Good Morning Ladies. It looks like everyone had a productive weekend on the beach. Congrats to all the chicks with good results and to all!

Today is weigh in for me. I measured myself this morning and lost another 3 inches from my thighs and three from my waist!!

I made some homemade tomato pasta sauce this morning with fresh herbs as I wasn't happy with the sauces in the grocery last night. I added loads of veg and I'm going to use it tonight in the meatball bake.

I also made some soup. It's a brocolli cheese soup that was posted a wee while back. DH liked it and I'm going to make soup and sandwiches for him tonight. I'll update later on with my weigh in results. Hope everyone has a great day!

Wow Jenny..that's great on all of those inches!!! And all of those dishes sound so yummy!

I thought yesterday was going to be a "quiet" day for me. Then my son called after helping a friend move to New Orleans. They had the empty van and wanted to know if I wanted them to pick up the rest of my parent's furniture from New Orleans (It was being used by friends while their house was being rebuilt) So I said sure and a couple of hours later they showed up with it. It was their sofa and coffee table. They bought the sofa in 1963 and had it not been such a unique sofa, I wouldn't have gotten it. It is 2 pieces that form an "L" with a built in marble "table" in the smaller section. The back of the sofa has almost a wooden "fence" at the top. The coffee table looks like a carved door with glass panes over the carved part. Very unique. The upholstery is in pretty bad shape, so I need to have it recovered. Since I have dogs, I'm thinking about leather or something less expensive that looks like leather. I never realized how huge (long) the sofa was and it took a couple of hours of completely rearranging my living room to accomodate it...emptying and moving heavy armoires, china cabinets etc. I was exhuasted.
Luckily I had already started cooking and had enough to feed all the "movers".
It was very good if anyone wants to try it.

I took a pack of partially frozen pork chops (lean, no bones) and sliced it very thin. Then I smothered that down with onions, red peppers, some creole seasoning. Then I put some salsa in it and let it cook down a bit more. Served it inside of whole grain tortillas with mozzarella, lettuce and ff sour cream. They all loved it.

Raising my coffee to toast the start of a new week..

Good morning!

I had quite a busy weekend, I'm not ready for Monday yet! Monica and I took Amber and Carley to see Thomas the Train on Saturday, and spent most of the day there. The girls both had so much fun. Afterwards, we hit the outlet malls for some early Christmas shopping, and the girls were so well-behaved! It was a long day for them, though, and they both fell asleep on the drive home. Yesterday the whole family was here for our annual babyback ribs BBQ and potluck. I wasn't even tempted to taste the ribs, I have this thing about eating meat off the bone. But I did eat everything else, including a small piece of icecream cake. So today will be spent getting back on track and chugging lots of water to get rid of the weekend evils.

I'll try to post a few pictures of our day with Thomas later.

Jenny, I really like the Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe, too. I'll have to make it again real soon, it's the perfect time of year to enjoy it again!

Cat, that's wonderful that you were able to get your mother's couch. It sounds really interesting, you'll have to show us some pictures of it!

Just checking in to let you know that Lucy is ready to go. Claire is driving us to the vet in a while. I am very sad, of course, and wonder how on earth people survive the death of a child!

After that, I'll resume regular programming. And I am NOT changing my avatar - Lucy will always be one of my dogs.

Ruth - Hugs to you, Lucy and Hershey.

Ruth ~ We're here for you and will be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Oh, Ruth, what a long night you must have had. I feel for you, I have had to make that drive a couple of times myself and ended up crying my eyes out in the vet parking lot. Poor Lucy. I'm glad you're not changing your avatar.

Good morning Cat, cottage, dixie and Jenny. It is fall and really feels like it here, although it will be in the 80's later on. What gorgeous weather we've been having. Not much going on today other than the usual school, work, laundry, etc. I bought a ton of red peppers over the weekend and plan to roast some today and chop some to freeze. I'll also have to finish picking out the leftover crabs for the freezer, or maybe we'll just have them for dinner. Big excitement! Blah, Monday, here we go again.

Morning Ladies!
Our Wheelchair lift is grumpy so I had to scoot into work today brrrr Thank Goodness for D&D coffee!
My eating was atrocious this weekend! Back on the towel today I have WW WI I'm sure it will be a horrorshow!
I have to plan out our food for the week and get some pantry items
Just trying to wake up!
Ruth My thoughts and prayers are with you all!!
Cat definitely post pics of the furniture!
Jenny Great JOb! that soup sounds awesome!
Cottage glad you had a great and full weekend
Morning Dixie

I'm just trying to get my head on straight and launch into the day!
bbl
Kier

Great work, Jenny! That's really impressive! Thanks for starting us up and with such a positive message. I'm due to make some tomato sauce myself...I have a ton of peeled tomatoes from our garden...just not enough time to let it simmer all day! Thanks for the idea of adding veggies, though!

Wow, Cat, that couch sounds fantastic! My favorite couch of my parents' was really long too...guess they just made them bigger back then! Sounds like an exhausting but satisfying day!

What a busy weekend, Cottage! Glad you had so much fun! I'm with you on the eating meat off the bone thing. I'm not a fan! But I love ice cream cake...

Oh, Ruth! I obviously missed something over the weekend. Darling, you are, as always, in my prayers, but especially today. Love you tons and hope you know that our thoughts and hugs are with you. Wish I could come over with a bottle of scotch.

Me:
Had a pretty good weekend...busy, but fun. Spent some time on Saturday with a girlfriend who's getting married this Saturday and having a really hard time with her fiance and her life. I wish I could do more to help her. Saturday night I helped DH out at his organization's "1/2way to St. Patrick's Day" Irish Festival. We worked in the food tent, and the amount of grease sliding around on the griddle put to death any possible interest in snacking in non OP foods. I was running around too fast to eat, anyway! The music was incredible and I had so much fun listening to it while running around. After that, DH and I sold tickets for drinks and beer...on one hand, it challenged my math skills quite a lot, but on the other hand, I was a bit nonplussed to deal with several very inebriated individuals who were trying to buy enough tickets to drink five beers in the next half hour. Oh well...I guess some of that was kind of funny. But I do worry about people getting home safe.

On Sunday I had to cantor at church, which is always totally scary for me. At least this time I had the choir with me and I could stay in the choir loft instead of standing in front! The choir did great and were really supportive! Afterwards, I headed over to a cropping party my friend's Red Hat group was having. My friend (who's a very young pink hatter!) is 4 months pregnant and just starting to show...so it was great fun to catch up, see her ultrasound pics, and do some crafty stuff. I got two pages done...not a record, by far, but at least I have my mom's scrapbook started! When I got home DH and I went for a 2 hour bike ride that involved several hills. Some were so steep I had to climb off and walk!

Off to the gym after work today and then tonight I'm making chicken (some marinade from the fridge) and this amazing sounding salad from Cooking Light: Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Fig Vinaigrette. Yum!

Have a good day, chicks. I know it'll be a hard one, thinking about Ruth and Lucy and Hershey.

good morning chickies...
my body protested as i rolled out of bed this morning. i am very very sore from all of the moving, kneeling on the 2 bathroom floors (well i got lazy on the 2nd, and just spread baking soda/hydrogen peroxide everywhere and scrubbed into the grout all over), and all the stuff we got into over the weekend.

started PH2 yesterday. i figured i would start with strawberries...i dont think i have ever tasted anything so good.
question - i had a couple of friends do the beach a year or 2 back - they said their weight loss kinda stalled for the first 2 or 3 weeks of pH2, and then it resumed.
is that normal?

ruth hearing about lucy made me very sad - i have had to do that drive today with one of my olds cats. i cried buckets - my four legged critters are part of the family. i loved on my boy winston extra hard this morning because of it.

hope everyone has a fantastic monday....

Cat-Yes, please post some pics of your couch! As for your wraps- they sound really yummy. I'm going to have to try to work your recipe into next week's plan!
Cottage-Cant wait for your train pics! Cheers for you climbing back on the wagon.
Ruth-You and Lucy are in my prayers. Try to remember the good times as your wee pal wouldn't want you to be sad.
Schmoodle-I've got loads of peppers in the fridge. I should probably chop and freeze as well as they go soft really quickly over here.
Keir-Good luck at your weigh in! Please post your results!
Laurie-Sounds like you had quite the weekend. That pear and goat cheese salad sounds fantastic!
Sand-You might be sore but think of all the good exercise you got scrubbing away.

It's afternoon here already and I've got a few loads of laundry to do then I'm off to the gym. Hope everyone is having a great Monday. I'll check in later.

It sounds like everyone had a pretty full weekend! I'm glad that Jenny was passing around the this morning, I had to put mine to use already! I had to run a few early errands and when I passed by the bagel store, it was calling to me. But I'm happy to say that I resisted and made some oatmeal when I got back home instead.

Here are a few pictures from our day at the train event -

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...homas011-1.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...homas026-1.jpg

Good Monday Morning to all of you.

Jenny: Congrats on all those inches lost. What a great feeling! I stopped measuring myself and wish I had the gumption to do it again. Maybe I should. That pasta sauce sounds delish.

Cat: That does sound like some interesting furniture. Because of our dogs, we're definitely going leather when we buy a new living room set. I'm glad you finally got that furniture, though. I know you've been talking about it for a while.

Cottage: I'm glad the girls had fun seeing Thomas -- and what great sports they were shopping! I don't know how you do it, but I would have eaten my share of ribs! WTG avoiding the bagel shop!

Ruth: Big hugs to you today. I hope Lucy's passing is peaceful.

, Schmoodle and Kier! Hope you have a great day!

Laurie: Sounds like a very busy weekend for you! I hope your legs aren't too sore after that ride - it sounds like it was KILLER! Have a great day!

sandstriped: I hope you're feeling better after all of that scrubbing and moving! Have a wonderful day.

ME: Well, DH is gone. I shipped him off this morning. This is the trip he takes every year that I just hate. He goes to this remote piece of land that the state owns and there is no phone service or anything. He always tells me that if they're not back by a certain time on a certain day, to call the Sheriff to get the helicopters in the air. I really hate this time of year for that reason.

It was nice and cool this morning, but will hit the mid-80s by this afternoon. We got a good rain yesterday and another one this morning. No watering! Yippee!

Well, time to get to work. I'll be back later to see what's going on!

~Kim

Just a quick pop-in to give Ruthie a hug My thoughts are with you.