Did I hear somebody offering wine??? Where do I sign up???

Ruth, so sorry about poor Hershey's coat. My poor Big boy is having skin troubles too - shedding badly, and licking his fur off and then licking his skin raw. He looks rather sad. And all because I dared to go away on a series of trips, leaving him with an expensive and loving live-in catsitter!!! Maybe it's time to reconsider finding him an outdoor home with people who don't travel. Sniff, sniff. Also, very sorry to hear about the traumatic encounter between Disney and the pit bull. I hope she's managed to forget - doesn't the Dog Whisperer say dogs live in the moment, and can forget scary stuff if their owners do? that she recovers completely.

Happy, I'm so impressed with your decision to join a gym! You may be amazed at how quickly your stamina improves, especially if you can actually manage to keep getting up before dawn. And now the pool is in running order again, maybe you can replace one of your cardio days with laps at home. And a nutritionist too - first thing you know you'll be all skinny and fit!

Diyana, way to go on reversing the diabetes! Not easy to do, but it can be done if you work at it hard enough.

Annie, greetings to Olivia Anne - what a lovely name! And caesarean babies have such nice perfect round heads too...

Mel, for someone with an arm problem, you sure do post a lot. I may have to go down there and make you behave. Or sic Shad on you... Don't say you weren't warned. I take it you're having the same weather as us - rain, rain, rain and more rain, with a little muggy greyness thrown in for good measure. I've been eating the same wonderful 3 for $1 blueberries as Ruth. Yummm. Last week you posted a recipe for quesadillas - I make them all the time, but I eat them with salsa verde (Herdez brand) which is just slightly spicy and oh so good.

Shad, have you tried a visit to the old port in Jakarta? Or a quick weekend escape to the beaches and monkey dances of Bali? I tried to visit the orchid garden in Singapore long ago; didn't see much of it for some reason I don't quite remember, but I do remember the smell. Yuck. How long are you there for this time, and how long until the contract ends?

Ceejay, don't work too many hours! You'll burn yourself out one of these days.

Here it seems to be one thing after the other. Besides the cat issues, I seem to be falling apart myself... First it was a diagnosis of gallstones, and a probable need for surgery (I'll see the surgeon Wednesday). No big deal, it's laparoscopic surgery, quick recovery etc. But until the surgery, the gall bladder attacks are bloody awful, and I have no idea what triggers them. (Definitely not wine, thank goodness.) But now there's something wrong with my left eye, and if my personal internet diagnosis is right, I may have a detached retina, which sounds a little more serious. I should have called the doc right away last Wed when the light show and black spots and blurring started, and I'll be camping at the clinic tomorrow morning now I realize the consequences. Maybe it'll be something minor instead. The good news (ha!) is that nothing seems to have harmed my appetite for starches and junk food - I'm up to 184.

And that's Carla's monthly update. I was going to whine and weep about Shad choosing a slightly different thread theme than the one I suggested , but it might aggravate my eye so I'll let it go just this once. But if we're not all Sulking Through Surgery in September, I won't be responsible for what happens....

Carla - good to see you. Quick post as I should have been in bed 30 minutes ago to get up early but I just wanted to say Carla that earlier this year I had the same thing with the eye. Freaked me out running to the doctor. Turns out it was just the gel that's on the inside of the eye rolling around. You should still get it checked out but I had the light bursts, a literal rain shower of the black floaters and blurry vision too. It does go away on it's own after about 2-3 weeks but have them take a look to make sure it's not the retina too. AND DON'T YOU DARE AVOID GOING TO THE DOC now that I've lulled you into complacency I'm sorry about the gallstones too. As long as there's not stones in the duct laproscopic is a breeze but do plan on taking a few days to recouperate, after all they did snip organs out and pull them through a hole in your inflated abdomen. Different foods set people off on gall bladder attackes but popcorn, bell peppers, tomatoes and sauces and high fat stuff (cuz the gall bladder helps process the fats) will generally send you screaming in pain. I went to the emergency room over a bowl of New England Clam Chower

Shad, I'm glad you had a good night's sleep. Most people do after they've been stoned

Ok, the gym pants should be dry enough to get them out of the dryer and into the gym bag. G'night all.

Happy, thanks for the reassuring info about the possibly not-so-serious eye diagnosis. Don't worry, I'll go to the doc first thing tomorrow to be sure, don't want to risk losing vision in my eye. Also would prefer not to have surgery on my eyes... As for the gall bladder, fatty foods don't seem to set it off. One attack followed a quick energy bar, another came after a largish bag of bing cherries of all things. The first bad bout last January had me in ER convinced I was having a heart attack! Rather embarrassing to find I had enviably low BP and a particularly low heart rate, and absolutely no trace of a heart attack. On the positive side, I was impressed with how good our health system is when a middle-aged woman arrives in ER complaining of chest pain! Not so good for anything "elective", like hip replacements (and maybe gall bladders), but when a life may be at stake...

By the way, Happy, by my calculation you'll get just under 5 1/2 hours sleep if you have to be up at 5 for the gym. So go to bed already!!!!!

RUTH...HOPE HERSHEY GETS SOME RELIEF. PORR OLD GIRL I THINK I LIED TOO..OR BERRIES ARE FROM CALIFORNIA

HAPPY...THE TICKER IS SCARING ME WATCHING THE DAYS FLY BY!! GLAD THE LINER IS IN. NOW IF THE CEMENT MEN JUST GET THEIR BUTT IN GEAR I THINK UYOU WILL DO BETTER EVERY WEEK. IT'S A CHANGE OF LIFESTYLE AND FOODS.

CEEJAY..HOPE SOMEONE LISTENS TO YOUR SUGGESTIONS ABOUT SHIFT LENGTH!!

ANNIE...CONGRATULATIONS!! AND HAPPY BIRTH DAY TO OLIVA ANNE!!! I BET YOUR DD WAS PLEASED TO BE LOOKING SO BEAUTIFUL. EVERYONE NEEDS A DAY LIKE THAT.

SHAD...I CAN JUST SEE YOU TRYING TO FREE THE MONKEY NOW!! GOOD THING THE BOYS DRAGGED YOU AWAY!! HOT ROCKS!! GOOD FOR YOU!! IT WILL HELP YOU GET OVER THE UAT!!

CARLA...I THINK I NEED TO SIC SHAD AND LINDA'S PROD ON YOU MORE THAN MYSELF!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING PUTTING OFF THE DOC FOR THE EYE?? I HOPE MISS HAPPY IS RIGHT AND IT'S NOT THE RETINA. KEEP US POSTED WITH THE GALLSTONE SURGERY. WE'LL SEND GOOD THOUGHTS YOUR WAY FOR ALL OF IT!!! THE BODY SEEMS TO BE GIVING YOU SOME GOOD WARNINGS...ARE YOU LISTENING????
OF COURSE I AM PERFECT AND ALWAYS LISTEN TO MINE

GEE....IT'S DARK OUT FOR A CHANGE! I AM BEING SARCASTIC CAUSE WE HAVE HAD SOME REALLY GREAT LOWER TEMP AND SUNNY DAYS. IT'S JUST THE AFTERNOON FLY-BY THUNDERHEADS THAT WRECK IT. I DO SEE THE SUN IS TRYING BRILLIANTLY TO BRIGHTEN THE DAY. I MUST TRY AND TACKLE SOME WASH TODAY. AS FLYLADY SAYS..ONE LOAD AT A TIME....OR IS IT ONE LOAD A DAY.
THE ACCT SHOWED UP YESTERDAY WITH NO WARNING. APPARENTLY HE TOLD THE OFFICE AND THEY FORGOT. I TOLD HIM HE MUST CALL ME HIMSELF OR THERE WILL BE NO NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS AND THAT I HAVE MEDS I NEED TO TAKE ON THE DAYS HE IS NOT HERE. I THINK I FINALLY GOT MY POINT ACROSS. IF NOT I LEFT A MESSAGE ON THE OFFICE MACXHINE SAYING THERE WILL BE NO OPENING OF THE OFFICE BY ME VERY SOON IF THIS CONTINUES. I DON'T GET MAD...I GET EVEN. I CAN AFFORD TO GO ON STRIKE...THIS IS A FREEBIE! NOT LIKE I AM GETTING PAID FOR IT. WE SHALL SEE.
I CAN IMAGINE WHAT THEY ARE ALL THINKING THAT MEL IS GETTING CRANKY AND ISN'T A TEAM PLAYER. GUESS THEY DON'T SEE THAT I AM THE ONLY TEAM PLAYER LEFT!! THEY GAVE UP LONG AGO AND EXPECTED ME TO CARRY ON. SELF SUFFICIENT AS I AM, I AM JUST TO TIRED FOR THIS. THE CLOSER IT GETS TO ME TURNING THE KEYS IN THE MORE PANICKY THEY GET AND THE MORE THEY ARE IN DENIAL. FUNNY HOW THIS IS ALL COMING TO PLAY. I AM COMING OUT OF DENIAL AND THEY ARE GOING IN
I HAD BETTER GET MY BUTT IN GEAR AND STOP TYPING!
HAPPY MONDAY/TUESDAY!

Happy Monday ladies -

I had a great weekend! DH and I went to State Fair on Saturday and then we went for a hike yesterday. The weather was gorgeous...sunny and in the mid to upper 70s! Just perfect! In the mornings and the evenings, I was out in the yard playing soccer and frisbee with the dogs! Lots of fun!

Ceejay - I hope you relaxed a lot on your days off. You had a heck of a week. 55 hours of overtime! That will be a heck of a good paycheck! Hopefully they won't take too much out in taxes! In terms of 12 hour days...I wouldn't mind working them if I only had to work three 12 hour days a week....or 4 10 hour days....

Ruth - You're so sweet about calling me a hero. I was just lucky that I caught my diabetes early enough so I was just borderline and able to get my blood sugar balanced again. I hope Hershey doesn't have Cushings and the regrowth comes in well. That sure is a beautiful photo of her. I hope you got some yummy produce at the Farmers Market. We have got the most scrumptious berries...blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Blueberries here are 2 pints/$4...they're from Michigan. I'm sure Hershey still looks adorable bald. I think just about all animals are adorable! Give her a big hug for me, okay? I hope you had a little time for yourself on Sunday.

Shad - Thanks for the tip on ripening tomatoes indoors. I've got two cherry tomatoes that are just starting to turn red...so hopefully this means that I'll be harvesting my crop of tomatoes soon! Ah, UAT, I remember that well from my days in website design. You summed it up perfectly....long, involved and boring! I didn't know what a muzzein was, so I had to look it up. I'm learning so much from you! Sorry that you didn't get to the orchid gardens...maybe next time you're in JK. Thanks for posting that email from the NZ police. Sheesh! How scary. I can just imagine how easily something like that could happen. The only foreign country I've been to is Hong Kong (about 25 years ago), where it is crowded and there are street vendors hawking their wares...so I can relate to what you were saying. What I had the most difficulty with there was the dead fish, chickens, duck, etc. hanging up in the heat/humidity for people to purchase...No refrigeration...flies all over. Looked like a food poisoning incident waiting to happen to me. I guess each culture has it's own ways. A Hot Rocks massage sounds heavenly and well worth $40.

Mel - So glad to hear you didn't squish the GS. And I'm also very happy to hear that Jimmy is looking out for you! Good for him! Good for you for laying down the law. They'd better not take advantage of you. You aren't getting paid for all you do...and you can stop making yourself available anytime. You go, girlfriend!

Happy - It has been an odd season of weather, which has affected fruits and veggies. I just hope we have enough warm days left for my tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. DH and I really do miss his mom...but it's nice to be able to go off and hike and walk a lot on the weekends. I wanted to watch a bunch of the olympic coverage...but it was just too nice to be indoors. Thank heavens for DVR. Carla is right about how regular exercise improves your stamina. I'm able to hike and go up hills so much better...with only minimal huffing and puffing. I hope I never have gallbladder issues....I don't want to have to completely give up on popcorn, tomatoes and clam chowder. Have f

Annie - How cool to have a little one named after you! Olivia Anne is a lovely name. You got an awful lot done on what you called a lazy day! Sheesh. I don't get that much done on a non-lazy day!

Carla - Gallstones? Eye problems? Oh no! I hope both are easily and quickly treated so you're good as new in no time! And I for one don't want to be Sulking through Surgery in September!

Very busy day ahead...gotta go.

Love and hugs,

Good morning chicks.

I did get enough sleep. Woke up at 4:30 naturally. But I didn't seem to have much energy today. I packed my gym bag last night and went to put something in it this morning and took out my headphones and forgot to put them back. So no music to walk to this morning. I tried the temporary orthotics that were fine on Saturday but my feet were cramping bad again on the track today. So back to my other shoes, no orthotics. I did spend most of my time in the pool today and got a good workout in for both legs and arms. I can feel it already. Gotta get up super early tomorrow (at 4) to see the meteor shower.

Mel, I am glad that you stood your ground. As you well know, they will walk all over you if you can. That is quite nervy for someone to just show up on Sunday and expect people to treat it like it's a regular work day. Roll over his toes a few times and let him see the error of his ways I'm sending some sunshine over to you. Gloomy days are not too far away, we should all be basking in the sun right now.

Carla, when I had the gall bladder attack that sent me to the emergency room, I was so scared it was a heart attack that I gave away my cigs. Sat in the hospital for something like 10 hours and when they said it was "just" gall bladder, I made DH stop at the store on the way home so I could pick up a pack of cigarettes. Gosh I was so dumb I have kind of heard what you said about socialized healthcare - good for emergency stuff and well baby type care but not so great on the stuff in between. A former manager's mom had to come down to Florida to get some tests because they suspected breast cancer and she could not get in for tests in a timely manner in Montreal. Hope you will be ok.

Shad - how did you class go? Had to laugh about the lies and statistics. Isn't it funny how they bend the numbers to suit their outcome? I have no idea what the "calling to prayer" would actually sound like. But it doesn't sound like I'm missing anything by your description

Annie, you have motivated me to mop my kitchen floor too Shows you what I know about babies (doodle SQUAT) - I guess being born cesarian would eliminate the squished through the birth canal/forceps head. Kinda like the peach in my fruit basket this morning.

Ok, I'd better get to work now.

Michelle, Ruth, Ceejay and the rest of you ladies.

Where do you go hiking Michelle?

Asian Noodles with Chicken and Pineapple

Ingredients
Serves 4
6 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved lengthwise (2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced lengthwise
8 ounces rice noodles
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced into bite-size wedges (2 cups)
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

Directions
In a large pot of boiling water, cook beans until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add bell pepper, and stir to submerge. Using a small sieve, transfer vegetables to a bowl. Add noodles to boiling water, and cook until al dente according to package directions, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain, rinse thoroughly with cold water, and reserve.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, bring 1 cup salted water to a simmer over medium heat. Add chicken breasts; cover, and cook 5 minutes. Turn off heat; let steam until chicken is cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken with a fork.
In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, soy sauce, and sugar. Add reserved vegetables and noodles, chicken, pineapple, mint, and 1/4 cup peanuts; season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat with dressing. Serve immediately, topped with remaining 1/4 cup peanuts.

Popping in to say hello Don't have a lot of free time left and need to run errands. More later

Asian-Style Halibut in Parchment



1 small head bok choy, thickly sliced, or 4 baby bok choy, ends trimmed
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced lengthwise
4 6-ounce halibut fillets
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced on a diagonal
Zest from 1/2 orange, cut into matchstick-size strips
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons grated ginger root

Heat oven to 400° F. Tear off four 15-inch squares of parchment paper or aluminum foil and arrange on 2 baking sheets. Divide the bok choy and bell pepper evenly among the squares. Place a halibut fillet on each mound of vegetables and sprinkle with the black pepper. Top with the scallions and zest.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, oil, and ginger. Spoon the mixture evenly over the halibut. Top with 4 more squares of parchment or foil and fold the edges over several times to seal. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer each packet to a plate. Serve with a knife to slit the package open, and be careful of the steam that will escape.

Tip: This beautiful meal works just as well with other types of seafood. Next time, try cod, salmon, sea scallops, or peeled and deveined shrimp.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 231(23% from fat); FAT 6g (sat 1g); CHOLESTEROL 54mg; CARBOHYDRATE 5g; SODIUM 524mg; PROTEIN 38g; FIBER 1g; SUGAR 4g

I AM GOING FOOD SHOPPING TOMORROW. SO IN CASE I AM MIA YOU KNOW THE OUTCOME! WISH ME LUCK!


Kia ora Shaddie

Good luck Mel - pick up some tasty stuff while you're out. Hope the shopping trip is quick and without any incident. I hope your buddies are there to help you out and keep your hands OFF the frappachinos

I did my shopping tonight too. I started with a run to the clothing store. I really don't do T-shirts and I found that I didn't have much in the way of anything to wear going to the gym. Now this is a great gym with down to earth people who smile and say good morning to you and are not at all the body beautiful look at me types you see in the chain types of clubs. But I was feeling like a bit of a shlub. So I headed over to Catherine's and they had all their clothes 30 percent off. Even the stuff on clearance. Now usually I can't find anything in my size but it was as if they had a sale just for me. I tried on lots of things and got some nice loose but not too baggy workout shirts in a nice sweat absorbing cotton blend, a couple of pairs of to the knee shorts that will be great for walking in (except they don't have a pocket for my IPOD and I gave my arm band case to DH to use). But shirts that were 20+ dollars orignally I got for at least 50 percent off and sometimes better than that. Got 2 pretty dressy blouses for work too. When they rang up the bill I saved more than I spent so I was very happy. Can't wait to get to the gym now

Then I headed off to the grocery store. Picked up some quick to make things for DH as he doesn't like to fuss and would be happy eating a GIANT (read about 4 cups worth) bowl of cereal for dinner Tomorrow I get back on track again. I slipped up and had a soda each day since last Thursday and I can tell that the extra sugar makes me feel so achy. I did get some nice grapes, cherries and watermelon so I will have to get my sweets naturally.

Other than that nothing special going on. Boss returns to work tomorrow from 2 weeks on vacation. It was nice and quiet, I actually got caught up on some things and worked on some new stuff. Now to be ready for the tsunami of new work that comes from someone who is refreshed and ready to hit the bricks HARD

Shad and Michelle- I am keeping you both in mind on Wednesday to turn up the workout. I guess I get to sleep in tomorrow because the moon is almost obliterated in the sky which means no meteor shower for this chick tomorrow morning. Bummer

Ceejay - did you get all your errands done?

Have a good night ladies and a good morning to you Shad.

Afternoon all,
Been training all day today and right now am waiting for 3 to come back and do the UAT for us. Even for Jakarta time, they are late!

The muzzein sounds like a buzz saw mostly. I'm partially deaf, but there isn't much tune going on there. Goes up and down a couple of notches but that is about it. If there are words in there, I can't pick 'em.
The biggest problem with going to the orchid garden is that we can't find out where it is. There is no address. And the stupid part about that is that the place is on the things to do in Jakarta list. I think maybe we might need to enlist the help of someone who speaks Indonesian fluently. Pieter is darn good, but not perfect and I can converse with a 2-3 year old okay. Geoff speaks little at all and is too polite and gets himself into bother from time to time when accosted on the street. He stops to speak to them, we tell them to hive off.

I can't do much in the way of personals today. Too much else on my plate - got my report back and am requested to add some more lies to it, uuhhh statistics sorry. Isn't there a saying about lies, damned lies and statistics???

Went out for dinner last night with a couple of the ladies and we picked the wrong restaurant. It was pretty awful. Tonight will be back to the tried and true ones. Poor V got a Nasi Gedug which was supposedly a mixture of meats, vegetables and rice. Well the rice was there, we couldn't define the meat, and veges included two cubes of potato and something sort of green and unidentifiable and a whole raft of bits that looked like honey crisps (in breakfast cereal). The bowl of 'condiments' to supplement would have taken the rust off the Titanic in 30 seconds flat. We drank a lot of water.

Good to have Carla back and posting even it she did get shamed into it. Hope the health improves somewhat. September you get the theme that you get, if you want something special, then start the thread yourself. No sulking allowed here. No offence intended.

Starting to think about packing the bags again. Go home Thursday night. It will be nice to get there too. I had an e-mail from Chris down the road who is threatening experimentation with food. I am apparently the chief taster for them. I don't mind that. I always get a decent feed at their house and I'm picking there won't be much at mine when I get there on Friday.

DS1 was threatening to come home for a holiday the next time I am away. I must get in touch and see if that is the case, in which case I might have to do some housework when home. Oh dear.

And that's about it for the time being. They are just on an hour late, but they are starting to file in. Long live UAT. (NOT) See ya

Whizzing through with a Whizzing is appropriate as I just collected a morning pee sample from Hershey. I'm going to drop it off at the vet and then carry on to Brockville. I need garam masala or the stuff to make it, need to pick up a book for Sister Joan and will try to get more of the el cheapo blueberries. There cooler morning are causing my squirrel personality to kick in!

Have a terrific Tuesday! I'm off to "yell" at the South Beachers who, with one exception, are a great group.

Good Morning ladies --

I felt a migraine coming on after I got home yesterday (it was a stressful day at work), so I skipped the gym. Migraines and increased blood pressure/pulse rate aren't a good mix. I have been walking 2 miles every day at lunch, so I don't feel too guilty if I skip the gym in the evenings. Of course, since I want to have lost a total of 46 lbs by my 46th b'day (5 more pounds in 4 weeks), I've got to eat less and workout more.

Happy - I wish I'd read your post about the meteor shower this morning. DH must've forgotten and neither one of us woke up early. You asked where we go hiking....sometimes we hike/walk along the shore of Lake Michigan (either near Milwaukee or in Sheboygan). Sometimes we hike in various parks in the Kettle Moraine hills (we live in the northern Kettle Moraines). And my 2 mile walk at lunch is around the office park and really does a great job of clearing my head and relieving the morning's stress. I chuckled when you said you don't do T shirts....I have drawers and drawers of t-shirts. I live in t-shirts and jeans (or jean shorts) on the weekends. What a nice shopping spree...to save more money than you spend! Good for you! Kohls had an Associate shop day last weekend where associates get an extra 15% off in addition to our discount and any sale prices, so I got DH 4 polo shirts that are made of the dry wicking fabric. I got myself a knit shirt for work, a pair of jeans, and two pairs of workout capris on clearance for $4.90 each after my discount, and 3 t-shirts on clearance for $2 each ($1.40 each after the discount). I also went to the store last night for fruit - grapes, blueberries, and canteloupe.

Shad - I googled Jakarta Orchid Garden and found the Bali Orchid Garden (http://www.indonesialogue.com/planni...id-garden.html). And I also found this link (http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guid...ens/index.html) but still no address. And here's a link (http://www.my-indonesia.info/page.php?ic=7&id=1281) that says the Orchid Garden (Taman Anggrek) is in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah complex. I hope this helps. I hope you're able to come up with more "statistics" for your report. So Jakarta time is an hour late? Sheesh.

Ruth - My step-mom is going to start the South Beach diet today. Though she doesn't know about this website...she doesn't go on the internet too much. She doesn't have a lot to lose...her problem is she entertains a lot and goes to all kinds of get togethers where there's always food. Hopefully, she'll be able to stay disciplined enough to stick with South Beach.

Time for me to get a move on!

Love and hugs,