Brian and I went out yesterday and spent my share of the income tax refund. We had only planned on getting the gas grill and swing we wanted but Lowes charges $65 to deliver no matter how little or much you get so we went ahead and got the patio furniture too. We had planned to buy it all eventually and I love that it will be delivered tomorrow so I'll have it before the staff meeting at our house on Thursday but I have to admit it is hard to spend that much money.

I can't wait to start grilling now that we will have a nice grill!

Barb - Congrats on the new stuff! What a perfect way to ring in the spring! Grilling is one of our favorite things to do, especially in the summer when it's hot. Is it gas or charcoal?

Cottage: sorry about the indigestion... good job pushing yourself to keep going though :)
femme: sounds like a really fun weekend, glad you enjoyed it. :cool:
Ruth: sounds like a nice relaxing day. Hope the vet goes (went) well
cyndi: looks like a challenging week... hope you make it through!!
schmoo: glad you had fun through the crazy weekend :)
nat'smom You will have a great week!!! P1 goes pretty quickly!! Just stay strong and don't cave in!! you can also use FF half and half :carrot:
nessa sorry you're not having an awesome start to the day... the scale will be your friend again sometime :) You'll get there!!
Krystal: Great job getting back to 144!!! :woo hoo:
gonnabe: Seems like you had a GREAT weekend!! How many years? Congrats!! (I'm jealous of the spa resort thing...LOL)
Kim: sorry about the chili weather... Hope your little guys make it through. I just started some Rosemary and Petunias inside... The petunias are starting to grow a little bit..this is exciting as I've never done seedlings before.. :)
Zeff: The tricycle sounds like fun for the DS... good job hanging in here and continuing on with the battle!! :)
phx: Crazy day ahead!! I wish we could get our time back too!! LOL It all goes by so fast..
uscarchie welcome!! Congrats on going shopping and going down pant size!! That is sooo exciting, especially when we're surprised!! Good Job!! :congrats:
TK: have fun cleaning..I'll be doing that shortly too.. what fun!!
pearl: Hope your TOM goes smoothly... You'll get through the plateu!!
krosmon: WOW that is a heat wave... We were in the 70's here and today, tomorrow and Wed its supposed to be in the 40's...its chili...:(

WOW that took awhile!!
Well it is chili here. I have cleaning to do, but its so cold in here, I don't want to leave the only warm room!!!
Anyhow the weekend was busy, I stayed pretty good minus a little "healthy" popcorn and a glass of wine yesterday (the popcorn was Friday) I'm through week one of p1, I'm excited and ready to keep going!!!
Either way, today was my weigh in day.. I started last week with 161. Today I'm 155!!!!
I'm really happy. Because of DH's goofing off he's lost 5 and I've lost 6... I can't believe I lost more than him... That's an accomplishment I think!!! I'm really hapy though...
I decided to keep my weigh-in days monday as it gives me a goal to be good for the weekends... :carrot:

Hello chicks. Home from Halifax, the competiton was great. Lots of medals and trophies. But I am tired and sick. It was a long week. No sleep, no good eating, lots of drinks and treats.... there has been lots of crazy things going on. I lost my 35 year old cousin in a motor cylce accident he is being buried today it is so sad. He has 3 young children. Well I have to dash. I will be back to normal tomorrow.

The first round of stimulus checks went out today....anybody get theirs yet?

Poor Cottage! :hug: I'm so sorry! It's awful to start the week off that way.
:getwell:

What a beautiful place, Cat! Sounds like a super-fun weekend.

Poor Hersh and poor you, Ruth! :p That's not a fun way to start the morning. Hope it gets much better. What's that gorgeous plant in your avatar??

Cyndi and Ruth, I've never eaten mustard greens (but the bunnies have!). How do you prepare them?

:welcome3: Natalie'sMom! There are several great suggestions for things to try in your coffee in the thread Ruth linked to. Glad to have you with us!

Nessa, remember Amanda's sig quote: "Remember: We don't use the scale because it's the most accurate tool; we use it because it's the most convenient one." :yes: You'll be back down in no time.

:congrat: Fluffy!

WOW, USCarchie! That's a huge accomplishment! :D

There's nothing like a grill, Barb! I find it SO easy to cook on it and things taste soooo good. :T

Me:
Great weekend--had a wonderful time with DH, went to a book signing with a friend (we both were wide-eyed fans), got in a lot of naps, did some work in the garden, relaxed on the couch, and checked out new couches after DH got an oil change in the car. We need new furniture, but had a hard time finding anything we liked, sadly. I'm not sure what we do next...I don't think I could buy a couch online without testing it out. :chin:

I'm going to go home after work, walk the puppy and have snack. DH will be home in time for us to go to the gym together at 6. It'll be nice to workout with him. :D When we get home it's trash night. I made dinner last night--it's a wheat berry salad with dried fruit, homemade vinaigrette and a tiny bit of gouda cheese. Yum!

LittleChick I am extremely sorry for the sudden Loss. That is very sad. If you need anything, let me know.

Laurie (and others)--I just posted a yummy recipe for mustard greens under phase 1 recipes. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141013

:sssh: Pretend you don't see me - I'm at work :)

I love all kinds of greens though mustard are my favorite. The new recipe looks a lot like a recipe I have for collard greens :drool: and works with tempeh bacon too if you don't eat meat.

I use greens in everything - soups, with lentils, sauteed in evoo and garlic, with beans,..... This year I'm trying new Japanese greens that a local farm is growing. So far I haven't met a green I don't like.

zeffryn - I just have 6 3X3 boxes and an herb bed. If you follow square foot gardening you can fit a lot in that much space. A cold frame is like a greenhouse that fits over a garden bed. It extends the growing season on both ends.

Okay, back to looking busy ;)

It's a gas grill. A really nice one with a side burner. I'm hoping we can have lots of Brian's friends over this summer and I plan for at least one Twilight Camp staff party at the house once it is warm enough to swim. I'm finding I'm not using the George Foreman as much as I used to because it is sometimes a pain to clean so I'm hoping this helps. I used to love to cook on the gas grill that rusted after 15 years.

Little chick - I am so sorry for your cousin. I will say a prayer for the family.

I'll have to check with my hopefully soon to be ex-husband about our stimulus check. It will get direct deposited to his account but he has promised to give me half. I sure hope he keeps his promise.

Good late afternoon! I am so very tardy checking in today!

Happy anniversary, Linda. Sorry about your belly, but glad Curves helped!

Cat, thanks again for the recommendation for Muriel's! I looked up the menu on-line and I think we'll hit it for lunch. Hope nothing gets thrown around while we're there!

Ruth, good luck finding your seed box. I have that same problem, too. Avery nearly had to go to church with only one shoe on yesterday...

Cyndi, Tom swears by his little lumbar pillow when we're driving long distances. He has two disks that herniate.

Schmoodle, glad your daughter's party went well. Happy birthday to her!

Lauren, hope you find something great for drinking with your coffee! Good luck today!

Nessa, what're your ideas for New Orleans? Tom and I are headed there in eleven days and I can't wait! I was collecting advice, but I think you were off the board when that thread was up.

Krystal, way to go getting your run done in the rain! And up the hill no less!

Kara

Gonna, glad your weekend was nice! I admire you, running up sand dunes!

Kim, hope you get caught up today! I'm sure you'll be able to nurse your seed babies back to health!

Zeff, hope Calvin has a fun trike ride today!

Phoenix, hope you get everything done and that your daughter is a speed reader! What book is she reading?

US, glad to hear the shopping trip was fun! I'd be more excited about being able to afford clothes at the Gap!

Tawnya, hope your cleaning goes well! And that Leo doesn't get too stinky.

Rose, I had success once awhile back when I felt a bit out of control with my eating by gradually bringing my servings of grain down by one a day until I was down to just one. Then I worked on the rest of everything until I felt confident adding back in more grains. Hope you find something that works for you!

Kathleen, I hope your gopher repellent works. We had good luck with our gopher snakes, but they found us themselves. We didn't go buy them on purpose or anything!

Schmoodle and Nessa, if you were in-laws that would be hilarious!

Linda, please do post your squash recipe if it's good. I just got some butternut squash and I am looking for something fun to do with it!

TDI, glad you saw such great results after only a week! WOOHOO!!!

LC, good to hear you're home but I am so sorry to hear about your cousin. We just lost a friend this weekend to a motorcycle accident as well. So sad.

Barbara, have fun with your new grill!

Laurie, your salad sounds yummy! I've never tried wheat berries but I've seen several cooking shows with good-sounding recipes so I need to give them a go!

Hey Jessie! How goes the gestating???

Whew! Got everyone in!

Well, today is magic day 11 before my trip. For some reason, once I hit eleven days before some event, the time always flies by. I think because the next day is day 10, and then you're in single digits, and then two days later it's only a week, and then you're saying, "This is the last Monday until..." and all of a sudden you're gone! I CAN'T WAIT to get back to Tom!

I woke up this morning to a mysterious two pounds jumping on the scale with me. I couldn't figure out where they were hanging on. I brushed off my shoulders and shook my legs, but they were still there when I got on the scale the second time. Then, later this morning I figured out why. But it's OK. I'm glad because, if you didn't hear, it's ELEVEN days until my trip, which gives me the perfect amount of time to be all cleared out (:rofl:) by the time I leave! So, this two pounds is actually a good thing all in all. Plus, I usually gain three to five, so the way I see it, I basically lost one to three pounds yesterday. Right? Am I using the same math the Democratic candidates are??? :D

I'm thinking of making some sort of new concoction for dinner. I've got eggplant in the fridge and roasted red peppers I've been meaning to do something with. And yesterday I picked up some diced tomatoes with roasted garlic. So I thought I'd roast the eggplant with a splash of olive oil and some diced garlic (because you can NEVER have too much garlic) and red onion and then throw it in a pot with the tomatoes and red peppers. Maybe serve it over brown rice? Or just in a bowl.

Kara

Kara - he had such a good time. He does like to plant his feet though....good thing he has a helmet. Helmets on little kids are just about the cutest things ever.

Anyway, about the stim. checks. Here is the link to the payment schedule. You should see it soon if you direct deposited!
http://www.taxgirl.com/rebate-schedule-changes/

wow I know it is late for most of everyone but I got the chance to check in again in one day wow.

Day was busy but made it through it. Is popcorn in the microwave ok of ph2? Sure hope so or I just blew it. I couldn't pass it up. It was smart balance light butter? I didn't have any other grain today does that matter also? oh well

Practice came and went, soccer game was a loss,DD1 conviently forgot her book at home this morning so nothing has gotten done today. Sometimes it kills me.... Her book is "The Royal Diaries Eleanor Crown Jewel of Aquitaine" She is going to have to read this one because I have no idea...

LC sorry to hear about your cousin.

zeffryn my kids still wear their helmets. I guess the rule stuck with them. No helmet no shoes no ride! The older ones take slack but they just tell their friends they work to hard at school to have 1 accident or screw up ruin it so they wear their "brain buckets"

tara glad things will be cleared up within the 11 days left.

Barb enjoy your new grill. We use ours year round here and replace it every other year.

I better get off now if I plan on getting up early tomorrow a.m. for my walk. I am already 20 minutes past bedtime.. Hopefully will get back in the morning.

As long as the popcorn has no transfat and is low in fat then you should be ok for the popcorn... and the smart stuff is yummy on it! :) enjoy!!