film: Coach Carter. I went to Blockbuster that was next to the Chinese place...

Mouse, sorry you got sick. That just sucks. I am not a veggie lover at all. So, to avoid getting constipated, I picked up fiber pills at the health food store which I made sure had no ingredients that I didn't want in them. I take them at my noon meal with tons of water just to make sure that I'm getting fiber. With all of your limitations, have you checked out any supplements in a health food store? If you are eating whole wheat pasta, you probably have. It is just a thought.

Ginny, thanks for the love.

Rob, where are you lobster girl? Has your skin cooled off yet? I shouldn't tease you since I'm going to the beach this weekend, and I tend to burn there no matter how much sunscreen I apply.

Kerry, how's it hangin?

We have a kid's birthday party tomorrow. Oh goodie goodie gumdrops!!! I guess I'd better eat a big breakfast since there won't be one item there that I will be able to eat. I have to say, my appetite has lessened. Some mornings, I have to make myself eat. Then, of course, once I start, it is hard to stop. But I used to wake up ravenous. Now I actually get some chores out of the way first. Weird, huh?

I am doing a lot better dealing with getting sick since its happening so much less often now. And, really, it is almost worth it. I'm just so tired of not losing any weight. Everybody else that I see on South Beach and/or Atkins loses tons of weight quickly... I haven't, despite the diet and exercise. I'm doing more exercise now than I was over the spring, and my weight is the same. I have more muscle, some of my clothes fit better. I averaged about 35 minutes of exercise every day for 30 days in June, which is pretty good. And, I came in 4th overall at the gym's 9-mile swim for June. I was the 2nd women's finisher---not a big deal because of the 5 women who registered, they were only 2 others that I KNEW were way better swimmers than I was--- I would've been 3rd but I had a touch more time than the other woman (my friend who does the children's lessons). She has 2 kids; I just have a cat. :meow:
Oh... and I found WATERPROOF CASES BY THE DOZEN for the iPod! With headphones!!!!!! Do you have any idea how excited that makes me? Especially since I 'm down to one CD player again (I killed another one). I'd planned to buy one with my bonus from the gym (for going to 15 out of 16 swim lessons across 10 weeks... most of the other staff can't boast that)... but because of the move and not working this summer, I used the money to make my car payment. I'll definitely live, but I am now seriously pricing iPods. I would only need one device at the gym, because the iPod cases don't depend on the complicated gasket system that the waterproof bags use for CD Players... and since the iPod is so much smaller, it'd work nicely.

Mouse- I do the same thing as Summer and take a fiber substitute (my Dr recommended Fibercon, but then I am taking it for irritable bowel syndrome)
Congrats on finding the waterproof Ipod case.

Summer- simple answer is that before you were eating all the wrong stuff. We all do.....all that refined carb stuff that flies thru a system and does not keep hunger at bay. Hope you made it thru the party ok!

Major rejoicing here.....Ds passed all his regents!!!!! Even did well on 2 of them!!!! Ok, it fries his sister's hyde...as she did really well on them and actually got into the negative curve on a few, so when she finds her mother ecstatic over a 72 she is seething!!! But let me explain....this is the kid who started out the 1rst quarter with a 65 in a class.....went up to a whopping 69 second quarter.....then turned up the heat in the 3rd (85) and a 90 in the 4th. Why?????? Huh???????NOTHING his mother said about his grades mattered....or his father......just that he knew he had to get his grades up or he would be thrown off the baseball team. Guess baseball is good for something, eh??? And we were worried about summer school for him, seriously.
Well, gotta go......see ya later.
Ginny

Well, I didn't get to Trader Joes: the parking lot was super crowded, so I just gave up. I bought some prunes (which have an AWFUL LOT OF CARBS, but I was careful to buy ones that had no added sugar) at Aldi's. Yea, that makes sense: I can't get in Trader Joes, but I can get in the cheap-o discount store that is their parent company! I don't understand the carb thing, really: the carbs in prunes are almost all fiber, and not sugar. Does that mean they don't count as badly? The prunes certainly didn't make me sick; but neither did oranges, apples and pears or tomatoes and carrots, and I'm not allowed to have those because of the impact on blood sugar/amount of carbs. Of course, I can't guarantee that oranges, apples, etc didn't make me sick, and I did get sick a lot even when I only ate salad (lettuce, cucumber, celery, tomatoes and fat-free feta cheese). Its a mystery to me, frankly.
Anyway... I not only found the waterproof case, but I now own one. I walked into BestBuy with the best intentions of buying a new Sony water resistant sport CD player. It was $90... but $25 for the new headphones from the other company. And sitting right next to the CD players was... the iPod mini. For $169. I'd done my CD order via the Internet, so I got $20 off the original order (which I wound up not getting , and getting the iPod instead), so... all told, with the 3-year-warranty the iPod was $183. The case and headphones for it are being shipped from NY, and I bought an arm-band for the pool too. I am, however, glad I didn't buy it last year, because they are now saying that the Lillipod and the oPod cases are only water resistant. Both companies SAY you can take the device swimming with them, but the reviews say otherwise. I started to "save money" by buying one of those, but research showed me the light. I can't WAIT to use it in the pool... but for now I'll satisfy myself by doing some weights tomorrow before I swim.
It was a bit tricky to figure out... the controls are NOT intuitive! It was dead easy to put music on it though, since I already use iTunes. And yea, I shouldn't have spent the money... really...
Ginny: Congrats on both children's scoring on the Regents. I'm pretty familiar with the tests because I did my undergraduate degree in New York.

hello. sorry to be sort of missing. we've had a major shock. my husband's brother's 21 year old stepson killed himself. they are local...so there is much going on.
without sounding cold, the deceased became a member of our family as a 18 year old with many problems. we didn't know him well at all.... with all this said... his death is quite a shock and very sad event. our nephew who is 11 thought the world of his stepbrother and was, unfortunately, right in the middle of all the tragic chaos. we will get thru the "holiday weekend" and the service is waiting until Tuesday.

gotta run...the phone is ringing again!

i'm drinking soda like it is going out of style.....so much for my "wagon"...

Oh, Robyn... my thoughts are with you & your family. It doesn't matter how long the person was a member of the family... its still not any fun. And yea... we all fall off the wagon during times of stress. Remember me? I hardly went to the gym at all when things were going to **** at work. I knew I'd feel better if I did, but I just couldn't get myself there more than twice a week... and that was mostly because I HAD to be there for work 1 of those days! You'll get back up and go again...

And... not to sound callous... I hope this okay... I actually came back tonight to find a recipe.
Aldi's had an awesome deal on bagged sauerkraut... which I like. I have turkey sausage in the freezer. I KNOW there is a recipe for crockpot sausage with sauerkraut, but I can't find ANY that don't also have chicken broth and/or alcohol and/or potatoes... anybody more familiar with the recipe than I am? Can I leave that stuff out and use water with herbs to replace the broth ??

thanks Mouse...

Um... I found this recipe ...I don't know what you're looking for really....but it doesn't call for chicken broth OR alcohol (which I am nearly certain is just and option!) OR potatoes!
It does call for other "odd" stuff....
I googled sauerkraut sausage crockpot....and this was one of the first 4 links... I think it was dianaskitchendotcom or something like that... I have NEVER made or eaten this recipie...so this is really NOT an endorsement! How do you like THAT disclaimer?



Sauerkraut and Sausage

* 2 bags sauerkraut, drained
* 1 (32 oz.) can stewed tomatoes
* 1 lg. onion, chopped
* 1/2 green pepper, chopped
* Pepper to taste
* Garlic powder to taste
* 1 pkg. smoked sausage, sliced
* 1 pkg. spicy hot sausage, sliced


Preparation : Mix first 6 ingredients together in a crockpot. Cook on slow for 4 hours. Spoon out 3/4 of liquid. Add sausage and cook for 2 more hours.

God Robyn. Even if you didn't know the boy well, times like this are so hard because you have to watch those you care about go through ****. Suicide does horrible things to a family, and not to be morbid, but they'd better watch that 11 year old and get him counseling. My great-grandparents were essentially raising my mother while my grandmother (who was divorced in the 1920's) worked as a musician out of town. When my great-grandfather, who was a doctor, found out his wife was dying of cancer, they both committed suicide by turning on the gas oven. My mother, at the age of 10, discovered them. I can't begin to tell you how this affected her for the rest of her life. Her perspective of death was much different than others. She actually thought she wouldn't live to be 20. When she did die of cancer at 62, she gave in without much fight. Other members of the family were affected by the double suicide. My mother's uncle committed suicide shortly after them. It is a horrible way to die because the pain just ripples out to family and friends in cruel ways. I am really sorry that you have to be a part of such a horrible tragedy.

On a lighter note...

Yesterday was DD's best friend's birthday party. They live 40 minutes away, and the party was at a place called "Planet Play" an hour plus away. The directions from Mapquest were a little confusing, and the place was not well-marked. Needless to say, we were a little late. The funny thing were the people who live locally that were late. What was their excuse?! The kids climbed, ran, slid, and nearly killed each other...thankfully, DD survived without injury, unlike many others. Then came the CHALLENGE OF THE DAY...out came boxes upon boxes of the best smelling, cheesiest, most delectable looking pizza ever (or at least that is how it seemed having been denied pizza for two weeks...the longest I've ever gone in my 40 years of life.) DH and I happened to be standing in between two tables where the pies were stacked, and quickly emptied onto "Bratz" plates. The aroma went directly up our noses, and we became dizzy simultaneously. We stood there drinking bottled water (there was no diet soda to be found) and said, "No thankyou" to the countless offers, and even urges to have "just one slice." Then the cakes, yes I said cakesssss...plural. Chocolate with chocolate frosting with rainbow sprinkles..."No thankyou." My head was swimming and my stomach was growling...it had forgotten about the ham and cheese omelet I had eaten two hours prior. When we were finally dismissed from this **** on earth torture chamber, we hightailed it to Applebees and ordered two Weight Watcher shrimp meals and diet cokes. DD watched her insane parents scarf down their meals while she drank chocolate milk and colored her unread menu. Take two. The after party for close friends was going on, and we HAD to make an appearance. There was a 6 foot sub my DH ate without the bread, kolbasa, hot dogs without bread, and more diet coke for us to eat. Everyone else, many quite thin I might add, chowed down on the carbs we avoided like the plague. Its okay that their genetics are superior and allow them to do whatever the heck they want to their bodies...we are willing to work for the results. My previously unsupportive DH is in the throws of cravings just like me, and for once, we are on even footing. Today, we have a picnic at my family's cottage on Fairfield beach. We will eat those hamburgers and hot dogs without buns. I'm bringing baked beans which are on phase 2. Yes, I made it two weeks on phase 1 for the first time ever, and have graduated to phase 2!!! Woo hoo!!!

Thank you for your support Summer! I can not imagine what **** your mother must have been put through.... While our families were not close, it is very sad to be a part of...even on the fringes! I thank you for your insight and support!

...............
Congratualtions ...for not only LOCATING the birthday party location...BUT of course, for NOT killing anyone over the pizzas! You're doing great...and are on your way! I am very impressed that your dh is doing this with you. I don't know how I missed that earlier! I am thinking that my dh would do well with such a MEATY diet! ...and lorrrd knows he needs to lose a ton as much as I do. Perhaps when all the drama has passed, I'll look into what you are having success with! I might kill someone tho...I've got quite a CarbMonkey on my back! or gut...which ever direction I turn!

Everyone being home 24/7 is causing me to be nuts! I sound like mother of the year when I say that the boys are climbing the walls.... we CAN and do get out... we've got great passes to Busch Gardens and Water Country... we even live within 3 minutes of the river/beach.... BUT...there is only so much time you can do out in the heat and humidity....AND I'm fresh out of great ideas that don't include needing $$$$ (which is definately lacking!) Sorry...I'm listening to them "mess" with each other while I type... yet again.... Don't fret...I'm not searching for summer school jobs... however, that would have been $$$......

Ok...enough from me...
take care,
Robyn