What a wonderful surprise! Do drop in whenever you want - that goes for the rest of the L&S gang too (actually I believe most - if not all - of us here hang out there as well).
Sorry all - been so busy after work these days...went mattress shopping a couple nights ago, then hooked up DSL which is great except it seems to take a little longer for the home pages to come up (the customer support person on the phone said it would be like that in the beginning, tho'). I gotta tell ya, once it gets rolling, it is FAST. Well worth the $50 a month (I hope!).
Hey Sil - that's how I usually cook barley and rice - in low-sodium fat-free chicken broth - what I really like to do is cook it the day before, put it in the fridge, then the next day I get my stir-fry pan or skillet, spray it with some Pam, toss in some chopped onions, sliced mushrooms, peas & carrots, baby spinach, spices, a bit of lemon juice, maybe some soy - then put the cold rice or barley in (I read somewhere that the 'secret' of good Chinese fried rice was to use cold cooked rice). Then I put the whole mess in a Tupperware or portion it out into baggies. Sometimes I'll have a portion with some chicken breast meat, other times I'll just scramble some Egg Beaters and mix the scrambled egg with the rice - one day I need to do a half-and-half of both egg and chicken for that REAL fried-rice feeling.
I've been waking up earlier, and Sparky wakes up with me too. It's still really chilly here but I've found out how to get him to be quiet (he's a talker!) - turn the heater on and put his little fake-fur rug next to it (today I added a pinch of catnip to it) and he's a happy cat - he just stretches out and enjoys the heat. As long as Jim doesn't freak out when the PG&E bill arrives, then we're okay! I don't think he'll make too much of a big deal - because he likes waking up to a toasty apartment instead of an igloo - makes it easier to get out of the covers.
Today at the gym, I was **approached** by one of the regular gals who had seen me do pelvic tilts using the smaller Swiss ball and asked me to show her how, which of course I did. She gave me a great compliment when I told her I was seeing a PT - she said I should think of being a trainer myself! Well...don't know if I'd ever have time to do that...I really like my job...but it's a thought!
Roseanne - welcome and thanks ever so much for your sweet compliments. Don't be discouraged - it actually sounds like you're doing okay. Susanje didn't start seeing results until week 11! Remember, it's a 12-week challenge to change your life. It's a good idea to keep records of your workouts and nutrition - along with many people, I use Fitday.com to keep track of my eating (I ignore the calories for the most part - if you're sticking to the authorized food list except on Free Day, the calories will take care of themselves). I've said this before, but you are really better off staying off the scale (which has now been banished from my house - I would have given it away to Goodwill but Jim [Mr. eBay} likes having it around for weighing packages...) as much as possible. Scale addiction is a tough nut to crack but you can do it!
Just want to close with something that happened at the gym yesterday - I was using the leg extension machine - my trainer said to go realllly sloowww and not to let the plates go all the way down, that way the muscle keeps working during the entire set - and I hold for a count of 3-5 at the top. Right next to me, at the other leg ext machine, this older gentleman whom I recognized as a regular sat down, put the weight at like 180#, and went like gangbusters - he did like five reps in the time it took me to complete one! He was just using momentum to lift the weight (actually it was more like 'throwing' the weight up). I was soooo wanting to advise him on that...but advice is not always taken in a positive light. Funny thing is - he was wearing a knee brace...so throwing a heavy weight up on a leg ext machine isn't doing his poor knee any good! Oh well...more later folks!