Hi everyone!

Weekend at last. What a long week it has been. I kept losing count of what day it is.

I went to see Mona Lisa Smile last night, about college girls wanting to get married. I think all that getting married anxiety that people felt in their early twenties is now translated in to 'latethirtiesnobabies' anxiety these days. Goodish film if anyone wants something fairly light.

Tonight dinner at a friend's house who cant cook so I was forbidden from 'upsetting' her by asking her to cook something south beach friendly. God knows what she will produce. I will have to be kinder than I feel.

Lizzie, so sorry about your friend. Hope he is not too uncomfortable on his journey.

OK all, I am off to read the papers and drink some coffee, then off to waitrose to stock up on yummy OP food. The scales are going down, which is a relief after being stuck for a while.

England are playing rugby against France today so hopefully later on the shops will be empty. It always gets the passions racing (for middle class men anyway, but they are the ones who do the shopping around where I live).

xx

Good morning Chickies--

I'm off to a sheep shearing party today. Got up super early to make some potato salad. According to DD, I'm "famous" for my potato salad, so I "had" to make it.

For myself, I'm taking some ricotta, some whole grain bread, and a baggie of veggies to snack on. I'm sure there will be other things I can eat as well, since there will be plenty of people there.

Has anyone tried rooibos yet? I can't really call it tea, since it's not real tea, so I guess you'd call it a tisane. Anyway, it's supposed to be something like 15X higher in antioxidants than green tea and doesn't cause the stomach upset that some people (ME) get with green tea. I bought a box and made a cup to sip while preparing the potato salad. It's not bad. Not tea, but not bad. So, I think I'll start drinking it every day. Got to combat those free radicals out there.

Clovey, Hope UK kicks some French tushie in football!

You all have a wonderful day!

Mamacita

Good morning. I was hoping to sleep in a little, but woke up at 4 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was hot, so I opened a window, but it didn't help. Hope I'm not getting hot flashes, I was pretty sure I could get thru menopause with out any side effects. Anyway I went thru my closet looking for something to wear today, but my clothes are either too loose or too tight. I don't want to buy anything new until I get to my goal, but what to do in the meantime?

Lizzie, I'm very sad to hear about your friend, and hope further news is encouraging. My prayers are with him and his family.

Mamacita, I tried that rooibus stuff, and don't care for it. My daughter loves it. I really like chai tea, and drink gallons of green tea w/ jasmine.

Clovey, where do you find all those lovely quotes?

Well, I'm off to find some breakfast and my morning coffee. Going to spend the day with my grandkids. It's raining so looks like we'll have to find a project for indoors. By the way, my daughter's interview at the seminary was re-scheduled for next week.

Good morning. I slept until 6:15 this morning. What is this world coming to? I'm approaching the 6 year anniversary of my retirement so my body may finally be shifting attitude.

Clovey, I am so glad your furry baby is better. It is so hard watching our pets age. I didn't realize cats could get "sweaty" backs?

Lizziness, that is so terrible about your friend. I do hope he gets back to England and can get some relief.

Mamacita, what the heck is a sheep shearing "party"? I've been at sheep shearings that were NOT a party. Sounds like more fun your way.

Bythesea, have a great day with the grandkids. Can you do some quick alterations to make your loose clothes fit? I know that big clothes make you feel so huge and sloppy.
Darn crappy crispy crullers! Ray gave me a baker's dozen yesterday and they are no more today. I wonder if I am turning into a binge eater. If so, I should binge on stuff that doesn't tie my gut in knots! Water, water, water is the word today!

Spring is definitely here! There were thousands of geese flying over yesterday when I did a meadow tour. The earth is still frozen so there's not much action in the gardens as yet although my Welsh onions were poking up green shoots. Today will be a warm (51F) and rainy day so the rest of the snow will disappear - except for snow mountain where the snow from the lane is piled. I've been able to let the woodstove go out and just light it up again late afternoon. That's a blessing because I am not hauling wood in every day! I must say I found that one of the hardest things this winter as H. always did that job.

I am not expecting any scheduled company today and hope for a relaxing Saturday! The only "need to do" is to mix up more dogfood for the freezer and walk down for the paper. Of course there is always my huge To Do list to tackle.

What's on your agenda?

Hey, bythesea, I get the quotes from my wonderful 'Rumi Cards', which I got in borders I think, but here is the link to the page at amazon


Glad to hear your onions are up Ruth! And that the geese are flying. Do you know the Mary Oliver poem about Wild Geese?? Of course you do. I have set the link to remind you.

Mamacita, I like the rooibos with vanilla. You might be able to get the celestial seasonings version, but I have the Dragonfly Teas version, which is wonderful.

Well that was a linktastic post.

I was going to say good morning, but realized it was already the PM. Busy day here. Our only grandson is staying with us while his mom supervizes a charity auction; he's a sweetie and no problem, but he does keep us hopping.

Ruth, I'm going on 6 yrs. of being retired, and the same thing is happening to me. I slept in 'til 6:45 the other morning. But I still love those very early, very silent hours.

I know where you're coming from, bythesea. Only I don't have any too tight clothes to get into. I made a clean sweep of my closets a while back. I decided to buy at least ONE decent outfit to wear in public, and I plan to slop around the house in the loose ones until they fall off.

Clovey, I suspect you're often kinder than you feel. But I like your jaundiced eye anyway. And good luck to you grocery shopping on the weekend; I refuse to do it anymore. The crowds give me the shakes.

Mamacita, isn't it a pain making something you know you shouldn't eat. I had to do mashed potatoes and gravy for the little guy last night(special request) and felt just the teeniest bit resentful as I ate only broccoli and carrots. LOL. BTW I posted the brown rice recipe with the Mexican type flavorings. (I think you were the one who mentioned it.)

Everybody have a great weekend. Jo

Hello, Back from the mountains...my neck has turned a little red. No, not turning into a bumpkin, just have a heckuva sunburn on the back of my neck. I completely forgot....I don't have hair back there anymore! The shearing party was a lot of fun, even though I came home b-r-o-k-e. I bought half a pound of alpaca and 2+ pounds of cotswold. I know that probably doesn't mean diddly squat to most of you. Alpaca is that lovely soft expensive stuff that your nicer sweaters have in them. The cotswold is white and looks like doll hair; pretty, wavy ringlets. It will make nice socks when I combine it with another type of wool.

DD came with me and ended up having a confrontation with an unruly wether who thought he was still a ram. I truly wish I'd had a video camera for that. (She lost, btw)

Oh, I was also loaned for an indefinite period, a really nifty triangle loom. So, gonna try my hand at making shawls. There's a chance I might get to do some spinning demonstrations at a historical site here in Georgia in the fall and I can sell any of my handmade items and keep the money all for me. I may get that new spinning wheel yet.

So, that was my day. There wasn't as much food as I thought there'd be and none of it OP, so I just drank lots of water and kept busy so I wouldn't think about food. Maybe I'll weigh in a pound less tomorrow. One can hope, right?

Talk to you all in the morning.

Mamacita

Oh boy, weekends and I just don't agree. After spending the day with 3 kids (2 three yr olds and an 8 mos. old), I was totally exhausted and had a headache, and had made up my mind I WAS NOT COOKING tonite, my kids and their families all descended on us. So we decided the best thing to do was take everyone out to dinner. Well....I was starving and we had to wait over an hour for a table. By that time I said the heck with it, the BBQ chicken & ribs combo had my name on it. I was good though, and substituted black bean salsa for the fries, then didn't eat the salsa because it had mostly corn in it. BUT I had a few nachos, then when everyone was ordering dessert, ate about a quarter of a warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Now I must be very, very good tomorrow, and wait to see what damage I've done.

Clovey, thanks for the link. I plan to go to Barnes & Noble to look thru the book. It sounds like something I would enjoy, and make great gifts, too. Hope your friend cooked a nice dinner for you.

Ruth, I am going to try to do some altering on my clothes. Jake (DH) suggested the same. And even though I was totally worn out , the kids and I all had a lot of fun today! Bonus was I even got to see my soon-to-be 14 yr old granddaughter this evening. She is a really beautiful person, and we're very proud of her.

Mamacita, you have a very interesting hobby. I 've been to a spinning demonstration and find the entire process fascinating.

Pennywise, I can't wait to try the brown rice recipes.

I copied the Wild Geese poem, it's beautiful.

Dear me! The Mary Oliver poem about wild geese just really hit me. Nothing like a few tears at 6 AM. Since H's stroke and big life changes, I'm getting maudling!

Today is going to be a gorgeous sunny day. I have Church at 8:30 and the TheraPaws annual meeting this afternoon but intend to be outside the rest of the time. Yesterday was a soft day but things should dry up today. I am dying to rake! (I'll get over it soon!)

Yesterday was a quiet day but we did have company - Kevin to take some measurements and friend Rob to pick up some stuff. We went to The Club for lunch which was not exactly OP but at least there were no crullers in my life on Saturday. I swear the ones from Friday are still in a heavy lump in my tummy!

I'm off to grab a coffee and feed The Girls who still adore their new food - I've never seen Lucy so enthused about eating. If it's not too cold out there, I'll try coffee on the deck. Come and join me!

A quiet day here too. I'd love to get outside to go to work on some perennials that are taking over, but it's still too sopping wet out there. I'm thinking I'll have to move the roses since the trees have grown up to shade them, and they've been in sad shape the past few years.

I decided to stop using salt for cooking. Dinner last night was way too salty and I had to chug-a-lug tons of water afterwards. I seem to have a heavy hand with it these days, and who needs the weight gain?

The sun just came out here, and here I was calling the weather guy a liar. But I don't think it's warm enough to take my coffee outside.

Hope everyone has an OP day. Jo

Good morning--

I can't believe that I weighed in this AM without gaining a pound. Last night I had a martini, wine, and, although dinner was fish, salad and artichokes, I dipped mine in scads of melted "smart balance". So it was definitely on program but felt terribly decadent.

Monday will be three weeks of SBD. I have pretty confidently lost six pounds despite my sometimes unreliable scale (or perhaps it is just unreliable water retention). On the one hand, I feel as though six pounds isn't very much, but on the other hand, I have eaten as much as I wanted to and not felt deprived.

Today is busy: the work crew is coming to work on the landscaping (mostly to load up the concrete that they jackhammered out last weekend). The bird cages need to be pressure washed and tonight we are having a meeting at our house of the public radio show board of directors (my volunteer work is producing public radio). Fortunately, that means we are cooking and can have a SBD friendly meal. I think we will bbq some chicken.

Mamacita -- I had rooibus at a little cafe here that specializes in teas. I didn't realize that it was supposed to be good for you! I am not that well-informed about the benefits of anti-oxidants or what foods/drinks are helpful in this regard.

Clovey--So how was the dinner? Reminds me of when I went to a friend's house about a month ago. We have pretty much given up beef except from the whole foods market (I am very disheartened by the American beef industry). We presumed this was no issue as we knew his wife to be vegetarian. Much to our surprise, we found out that he has converted her to being a carnivore and the only thing on the menu was hamburgers! These things happen . . . And by the way, the wild geese poem was beautiful! Thanks for sharing it.

Lizziness -- My thoughts are with you and your friend too. I hope that it works out for the best.

Ruth -- I told you crullers were evil! And my inlaws just got back from New Orleans and what did they bring? Pralines!!! I hope they don't call my name before the weekend is out. I realize that nuts are ok on SBD but I don't think that rationalization will get me anywhere with the pralines. . .

Hang in there everybody, it's a new week!