I received my SBD cookbook (the new one) and after making the editorial adjustments I read about in another thread, I look forward to making some yummy recipes!

We are learing about different units in weight in my son's math book (I homeschool) and pounds was one of them. So the kids were super eager to get out Mom's schedule and see how much they weigh.

They are getting a bit on the chunky monkey side. I think I will definitely add more outside time! But I wonder, we all know that cutting sugar out of our diets will help us shed those extra pounds, so it goes without reason that it would help children, too, right? I would never dream of putting the kiddos on a 'diet', but I was thinking..if I purge my house of sugars, will SF syrups and jams be okay for them? They love PB&Js. I figure if I get the good bread, it'll be good for them and natural peanut butter would definitely be good -- but what about those jams and jellies sweetened with Splenda?

Well, this Grandma doesn't think artificial sweeteners are good for kidlets. How about PB&J with jams that are made with just fruit and sweetened with fruit juice?

The Merry Men are still chipping away in the basement. Unfortunately I did not even think of dust and left the cellar door open! :yikes: The diningroom table is gray! Luckily I had put away the china and silver from Saturday's dinner party. Never mind - I'll dust when they are done.

Do you chickies think I can work in that afternoon nap? Never mind, I'll hold out and go to bed early again. I can sure change my sleeping times when the Girls are in the kennel.

I'm going to brave the snow and go down for the mail and paper. After that there will be more shovelling.

I never thought about that, Ruth. Thanks

I cannot even fathom snow...it just boggles my mind. Down here in Southern Georgia, it's going to be around 70 today. Chilly to us...but definitely not as chilly as snow! LOL

Frugalchick I can't handle any of the artificial sweeteners. They all make me sick. I usually use a brand called "Simply Fruit". It is what it says in the lable. It is pretty much the fruit of whatever flavor you are buying plus apple or grape juice if it is a fruit that runs on the sour side. Since I have been using it I really can't stand the other stuff. They all just taste sweet and have no fruit flavor to me.

As for me Laughing Cow Cheese has fianlly made it to my section of the Rocky Mountians. I was so excited to see it at the store yesterday. We only had two choices but I see why all you east coast girls talk about putting it on celery. I was amazed at how smooth and creamy it was with only 2gr of fat. WOW!:carrot:

Hubby and I started P1 again today to detoxe after the holidays. I really don't think I need it (no sweet cravings) but hubby does so I am doing it with him.

Hi to all you early birds. Hope everyone has an OP day!!:carrot:

I think everyone has to make their own decision on the safety of artificial sweeteners for children. I do allow Brian (who is 8) to have the sugarfree Jello pudding and to occasionally have a diet soda. I let him have the Mt Olive pickles that are sweetened with Splenda. I normally buy the jams without added sugar since they taste great. He usually drinks skim milk rather than soda or juice. Most of the food he eats at home is South Beach phase 2 and his snacks are normally fruit. I think avoiding fast food is one of the best things that South Beach has done for him.

Well ladies, another sunny day at the beach. Happy monday j/k. I am restarting phase 1 today...yeah yeah I know how many times have we heard that lol!

Freaky - I know how being sick and exercising goes, I am down with a cold right now and about to do some strength training...

Rnmom - going to class/work in your jammies is awesome!!! I am a photographer but I also keep a second job doing Quality Assurance from home for IBM...I love being bale to wake up and get things done in my jammies with my music on.

crk05 - happy belated anniversary! My DH does the same thing with the snooze. I cured him of it by getting my own alarm clock and setting it like an hour before I wanted to get up and letting it snooze every 5 minutes for three days. Once his sleep was ruined he saw how rude he was being and changed his ways!

DJmommy - Welcome to the beach!!!

Ok well I hope you all stay OP today, I know I will be trying my hardest too!

Afternoon chicklets! Just a quickie update.... I've been so busy I haven't been able to think straight (or work out, unfortunately.)

Had a full weekend of teaching piano and working the Bridal Show. I think I may make some pretty good money from this year's, I'm hoping anyway. I did 6 hours of standing yesterday. Does that count as exercise? :D

Busy here at work. Still stuck at 140, but Daddy couldn't stop carrying on over the weekend about how much mass I've lost through my middle and how he can see it in my face too. I don't get it. It's fine though. Still on track with eating, still on track with no smokies. I didn't even think about cigarettes until last night when I realized I hadn't thought about having a cigarette all day long. Hopefully that becomes habitual to me soon so I don't ever think of them.

Just thought I'd pop on to say hi to you all. Talk to you soon!

Lisa

Hi Chiquita’s,

Today starts week 2. I'm very happy with what happened last week.

I have been running my own home-based business for the last two years. It's been great, been able to help a lot of people, but have come to the realization that I need to get a "real" job again. So I'm brushing up my resume (I was the Creative Director for Spiegel catalog, until everyone got laid off!).

I'm actually scared! Being my own boss has been great. But being out of the creative field for two years, things have changed.
But, it's gotta be done. I'm not giving up on my business, just making it a part time thing.

Yesterday I posed my creation for Mock Waffles. Today, put in the fluffy Mock Pancakes. Eggs be gone.

Maybe I should apply to Martha Stewart. I can do all the things she does, but I'm nice (I really think she's pretending to be nice now, her new "persona" is so weird.

Here in Chicago the weather has been way too warm. It's about 40. The sun shone for a few hours over the weekend, otherwise it's gray, gray, gray. Give me some snow!!! I start burning candles at 9 am and snuff them out when I go to bed-adds a bit of anti-depressant life around here.

Wow - lots of catching up to do! I'm going to make an effort to respond to everyone personally while I can, as I'm momentarily caught up in my schoolwork and on my sleep! That probably won't happen again anytime soon, so this isn't going to be a regular thing (unfortunately!).

DS has learned yet another new word: happy. When I picked him up from a visit at his uncle's this last Saturday, I asked him if he had fun, and he responded "Happy!" Needless to say, his auntie and uncle fairly melted at that! And just a short while ago, when I gave him cookie #2 after lunch, he gleefully picked it up and said "Happy happy!" - I guess that means he was extra specially happy!

Tonight I'm going to try one of the new "dump" chicken recipes - the sauce is made of chopped peach, OJ, and a few other things. There's a little honey in it, but only 2 tsp - not enough for me to worry about. It works out to only 1/2 tsp per serving. I'll make a salad, and cook some broccoli or green beans, and I don't know what (if anything) else I'll make. I'll report back tomorrow!

Ruth - Glad you got some rest - I finally made it to bed around 3am or so (PST). Even if Romano isn't so hunky, he sounds like he should be! "Romano the contractor" sounds like Mr April from a Chippendales calendar or something! :lol:

Freaky - I hope you are feeling better? Strep is no picnic in the park!

RNMOM - isn't it funny (not!) how they make all these noise laws, then have ridiculously noisy equipment they run at night?? I guess the laws are for plain folks like you 'n' me - not governments! Don't you have scorpions in Idaho? I know we do in Eastern Washington. That is one of the things I love most about western Washington - there's hardly anything poisonous waiting to leap out from behind a rock or drop down from a tree and bite you! We have fleas (who doesn't??) and a variety of very mildly poisonous spider (hobo spiders), and there are one or two places where black widows live in small numbers - and that is all. No scorpions or poisonous snakes, and hardly any poisonous spiders.

Soon - Good luck with the new boss!

Schatzi - does your "beetle" look like this? http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/no...n/scorpion.htm
Scorpions are actually arachnids (related to spiders), not insects. They do have poisonous stings (at least, usually - not sure if always), but I think most aren't a serious danger to most people. If that is what it looked like, try contacting your local county co-op extension for info on how to get rid of them - I'm sure they could help. Co-op extensions are wonderful! If it really did look like a beetle, not a scorpion, then it probably was harmless. If you describe it in more detail, I can try to find out what it was for you. I'm on the other coast, so I probably won't recognize it, but having an amateur entymologist for a father has taught me a lot about invertebrates!

Wenchy - Yay on school!

Cottage - maybe you just didn't have as much water weight to lose (since that is most of what happens in ph1 anyway)? But as you say, at least you are detoxing!

Christina - congrats on your anniversary! I hear you about the alarm! My DH is the same way. He can hit that darned button over and over and over, while alarms wake my up at the first hint of a sound. So naturally he drives me crazy - especially since he needs to get up, but I don't! At least with time, I've developed the ability to sleep through an alarm that isn't meant for me! Maybe you will, too!

Anchor - howdy!

kyemom - that's great that you're teaching your kids how to clean! Strangely, it just isn't intuitive! We learned the basics - laundry, dishes, scrubbing a toilet - but there is a lot we never learned to do. Even now in my 30's, there's a lot of household maintenance that I am clueless about.

bb - I haven't used on in ages, but waaaaay back when I used to exercise more often (like once in a while!), I loved the stair-stepper - it was a good workout!

Tammy - glad you liked the movie - we probably won't go see it as we hate Disney, and I don't like that they added stuff that wasn't in the book. I know what you mean about the hormones - that can be hard to deal with.

KO - is your neck feeling okay after all that? I'd love to have a house with gigantic staircases! Instead we have one small, awkward, impossible-to-move-anything-larger-than-a-suitcase-up staircase. Ugh!

pearshape - how was your trip? I bet you are glad to see your babies again!

djmommy - :welcome: This is sort of like a "beach of holding" - no matter how many chickies have spread out their towels here, there is always room for more!

Joanne - you will both probably start to feel a lot better than ever soon, and that's a big help right there. A slow, steady weight loss is more likely to be permanent, anyway, so keep up the great work! And congrats on the loss!

Barb - my Dh gets the same problem with the calls. Instead of someone on call, they just have someone there 24/7 - but right now he's the only one who knows Windows servers - everyone else is Mac or Linux/Unix. So whenever something happens with a Windows system, guess who they call at half past midnight? That soup sounds delicious; too bad DH can't eat shellfish. I'm with you on the sweeteners. DS gets a wee bit here and there - mostly the occasional sf jello and even more occasional sf pudding. That's about it, though. I don't really want him developing a sweet tooth, so sweets of any sort are limited. He generally gets a cookie or two after lunch if he eats well, but that's it on a regular basis - desserts are the exception rather than the rule in our house. I usually make my own jams - they have sugar, but I used reduced sugar recipes in the past and will probably switch to no sugar recipes in future (although one of my favorites jams is a full-sugar-only recipe! What to do!). He drinks whole milk still, but we'll switch him to 2% when he turns 2 in February (how nice it will be to not have to worry about which gallon we're grabbing!).

seachick - congrats on the loss!

Mamacita - when do you leave? That sounds like such a nice break from the dreary grey winter!

Demeter - congrats on quitting smoking - it's a tough habit to kick! I've never smoked (asthma), but many of my in-laws do. Some of them have "quit" several times in the 13 years I've been married to my DH, so I've seen how hard it is. Once you shed the extra pounds, you'll feel so much better and healthier! And I'm sure it won't take you long - you sound pretty motivated. So - Yay for you!

frugalchick - probably increasing your kids' activity level would help - kids these days just aren't as active as in past generations! My DS is still young enough it's not a problem, but I know the time will come when he'd rather watch movies (we don't do TV) or play video games or whatever than get off his duff and do something! Then the battle will commence! ;)

Sheba - I get sick if I have much sorbitol etc, but otherwise for me it's just preference. I hate the taste of splenda! My biggest beef with a lot of low/no carb stuff is that they add so much fakey sweetener that it ends up waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet! I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and overly sweet things repel me.

Stephie - Good luck on your do-over! Have I mentioned how lovely you look in your avatar? You look fantastical!

Weezle - you are the Queen bee in the hive of busy bees! Don't wear yourself out! And congrats on your continued success with kicking the nails!

Synergy - good luck - I hate job hunting! I haven't seen a lot of Martha - just some clips on Yahoo! of her version of the Apprentice. I get the impression that she is just not a person who translates well, that she just doesn't come across the way she is - whether it's because she's trying to seem like someone she isn't or whatever.

Stretchmarks
 

Quick question . . .
I need some stretchmark cream. I want to start using it now so that when summer comes around my marks will be less noticeable. Any suggestions? Keep in mind that I'm not spending $100 per pop or anything like that but if it works, I want to know about it! Please help.
Signed,
All Stretched Out
P.S. I didn't mean to gross you out or anything!!
:thanks:

Well, I think there was a thread in "Does it work?". Here it is. Some folks say it works and some say it doesn't.

Heather -- You are one special chicka for replying to as many chicks as you can personally. That is so awesome. I appreciate the effort, and I know everyone else does, too.

Thanks, FrugalChick - I just happened to be enjoying an exceedingly rare quiet day with DS before delving into my week 2's readings and assignments, so I thought I would take the time to say a genuine, bona fide "howdy-doodly-doo" to everyone for a change! It may very well be the last opportunity I have to do that until the quarter ends in March!

Well, ladies I just sat down after eating my late supper. My tummy is full. I had a rough day 7 on phase 1. I had all these chocolate chip cookie cravings and they are not ususally my favorite. Anyhow, thanks so much for all the get wells from all you great ladies. Wish I could thank you each and evy one individually but I need to sleep sometime :) :)

Something kinda funny and kinda sad :) My son wants to know why I'm cooking food now. I guess he has never seen me do much of that!!! I told him that I needed to loose some of these extra pounds and showed him my belly. He said, "but Mom, I love your big squishy belly". Gotta love the honesty of a five year old.

I'm off to bed now with a book and rise and shine comes soon enough.

Wow it's been busy in here! Hope everyone i doing well. I was happy to see another 1.5 pounds gone this morning at weigh in. It's TOM too so I am out of wack right now. I keep wanting candy-so frustrating! I'm satisfying the want right now with a big yummy coffee with FF 1/2 and 1/2 and some cinnamon. Hopefully it'll do the trick and then I'll head off to bed.

Our house is officially on the market and looking spit spot clean I may add. Now I just have to pack and get ready for our anniversary trip to Disney. I still can't believe we've been married 10 years! Gotts get the kids packed to go to my moms and get our bags ready too. we leave wed. night I can't wait!!!

Anyway enough rambling. Although it does distract me from the candy wants. LOL! Have a good night Chickadees! See you in the morning!

AmyB