MmMmMm! Coffee!

Where are all the early birds this morning?! I was tempted to make this post last night when I was up at 12:30 waiting for the dryer to finish. Needless to say I'm feeling the rath of that this morning. So I stopped into Wawa and picked up some coffee and yummies and now I'm set for about 2 hours.

It's very cloudy and overcast here today but the sun is peeking out here and there. I was thankful for the clouds blocking out the sun on the way to work. Most of the time its right in my face for the majority of the drive. It rained last night so I'm thinking its going to clear up soon.

Oh before I forget.... The Biggest Loser Finale is on tonight on NBC at 8 pm EST. Its supposed to be a really good one so I wouldn't miss it. Hopefully we get out of class early enough that I won't be up so late tonight.

Next week is going to be the true test for me. I have my final two classes of algebra (thank goodness!) and then I have to start baking and making like crazy for all of our Christmas gifts. I'm sure I'll be "sampling" like crazy cause I have a tendency to do that in the kitchen. I made homemade chicken pot pie last night and couldn't get away from the veggies!

Well I'm off to finish up some things here at work before my boss leaves for vacation this Friday (yet another blessing in disguise.) Have to make sure everything is in order so it will be a week of calm and relaxation besides my busy home life schedule.

Later Chickies! Have a good day!

Cackle Dooooodle dooooooo! Cawfee is a Perkin' Today I'll be zippin in and out all day..having an Xmas lunch with a galpal, and then wrap the last of the presents. Cola Chicken and cauliflower is on the menu tonight and then a spine chilling exxciting lecture tonight on quantative risk analysis What's going on at yer place?

OH MY GAAWD!!! Too Funny Chellez ! Not only did we start up the daily thread the same time but named it pretty much the same! ...I'll do a merge...

It's that Southern Brain Link kicking in this morning with the coffee flowing through the veins!

Late check-in from moi! I was awake at two again but got back to sleep around five. I took the Girls to 4PawsInn by 7 to stay for two days as the painter5s are here! Yippee! I just went to log on and discovered my mouse had died but I gave it a bit of cheese and it's OK for now. I am considering a cordless mouse for a present from Santa.

Yesterday was pretty frustrating! Aside from fighting the "runs". the electricity kept going off and on as the lads put in the new panel for the generator. Donna and I were trying to clean without lights of power for the vacuum. I finally found my 100' extension cord and ran us a power line from outside. Toiday I am coping with pictures and boxes of books in the diningroom and the back room furniture in the kitchen. I think I'm going out for lunch!

You won't believe what I'm doing tonight! The Canadian Men are performing at the Long Horn. There aren't Chippendales but pretty close! I don't imagine I'll see anything I've not seen before but it should be a fun girls night out! It'll be interesting to see who turns up. Sure beats quantatative analysis or algebra!

I need to finish some more wrapping this morning and may get to some sewing. My kitchen will be chaos for the next two days so the goodie making will have to be next week.

Have a super day, Beach Beauties. If I'm not back tomorrow, you'll know I've gone off with The Canadian Men.

Ruth, Behave yourself tonight, sounds pretty "risque"! My mouse kept eating the wires, so my Christmas present last year was a "tailess" one. Love it!

Schatzi, Lecture night sounds pretty exciting. At least enjoy your lunchdate with your friend, and have fun.

Chellez, I'm looking forward to watching The Biggest Loser tonight. I'm curious to see what happened to Heather.

I've been baking all morning, and now it's time to pick up Maggie. This week is flying by so fast that I can't keep up with it! I put some boneless pork chops in the crockpot with a few sweet potatoes, so that will be supper tonight. Time to go, I just remembered I have to get gas for the car!

Ruth - Tonight's plans sounds like a lot of fun! Take it easy and enjoy yourself.

cottage - That dinner sounds wonderful. DH is allergic to sweet potatoes so I usually end up just microwaving one for Brian and I to split and a regular potato for DH. I bet we would love them cooked with pork chops in the crockpot. I did a spicy turkey sausage, Rotel, onion, celery, kidney bean,etc mixture in the crockpot for dinner. It was yummy!

Schatzi - Have fun at your lunchdate. Lectures make me sleepy. Although I don't remember them doing that 20 some years ago when I was in college

chellez - How do you make your pot pie? I sometimes use the South Beach recipe that uses phyllo dough but I can't find the whole wheat phyllo that it calls for so it ends up being off plan. Chicken pot pie is the only way my husband actually likes chicken.

me - I've been busy with work this week. Last night I donated blood. It was a lot easier now that I take a baby aspirin. My veins may still be tiny but at least I didn't clot early. And I got a really cool car sun visor since this was my fifth time donating this year (you only need 4 times but they call every 8 weeks so I often get more). Our boss shipped a food gift for us and I was worried it wouldn't be healthy but she shipped pears. Yum!

Ruth - You naughty naughty girl! When Daniel and I go on our honeymoon to Vegas I plan on seeing The Chippendales. I've heard rumors that all of the men on the Chippendales prefer men but I don't think that they've ever confirmed or denied that. All those hotties and they wouldn't even enjoy me if they had me. I mean..... ummmm well.... *fans self*

Cottage - A lot of people have made the prediction that Heather gains once she goes home and does not come back to the finale. I personally think Eric is going to win judging by the snippets of their current weights after the last show.

Barb - when I made my chicken pot pie I used everything SB approved except for the crust. Daniel isn't on SBD (yet ) so he just at the majority of the crust while I had just a little. I did look on some recipe sites and the only on I could find that had something halfway healthy was a Canola Oil Pie Crust. Supposedly you can substitute the shortening with canola oil and it cuts the trans fats and saturated fats in half. It calls for all purpose flour but I don't see why you couldn't substitute it with whole grain.

Canola Oil Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (or whole grain )
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar (or Splenda )
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons of cold 1% milk
1/2 cup of canola oil

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt. In a small bowl, beat milk into canola oil with fork until frothy. Form a well in flour mixture. Add canola oil mixture and combine gently with a fork until crumbly.
2. Pat into a pie plate as you would for a crumb crust. Add filling and bake according to filling recipe.

Not quite sure if you can roll it out or not. It's worth a try though!

Nutrition Information <<<<< this is with out the substitutions made

Servings Per Recipe: 8

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 214

* Total Fat: 14.3g
* Cholesterol: < 1mg
* Sodium: 148mg
* Total Carbs: 18.8g
* Dietary Fiber: 0.6g
* Protein: 2.5g

Hi ladies - Wanted to check in and say HOWDY. Eating some soup for lunch right now. going to be in the 70s so it's definitely not a Wintery Wednesday here.

I think my body is in a muscle building mode, because I just can't seem to shake 145 yet my clothes fit great! Who knows, maybe this is the weight I was meant to be. Did up my calories cause I felt like my body wasn't getting enough so maybe I'm adjusting to that, WHO KNOWS! Anyways trying to focus on the fit of the clothes instead of the number on the scale.

Good afternoon everyone

It is a most exciting day. My baby girl is 13 years old today--so start praying for me.

We had a big party for the kids at work today. Santa came and passed out gifts and candy canes. The older kids enjoyed it. Most of the babies cried.

I am off to a concert tonight to watch my daughter play the flute. She just started playing this year. I can't wait to hear all she has learned.

Bye for now

TwoPeas