Steel Magnolias #19

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  • Back For A Bit
    GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

    The rain has stopped and it is 39 and cloudy. It is chilly in here ~ the furnace just came on so it must be reading my post. I had cooked some beef and rice for burritos and the tortillas Will had bought were ff and 5 points each and fresh but brittle and didn't work well at all. He bought some that weren't ff today and they are only 6 points+ making them only one point+ more and much more tasty and pliable. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to buy ff in some things. I used all the tortillas and made burritos and have them wrapped and in the freezer. Will bought me a real neat thumb drive today while he was at the printers. It is made of wood and the middle which holds the drive is blond wood and the two outside pieces that it slides on are dark wood. It measures 2 3/8 by 1 1/4 and is real nice and smooth. The print shop is making some decals to go on our Jeep which is a Rubicon Rock Crawler. It didn't come with the normal Jeep decals on it and we opted to not have them put on when we purchased it. The print shop is making some that are so cool. It shows a stialized Jeep climbing a rock with the words Rubicon Rock Crawler. One for each side of the side of the hood. The owner of that shop designed them and is making them there and get this ~ for both of them together he is only charging us $25.00. It sure pays to have friends in good places. How cool is that.

    JEAN It is raining on the eagles nest. I didn't get any photos of them this day. I am glad you got the count figured out. It would be nice if information was passed on to you before the posting time. That could cause me a headache. for the congrats ~ I really do feel good about the total losses so far. It is certainly a slow process for me but worth it by a long shot. Yep, little Beanie will be like glue on me after his operation.

    Sleep well MAGNOLIAS I'll type at you later. I am going to go cut some zzzzzzz's now. Nighters.
  • Good morning everyone. I don't know if it's my computer, the internet connection or this website but every so often when I type a post...and yes, I've typed quite a bit, all of a sudden I lose it! And now I have to remember what I typed. Maybe it lost the post because I started out complaining about the hot weather and whining about not putting the AC on! So here I go again...

    I'm going to skip the complaints as I was whining...

    Donna Faye, I agree with you about the AC. I didn't have AC growing up and I was fine. I didn't stay inside like the kids do today--I was out the door as soon as I ate my breakfast and only returned for lunch, then out the door again and home at 5pm for dinner and if I could sneak outside without having to help Mom with the dinner dishes I was out the door again until night fall. Now, not having the AC on makes me cranky, whiney, and not a person one wants to be around! Ask my husband! But he's such a nice man, he would not admit how badly I can act when I'm hot and sweaty. Like this morning. The book you mentioned, Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes sounds like a book I would want to read. I'll be going to the mall tomorrow and I'll make a stop at Barnes and Noble to buy it. Have you read Water for Elephants. That's a good book also if you like reading about the circus during the depression. I'm going to ask my Polish American son-in-law about Dyngus Day.

    Maggie, thanks for the two recipes. I'm going to print those out. I know Wayne would love the biscuits especially. Wayne gave me a pot of Easter flowers also. Hydrangeas. He usually gets me an Easter Lily but he couldn't find them this year for some reason. I bought my Cuisinart Griddler about four years ago and both Wayne and I love it. I cook on it all the time but have yet to make a panini on it!

    Jean, the potato salad and cole slaw are Weight Watchers brand bought in the deli section at Walmart. These are new products in my area. Honestly, the cole slaw is not worth buying. It tasted okay but homemade would be better and probably healthier. I haven't eaten the potato salad yet. Probably today at lunch time I will. And don't feel badly about being confused because sometimes I feel I stay in a state of confusion!!

    Susan, hope your day is going well. I'll be back in later so hopefully you will have posted by then.

    Okay...going to change into my walking shoes...
  • Maggie, I meant to say to you that a maintain, in my opinion, serves a good purpose. It allows your body to become accustomed to your new weight. I believe the longer you can keep the weight you have lost off the less likelihood you are going to regain it. Eleven pounds lost in a quarter of a year is great!
  • Good morning to you all. Whooee we had one heck of a storm around 10:30 pm last night. I had the back door open as the breeze was so nice and all of a sudden a big boom, thunder, lightening, heavy wind and downpour of rain, so hard you couldn't see the garage and it is only a few feet from the house. Kept it up for quite awhile and more is expected for the next couple days. It does cool it off a lot, though.

    I will again work on the house today. It has been so hot and sticky that I just sort of sit after I get my chores done. I have started laundry this morning and will dig into cleaning in just a few since it is so nice and cool here this morning. I have got to get a move on with the socks for Vicki though. Her birthday is May 16.

    I made Fortchy's grooming and shot appt yesterday (our vet requires dogs to get the flu shot if they are kenneled or groomed at the vets.) I also called the restaurant and made our brunch reservation for Sunday so that is all set too. I will have to keep the car on Friday, but I want to get a haircut anyway and may just spring for my nails to get done. Haven't had them done in quite awhile and feel I need a boost in my step.

    We will have to go commissary shopping on Saturday this payday because of the brunch so that means I have to get a menu and grocery list going soon. I am about menued out. Jack is so particular and so it really keeps me from cooking stuff that I would like to. He won't eat anything with chunk tomato, no mushrooms or mushroom soup, mayo, sour cream, most veggies he doesn't like, he eats very few fruits and doesn't care for most fish. I end up fixing a lot of the same stuff over and over. I can't make him try stuff and when I do he gets irritated, stubborn and won't eat it anyway so there is no reason to try. Ahh well, I will put something together for the two weeks, I always do. I could eat chicken a lot, but though he likes chicken, he doesn't want it a lot.

    Maggie: I think sometimes the ff stuff isn't worth it. For one thing, some of the stuff just tastes bad so lower fat adding a pt or two is better because at least it doesn't get wasted. It is also more expensive, which is a pain, but according to Jack, they have to change out stuff at the factories to produce fat free stuff so that is why they up the price on you. Jack is not much of a burrito fan. We are actually have rolled tacos this evening, not flautas, but rolled tacos. Jack grew up eating them and likes them but we don't have them a lot because even though I have cut out a lot of the fat, they are more pts with the cheese than other stuff. Again, it is a change of pace once in awhile. I just wished I could get him to like bell pepper in my spanish rice. He hates it and I love it! You just have to keep plodding along with the weight loss. You are eating better so it will come off.

    Jean: Glad you didn't get blown away with the rain and such. We certainly are not in sweatshirts here. The humidity is around 90% and seems high for this time of year already so I imagine the summer is going to be a corker. That book's author is Maureen Johnson if you go and look for it. I downloaded a free book last night called Bubba and the Dead Woman and it is pretty funny. Maybe because living and working down here I have met some "Bubba" characters in my time. I worked with a couple of real redneck/hillbilly types when I worked for the mechanical company and they had hearts of gold. My family over in Arkansas sit on the fringes of being that way, but are the sweetest people in the world. Do you always stay at the same hotel when you go to Hawaii? I would love to go sometime and check out the military resort there. I hear it is really very nice. It is on Waikaiki Beach somewhere. Dyngus Day celebrations are kind of sporatic, mostly in the New York area, but South Bend has one of the biggest ones.

    The receptionist at the plant asked Jack for my sopapilla cheesecake recipe and I printed it off and sent it with him this morning, but told him to tell her since she is a friend I am giving it to her, but not to think she can have all my secret recipes! She is this lovely black lady whose name is Creola of all things and whenever I would call and ask her to page Jack she would always ask how I was and such. She cuts out my letters to the editor and put them up on her bulletin board, bless her heart. Jack says she has both of them up there now. She is kind of treated like wallpaper there so Jack always makes sure whenever there are treats brought in or food or such he makes her up a plate and takes it up front.

    I guess I have messed around enough today. I need to get things going and sounds like the washer is done. I wish that darn maid would worker harder though! I am going to go and kick her butt into action because she is eyeing my knitting and my book again and she needs to work! Have a good one all! Faye
  • Good Morning, Flowers! It's another wet gloomy day in my corner of the world. I will admit the grass is a pretty green, and the tree leaves are beginning to sprout. I'm waiting for a call back from the eye clinic so I can go pick out new glasses. I also need to run a couple of errands I didn't get done yesterday.

    Maggie -- I don't buy FF anything because Bob won't eat it. He claims it has no taste and bothers his digestive system. I'd rather have "real" anyway and just count the points. Your Jeep will look spiffy with the new decals on it. You lost me on a "tumb drive" though. What is it?

    Gail -- I do have to go to WM today so will check out the deli for the salads. My favorite cole slaw comes from KFC, but our local one was bought by Mexicans and they don't use any of the original recipes. We often stop on our way to the lake and buy it in another town.

    "Gma" -- I don't like storms at night because you can't see what's happening as well. Isn't your garage attached to your condo? Yes, we stay at the same place each time we go to Maui because we bought into the place. It isn't advertised on the tourist list of rentals. Each time we go I doubt that everyone there is an owner though. The CA lady we rented the kids' rooms through, owns several units and never goes there -- just rents them. It's wise to stay on good terms with receptionist at work! You never know when you might need a favor.

    Susan -- Where are you? Hope all is well and you are just busy.

    I need to make my errand list and get moving. Have a terrific Tuesday and enjoy!

    Jean -- from Iowa!
  • Good morning, ladies. Its heading for the 80s again. I have my windows open at home and it is cool enough that I don't need the AC.

    I've just been more depressed than usual. Maybe I need to have my meds upped but it might have just been the holiday. And next week on May 4 it will be 3 years since Stan died. Anyway, haven't felt like doing anything at all so I've been escaping into reading. I just finished a non-fiction book called "Polio." It was very interesting and enlightening. Do you know that the rate for polio increased as sanitation became better. Yep. Before that, people acquired a very slight dose as children and it caused immunity for life. Then people became germ phobes and the rate increased drastically every year until they found the vaccine. Akron had a polio treatment center when I was a child and I remember on the news on the radio they'd give the count of new cases and those in iron lungs every day. My neighbors parents lived next door to Jonas Salk in Pittsburgh and we all were taken there for the trial immunizations. There is still one survivor living in an iron lung. For some reason, a respirator doesn't work well enough for her. She's been in there since she was 5 years old.

    Glory and I are going to River Country Quilters tonight so that will be fun. Tomorrow I will be teaching a quilting class in Hampton.

    Have a great day!
  • Titilating Tuesday
    GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

    The stopped during the night and it is now 47 degrees at this time in the Heartland. It is a day for chicken noodle soup. Hope I have some in the freezer. I could make some for I have the ingredients to do so. I'll do that if there isn't any in the freezer. Something has the neighbor dogs yacking. Our two are napping in the hallway and oblivious. They are good about not sounding off in the house though. I am excited for we get the decals on the Jeep on Friday. They are so cool looking. Doesn't take much to make me excited does it.

    DONNA FAYE I can imagine how hard it would be to cook for a pickey eater. And if you want something added to a dish you have to do it after it is cooked. I feel sorry for you for there are so many nice recipes out there but if you are limited so much on your choices you can't cook them. That secretary where Jack works sounds like a peach of a gal. He is so nice to take her things to her office.

    JEAN A thumb drive is about the size of a thumb. It plugs into a little slot in a computer and you can store documents or whatever on it. They come in 2 gigs and I think all the way up to 20 plus gigs. You could actually store everything on your comupter on one. They are real easy to use. I have several and store sermons on one, bulletins on another, recipes on another etc. It gets the stuff off your computer and frees up space. Plus if your computer crashes you have your documents saved. They are amazing ~ such little things can hold so much. The cases of most of mine measure 2 1/4 x 1/2 inches. They come in plain little sleek cases or fancy ones. The actual part inside that you plug into a port on your computer measures 1/2 inch 1/2 inch. I hope that has explained it for you. My new one that has the wooden case is the largest in size that I have. I have 3 that are 2g and one that is 4g. They are getting trick with little fancy cases now.

    GAIL I am so happy that now they make waffle plates for the Griddler. I am going to order them come pay day. OH please do try paninnis on your Griddler. Use the ribbed plates. I just spray the bread lightly with olive oil spray and they come out so yummy that way. That is the appliance I will replace when I wear this one out for sure.

    SUSAN OH Susan, I am so sorry that you are feeling down and blue. It could have been the holiday time like you said. I am sure you miss Stan especially during times like these. The activities you have planned will help you get out of this funk. That book about the polio sounds interesting. I remember getting immunized against that.

    Well Magnolias I must get myself up and about. I am resisting my exercise but I know I must. I'll certainly be so happy when spring really gets here and I can walk some outside. I love the outside. But since I don't do outside yet I do inside. Type at y'all later.

  • I just couldn't resist posting this. One of my classmates from elementary school posted this on facebook today. You get to guess which one I am! Let's just say I am not one of the boys and I am one of the blonds! We didn't have city school kindergarten back then so this is a private kindergarten that we went to in the basement of the methodist church. I even remember our teacher's name was Mrs. Logan. I can also tell you all but two of the kids in this picture believe it or not though one boy I can't remember his last name for the the life of me.


  • Susan -- I hope you are feeling more "up," rather than down, soon. When I was in 2nd grade there was a boy who had polio. I remember the class writing letters and making cards to send to him. When he finally was able to come back to school he had one arm that was smaller than the other. I can't imagine living in an iron lung for a lifetime. I know you will enjoy your quilters group tonight. Have fun teaching tomorrow!

    Maggie -- I know what a thumb drive would be, but have never heard it called that before. You printed "tumb" and that's what had me confused. It has definitely been a soup kind of day here. Bob has a workshop tonight for his Board of Adjustment so they will feed him. I'm thinking popcorn sounds easy.

    "Gma" -- What a neat picture! I have to admit I'm not sure which one you might be though. I remember my kdg. teacher too. I told her all about my brothers and sisters during show and tell time. When my mother went to conference she thanked her for taking time away from "all" her children to visit. My mother wasn't too happy with me!
  • Good morning to you gals. My goodness we have really been getting slammed with weather. We had tornado warnings last night and the rain and wind were just terrible. We expect more thunderstorms today then Thur and Fri sunny then back at it. Our biggest problem is the Mississippi and it's tributaries. Flood level for the MS river is 34 feet and they are expecting near45-48 by the weekend. The music festival is the beginning of Memphis in May this weekend and they think the river will overrun it's banks into the park where they hold the festival. The bbq festival is held there too and they can't have food cooking with the nasty river coming up over its banks that's for sure. The waste water treatment plant is holding it's own at the moment, but they are seriously worried about the river coming into the plant which would be a disaster. Jack says they are working as hard as they can to keep the pumps going.

    The dog is sick this morning. I think it is because he didn't eat yesterday until late last night. I gave him some of his meds, which should do the trick and then he will get some eggs and rice this evening if he is better. I told him he has more health problems now then Jack and I combined!

    Today is bill paying day and I will be tackling that as soon as I am done here. Jack had some overtime this payday so it gives me a bit more to play with so to speak.

    Jean: I thought you would enjoy the picture. She posted two more, one of our kindergarten graduation and one of our first grade. I get a kick out of seeing them. I sent it to Thomas and told him I thought he would get a laugh and could he guess which one I was. I am smack in the middle of the top row, the blond with the plaid dress between the boy and girl. I am in the top row of every picture we ever took because I was always the tallest! That is hilarious about you and show and tell. Kids do tell hilarious things sometimes. No, the garage is across the deck from the condo. All the garages are connected and all the condos are connected, but the condos and garages aren't connected. Sounds like one of those math problem!

    Susan: I am sorry you are having problems with your depression again. I hope your meds will fix you right up. I never knew anyone with polio, and I can't imagine living your life basically lying in a machine. What kind of quality of life is that? Have fun teaching your class I know all the gals will appreciate it. Oh, speaking of that, do you see many men quilters? You know, knitting for men has become something of a rage lately. There is one guy on my knitting website that is a truck driver and knits the most gorgeous intarsia stuff. He says he sits and truck stops and knits. He is this big ole burly guy with a beard.

    Maggie: It can sometimes be trying to cook for Jack and he of course doesn't consider himself a picky eater, but he is. His opinion is that his mom cooked what his dad would eat (who btw was a picky eater too) and that is what he grew up to eat. That is all fine and dandy, but sheesh live a little! I have to say in the last 5 years he has branched out a bit, and has been willing to try some new things, but usually he doesn't like them and that is that.

    I am almost to the toe of the first sock. I just hope I finish them on time. I really want her to get her gift on time. they are turning out pretty cute I think. I will be anxious to post them when they are done.

    Well gals, I need to get out of here and start on the bills. You all have a great day today! Faye
  • Happy Wednesday! I slept better last night mainly because I was able to sleep in the bed. Monday night was so hot in the house I was roaming around and ended up downstairs and sleeping in the sofa. Anyway, last night was a better night!

    Jean, KFC in your area doesn't fix the food the way it's supposed to be cooked? No 7 herbs and spices?! Can they do that and still call themselves KFC? Although to think about there are some KFCs in my area that are housed in the same building with Taco Bell. What is up with that?! Wayne told me last night he doesn't really care for KFC and can live without it. He is a fussy eater so that takeout place is off my list!

    Donna Faye, I'm on FB also and have met up with some of my childhood and high school friends. When I was in Va. Beach last visit I ate lunch with an old childhood/high school friend I haven't seen in 35 years! We had so much fun catching up but when she would mention certain people I couldn't remember them for the life me. She said, "Gail, THEY remember you!" Which floored me because I was EXTREMELY SHY in high school.

    Maggie, I'm like you--I would rather walk outside, listening to the birds chirp and look at all the neighbors are doing to their yards. I'm working on trying to figure out where to put the treadmill--other than our bedroom. It's such a big bulky ugly looking thing! I'm sure I can find a low points panini in one of my many WW cookbooks. I cook on our griddler all the time. It can sure cook a chicken breast fast! When this one goes I'll certainly buy another.

    Susan, (((HUG))) I hope you're feeling better soon. Please do see your doctor about the meds. I know medication has been checked every now and then because we change. I'm glad you have such a great hobby--quilting. I suffer from panic and anxiety attacks (so do my daughters and my youngest daughter has been treated for depression) and knitting really helps me. I love reading and its a fine escape also. I love the spring!

    About buying fat-free foods: I don't like them except for milk...which Wayne does not like. He doesn't like anything that is fat free so I don't buy much. Food costs are rising just like everything else it seems. I would rather use extra points for the real stuff and learn to live with it. Plus the food tastes better!
  • Hallelujah Humpday
    GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

    It is 47 and cloudy as I type this day. It will warm up some as the day progresses I imagine. I had a good nights sleep and feel refreshed this day. I haven't yet decided what to get done this day but I will when I think about it. I have been working on a grocerie list and listed some items that we just ran out of that we don't buy often. Like all three of my spray oil cans are empty at the same time. How dare they! I like to keep cans on hand of Butter flavor, Olive oil & Canola oil sprays. I don't dump oil in a pan like in the old days. Spraying it works fine. I have been working on changing the point+ values in some of my favorite recipes in various books. It is intresting now I can almost tell which recipes will stay the same and which ones will gain several more points to their value. If I don't have the nutritiional information I can run the recipe through a program and figure it out. I ran across a neat little 4x4 1/2 card I had made up and laminated that is the roasting timetable for various cuts of beef, pork & poultry. It is a handy little chart and I am glad to have found it once again. It was in the pocket of one of the binders that hold recipes. I enjoy finding these little things I have made in the past as "helps." It is like , "Oh, I forgot I had that." Life is good.

    DONNA FAYE OH girlfriend I do so hope that plant does not overflow into the river and over the land. What a mess that would be on the land and healthwise. That is the picture I had picked for being you because you had mentioned before how tall you were as a child and they always put the tall kids in the back. What fun to revisit those days long gone.

    JEAN Computer problems again? I feel for you. You must be about ready to get a new one by now.

    GAIL I have a cook book by Carol Field called FOCACCIA simple breads from the italian oven. When I bake a loaf using one of those recipes then we use some of it for paninis. You can be creative and put what ever it is you like in between the bread and count the points+. For instance we like one that has canadian bacon, mozzarella cheese, green onions, tomatos and avacado. Depending on the amounts and what the bread is then you can figure your points. You don't even have to put any oil or butter on the bread if you don't want to for the maker toasts it in lines.

    SUSAN I hope your day is going well with you.

    Type at y'all later. Time for me to get busy and round up some lunch.

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