Hi all. Well, my "date" was okay. Had a nice time, that is to say, but afterwards we had a long chat about how he's not ready to date... which I guess is true and realistic. I've been getting mixed signals for a while. He sent me home with a jar of jam he and his daughter made and a pretty good sense that this is never going to be more than friendship.

I don't want to sound like all the teeny-boppers, but ya know, it's pretty discouraging being 39 with no prospects. Overweight. Overeducated--which statistically is a disadvantage in the looking-for-a-mate market. All the middle-aged men round here find younger second wives. Mr. Milwaukee will turn into a regular old friend until there's no question of dating, and then when he falls for someone he'll tell me all about it like I'm one of the boys. Okay, I'll stop feeling sorry for myself.

I'm doing okay on eating, not exercising except for exercises to relieve the lower back pain. My weight fluctuated with TOM but doesn't seem to be going down beyond that water weight that came off when he left. I'm frustrated. I need to exercise but if I push too hard I might not be able to walk for a few days. I want a cigarette!!!!!!

BOO HOO HOO.

PS: Sorry for not doing any replies. Too busy with my pity party. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

I sure do understand ....I was single for the past 3 years also...i'm currently endgaged, but let me tell you it sure wasn't easy! I was ready to give up and then out of nowhere mr Right showed up. There's someone out there for you!!!!
Hugs,
Sheri

Hi - I married for the first time at 39, and had DD at 41 - also the first marriage for my DH. This was shortly after the newsmagazines announced that single women over 35 had a better chance of being hit by a meteorite than getting married - you know, that study that was disproved this year?

I know this isn't always true - but what I did was decide that my life was going to be full and happy with friends and work, and if I never had another relationship, that was going to be OK. I started taking care of myself, working out, eating well, going out with girlfriends, etc.
I practically tripped over DH. We circled each other for months, and here we are now, 18 years later.

Well, I'm printing out my fitday to take to the nutritionist tomorrow - I didn't even try to record the meals we ate while we were away, but I know what I ate.
By the way, I actually lost a lb while on vacation - I didn't think it was possible, but I did weight myself a couple of times this AM. Weird - I guess I really did eat healthy.

Lilion - I'd have a hard time with a husband on that schedule too. It's hard to do what's best for all concerned - I hope the time til better hours goes quickly.
I've hardly ever been west of the Mississippi - a couple of weeks in Seattle, a cruise to Alaska, and a few weeks in San Francisco and San Diego. Anytime you want to come, I can highly recommend SE Ontario.

Valerie - sorry you're back on the road again, but it was nice reading your posts.

Siena - glad you found us again. I can truly relate to the whole knee/weight thing - I've been working on losing weight, so I can get my knee replaced. I can't walk either - well, maybe a few thousand steps a day, if I'm careful, but I do most of my exercising either on a stationary bike, a NuStep, which is a sort of a seated elliptical, swimming and water aerobics. I spent a couple of years feeling very sorry for myself, because of the pain, and not doing anything to take care of myself. I hear knee replacement surgery will be wonderful!

Take care all.

Sue

Good evening, just checking in.

That TOM! Great... Starting week 1, phase 2 on my program today. That means I'm starting to add back my carbs. WoooHooo, had an honest to God sandwich today! WI this morning, down 4pounds.

Angela, i'm right there with ya. I'm 43 and nothing on the horizon, but truth be told, i'm not looking. Just not the priority right now. Maybe after I finish school. It would be nice to be married again, but if i'm not, so be it. I will make a great old lady with all the cats! I kind of have a flip to your situation though. The friend that I had visit a couple of weeks ago is one that would like very much to be "more", but I just can't seem to feel the same for him. He's a nice guy and all, but it's just not there. We've talked about it and he understands. He's still a great friend, and who knows, if I ever got to see more of him (he lives a 2 hour drive away) maybe something would develop. It has happened to me before.

Sue, way to go! Losing on vacation!

Lilion, i'm sad for you that you will be missing your guy, but SOOO happy for him! I've had a couple of friends and dated a man that was a guard in state, awful conditions. I was always scared for them, and I could see it wearing them down day after day. On top of the actual work, they had to deal with a government and public that didn't really understand what they did and did not appreciate them. They were always up for cuts or freezes, the last priority.

to everybody else!

Good Morning Ladies!

Angela: First of all - Been there! I married the first time at 30. Fact is, I didn't think anyone else would ever ask me and the ex said all the right things. Needless to say, HORRIBLE mistake! Biggest of my life, no doubt. After two years, one child and ruined credit, I got free of him. I wanted NOTHING to do with men after that and succeeded in staying away from them for three years, with only one or two dates. But my neighbor, now my best friend, kept insisting that I meet her friend - her old boyfriend that she dumped for another guy! She kept saying "I know the nicest man." and I kept saying - "Yeah, right, that's why you dumped him." Finally, she set us up with much browbeating on both sides. She babysat for me, we met at her house, she told us where to go to eat and what movie to see! We never missed another weekend until the day we moved in together, a year later, shortly before our marriage. We've still not spent more than 10 days apart and that's been more than 7 years ago. I guess my point is you find them when you aren't looking and that good guys are out there - for everyone (I'd point out that I was an attorney and bigger than I am now and 35 years old!) and my friend is a great matchmaker, but has horrible taste in men for herself! My husband, as I've just pointed out, was a prison guard. Technically, I guess I "married down" both times, but you know, my DH and I have more in common and more common interests than I have with any other attorney I've ever met. I do understand how you feel now though, I've had plenty of dates with men I really, really wanted to see again that, for some reason, didn't happen and it sucks! You already know that concentrating on yourself and your needs and desires is the best thing you can do. So I'll go with the cliche' - The right man will show up when you least expect it.

Karen: Good for you! on those 4 lbs! That's terrific! You are absolutely right about my DH job. For all they do they are treated so poorly! Poorly paid and poor working conditions. Not to mention dangerous. I don't think about it most of the time...I've always been attracted to men in dangerous fields I guess, cops and military and now DH. It's funny, because I'd have to say that DH is one of the nicest men I know. But I also know that he can hold his own in a fight - and has had to more than once. But it only hit home Sunday night when he was working on his Criminal Justice Ethics on-line course and we were discussing the question the class was discussing - which was "If you had the right to view the execution of your brother's murderer, would you go?" His response shocked me. He wouldn't go for various reasons, but when I said I wouldn't really want to see anyone die he said "After all the people I've seen die or dead that's not a big deal." I had NO IDEA he'd been exposed to that much violence in the years he's been there - he never talks about it. I'm really very, very glad he's out of there in two weeks!

Sue: WTG! Losing weight on vacation? WOW! But you know, when you were listing the yummy food you were eating, I thought it sounded wonderfully healthy!

Valerie: My fingers are crossed for your girls to do well! Have a great and fun competition!

Well ladies, Yoga TICKED ME OFF yesterday! Yeah, I know, it's not supposed to do that! At one point I asked the instructor about knee pain (apparently I tend to hyperextend instead of straighten) and he said "I'll say a prayer for you, this is really advanced yoga." WHAT! I wanted to say, "Then WHY are you teaching it in Yoga BASICS?" But since I was the ONLY one who was having the problem I kept my mouth shut. It's become a matter of principle - I'm gonna keep taking this butt-head's class until I can do the stuff he's wanting just to SPITE him. (Which is kind of stupid, 'cause I'm sure he doesn't care at all if I can do it or not! )

I learned to make cheese last night! Soft cheese, like ricotta...it is SO EASY and very yummy! Literally, milk, vinegar, heat, cheesecloth...that's about it. I have heard you can do it with skim or lowfat milk although the woman teaching it hadn't tried. I'll be happy to post a recipe if anyone wants it. What a unique thing it would be to bring to a pot-luck type thing, homemade herbed cheese with crusty bread or crackers... Or you can mix fruit with it and make a fresh version of the Philly flavored cheese...so good! After class we went out to eat - it was 8:30 and I hadn't had dinner - we ended up at the same Italian/Greek place as the night before - but this time I ordered a grilled chicken salad. I had regular dressing, but only used less than 1/2 so I feel like I did pretty good. Tomorrow's WI is NOT something I'm looking forward to nevertheless.

I suppose I've spent enough time on here this morning...I love when my hearings go away - but I better use the time to get some work done! Hello to everyone I missed and I hope you all have a great day!

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

Hi ladies,

I had such a horrendous day at work. Just one of those days where everything irritated the crap out of me. Some days, I don't think I will make it through this whole integration thing.

It was nice to be at home. I finally worked horses in the round pen. It has been so long since I have done that. First Cheyenne because I haven't touched her since we brought her home. She needed to learn that me touching her was a good thing and if she was going to walk away from me, it wasn't going to be comfortable. Then I got my favorite boy (Phoenix) in to work with him. He's forgotten some of the things we had accomplished but it will come back quickly.

Then we took the trash down to the road. That entails me sitting on the tailgate of the truck holding onto the cart while DH drives. Looks stupid I'm sure but its kind of fun. The dog and I love riding on the tailgate around the farmette.

DH topped the pool off with more water today. I decided that the reason we have the pool is to use it, so I did. It was a little bit cool but it felt so relaxing. I really needed to spend some time just lying back on a noodle and just watching the sun head down. I did spend some time trying to do some exercises. I was kicking around so much I almost had a tidal wave going. Kinda fun!

OOOOOHHHH, I was so excited. I had bought a yellow finch feeder and seed at Wal-mart a few weeks ago and finally got it all put together and hanging out front last week. Tonight, I was walking through from the bedroom and looked out to see my first yellow finch land on the shepherd's hook. Then he/she hopped down onto the feeder perch to get seed. Then another finch flew up to eat too. I almost squealed. DH and I stood there looking out the front window so thrilled to see the little birds. So beautiful. Mom had said that she had tried a finch feeder but never did see them. I had figured that maybe there wouldn't be any. Its the little things like that that puts the rest of life in perspective.

As we were standing there and DH had his arm on my shoulder, I said, " You realize that I have turned into my mother don't you? Lord, help you!" He agreed and sighned.

I think I am headed off to bed to watch the PUSH.TV DVD that I got in the mail. I saw it up top and decided to give it a try. I'll let you know.

Have a great night!

Okay, I'm back.

I tried my Push.TV workout this morning. It was a strength/core building workout. I chose Bob Harper (from Biggest Loser) as my trainer. It was about 40 minutes of exercises targeted to the areas I chose needed building - my back, hips and abs. The exercises were all ones that I could do (except for two). And it was a great workout. It is also geared to my weight and my fitness level. Okay, I'm starting it this week so I should be doing the session 1 three times and getting in 100 minutes of cardio for the week. Ooops, a little lax on the cardio. I'll have to make that up by Sunday. Sounds like something I need to log (i.e. a spreadsheet!).

Food was pretty good yesterday. We had our vegetarian meal last night (meatless tostadoes) and might try to do meatless two nights a week. We also had a peach for dessert instead of an ice cream treat. We are trying to limit our ice cream treats to the weekends.

I need to get ready for work and head off. We had a storm move through early this morning but we didn't get any rain out of it. Darn! But the heat is on again looks like for the next few days. Oh joy!

Have a great OP day!

Good Morning Ladies!

I wonder if I'll be lonely again today! Not enough ladies posting...come on now - you know you want to!

Since there's only Terri to reply to I'll do that: You know, your posts about your "farmette" always make me smile! How many acres are there again? I can imagine you loving it, with having the horses with you now and the pool! I get home and I see work - - you get home and you see work ! It's great for you!

I have nothing much to report. Yesterdays food was okay, but I didn't count points to speak of...still, I think I was okay. Today is WI and I'll post that after I do it, which will be closer to noon. Cross your fingers and wish me luck - I'm feeling very fat today.

Sigh! All alone. No one to see that I lost 1.4 lbs!

Not much...but better than standing still. It's been a while since I've been able to move the slider downward!

Hi Everyone,
I'm on Day 3 and so far so good The first 2 days were kind of hard, but today i'm doing better. I don't have those hunger pains that I had the first two days. I don't know what happens when I start a program. My body all of a sudden craves soda....i'm not a big sida drinker until I start a diet and then that's all I want. Dunno what's up with that!!!
I hope everyone's having a good week. Congrats on the loss Lilion!!!!
Hugs to everyone!
Sheri

Karen - Congratulations on getting through SB Phase I! I got almost giddy when I ate my bowl of strawberries when I started Phase II. Even now, with the cholesterol issues, I'm still trying to eat limited healthy carbs. I think this is really close to what's healthiest.

Terri - have I told you that I love your avatar? I guess I grew up the same way you did, on a farmette (I think my dad got me my horse so he could have the manure), and as I get older it seems more and more appealing. My husband grew up the same way, and he has no desire - his dad was the oldest boy of 11 kids who grew up in the Depression in Mississippi - my husband likes buying processed food. Maybe the difference is that my mother drew the line at cows and chickens, and my poor mother-in-law had to prove to her husband that they weren't really saving money milking their own cow - and she hated the animal.

Lilion - Making cheese sounds like something I would like to do with my kid - she is getting into cooking lately - we've been blanching, peeling and freezing some of our tomato crop (it's amazing how many tomatoes two plants generate). I want her to know how to take care of herself, so many kids today would starve, I think, if it weren't for microwaves.
I read your posting about your kid and vegetables - mine thinks corn and peas are the only vegetables worth eating (I'm trying to convince her and her dad they're not really veggies at all, just starches like bread), and she will only eat broccoli and cauliflower when it's smothered in cheese. But I have caught her eating a few salads lately, so maybe my example is starting to catch fire. I hope so. I fear that my bad examples from the past is having more long-term effects than my current behavior.
Thanks for noticing that I ate good food on my vacation - it's an interesting experience, searching lots of menus for food that is actually what you need to eat, as well as what you want to eat. I haven't really done that very much before - It felt weird, but I enjoyed just about everything - it would have been easier to eat what I normally would have, and then I would have complained about how restaurants never have anything I like to eat (and to be fair, we read menus outside before we went in). And DH and I actually shared a couple of really special desserts - you really don't need more than a couple of teaspoons of creme broulee to feel really spoiled.

Well, I talked to the dietician yesterday - she was very nice, and pretty impressed by my eating program - I explained that I had been losing nicely on SB, but the cholesterol results had sort of scared me away from cheese and eggs, and wanted to know what I could do to seriously lower my cholesterol - that asthma medicines were enough foreign substances for me.
She said that I could eat a couple of eggs per week, that I should replace polyunsaturated oils with monounsaturated as much as possible (i.e., olive oil instead of Promise margarine, and walnuts as a garnish in salads), and she said that I should add soluble fiber to my diet - like oatmeal and flaxseed meal. Got some organic oatmeal in Canada, and stopped at TJ's for Flaxseed meal. DH has suggested psyllium husk, which has 1 g of soluble fiber per pill.

She also said that if I wanted to keep saturated fat low, that lean cuts of meat like pork tenderloin are as low-fat as chicken breats, but that if I want to try cutting out meat more, that I try beans. So DH and I are going to try some of the SB chili recipes with vegetarian cheese. She was actually more relaxed about food than I'm trying to be.

I'm also taking phytosterol esters, which can lower my cholesterol between 10 and 20 percent. They are a supplement that you take before a meal that blocks the absorption of some food cholesterol, and also, prevents the resorbtion of some of the bile that your body puts in the digestive tract to digest food (evidently, bile is made of cholesterol).

She thinks my readings should be much lower in a month or so, and that the most important thing I can keep doing is to keep losing weight.

So we all have the same goals here!

Take care guys.

Sue

Lilion - 1.4 POUNDS - Tha's WONDERFUL - sorry, I was working on my tome as you were posting!

Sheri - Anything done for 21 days becomes a habit. Just hang in there, kid. I like to drink carbonated water (like club soda, but less salt), if I get soda cravings. It isn't fake sweet, like diet pop. I drink Faygo, flavored with lemon/lime, or cherry, or raspberry, mostly. Helps keep the water up too. Hang in there!

Sue

Well, since Sue likes the idea, here's the recipe we used for cheese at our SCA meeting. It's from Medieval Cookery, which is an on-line site.

Fresh Cheese

Making fresh (a.k.a. "green") cheese is actually very easy. It takes very little time and is well worth the effort.

2 quarts milk
1/4 cup vinegar
salt
cream (for texture)

Heat milk to 195°F - if you don't have a kitchen thermometer then heat the milk slowly until it just starts to simmer. Remove from heat and add vinegar. Stir gently and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth, wrap, and squeeze out as much whey as possible. Allow to drain for about an hour. Unwrap cheese and mix with a little salt and cream until desired flavor and texture is reached. The cheese can also be flavored with herbs, garlic, figs, dates, etc....

This would be great with crushed fruit on bagels. You can add in some heavy cream to make it creamier if you want. We used whole milk, but I think I'm going to try it with skim just to see what happens.

We actually only went to 180 degrees, but I keep seeing 190 in all the recipes I've seen. What you don't want is a full boil, just the little foamy bubbles. It is important to use glass or stainless steel pots for some chemical reason I don't know. You can let it set for longer than 10 minutes before separating it from the whey and I think you'd get more cheese out of it if you do. We used plain old white vinegar like you'd use to clean a coffee maker. Also, the longer you let it drain, they drier the texture. It was quite good but VERY mild.

I've seen other recipes where you substitute lemon juice for the vinegar and then add herbs to taste for an herbed cheese spread. I think I may have to try that. Using other vinegars, like apple cider vinegar, will also change the taste. I plan on experimenting. I have a source for goats milk and may have to try that. You get more cheese for the amount of milk by making a rennet cheese. Rennet is available in powder (which is from an animal source) or liquid (which is vegetarian and, frankly, knowing what part of an animal is used, I think I'll buy.) I plan on trying this recipe as soon as I get some.

HOMEMADE CREOLE CREAM CHEESE
from Essence of Emeril EE2B20

Ingredients needed:
• 1 gallon skim milk, at room temperature (between 70 and 80ºF)
• 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon rennet (6 to 8 drops)
• 6 to 7 cream cheese molds (2 cups each)
• Cheesecloth
In a large enameled saucepan, glass or plastic bowl, combine milk, buttermilk, and rennet and stir constantly for one minute. Cover the container with plastic wrap or cheesecloth and allow to stand at room temperature (between 70 and 80 degrees) for 16 to 24 hours. Do not stir again, or you will break the curds. The longer the mixture sits, the firmer the cheese will be.

Carefully ladle the curds into cheese molds lined with cheesecloth. (These could be plastic containers with holes punched in the sides and bottoms if you have no cheese molds.) Place molds inside a baking pan to catch the excess whey that will drain off of the cheeses. Place molds in the refrigerator for at least 6 to 8 hours, longer is fine (cheese will become firmer as more liquid drains). The cheese is now ready to eat and will keep, refrigerated, for at least two weeks.

This homemade Creole cream cheese is traditionally eaten for breakfast on toast with butter, salt and pepper, or topped with cream and fresh fruit (sugar sprinkled on top), although you can use it any way in which you might use plain yogurt.

Yield: 6 containers cream cheese, about 1 1/2 cups each
Finally, I'm going to try this one for ricotta...it isn't "real" ricotta, which is actually made from the whey left over from making cheese...but it sounds good to me. I bet the buttermilk gives it more flavor. It's a lot like the Emeril recipe, without the rennet.

Fresh Ricotta
(Yield: about 4 cups)
1 gallon whole milk
1 quart buttermilk
Instant-read or candy thermometer
Cheesecloth or clean muslin, rinsed

Arrange 6 or more layers of cheesecloth in a colander in the sink. Use a wide surface area so that the curds will cool down quickly.
In a large nonreactive saucepan, pour milk and buttermilk. Heat over high heat and stir with a rubber spatula, making sure to cover the whole bottom of the pan. Stir occasionally until the mixture is warm, then stop stirring. As milk heats, the curds will begin to rise and clump on the surface. As they begin to form, take the spatula and gently scrape the bottom of the pan to release any curds from the bottom. Be careful, the curds will scorch easily.
When milk reaches 175°F, the curds and whey separate. The whey looks like skim milk versus a mass of thick white curds. Immediately remove from heat. Working from the side of the pot, ladle whey through through prepared cheesecloth. Go slowly so as not to break up curds. Finally, ladle all of the curds into the cloth. Lift the sides of the cloth to let the liquid drain.You can pick up the corners and tie them over a faucet to continue to drain. Resist the temptation to press on curds.You will only lose solids through the cloth. Discard the whey and pack the cheese into sealed containers. Refrigerate and use within 1 week.