Morning ladies! I woke up at 3 am because I heard arguing then three loud booms then a few seconds later about 5 more sounds different from the three. I don't know if people were shooting at each other or what. I told Jack if he went out and there were bodies on the street we would know. I wasn't about to go out there and see what was going on. It may not be a neighborly thing to do, but I am NOT stupid.

Susan: I think the biggest thing more than likely with the new WW pts is that it will force people to eat properly. I mean with the way the new program looks, eating high carbs and such will eat up your points big time. On the other hand, hundreds of people have lost weight on each of the different types of WW plans that were introduced. Things just evolve. I think for someone who didn't knit, doing the smittens in felt is a great idea. It would certainly be much faster too!

Maggie: We ordered our smoked turkey yesterday and will pick it up the day before Thanksgiving. My ham is in the fridge and tomorrow I get to the commissary and get the rest of the stuff except for the goat cheese. I am going to wait until the day before to get it so it is nice and fresh. Yes, socks were something I was scared to try, but when I found this one pattern where the lady did a great job of explaining how to make them, I found they are great for projects you want to finish quicker. I am enjoying delving into pattern knitting for socks now that I have a real handle on knitting them.

Jean: South Beach has a good program, but can be hard to stick to I think. I have always thought that people who are overweight usually have childhood eating behind it. I am not saying parents not feeding their kids properly are to blame, I am just saying I think that each person's issues with food usually have a childhood basis. I think your body over the years craves what you were fed in childhood and it is tough to break that cycle. If your family ate a lot of pasta, etc more than likely you crave carbs, big meat and potato folks tend to go that way with their diet, even if they are trying to lose weight. I think bad habits account for a great deal when losing weight too. I am hoping Kelly likes the socks. She wears some really colorful tennies and has some fun patterned socks she buys so these should fit right in. They will be warm and are really really soft.

Well, lots to do today. I didn't get a thing done yesterday with Jack being home. We got caught up in errands and didn't get the carpets done so he will tackle them tomorrow and we will shop on Sunday. Have a good one everybody! Faye

Good afternoon, ladies. A nice day in the 50s. Although there isn't a cloud in the sky or rain in the forecast, we are under a coastal flood watch and the water in back of my house is high. It must have poured in the mountains.

Maggie, there will be a new way to figure points and we'll be give wheels to replace the old points counters. I'm going to start looking for the formula. The new plan will be released November 28. Thanks for the menu and info. My favorite air-popped popcorn is going to be 4 points instead of 1! Good thing I'll be getting more. Most women will be on 29 points. There is no more points quiz. Can I ask what the site is Will got your new cookbook? The new one is showing up for late December release on Amazon. The new plan will be called PointsPlus here.

Jean, Holland and Germany have been the testing grounds for the new program for the past 2 years. England came out at the beginning of the week, Australia/New Zealand is rolling out next week, then Canada and finally the US. The whole website will be different and I think they are taking it a week at a time to get each country's version tweaked and up and running.

Faye, you are right that childhood eating plays a part in how we eat, but it is possible to learn and new way and I have done it. I was brought up on big farm meals and desserts at every meal - we even had pie or cake with breakfast. It's no wonder I was obese!

Have a great evening!

Good afternoon gals! Boy, I am telling you I am going to need a bell to remind me to come in here and post. I think this is the second time this week I forgot! lol It has poured down rain all day here so I imagine we are getting what Maggie recently had.

I fell asleep Thursday before my new episode of the new season of Burn Notice came on, darn, so I sat and watched it this morning when it repeated at 9. We then lit out and I went and got Jackson's book from the post office, which of course still had it. I don't think they were even planning on re-delivering it, the lazy people. I really do think our post people don't deliver all the mail each day and they sit around in trucks and ride their route for heaven's sake.

We then went to Target and right in front they had turkey pans and such so I got what I needed in case the commissary doesn't have them tomorrow and went ahead and got 2 packages of the corn bread mix. Will save me some time not having to make corn bread. The Pepperidge Farm stuff is just as good and cuts out a heck of a lot of time. I picked up all three Toy Story movies for Jackson since he hasn't seen any of them and wants them and a "go fishin'" game for him and got in line and you are not going to believe this. The woman in front of us (this is a Super Target and has groceries) had a bill of groceries and only had a couple more things on the belt so we got in line behind her. She paid with all change, mostly PENNIES and the check out gal counted every one!!!! We had already unloaded so we just stood there and stood there and stood there. I understand folks being strapped and needing to use their change, but they should get it changed into bills at one of those change places. They don't charge that much or take it to their bank and have it changed it for bills. It isn't like it was a couple dollars or even $10, it was a lot of $$! Jack was hungry so we had a hot dog and a drink at their food place then ran over to Kelly's to take her the birthday present. She was over the moon about the socks and put them on and walked around in them saying how warm and soft they were. She has a best friend that is an expert knitter and this girl refuses to make her socks. This is the first pair I have ever made Kelly because I thought her friend had been making her socks. She won some beautifully dyed sock yarn in a charity raffle and asked if I would be willing to make her anoteher pair out of them. They were cashmere blend and it is really scrumptious yarn so I told her sure when I was done with all my Christmas sock knitting.

Jean: Good for you. A lb is a lb is a lb. Well, it is the middle of November so I imagine snow is going to be the weather of the day for you for a few months. Maybe you will only get a smattering as my mom used to say. I asked Jack after he came back from an early errand this am if there were any bodies and he laughed and said, no bodies, no "do not cross" yellow tape, no gun cartridges or those little plastic #'s they put on the ground, not even a chalk person outline so we have no idea what went on that night. Maybe it was kids horsing around, who knows?

Susan: Yep, I agree. You can break the cycle and learn to eat properly, but it is definitely a struggle to get there. Will be interesting to see what the new plan involves. My only grudge with it will be if you don't go to meetings and aren't online, you won't have the new way to do your points without paying. I paid a lot of money for my little points calculator and it is worthless with the new plan, but that's the way it goes. I have to say even we didn't have pie or cake for breakfast! lol I grew up eating cereal and toast during the week and on the weekends my mom would make pancakes or waffles (which I hate btw) but we rarely had bacon and never sausage because it was too expensive. We did eat a lot of noodles, potatoes and such because it was cheap as well as hot dogs, hamburger and chicken.

Maggie: I just cannot get my head around drinking coffee. I don't like it in ice cream or desserts except for a spice cookie my grandma used to make called coffee hermits and I loved those. I have never been a coffee drinker.

Well gals, I need to get back to Jackson's sock. I have done the heel and am now knitting the rest of the foot so I hope to be done with it by the first of the week and get the other one on needles. I am actually doing ok with the pattern too,

Have a great Saturday all! Faye

Kelly posted this on facebook so thought you might like to see her sockies on her feet! lol

Jean: Hope things are better for you and the power will come on soon. You have to be freezing!

Good afternoon, ladies! Only in the 50s today but the sun is shining and the water is down. The leaves have finally started turning and there is beautiful color everywhere.

Faye, I didn't even come to FC yesterday - just plain forgot because I was on the computer. I love Kelly's socks! I thought of you when I was reading the paper this morning. There was an article about a knitting group that meets at the library on Thursday morning. I knew you'd enjoy them. They were inviting anyone who would like to learn to knit to join them. I had one of our local welfare recipients in front of me at the grocery store yesterday. Her total purchase was $4.11. Her EBT card was denied. She them went through 4, yes 4, credit cards that were all denied. Finally she counted out the money from her purse and I saw several $20s in her wallet. When I was putting my groceries in the car, she drove out in a new Caddy. Ah, yes, those who need welfare get it.

Jean, I hope to see no snow this winter. There was an article in the paper today about how the drought this summer had caused such poor crops in peanuts, soy beans, corn and cotton, etc. Farmers are really hurting. It's really a shame for the cotton farms. Raw cotton is at the highest price since the Civil War this year. I always have books on CD and batteries for my CD player in case of power outage. It hasn't been out since Isabelle (hurricane) 7 years ago. My friend has loaned me her IPOD and I'm really loving it. I will have to save up and get one. At our library, we can download books to our computer and then IPOD or MP3 player and listen to them. After 3 weeks they no longer work unless you renew them. We can get 10 at a time. I think WW tries out new plans in Europe because those countries are no bigger than one of our average sized states so its a good sample to put the whole country on it. I do remember when CORE came out it had been tested in the US in a few meetings. I think the sampling might have been too small because they haven't tested here first again.

Maggie, I hope you can find your vest. That food saver sounds good. You certainly have a lot of small appliances!

Well, the dryer is buzzing so time to put in another load. Have a great day.

I can't even say good afternoon at this point, it is evening! I just couldn't get in here today. We were out first thing to get to the commissary, just 15 minutes after they opened and it was totally nuts in there. I expected it to be quiet since it wasn't Navy payday until tomorrow nor any retirement payday for the most part. Sheesh, you never know I guess.

Jean: I find people paying with checks less and less these days since bank cards are fairly easy to get. I know what you mean though about the person standing in line and not even getting the checkbook out until the checkout is finished. Drives you nuts. Glad your power came back on fairly quickly.

Maggie: If you don't have a bank account in this town forget about getting anything out of any bank. We have an account and have for years with Navy Federal Credit Union. There is one branch in this area and it is out by the base so I rarely go out there. I wanted to get a $20 bill changed I had a couple years ago and walked up to a bank in the Kroger store. Because I didn't have an account with them they refused to give me change! Man, I threw a BIG fit about it and made sure other people heard what jerks they were being. I walked over to the customer service desk and they changed out my money.

Susan: Living in Welfare City I see that kind of crap all the time. What really saddened me is one day I was in line behind one of these "welfare divas" and a sweet old lady. The welfare chick took her wic card out and had bought expensive fresh squeezed juices, the most expensive fancy cheeses and such the store had and the old lady behind her had to buy this crappy fake juice drink and I almost cried seeing her take out her little coin purse and trying to put enough money together to buy her purchases. That's the kind of stuff that drives me over the edge.

My sock for Jackson is coming right along, but my hands are hurting tonight. I noticed yesterday my wrist bone would crack with every stitch I knit.

You gals have a nice evening. I am going to get a bit of supper together for Jack and I. Faye

Good morning to you all! I actually got in here in the morning today! I have been up since before 5. Jack took a nap yesterday afternoon so when he got up to go to the bathroom at 3 he couldn't go back to sleep so we was walking around and I woke up so just came downstairs and tried to nap in the chair.

I am doing laundry today and cleaning house. Seems to be my routine in a circle. I do have the sock done almost to the toe so should be able to finish it either today or tomorrow so I can start on the second one.

Jack left for work about 40 minutes ago, Fortune is fed and sleeping and except for the washer going it is quiet around here.

Jean: Oh man, I hope nothing got ruined in their basement. We lived in a house once where tree roots got into the pipes and really mucked up the sewage system. It was awful. On top of that, it was a rental house and the lady who owned it didn't want to spend the bucks to get it fixed correctly. We moved out! Sounds like you had fun with the kids. I don't know if Thomas's school is going to have a Christmas program or not. I imagine they will. Since his grade is the last grade in elementary school they get to do more of the acting stuff so it should be fun. Thomas usually plays his violin or the piano for the program somewhere along the line.

Jay, Alicia, and Jackson are in Mexico this week visiting her father. He lives in Guadalahara and they always enjoy themselves. He has had some more health issues with his heart, but she says he is much better now. They will be home only a couple days then head down here I guess. I am looking forward to seeing Jackson as I haven't seen him since we were up there in July and he has really grown again.

I guess I should get out of here. My washer sounds like it is about done with a load. Yep, just turned off. Have a good start to your week everyone!
Faye