Susie ~ Thanks, If I have any questions about TOPS, I'll be sure to ask you.

Claygirl ~ Welcome, We always love when new people join our chat thread.

Annie ~ I'm so glad to hear you are home now, I hope you feel better soon. We cant wait to hear from you again.

Laura ~ Hi, How have you been? I hope you've been doing good.

Shad ~ Yes I'm glad I'm back to doing my exercises also. I'm gonna wait until March or April to go check out Just Ladies Fitness cause I'm not sure if I can see my bus from inside the building and its just too cold right now to wait outside and you always have a 30 min. wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning and now its 2:53 a.m. My plans for today are do my 40 min. chair exercises and then at noon I'll do my 30 min. walking dvd and then at 7 p.m. I'll do my 40 min. chair exercises again and I also need to clean the bathroom today. Those are my only plans for today.

G'd Morning all Since it's been like the North Pole/Artic Pole temps I'm like Hap's bear & I wanna hibernate, eat & go to sleep early all week. I saw our temps r back 20*-30* next week. I feel bad for all'yall that r going-coming to work in these freezer temps in the a.m. Tonight I ate a big wilted spinach/bacon salad w mozzie cheese for supper. My snack was a milkshake w coconut milk & frozen strawberries. I'm trying to b good, I made a 4 layer German chocolate cake yesterday & it keeps whispering to me, "eat just 1 more slice, I won't tell dh"

Annie ~ I hope your feeling better to go back to work today. Baby...steps..

Claygirl ~ Welcome we're 'all girls' here so we chat about everything. We're here for u, when u need us

Hap ~ I'm loving your bear print. I know if I had it here our g-babes would ask me to put something in front his paws to eat because, he/she's lookin like he's up to something & they don't wanna b his dessert Your home sounds beautiful. My family was from Charleston & we had 'dum-waiters' instead of carrying up & down the stairs; I hope u have something like that so u won't take-a-tumble when u carry things. When I'm hired to do Interior Design w a architect I always suggest a 'dum-waiter' in a hallway/closet to go from a 2nd floor or the main floor to the basement, my grandmaw always used them in her boarding houses for meals when renters didn't want to eat family-style in the dining room & for laundry. I grew up in MI, but I'll always Love the south & my family memories being down-home. I really enjoy reading your memories about living in Tennessee & everywhere our girls r living & have lived.

Shad ~ It's crazy but, while u r away on this job it kind of feels like it affects us here; because it messes w your home life. When you're home, your house projects & gardening r 'inspiring' us; now it's your foodie meals u share w us showing us about eating on-the-fly It's awesome that u get time to b w your family right now & b a 'spoiled grandma' w your little ones.

ceej ~ Please don't b worried @ your Doc appt. because the sooner u get a diagnosis & treatment, the sooner u will Heal & b normal again. The longer u put off/procrastinate telling your Doc ALL your issues, the prob could become serious. So just Let your Doc fix u

Susie ~ I forgot to ask u, does your new car have a 'remote starter, heated seats' w these frigid temps I hope so & I'm sure its John's fav ride to work now Did your chiropractor suggest any vita-mineral supplements to help your body b stronger or tell u any 'no-no's that r bad for your body...

Laura ~ I said this before & I'll say it again... U r a very strong girl, u could b on 'Survivor' & win that title Do u do any outdoor sports too? Does your bf do the walking & the activities that u do, some men like to b competitive, or a hero & show-off...

Chelle ~ did u watch the Encore of Gallivant @ 10pm last night on ABC... I watched it again, because my noisy dh watched it w me Sunday night. What did u think about the guest stars; sexy John Stamos w his English accent as the bad jouster & Weird Al Yankovic as a monk & Ricky Gervais as _? If ppl like musicals/Broadway or Monty Python they'll like it, too bad it'll only b about 4 episodes. Do u have a local support group for your surgery w a medical professional or a certified person; for questions & for ppl needing support post-op, like Annie is doing. Baby...steps..

~ Our Arms r Here for Hugging Soo Surprise Somebody Tomorrow & Share a Remember when they said ppl who Give Hug r Healthier, Hmm I wonder if that's Still True in the winter.... Achoo (where's the 'sneeze' smilie, LOL)

Good Morning, here's to wishing today was Saturday rather than Friday, could of used another day at home but didn't realize it until on the way to work. I can tell you my a$$ end felt every single crack in the road and when I go to stand up from sitting it feels like I have left my woman parts in the chair as I rise. Cramps are very light this morning, however this is the first day of being up in a chair all day. Doc said all looked good and will have results in 5-7 days, she will call. My recheck appt is the 23rd.

AT&T came yesterday at 4 pm and replaced my modem so now I have internet at home. Free of charge. Unfortunately I didn't feel much like sitting at the computer last night. Went to be early however was up at 11, 12, 1, 2 and finally fell back asleep at 3 till the alarm went off at 5:30.

CHELLE...so sorry to learn of your friend Bob's health. I keep him and you in my prayers. I will put him on our prayer list at church this weekend. Thanks for updating the chickies and checking in on me.

LAURA...thanks for updating the chicklets for me and for checking in on me. I truly feel the love. The news here said they are having trouble keeping the train lines from freezing and have fires at the change over sites. Yikes makes me not want to ride a train. My luck the fire would hit something flammable and blow up.

DEE....We are experiencing the cold temps and freezing weather also. Not much liking it. Stay warm and toasty as I certainly will once I get home this evening.

SHADDIE....Grandbabes get sweeter and sweeter, then they turn into teenagers. lol. Make great memories now. Don't you just love it when the babes recognize and acknowledge you when they see you. It melts my heart. Sorry to hear about the horrible fires, loss of housing and loss of animal life just about breaks my heart.

HAPPY....How are things at the gym? Are you getting a routine going that you enjoy? The bear print is really nice and just fits into your decor and wild life area of your park in the woods (your house)

TERRA...giddy up girl and get back on the WL wagon. I want to see your number coming down and your exercise going up!

CEEG...What did you find out at the doctor? Sending good healthy vibes to you sister.

SUSIE...how is your leg pain today? Hope the adjustments are helping. Coming back to work is a rude awakening, especially when I have been inside during all this nasty weather.

CLAYGIRL....welcome to the Worldly chickies. We all care very much about each other and mostly post all our thoughts and feelings, gripes, whatever you want. We are very supportive also. Great group of women. As for me, I am 54, married 1.5 years to the most wonderful man on earth. I have two grown children from my previous marriage DD is 29 and DS is 27. I have 3 grandbabes that I adore. I live in Indianapolis, so if you are ever through here give me a shout! Good luck on your WL journey and congrats on what you have already lost!

That is all for me, I really should do some work since I have been out for 3 days.

Make it a great Friday/night.

Hugs

Thanks for the welcome Terra and Minidoodles!

Terra: sounds like you are doing great exercising! I haven't joined a gym yet either, I have an elliptical at home and play video games while I exercise, and then I use fitness videos for strength/yoga. Still pretty effective though!

Minidoodles: I agree about the weather, leaving for work with it below 10 degrees is pretty cold for us here in SC! I just want to curl up in my husbands thickest sweatshirt under the covers and watch friends all day (recently came on netflix, so of course we are binge watching the whole series again!). Sounds like you're doing great with your food! I had almond flour banana pancakes for breakfast (yum!), and last night for dinner we had 5 oz of chicken with a broccoli, bok choy, carrot, green bean stir fry. It was very good. We are part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) and we just started picking up our shares from the farm again, it's so much fun! We love it. I'll attach a picture of our first share of 2015 later.

Things are pretty good here, I just had some trouble sleeping last night. My husband and I had a talk yesterday. He is on the top of the promotable list for his company, and his bosses keep asking if he is relocatable. He's been on the list for 6 months, and since we are trying for our very first little one, and it's a $20,000 promotion... we discussed relocating as an option. We just bough our house 2.5 years ago, and we love our house, we've put a lot of work into it. I've spent years cultivating a beautiful garden in the front yard (ill post pictures in a bit), and we just love where we live. Anyway, we talked about it and I told him to try and get more info from his bosses about what our options would be. I told him I am willing to relocate if it would be worth it. If however it would be a difference in waiting a couple months for a local job, it really wouldn't be worth it. Also, if we were to move far away, I would like to move closer to his family (they live in Atlanta Georgia) and that's also where corporate for his company is located.

I just woke up at 3 and then couldn't sleep thinking about all the work of moving, possibly moving away from all our friends and further from his family, losing our beautiful home (and money we've invested in the local farm)... I just couldn't get my brain to turn off. I keep telling myself not to worry about things that haven't happened yet, but my brain doesn't want to listen!

Annie ~ Yes I have jumped back on the band wagon

Claygirl ~ Your welcome, We're all glad to have you join our thread.

Hi all,

Sorry I have been away. Seems like if I can't get in here first thing in the morning, I don't make it in. The nights have truly been flying away from me. Usually I get to hunting for something - like did I ever get the recipe collection cd I ordered in Jan 2013 and paid $69 for but don't see anywhere around??? Panic! Or I start to look up something and get lost on the computer.

I did make the tomato soup recipe I had - actually it was surprisingly good considering I don't put much stock (no pun intended ) in Pioneer Woman's recipes as she is more a tv personality than a cook. I will repost it if you want. There is no additional salt but you use a large can of tomato juice and 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and judging by the scale the next day, there must be plenty of sodium there already. I picked up some rye flour yesterday. Hoping to try a small loaf of rye bread in the bread maker.

The gym went fine yesterday. Trainer was late (what else is new). He said he will write up a 3 day routine for me so it's not so confusing. I might invest in some light hand weights and do the weight stuff at home and leave gym days for treadmill, bike, yoga and classes. Otherwise it becomes too much for a single day. I have a weak spot on my back (too many slips on black ice over the winter) and occasionally when I innocently turn as I did in the shower yesterday, it pops on me causing back and knee pain. It just happens so not sure I can do much on it. Yesterday we were supposed to get a light snow and I had a few errands to run so I went out and DH stayed at home waiting on the repairman. That light snow got pretty intense, I was glad to get back home again. The washer guy fixed my washer He replaced the agitator plate - said it was a bad design and tended to throw the clothes all over - this new one will not ball the clothes up as much. He also replaced the controller board - I overheard a conversation he was having and he said he originally replaced the board with a rebuilt board which failed and that's why he was replacing it again. Which makes me wonder about this rebuilt stuff. I'm sure they don't give you credit or a discount when they use factory rebuilt parts and you never know what you are getting. But all is working well - I can see it agitates the clothes better and I have 9 loads of laundry to do. Since I can only do 3 a day because I don't want to put too much water in the septic system, I will be doing laundry for quite a while! And Brrr it's really cold up here. Even for me. I have had the fireplace going and even DH does not want to go outside, even to feed the deer and turkeys. Hopefully we will get a break in the weather next week.

Hello Claygirl and welcome to the group! How nice that you have a CSA - I have always wanted to do one of those. When I lived in Memphis one co-worker was telling me about them - she said she used it as an opportunity to learn how to cook new foods like greens and things that she might not otherwise buy in the store. They are trying to get a food co-op started up here so maybe one day we can get that available to us also. I love that you support local farmers! As for the moving, that's a really hard decision for all the reasons you mentioned - also the cultures are completely different across the country so a new place might be totally strange to you. There's good and bad with moving and trying to start a family - hard because you don't want to be away from family but good because with little ones and mom's groups, I think sometimes it's easier to integrate into a new community. It's tough having a job now a days so it's smart of your husband to consider all possibilities for career advancement.

Annie - I am glad to hear that you are back on your feet. Just take it easy - no lifting or rushing about. Take life gently for a little bit longer. I hope, hope, hope that this will take care of things and get you all snappy new again. How is the ankle doing now?

Dee - dum waiters sound like they should be in every home. Certainly would be helpful to bring in the groceries! I recorded Gallavant too but haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet. I still have Christmas movies to watch too

Terra - that's a bummer that you have to put off the gym but I understand about the bus thing - they don't wait for anyone. Sometimes DH drops me off at the gym and I call him to get me and if he is in the middle of something I have to wait 20 minutes or so but that's how things go I guess. Just keep up with your videos and chair exercises for the next 2 months.

Shad - I have seen pictures of the brush fires and the poor burnt koala bears. Didn't know if I should be making some mittens for them. Seems like they are getting a good response from the locals. It seems to be a lot of extremes down your way - intense heat, rain or drought. At least you are away from snow and earthquakes! Bummer on the tax bill - I suppose there will always be a reason to keep working and as long as it's coming your way and you are able - keep up at it. Too bad you can't find something 2 or 3 days a week - I can't see you ever totally retiring. Glad you are enjoying Miss S. Is she chatty now?

Ceejay - 10 degrees - holy cow - that's darn frigid out your way. Yikes. Glad you have an electric blanket to keep you cozy. You know we will pester you to talk to the doctor, don't you?

Laura - I try not to buy too much at the Thrift Shop - it's easy to pick up all sorts of little things. Honestly the danger time is in May when people come back to reopen their cabins and redecorate - that's when we get the higher end, nicer stuff that is tempting. That is also when we get the garage sale rejects just to keep life in balance! Sorry to hear the plaster work in the bath was so much of a point of frustration for BF. Hopefully it's just about done now? You mentioned a frozen banana for Michelle - I also like to freeze the regular yogurt cups. That is refreshing in the summer - particularly the citrus flavors. I was looking at a listing of restaurants in the AH area - and drooling. I think you live in one of the best places ever - so much you have access to - food, shopping, retail. I'm not sure if that is good or bad - particularly when one is retired and has less money I certainly don't miss $7,000 property tax bills though. Have you given any more thought to your career options now that we have rolled into a new year?

Michelle - I remember you saying you didn't like to cook so I was wondering if some of the seminars you went to had any offerings on teaching people short cut, healthy cooking. Does it matter if you eat more raw food or is cooked better? You live in such a temperate climate that raw things like salady stuff might be easier to pull together. But then again, right now you are heavy on the protein side so forget that. It's nice of you to go over and help out at Bob's house. He's really got to be incapacitated. I hope he gets a good prognosis.

Susie - don't worry about the bag, whenever you can get to it. It's more important to take care of yourself. If you conked out for 3 hours, your body was telling you that you needed the rest. I hope you are feeling better now. It's good that you have some in home therapy to pull out the kinks. I also think it's a great idea to keep a log of everything you do. In a way they don't really care how much you have to do, only that you get it done so sometimes when you get overwhelmed it's up to you to gently push back and manage them and their expectations. Particularly if your health is compromised.

Well girls, once again half the day is gone. I need to get off the computer and set some goals for myself today. I also need to clean out the freezer and rearrange things for picking up my pork on Monday. I am in fear that I'm going to have to try and find room for 100 pounds of stuff. You know how everything takes up more room than you think!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Morning all. TGIF! What a week – it was a cruel thing to have our first full week back to work post-holidays to also be so brutally cold. But we got through it! Thankfully, it was a light week for me – just one meeting – so that was good. Today is a quiet day because the boss is out of the office. He had to take his wife for hand surgery. She cut her thumb using a mandolin and needs a skin graft! Yikes! I had my own mandolin injury story to share with him – when bf cut his finger on the mandolin while we were preparing dinner for his mom on Mother’s Day. How memorable – bf’s mom got to accompany him to the ER to have it taken care of (after finding the nearby immediate care center was closed). Be very careful with the mandolins if you have one!

Last night I didn’t do much of anything. Bf wanted to go out to get something to eat for dinner and I shot down that idea right away. When it’s this cold, I just want to get home and stay home. And I don’t want to go to a restaurant and find it cold and drafty. Of course we were able to put together a meal from freezer and pantry items – pasta/sauce, with homemade garlic bread on the side.

Yesterday was a rest day for my pushup challenge and I was happy for that. I didn’t do a workout – I was feeling low energy and it was just after 8 pm and I was sort of bored and wondering if it was too early to go to bed, LOL. Steps yesterday were 6.340.

No special plans for this weekend. I will go to Jazzercise Saturday morning. Bf plans to go to a friend’s house to watch football playoffs on Saturday, so I guess I’ll be housebound while he’s out with the car. No biggie, I have laundry to do, plenty of other housework and decluttering.

==

Ceejay – I hope your doctor’s visit went well today. I don’t like any temps below 30 degrees either, but I have a feeling the teens and 20’s will feel almost balmy after single digits and sub-zero temps. Thank goodness for that electric blanket, right??

Shad – So tragic about the fires in Adelaide. I looked at a story and some photos online – a lot of homes and wildlife and livestock lost. And what the government is giving ($$) isn’t all that much in the way of recompense, but then again I suppose they believe insurance will cover some of the losses. Thankfully there were no human deaths, but it’s heartbreaking to think about the loss of trees, wildlife, etc. And of course the photos of the koala bears being treated for burnt paws…poor things. Re climate change – yeh, once you admit it’s an issue, then you’re expected to address it and devote money to it – just another thing on the plate that’s already overloaded. Glad you called it “climate change” and not “global warming” because I’m having trouble believing in the latter this week, LOL. Awww, how nice to see your son and granddaughter for a few days, and what a nice greeting from little S. That’s such a cute age. Sorry the workload is making things difficult on the home front. I just watched one of the home rehab shows last night – while this woman was working on a project in Detroit, the furnace in her (apparently unattended) home in the Minneapolis area broke down and several pipes and all the vintage radiators in the house froze and burst. It was a major project to repair all that. But now she’s had a fancy thermostat installed that will alert her when temps go below a certain level. Live and learn. Re teas – I’ve been experimenting with flavored ones lately, but it’s a trial and error thing. I know I don’t much care for green or most herbal teas, but I like to try different black teas.

Claygirl – Congrats on your successful weight loss, and I’m glad you find the support on 3fc helpful. Here’s to more success in 2015. I’ve been on 3fc for a while now, from the days of the community journals, to the individual journals/blogs to this thread. I’m 50 and I live in the NW suburbs of Chicago with my boyfriend and our almost 12 year old Lab mix. I work in downtown Chicago for a leasing company. I like to read a lot too, and I belong to a book club. How interesting that you might be relocating – scary, but it could be an adventure too! I hope you have the opportunity to be someplace you like and closer to family. Nice you belong to a CSA, and nice that you’re getting food from it at this time of year!

Terra – I’m getting by. I haven’t gotten quite back into the swing of exercise yet – I didn’t do any real exercise this week. I did start back with tracking my eating (on SparkPeople), but it hasn’t been stellar. But it’s something. The finance group here at work has announced another “fitness” challenge, i.e., weight loss contest. They did it a couple years ago and it did help motivate me, so I think I’ll participate. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to join the fitness facility in the winter if you can only get there by bus and it would be a hardship having to wait around for the bus to come. Are you still doing the cooking class? Wow, up at 2 am!! I hope you eventually got back to sleep!

Dee – The salad sounds tasty, and so does the shake! Keep up the good work. I understand wanting to hibernate in this weather!! I live in a ranch house, so I don’t deal that much with bringing stuff up and down the stairs (except laundry, which is done in the basement), but the dumbwaiter idea is really good. Thanks for you compliment, but I’m just doing what everyone else here is doing – which is what we have to do. We’d all love to hibernate for the winter, or better yet, be snowbirds, but we go off to work instead. I’m not athletic or competitive, but I do like outdoor activities like cycling, walking and hiking. My bf is definitely a competitive person and was very much into tennis and cycling in his younger days. I wish he’d get back to both because he really doesn’t seem to be able to get into a consistent routine at the gym. For both of us, sometimes the only exercise we get is the “functional” variety – me during my work commute and walking the dog on weekends, bf by walking the dog on weekdays and doing the mowing, snowblowing, etc.

Annie – Good for you being back at work, but I’m sorry you’re suffering some pain moving around. Take it easy kiddo. Glad you’re modem is back in business, and fixed for free – yay. Oh the things that have become necessities to us! Re keeping the train switches unfrozen – I never gave it much thought before, but yesterday it suddenly popped in my head as we left the train station last night that if the switch wasn’t in the right position, it could cause the train to derail! Why did I have to think of that!! Oh well, it’s gonna be better starting tomorrow, so no worries…

Hi Michelle!

Happy – Where’ve you been? At the gym? Waiting on the washer repair guy? Hope all’s well with you. Ah, hah, I see you just posted. I'll catch up with you after lunch!

Okay, I’m off to lunch. TTFN. Everyone have a great weekend.

Happy
Glad things went well with the washing machine repair man. And it's a good idea that your trainer is going to work up a three day fitness plan for you.

Laura
I'm not sure what a mandolin is? A food chopper!!!

--------
Went to the doctor this morning. Had a nice visit. At first I thought no one was there. He said they were snowed under yesterday. The flu/colds/bronchitis is going around big time. Had a blood draw and told him about my recent episode. His first response was a peptic ulcer. I told him that the Nexium didn't help and was taking Zantac 150 2 times daily. He wrote me a script for Zantac 300mg. And told me if this happened again that he would order a scope to make sure. He was even concerned that I'd lost weight due to this but I said no that I was doing this on my own.
Last night I rode the bike for 20 minutes, completed my 25 push ups, and 10 minutes of light weight (2 pounds) for upper body.
Today is more laundry and to clean the apartment.
I'm putting a sirloin steak in the crock pot for later tonight.

Ceejay - Yes, a mandolin is a food slicer. You can change out the blades to slice in different shapes, and it adjusts for different thicknesses too. You draw the food item across the blade. My madolin came with a pronged holder into which the food item goes and you hold the pronged thing so your hand doesn't get close to the blade. Some people don't use that thing and put themselves at risk of not only slicing the food, but slicing a finger! I'll attach a photo. Well, the doc doesn't make it seem urgent/overly serious that you were coughing up blood...you'd think he wouldn't want there to be a "next time". Huh. Great job with the exercise!! :yay:



Happy - Glad the washer is taken care of. Yeh, it's probably a good idea to work out a plan for they gym - there's so much we could be doing for our bodies - strength, flexibility, balance cardio, etc, it's just that time and energy are limited! RE the tomato soup - I bought a large can of tomato juice a while back for another tomato soup recipe and it's still sitting in the pantry, so if you remember to post the recipe or link for the Pioneer Woman's version, that would be great. Glad you liked how it came out!

I'd like to say the half bath is almost done, but nope. Bf has to install two glass shelves to hold little decorative items, and I want to be there when he decides where they get placed. And he also told me he doesn't like where he placed the TP holder (I don't either, but I started letting things go after a while just to avoid arguments, and it was after the fact anyway.) After that, we have to shop for a new window treatment, and then some towels, rugs and wall decor. That stuff isn't too bad, but takes time - for me, not for the typical male who is uh, let's say "less choosey". :D And then there's going back and trying to sand and apply another coat of joint compound to certain areas and sand some more (and probably repeat again), to get us content with the result. I know this work is messy, but as far as I'm concerned, he could have been more generous with the joint compound and done more sanding. And he didn't even use the electric sander, just a sanding block with a mesh screen over it instead of sandpaper (he said that's how it's done now) and had it hooked up to the shop vac so it could suck up the plaster dust. And to make matters worse, there was a poor plaster repair from back when we initially removed the old vanity and backsplash that's now much more noticeable with the lighter colored paint job. Aaargh. Bf is going to be out tomorrow at a friend's house watching the nfl playoffs and I'm very tempted to work on this while he's gone!

Haven't done any hard thinking about a job/career change. We'll probably be working a long time just to keep up on taxes - the property taxes are indeed hefty in Cook County! I've almost decided that i'm happy enough where I am and that maybe when the mortgage is paid off (in 3.67 years!) I'll think about a change of some sort.

Wow, that's a lot of pork to have to find room for! Good luck with that!

Stay warm and have a good weekend. :)

Laura ~ I just popped in after paying bills online. re: finishing the half-bath u & I could do that together in a FLASH w Pro results if we lived nearby Chicklet-Power. Of course we wouldn't want to hurt Bf ego, so he could do the 'clean-up' for us. I'm 'curious' about how did u get that HUGE mandolin pic on here I always have to 'down-size' everything on this site or it's rejected. Dh & I have mesh gloves that r resistant to knifes/glass. When I was making stained-glass jewelry boxes, etc. I got cut once & bought a pr. off Amazon & after dh went to the ER slicing his hand cleaning fish & butchering a steer he got a pr. for fish & a pr. for meat. I'm like u I always use the prong-handle thingy when I'm making onion rings on my mandolin. Hmm beer-battered onion rings sound delish tomorrow.

Oh Happy ~ Would u please put a loaf of your rye bread in a boat & send it across the pond to me, I want to make 'Rueben sandwiches' for lunch tomorrow w beer-battered onion rings, TY

Ceejay ~ Whew I'm glad your Doc appt. is over & it doesn't appear to b a critical prob. Congrat's on having a good weight loss u deserve it w all the push-ups, etc. u r doing.

B back tomorrow, I'm watching the 'Glee' final episode.

Dee - I like your new avatar - so cute! I'm sorry but I need a raincheck on the rye bread. Didn't get to make it today - hope you like yours without seeds because I hate caraway. Rueben sandwiches - yum! I also bought a "cutting" glove after it was suggested to me by my friend the cafeteria manager. It's quite handy although I have to tack back the fingers because they are too long. You really only need one glove for the hand NOT holding the knife. As for pictures I generally post them to a free picture storage site and then just link them over to here, rather than doing thumbnails by uploading them here.

Thanks for posting the mandolin picture Laura. I have cut my hand on them too. I wish they made the guard more useful. Now I just use the cutting glove. They make the perfect sized slice of potatoes for cooking up. And an important trick I learned watching all those food channels is that the more uniform you dice/cut your raw food, the more evenly it cooks. No more burnt bits for this chick.

Here's the link to the tomato soup recipe - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/r...soup-ever.html What I did differently is that I sautéed the onions as indicated and tossed in the canned tomatoes. I then immediately added dried basil and fresh chopped parsley and let that simmer for 20 minutes. I have seen the Chopped (show) judges say that you need some time to cook the tinny taste from canned tomatoes. I skipped the sherry because although I personally love the bisque taste that sherry imparts, DH is not fond of it and I knew he'd be trying the soup. I did half the sugar as she suggests - tasting as we go along. All in all I let the soup simmer for about 45 minutes to build some flavors. As I said I thought it was quite good. I did use heavy cream only because I had it available to me. I generally use Fat Free half and half in creamy soup recipes.

Laura - for as long as I have ridden the train - since um 1979 - they have always used the fires to defrost the train switches. No derailments yet. I used to get nervous because sometimes that train seemed to get awfully tippy between the station and Clybourn. Either that or I was boozed up, can't quite remember. I was watching Railroad Alaska or something like that and 2 guys were repairing rails ahead of a loaded freight train. They cut one replacement piece too short and I was astounded that they literally lit the rail on fire in place and sure enough - it closed the gap so that the oncoming train didn't derail. I guess it doesn't take much to cause a problem. My BIL is a railroad guy - he could probably elaborate more. You poor thing - I could totally relate to your story about getting the bathroom finished with BF.

Ceejay - you are doing really well with the exercising. Keep it up! I hope the Zantac and keeping clean with eating resolve your tummy issues.

I am posting now as we have to take the car in for an oil change tomorrow. I am hoping we can stop at the Chinese Restaurant when we are done. I don't often get much Chinese food and I miss it. Tonight we got pizza - I should have skipped it and just warmed up a piece of salmon or crab cakes. Even though it was veggie pizza, still was not that satisfying although DH would not have gone out just for a pizza for himself. Anyway, tah tah for now and nighty night.

Annie Thanks for the welcome!

happy2bme Thanks! Yes, it is so nice to have a CSA. They were closed over xmas and new years, and we missed them so much. Now that we've had it I can't imagine going back. It's nice to see them every week, talk about recipes for food I've never seen before (like Kohlrabi!) and we always eat the fresh veggies from the farm first, so we end up eating a lot healthier too! I really hope we don't have to leave, but anywhere else we go I'll definitely look for a CSA again. As far as the job, it's a really great opportunity, and his bosses really want him higher up in the company because he is very good, and a hard worker. I want him to be able to move up soon, because he is ready, and wants to. It's just the not knowing what's going to happen next that scares me a little. Hopefully we will get some more information soon.

Laura That's sounds awful about the mandolin! I was actually planning on getting one, but maybe I shouldn't because I'm notorious for accidentally hurting myself. Last time I cut my thumb doing dishes, maybe a mandolin is not for me. Thanks for the welcome! Relocation would definitely be an adventure! I have mixed feelings about it, but I think I'm leaning towards relocation if we could head down to the Atlanta area, because we have good family there and friends that live there. My husband and I sat down and made a "chart" to help us think it out, and we are willing to either stay here, or relocate to ATL immediately, within 6 months we would move to the next city over, and then we would consider NC as well. I don't know why, but the idea of having to sell my house so we could relocate to a district 30 minutes away just... bothers me. Unfortunately because of the nature of my husband's job we can't really be more than 15 minutes away from his district, because then I would never see him. I would rather move 3-4 hours away if I have to sell my house!

Minidoodles I've had the same issue with uploading pics, I'm not very good at it. I'm going to try now and see if I can get it to work!

Nope... no pictures. I created a link on onedrive and used the enter URL image and it doesn't seem to be working. Oh well!

Okay lets try this again. Here is (hopefully) a picture of my garden:



And the first share from the farm 2015:

Yay it worked! Thank you photobucket!