Good morning GG's,

It is a rainy dreary day here right now. Thankfully, I was able to get in my bike ride before it started to rain. I am thankful though for the rain too ~ we desperatly need it.

It has been interesting to read about your upbringings and all. My parents didn't seem to have a lot of don'ts. Somehow we (my sister and I) just seemed to do what we should or shouldn't do. My brother was a different story. Anyway, the worst thing I did, was play a trick on my girlfriend that got us in trouble with her mom. My friend played the glockenspiel in the marching band, and had tassels hanging from the ends of it. She called herself "Madam Norma" and we had all sorts of tales we made up just for fun. We joked that we were a band of criminals and talked about heists and such ~ we each had a speciality ~ safe cracker, get away driver etc. Norma talked with a Bronx accent. Well, one evening, my sister, brother and his friend and I ~ we got to joking around. We figured Madam Norma needed a customer, so my brother's friend disguised his voice and we called Norma and made arrangements for this "customer" to come to her house. We drove there and stopped up the road and the kid walked to her house and knocked on her door. The joke to us was just in fun and we meant no harm (stupid kids I guess ~ just not thinking) but Norma's poor mom freaked out and was quite mad at us for a while.

I wanted to ride my bike before work on Thursday and Friday, but remembered that probably my tires needed pumping up and was too tired after work or in the morning to mess with that. So, I did that this morning and now am all set for tomorrow. Where I ride will depend on how light it is when I set out. I usually go on the bike and hike paths, but don't want to do that if it is dark, so may just have to ride around our streets where the street lamps can light my way. I think I will feel safer that way.

Mary ~ I feel much the same as you and seem to have done some of the same kind of things with food as you have described. I get into the most trouble when no one is around to see what I do. I also wonder if I will ever come to a time when ~ like you said how your daughter never seems to think of food that much ~ if I will ever be like that. It seems like I always think of food and am looking forward to the next meal, opportunity to eat.

Well, the dryer is buzzing, so I need to go fold those clothes. I'll check in later.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.

Morning.....after reading Marie's post I just had to pop in. Am so glad you tried the eyeball thing. Did you use pressure to top of it? I have no idea why it works except it must exert pressure on the opitical nerve hence the brain. Always wondered if would help humans. It gave me such satisfaction that i could do something for him instead of being helpless. Good Job!

Welcome Tethatsme....tell us about you!

Zoe....Your personality is so big and sure that it glows in your writing. I never thought about you and bright colors unless I was describing your language or illusions you were creating.

Lynn....I count things to put me to sleep. I went to a tiny grammar school in a tiny town. 3 room school for 9 grades. so 30X3=90. On a bad night I try to count all the kids that would have been there. I never get past about 78.

Funny how many of us had our children so young. I was 18. DD was born at Camp Juene and listed as one of the Lebanese babies. They were the result of the Marines returning from Lebanon. I have always said I got married at 18 because in 1958 good girls didn't and my sex drive was bigger than my brain.

Oh they averaged about 20 births a day during that time...9 months after returning from Bierut.

BBL....hugs k3

Hi Freda,

Good and bad things about being so young. Easy birth, VERY close to my DD because we kind of grew up together, LOTS of regrets about my “parenting skills.” I know I would have been a MUCH better mother if I had waited until I was older/wiser. My DD always tells me that she turned out pretty good so I shouldn’t worry. But I cannot help thinking about (and feeling guilty about) times that I REALLY screwed up as a parent.

Hi Karen,

I have been thinking about actresses for you. The characteristics I am looking for are “strong, resourceful, responsible, and friendly.” Here are some of my selections – Meryl Streep, Jodi Foster, Sandra Bullock, Blythe Danner.

Hi Rie,

Good to walk with someone who walks just slightly faster than you. Do NOT try to keep up with someone who walks a LOT faster – you will hurt yourself. Unless your event has hills, do not use the incline on the treadmill to increase your speed. Keep it level. If your event has hills, use alternating incline on the treadmill. NOTE: my DD would tell you to insert some running into your practices sessions. She started out with running for 1 minute and walking for 5. She now runs the whole way and is doing 12 minute miles. I had problems with the running – cannot breathe through my nose & my heart rate gets erratic. Also – knee and hip problems. I am limited to walking.

Hi Gayle,

I get into trouble whenever I bring “tempting/bad foods” into the house. If they are here, I will eat them. As I live alone, I can control this when I want to. These days, my focus is on getting more vegetables into my meals. Still thinking about food, but in a different way. When I go out or when I eat a prepared meal, I just eat half. Also, I need to get back to spending 1-2 hours/day at the gym.

Hi Karen,

I have often thought about why I was so “boy-crazy.” I think that there were various reasons. A pretty much absent father (he worked nights and was an alcoholic and I saw him only on Sundays), a too strict Catholic upbringing, a mother who was over-protective of me (before I was born, she lost a 4-year-old daughter during a tonsil operation). Maybe just the times – the 60’s & 70’s.

I had a friend from Cambodia who believed in reincarnation. His theory was that each lifetime we must learn one lesson. I have always said that my lesson is to learn to NOT let all my life decisions to be based on my sex-drive.

"KarenC, did I really type 3 pages?? Oh my. Well, I hope it helps and I will be glad to get on my machine here and "walk you through it". I actually learned something last night, too, I had my difficulty set at "hard". Wow, gonna change that ...."

Val-- you had typed one page to me earlier before I ever opened the game that I saved. And now I printed them all off and after we have a bit of lunch I am going downstairs and show it who is boss!!! LOL!!!!

Geez--- I got a lot done today but none of what I wanted to! I decided to go ahead and get the bed and hide a bed stripped from the 5th wheel and get the bedding laundered. Then it just seemed like one more thing and then I'll tackle Walk It Out---now it is time to fix supper and I haven't got down there yet! Seems like so much to do after you get back from a trip. And we need to get the 5th wheel ready to put on the storage lot, they frown about it sitting on the street! HA! Still got to winterize it though.
Guess it will wait until tomorrow now... unless I just find a bunch of energy after supper!! LOL!! Still a nice day here. it is 78 degrees and tomorrow we are supposed to be getting showers which are supposed to last the next three days.

Hi everyone! We went to church, came home for our L&G meal and then went out again. We had to get gas and I picked up some eggs that were FREE at Target. Can't pass up free food!

Just ordered a couple tops from Coldwater Creek ...sure hope they fit...I'm always scared when I'm dieting...don't want to buy so small I can't wear them but also don't want to buy too large if I go down. Fortunately I go down in sizes very slowly usually so hopefully they will be ok.

Karen31 - I know how that is after an RV trip...so much to do. That was the part I didn't care for. But I did like the freedom and feeling of living closer to the outdoors everywhere we went.

Lynn - I think we all screw up in some ways as parents! If anyone thinks they didn't they probably just don't realize it. I screwed up PLENTY, esp with the two oldest and even more esp with my oldest dd. I have had lots of guilt about it and am so thankful for God's forgiveness. Don't know if she will ever forgive me though as she still reminds me about some of it. Yet now and then she does seem to remember the good things I did too, but not often. The other kids don't seem to feel that way but I know I was harder on her. She says I was too strict and that's why she got so wild but I don't think I was much different with her and I honestly don't think I could have been any different. I wanted to be a good parent and really thought most of the time I was. I did get a little wierd as she got older because she was driving me kinda crazy...but i should have handled it better too. But I have come to the conclusion that we do the best we can in the situation and that's all we could do, so we have to forgive ourselves just as we also have to forgive our own parents for their mistakes. One can only blame their parents so long and then you have to be responsible for your own actions. She's 46 and I think it's beyond time for that! But I still love her and always will, and I tell her that...maybe one day it will sink in. In the meantime I don't see her very much as that's the way she wants it. It is more comfortable under the circumstances but makes me sad too as dh and I are getting old and we have missed so much time with her.

I don't have junk or way too tempting foods in the house and I am trying to practice your strategies with eating out, Lynn. Right now with MF I am restricted to Lean and Green but I do love vegetables. My mid-day meal today was 2 veggie burgers, one cup of steamed zucchini and 1/2 cup steamed broccoli. Other wise I eat the MF meals. BUT, when I stop eating their meals, I worry about going back to my over-snacking ways! I want food to not be so important to me so I can stick with just one moderate size snack in the evenings.

Now that I'm past the first three weeks with MF, I can up my exercise again. This week we had the kids here so didn't go and we will be gone for a few days but am really looking forward to getting back to the gym after that. I need it. Will do some walking in the meantime.

Tetthatsme - what's the IP diet...seems to be working for you..17# wow!!


Marie - Yeah, I'd take an iPad! Not sure my dh would be satisfied though.
LOL He's such a nice guy though I know he'd be happy for me.

Time to eat again...so gotta go

Hello GG's,

About to head to bed ~ days off are over. Back to work ~ a 4 day stretch.

I did ok food wise this weekend ~ not as good as some days, but not as bad as others.

It has been rainy here all day ~ but we desperatly needed it. Some of the trees here in Houston died this summer because it was so dry.

I spent some of the day then working on the pictures on my computer. There are all these groups of pictures and there certain ones I like, but never can remember which group they are in, so I went through some of them and put my favorites into a folder so that I can more easliy find them. Still have more to go, but it is a start.

Here are a couple of my favorites. #1 Corbin and his kitty Chico (Chico jumped away and suprised him), #2 Maddie and her butterfly wings ~ she wore them all day long ~ to the park, down the slide and everything. #3 Grandpa and Maddie ~ big shadow and little shadow

Hope you all have had a nice weekend.

Great Pictures Gayle! Aren't pictures fun to go through?? That will probably be a winter project for me. Hope you have a great week at work.

Good morning GG's,

I got up 1/2 hour early and had breakfast and did a few little things, then when it was just starting to get light out ~ set out on my bike ride. I think this will be a do-able thing. It was light enough that I could go on the bike and hike paths instead of just around the circle several times, so that made it more enjoyable. It was a nice temperature out There are slight little inclines and declines ~ when it goes down hill a little, I brake to slow down and then pedal some more. I can feel myself having to work though on the inclines ~ so I think I am getting somewhat of a workout. I will never be up to the workouts of Marie, Val, Lynn (I will be one of the ones sitting in the lawn chairs at the end of the marathon with Zoe and Donna) but it is better than nothing.

Ok, I'd better finish getting ready for work.

Have a nice day you all.

Gayle, I will be there in a lawn chair with the rest of you. I cannot do the intensity of the others either. One time I was on my Gazelle-like exerciser and my step-son said "Mom, that's not doing a thing for you." So I got off and went and sat in my chair. Then I said to him "Ok. When was I using more energy, now in the chair, or doing the exercise?" He got my point. If you enjoy riding your bike, then it's good exercise for you. You are using muscles you wouldn't be using if you were sitting in a chair, and that's what it's all about. Keep it up and gradually it will get easier for you and you will look for more inclines to give you a better challenge.

Yes Zoe...busy as usual, DH and I took up the dining room/living room carpet and foam pad over the week-end. Guess what we found under the foam pad? Enough dirt, gravel and sand to build a beach castle. And my DH vacuums every day! Carpets really are bad for anyone with allergies. I had a bad headache all week-end from the dust and probably zillions of dust mites. We don't have an appointment set up yet for the hardwood floors, they won't set that up until after the wood is delivered and it has a change to warm up to room temperature.
allrecipes.com had a turkey meatloaf recipe on the daily email this morning and has a 4.5 star rating. My eyes perked up when I saw the ingredient, "Quinoa". I purchased a huge bag of the stuff and hate it, yuk! I think it was my mentor Dr. Oz that boasted about it. I'm much too tight to throw it all out so always looking for recipes to use it up. I'm going to make it for supper and will post the recipe after I welcome tethatsme



Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf 4.5 Star

Ingredients
¼ cup quinoa
1/3 cup chicken bouillon water
3/4 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
16 ounce package ground turkey
1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketsup
2-1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1 teaspoons salt?
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Bring the quinoa and bouillon onto a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute; remove from heat to cool.
Stir the turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, tomato paste, hot sauce, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire, egg, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist. Shape into a loaf on a foil lined baking sheet. Combine the brown sugar, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, and 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl. Rub the paste over the top of the meatloaf.
Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 50 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let the meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

OK--- I made it!!! I just did 3332 steps in 30 minutes with Walk it out! Probably not very good but at least I got started on it! I'm sweatin' so that must be good!!