Good Afternoon All: Hope you are all well today. Anne is your computer still on the blink? If so I guess you won't get this till you get to work. Hope you had a great birthday. It is a beautiful sunny day here today. Unfortunately there is a very cold wind. DH brought the barbeque up to the deck. I was going to cook the steaks over the fire pit but the wind is a little to strong out there for me. The christmas lights just came down from xmas. We still have snow but were able to get the ladder up to get the lights. DH is sitting down by the water at the fire pit. He has a portable CD player in the boathouseand he will be listening to 50-60's music. There is a british mystery movie coming on show and when the commercials are on willstart prepping for dinner. You all have a great day.

Good afternoon,
I've been busy today with my fish. I bought a smaller aquarium for my male beta as he was kind of needing his own little world to live in. I then bought another angel fish to go with my other one. I thought maybe the first angle just stayed behind this big rock in that tank because the beta was attacking her. Now I have 2 angels in there with no beta and they both just stay behind that rock anyway.
I put the beta tank next to my computer monitor, so I can see him all the time now.
It's much cooler here today and there is no sun. We might get down below freezing later this week. My mini iris are blooming and so are a few of the other flowers. Some people have daffodils blooming next to their houses. Mine aren't close to that point yet, they are in the middle of the yard so are slower.
Lynn, supper sounds good. I'm fasting this weekend. I was suppose to do it at the beginning of this Slim in 6 program, but just got around to it now. It's kind of a liquid fast. You drink this protein drink 3 times a day and then fresh vegetable or fruit juice 2 times. It's only for the weekend. Yesterday, I was really hungry by bed time. Today, I'm not feeling hungry at all. I am cheating and having coffee a few times too.
My DH likes 50/60's music too. I do too, but I"ve heard it so much, I've had enough. Mostly, I don't listen to music anymore. When the kids were growing up, they would blast their stereos day and night. When they moved out, the silence was so wonderful, I never got into the habit of listening to music again, not even in the car. I never can understand why the young kids now like their music so loud. When I was young, we liked it loud, but this is much louder. When they are driving by on the highway, I can hear it a mile away inside the house with the windows shut. I think it would be a good idea to buy stock in hearing aids, cause they are going to need them.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Talk to you all later, Nikki

Good evening everyone,

We have had the most beautiful weather on Sat. & Sun. It was in the mid to high 50's, almos reaching 60. Took Lacee for a walk both days. It felt so good to get outside and walk.

nikki, your fish sound wonderful. I could look at an aquarium (sp?) all day long. I've heard that watching fish swim lowers your blood pressure. I can see why. Has Stripes started leaving the tank alone? You're doing well with your fast. Will you be following the Slim in 6 diet plan?

lynn, your supper sounds yummy. I can't wait to fire up the outside grill. We have a George Foreman grill that we use during the winter. DH & I like 50's/60's music too. But, like Nikki, I don't play music very much. I like it quiet. The only time I do play CDs is when I'm working in the kitchen or driving my car.

ANNE, hope you had a great lunch Fri. with your DH.

Have a good evening.
Aleka

Good morning,
How's everyone doing? The old man is exercising and watching what he eats and is losing weight so fast, he's already on the last notch of his belt. We all know what testosterone will do for you, but this is ridiculous. He eats pizza, drinks beer and m&m's. Then a few days a week, he'll eat a few oranges and poof He's in shape. He's always worked on his muscles with weight lifting, but he had gained quite a bit of weight over the winter by eating all his food, my food and all the leftovers every meal. He's been knocking out 150 crunches and pushups a day, so that's what he's doing, and also, he walks 3 miles, then does at least a 20 min. bike ride. I bike 25 min a day, do 40 min of aerobics, lift weights, do 11 min of ab work (it's a tape that came with the Slim in 6) fast 2 days and here I am, exactly what I weighed at the beginning of the month. I really have to quit going to that Mexican restaurant and the Chinese place. It's the only time I've been off my diet since I started and it really packed on the extra weight. Next time DH says lets go there to eat, he'll have to go alone.
Can you tell I've only had one cup of coffee? I must be grouchy this morning.
Aleka, I'm just going to watch my calorie intake and maybe take it down to 1600 calories a day. Their diet is like the Zone, if you know what that is. I might follow it later.
Stripe loves to watch the fish, but he's quit getting into the tank. He was unjustly accused of killing that first fish, I found her later in the gravel. Her mate must have killed her.
I better get a shower. We're going to go buy DH a new bike as his old Schwinn is eating us up with repair bills. The bike shop will take it on trade in and we won't lose any money on the past repairs. It's like an old car that you keep fixing and it just keeps on breaking down. DH biked to town on it and had to carry it home, over 2 miles. He does enjoy his bike, so having a bike to him is almost as important as a good pizza.
Nikki

Hi Everyone:
I haven't forgotten you guys but I have a virus on my computer at home and
I can't log on to the internet Must be something one of my kids has done.

Do any of you guys have experience with this kind of thing? I don't know
what to do or whether or not my computer is shot. It is infected with
something called the weed virus on the C drive?

Anne.

Hi Again!!
Just catching up on my reading of last weeks posts. Thanks so much for
your kind wishes. I turned 47 on Friday and I certainly was not on program
again until today!!

Lynn, so sad about little Cecillia.(this little girl was taken from her home
Oct 20/04 and her body was discovered yesterday).

Pop in again later. I am lost without my PC at home. I am trying to decide
if I should take it in or buy a refurbished computer.......buy the time I pay
for virus removal I probably would do just as well to buy a used one

Anne.

Hi!

It looks like another great day here. It's supposed to be in the 50's, so it looks like another walk day. YIPPEEE!!!

ANNE, glad you had a good birthday. Don't worry about not being on program, birthdays are a cause to celebrate. Sorry about your computer. I would suggest talking to a computer repair place and see what they have to say, or talk to someone else that is very knowledgeable about computers. Hope it gets fixed soon.

nikki, doesn't it get you mad how your DH loses weight so fast? When DH & I were SSizing, it took me 6 months to lose 12 lbs., and it took DH about 2 weeks to lose that same amount of weight. In 6 months he had lost about 20-25 lbs. It's just not fair!! Yep, I know what the Zone is. Believe it or not, it's about the only diet book I don't own. I did look at it once but it seemed fairly complicated with all the figuring to make sure you had the right percentage of each food group on your plate. Now, if it was done for me, that would be another matter. I guess I'm just lazy.

Have a great day
Aleka

HI again,
Anne, so glad your still with us. I would probably go to a computer person and have your computer cleaned. However, while your at work, go to microsoft.com and see if they have any suggestions. If nothing else, they might have suggestions that tell you how to prevent this in the future. I remembered when you were talking about how hard the boys are on the mouse and it reminded me of when my girls were growing up. My youngest was really hard on cordless phones and remote controls. I don't know how many I had to buy. Oh, and car doors. She use to slam them really hard. Now she gets all bent out of shape if someone shuts her door hard. This was the same girl that use to throw every thing when she was mad and didn't care what she broke. (And that was everyday). Funny how she changed when she had to start paying for things out of her own hard earned money.

DH told me to look at my wieght loss calendar that I write my weight and exercise on. I found out I have lost weight this month, I just didn't realize it, or maybe I didn't have enough coffee in me yet. Also, I've only really been hitting the exercise hard for a little over a week, so maybe I'm expecting a miracle. I can tell that my muscles are getting more toned and I am able to keep up with the first tape now. I should change to the second one as it's longer and more challenging.
Here's a link to the Zones website if you want to check out what it is about

http://www.zoneperfect.com/site/cont...2_ZoneDiet.asp

I never did really pay much attention to it before, because it seemed kind of complicated. It does seem pretty healthy though. Think that is what I will move on to, when I'm finished with these diet meals. They are getting a little old and if I start to cook again, it may prevent DH from wanting to go out to eat all the time (my biggest downfall).

I still belong to ediets, so I changed my diet plan there to the zone. They give you a new menu every week, and if you don't want to eat what they have on there, you can choose a different meal. They also give you recipes for the meals and a shopping list. I printed it out, but I need to go in and change it to a more economical menu. It's too expensive to eat such a large variety of things in one week.

Nikki

ANNE, I've been thinking about your computer virus. Do you have any type of virus protection like Norton or McAfee? Let us know how you make out with your computer.

nikki, thank you for the Zone website. I hadn't been on that website in a few years and thankfully they've explained things a little more so that it's not as confusing. I bookmarked it to go into later. It does sound healthful. Just got back from our walk. It was rather breezy which made it kinda chilly. That was a good idea your DH had about charting your weight loss on your calendar. That's fantastic news that you have lost weight. Will your DH also be doing the Zone along with you?

lynn, hope you're having a good time in that historical town today.

sugar, where are you?

Aleka

Hi,
Aleka, DH will eat anything I dish up, but he won't sit and study a diet plan or barely listen to me, if I try to explain it too him. He loves salt and will put salt on top of pizza, if that tells you anything. He thinks dieting is starving himself for a few days and then eating anything he wants on his days off. He is losing weight, but is not too concerned about how he's doing it. He worries me.
Sugar, I sure hope you do come back, I just love reading your posts. Lynn, hope your having good weather and enjoying your day.
Nikki

Hi >Happy Friends week!!!!!!
>
>Many people will walk in and out of your life. But only true
friends
will
>leave footprints in your heart.
>
>To handle yourself, use your head;
>
>To handle others, use your heart.
>
>Anger is only one letter short of danger.
>
>If someone betrays you once, it is his fault;
>
>If he betrays you twice, it is your fault.
>
>Great minds discuss ideas;
>
>Average minds discuss events;
>
>Small minds discuss people.
>
>He, who loses money, loses much;
>
>He, who loses a friend, loses much more;
>
>He, who loses faith, loses all.
>
>
>Beautiful young people are accidents of nature.
>
>Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to
make
>them all yourself.
>
>Friends, you and me......
>
>You brought another friend ...
>
>And then there were 3 ....
>
>We started our group ....
>
>Our circle of friends.....
>
>There is no beginning or end ....
>
>
>
>Yesterday is history.
>
>Tomorrow is mystery.
>
>Today is a gift.
Will post later but wanted to share this poem with you all

Hi,

It's a dreary day here today. It's supposed to start raining later this afternoon and continue raining until at least Saturday, as that's as far out as the forecast goes.

lynn, what a lovely poem and how true those words are. Thank you for sharing it with us. Hope you had a good traveling day yesterday.

nikki, DH puts salt on pizza too. When we were first married and he put salt on his pizza I couldn't believe it Now I have gotten in the habit, only now we use a spicy seasoning salt from Chef Paul Prudhomme. He does have a spicy seasoning blend without sodium, which I prefer, but it's got sugar in it. DH also puts salt on watermelon. I tried it and it really does add something to it.

ANNE, has anyone looked at your computer yet?

sugar, hope everything is going well with you and that you're just busy with your yard work getting things ready for the wedding. How are Rosalee and Lucienne doing?

Take care and enjoy the day.
Aleka

Morning,
Lynn, what a very dear poem. I will have to print it out and keep it posted by my computer. I have several things that I like hanging around here, things that I like to read on occasion.
Hope your trip was fun. You'll have to let us know how it went.

Aleka, you too? Salt on pizza? Well, that seasoned salt does sound good. I have always like salt on my watermelon, it does make it taste better, especially if it's not ripe enough, and it's hard to find watermelon that is just right.

DH got his new bike last night. It looks like what we use to ride when we were kids. The brakes are the kind where you just step backwards. The gears are internal, so you can't see them. You just twist the handle and that changes the gear. The handle bar is the old fashioned kind and is comfortable to use, no bending over. He loves it and will probably be gone a lot now, riding his bike. This weekend, he will be busy putting on the new garage roof. The grass needs mowed too.
We are going to get some rain from the looks of the sky. I think after that, it is suppose to be clear for the next several days.

Does anyone know how often your suppose to do ab exercises? I have one of Tony Littles tapes and he says you can do them up to 5 times a week. The Slim in 6 people say to take a break every other day to let them rest. I've been doing them every day. Last week I took 2 days off together.

Better get going, Nikki

nikki, I have heard different views on how many times a week to do ab workouts. Some say you should do them every other day, giving your muscles a rest, and some say do them every day. I printed out some ab exercises to do while on vacation, and it says 3x's a week. So, I would say do what is comfortable for you. If you're feeling any sort of pain then skip a day. I have pulled muscles in my abdomen area so many times on the Torso Trak when I've tried to do too much. Yep, me too with salt on pizza. I am bloated the next day though, but with the spicy salt mixture it's worth it. The sun did come out around 7:30, so while it's out I think I'll take advantage of it and take Lacee for a walk.

Aleka

Goodmorning All: It is very dull here also. We are to get rain everyday until Saturday. We have a couple of couples coming for dinner on Sat so hope it clears than. It would be so nice to have cocktails on the deck. The trip was great!!! The trip was interesting. I had printed maps from Map Quest but DH had to do it his way and of coarse never never ask for directions. I still say he went out of his way when he could followed the lake on a secondary road, but what the **** do I know I only had the map!!!!! I am the one with the salt habit. It is a constant battle to try not to put it on everything. I really like it on apples. Oh I forgot to say Midland had a wallmart and all the big chain grocery stores. I have no idea how many times you are to do abs. Today I am going to do Leslie Sansome to get into gear. If the rain lets up I will also ride my bike. DH's bike sounds great nikki, does it have wide tires? With the sand around here and the dirt roads at the trailer we have mountain bikes, much safer. We put gel seats on for comfort. Well must go and get something done but will be back later.