Good Morning All...Quick post as I am so far behind in all my work...You know being off on Wednesday sure messes up things (report day)... My knee is the size of a watermelon. Nothing broke or torn. Just out of place and huge. Altho something snapped yesterday in my knee and that has reduce the swelling and pain. Amen. Getting better I hope. Ice, a brace and crutches are my friends...oh and pain meds. I did make it to work. Yeah!

What the heck is the Jenny Craig add on my post, did I miss something?

Knee
 

Ouchie

Morning all. We’re getting a weather warm-up the next several days. Should be nice…except for the wind that’s bringing in this nice warm air. Can’t do anything about that, so I’ll just enjoy the mild temps.

Ceejay – I hope you enjoyed your day off. How nice you have a trip to look forward to! Re veggie soup – someone brought a package of celery sticks and baby carrots to our Super Bowl gathering to go with the chicken wings they brought. No one touched them, so I think I will be using those for soup this weekend.

Shad – Yes, now I see some adverts within the body of some of our posts. I guess the site doesn’t maintain itself. People and money needed. ---Sorry the hot and dry weather will not let up in your part of the world. At least ODDU is a smart beast and knows where to find a cool spot. I’m sure if the water supply gets too strained, residents will be forced to give up their lawns and change the type of gardens they grow. It’s been done here in Las Vegas and it’s starting to happen in California. ---Re the vertical gardens, I’ve seen those at the flower/garden show – really pretty and clever, but like any pot, they dry out much more quickly than plants in the ground. Vertical farms are those set up inside multi-story buildings using artificial lighting, etc. Check out farmedhere.com. ---Oh, “sin taxes” they are sometimes called over here. Cigarettes, soda. Wonder how much they help.

Annie – Glad to hear (read) nothing is torn or broken with your knees. But the swelling sounds awful. Glad it’s going down, though the word “snapped” sounds alarming. Feel better soon sister.

Hellos to the rest of you. :wave:
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Another uneventful day yesterday. I went to bed a bit early and slept well. I’m getting accustomed to this nightguard and bf reports I’m as quiet as a church mouse.

We received our “Griddler”. Maybe I’ll thaw some of the marinated chicken breasts and we’ll break in this new appliance tomorrow for dinner.

Speaking of appliances…did I mention that our dryer seems to be leaving dark marks on our towels? I’m pretty sure it’s the dryer and not the washer. Nothing on my clothes because most of them are just fluffed in the dryer for a few minutes and then hung to dry. BF reports some marks on his t-shirts. Hmmm. This dryer came with the house and was already old, so now it’s 16 years older. We will not put out money for a service visit. May do some googling to see what the problem might be, but we will probably see a new dryer in our future…

Once again I have gotten caught up in this work stuff and not posted. Oh Annie, ugh, that knee looks awful. Thank goodness for pain meds!!

Good morning chicks,

As Shad very succinctly pointed out - they have changed the site around. Ads that formerly appeared at the side now look like they are imbedded in your posts. I'm not a fan of this and I take it from growing comments, neither are many of the chicks on this site. We'll have to see what comes of it. Guess we can't complain much since we aren't paying for anything. :^: But we are still allowed to say that is off putting. :mad:

Annie - oh you poor girl :hug: That knee looks SO PAINFUL. You must have hit cement really hard. And to have to go to work on top of it all. I think you need a padded bumper around your desk or that already swollen knee. Be careful moving your chair from side to side - those desk drawers catch everything. :headache: How long will this take to recover? I think you need to scoot around the office in your office chair on wheels. Be careful and I hope you get to feeling better soon. :hug:

Shad - it's funny to hear you say that you are "done with summer". The warm season is so short for us, we never really feel that way although many of us are happy to see the tourists clear town when the chilly season returns. Summer for us is fleeting - although ours is much more pleasant than yours is. I can hear the birds starting to sing their pre-spring songs - they get more vocal as spring approaches and we are all anticipating the return of warm weather even though it has not really been a bad winter - just very gray with little sun. I imagine it must be difficult to deal with hot and dry and water conservation. I will always be boggled that you used gray water for your plants one particularly hard year. You are right about the rocket needing alot of area to spread out. And it gets spindly too so not alot of output for the space used. Wish it could grow in those wall packets / vertical gardens. DH loves the fresh over the bagged and it's one of the things he asks me to devote space to but even here we have a short season before it flowers and bolts out. I must remember to sew seeds in April. See that's the other thing too - and I think we have discussed it - at least on this side of the pond they recommend carrots for cool weather - the cooler the weather, the sweeter the carrots they say.

Oh shoot - just remembered the small farmers market that they have at the hospital is today and I need some eggs and herbs. Only an hour left for the sale - I will be back later to post more.

Hi Everyone
Work has been off the chain this week. I have come home each night and worked at least another 3 hours or more.

Next week my Director is traveling for two weeks. I will have my AD to contend with for next week and then she is traveling for 2 weeks. I am looking forward to working and not having constant interruptions.

I went to TOPS tonight and was was up .25 lbs. Not to bad as I missed my weigh-in last week.

I saw Shad's advice to get moving...she is so right. I will heed it Shad!

I am posting using my phone so short post this time. Will do personals this weekend.

Annie, your knee! You poor thing. I hope it is feeling better each day.

That is all for now.

Good Morning/Night All....

First day at work yesterday, made it till 2:15, but that is ok, as I was here at 6:45. Got my reports from Wednesday done and out, even got a few other "important" things done, such as my compliance training for the quarter. Even got a few of the compliance training done for the remainder of the year. Joyous!

Funny the knee is hurting a little more today than yesterday. I did frozen pea ice bag is down when I got home yesterday and then again before I went to bed. Sassy is loving that I lay around with this knee thing, such a snuggle bug. I threw a piece of frozen roast, potatos, onions and carrots in the the pressure cooker with beef broth (low sodium) just a hint of garlic olive oil and pepper, let it sizzle away for an hour and poof, dinner was ready. Sis dropped the kidlets off and C babysat mostly. Well he played with the kids all evening except while we all ate, while Sis went to yoga. Royce came the bedroom later while I was icing knee and said, Nanna I get on bed with you. Melt my heart you little turkey. Wonderful evening. Enough leftover food to throw it in a pot to make veggie soup. Yeah! C informed me he is eating leftover pizza tonight so "don't worry about making dinner". Now that can be taken two ways, I will take it the loving way instead of, who said I was even making dinner in the first place. hahaha.

Personals will be short or non-existent.

HAPPY...recovery and how long this knee thing will go on is really up to me and when I can take walking without crutches and only a brace. Time is my friend and I am not rushing it as too many things already hurt.

Make it a great day all, Love and Hugs and Hello to all.

Morning all. Happy Friday, TGIF! The annual bonuses got paid out today, so that makes it even better. AND it’s currently 56 degrees and sunny here. :sunny: It was so nice to wear my shorter, lighter jacket and sneakers to work today. :) I’ll be sure to get out at lunchtime. Along with everyone else, I’m sure. :D

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Happy – Did you make it to the farmers market yesterday? What did you pick up?

Susie – Oh how crummy you’ve been working so much overtime. It’s good that you’ll have a period with fewer disruptions. That .25 could be anything, no worries. You’ll see what next week brings.

Annie – I’m sorry your knee is hurting more today. Hope the icing and pain meds help. Sounds like a tasty dinner last night. C’s lucky you didn’t put him on dinner duty!! Awww, nice of little R. to keep his grammy company. :)

Dee posted on the Fitbit users thread this morning. She had an injury to her hand in January and said to say hi. She’ll be back posting when it’s healed.

Hope everyone else has/had a lovely Friday.

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I did a BE workout last night, and did my plank challenge. Had to do two days of the plank challenge because I totally forgot about it the night before. :doh: I’m all caught up now, and have gotten through 10 days.

No plans for the weekend. I cancelled my dentist appointment for tomorrow – I’m still getting soreness, but nothing too bad, and I think I just need to see how this nightguard thing goes for another week.

The big project will be to work on the paper clutter this weekend.

Off to post. TTFN.

Hi kids,

Seems to be alot of grumbling about changes on the forum. People are most upset it seems about them changing the ad placement. I wonder if they are doing this to facilitate viewing on smartphones and tablets? Don't know, don't care as I have neither of them.

A friend sent me a cookbook of light recipes from Food Network. It's a new book called "The Best and Lightest". There are so really yummy recipes in there. Here's an example that is also on their website available to anyone who wants a look. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f...urry-soup.html I have been plugging a few good looking recipes into WW to determine the points and so far I am getting annoyed. I'm not sure what is so awful about this recipe - probably the LF coconut milk and starchy lentils but it comes out being half my points for the day! :tantrum: Yes, I know if I ate a fast food meal of cheeseburger, fries and soda it would be ALL my points for the day and totally unhealthy but this is really getting frustrating to eat healthier and find things so pointy. All because they want to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables so they upped the points on non fruit & vegs to make up for it. Seems one must eat sugar free options, fruit salad and veg salad to stay within points. No cheese, bread or dressings either - thank you. I don't know how people who are at goal weight manage to survive. I did lose another pound at weigh in. I told DH as long as it keeps coming off I will be happy even if it is agonizingly slow.

My whole body has been hurting the last few days. Probably part of the physical therapy - I am forgetting to drink lots of water. We have rain moving in also which I'm sure affects things. It almost seems the more I work it, the worse I feel. Am trying to push through it.

This weekend - starting yesterday is the big cross country ski race up here. World class - people from all over the world descending into town. Our weather is not cooperating. We are above freezing, some rain yesterday, more today. They say that the snow is fairly deep out in the woodland trail so the rain won't affect that much but as they head into town to the finish line, there is a wooden bridge they have built so that the skiers can go over the main road (in prior years they closed it down completely and it was a traffic mess). They gatherered/made/dumped a snow cover over the bridge, not sure how well the snow will stay packed. I'm sure the trail groomers have their work cut out for them this year. Yesterday they had a fun run - the Barkie Berkie - where people can ski a race with their dogs tethered in front of them. I think about 150 dogs were in that run. They also do a race with 6 "man" teams on a set of of giant skis they are all attached to. Talk about teamwork! Must be more difficult than it looks judging from how people are doing it. All these people - 13,000 in the main race alone - makes for me to stay put for the next several days. I won't go back to town until Monday. I plan on doing some housework, some decluttering and planning out some recipes for the week.

I did get to the farmer's market yesterday. Picked up potatoes, baby bok choy, kolrabi, kale, celery tops (for soup), 2 dozen chicken eggs (they have duck eggs too but somehow I can't get my head around that), a bag of apples, frozen raspberries and some small onions. They did not have any carrots yesterday. I passed on the lettuces - I find many of them a bit bitter for my tastes - I prefer romaine or arugula.

I also bought an electric pressure cooker - Instant Pot. It is not quite as "instant" as one would think as it takes time to saute - slower than doing it in a pan on the stove I think and it also takes time to build enough heat/steam to come to pressure. And depending on how you have to cook things - some items cook additionally as the pot releases pressure naturally as opposed to a steam release - it can take about 45 minutes to actually cook a dish that only takes 12 minutes of pressured cooking time. I made a Mexican chicken dish for tortillas which came out really tender. Used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and Rotel brand tomatoes and spices and shredded the chicken with forks. DH really liked it - was a bit spicier than I would have liked it. But we also realized this would probably make a really good chicken pot pie base. Going to try that this week. Today is meatless Fridays for me until Easter. This is a challenge dieting because the non meat proteins - eggs, cheese - tend to be more points. I made a chicken vegetable cheese tortellini soup on Tuesday that was quite good also. It does have a chicken stock as a base so that's out for today. My standard grilled cheese and tomato soup would probably cost most of my allotment today unless I ate half a serving - DH would be happy to eat my extra portion.

Laura - payday and bonuses and 60 degree weather - how can it get much better? Any plan for the bonus? My mom was commenting on the weather yesterday - said it was "warmer" but still felt damp and chilly and she said it's been too warm out there - a great breeding ground for cold and flu viruses. Thanks for the update on Dee - she's had her share of medical woes these past few months. Do you see a difference with abs definition / core strength after finishing your plank challenge? If you have gotten 16 years from the dryer and it was old when you got it, I'd say you have lucked out quite well. I have to admit I have never had the dryer go out - our first laundry pair from JC Penney (hard to believe they once sold appliances like Montgomery Wards and Sears) lasted us probably about 16 years also. I replaced the dryer not because it needed it, but just because of it's age when the washer finally died. I still have the Maytag dryer we bought in 2004 and it's going strong while the washer that is about 7 years old is going to need replacing probably next year. The dryer has an upper drying cabinet as well as the bottom dryer, I hate to replace it - probably could sell it as they only made it for 2 years. I don't use the upper cabinet anywhere near as much as I used to, certainly not enough to justify keeping it. You will be blown away by the large capacity of washers and dryers now a days. Boy that night guard sure is taking it's time settling into your mouth. :(

Annie - you are a trouper trudging around work. It's good that you don't have snow right now. Don't need the chance to slip. Use the crutches as long as you need support. I really laughed at your comment about C and dinner. Sometimes I get a bit testy about that when DH casually asks "what's for dinner" - like I've been thinking about it ALL DAY LONG. But then I have to put myself in check - he's not doing it to be demanding, he knows I usually plan meals ahead of time so he's asking out of curiosity and I'm sure a bit of a nudge if he's hungry and I'm not in the process of cooking something soon. How cute that Royce came to bed to keep you company :D Wish they could stay little longer. :^: Are the pain meds helping at all?

Susie - yikes that's crazy working an extra 3 hours each night - considering you have at best about 5 hours tops once you get home and you have to make dinner, do chores and clean up and get to bed at a reasonable hour. You don't get any of that extra time back either. :( Bummer on the weigh up but it was just a smidge and sometimes that happens. Was it because you were really busy and didn't have alot of time to prepare things? Just keep doing the best you can.

Shad - that's an awful lot more people to add to an already large city? Population boom of babies or are people flocking to the city because of the area or jobs? Seems like that would put an incredible strain on an already delicate water situation. Sounds like universal health care is not without it's problems. I am in favor of paying a bit as you go with rebates and discounts
(incentives) for living a more healthful lifestyle. Spread the costs a bit.

Ceejay - yes, plan out your vacations and enjoy them while vacations still mean much to you. Being retired - Friday is just another day now unless you consider it Fish Fry Friday. I said holidays and the joy of time off is not quite the same when you are not working regularly. Still it's fun to plan for the next phase of your life. Buy those expensive things you need while you still have a paycheck. ;)

Michelle - hope you can squeeze in some extra training time during your busy schedule. How did the website updates go or are you still working on them?

Time to go find something for lunch. Have a good weekend everyone.

Happy – I understand your points frustration. I think one of my “resentments” of WW was that the points were “biased”, and at the time I was a member, I believe fiber was one of the favored nutrients. As I’ve said before, many times I just wanted a calorie to be a calorie and not worry about a points value. Congrats on another pound lost. May it never be found again. :D ---So does your PT person also have you doing at-home exercises, beside rolling your problem areas? ---The Mexican chicken recipe sounds tasty – similar to the one I made, but mine had corn and black beans as well.---I’d not considered the additional time for the pressure cooker to de-pressurize itself.---No plans for the bonus yet, but it will be set aside and hopefully some of it will eventually be used for a vacation. Otherwise, I think it will also be used for household projects…and possibly a new dryer. I’m sure the newer dryers have all kinds of great features, but I just can’t get too excited over a dryer. I actually hang dry quite a bit of my own clothing. ---I absolutely saw a difference after doing the plank challenge, but I have to say that at the time, I might have also been doing a kettlebell class, which had a ton of core work and would have contributed more than the planks alone. But once you get to the longer length planks, it’s definitely more challenging, and your whole core is working hard. --- Hope you have everything you need to stay in the house all weekend!

It didn't let me post the first time. Said I didn't have permission.
So I' will make this brief and go call my aunt to see how she is doing. Then try again

Good morning chicks,

DH decided he wants to try and take pictures of the skiers at the finish line today so I'm going with him so he has a place to park. I will help out my buddy at the shop while DH stands out in the cold with hundreds of bell ringers. It's a tradition for the onlookers to ring cow bells as the skiers race to the finish. Will catch up later.

Morning all,
Not much to report here. We did get some good rain on Friday night, but there needs to be more. The corn is up and growing and we have put up a temporary fence to stop ODDU from trampling the garden. Tomatoes are getting a move on and the lettuce is sitting up looking perky. Can't ask for much more. This is what the rain here does. Everything just grows frantically after rain, then has to adjust to tap water which contains chemicals.

I won't do personals at the moment - just hope you all have a happy, profitable and moving (physically Saturday/ Sunday) and that Annies knee is coming along.

I'm going to try to post one more time. It keeps saying that I don't have permission to post. hmmm!
But it will let me post one sentence. another hmm.

Maybe they will get things straight one day.

I'm going to try this one more time. I actually had to register for my account!
I'm in Paragould. Had lunch with the uncles and a good visit. Then went to visit with my aunt. She looked really good, but she was ready for a nap when I was getting ready to leave. She had to stop her treatment due to the fact that her sodium level had bottomed out. They are hoping that she can start back next week. My uncle scolded me for not coming out to there house on the week ends. I told them that I felt like I would be in the way. He said no you are not. It would probably be a comfort for them if I were there at night.
I'm tucked away in a hotel room which faces the parking lot again. ugh. However, I don't think it is a light as the first time here.
My trip to the dermatology office showed that I lot another 1.2 pounds. keep on keeping on.
No personals. Just to see if this will post.
Yeah it posted.
-----
Annie
Take care of the knee. A question since you fell on the parking lot will that be considered a workman's comp claim? Sending you good vibes for recovery and for each family member.