Steel Magnolias #54
 

Morning ladies! I woke up at 3 am because I heard arguing then three loud booms then a few seconds later about 5 more sounds different from the three. I don't know if people were shooting at each other or what. I told Jack if he went out and there were bodies on the street we would know. I wasn't about to go out there and see what was going on. It may not be a neighborly thing to do, but I am NOT stupid.

Susan: I think the biggest thing more than likely with the new WW pts is that it will force people to eat properly. I mean with the way the new program looks, eating high carbs and such will eat up your points big time. On the other hand, hundreds of people have lost weight on each of the different types of WW plans that were introduced. Things just evolve. I think for someone who didn't knit, doing the smittens in felt is a great idea. It would certainly be much faster too!

Maggie: We ordered our smoked turkey yesterday and will pick it up the day before Thanksgiving. My ham is in the fridge and tomorrow I get to the commissary and get the rest of the stuff except for the goat cheese. I am going to wait until the day before to get it so it is nice and fresh. Yes, socks were something I was scared to try, but when I found this one pattern where the lady did a great job of explaining how to make them, I found they are great for projects you want to finish quicker. I am enjoying delving into pattern knitting for socks now that I have a real handle on knitting them.

Jean: South Beach has a good program, but can be hard to stick to I think. I have always thought that people who are overweight usually have childhood eating behind it. I am not saying parents not feeding their kids properly are to blame, I am just saying I think that each person's issues with food usually have a childhood basis. I think your body over the years craves what you were fed in childhood and it is tough to break that cycle. If your family ate a lot of pasta, etc more than likely you crave carbs, big meat and potato folks tend to go that way with their diet, even if they are trying to lose weight. I think bad habits account for a great deal when losing weight too. I am hoping Kelly likes the socks. She wears some really colorful tennies and has some fun patterned socks she buys so these should fit right in. They will be warm and are really really soft.

Well, lots to do today. I didn't get a thing done yesterday with Jack being home. We got caught up in errands and didn't get the carpets done so he will tackle them tomorrow and we will shop on Sunday. Have a good one everybody! Faye

Finally Friendly Friday
 

Good afternoon, ladies. A nice day in the 50s. Although there isn't a cloud in the sky or rain in the forecast, we are under a coastal flood watch and the water in back of my house is high. It must have poured in the mountains.

Maggie, there will be a new way to figure points and we'll be give wheels to replace the old points counters. I'm going to start looking for the formula. The new plan will be released November 28. Thanks for the menu and info. My favorite air-popped popcorn is going to be 4 points instead of 1! Good thing I'll be getting more. Most women will be on 29 points. There is no more points quiz. Can I ask what the site is Will got your new cookbook? The new one is showing up for late December release on Amazon. The new plan will be called PointsPlus here.

Jean, Holland and Germany have been the testing grounds for the new program for the past 2 years. England came out at the beginning of the week, Australia/New Zealand is rolling out next week, then Canada and finally the US. The whole website will be different and I think they are taking it a week at a time to get each country's version tweaked and up and running.

Faye, you are right that childhood eating plays a part in how we eat, but it is possible to learn and new way and I have done it. I was brought up on big farm meals and desserts at every meal - we even had pie or cake with breakfast. It's no wonder I was obese!

Have a great evening!

Sunny Saturday
 

Good afternoon gals! Boy, I am telling you I am going to need a bell to remind me to come in here and post. I think this is the second time this week I forgot! lol It has poured down rain all day here so I imagine we are getting what Maggie recently had.

I fell asleep Thursday before my new episode of the new season of Burn Notice came on, darn, so I sat and watched it this morning when it repeated at 9. We then lit out and I went and got Jackson's book from the post office, which of course still had it. I don't think they were even planning on re-delivering it, the lazy people. I really do think our post people don't deliver all the mail each day and they sit around in trucks and ride their route for heaven's sake.

We then went to Target and right in front they had turkey pans and such so I got what I needed in case the commissary doesn't have them tomorrow and went ahead and got 2 packages of the corn bread mix. Will save me some time not having to make corn bread. The Pepperidge Farm stuff is just as good and cuts out a heck of a lot of time. I picked up all three Toy Story movies for Jackson since he hasn't seen any of them and wants them and a "go fishin'" game for him and got in line and you are not going to believe this. The woman in front of us (this is a Super Target and has groceries) had a bill of groceries and only had a couple more things on the belt so we got in line behind her. She paid with all change, mostly PENNIES and the check out gal counted every one!!!! We had already unloaded so we just stood there and stood there and stood there. I understand folks being strapped and needing to use their change, but they should get it changed into bills at one of those change places. They don't charge that much or take it to their bank and have it changed it for bills. It isn't like it was a couple dollars or even $10, it was a lot of $$! Jack was hungry so we had a hot dog and a drink at their food place then ran over to Kelly's to take her the birthday present. She was over the moon about the socks and put them on and walked around in them saying how warm and soft they were. She has a best friend that is an expert knitter and this girl refuses to make her socks. This is the first pair I have ever made Kelly because I thought her friend had been making her socks. She won some beautifully dyed sock yarn in a charity raffle and asked if I would be willing to make her anoteher pair out of them. They were cashmere blend and it is really scrumptious yarn so I told her sure when I was done with all my Christmas sock knitting.

Jean: Good for you. A lb is a lb is a lb. :hug: Well, it is the middle of November so I imagine snow is going to be the weather of the day for you for a few months. Maybe you will only get a smattering as my mom used to say. I asked Jack after he came back from an early errand this am if there were any bodies and he laughed and said, no bodies, no "do not cross" yellow tape, no gun cartridges or those little plastic #'s they put on the ground, not even a chalk person outline so we have no idea what went on that night. Maybe it was kids horsing around, who knows?

Susan: Yep, I agree. You can break the cycle and learn to eat properly, but it is definitely a struggle to get there. Will be interesting to see what the new plan involves. My only grudge with it will be if you don't go to meetings and aren't online, you won't have the new way to do your points without paying. I paid a lot of money for my little points calculator and it is worthless with the new plan, but that's the way it goes. I have to say even we didn't have pie or cake for breakfast! lol I grew up eating cereal and toast during the week and on the weekends my mom would make pancakes or waffles (which I hate btw) but we rarely had bacon and never sausage because it was too expensive. We did eat a lot of noodles, potatoes and such because it was cheap as well as hot dogs, hamburger and chicken.

Maggie: I just cannot get my head around drinking coffee. I don't like it in ice cream or desserts except for a spice cookie my grandma used to make called coffee hermits and I loved those. I have never been a coffee drinker.

Well gals, I need to get back to Jackson's sock. I have done the heel and am now knitting the rest of the foot so I hope to be done with it by the first of the week and get the other one on needles. I am actually doing ok with the pattern too,

Have a great Saturday all! Faye :rain::rain:

Kelly posted this on facebook so thought you might like to see her sockies on her feet! lol

Jean: Hope things are better for you and the power will come on soon. You have to be freezing!

Sunny Sunday
 

Good afternoon, ladies! Only in the 50s today but the sun is shining and the water is down. The leaves have finally started turning and there is beautiful color everywhere.

Faye, I didn't even come to FC yesterday - just plain forgot because I was on the computer. I love Kelly's socks! I thought of you when I was reading the paper this morning. There was an article about a knitting group that meets at the library on Thursday morning. I knew you'd enjoy them. They were inviting anyone who would like to learn to knit to join them. I had one of our local welfare recipients in front of me at the grocery store yesterday. Her total purchase was $4.11. Her EBT card was denied. She them went through 4, yes 4, credit cards that were all denied. Finally she counted out the money from her purse and I saw several $20s in her wallet. When I was putting my groceries in the car, she drove out in a new Caddy. Ah, yes, those who need welfare get it.

Jean, I hope to see no snow this winter. There was an article in the paper today about how the drought this summer had caused such poor crops in peanuts, soy beans, corn and cotton, etc. Farmers are really hurting. It's really a shame for the cotton farms. Raw cotton is at the highest price since the Civil War this year. I always have books on CD and batteries for my CD player in case of power outage. It hasn't been out since Isabelle (hurricane) 7 years ago. My friend has loaned me her IPOD and I'm really loving it. I will have to save up and get one. At our library, we can download books to our computer and then IPOD or MP3 player and listen to them. After 3 weeks they no longer work unless you renew them. We can get 10 at a time. I think WW tries out new plans in Europe because those countries are no bigger than one of our average sized states so its a good sample to put the whole country on it. I do remember when CORE came out it had been tested in the US in a few meetings. I think the sampling might have been too small because they haven't tested here first again.

Maggie, I hope you can find your vest. That food saver sounds good. You certainly have a lot of small appliances!

Well, the dryer is buzzing so time to put in another load. Have a great day.

I can't even say good afternoon at this point, it is evening! I just couldn't get in here today. We were out first thing to get to the commissary, just 15 minutes after they opened and it was totally nuts in there. I expected it to be quiet since it wasn't Navy payday until tomorrow nor any retirement payday for the most part. Sheesh, you never know I guess.

Jean: I find people paying with checks less and less these days since bank cards are fairly easy to get. I know what you mean though about the person standing in line and not even getting the checkbook out until the checkout is finished. Drives you nuts. Glad your power came back on fairly quickly.

Maggie: If you don't have a bank account in this town forget about getting anything out of any bank. We have an account and have for years with Navy Federal Credit Union. There is one branch in this area and it is out by the base so I rarely go out there. I wanted to get a $20 bill changed I had a couple years ago and walked up to a bank in the Kroger store. Because I didn't have an account with them they refused to give me change! Man, I threw a BIG fit about it and made sure other people heard what jerks they were being. I walked over to the customer service desk and they changed out my money.

Susan: Living in Welfare City I see that kind of crap all the time. What really saddened me is one day I was in line behind one of these "welfare divas" and a sweet old lady. The welfare chick took her wic card out and had bought expensive fresh squeezed juices, the most expensive fancy cheeses and such the store had and the old lady behind her had to buy this crappy fake juice drink and I almost cried seeing her take out her little coin purse and trying to put enough money together to buy her purchases. That's the kind of stuff that drives me over the edge.

My sock for Jackson is coming right along, but my hands are hurting tonight. I noticed yesterday my wrist bone would crack with every stitch I knit.

You gals have a nice evening. I am going to get a bit of supper together for Jack and I. Faye

Good morning to you all! I actually got in here in the morning today! I have been up since before 5. Jack took a nap yesterday afternoon so when he got up to go to the bathroom at 3 he couldn't go back to sleep so we was walking around and I woke up so just came downstairs and tried to nap in the chair.

I am doing laundry today and cleaning house. Seems to be my routine in a circle. I do have the sock done almost to the toe so should be able to finish it either today or tomorrow so I can start on the second one.

Jack left for work about 40 minutes ago, Fortune is fed and sleeping and except for the washer going it is quiet around here.

Jean: Oh man, I hope nothing got ruined in their basement. We lived in a house once where tree roots got into the pipes and really mucked up the sewage system. It was awful. On top of that, it was a rental house and the lady who owned it didn't want to spend the bucks to get it fixed correctly. We moved out! Sounds like you had fun with the kids. I don't know if Thomas's school is going to have a Christmas program or not. I imagine they will. Since his grade is the last grade in elementary school they get to do more of the acting stuff so it should be fun. Thomas usually plays his violin or the piano for the program somewhere along the line.

Jay, Alicia, and Jackson are in Mexico this week visiting her father. He lives in Guadalahara and they always enjoy themselves. He has had some more health issues with his heart, but she says he is much better now. They will be home only a couple days then head down here I guess. I am looking forward to seeing Jackson as I haven't seen him since we were up there in July and he has really grown again.

I guess I should get out of here. My washer sounds like it is about done with a load. Yep, just turned off. Have a good start to your week everyone!
Faye

Marvelous Monday
 

Good afternoon, ladies! Its 66 degrees and overcast. Rain is on the way for this evening and tomorrow.

I went to the Y and had a dentist appointment before that. Tonight is bible study so a nice day. I've got the sheets in the dryer and that is all I'm going to do today, except cook of course.

Faye, I know you'll get the socks done. You haven't missed a deadline yet! Jackson was already so tall for his age, I wonder how big he is now.

Jean, water in the basement - horrors! I hope nothing is ruined or damaged. I wish we could hear you play the bells sometime.

Maggie, WW has switched the website in England and Australian (they started yesterday) at midnight of the switch day. There were a few early glitches but they were rapidly fixed. I love going to those websites and seeing how they are accepting the changes. Of course, I can't understand half the foods they eat. England seems to have a lot of fish and chips and curries as "take away".

Have a great day!

Good morning to you all! It is mega wet today and still raining. Sounds like it will go on most of the day. I told Jack he should call in sick today as his knees and hand are giving him trouble, but he went to work. I just hope he doesn't have to work outdoors today.

Today is chilimac day. I fix it will a little garli bread. It adapted really easily to WW simply by using different pasta and ground sirloin. The only other thing in it is tomato sauce and spices. I guess we should have had soup today, but I already had the burger out so have to use it up.

Does it seem to you that you are never completely free of laundry? lol I told Jack I thought we should shower, wash up the laundry then run around naked for one day just so I would have a day completely laundry free! Seems like I get it washed and dried to put away and turn around and we have half a basket again.

Today is Kelly's 33rd birthday. Happy Birthday sweety! :celebrate: I did her the pair of socks and did a charitable donation to a group called heifer.org where you pay for animals to be given to small villages and such in 3rd world countries. I bought chicks for her and ducks for Tom's birthday.

Jean: You are right, that is a huge waste of money. I would think they would get a better amount of pledges with people being at the church. You get stuff from the mail and you tend to toss it. Does Beth have the great dane or the last people that owned the home? Jack and I discussed it and decided just to stick with the current plan. We are doing fine on it and it works for us and that is the most important.

Susan: I have the first sock finished (see pic) and have started number two and have the cuff finished and have started the leg so I am sure I will get it done. I now have to get upstairs and wrap his presents which you know I hate to do. Reading the Harry Potter books have been a foray into British food. I would google the stuff to know what "spotted dick" was or "treacle tart." I have always loved British tv so seeing cooking shows have been fun too.

Maggie: The kids go to Mexico every year to visit her dad. He is a convicted felon, lost his green card status when he went to prison and cannot ever come into this country again so she has to go to Mexico to see her dad. Her two sisters don't get to see him now that he has been deported because they cannot afford it. I know they miss him a lot. He loves seeing Jackson of course and they finally have his health stabilized a bit more. From what I understand, he is anything but poor as his family is fairly wealthy and I believe his parents have both passed away now. His parents were still living when Jay and Alicia married because her grandparents came to the wedding. They were this cute tiny little couple who didn't speak english but were so very sweet. The funny part of her dad is that his younger brother is a homicide detective in the Los Angeles police department. He made a huge mistake in his young years and paid for it by going to prison for a long time and now cannot see his family, mostly live here in the states.

Well gals, I need to go. Have a great day today. I am going to stay in and try and keep dry! Faye

Titilating Tuesday
 

Good morning gals! I have been checking out toys for our adult Christmas exchange, which we will do next week with the kids. It starts getting harder and harder to find fun things that relate to a person to buy. You can only buy so many "doctor" kits for Alicia, etc. I think I have found some cute things though. I am aiming for world traveling for Tom, since he is the toughest to buy for, cooking for Kelly since she has become this cooking ace going to cooking classes all the time, art stuff for Jay since he is in advertising and wanted to be an artist when he was young and Alicia I am still working on. I thought about getting some spanish language toy since she is part Mexican and we have a very large hispanic community here, but you can't buy any of the stuff in the stores only online it seems and I don't have time for the stuff to be shipped. Ahh well, I will think of something.

Jean: I had been going every 3 months to the doctor, but I have yet to go see the new one. I need to get in and get my physical, mammogram scheduled and stuff as I am a couple months late, but just haven't done it yet. It rained all day here yesterday and is cool here this morning but we aren't supposed to get any more rain for awhile I guess. The stomach flu is going around I know my niece and her whole family was down with it last weekend.

Maggie: The pattern is called a garter rib. It is one row of k2p2 and the next row is k then repeat. It was pretty easy even having to change to half pattern half stockinette to do the bottom of the foot. I think it looks pretty good for a boy's sock and they will be warm for him to wear with either shoes or boots since they get a lot of snow up there.

Susan: Hope you are doing well.

Nothing else much going on around here. I am super busy now that it is getting close to Thanksgiving. I have cleaning and such to do the rest of this week, have to wrap Christmas presents for next week and shop for the adult gift exchange and then wrap all that stuff, and get the carpets downstairs cleaned this weekend and hopefully clean up the leaves and such on the deck. I cooking and baking to do next week along with shopping for the next two weeks somewhere squeezed into next weekend with the kids visit. Have a good hump day all. I am off to get started. faye

Good afternoon, ladies! 64 degrees today and sunny.

I went to the Y this morning. I now have 3 Christmas parties for Wednesday, December 15 - The Y is having one for seniors from Noon until 2, at work we are having a party for the tenants from 4 until 6, and my bee is having dinner at 6. If I could just get a breakfast party in there, my day would be complete. I have another bee covered dish dinner on December 4, guild covered dish dinner December 14 and who knows what else. I'm going to have to learn the new program pretty quick to manage all of this. I am determined to lose in December!

Faye, you family adult toy exchange sounds like fun. I can't wait to see what you get. Love those socks for Jackson.

Jean, we used to give Stan's parents the fruit of the month from Harry and David's in Oregon. It's always useful and his dad loved showing the fruit off around town because it was so big and beautiful. I wish I had someone to send me some now. My doctor never said a word about me coming more than once every 6 months and that is because of my thyroid medications. I just have blood work done, BP, temp, and stuff like that and I'm off. My pulmonarist is once a year. I don't think insurance requires them to have you in that often unless its some medication you are on.

Maggie, the Australian program changed over this week. Even stranger foods. I don't think I'll ever need to know the points for kangaroo. Only 11 more days and we'll see what it's all about. I'm going to at least 2 meetings that first week so I get it right.

I have quilting bee at the library tonight. More fun. We'll be discussing what we are going to do for Christmas.

Have a great day!

Maggie,

Wonderful Wednesday
 

I belong to Serious Weight Watchers, a Yahoo group, and this was posted today concerning the new WW products. One of the ladies is friends with a former leader who just left WW so she's still getting infor.

Hi Nancy,
>
>>
> DECEMBER SALE SNEAK PEEK:
>
> · 50% OFF BOTH 2011 COMPANIONS ($4.95 EACH)
>
> · $10 OFF MEMBER KITS ($14.95 FOR ESSENTIAL MEMBER KITS, $34.95 FOR DELUXE MEMBER KITS)
>
> · 25% OFF BOTH THE ELECTRONIC FOOD SCALE ($29.95) AND THE POINTSPLUS PEDOMETER ($17.95)
>
> · THE SPECIAL PRICE OF $5.95 FOR THE POINTSPLUS CALCULATOR (ONE PER MEMBER AT THIS PRICE)
>

I'll be getting the deluxe member package which usually has a coupon for $10 off on a scale. If it does, I'll get a new scale and a calculator.

I'm sure they are only allowing us to purchase one calculator because they don't want people buying them to resell on Ebay or distribute to those who don't attend meetings. I suppose in January they will go to regular price.

Good morning girls. It is still wet here, but the temps didn't dip as low last night. I had my little fan on and off last night and I don't think the furnace kicked on and it is set at 68.

Today is Jack and I's 38th wedding anniversary!

I got the downstairs all spiffy clean yesterday and will tackle the bathrooms upstairs today. I am making beef stew and rolls for dinner tonight so will start the stew after lunch so it can cook a nice long time.

I have chocolate chip cookies, milk chocolate fudge, yeast rollsm the cheese dip appetizers and stuffing to make this year. I will debone the turkey on Thursday morning and pour chicken stock over it to keep it moist and warm in the oven at Kelly's, put the spiral ham in the crockpot with my pineapple juice mix to keep it moist and warm, then get the appetizers ready and we will head over to Kelly's around 10 or so. We hope to have dinner around 1-2 depending on when Jay and Alicia get here as they won't get in until sometime on Thursday.

Maggie: I didn't explain the adult gifts very well. We started this tradition about 5 years ago now. Each year when both the kids families and Jack and I are able to celebrate together we purchase 4 gifts under $15 each (in other words a gift apiece for the other 4 adults in our case the 4 kids and in their case their sibling, their sibling's spouse and their parents.) The gifts are to be children's toys but with the adult individual in mind, for example, they bought Jack a toy laptop one year and me some crafting kit for kids. I can't tell you all I bought this year because Kelly sometimes peeks in here and one of them are for her, but I bought a Barbie I can be a Doctor for Alicia (as close as I could get to a pharmacist, but she has on the lab coat! lol) a crayola color wonder travel set for Jay since he is an advertising executive and he does travel for his job (he also wanted to be an artist when he graduated high school) and for Tom, who I find the most difficult to think of something, I bought a Techno Source Rubiks Cube because he works in the computer field and is a brainiac! lol Kelly's is actually my favorite and I will try to remember after we exchange them next week to tell you what I bought her. To add to it, the boys then take all 12 gifts to Toys for Tots and give them away. It is a small charitable thing and it also teaches the boys charity.

Susan: Thanks for all the info on the new program. I watched a program this morning about "fusion" quilting. It was interesting. The clothing pieces were really pretty. I had a laugh over points for kangaroo. I imagine the meat like a lot of other wild game is probably low in fat, but you would think it would be tough. I wonder if they have kangaroo farms where they raise them as food instead of just the wild ones? I am going to stick with cow and pig and chicken and an occasional lamb maybe! lol You have a very busy social life for Christmas this year. Like I said we are doing Christmas with the kids over next weekend, except I am holding back Thomas's big gift and a couple small ones for Christmas Eve. Since my sister is not going to go to her mil's for Christmas this year we are on our own. We will probably go down to the casino and eat in the buffet for Christmas Day. They always have a nice lunch. Jack has a long weekend since he gets Christmas Eve off and it is on Friday. He will get Friday, the weekend, then Monday off since Christmas is on the weekend. Who knows, maybe we will pack up the suv and Fortune and go somewhere for the weekend.

Jean: I am getting masses of catalogues, probably 3-4 a day now for the Christmas sales, that is besides all the emails I get for anywhere I have ever ordered anything online. I noticed the other day they upped my Swiss Colony credit card 300$. The thing with it is you can buy from a variety of online stores that are under the same corporation. The stuff is way overpriced so I stay away from it. I do order from Swiss Colony though once in awhile especially at holiday time. They have pretty good cakes and such. Sounds like you are going to be pretty busy too.

I should get going. I am almost done with the leg part of Jackson's other sock and time is chasing me down so I need to get it finished. I don't have to get Thomas's done because I can give his to him at Christmas Eve, but want to give Jackson his while he is here next weekend.

Have a great Thursday. Harry Potter starts showing tonight at midnight. Jack and I are anxious to see it, but have decided to wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving so that some of the crowds may be less. They are saying this will be be the biggest box office movie yet so the crowds will be awful. Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! The weatherman is promising sunshine this afternoon, otherwise it is another gloomy morning and colder. I'm going to lunch with the crafters today so will have to skip WW. I know it wouldn't be pretty as this has been a "want to eat everything in sight" kind of week. I blame the weather. :p

Susan -- Thanks for the sneak peek! :) I wonder how different the scale is going to be. I have an older one and just bought the last one a few weeks ago. I had the coupon, but I should have known they were about to change things. :dunno:

"Gma" -- Happy Anniversary! Do you ever wonder where the years have disappeared to? :spin: Your Thanksgiving goodies all sound delicious. :T Do you just add plain pineapple juice to your ham? I never thought about doing that -- good idea. It's hard to coordinate food prep time when you aren't sure what time Jay and family will arrive.

I need to keep moving. We went to see RED last night so the kitchen needs some attention again/yet. Hope you all have a terrific Thursday! :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

Thankful Thursday
 

Good afternoon, ladies! Overcast and 55 degrees.

Faye, it sounds like you have everything under control for the holidays. You always are so organized. I don't think they have kangaroo farms. They are like the deer are here and considered a pest and hunted. I am going to start a pair of fingerless gloves over the weekend.

Jean, TAKE THE SCALE BACK - they will give you a credit and you can use it for the new stuff. Have fun with the crafters! The old scales are fine for weighing but you can't use the points function since the formula is so different.

Maggie, I would think the online shop would offer the same deals. I know you will want a scale and a calculator - more fun gadgets.

I love baked potatoes so I looked them up in the UK - 8 oz. cooked weight is 8 points so it looks like a point and ounce. What I really want to know is popcorn. It's something I have nearly every day when I get in the mood to keep on nibbling at something.

I have dinner at IHOP (senior talapia) and applique bee tonight.

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