[flaggies]

G'day all,

How exciting for you Glenda. You certainly had a memorable 60th.
I never did get my very fancy sewing machine. I got more and more involved with doing what I do now, photo manipulation/restoration etc. etc.
It is something I can do no matter where I am but of course the sewing, and in particular the embroidery that I was interested in, was something I could only do at home.
So I am still using my trusty 35 year old Bernina and my 3 thread overlocker that I have had for some 20 years.
I have quite a few pieces of fabric that I want to make up and thought it was time that I did that and spend some time away from behind my computer.
I want to make some short sleeved shirts, in case I go to Singapore. I prefer to wear cotton shirts rather then T-shirts which show every bulge
Singapore is very hot and I do not like the hot weather so I will try and be as comfortable as possible.
If I was to go, it will mean I have not spent one winter in my home these past 4 years!
This morning I am cleaning out and re-organising my wardrobe. Then onto the bathroom where I have zillions of half empty jars of all sorts of potions. It is time that I was ruthless and CHUCK everything I do not use or have not used over the past few years.
I have already come across a few things I forgot I had but I MUST be strong and get rid of it.

Cheers
Maria

[LilyG]

MAria: No I have no idea. It would have to do with Browser settings and not the registry. Unless you took something out that shouldnt have been. Check your Browser settings

Marnie: Yeah! Great loss for you. Do share what the trainer says. Yes I weigh my food. Esecially hen Im not sure. I have gotten pretty good at determining the correct amount. But certain things I have to.

Karen: I would never stress eat.

Glenda: Sounds like you had a great surprise party. How fun!!!

Off to WW i go

[slavika]

Hi Everybody
Are you gals finding that the smilies take a longer time to load of is it just my computer?

We had my brother and his wife and another couple over for dinner on Sunday night. We bought a Beef Tenderlion which the butcher made a pocket in for me and I stuffed it with a stuffing made from bread crumbs, mushrooms, onions and bacon. That was the first time I had ever stuffed a beef tenderlion and it turned out really nice.

Glenda it sure sounds like your friends and family surprised you........that was a nice way to celebrate your 60th.

Marnie CONGRATS on the 1.2# weight loss. Way to go!!

Karen Trudy didn't go back to WW with me I went on my own. A couple of other gals I know joined today so that was nice. I still had tea time after so I still got to spend time with Trudy and another friend. One of the gals that is in our tea time group has a herniated disc and is in quite a lot of pain so she has not been to tea time for the last couple of weeks. Maybe by next week she will be feeling better.
My weigh in was good at Weight Watchers I was down 2.6#. I feel that I worked very hard for that weight loss and know that won't happen every week, but it sure felt good today. Karen our Leader talked about stress eating today too, and you were right, it was a good topic.

So Maria it looks like you are on your own again for awhile. I know you will kepp yourself busy.

I see my friend tomorrow for lunch and shopping....I love Wednesdays.

[flaggies]

G'day all,

Firstly great losses and congratulations to both Marnie and Slavika
Marnie I love my little electronic scales and use them a lot.

Slavika I thought it was my computer but I have also found it is taking much longer to download to the forum than it used to be.
I thought it had to do with the fact that I have no animation, I have now worked out why I have no animation on any webpages, it is because of the firewalls I have installed to prevent me from getting another virus.
Lily I tried everything and every setting to no avail, I then removed Zone alert (firewall) and voila....everything is animated again.
I prefer to prevent viruses entering my computer so have re-installed Zone Alert again and just live without animation on websites.

Cheers
Maria

[marnie3]

Here it is Wednesday!

Slavika WEIGH to go! You are doing great. BTW, that beef tenderloin sounds great. I've never prepared one either. Do you bake it or use your grill? I was drooling when I read your description.

Glenda How exciting! I hope pictures were taken. I'd love to see the gathering.

Maria I have a Janome and I love it, but I've always wanted to try a Bernina. BTW, I always feel guilty when I throw stuff out (Why did I buy it in the first place?). But cleaning and chucking are so freeing and I love to get organized and have everything in it's place.

Lily, have you noticed your work load is easier without doing the other WW meeting?

Hi Trudy, Ann and Karen!

See ya later

Marnie

[painter5]

Hi All,

Feel like I have missed a lot.

Glenda-HAPPY BELATED 60TH BIRTHDAY!!!! A surprise party-how fun and unexpected. Glad you had a fun day. I have made that creamsicle cake and it is yummy.

Maria now Singapore is in your future. It never stops for you. Your life sounds so exciting.

Marnie how cool to work with a personal trainer. You will have to let us know all the secrets. Keep up the hard work.

Karen I have been taking carloads of stuff to the thrift store and still have so much. Can't figure out why I need all this stuff.

Had a wonderful time in Chicago. When we got there Friday afternoon one of the gals daughter met us. She took us on the train to see Wrigley Field. It was exciting because the Reds were playing while we were there. We didn't have tickets so we went to a bar across the street to cool down and watched for a while on tv. Then back on the train. We then went to Water Tower Bldg and went to the 96th floor for the view. It was spectacular. After that we shopped along Michigan Ave and then cleaned up and went to Greek Town for a greek dinner. Sat we took the trolley tour and got off at the Navy Pier. Then we went to town and shopped some more. Went with a friend to The American Girl Store. What a neat place. They sell the American Girl dolls. The kids can have their hair and their dolls hair done alike. The tea room was too cute with little chairs for the dolls. After leaving there we went to the Penninsula for high tea. It is supposed to the newest hotel and best place for tea. While we were waiting we saw Rod Stewart go by with his latest squeeze. She was tall and very skinny. That night we went to an off Broadway show-Menopause-the Musical. It was so funny. It was fun to walk around some of the fancy stores but I didn't buy anything. Way too expensive.

I joined WW last Weds. Today is weigh in. Not a good thing after the weekend. I am dressing lightly for sure. I should have started today. I like the new point system. Lots of places on the web with good recipes.

Got to run,

[Karen L]

Things have been happening around here. With DS and fiance' having been activated there is going to be a quick wedding here. They we to be married July 31 but because they want to be married before the go off to war the wedding is going to be May 1. So there is a flurry of activity going on here. Have decided to just have the family at the wedding and them we'll have a pot luck supper after. DD and I will be in charge of the flowers for the bride and for the tables. There is a bridal store in St Cloud that is supposed to be giving away wedding dresses to activated personal. Our bride will be checking that out today. My son was in Chicago yesterday (trucking) make a thousand phone calls to try and get this going. His bride bless her heart is in a tizzy over the whole thing. Not sure yet about what to do about a wedding cake. Any body have any ideas about that????

Slavika way to go on your weight loss Your roast sounded wonderful yummy

Peggy good for you getting rid of some stuff. I know I will be doing the same thing soon. First I want to get the house then I will know what to keep and what to get rid of. A lot of those houses in the retirement parks are key ready .

Glenda what fun a surprise party. Aren't those kids of yours sneaky

Maria so you have been dejunking again. Remember when I was doing that before sil came . I said then not another piece of paper was comming into this house. So far I have been true to my word. I have been very good about throwing things out . I will have to go through the closet and get rid of some of the heavy winter clothes . Some I'll be able to use even in Florida. Have been told the winter there is about 30 days or so

Well need to get busy for the day .

Karen

[marnie3]

I didn't mean to leave you out before (I know I hate being ignored)!


I'd forgotten you'd gone to Chicago. Were you in River Forest, Evanston or Oak Park? I have friends there, too.

Happy unpacking; I'll be anxious to hear how you did at WW!

Marnie

[LilyG]

Slavika: WTG on the loss! Your Beef Tenderloin does sound yummy. I have never done one like that before either.

Maria: I dont use Zhone alarm, but I think its odd that it would make animations unviewable. Maybe they have a help forum you can ask in?

Marnie: Im just happy to have my weekends free again. It was killing me. I now have my energy back which is what I needed.

Peggy: Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! You did lots of fun things! Woo Rod stewart, how nice to see him

Karen: Boy you will be busy getting that wedding going so fast. Several of the bakery's around here would be able to do a very nice cake in such a short time. Im sure there should be some there to. Im sure she is in tizzy. I dont blame her!

Time to finish my lunch

[Trudy]

Slavika I think there is a problem with this site. I have been getting a message about an error on the 3fc page, just before it opens up. I find the smilies take a while too.
Glenda I think I have mentioned my passion for chocolate already. Well, I just heard that Norman Oklahoma has a yearly Chocolate Festival in February. Have you heard of this? Ever been to it?
Maria I had Zone Alarm on my pc for a while. I had to take it off. I had trouble accessing the internet and my ISP said it is notorious for that. I don't want my pc hacked, but really I don't do any personal business on it anyway, so I removed it.
Karen You don't have much time to prepare for a wedding. WOW, it must be exciting around your place right now. If I remember correctly, my DD's wedding cake wasn't baked until the day before the wedding so I think any good bakery could whip up one for the wedding. My DD had a Lemon Chiffon cake. I remember when I got married it was tradition to have a dark fruit cake coated with almond paste and covered with a thick, hard white icing. It was stacked in 3 layers with pillars...and topped with wedding bells.. Things sure have changed.
Peggy Sounds like you had a great time in Chicago. I am guessing that Rod Stewart's latest was very young.
Lily Don't blame you for not wanting to work on weekends, especially when you have a busy full time job.
Marnie I don't like throwing things out either, but once they are gone I am always glad.
Hi Ann what are you up to?

I watched the news today, so much tragedy. The tornadoes that went through Illinois and Kansas were just awful. I feel so sorry for all those people. Also, made me sad to hear of the car bombs in Basra, so many children killed. It is depressing watching the news.

Talk to you all later...

[slavika]

Hi Everybody

MARNIE...for the six of us for dinner last Sunday the butcher said I would need 3 to 3-1/2 lbs of Beef Tenderloin.

Here is the stuffing recipe:
2 bacon strips fried until crisp...crumble and set aside.
Saute 1 cup fresh chopped mushrooms, 2 tbsp. chopped onion and 1 minced garlic clove in the bacon drippings. Stir in 1/2 cup bread crumbs and the crumbled bacon. Place the stuffing in the pocket and close with a toothpick. Combine 1 tbsp of butter with 1 tbsp of parmesan cheese and spread over the top and sides of meat. Place the roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and Bake UNCOVERED at 350 for about 15 min. Then COVER and bake for 1 hour or so more. For med. done. meat should be 160 degress....well done... 170 degrees. Let the roast stand for about 10 min. before slicing into 6 portions.
Fix the plates up in the kitchen and take them to your guests, it makes for a nice presentation. You can make a gravy if you wish (I did) but let them pour it on themselves. When you slice the meat the stuffing is in the center and looks very nice, and is very tender. I served Twice Baked Potatoes with the roast.
I will certainly do a roast like that up again. There was no waste and it was just lovely.

KAREN....boy is there ever lots happening in your life. If the wedding is to be just family and on the small side the wedding cake could be served as the dessert.....and could be anything from a Chiffon Cake (like Trudy's daughter had) with whipped cream and maybe berries, to a cheese cake. Everything will work out just fine, it always does!

LILY...glad you have your weekends free now. With spring and summer coming you will want to do other things with your time.

PEGGY...glad you had a nice time in Chicago. My Son travels to New York quite often and last Christmas he bought our little Princess the American girl doll that "looked" most like her and the little stuffed white dog. Just before Easter this year when he was in New York again, he brought her back a lovely ankle length floral print dress with an under slip. He got her the wide brimmed sisal hat and a ribbon chocker that they were showing with the dress and bought the same outfit for her doll. It was really lovely and my granddaughter looked like a DOLL in it.

MARIA....since you and TRUDY are having a bit of trouble with 3FC too, then I won't worry about it.

I had a great day out with my friend but it sure was windy today. Talk to you all soon.

[flaggies]

G'day all,

What a lovely lot of posts to read this morning

MarnieI agree as I am 'chucking' stuff (some only 1 year old ) I do feel rather guilty and I am determined to think a bit more before I buy again........well that is the plan

Peggy Chicago sounds great, I am pretty sure it is a place on our itinerary to visit. Fancy seeing Rod Stewart down the street with his new 'floosy'. I am not fond of this scrawny little fellow!
I thought Broadway was in New York, they have one in Chicago as well????

Karen what a busy time for you! The wedding sounds exciting.
The wedding cake......as far as I can gather the traditional wedding cake is not that much in vogue these days and you can have whatever you like. Both my children went to a fancy cake shop where they made up what they wanted, it was not as expensive as a traditional wedding cake but it was still very special and was served as a desert at the wedding reception. Good luck with it all, I am sure it will turn out well.
The date is pretty good, I was married on May 2, almost 34 years ago now

Lily It definetly is Zone Alert, I have found a number of forums with people having the same problem. They do have a help forum but you cannot access it unless you have bought it! So I have bought it, sucked in because the special was 'SpamFree' software included free of charge
And now Trudy tells me what her ISP told her about Zone Alert
I am not too concerned about not having animation but I have found to surf the net to be considerably slower.
I am rather paranoid about getting another virus and now that I have bought it, I will continue with Zone Alert and Spamfree.

Trudy I did not hear about the tornadoes etc. but I did hear about the continueing tragedy in Iraq. DH's colleague is now in Baghdad, he has not heard from him yet. Whatever you feel about the reasons (weapons of mass destruction )for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, it has happened and I think it is important that the job needs to be finished and democracy restored.
A chocolate festival...wow, I am not a chocolate freak but my dd is, she would love it

Slavika what a thoughtful dad your son is, I bet your 'princess' loved it.

DH rang last night and he has been told that he would probably be spending 75% of his time in Singapore....he doesn't mind but wants me to join him.
Accommodation is extremely expensive and scarce. If we are there for any length of time we would want to be in an apartment. I could not stand to live in a hotel for 6 months or so. He is off to Manilla on Saturday for a week, when he returns to Singapore he has a meeting to discuss his future.
He thinks Singapore is very similar to Hong Kong as far as being very expensive etc. but he likes Singapore much more because it is VERY clean.
I am just putting everything in place so that if I had to go at short notice I will not have to run around like a maniac to get everything done.

I am now going to have a look on the net what the chances are of a job for me in Singapore, might as well give that a whirl!

Cheers
Maria

[flaggies]

Back again........

Nothing like variety in my life, I will hopefully be flying out to Singapore on Sunday, will get confirmation sometime tomorrow.
DH rang and told me that his trip to Manilla and Cebu has been delayed for a week and thought it would be good for me to come to Singapore ASAP and then I can go with him to Manilla.
It has thrown me a bit but I am getting accustomed to the idea.
This is the hotel he is staying at: http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage/SINDT

I think I can slum it for 3 weeks

All my plans for the next three weeks will have to be put on hold.

I am getting a bit excited now, especially when I saw the website of the hotel! All a bit posh for this person but I will adapt

Cheers
Maria

[painter5]

Well I stayed the same at WW this week. That is okay cause I was not very good over the weekend. Today the scale showed a pound loss. Now to keep that trend going. I sucked it up and bought the $20 kit.

Maria you are off again. How exciting. When we were in Chicago we stayed at the Hyatt in town. My friends booked the rooms using an Entertainment book and got the rooms for half price of $117 instead of the $200 something. It was a good deal. Parking in the garage was extra-I think $35 a night. Broadway plays travel around the states but usually don't have the same cast.

Trudy didn't know about the Chocolate Festival. That I would like to try.

Slavika I bet the Princess looks adorable in her dress. I just loved that store and I don't have girls or grandkids. It was so much fun. The stuffing sounds delicious.

Karen you must be in a whirlwind. I am sure that someone can whip up a cake. My dil's cake baker cancelled a few days before the wedding and she found a place right away. It it is going to be a small wedding I bet even Kroger's can do it. They did the flowers for a friend of my son. Good luck.

Got to run-have cafeteria duty today.

[LilyG]

Slavika: Thanks for the recipe. It does sound very good. Yumm will try it. Im having trouble here to. Seems to take for ever to load. That dress for the Princess and doll sound so adorable!

Trudy: I didnt hear about the Tornados either. But did hear the other stuff. It is depressing these days. So much going on all over.

Maria: Wow I think I could handle that Hotel for a while to Looks very nice. Hope Zone Alarm works for you. I did some asking around and I havent heard anything good about it.

Peggy: That is a good price for the Hotel. Especially the Hyatt. All thier Hotels seem to be wonderful


Well best get back to work. Had yummy Wendys Taco Salad for lunch today Minus the chips and Sour Cream. Yummmmmmmmm.