Good morning to you ladies. It is cool and raining here this morning. The rain started yesterday afternoon and has kept it up on and off all night. My loveseat is supposed to be delivered between 9:45 and 12:45 so am hoping the rain stops before then, though hopefully it is encased in plastic. Of course, my floors will get all nasty from dragging stuff in when the workmen come in, but can't be helped.

I am almost done with the sock, yipeeee! I am working on the toe now. I guess I will then put another pair on the needles and start on the birthday present for my girlfriend.

Maggie: I didn't know you could freeze cheese at all, but are you going to vacuum seal the blocks now that you have a new one? I would imagine that would really keep the cheese fresh. I bought some new "snack" style meals that were really good. I think they were Lean Cuisine and they are Thai taquito style things, but in wonton wrapping. They are really spicy and have a nice flavor. I actually had them for lunch one day. Jack eats a lot of the frozen meals, beef type actually and has never said anything about them other than what he found he likes and doesn't like. I know he likes the french bread and regular pepperoini pizzas. I have been having trouble finding the cheese ones lately. I get them and put mushrooms on them because I am not a big meat lover on pizza.

Susan: I read the bottom of your post thinking it said, "finished the tears" and wondered what I had missed that you were unhappy so went back to the top and re-read it and noticed it said TEA! I like peppermint tea and I have a couple boxes of flavored teas that are yummy. I like tea when I am having female stuff too. Are you a green tea drinker?

Jean: I always loved the little kids programs. I am sure Ian was just adorable as a dog! You know, they grow up so darn fast. Thomas is going to be 11 and Jackson 4 in just 3 more months. I remember rushing to Memphis twice for Thomas and having to go back home because it was a false alarm, then not getting to see him for two weeks after he was born because Jack couldn't take off again until July, then driving up to Indiana trying to beat Jackson only to get the call while we were driving through the Wendy's! Time sure does fly as I remember your little ones being born too. My battery is dead in my pts calculator, but it has those circular ones so I have to find someplace that handles them. I will take it out today since I am thinking about it and take it to the commissary with me just in case they would have them. Jack made a program on his phone and does his pts that way. He does most of it in his head, which drives me crazy!

Well gals, I am going to finish the darn sock and feed my doggy. Have a good Saturday all! Faye

Happy Saturday!

Since I posted here, I have a new computer (laptop) and printer. Got a good deal. Gotta love that. On my other laptop (a Dell which can still be used but is slooooooow amongst other issues) is Windows Vista (horrible...what were thinking?). I'm loving this new laptop (Toshiba) and printer (HP). I've been busy typing new resumes for Wayne. OH! He has an interview on Thursday but we're not too excited about this company (or what they are paying). We are waiting to hear from a few others. We (yes, "we") apply on-line for a job just about every day. Sooner or later something will happen. Lord, let it be a good something!

Okay. Here's my problem...if it is a problem. I'm on program. But my portions! Out of control. Since I no longer eat anything after dinner (portions okay at that meal) my weight is fine...or goes down a "tad". For some reason I'm not as excited as I once was. I'm sure this is normal. And maybe it's because I'm not walking outside as much (weather is still cold and windy most days). I refuse to regain this weight. I love the size clothing I'm wearing now--I'm out of the Women's section totally. I actually bought my first size 16 pants last week. I can't tell you the last time I wore a size 16 out of the Misses department. But I need to find my enthusiasm again. Anyone care to comment?

Susan, how do you keep at it (on program) after all this time? Maintaining your phenomenal weight loss?

Maggie, I love buying rotisseree (sp?) chickens. I usually buy them already cooked. They are so cheap here in my area. I love the left overs. I think you should start knitting that sweater.

Donna Faye, I've got my socks half way finished. I'm sloooooow. But they are for me. As I said before knitting is more about the process for me. It's calming...unless I make a goof.

Jean, I'd like to hear more about that "new style" church? I love the church Wayne and I attend. The music pastor is wonderful and has done so much with the music. We have a lot of the Christian Rock music with a little of the old time hymns thrown in. The church we attend is a non-denominational church.

Well, I think I had better start thinking about lunch. Who am I kidding? I'm always thinking about the next meal!

Good afternoon, ladies! A nice spring day today in the 60s. My yard man is here doing whatever you do in the spring.

I was down again today at WW and now have 1.6 pounds to my WW goal. It will be good to be there again. I'm now in the no-pay zone so that is good.

Glory and I are going to tea this afternoon...our monthly outing. It's nice to have that treat each month.

Fay, I know you are going to love the new recliner. Maybe you are already sitting in it! It seems Jackson was just born!

Maggie, I hope your cheese experiment comes out. I don't like the texture of frozen cheese. You never see it in the supermarket except as an ingredient when it is frozen. Maybe you can make your fortune!

Jean, a sure harbinger of spring is Ernie shedding. I really miss my kitty. I was the bedding every week because of dust and dust mites. Pillows are a major contributor but we can't wash feathers, and I can't have feather pillows, so all I have to do with them is run them in the hot drier for 15 minutes. It's the same reason carpeting and drapes are bad ideas - dust and dust mites.

Gloria, congrats on the new computer. My computer is a Dell and has Vista and I've never had a problem. If I ever get another, it will be a laptop.

Have a great day!

Good morning to you ladies! It turned cold here yesterday and it really chilly here this morning. I woke up to cold and had to go down and turn on the furnace as it was only 63 in the house. That is even too cold for my hot flash self.

Gail: One very big definite thing that effects staying on program is the gray days of winter. We humans tend to be like hibernating bears I think. You can be amazed at what sunshine does not only to your eating habits but to your personality as well. I for one am a big grouch when we have had several days of gloom. I think I would die if I had to deal with what Jean does with all the cold, snow and cloudiness. I told Jack once, that Seattle may be a beautiful city but I could never live there. Give yourself a break. I don't mean a break as far as quitting, I mean give yourself a break as far as feeling discouraged or whatever about not having momentum. On top of your gloomy weather, you have unemployment staring you in the face and though you may be secure right now financially, I am sure you are internally stressed about the future and this does not bode well for sticking to a program. You may not even realize it. If it were me, for now, I would keep doing what I was doing, at least eating in a way to stay at your weight level right now, then when things pick up, warm weather comes back and things improve with your hubby and you can get out and walk, hit your program hard again. I too suggest talking to Susan about your program. She eats the healthiest of all of us too, I think. Congrats on the new laptop. Jack has a jazzy one and has Vista and loves it! I guess it is to each his own. I have heard a lot of people complain about it. Here is a picture of Kelly's socks, which are now done. The other gals have already seen them, but you may not have seen them. They are pretty wild in color.

Jean: I have two teas in the cupboard that are pretty good and unusual, one is a pumpkin spice tea and the other is some other spiced type tea. They are really yummy and I am not a big tea drinker. I do wonder what they would taste like as a cold tea, but I have never made any. I bet Bob will find that learning to use the defibrillator will not be that difficult. It is sure a lot easier than chest compressions and I had to keep certified for several years for those. I had to laugh at your "kiss" comment. That was original to say the least. I am pretty savvy moving around on it and am seriously good at finding info I need, but the technical stuff bamboozles me. I would be at a total loss if something happened to Jack. I would drive my son in law and daughter nuts with questions.

Maggie: Sounds like you have all your food needs arranged and ready to go now. I try, but Jack is a tosser so I would always be cleaning it if I tried to keep it straight. I just keep meats in the refridge freezer and boxed stuff and such in my chest freezer.

Susan: Congrats on the loss ! I know you have to be enjoying the new program as it is getting you the results that you want.

Well gals, Jack is now up and it is almost 8. The commissary opens at 10 so we need to get a move on. Have a nice Sunday all. Faye

Good morning, ladies! Faye's rain has reached us but it's already 61 degrees this day.

I think I forgot to tell you that the echocardiogram did show increased pulmonary hypertension and there is nothing to do about that. Next time I go to the doctor, I'm going to ask about a food allergy. I think I might be sensitive to wheat. Not to the point of gluten intolerance, but when I eat it, within an hour I am bloated and having shortness of breath. I'm going to make copious notes on each meal so I can take it to her.

Gail, I'm sorry I forgot to ask your question about motivation yesterday. For me, it's become a way of life but I do have to keep on my toes. I plan my meals for the week on Friday evening and write them in pencil in my tracker. Then I make my grocery list for Saturday shopping. No excuse not to have what I need in the house. If I deviate from the menu, I write over the pencil entry with a red pen. That helps me if my weight is not going the way I want. I make an appointment on the calendar for exercise and I keep it, even when I don't feel like doing it. I'm here to tell you that if I can exercise with my asthma and COPD, there is an exercise for every one that they can do. When I am going out to eat, I plan ahead and use a few WAPs for have something I would not make at home. Until I decided that weight loss and health were my top priorities, I was wishy-washy about it. I have a jar that I've put slips of paper with things to do - some fun, some work - and when I feel like eating my emotions, I pull a slip and do what is on it. If I still want to eat after I'm done, I'll have a piece of fruit or some vegetables. If those aren't appealling, I know it's head hunger and I shouldn't eat anything. I like reading success stores on the WW website and have some motivational books. It takes work to lose weight and it takes work to keep it off. I try to keep a variety in my menus so I don't become bored with my food. Maggie gives us some great recipes and I have about 200 cookbooks. We always have unplanned for, upsetting things, special occasions, etc. in our lives so the best thing to do is to plan how to handle them without making food the medication - because them we add a load of guilt for our poor choices.

Maggie, I've saved the Cheese Freeze info. Thanks!

Jean, I'm a big tea drinker. I have Irish Breakfast, Scottish, Yorkshire, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Ginger Lemon, Spiced Chai, Chocolate Hazelnut, and Black in the cupboard now. I like a strong tea for breakfast so that's usually Irish. We have several tea shops in the are so there are always wonderful choices to make. The tea Glory and I go to is at a shop and is a full British tea and only served on the first Saturday of the month. It's a bit formal and we wear our best clothes and pearls and hats. So much fun. The lady who does it is British and will be going to England in May and she will be bringing us souvenior teapots from the royal wedding. She told us that yesterday. We have the British Shop in Hampton which imports things from there - foods, and all kinds of other things.

Faye, how's the recliner? I hope the Commissary is well stocked and uncrowded today.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Good Morning, Flowers! It is seriously snowing in my neighborhood this morning! Beth called early this morning and Kolby got sick during the night with an ear ache, sore throat, and 102 temp. Needless to say we didn't drive over to Sioux City and decided to skip church here as well. It is "rip 'n dip" Sunday; I'm guessing not many came with the snow moving in. I've done a couple loads of laundry and read the papers so far this morning. I'm not moving too fast.

"Gma" -- I love Kelly's sock! I had to chuckle at you being cold this morning. The wind is blowing and the house just feels chilly even though I turned the furnace up. I usually have 2 layers of long sleeves on so keep warm. I would miss the different seasons, but we've lived here all our lives so have no idea what it would be like without snow. I know Bob's mom missed the snow, but not the wind and cold, when they wintered in AZ. Whenever we would have a snow day from school I would call her and tell her. We even took snow pictures and sent them to her. I've never seen a pumpkin tea; that sounds good. Hope the commissary trip went smoothly!

Susan -- I'm so sorry about the increased pulmonary hypertension. Is that in any way related to you having asthma? I had never heard of gluten until a couple of years ago and now know several people who have that allergy. Maybe you do also. You do have a variety of teas! Chocolate hazelnut sounds yummy, almost like dessert. The tea party sounds like a wonderful fun way to spend the afternoon! A souvenir teapot from the royal wedding would be a special teapot to have. When you make tea, do you make it by the cup or in a teapot? I have a tiny little teapot from Avon, with a cat on it. It just sits on my kitchen shelf and I've never used it.

My dryer should be about done so I need to hang some clothes before they wrinkle. I suppose I should be thinking about something for lunch since I assumed we would be eating out with the kids. Enjoy your day!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning to you ladies. It is chilly out this morning and supposed to be in the 50's today I think but still overcast. I am taking Jack to work this morning so we can pick up the rental car this afternoon and take the Mariner to the dealership to find out what is going on with the transmission. We are just barely over our original warranty but have an extended one. The only problem is it has a deductible so we have to pay that, but it is better than paying for a transmission repair. We started noticing it when we were in Indiana, but thought it was the slippery streets doing it. It shifts hard from 1st to 2nd. We though originally the wheels were catching on ice, but we got home and kept driving it and discovered it continued so it needs to be looked at and fixed. Amazing how this stuff pops up right when your warranty expires, isn't it? We have already had to have something fixed on it well over 18 months ago when the thing didn't have but about 12,000 miles on it. Ahh well, what can you do? We are supposed to get reimbursed for 3 days of car rental too, which should pay for the deductible cost at least!

Susan: We are thoroughly enjoying the loveseat. Fortune jumps up and sits on the padded storage area between the two seats like that is his seat so here we sit all three of us. You would have cracked up last night. Jack and I were watching "Chopped" on tv and I reached over and grabbed his hand. We were holding hands for a couple seconds and Fortune put his paw on our hands and scratched until we held his paw! So here are we two oldsters and our little dog all holding, "hands." It was hilarious. I am so sorry you are having other issues with regards to your asthma. It sure has long reaching arms so to speak, doesn't it? I noticed my nose is now running all the time again, but the dogwoods are in full bloom around town so that is more than likely the reason. We have hundreds of them here every where you go. I look forward to the magnolia trees out front blooming. Now that is a beautiful sight with those huge beautiful white flowers and the aroma.

Jean: I wear a sweater with a hood around the house and usually sit with a blanket on my legs, then have the fan going full force! My head gets really hot sometimes. I had a little bit of a sore back last night so slept in the recliner. I had the fan going, my sweater hood pulled up over my head and covered clear to my neck and a heating pad on my shoulder. I woke up a bit later with a soaking head and stripped off the hood and went back to sleep. How is Kolby doing? Flu is running rampant this year, stomach and respitory. I never did get my flu shot this year so have been keeping my fingers crossed I dodged the bullet. I just kept forgetting about it. Luckily, I am not out in the public all that much.

Maggie: I sent you info on yarn places, but didn't include all of them. Just google yarn and you can find a myriad of places to look at. If you are a knitter, it is like a kid in a candy store all those colors and combinations, but man the prices can be really steep. Right now I have started the socks for my best friend's birthday and the yarn was made in Italy and the company that sells it is German. The wrapper on it is all in German and though I am German, I only understand a few words and barely any written ones so trying to figure out the gauge was a hoot for sure. I just knitted a swatch and did my own thing since I always use the same pattern. These are going to be some wild socks so I hope she likes them. They have lime green, orange, pink, tan, royal blue, yellow and purple in them.

Gail: Hope you are doing well today and things are going well for the both of you with the job search.

Jack has his ortho appt tomorrow so we should start on our way to getting his knee and hand fixed. We are waiting for the doctor to call about his endoscopy for his esophagus. I am hoping they might be able to do the surgery for it while he is recouping from his knee surgery as they go in through the mouth to fix it and not open you up from everything I have read online.

Well gals, Jack is up moving about and will be down soon. I am going to sit and knit until he is ready to go since I have fed the dog already. I am going to come home and do some chores then take the car to the car wash and get it cleaned up, vacuumed and I am going to wash the inside as well before we take to the dealer. Have a good start to your work everyone. Faye

Good morning all. It is cool this morning, but dry at the moment though we are supposed to have rain today. Of course I took the Mariner and paid $27 yesterday for them to do all the hard work and clean it inside and out so of course it is at the dealership sitting out so it will get rained on. You are not going to believe this. I took it and got it washed and a) the left turn signal is not working now and b) the transmission seems to be alright! We took it in anyway as something caused it to stick then jump. Jack had no problem with the extended warranty thingy. It will cost us $100 deductible though. We were 30 miles over our original warranty...

Maggie: Hopefully you will be on the computer and see the emails I sent you regarding the socks. I was not trying to dissuade you from the yarn you liked, just wanted to give you some cheaper options of yarns I saw when I went looking for a pattern for knee socks. I have not decided on dinner tonight. Guess it will be a surprise. We actually had breakfast last night for dinner. I had a ham steak and cooked some hashbrowns and we had a couple eggs and Jack had an english muffin with his favorite orange marmalade on it, ick! Oh, congrats on the nice loss

Jean: You can keep your darn snow. I am well ready for spring and a cold snap would kill all the beautiful flowering trees around town, though I am having allergy fits at the moment. I woke up sneezing my head off this morning. Hoping today finds Kolby feeling much better. I imagine Thomas is getting excited for this weekend as they leave on their cruise. We are taking them to the plane so I will get to tell him goodbye and give him a Nonny send off.

I am going to sit and knit for a bit until Jack gets up. He got to sleep in since he has a dr appt today. We sat and watched, "The Alamo" with John Wayne last night. I had watched an old Tyrone Power movie about Jim Bowie last week and discovered a kind of neat piece of trivia about his famous knife. It was made from a piece of meteorite and was the harded knife ever made and though knives were styled after it, there was only one made like his.

Well gals, gotta go. Have a good day today and hope it warms up soon where you are. I am looking forward to constant spring temperatures soon. Faye