Have I got some catching up to do! Bit like my work situation as well. Just haven't had the time or energy lately to post. Normally when DH goes abroad it's very quiet but I have had non stop visitors every weekend and through the week - they must think I need it, else it's the kittens that's the attraction. Sorry for any misunderstanding about the kittens, I meant that my DB and nephew so loved them they wanted to take them up north with them but not for real. They both loved my last cat Alfie and were always saying they would love to have him too but they have a golden spaniel *****.
Willow - thanks for the link to this site, thoughtful of you. I am sorry I missed your news about your wrist, how painful that must have been. What kind of a company do you work for which tries to get the doctor to sign you off and get you back to work!! I would try to make the sick leave last longer if I were you just to spite them for the way they have treated you. Thanks for the muffin recipie, I will probably try it when DH comes back home next thursday - it's been 5 weeks since he left. I howled out loud at your little Anthony's 'elephants' - must tell the girls in work.

Angel - that expression 'it never rains but it pours' certainly applies to you lately, though I did try to visualise you holding a brolly while you went to the loo! Did you have a lovely time when DS and DD had their kiddiwinks over to your place? As for a facial, I had one years ago and prompty fell asleep, think it was only my snoring that woke me it was so relaxing and gentle, especially when they massage between your eyebrows.
Sheila - no wonder you have been on a carb fest! Between the pain you've been in and the wedding stress I think I would be looking for something a lot stronger than cake to comfort me. Loved the kids comment in the car park though I didn't like it when my nephew was younger and he he said I looked like 'Murder She Wrote' - think I was only 40 then and Angela Landsbury was older than my mum at the time ha ha! Did you get your wedding outfit chosen? I have to get one for 20th July for DDs graduation ceremony - she officially became a doctor last friday, got a distinction in her results, so proud of her. I wish I hadn't stuffed myself since Xmas now as I would be a stone lighter! My workmate and I are starting again on monday - we were looking at the South Beach diet in the bookshop but decided on one which is based on 80% being good and 20% treats but lowish carbs and no carbs at all after 5pm. I will give it a go. We have also started back at the swimming pool. By the way, where is VA?

SunnyD - love the picture of the puss and your lovely garden. Glad you are feeling better now and back at curves. You did really well not to gain any weight during that time. Such a shock you had when you went to sing at the funeral and not knowing it was a friend of yours. As for all the flooding you people are having - we in the Uk are famous for not having proper summers but for weeks we have been in a heatwave and we are not used to it. Our office is not airconditioned and we were sent home two afternoons last week with the heat. We were supposed to be supplied with stand alone cooling units to go with the desk fans but if it's like last year, they'll probably arrive in October when we will be back in wooly sweaters!

Jacqui - you have certainly been through the mill lately with DH, MIL and DH in hospital. I hope your DSs visit brough some welcome relief into your life. Glad all seems to have settled down now but take care of yourself as it's usually when things settle that the one who had to stay strong comes down with something because they have been running on overdrive and their system runs down.

Bluet where are you dear friend, you are so missed. I know you have a lot on your plate and you probably don't have the time to post. Just remember that your friends miss you and you are a valued member of this site. x

Last weekend DS came home AGAIN - these kittens are a big attraction - and we had a picnic and a gentle 6 mile walk through the New Forest. Glorious day but he spent ages looking at lizards, dung beetles and other creepy crawlies he kept finding along the way - never left his kiddie bug collecting days behind him. Highlight of the day was a beautiful young fawn which jumped out of the forest in front of us.
DD is home for a week right now after her exam results and graduation ball. Came home from work to find the house all dusted, vaccumed and washing done - sweetie. She drove to London today to spend a couple of nights at her brother's flat. A crowd of them are going to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in concert. Arn't they a US band?
DH is back thursday and it seems like 5 months he's been away and not 5 weeks. Just hope this does not become a habit with the company.
Sorry this is so long - penalty for not posting more frequently.
SunnyD = I will access your photo and look at your new haircut.

Good Morning Friends
 

Good morning folks! I woke up early and I'm glad I did. It's looking
to be a beautiful day here. The sun is shining and it's 68 degrees at
7:45 AM.

I've already had my breakfast, Morningstar Farms veggie breakfast
sausages, eggs and toast with ICBINB on it. And my green tea. 6
points.

As soon as I get done posting all my messages etc I'm going to shower
and go down to my sons house to get ready for the parade.

My other son came yesterday and fixed my leaky faucet and another
leak on the valve. They didn't know until yesterday that my arm was
broken, and when he and my grandson got here, my grandson had brought
me flowers from their yard. Big, beautiful white peonys. His mom had
picked them for him to give to me. So nice of them. My house smells
so good now from the flowers.
It's so nice now to walk into the kitchen and not hear that blasted
thump, thump, thump, .....

Guess I better get a move on or I'll miss the parade! LOL!! It starts
at 1 PM!! See ya all later! Have a beautiful day! .....

Congrats on your DDs excellent showing on her results, Puss. It's still unbelievable to me that both your kids are going to be doctors. Your kids sound truly exceptional, and I'm betting it's because of you. :) And, yes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a U.S. band. Hey, five weeks IS a long time. I get antsy when my DH has to be gone a week. I'm glad you have your two kittens to keep you company, although it sounds like you had no lack of guests while your DH was gone. I hope work gets less stressful.

How was the parade, Willow? I hope you had a great time. That's nice of your son to fix your leak. That noise would drive me bonkers!

Hopefully everyone had a great weekend. I did! :) Although, Saturday was kind of frustrating. I got up the energy to go to the local mall to look for a mother-of-the-bride dress and found zilch. I did find a couple of tops that will be good with shorts, though, and bought my Dad some new clothes for Father's Day. I don't know what I'm going to do about a dress. I think I'm having trouble because I'm having visions of what I want to wear, and I can't find it. I did find the style--in black. I'm not wearing black to my daughter's wedding in Virginia (that's what VA stands for, Puss) where it's hot and steamy. But I bought the dress to take with me to show salespeople what I'm looking for.

On Sunday, my DH and I went for a Father's Day luncheon cruise out on Puget Sound. It was an incredible day for the cruise. Wouldn't you know we forgot our camera? The mountains looked fantastic, the water was blue, lots of sailboats. We saw all the ritzy homes on Bainbridge Island, which is across the Sound from Seattle. The luncheon was excellent--I had salmon and veggies (I passed on the garlic potatoes, although I love them, and we didn't get a bread basket) and the waitperson rounded up a couple of strawberries for me to eat for dessert while my DH enjoyed the Tower of Chocolate Decadence. We did come home to 86 degrees in the house, but we'd left the window A/C on in our room so we mostly hung out there.

My Dad just will not open his windows, and he hasn't been feeling well lately, which I'm sure is because of the heat. He also doesn't drink enough, and I notice (because he doesn't flush often enough) that his urine is really dark, which is a sign of dehydration. I tried to talk to people at the clinic where his doctor is, but they weren't interested. All I can do is try to feed him foods that contain a lot of liquid and hope for the best. If it's 86 in my part of the house with fans blowing, then it's much warmer in his room.

Another hot day here. I'm looking forward to the cool down to the high 70s. Have a good one, everyone!

Good Morning Friends!
 

Good morning Sheila and all,
Sheila, I worry too about Dad getting over heated. When we get older, we don't realize how the temps are affecting us. Would he listen to reason if you were to try to explain to him that he could end up in the hospital if he gets overheated, or that it could be fatal? From what I've heard about him, .... I doubt he would. :lol: I'm sorry you have to have that worry on top of everything else.

Your weekend sounded idyllic. You and Puss do such ....ritzy... things. And I'm jealous! :p :lol:

Well, it's another nice sunny morning here.

I've been up for over two hours, and don't feel like I've really accomplished anything yet.
It's time to renew my prescriptions and I get mine filled through the mail, and our insurance company recently changed mail pharmacies, so I had to fill out all new forms and get new prescriptions written by my Dr.

Got that done, and then I tackled this disability insurance claim AGAIN from way back in the first part of May. Things are really screwed up.
I am now waiting for them to call me back yet again!

I finally finished my laundry about 9:30 last night, but that wasn't bad considering the phone calls, and that I had bedding to do up from two extra beds also.

I just had breakfast at 9:30! Had my high fiber cereals and fresh blueberries with splenda and skim milk. (6.5 points) I don't like the aftertaste of regular whole milk. I never have, and I never was much of a milk drinker because of that, but since I've been an adult and discovered skim milk, I drink that and use it in my foods. I like it. We never had such a thing as a kid. In fact, we seldom drank milk. We used Carnation evaporated from the can with water added to it for cereal. Sounds gross now, but it didn't seem real bad back then.
In case you couldn't tell, .... we were very poor.
I'm not sure yet what I'm having for lunch. I have to go to the store for more cereals and some fresh veggies, so maybe I'll just have veggies and dip for lunch. I have a couple hamburger patties already made in the freezer, so I think I'll pop those into the microwave and put a slice of fat free cheese on them and have veggies with it for supper.

I better get moving here. I want to go visit my brother today too for a while. He's a diabetic and not doing very well health-wise.
I'll be back later. Have a great day.

Good Morning Friends
 

Hi Charlotte!
You need some sunshine! I'm glad you posted though! Take care. We're thinking of you.

Another day of sunshine, ... for a while anyway. It's suppose to rain later, but, it's nice to wake up to sunshine anyway.

I had a real good day yesterday. Ate well, and went shopping for my cereals and some more fresh fruits and veggies. They had colored peppers on sale at 3 for $.99, so I got 3 of each. I had some with other veggies with supper last night and today I'll cut up the rest and put them in with my stir fry veggies.

I mix all my high fiber cereals together and store them in my big tupperware containers.

A couple days ago I read that the disease SCURVY is making a comeback, and the experts say it's because of the low carb diets. People aren't getting enough vitamin C, they say. That is gotten in a lot of fruits and vegetables, even POTATOES! it said. I guess I didn't know potatoes had vit. C. But, especially citrus fruits and strawberries.
The article said that the main first symptom is feeling tired out and kind of weak, bleeding or sore gums and headaches, and most people are treated for other things by their physicians, or just don't even go to the Dr. So, I guess if you're on a low carb diet, it would be wise to take a vitamin C supplement daily. Smoking also interferes with the absorption of vitamin C.

I need to get busy here and get outside before it clouds up.

Everybody have a nice day! Be back later!

Hello,

Charlotte, I'm so sorry you're not doing so well. Hopefully your next treatment, and some warm sun, will make things better for you soon.

Willow, a stir fry sounds so good that I had my DH buy some peppers, and I think I'll stir fry some shrimp and veggies. Today we went to Applebee's for lunch where I had one of the Weight Watchers meals that they feature. It was pretty darn good. Since I've been trying to limit the carbs and eliminate the sugar, I didn't have the low points dessert, but I really wanted to! Oh, and you're so right about my dad--stubborn as stubborn can be.

The heat wave broke the other day so we're now enjoying some cool and cloudy weather. At least I'm enjoying it! I'm really quite the heat wuss. Yesterday my dang tooth that was root canaled last fall was bothering me to bits. I ended up calling an endodondist and hopefully he can figure out what's going on with it. My dentist, who did the work, said there wasn't anything he could see that would cause it to hurt so much. It was okay for a while, but yesterday I couldn't chew anything on that side, and if there was any pressure on the tooth, I about went through the roof. Today it's only slightly throbbing.

Have to go dress shopping again on Saturday. I really don't like shopping, although it's certainly more tolerable now that I'm a smaller size. I can't believe how difficult it is finding the right dress for my daughter's wedding. I know just what I want, too, which may be why I'm having so much trouble. Made the appointment to have my hair colored next Friday. That "oh, it's a grandma" remark still rankles. :)

Turns out my old boss who now works in DC lives three blocks from the hotel we're staying at when we do a little side trip to DC in July. We're going to meet him for dinner. I'm looking forward to that. He really was my mentor more than anything, and it will be great to see him again and catch up with his life.

Here's hoping the sun comes back for Charlotte--and I hope that Puss, Jacquie, and Bluet come back soon!

Question For Everyone
 

Does anyone know of a song from way, way back, title MIGHT be "Little
Jack" that has words similar to;
"He wore a tattered pair of pants, a ragged roundabout, and through a
hole in his hat a lock of hair stuck out."
then there was something about them pulling his battered body from
underneath a train, .....
It would be an old song, like maybe something our parents or
grandparents would sing.

I'd LOVE to get my hands on the lyrics to it. Thanks!

Sorry, Willow, I've never heard of that song. Have you tried putting it into a search engine? Hope you find it.

I'm just stopping by for a minute to say that I finally won my battle with a couple of pounds I've been losing and gaining for the past two months. I lost 2 "virgin" pounds today, which puts me at 188, and 73 lbs. lost. My WW leader didn't notice that I'd already received my award for 70 lbs. lost, and she gave me another award. I wasn't going to tell her I already got one a couple of months ago! :) Now on to 75 lbs. lost. Hopefully it will happen before I leave for Virginia. Guess it's up to me to make it happen. . .

Have a good weekend everyone!

GOOD JOB, SHEILA! cONGRATULATIONS!
 

Sheila, I am so darned happy for you I wish I could be there to give you a big old hug! You have worked so hard for this and you've accomplished something already that has me very envious, but I'm also delighted for you.
I just know you're going to go on to your goal. YOU ROCK!!

I'll see you later!

A Beautiful Day Here!
 

Another morning of waking up to sunshine! I love it!
I was outdoors for about an hour yesterday morning, and then last night my daughter-in-law came over with the kids and we went out to visit her mother who used to live next door to me. She lives by the lake and we sat outside for a couple of hours, until the mosquitos (Minnesota's state bird! ) drove us indoors.

I'm trying to strengthen the muscles in my knee and get some exercise at the same time. The handlebars on my exercise bike move also when you ride the bike. I disconnected the right-hand handlebar so it doesn't move when I pedal, and I rest my cast on that handlebar and ride the bike. Works pretty slick!

I'm hungry for french toast this morning, so I'm going to make up a loaf of low calorie-whole wheat bread into french toast and freeze the slices on a cookie sheet and then put them into zip lock bags and keep them in the freezer and then just pop a couple into the toaster or microwave when I want some.

I used the last of my fresh strawberries yesterday morning, and when my DIL came over last night, she and the kids had been picking strawberries at a place that sells them, (you can go out in the field and pick your own, then pay for them when leaving) and she brought me a quart of freshly picked strawberries. She is the most thoughtful girl! I love her to death! She said the kids ate more berries than they put in the containers and their faces were full of juice when they went to pay for the berries. She said, how do you pay for berries that have been eaten already?

Anyway, I'm going to try to get outdoors again today as much as I can. my swing cushions should be dried out now so I can sit out there and read when I want to take a rest.

Everybody have a wonderful day. be back later!

Monday, ... A good day!
 

Another week begins.

Today was my weigh day, and I lost 4 more pounds. That's 10 pounds in the past two weeks. Yippee!!

It must have been a busy weekend for everyone.

For breakfast I'm having my mixed high fiber cereals and fresh strawberries and blueberries with skim milk and green tea.

For lunch I'm having tuna salad made with FF mayo and celery on a rice cake.

For supper I'm having pollock walleye with mixed fresh veggies and low cal. whole wheat toast.

Guess I'll have breakfast now and then go ride my exercise bike.

Everybody have a great day.

Wow, Willow--how exciting! You're doing so darn well. And that was pretty inventive with the exercise bicycle. Hey, did you ever find the song lyrics?

The weekend was supposed to be cloudy, but we didn't see a cloud in the sky either day. On Saturday I went dress shopping again. I had in mind exactly what I wanted, but ended up with something totally different. Plus I was so ticked at the size I had to get. I thought shopping at an upscale store like Nordstrom would mean that I would be able to fit in a smaller size, but just the opposite was true. I can wear a Target sz. 14 and a Penney's sz. 12 shirt, but the dress I got at Nordstrom was a sz. 16W. I've worked so hard to remove that "W" from my clothing. I did have to have some alterations done, but that still doesn't make up for wearing a size that I don't want to wear anymore. Oh, well. It's one day and one dress.

We spent a good portion of the weekend doing that ever present yardwork. We had a whole bunch of weeding and pruning of overgrown shrubs. It was pretty exhausting, especially in the heat. Okay, I know that our heat isn't anything like anybody else's heat, but I still don't like it. Also spent an hour on the phone talking with friends from Virginia who will be at the wedding. They're going to sit in the front row with us and play aunt and uncle since my DH and I are the only family coming.

Another beautiful day, followed by more beautiful days, according to the weather guy. I have to have a tooth re-rootcanaled on Thursday. Yuck!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Saying Hello,
 

Hi Sheila,
No, I never found the lyrics to that song, but when it started, my search wasn't for myself, it was for my nephews wife who's grandma sang it to her when she was little.

I wouldn't be too upset about that dress. I've tried clothes on many times and had two different brands and one would fit and another would be too small or too big and they SAID they were both the same size. Same with shoes.

I've been writing my foods and exercise out on another board I have and I think it helps to put it out there where people see it. I'm not so tempted to gain then and have to explain. :o

Geez, that wedding is getting mighty close, huh? Are you getting nervous? Or is the Mister worse than you? They usually are with daughters.

Oh, ..... a re-root canal! Didn't you just have that one done about a year ago? And didn't you have problems with it hurting after they finished it? Maybe I have you mixed up with someone else.

I didn't ride my exercise bike yesterday, but I rode it for an hour today, so maybe that kinda made up for yesterday.

I better go start my supper. Have a good evening!

Hello to all the rest!

You've got a good memory, Willow. Yes, I had that tooth rootcanaled in October or thereabouts. It's been bothering me off and on ever since so it was kind of a relief to discover there's an infection in the canal. You know, I had a previous root canal that had to be redone because of an infection. So I'll be 0-2 after this one. :( I'm really hoping I won't have to have another one ever again. I'd be glad if I didn't have to have another crown, too.

I find it really helpful to write down what I eat. Of course, on WW, you need to do something like that to know how many points, but I like the act of writing (or keying it because I do it on another board, too) down what I've eaten. Riding your exercise bike for an hour--wow!

Neither of us are nervous about the wedding. I figure it's her life. We're looking forward to getting away, however. I need a break from Dad. Of course, I'll worry about him when I'm gone, but we're both glad of some time away. He's going to see the neurologist while we're gone, and I'll be interested to know what she thinks.

Hope today was a good one for everyone, wherever you are!