Hi and Happy Mothers Day to all of us
I haven't got much time to be here, but wanted to share a great iced coffee recipe with you for Mothers Day. I love this and make it everyday. DH says it takes the place of ice cream for him and he is pretty picky about these things and he loves it too.
Enjoy!

Iced Mocha

In a blender or smoothie maker add and blend till smooth
1 cup of crushed ice
3/4 cup milk (I've been using 1%, but skimmed would work just as well)
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tbs granulated (pourable) splenda
3 tbs International Coffee Sugar free Swiss Mocha
1 tsp instant coffee (I like my coffee strong, if you don't add 1/2 tsp and see if you think it needs more or less)
Top with whipped cream or the canned whipped topping
I figure without topping, using 1% milk, it's 160 calories. If you add the whipped topping, it depends how much you use, but for us, it brings it up to 200 calories. It's so good and makes a large glass. With the heat and humidity we've been having here, this really hits the spot.

Will talk to everyone tomorrow, take care, Nikki

Hi!

Hope you all had a good Mother's Day and a great weekend. Our weather was really good most of Sat. and the latter part of Sun. Supposedly we're to start getting warmer starting today.

Saturday DH & I were heading to the grocery store..10 miles away. We have to pass by a rotary circle and we noticed all kinds of vehicles parked along side of the road. As we approached there was a young moose grazing in the grass at the side of the road. People were parked watching it.

nikki, glad to see that you're back. How was your trip? Hope everything was alright for you. Thank you for sharing the recipe. It sounds delicious.

lynn, how is that precious Mya doing?

ANNE, hope everything is going well for you.

Our favorite pancake place just opened up for the summer and DH wants to eat their for breakfast this morning. It's about an hrs. drive from our house. So..gotta run to take my shower.

Have a good day.
Aleka

Good Morning All:
Nikki, you beat me to it this time I was saddened to learn of your
DH's aunt. We too have a favourite aunt (dad's sister) so I know he will
feel her loss.

I had a great mothers day. The boys bought me The Who ultimate
collection (2 cd set), The Doors collectors edition (DVD), and The Beatles
Anthology(DVD) so I have lots of rockin to do

Dad's doing ok. He is suffering from constant nightmares and my mother is
a wreck. When my brother called her yesterday to wish her a happy mothers
day she burst into tears. He called right back and spoke to my sister because
he wondered if she was crying because he was going to be visiting her in
a couple of days instead of mothers day itself. My sister assured him mom
is just exhausted and under a tremedous emotional strain. We all feel
bad but there is nothing to be done except provide emotional support for
them. We are hoping dad will feel better soon. I know going on oxygen has
really dampened his spirits. Pretty hard.

Hi Aleka hope you enjoyed those pancakes. Love them myself.

Hi Lynn, its going to be muggy today I hear!!

Anne.

Hi,
We got back late on Saturday night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but to say the least, we're both glad the trip is over and we are home. DH has said many times since we got home how he doesn't think he could live down there anymore. I have to agree, it is good to be home.

Anne, has your dad recently started on a new medication? Sometimes antianxiety drugs, like ativan, can cause horrible nightmares. (Not that I'm saying he's on that, but just thinking his Dr might have prescribed something like that to make him feel less anxious). Or, a combination of drugs will cause that too. Especially different breathing medications.
DH's mom was on O2 for years and really hated it. She wouldn't leave the house, she didn't want anyone to see her. His aunt that just died was also on O2 for years. Her outlook was completely different. She went everywhere and said she wouldn't be able to do anything without it. I hope your dad can see it that way.
His aunt that just died was in the hospital and was going to come home. She went to the bathroom by herself (either she didn't call for help or they didn't come) and she fell and broke some ribs that punctured her lung. She was a very strong willed woman and they kept telling her she couldn't sit up on the side of the bed or do some things she wanted to after her rib was broken. She got so angry, she had a heart attack. They revived her 2 times, but the 3rd time, they let her go. It was an unexpected death and could have been prevented. The fact that she worked herself up into a frenzy over not being able to do what she wanted to do, didn't surprise me in the least.

Aleka, at least you know what it's like in Florida and have been there plenty of times. This must have been a difficult week for you, trying to get everything out of the cottage and the shed.
Hope you enjoyed the pancakes. On our trip up, we stopped in a restaurant that made their own bread, their own strawberry jam, their own ham and raised the eggs (it's the Amana's where the refrigerators were born ). I had promised myself that I would stay on plan, no matter what, but when we stopped there, I lost all resolve and ate it all up. Needless to say, I've gained back some of that weight I lost.

Lynn, Mya following DH around must be a very cute sight. He can't resist her then can he? How's the fixing up going? What a pain in the behind. Sounds like you really got your share of home improvement problems this time around. Good luck

Going to finish my coffee and get my day going. It's suppose to rain most of the day. We sure needed it. I hope this makes the mushrooms pop, but I don't think it's going to be a good year for them. Man, it's hot and humid here already.
Take care, Nikki

Goodmorning Ladies: Muggy here today also Anne, I hope your father is having a good day. I do feel for your poor Mom, It is some times harder on the care-giver's than the patient. Is your father temporarily on O2? I hope so for your Mother. I love music also, I play CD's almost all day. DD download's music for me and I have quite a selection. My new favorite at the moment is Blue Rodeo I play them daily and hope to get to a concert this summer. Glad your weekend wasn't as bad as you thought Nikki, being aaround drunks was funny when we were young, but the older they are the more rediculous they seem. Thank God most people have got the over indulgent behavior out of their systems at my age. Up here 6 couple's get together 3-4 times a week for happy hour. We take turns hosting and it is nice to get together and talk about our days, but it only is for 2 drinks than home for dinner. Of coarse we get together at other times but we are to old to wake up with a hangover!!!!!! Aleka I love pancakes. I might have some for lunch. I have to get serious about diet. DS gave me Dr. Phil's book for mother's day so I am reading it now. We are also walking again. I'm back to Dr's in 10 day's and she want's to see a big improvement, God I hate getting on the scales!!!!!!!! My D-in-law and GS have flown to Los Angeles for 2 weeks, she is a matron-of-honor on Saturday. The baby apparently was a great flyer! My Mya is incrediable. I just emailed the girl's at the shelter how well she is doing. She loves the water and we have to keep her on a leash to keep her out of it. Way to cold for her. She "escaped" on us once and it took us 15 min to get her in. We just going to go out in a neighbours boat and she came in. She shivered under a blanket for a long time. Well off I go to start lunch and go for a walk. There is a snow mobile trail I walk that goes by this gorgeous little babbling brook. When I see it it makes me feel all is right in my little world. Back later.

Lynn,
When you were talking about the brook, it reminded me of a few of the special places I love too. I use to drive back and forth from another town to work and along the way, there is a place that is a large pond, surrounded by trees, rocks and wildflowers. No matter how bad my day was at work, when I got there, I would just let go of my problems and think of how beautiful that place was. I only saw it for a few seconds, but that's all I needed. Have a great walk and day, Nikki

Good morning,

The pancakes were delicious. Needless to say, I did not eat lunch at all.

In our little area, we have a weekly newspaper that reports the news of the various towns. I read that someone had reported not seeing very many chipmunks around this year. I had not given it any thought, until I read the little blip about it. Then I realized that I've only seen 1 and haven't seen any since. Nikki, ANNE, and lynn, have you noticed anything like where you live? We usually have quite a lot of the little s running around the yard digging holes in my garden.

lynn, glad that your DIL and GS made it to CA safely and that your GS flew like a pro. I too am glad that those over indulging days are over with. My body just can't handle it anymore and when I look back I wonder how did I do it and most importantly, WHY? How do you like Dr. Phil's book? I started to read it, but for one reason or another never finished it. There is a thread on one of the forums in 3fc about Dr. Phil's book. That is great about walking again. That is something I have to get back to doing.

ANNE, I am awfully sorry about your dad having those nightmares. The next time he sees his Dr. he should mention the nightmares that he is having and hopefully his Dr. can get to the root of the matter. How long will he have to be on oxygen? Hopefully your mother will take a day off as caregiver occasionally and have some time for herself.

nikki, the pond you described sounds really peaceful. Glad that your weekend turned out better than you thought it would. Your DH's aunt sounds a lot like my late grandmother. She was in her 80's, senile, and getting worse. One of my aunts put her in a nursing home and when she realized where she was she got soooo mad, had a stroke, and died. I don't blame you for going off your diet at that restaurant. I bet it was as good as it sounds. Last week was a hard one cleaning out the cottage. But, tomorrow is "THE DAY" when we're passing papers. I am so dreading it. My stomach is in knots and craving comfort foods, which I'm trying very hard to resist.

I've got a hair appt. later this morning for a much needed trim.

Enjoy your day everyone.
Aleka

Hi,
Aleka, I am a pancake lover. I like those fluffy, buttermilk kind with a bottle of maple syrup poured over and 4 strips of bacon on the side. Good thing I don't eat like that all the time anymore Once in awhile is ok though
I don't think we even have chipmunks here. We have ground squirrels (I don't know if they are the same thing, are they?) anyway, they are all over the place. The cat just brought up a mole to eat and the yard is full of holes, so I think we still have our share of vermin. I wonder if some years winter isn't harder on them than others. Or they could have had a disease that killed a large amount of them. I remember a couple of years ago how they were talking in our paper about the honey bees were missing and I didn't see any for quite a few years, but they are now back again. Probably not as many as when I was a kid, or maybe I wear shoes more now and don't get stung as often Things like that do make me wonder what's going on though.

Lynn, I wasn't able to finish Dr. Phils book either. In fact, I've never finished any of his books yet. I always get side tracked and then never get back to it. I do think his program is sensible. I should take another look at it.

I did a lot of yard work yesterday, after the rain ended. We have more to do today and then the rain is suppose to start again tomorrow. I have blooms on my tomato plants. The ones I thought were killed by the last frost did make it, so now I have 21 tomato plants. That's more than I've ever had before. I like that you can make so many different things out of tomatoes, but if I have some that I want to just keep for soups, I wash them, core them and toss them in the freezer whole. It's easy and works fine. They sound like pool balls clacking together when you take them out of the freezer

Have a good one, Nikki

Good Morning All:

Nikki, dad is not on any meds except blood pressure. I feel part of his
problem could me emotional. He hates the thought of being seen with the
oxygen. He actually looks pretty good. Its my mother and aunt that look
like **** I do feel sorry for dad though he has been through soooo
much. This has been going on since he was 56 years old.

Lynn, we don't yet know if it is perminent. I have the feeling it very likely
is. We are hoping he will be able to make the emotional adjustment.
On the up side, he drives around in his car at least once a day with my mother. I had a work associate who just loved Blue Rodeo! Especially Jim
Cuddy As for me I love Roger Daltrey. So good looking even at 60!!!!

Aleka, we don't have many chipmunks where I live but plenty of squirrels to
go around not to mention racoons Glad you enjoyed your pancakes.

Guys, now that mothers day etc is over I have to do some serious dieting.
I have gained weight to the tune of 10 pounds With summer coming
this is not a good thing.

Have a great day everyone.
Anne.

Good morning everyone,

We passed papers yesterday morning. I'm just glad it's over with. I don't think my stomach could take much more of waiting. I was craving my normal comfort foods, which I did indulge in. Dieting flew out the window! After we closed my girlfriend who sold it for me, DH, & I went out to this diner for lunch where my girlfriend and I had the best fried clams we've ever had. I really needed those clams! I am more than ready to get back on track starting today.

It was 88 deg. here yesterday. YIPPEE!!! Hopefully we'll have this right up to summer. Sometimes in June it can get damp and raw.

nikki, chipmunks are about the same size as a red squirrell...give or take...and they're light brown with black & white stripes running down their backs, and a very small tail. Think Chip & Dale. The lack of chipmunks happened a very long time ago also. I figure it's mother nature's way of handling the chipmunk population. I love watching the little s though. Are you still working out in the yard?

ANNE, how is your dad doing? He really has been through a lot. We feed birds and squirrels year round and in the summer we have this raccoon that sits on the squirrel feeder and eats all the seeds. We've also had a black bear eating them too.

Hey lynn, how are you doing?

Have a great day everyone
Aleka

Good Morning Ladies

Aleka, your weather sounds great. We have been lucky enough to enjoy
a few pretty summer like days here too.
My dad is nervous but doing ok. Still trying hard to get use to his oxygen.
I guess it will take time.
I am trying to get back on track with my own diet too, how many times do
I have to repeat this cycle I am disgusted with myself

How have you been doing Nikki? I hope everything is going well for you.
Is your weather hot as well???

Hi Lynn! Bet your loving our weather

Have a great day everyone!!!
Anne.

Goodmorning All: Yes Anne the weather is fabulous!!!!!!!!! I have been enjoying it since 5:50 when some idiot up the bay started hammering. I am waiting to cool down before I go speak to them. Wouldn't you know the one morning I was sleeping at that time and I am suddenly forced to wake up. So I was walking the dog by 6. She didn't complain. Hope your Dad is feeling better Anne, it is hard to be upset in weather like this. I guess Yesterday was very emotional for you Aleka, had the cottage been in your family long? Nikki, how big is your garden? I used to plant 4 tomato plants but they always were ready when we were on holidays so stopped. Now I just do flowers and am adding perrenials so eventually I will just do maintance. All my hostas are coming up so am pleased about that. Due to the severe weather here I always loose plants over the winter. Last fall we put some hay ( some kind that doesn't have weeds) and it looks like all plants are ok. Anne, you have to admit Jim Cuddy is gorgeous!!!! almost as gorgeous as Roger. We are going to get tickets this summer for a concert. Oh yes ladies I heard a tip on the tv. On those days when you don't put on makeup take your favorite moisturizer and mix with your liquid makeup. Saves buying a tinted moisturizer but you are protected from the sun. Of coarse we all use moisturizers with uv of 15 or more Right?????? Today we have had our dear Mya 1 week, she is doing so well. Her stomach is still upset, her nose is hot and dry, poor thing has had so many changes encluding a change in food. Everyday she does something to make us laugh. Yesterday after being in the car for 3 hours or so (loves the car)we were unpacking the trunk and she jumped in!!! we had to bribe her with a toy to get her out. Went swimming later and wouldn't come in so DH walked away from the shore and she came as fast as she could and got out. She has to be with him or she is looking for him. Well I guess I will get going, hope you all have a great day

Hi,
It started to rain last night and they say it will rain through the day. That's ok, we need the rain.
Aleka, I know your really going to miss your cottage and that this has been hard on you. I hope you find something in Florida that makes you happy too.
DH and I were talking about chipmunks and we suppose they live here, but don't really know. The ground squirrels look a lot like Chip and Dale I'll do a search later and see what is what. We have brown squirrels here, I think they are larger than the red ones. Our yard is full of bird nests, there are 3 robins nests, 1 morning dove pair, one pair of red winged black birds and a pair of scarlet tangers (the male looks especially beautiful at sunset). Lots of raccoons, posseum and occasionally a skunk passes by in the night. There are deer out in the field, but so far, they have stayed out of my gardens.

Anne, your poor dad. I bet the O2 will help him alot this summer with the humidity. The weather here has been hot and humid. I feel like I'm ready to crawl in the freezer and live there. Once I get a hot flash or night sweats and I'm miserable.
I found out something interesting. I've kept a journal, off and on of my weight and measurements. Last year in Oct. I weighed the same as I do now (215) then the holidays came and the last surgery, so I gave up and gained 15 lbs. Anyway, I measured myself this morning and even though I weigh the same, I'm 7 1/2 inches smaller (over all) than I was last Oct. That exercise pays off. It's hard to keep doing it, I am getting bored with it and my mind wanders. It's important for me to keep adding new things or I just quit. I do like my stationary exercise bike and use that several times a week. I just jump on it while I'm watching tv. It works up a sweat and I feel like I've gotten a good workout with it. The ab exercises I've been doing really have changed my body the most.
I know it ticks me off too when I think of how many times I've started over with this weight loss thing. But, like you always say, we're better off now than when we were much heavier. I think when I start to feel like you are now, it's when I get more motivated to make a change. Even small changes add up.

Lynn, I have a strawberry patch, several flower gardens (of course ) and 2 vegetable gardens. I just planted green beans and tomatoes this year. I have 20 tomato plants. One cherry tomato plant has 4 little green tomatoes and one regular tomato plant has 2 tomatoes on it. I'm tickled about that and can't wait for a real, fresh tomato. I also planted some fresh herbs this year.
I wear a moisturizer with 15 spf (Avon's Anew brand is what I'm using lately). I gave up on foundations, they never stay on my face, are always getting wiped off or I sweat them off. Usually, I just put on some mascara and eye liner and that's it. If I want to get fancy, I put on some blush and lip gloss
Mya sounds like a real sweetie. I wish we could get a dog. DH says the fish and the cats are plenty. He's right, but Sripe is such a devil. Even when he's being loving, it's not very sweet. Like this morning, he was trying to wake me up, so he sat on my chest and lightly scratched my lips with his claws. I know he wasn't trying to hurt me, but boy, he doesn't understand how to show affection either. He's just playful all the time. I get so mad at him sometimes, I take a swat at him, but he's fast and gets out of the way. He thinks I'm playing a game with him and never takes it seriously anyway.
He would be a good cat for a house full of boys, he's really rough.

I better go exercise. DH is off today and wants to exercise in there too and he won't do it if I'm in there. If he does, he just heats up the room anyway.
Nikki

Me again,

ANNE, I'm sure your Dad will get used to the oxygen as time goes by. I hope things work out for him very soon. I've seen quite a few people with oxygen lately. Don't be disgusted with yourself, we all have diet roller coasters that we're on.

lynn, that is a good tip you saw on TV. I was watching one of the news programs, either Nightline or 20/20, it was one of their shows that tells you truth from fiction on certain things. They did this story about the best moisturizer to use on your face. Long story short, they said the best moisturizer is regular sunbloc. So, I went to Walmart and bought some Coppertone sunbloc just for faces w/vitamins A & E and an SPF of 30. I have been using it regularly.

nikki, maybe what you call ground squirrels where you live, we call chipmunks. We have 2 kinds of squirrels here, red squirrels and gray squirrels. The gray squirrels are larger than the red squirrels and they have a big bushy tail.

Aleka

Hi me again: We don't have red squirrels our's are grey and black and last year we had an albino one, havn't seen him this year. Aleka I have always used a sunbloc for a moisturizer in the summer. It was actually a doctor that told me to do that, I also use a 30. Two days ago I got a burn with the 30 on, the ozone must be really bad this year. Well windows await me. Later