Okay here's a new home for the month of June. I imagine Lois would have started a new one but since she has computer problems I guess she just hasn't been able to do it.

Hi guys! Just posted on here to get the subscription started, so I don't lose ya'll! Have a great day!

Nova Scotia had rain last night and once again you literally can watch the grass growing. It's going to be a humid day today, but at least it isn't too hot.

Shawn . . . After reading your post I decided to try a frozen peach slice . . . not too bad at all. In fact, considerably better than I would have expected. Thanks for putting me on to a new treat.

Liliann . . . good for you getting back on track and you are so right about how easy it is to lose sight of portion sizes.

Tina . . . oh how awful for you and, of course, for the poor cat. According to Paul (mechanic) the particular little spot where my mouselets were hanging out is both warm and safe and the baby critters can just ride around with you until they are old enough to leave the nest without coming to any harm. I honestly felt a little sorry about evicting them but they were doing damage . . . expensive damage.

Cheryl . . . have a great personal long weekend. See you when you get back.

Ryanmi . . . for some reason I always found that four-day weeks seemed long, too. BTW, I've never even tasted Dr. Pepper. I'm a Pepsi person when I drink soft drinks at all. My 'beverage of choice' really is water.

Erin . . . yep, that really does sound sick. Wow, do I ever wish I could catch that bug. In my family, I'm known as the repository of 1001 useless facts. I really love trivia. Over the years, I collected bunches of it on just about every topic you can think of.

Here's some FFF for today . . . about nuts . . .

. . . Clinical studies have shown that nuts help with weight loss, but nobody as yet has figured out why. But try to stay with about 1 serving (1 oz) a day because they are very high in calories . . . Macadamia nuts are the highest in calories . . . Almonds are the lowest . . . Roasted nuts (dry or oil roasted) are even higher in calories and usually contain a lot of extra salt . . . Peanuts are actually a legume not a nut at all although they are still very high in calories and fat.

Have a great day of moving and shaking and heading in the downward direction, chickies. See you soon (hopefully you all make it over here).

Good Morning Girls. Not much to report on here just the same old stuff going on. I am at work and didnt want to get up this morning. Actually it seems here lately I am having a really hard time getting up in the mornings. I have even started taking vitamins thinking maybe that would help but it hasn't. Oh well what can you do?
Tina – it is nice to have that snuggle time. Don’t worry about missing a little exercise to spend time with the hubby. I would love to have snuggle time but with 4 kids there is never a chance.
Lillian – glad to have you back. Sounds like you have done some serious thinking and know which way you want to go now. I think you will find the anti-depressants will give you more motivation to stick to your plan. I don’t think I would be doing as well with out mine.
Linda – Mice can create some expensive problems cant they. Last year we had one get into our Central Heat and Air unit and chew up the wiring harness, thank goodness we were home when it shorted out if we hadn’t our house would probably have burned down.
Shawn – I haven’t had a chance to get a look at your babies yet(my computer at work has that site blocked) but I am hoping to get there soon. I love kids at the toddler age. I love to watch them learn. My youngest turns 5 in July and I just love to hear him say his ABC’s or tell a story.
Cheryl – hope you have fun on your long weekend. Sorry to hear you are having pet problems. Isn’t it weird how we get so attached to our animals? I don’t know what I would do without my little Chihuahua, his name is Taco and I just love him.
Ryanmi – We just had kindergarten graduation with my 5 year old and it was so fun. They sang songs and did sign language to one of them. Of course I cried like a baby to see my little boy so grown up.
Erin – I guess the threats worked for the scales cause they were back to normal today. I weighed the same as my Sunday weight so I wasn’t too upset with them. I would have liked to see a drop but I will be happy with a “no gain”. I am happy to hear you are still in a good mood, it makes life so much easier.
I have found a few "Did You Know's" I thought were interesting so here goes.

Good moring girls. Not much new to report on my home front. At 9am this morning it was already 20C. I'm already complaining...lol! I was thinking of the swimming pool, thanks Shawn! But not sure if public swim is during the day aswell as evening. Gotta make a phone call I suppose.

Cheryl, oh your poor pup! How many will he have to get pulled? I love stir fry so fast and healthy. Enjoy your time with your hubby this weekend.

Ryan, graduation sounds really cute. Would love to hear the rendition of "First grade, First grade", I bet it was funny. Good job with the icecream! Fortunately last summer an icecream shop opened up that sold fat free frozen yogurt in chocolate, strawberry, french vanilla and cheesecake flavors. It's so good you'd think you're cheating.

Liliann, thanks for the bravo. I'm excited for you today! You're really taking control and putting this weight loss effort into your mindful hands!

Erin, I'm just loving the enthusiasm coming from your posts lately...I just wanna give you a big !! You're welcome by the way for the rubbing off! hahaha! But seriously you are starting to sound like my thoughts...it's scarey! Lastnight on the treadmill I was saying to myself..."self! I think you were sweating more at this point yesterday...so I uped the inclined and added a few more beeps to the speed. When the sweat was running down my face, neck and back....I said now it's working! Yes, I really am that insane! hahaha! Do you like icecream? I have a major sweet tooth...no..no..no...that won't do...I have major sweet teeth! After dinner each evening I have a serving of Breyers Smart Scoop Icecream..Chocolate fudge brownie, to be exact. Only 1.5g fat and 110 calories. Thanks for the encouragement...it helps more than you know. Yeah, I heard on Oprah that a handful of walnuts a day can do wonders for you. Can't remember the specifics though...I could look it up I guess.

Linda, I am an animal fan. I couldn't kill anything unless it's a bug. So I know how you feel about feeling for the little critters. You're right they're cute as long as they don't cost harm or money! LOL! I remember one time (when I used to work) at my office there was a mouse sleeping in my bosses wifes slipper. My co-worker wanted me to slam the broom down on it...but I couldn't. I instead put a garbage can infront of it..woke it up and it ran into the can and I carried it outside to let it go. LOL!

Robbin, I would suggest a second honeymoon for you and hubby...but I would be scared of you having a fifth!! hahaha! Thanks though..I did enjoy some alone time with him.

Have a great day ladies. I know I will try to!

TTFN!
~Tina

Evening Ladies...Busy day shopping with hubby in Fargo, but we had fun. Hubby bought me a new mower, so you know what I will be doing for exercise tomorrow. LOL We want to get our yard work done before we are gone on Sunday and Monday, so it will probably take most of the day. Really warm today. I'm enjoying the central air right now. The fairy fat mother paid me a visit, I'm down 2 pounds. My little Ozzy is doing much better. It's amazing how fast antibotics work. Don't know how many teeth they will have to pull, but I just want him to feel better and not be in pain.
Going to do a few personals and be back and do some more in the morning if I have time.

Shawn...Your girls are beautiful and I'm sure keep you very busy. I have to tell you that my hubby and his brother look so much a like, that when I was engaged to my husband, I hadn't met his brother. Well, his brother came for a visit, knocked on the door and I thought it was my intended. Boy, did he get the biggest lip lock!!! That's how I met my future brother-in-law.LOL Of course now I know the difference between the two of them.

Liliann...I'm so happy to hear you have not given up on yourself. You are so worth this Liliann. We are here for you. Give your meds a chance to do there stuff, I know you will be feeling much better soon.

Linda...I had a good laugh about your cats holding a house warming for the mice. Hope you got your car fixed.

Tina...Sorry to hear about your kitty. I love all creatures. I even scoop the spiders out of the tub and put them someplace safe. Your my hero, 27 shirts to iron. Once my hubby retired from the military, so did my iron. The only thing that see an iron here, is my fabric!

Robbin and Erin...Hang in there with the heat. I sure hate the heat and humidity. Wish I had a pool in my back yard.

Michelle 2....Graduation sounded real cute. You did great on the ice cream. Don't know if I would of had the will power. It was really hard not to go to Stone Cold creamery today, but I thought about the 2 pounds I just lost and I want to see 320's so bad. So I was good.

Michelle...Hope you are having pleasant weather. Not long till the Rose Parade starts. The ships should be arriving soon, or is it another week away?
Hope to be out for it next year since my granddaughter graduates from high school.

Here's the receipe for the dish I made last night.

Polynesian Pineapple Chicken
Serves: 4

1/3 cup ketchup
3 TB reduced sodium soy sauce
3 TB sugar
2 TB rice vinegar
1 TB cornstarch
3 tsp canola oil
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 cubes
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 TB minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 (8oz) can water chestnuts, drained
1 (8oz) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained

Whisk together the ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and cornstarch in a bowl until smooth; set aside.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a large nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, 5-6 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Heat the remaining 1 tsp of oil in the skillet. Add the carrots and ginger; cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in the snow peas, almonds, water chestnuts, pineapple, and the chicken. Cook, stirring frequently, until the snow peas are crisp tender, 3-4 minutes. Add ketchup mixture; bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until thicken, about 1 minute.

Per serving (about 1 3/4 cup): 363 cal, 10 g fat, 6 g fiber WW Points: 7
If you add 1/2 cup brown rice, the points increase by 2.

This is really good. I had it for dinner last night and tonight.

Cheryl

CHERYL...Our weather has been very weird today! For one thing, it has been so muggy for about the past three days, which is very different for us; I felt like I was in the midwest! It was nice and sunny today, and then all the suddent with no warning, it started just downpouring and hailing and the parking lot started flooding; then within 15 minutes it stopped, cleared up and was sunny the rest of the day. It got up to about 70 degrees today. The Rose Parade is tomorrow, and I saw on the news that a couple of ships were coming in today. I remember years ago when I used to work downtown, it was so fun seeing all the ships. I've been fighting a horrible migraine now for two days and doing a lot of resting. My mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital again today, and they have run many tests, but still no answer as to what is wrong with her. I do know her heart rate was very low, and my grandma said that the ambulance had to pull over for a minute on the way to the ER and work on her for a minute. She was also very shaky, weak and disoriented. We're going to get up to see her tomorrow if my migraine is gone. I have been very upset and stressed lately and I think that's why I'm having these migraines. I hope you have a good evening.

Good morning ladies! Well going to have to work some today and will be going to a 40th birthday party for a friend of mine. I am Looking forward to seeing a lot of folks i ahve not seen in a long time but I am dreading the food choices. I will probably take a cooler of stuff for me just in case, won't have to get it out unless necessary. Not feeling much like exercising this morning so i am contemplating going out for a bike ride. We'll see. I am feeling thinner and moving easier but scales are not really reflecting it. I am really contemplating an everyother day weigh but find myself on the scale before i realize I wanted to wait. We had a good rain here yesterday and things are supposed to be much cooler and sunnier today. Glad I have a good reason to be outside today to enjoy it!

Cheryl Huge congrats on the 2 pound loss, that is great!! I'm doing the happy dance for you! So glad your dog is doing better, i hate to see animals suffer, especially dogs, i can read so much into their faces. Your recipe sounds awsome, can you substitute splenda for the sugar though?

Michelle So sorry to hear you are suffering from the migraine battle still. I'm praying for a quick recovery so you can move on with life! The parade you and Cheryl were talking about sounds neat. I grew up near Philly and the Tall Ships came to visit one year. Really neat stuff. I am jealous of you being close to the ocean it is a very soothing place for me and really wanted to live close to the ocean. Maybe after retirement! Not Gulf coast though too many hurricanes! How is your mom today? The spell she had sounds so scary. It is hard to be sympathetic to them sometimes though when you know she is not doing what is best to take care of herself. Her spell sounds very similar to my dad's which they have finally chalked up to a combination of atrial fibrilation and blood sugar being out of whack due to high insulin. Both relatively easily controlled but scary none the less. I will pray for her as well! Is that a new pic? thought you took the camera back? Did you decide on a new one?

Tina Okay you are really sick!! I am starting to like the fact that i can move in a reasonable way that causes me to sweat, but to make myself sweat even more than i already am just to feel like i am doing more, nope haven't gotten there yet!!! I will try to get on Oprah's website and see if I can find the walnut info thanks! DO i like ice cream? My usual answer to that is it runs in my blood!!! I have cut way back on the way i eat ice cream but yes it is definitley a food of choice! Just to give you and idea of the ice cream love i have my grandmother had to put a padlock on the freezer to keep my dad out of the ice cream and i love it more than him!

Robbin Glad to hear you are not being booked for scaleicide! Yes no gain may be frustrating but better than gaining!! Hang in there it will move! I am contemplating a new scale again even though my feet are fixed it is fluctuating way too much when i weigh. I always do it twice and then a third if the two are different. After the second foot surgery on the scale it was doing well but now back to its old tricks of 1-2# fluctuations between weighs. I think some of it is because it is narrow and i have to work to keep my feet on it and the swaying around that causes me to do makes it vary. So iguess i need a wider scale or i need to stop weighing until i have lost enough to get on it without having to work so hard and keeping my legs together!!!

Linda One of my husbands friends i the king of useless facts, we don't get the chance to hang out with him much anymore so I am glad to have you fill in the roll. THanks particularly for the nut info, i am definitely going to keep eating them! Just need to figure out some sugar free recipies i can use them in! I am going to try an apple dish my mom used to make and put my own little flare to it! I will try to send the exercise bug your way, He doesn't bite hard i promise but it's a slow growing whelp when he does! ............... and on that note..................

I am off to ride my bike! OUTSIDE, in public! fortunately there is not much stirring in our neighborhood this time of morning, so hopefully i do not frighten anyone!! Ya'll have a beautiful day!!! Enjoy life and i pray you all have wonderful weather and nothing but joy in whatever you do today!

Okay girls i have a new goal..... to be able to ride my bike up the hill in front of my house without having to get off and walk!!! WHEW! I was only gone 15 min at the most and maybe rode a mile or a little over (I am going to try to clock it later) and i still haven't caught my breath and i am seeing stars!! The area around my house is nothing but small hills, big hills and a very few wonderfully flat regions! Down the hills are wonderful of course, but the down is usually followed by and immediate up!! Anyway, i am really glad i did it, it is absolutely a gorgeous morning out there and i wouldn't have experienced that if i hadn't gone for the ride! Plus i dont think anyone saw me with my bedhead, bike shorts, sports bra and tank top (please dont' think hard on that one, it may frighten you!!) Well gotta run, time to get busy with the work for everyone else now that i have spent a little time on me! Ya'll have a great one! Erin

ERIN...I'm feeling a little better this morning, and I hope the migraine does not come back again today! It is so very frustrating with my mom, because she has been eating very bad lately and drinking SO MUCH regular pop, which is so bad for her because of being diabetic! She will not listen to anyone, because her saying is that no one is going to tell her what to do anymore, but she doesn't even comprehend what's good for her. It's a very frustrating and stressful situation that's out of my control, but I still worry about it and that's really been dragging me down lately! You did such a good job with your bike ride! After practicing, you'll soon be going up that hill so fast! I too love the beach so much! I can't wait until we get down there this summer. I find it so relaxing and a place to just get away from everything temporarily. This picture is just another one I had previously taken. I took a few of them. Well I hope you have a really fun time at the 40th birthday party today! It sounds like you're all prepared with your food so just enjoy yourself and have a great day!!!

Hello girls, how is everyone's Saturday going so far? Michelle I am sorry to hear about your mom, maybe this latest episode will get her to thinking on the right path. Erin, before you know it you will be going up that hill plus going an extra mile. Keep up the good work. Cheryl, Your recipe sounds yummy I am gonna print it and when i go buy groceries this weekend I am gonna get everthing to try it.

Well, I had my "weekly cheat" last night. We went to Applebee's, did you girls know they have a Weight Watchers Menu? For appitizer we ordered chips and queso and I had maybe 10 or 12 chips with cheese as my "cheat". I ordered dinner off of the Weight Watchers Menu and had Cajun Grilled Talipia(sp) with steamed borccoli and rice. It was surprisingly yummy. I just knew the scales were going to be up again this morning since I have been fighting them all week even thought I was being very good. Well ya know I guess I threw my body totally off wack. I was down 2 pounds today, I even weighed 2 times with 30 minutes in between just to make sure. So I changed my Ticker again even though it is not Sunday.

I have a New Food Find (new for me anyway). Have any of you tried Flat Out Bread. It is flat like a tortilla. For breakfast I fried a couple of very thin slices of very lean low fat ham (1 fat gram each) then made a puddle of Egg Beaters put them both on the Flat Out Bread with a slice of fat free cheese and rolled it up. It was really good. The bread has only 1.5 grams of fat each and they are pretty big, you only need one. You can go to flatoutbread.com for recipe Ideas and use them to make pizza's and wraps and all sorts of stuff. There are different flavors but they vary in fat grams.

Well I am off, I think we might be starting on redoing our kitchen floor today.

ROBBIN...Thank you for your kind words. I have never heard of flatout bread, but I'm going to check the grocery store for it, because it sounds really yummy! CONGRATS on the 2 pound weight loss! I see now you could add another happy dancer and I'm so happy for you!

Okay . . . hope this lasts long enough for me to post. I've been having a terrible computer day . . . internet connection has been going up and down like the proverbial toilet seat . . . very, very frustrating. The weather has been dull, rainy, and cold all day, too. I know, I know, some of you would like a little of our coldness right about now. Sorry I mentioned it.

Robbin . . . I think I'll keep my mice, I really don't like the sounds of what yours did. Very glad it wasn't any worse. Those are cute "did you knows". I didn't know the one about lemons having more sugar than strawberries, wow. Congratulations on your loss, girl. It's even better when it comes as a nice, unexpected surprise like that.

Tina . . . Sorry to hear that your Friday weather was so awful. Hope today has been better. I am really impressed that you can manage to stop with one little scoop of that marvellous sounding ice-cream. I wouldn't dare get any.

Cheryl . . . Great going with the loss, girl. Now 'fess up, how many lip-locks did it really take to figure out the twin brothers? Chicken recipe sounds great, as usual. Thanks, the car seems to be fine now . . . until the next critter invasion comes along. I had a heart-to-heart with the cats, but I don't think they were really listening. Time will tell.

Michelle . . . Love the new picture. What camera are you using now? Sorry to hear about your weather being rainy. That could have a lot to do with the migraine although the stress over your Mother's situation certainly isn't helping any. What you are describing almost sounds like a hypo rather than hyper reaction, but based on her nasty little food and cola habits that would seem unlikely unless she's taken too much insulin. Whatever, it is, I hope it soon settles down for both your sakes. Keep the faith, girl.

Erin . . . Somebody with good weather . . . how wonderful for you. Sounds like you are really doing well with the bike riding and those hills will no doubt get easier as times goes on. Glad I can fill the "useless fact" void for you. I just love it when, every once in a while, one of my "useless's' turns out to be useful for somebody.

Here's a really strange FFF for today . . . thought of it because Robbin mentioned redoing her kitchen floor . . .

Reasearchers have discovered that scattering tea bags throughout a newly renovated room can reduce the level of toxic chemicals by up to 90%. Apparently, the tea bags soak up the fumes from paint, polyurethane and glue. Just don't make tea with them later.

Well, wow, looks like I made it through. Have a great moving and shaking evening, chickies. See you tomorrow.

Cheryl, yummy recipe. I'm with Robbin...I'll be making that this coming week. Thanks for sharing. Congrats on the loss! That's so good...maybe I should start a new quilt and see if it helps my scales..LOL! So on that note...give me back my fairy fat mother!

Michelle, glad to hear the migraines are subsiding a little. But the stress isn't. That's awful news about your mom. So sorry. It's gotta be so tough to worry over your mom all the time. It's no wonder you're having migraines! Try to take it easy and put yourself first!

Erin, girl you're rockin'!! I don't have the nerve to bike ride yet, but I would love to. I heard lastnight on "Honey, We're killing the kids" that an hour of bike riding burns 600 calories!! I looked at my husband and said, do you know how long I'd have to die on the treadmill to do that?!! So we're looking into bikes now, I'm just nervous about my little girl trying to come along with us. I saw these attachments for the kids that you put on the back of yours. They have their own handle bars, seat and peddles. That would be ideal! Keep up the awesome effort, you're inspiring me! I had to laugh out loud at your grandma putting a padlock on the freezer...Girl, go find some Breyers Smart Scoop...it's practically guilt free!!

Robbin, awesome job on the 2lbs. loss! You're sure doing great! I would have changed the ticker too! Love looking at all those happy men dancing! Not sure it would beneficial for me to look for the flat bread...you know being canadian and all it's probably not here!! But it would be worth a try wouldn't it. Good goings at Applebees too!

Have a great day ladies! Keep up the awesome work!

TTFN!
~Tina

Linda, looks like you snuck in as I was making my post. HI! We're having awful wind today. Enough to make the power go out in the store I was at and they had to announce we had to leave. Hey, I look forward to my icecream every evening and I probably have a little more than a 1/2 cup serving...maybe 3/4cup. I figure I'm worth that much! But I eat incrediably slow in small bites. It lasts and lasts...and makes me feel great! LOL!