That invitation idea is a very good one. I'll have to remember that.

Okay, I think I've firmly established that homemade cookies are a BIG red light food for me. I made soft spice bars (like chewy gingersnaps) for a church thing, and managed to eat FIVE of them before I got them to church tonight. Sheesh! No more cookies in this house. I have to say though, they were very tasty, and if we weren't all on Core, I'd share the recipe. It was easy too. Sigh.

I'm going to bed early again, as I'm getting up at 5:30 to go work in the garden again. You should see me in my get-up; I'm quite a sight! I wear a long sleeve button down shirt, baggy jeans, bright green rubber garden clogs, a yellow bandana tied around my neck and ears (to protect against gnats), and a big ugly straw hat. Farmer Angela! Thankfully, I live in an isolated neighborhood where no one is around to see me at 6 am.

Nighty night, all!
Angela

What a sight you must be!! Okay, I'm done laughing ... so when you're done, could you come and plant my flowers? I cleaned the weeds out of the flowerbeds on Tuesday night, but haven't yet done the planting. Of course I have to WATER the freakin' flowers every day -- wouldn't it be easier to just put them in the ground??? Maybe tomorrow.

Happy farming! (And boy, what I wouldn't pay for one of those cookies right now!)

Good luck w/the early morning gardening - I hope to still be sound asleep at that time!

I think the framing of wedding invitations is a marvelous and creative gift idea. Our invitation was actually a poem I wrote and I also created an invitation poem for my brother's upcoming 50th surprise party at sil's request. I so enjoy doing them. I have framed a couple of the poems I did for dh from when we were dating.

For the "babies" at least the first 2 I made shadow boxes (and let me tell you I am so "uncrafty"). Lined the back w/baby fabric (blue gingham for ds and pink w/yellow duckies for dd) and put in their the baby bracelets, hospital bassinette id cards, ultrasound pics and birth announcements from newspaper. They each have them in their rooms now and I still love looking at them! (even kept a fortune cookie insert from when I was pg w/ds that says "she will have a very fine boy" and that is in there too!).

Well had a major non core dinner as I was so hungry when I got home I ate the first thing I saw which was unfortunately some leftover kraft dinner - need I say more? I also had some baguette slices w/turkey breast and 2 nectarines for dessert. At least not a major pigout.

Did decide to go walking but at this point it was almost 9 pm and clouds were out. Had to reroute myself from the long Starbucks walk - to the shorter Timothy's Coffee of the Worlds walk (20 mins) due to the drizzling rain. Enjoyed a lovely large nf decaf cappuccino and then had to call dh to pick me up as it was pouring - oh well- at least I tried.

Blinking for your w/in tomorrow melissa- good luck!

...and now it's definitely time for bed!

Frouf

Well, I'm completely wound down from my day and finally ready to go to bed. An easy day tomorrow and I can sleep until 7 or 8.

Kath, the framed invitation sounds wonderful. I would love to do something with mine but I am not creative at all. Our invitations were light purple with dark purple ink. I love them and would really like to display it. Any suggestions?

Hope you all have a great Friday. I've got the lawn sprinklers guys coming and dinner out with our baseball friends.

BTW, the pizza was veggie and ultra thin cracker crust. I weighed and measured and counted points. I had a huge salad first. It was wonderful. I felt guilty and nervous but got over it quickly! I'll exercise good tomorrow and try to be really, really good the rest of the week.

I used those points just for you, Melissa! Here's your blinks for the morning weigh in.

Terry, here's the Core cheese cracker recipe my Niece posted many moons ago. It was on our old Core recipe thread....the one that's closed now. I'm going to add it to our board.

I have a cheese cracker recipe that is all CORE. I found it when I was doing the Suzanne Somers Somersize diet for about five minutes! I made them this weekend and they were pretty darn good!!

Take a sheet of wax paper big enough to sit at the bottom of your microwave and spray it with Pam. Put about a tablespoon of FF cheese of any kind in different spots on the wax paper. Place in microwave and cook for about a minute 40 to a minute 50 seconds until the cheese is melted and starting to get brown. Don't let it get too brown or it will smell really bad! When it's done, let it sit for a minute or two and then you will have cheese crackers that are crunchy and are a fabulous vehicle for eating salsa or any kind of CORE dip. You can make them and keep them in a tupperware container in your fridge for about a week or so! I was so excited to actually be eating something crunchy - it was a great snack!!!

Hi Girls! Just popping in to say hi! I have a hard time keeping up with you all!

Congrats to those with losses!



Today is my last day at work until August 15th, so I am pumped.

I will pop back in later with more....I am still trying to get to know you all and keep up!!

I just had to come by and tell you guys that I was down 2 pounds this morning!! I'm feeling great!
Oh and I am changing my ticker to the weight that I was when I started flex. So don't think I suddenly dropped 15 pounds or anything.

Mornin guys!
Good morning everyone! Have to share this with you all:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cook...6_7109,00.html
These are oven baked potato chips. The recommend Rosemary for them, but why not add a bit of Taco Seasoning and make a nacho kind of thing? Taco season in the WW Food Companion is 0 points for 1 T.
These bake with olive oil spray, so they are CORE!
If you wanted to dip in FF plain yogurt dipped or mix that with salsa or have plain salsa and ff cheddar and all kinds of stuff like beans, etc. this can work as a chip!
Add different flavors, like powdered Ranch dressing mix (a dusting) or Onion powder or "whatever" and you've got some interesting options.
If you are having a weekend party or entertaining, I wonder how they would come out?
I've not tried these yet, but I took a book on gluten free cooking out of the library yesterday and spent a great deal of time going through looking for ideas. This was the BEST idea I could find. The recipe on line is the same as the cookbook, other than the Rosemary, which can be optional.
Question: Do we have any WW leaders on this thread? Is Xthanthium Gum a core food? It's not in the WW Food companion and in anything at all. I need to know this, it's important for my research. From what I am reading in the Gluten Free cooking book gluten in flours gives breads, cookies and cakes elasticity and that is something we can create without the flours that are taboo for us if we can have Xthanthium gum. I can buy this at healthfood stores, I think. Also, does anyone know if brown rice flour or soy or chickpea flour are also non-core foods? I presume they are, but nothing in the FC book says one way or another.
I saw a Gingerbread recipe and I think with all the spices in it and substituting cream of rice or cream of wheat cereal, I might be able to come up with a mock Gingerbread and have FF cool whip or make a vanilla "sauce" out of ff, sf vanilla pudding mix and ff milk, etc. I need to figure out a few answers, though.
I can e-mail WW International, I guess with my questions if none of you know the answers or ask my leader on Tuesday afternoon's meeting. But one of you might know?
Vickie, thanks for the banana loaf, sounds workable and maybe adaptable. Cooking is truly a science!
Also, I looked up in the WW FC that one T of unsweetened cocoa is 0 points, it's not shown as CORE, but 0 points. There might be something we can work on with that! If one were to make that banana loaf and figure our how many servings it gives, one could make a chocolate banana loaf, I suppose and add a certain amount of cocoa to it, knowing that it would be divided up into servings? Might be good? I'm hopeful!
Well, it's off to take a quick shower and head to the vets with two cats for shots and check ups. I'm totally thrilled....
Linda in NH

I had the tastiest dinner last night. It's called Mexican bowties and it was truly incredible. I posted the recipe on the board. It makes 8 servings (well that's what it said, but I eat big portions). I thought it was strange that you don't cook the green pepper - but that gives it a little crunch and makes it different from the generic Mexican skillet foods we're all getting used to.

Plus, it was very fast and very easy. Enjoy.

Thanks for the recipe Terry - it certainly does look yummy and I have already printed it out!

LindaNH - let us know how the chips turn out if you try them! Not sure about xantham gum - if I remember correctly I do think this is allowed on certain low carb plans? But I guess contacting WW would be your best bet. Good luck w/the cats!

Vickie - hope you had a good rest and glad you enjoyed your pizza feast.

Melissa - CONGRATS on 2 lbs gone - that is so amazing and I am thrilled for you. Guess those blinks really work!!!

Cindy - you are so LUCKY to get the whole summer off - I am truly envious and hope you have some great things planned!

Angela - how went the gardening this morning? It's a very rainy gloomy day here and even somewhat cooler which is a nice break from our recent heat wave.

Tomorrow more rain - but looks like sunday will be great and of course when we're back to work on monday and tuesday it's supposed to be gorgeous!

So I left home kinda sad and cranky this morning as I am saddened by the state of our so called "marriage" - pointed out to dh that he is constantly so concerned about himself and his issues/problems he never really asks about me or how I'm doing. I am not getting anything out of this relationship - and when asked he claims he is getting "companionship"? I'm glad someone is benefitting!

Anyhow around 10 am my co-worker comes to my cubicle with a lovely bouquet which she says some man in the hallway gave her to deliver (one needs a pass to get in)....so I sprinted down the hallway and caught dh on his way out.

Says he felt bad that I felt so sad this morning so I now have a dozen beautiful red roses on my desk - of course I also was hungry so I did have an egg mcmuffin meal downstairs w/dh - so much for my core planning! It was yummy and I hope not too damaging!

Almost lunchtime but I am of course not even that hungry? Have a core lunch packed and leaving at 1:30 pm for our therapist appt (which is another I think the flowers showed up - I think he's afraid I might complain too much about him?? ) so I should eat before I go.

Then off to little ds's school for the school concert to watch him in his play "rabbits don't hop!" - knowing how much I love bunnies this is so cute! He is a white/pink hopping bunny and yes the video camera is all charged up and ready to roll!

Don't feel like drinking water today - which is bad news given WI tomorrow - so all you chickies - start blinking like crazy!

Froufie

NH Linda and Terry--great ideas, sound really good!! I can't wait to hear about the "potato chips" as I am a chip-a-holic.

Frouf, I'm sorry you had such a stressful start to your day but the flowers were a very nice gesture by DH. Hope your afternoon only gets better. And thanks for the congrats! Oh and for you!

Froufy, that's a very nice ending to your story. Maybe it will get to be more of a habit.

Melissa, congrats on the loss. Two pounds is great!

I woke up feeling blah again today--couldn't bring myself to go for a walk, but by the time we were all out the door I was feeling better. Maybe the PMS is starting to fade a bit.

The kids are even more excited about camp now. They are going to have quite a time--swimming every day, field trips, pajama parties and all sorts of stuff. They'll really need to wind down on weekends, though. Dh is going to drive them back and forth, so I'll actually have a little time to get dinner started in the evenings without interruptions. Hopefully that will help me with healthy meal planning.

Good Morning Ladies! I stayed up till midnight but slept until 8:30. It feels great to be stress free. I'm going to assume that I am not going to need surgery on my elbow. We have a great dinner planned tonight with our baseball friends. I'll only have to pay points for the mashed potatoes but everything else will be core because I interrogate the servers and won't eat it if it isn't. I really don't have much leeway this week because of my pizza fest.

Meissa, huge CONGRATULATIONS on your 2 pound loss. I'm very proud of you and I just know that you must be thrilled. So I guess our little challenges must be helping you. I know the blinks are powerful but you must have given them lots to work with! Can't wait until your DH gets his new job. I'm feeling so certain that he will based on their continuing interest in him. I'm sure this will make life so much better for both of you!

Cindy, how exciting to have the whole summer off. I'm sure you'll have time to get to know us all really well!

NH Linda, you sound like a scientist! I have NO idea about that ingredient but I'm willing to try any great recipe that you come up with. I don't like potato chips that much (I know, hard to believe right!) so I wouldn't go through that much trouble to make a Core chip. I am, however, very interested in your baking experiment results.

Terry, I cannot wait to make your Mexican Bowtie recipe. Thanks for sharing. It's nice to have tried and true recipes to make.

Frouf, I don't know what's wrong with me. I keep having this uncontrollable urge to blink. Seriously, good luck tomorrow. Try to be as good as you can tonight. I think it's a great idea to eat before you go to therapy. DH's gesture was so nice. I gotta tell you that it brough tears to my eyes. Sounds to me like there is a really sweet guy buried within his tortured soul. I feel sad for you. You should have complete joy within your relationship. I told Jim on Wednesday night after he came home from jury duty that I would have died if anything had happened to him. I realize that I truly meant it. Of course, I wouldn't have died but I would have felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest. He's feels the same. I wish for you and DH to get back to that place in your relationship!

Cher, you do sound better today! At least your kids sound like they are going to a fabulous camp and your financial sacrifice will provide some great entertainment for them. Good for your DH for helping out. I hope you enjoy the alone down time even if it will be spent cooking.

How are your doing on your plan this week?

oops. i had a senior (or lucy) moment. i didn't notice #21 here.

kathy, that's a good idea for wedding and baby gifts. what a keepsake!

angela, you're wise not to have red light goodies around. our granddaughters are coming to spend the night and shoot an archery tournament with us tomorrow. this is going to be a challenge for me. dh is usually the only child around here. i got him a milkshake mixer for father's day. maybe he'll make some goodies with the girls.

here's what i wear to work in the yard. a strapless top (it's loose fitting so it doesn't show things hanging to the waist.) shorts, canvas shoes, kneepads, and workgloves. actually i wear all the above cept for the kneepads around the house all the time--winter/summer. and this is western montana. my neighbors think i'm crazy. maybe i am. my trips to the mailbox are fast in the winter. maybe i get aps?

frouf, congratulations on walking even if it was raining. that's determination. can you e me some determination?

vickie, you handled your eating very well. this is a lifestyle for us and into each lifestyle some pizza must come. thank you for the cheese cracker recipe. i'll make a copy and give it a try. i'm needing new snackers.

i had my wi this morning and was up 1 lb. i thought about whining but decided it wouldn't help anything. i guess eating out 7 times (even though i made wise choices) and not exercising at all since the tournament sunday are the reasons. so what will i do? i'll try to do a little treadmill today and see how my feet hold up, and i'll just keep on eating core. i'm not going to punish myself. i'm just going to eat my normal core treats and keep on keepin' on. that's all i know to do. do any of you have other suggestions? i'm open.


melissa, congratulations. i'm happy for you. you're doing great.

lindanh, thank you for the chip recipe. i'll make some of those, too. sounds yummy!

terry, i'll print out that recipe, too. thank you for posting it.

frouf, i just thought of something that will probably help me lose weight this week. would you send me some blinks? i need them.

frouf, what a wonderful gesture. you have a good dh. he's a keeper for sure.

cher, you're going to enjoy the kids going to camp, too. maybe a little alone time will help get you out of your funk. what about windowshopping or something? does that help?

i'm off here now to go make the twice baked chicken. we'll be eating dinner at cracker barrel with the grands. it's raining outside. hope it doesn't rain (or snow) at the tournament tomorrow.

have a fantastic friday!!!