Good afternoon, ladies! It's so cold for VA - 24 degrees right now.
I went to WW this morning, down a pound so I'm happy. Then I had to go grocery shopping since I hadn't done that since right before Christmas. No fresh fruit and vegetables, no milk, bread almost gone, you get the picture. Kroger had Lean Cuisines $1.60 if you buy 10 so I did. I get home late from my second job and they are quick to fix. I also got a pineapple and cherries in addition to the standard apples, oranges, pears and bananas.
I worked at Jackson Hewitt from 9 am until 7:30 pm last night. It's an easy job, just sitting and answering the phone and greeting clients. I wasn't even tired when I got home. But with the cold today and having to go out I'm just worn out and I think I'll go have a nice nap soon. The cold is really hard for me this winter but I can't stay in the house until spring. I wanted to go to the Y, but the energy just isn't there today.
Maggie, I'm glad Will came through his surgery so well. It is amazing how they do surgery now. I have the scars to prove it wasn't always that way!
I've sent you my phone number earlier today.
Jean, The last haircut I got was so short - even for me - that it's just now getting to the stag where I'll need a trim in 3-4 weeks. I'm not going to that girl again. Of course, it was partly my fault because when she finished I told her to take a little more off...
Faye, I so feel for Jack. There is nothing worse than pain in you hands and knees and having to keep using them. I've had a lot of pain in my lower back this week so the disk are probably compressing more again. I swear, I'll be 3 feet tall if I live to 80. I saw a neat felted slipper pattern on tipnut yesterday. I might give it a try. Supposedly they are very warm. I hate having cold feet.
I've got to go get the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. Why can't they make one machine that does both?
Maggie -- It's pretty amazing how well Will is getting along compared to surgery years ago. RM and Beanie are like having 2 kids -- what one doesn't think of the other one will. It's good they get along so well. I am trying a new recipe called Cherry Nut bars using a white cake mix, cherries, and nuts, then a powdered sugar frosting with butter, whip cream, and cherry juice. I may leave the nuts out as some people don't like nuts and I don't want leftovers since it makes a big pan. The recipe is in our church cookbook so I hope it is good. What is in the HD bars? I'd much rather make bars than cookies -- much faster!
Susan -- It's good to see you here today! on losing another #! Grocery shopping is enough to wear me out, so I can imagine you were tired too. I know how hard the cold air can be for someone with asthma as my mom always covered her nose and mouth with her hand if she didn't have a scarf. Is tipnut a website? That sounds funny.
I have towels to fold and another load to put in the washer so better keep at it. Have a relaxing evening!
Good morning everybody! I think we are supposed to get some rain or snow showers today, but the temp is going to be too high to sustain snow I think. It is commissary day for us. We seem to always pick the day it is going to rain to do the shopping.
I think Jack is going to take a vacation day off this next week to get the car towed in and get things going on it to get it fixed. It will be nice to have the second car again so I am keeping my fingers crossed the cost won't be out of what we feel we want to pay to have it fixed. We have to have it inspected and then tagged too so you have to add that cost in with the towing and such. Cars can bleed you dry sometimes, but I can't complain about the grand marquis. It has 157000 miles on it and we haven't had much trouble with it at all until these spark plug issues.
Susan: for losing your lb! Because of my size I have trouble in extreme cold or hot, but I think cold is harder on me. I try not to let it get to me as I know I have to get up and get around and not just sit though. I got some really nice fruit at Fresh Market yesterday but it cost me that's for sure. I got blueberries, a pineapple, strawberries, oranges and nectarines. I bought a couple apples of a kind I have never tried so I hope they are good. I think they call them "honey crisp." I usually get granny smith as I like tart apples, but we shall see how these taste. I still want to get some bananas and grapes at the commissary today then I will be all set with fruit.
Maggie: Jack's right knee sort of looks like that with the little cuts. I had gall bladder surgery back in 1992 and had the three cuts and two of them have disappeared. The only one visable is the largest one. Of course I have a huge ugly one from my navel down from my colon surgery and the big "hole" one where the ostomy was so no bikinis for me!
Jean: I agree, you should probably leave out the nuts as so many people have allergies to nuts anymore or they plain don't like them. You bars sound really good. I think my favorite bar cookie are the butterscotch ones. They are so nice and chewy. Hope you can stay warm today as you sure are having some cold weather up there.
I woke up at 1:30 to go to the bathroom and never could go back to sleep so I imagine I will crash this afternoon sometime. I need to go to Target and get Jack new undies, tshirts and socks. I usually try to buy them staggered, but he has waited to tell me he needs all new stuff so we shall go get them today. I need some new socks to wear around the house so will get them too. One of these days, I will make myself some socks.
You gals have a nice Sunday. Take care of yourselves today and stay warm and dry. Faye
Good Morning, Flowers! It was -13 when we left for church this morning. There is no wind and the sun is shining. After church we went to the benefit breakfast and are now home again. It has "warmed" up to 2 according to the Weather Bug, but I don't know how accurate he is! My bars are made for tonight and I have to declutter the kitchen counter before I do anything else.
"Gma" -- I get Honey Crisp apples here and they are very sweet apples. I hope you like them. I use Granny Smith apples in the Snickers salad. I fell asleep in front of the tv last night so when it was time for bed, I was wide awake. I do that every once in awhile. Other times I wake up and then can't go back to sleep; sometimes I will get up but since I turn the furnace down at night the house feels too cold to just sit around. Have fun at Target -- that is one of my favorite stores to visit.
I need to get a move on or it will be time to leave for church again and I won't have accomplished anything. Have a relaxing Sunday!
Here is the bar recipe that I was talking about that I got out of a WW magazine a long time ago. It used to be 2 points but is now 3 P+.
HELLO DOLLY BARS
Prep: 15 min Cook: 18 min
Serves 24; 3 P+ each
1 cup reduced-fat honey graham-cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons light stick butter, melted
½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
⅓ cup butterscotch chips
¼ cup mini-chocolate chips
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed canned fat-free milk
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil.
Lightly spray the foil with nonstick spray
To make the crust, combine the cracker crumbs
and melted butter in a small bowl
Stir until the crumbs are moistened
Firmly press the crumb mixture in the bottom of the pan
Layer the crust with all the ingredients except the milk
Drizzle the milk over the top
Bake until browned and set, 18-20 minutes.
Cool completely on a rack.
Lift the cookie out of the pan and set on a cutting board.
Cut into 24 bars.
Per serving: (1 bar) 113 cal; 4g Fat; 17 g Carb;
1g Fib, 2g Prot.
Good Idea: To remove and cut the bars, line the pan
with enough foil to form handles;
Cut a piece of foil 6 inches longer than the pan.
Invert the pan on the foil, flip the pan over,
and overhang on two opposite sides.
JEAN I know you will like these bars if you try them.
I'll be back later to say something ~
OK I am back now. It is a cold day here in the heartland. Frost on the ground when I walked to church this morning. Burrr. We went to a steak house for lunch and I only ate a bit of my meal. Couple ounces of the steak but I ate all 3 of my grilled shrimp and my salad with dipping my fork in my dressing as usual.
SUSAN One more pound down is GREAT. You are still going in the correct direction. I love fresh pineapple. When my cousin was married to a Hawaiian who owned a pineapple plantation I got as much pineapple as I wanted. My back hurts on occasion also. I have degenerative disk disease. My operation was back in the 70's when I had a disk removed that had slipped out due to a happening at work.
DONNA FAYE I do hope you don't get too wet in that rain on your trip to the commissary. Won't it be so nice for them to be able to fix up your car and it won't cost an arm and a leg. Strawberries? Where were they grown? You will NEVER catch me in a bikini. I have a scar running down my front from a gall bladder operation (when they slit you wide open) and a scar running down the small of my back from my back operation. Looks like someone slit me with a sword clear through from front to back. Or back to front. My doc did say after my gall bladder operation that all my organs looked in good shape and my liver had good turger for he touched it. So there is something to be said for them to see all the parts in there.
JEAN Are your bars made from a lightened recipe? I have several recipes of the lightened kind if you want them.
Maggie -- Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have one very similar but they are called 7 Layer Bars. I don't remember what the 7th layer is. The Cherry Nut Bar is just a white cake mix, water, cherry juice, maraschino cherries, and nuts. The frosting is butter, cherry juice, pwd. sugar, and cream. The batter is really thick, but it makes a jelly roll sized pan which is nice for taking to a group. It seems like everything I like is more points on the PP program. I had all of my innards cleaned when I had my surgery several years ago. The surgeon took out my appendix, free of charge, at the same time. I know they don't do that any more.
Good evening, ladies. It was a little warmer today - got up to 34 degrees.
I didn't even go to church today. I got up congested and breathing with difficulty so decided it would be better not to go out in the cold air. It seems to have let up now. I'm going to try the Y tomorrow. If its too much, I'll just come home. I miss my exercise! The grocery store had a closeout sale on Skinny Cow pecan ice cream bars. What a rip off - 3 points for about 1/4 cup of ice cream. Oh well, that's what I get for not getting my calculator out and figuring the points before I bought.
Faye, I hope the commissary wasn't crowded and well stocked today. I know you will be glad to get your "wheels" back on the road. I hope it isn't too expensive. I like cameo or gala apples the best.
Jean, www.tipnut.com has something for everyone. It's a fun site. Give it a look sometime.
Maggie, We're getting strawberries from FL here - $2.50 a package. I won't be wearing a bikini, either. I have a scar from kidney surgery that started at my belly button and went around the back nearly to my spine, scars from intestinal blockages (4) that ended up going from hip to hip and above my belly button to my bikini line (lost my belly button on that one). X marks the spot for me!
I haven't had the tv on since Thursday and I sure won't have it on tonight. I'm not a football fan. It's more fun to read or quilt.
Susan -- It's nice to see you again tonight. Your temperature 'almost' sounds like a heat wave to me. I hope you feel well enough to go to the Y tomorrow; I know how much you look forward to that. Thanks for the website, I will check it out when I finish this post. Bob is watching football so here I am. We had about 50 show up for our Stone Soup Supper at church. I don't know if it is advertised very well or what, but the people who came didn't look "down and out hungry" like I expected. One lady from our church said she always comes because she's afraid no one else will.
Good morning ladies! It is a balmy 39 here and supposed to warm up to near 50 today, which will be nice. It was fairly warm yesterday for this time of year. I am ready for spring and then summer swim time!
Saturday we had to take my phone in as the "home" button was not working. We went in first thing Saturday morning to the ATT store that said we had to go to the Apple store so we did. It is lodged in a very ritzy shopping center, ie, they have a Vera Bradley store, J Crew, JJill, etc. Well this place is so elitist you have to make an appt!!! They gave us one for 3 and said to come early to "check in." They have people standing at the door with Ipads like guards! They changed out to a new phone, but not before we had to stand around for an hour!!! The people that work there were friendly enough and the tech was super, but the whole place wreaked of "stuckupness!" Of course, it is in the "stuck up" part of town! The parking lot was full of beamers, lexus, jags, etc. Jack said our little Mariner felt real lonely out there in the parking lot with no one to talk to! The nice thing is having an Iphone, you just come home, plug it in to the computer and it brings up Itunes and Itunes stores everything so you sync it and it puts all your apps and phone address book, etc back onto your phone for you. I also made sure that everything was erased off the phone I turned in, but that was part of the procedure anyway.
Sunday I got up and found the bathroom floor flooded again. I wasn't dressed so I sent Jack over and the jerk wouldn't even open the door. Jack had to yell through the closed door what was going on! These dirtbags took offense to my calling their landlord last time and started throwing their cigarette butts and their cigar tips over onto our patio so I am not too pleased with them at all. I told Jack I was cleaning it up and if it happened again I was done and would call their landlord. I now have to do laundry and go to the laundromat today to dry towels and we just went on Saturday. We did the commissary thing, came home and unloaded and I decided to skip Target for another day. I wasn't feeling well, (another round of the female stuff) so I didn't want to be walking all over the Target store.
Today I am going to try and get cleaning done downstairs again. It is that time again. Sure seems to come around a lot!
Susan: Boy, I hope your breathing and such improves soon. Sounds like you have been having a rough time lately. I haven't ever seen the skinny cow pecan bars. Jack likes the WW toffee ones and the ice cream sandwiches. I am trying to just stay away from desserts of all kinds for awhile to get me "desugared" so to speak. I paid $5 for a larger box of strawberries at Fresh Market on Saturday. I got blueberries 2-$5, but paid a premium on some of the other stuff. They have really nice produce so I bought most of my stuff there rather than the commissary, which is apple heavy at the moment and not much else.
Maggie: I have made those bars with the coconut and chips and things years ago. They are pretty good, except I hate coconut! lol I still like the butterscotch bars. I bet you could lower the fat and such by using margarine for the graham crust. I don't see why you would need real butter, do you? Sounds like we all have "scars to bare"
Jean: Well at least some people showed up for the soup! Did you have a lot of food left? You sure aren't getting a break on warmer weather this year. I would just hate to have to deal with temperatures like that.
You gals have a nice beginning to your week. I need to go in and change out the stuff in the washer and start another load, unload the dishwasher and get myself some breakfast. Faye
It is a chilly day here in the Heartland. 40 degrees that feels like 30 because of the North wind at 21 mph. I can't remember when the wind didn't blow here. I think I will celebrate when it doesn't. I don't know how we do it but we pick windy places to live. In a town in Montana the wind blew every day. The lumber folks brought their wood there to dry out by the wind. One day I would like to live where the wind didn't blow so much. Sounds like Will is home. He is on call this week and went to pick up the "bag." He brought in the mail and mine of course is catelogues. Got an email from my WW leader and they are having a nice sale on some of the bars and equipment. What really got my attention is the mention of a new cookbook. That I just might be an owner of, if I don't already have it of course. Dotties web site is working on getting all her restaruants changed over from points to points + and showing both of the calculations. I checked out Applebees menu selections and was glad to see what I choose to eat is in the low end of things. I had printed out the pages and Will asked to see them. He almost went into shock when he looked at it and what he chooses is a whole days worth of points +. Ah HA! He is being aware, which is a very good start. I am so thankful that Applebees does have WW friendly offerings and has them posted as such on their menu. Makes it easier for me. Thank you Dottie. We went there last night to deliver the barn but the gal wasn't working afterall so back again tonight after weigh in for the schedule reflected her at work tonight. It will be interesting to see what Will does end up ordering since he has had an awakening. He says he doesn't like those WW or LQ frozen dinners and I said that he will have to figure what he wants to eat when I have one then. I will fix it for him but he has to decide what he will be eating for me to do that. I am not going to tell him what to eat on HIS program. So there. I think he is finally getting it though, that it is all about choices for we can eat out at the same place and I can lose and he can't. Choices. I promise not to get cranky with him, just firm in my conviction that I want to lose. My week has been a good one and I do hope for a loss at the scale tonight. I made a pumpkin pie with out crust and to eat the whole thing is only 8 points +. I have had that recipe from WW for a long time. Anybody want it or do you all have it. We like it a lot. I'll just assume you want it so will type it out here now:
PUMPKIN CHIFFON PIE W/O CRUST 8 Points + for ALL of it.
Mix all together:
1 can pumpkin
Egg beaters (to = 2 eggs)
1 Sugar free Fat free Vanilla Instant Pudding
2 Cups 1% milk
1 Tbsp Pumpkin pie spice
1/8 Cup Splenda Granular measures like sugar
Pour all into a sprayed 8 inch pie pan
Bake at 450º for 15 minutes
Reduce temp to 350º and bake for 45 minutes or when knife inserted two inches from the edge comes out clean.
DONNA FAYE That is too funny about that phone store. Reminds me of the times we would go to Beverly Hills and shop. Paak-ya-car-maaadam? Yep we had fun, especially when I would drive my jeep there. Met lots of movie stars and had some lively conversations with them. Just folks. We sure found some good bargins there. I had a "shopper" in the Dallas store that always found great deals for us. A very expensive 3 piece beautiful pin stripped suit for Will marked way down from big bucks. Georgeous, and such nice material. Of course I bought it for him. I sure missed her when she retired for she turned me on to some great deals through the years especiall around the holidays. Another flood. YIKES when will that neighbor see the light. He is going to be the ruination of your floor yet. Sorry about your not feeling so good today. This too shall pass but in the meantime take it easy. I like real butter rather than that plastic stuff they call margarine. There is just something about butter that works better in some recipes. Margarine works better in my fudge recipe. Go figure. Anyway I do use both.
JEAN Hope your day is going well with you and you are staying warm.
SUSAN Strawberries here are from the left coast and still aren't looking very good. March is when the best ones come out. Our plants should be producing some nice ones this year. We are going to net the plants to keep the birds and such from feasting on them. I love strawberries. Looks like Skinney Cow isn't always skinney after all. We found the store brand of ice cream to be lower in points than the Skinney Cow brand and better tasting also. So go figure. I havn't watched any TV lately either. Yep we have roadmaps on our bodies that tell a history of what used to be. Stay safe and don't push it now.
All y'all have a lovely day. I am off to get some lunch. I think I'll have some fruit. Later.
Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun was shining but has disappeared; snow is predicted for this afternoon or evening. It is warmer though -- the Weather Bug says 34 with a wind chill of 23. It feels that 'damp cold' outside though. I went to church to help count and then post to the accounts. I was off $2 and would rather be off $200 as that is easier to find. We ended up shifting cash from one spot to another.
"Gma" -- The phone store sounds like some kind of place! It's too bad the place where you bought it couldn't replace it for you. I would have called the landlord and let them deal with your neighbor. He has to be an idiot! Lat night we also had a big roaster full of leftover turkey soup from the fundraiser at noon. We had some soup and a pan of lasagna leftover; the lady in charge said to divvy it up into small containers (like sour cream, maragarine tub type), and send it home with whoever wanted it. One lady came with a recyclable grocery bag and took several containers. She didn't look at all in need of free food to me!
Maggie -- Don't move to NW Iowa because it is windy here too. I don't remember it being so when we first moved here. There are more windmills being added all the time. I am hungry for chocolate something this afternoon. I don't know why because it's not usually my first choice for a flavor. I'm sure I do have that recipe even though I've never made it. I usually use butter when I bake also. Our strawberries are really ratty looking right now. I'm not sure where they come from, but it must be a very long trip!
Susan -- Hope you are feeling better today!
I'm off to work on some more searching, sorting, and tossing. Have a nice "rest of the day!"
Good afternoon, ladies. Only 30 degrees so feeling cold.
I'm feeling much better today. I went to the Y but the pool was closed because the heater broke and the water was 71 degrees. I did my weight training instead and then the Silversneakers class.
Faye, that's how it is at some of the shops in Williamsburg. But there are hundreds of outlet stores so who needs the snobs. I'm glad you got your phone replaced.
Jean, we have soup suppers every Friday during Lent. The ladies are great cooks. No desserts because of it being Lent, though.
Maggie, thanks for the recipe. I love pumpkin anything!
Susan -- I'm so glad you are feeling better and able to go to the Y. I hope the pool heater is fixed soon. Do the ladies serve different kinds of soup? I was surprised when we were told we could serve anything we wanted. There was a Cheerio bar made with peanut butter, but thicker than a Rice Krispie bar; it was delicious!
It's good they get along so well. I am trying a new recipe called Cherry Nut bars using a white cake mix, cherries, and nuts, then a powdered sugar frosting with butter, whip cream, and cherry juice. I may leave the nuts out as some people don't like nuts and I don't want leftovers since it makes a big pan. The recipe is in our church cookbook so I hope it is good. 
What is in the HD bars? I'd much rather make bars than cookies -- much faster! 
on losing another #! Grocery shopping is enough to wear me out, so I can imagine you were tired too. I know how hard the cold air can be for someone with asthma as my mom always covered her nose and mouth with her hand if she didn't have a scarf. Is tipnut a website? That sounds funny. 
for losing your lb! Because of my size I have trouble in extreme cold or hot, but I think cold is harder on me. I try not to let it get to me as I know I have to get up and get around and not just sit though. I got some really nice fruit at Fresh Market yesterday but it cost me that's for sure. I got blueberries, a pineapple, strawberries, oranges and nectarines. I bought a couple apples of a kind I have never tried so I hope they are good. I think they call them "honey crisp." I usually get granny smith as I like tart apples, but we shall see how these taste. I still want to get some bananas and grapes at the commissary today then I will be all set with fruit.
There is no wind and the sun is shining. After church we went to the benefit breakfast and are now home again. It has "warmed" up to 2 according to the Weather Bug, but I don't know how accurate he is! My bars are made for tonight and I have to declutter the kitchen counter before I do anything else. 
I do that every once in awhile. Other times I wake up and then can't go back to sleep; sometimes I will get up but since I turn the furnace down at night the house feels too cold to just sit around. Have fun at Target -- that is one of my favorite stores to visit.
from 
Sunny Cold Sunday
The Cherry Nut Bar is just a white cake mix, water, cherry juice, maraschino cherries, and nuts. The frosting is butter, cherry juice, pwd. sugar, and cream. The batter is really thick, but it makes a jelly roll sized pan which is nice for taking to a group. It seems like everything I like is more points on the PP program. 
I had all of my innards cleaned when I had my surgery several years ago. The surgeon took out my appendix, free of charge, at the same time. 
I hope you feel well enough to go to the Y tomorrow; I know how much you look forward to that. Thanks for the website, I will check it out when I finish this post. Bob is watching football so here I am. We had about 50 show up for our Stone Soup Supper at church. I don't know if it is advertised very well or what, but the people who came didn't look "down and out hungry" like I expected. One lady from our church said she always comes because she's afraid no one else will.
I made a pumpkin pie with out crust and to eat the whole thing is only 8 points +. I have had that recipe from WW for a long time. Anybody want it or do you all have it. We like it a lot. I'll just assume you want it so will type it out here now:
We ended up shifting cash from one spot to another. 
It's too bad the place where you bought it couldn't replace it for you. I would have called the landlord and let them deal with your neighbor. He has to be an idiot! 
