Karen I just received the following and thought it may be useful for you to use in your ww meetings.

Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - 10/4/01 - "Changing a Downward
Spiral"

We have talked before about downward spirals, and it is something that you
may find yourself in as a result of last month's events. You see, a
downward spiral is a frightening thing. It is a state of mind we can fall
into without realizing it, and it usually happens after a traumatic
experience, such as divorce, death of a loved one, or loss of employment.

Once you are in a downward spiral, even the most minor occurrences reinforce
your feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and a hostile environment.
Things just seems to get worse and worse. But you know, we all have within
us a way to stop this free-fall into depression and pull ourselves up and
out.

The first thing you need to do is to get control of your negative self-talk,
because the power of negative language and negative thoughts is enormous.
Wear a rubber band around your wrist. Snap it and say "Stop!" every time
you catch yourself in a negative, self-devaluing thought.

Next, remember the things you have accomplished in the past and the strength
you have demonstrated when times have been tough. Make a list and review it
often. Then, begin visualizing what the future will look like when you have
solved your problems and are feeling good again. Hold that picture in your
mind and affirm the truth of it over and over every day.

If you do these things, you can take charge of a downward spiral and turn it
into an upward revolution.

- Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute - "Celebrating 30 Years 1971 - 2001!"
http://www.loutice.com


See ya
Maria

...I'm here again
 

Hi everybody, I had time so I came back. DH and I are going to the lake on Saturday and spending the thanksgiving weekend with friends. I got this recipe from an old "Taste of Home" magazine and thought I would try it over the weekend and thought maybe some of you might like to try it. Its called:
Tater Dipped Vegs
1 cup instant potato flakes
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup margarine melted then COOLED
2 eggs
4 to 5 cups raw bite size vegs, like mushrooms, red and green peppers,broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and par boiled carrots.
Bottle of Ranch Salad Dressing or any dip - "optional"

In a small bowl, combine potato flakes, parmesan cheese, celery salt, garlic powder and margarine. In another bowl, beat eggs, dip vegs in one at a time into the egg then into potato mixture; coat well. Place on a ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 min. Serve with a dip if desired.
YIELD 6 - 8 servings.

A friend of mine tried it and said both her and her husband really enjoyed the vegs done like this. She served it as a side dish with steaks for dinner one evening. It could be used with a meal or even as an appetizer.

Maria you're right, those plastic "thingme's" are almost as bad as some of those labels which I think are sometimes sewn in with wire. :D Also the labels themselves are made of such stiff fabric that the corners are sharp. If you are in the least bit concerned about the sensations you are feeling in your feet just give your doctor's nurse a call.......she's probably had the call from other patients and it would put your mind at rest. It is likely because your feet are healing. :)

It's time for me to say good night. See you all tomorrow.

AAAAACHOOOO...
 

I still have my cold... at first I thought I was going to get off easy as for days I didn't feel too bad. Well, I was wrong, the cold has kicked up into high gear, and the last couple of days have been nasty. :mad: I didn't go to work out today, thought I had better take care of myself.
Slavika so glad you have your PC back ... so soon yet. You have a nice DS. :) Maybe now all your troubles will be solved. The Princess will be so gorgeous, you are a good Baba. :D
Maria Changing The Downward Spiral could be meant for me these days. Thanks for sharing it. I need a BIG rubber band. :lol: Because I feel lousy I am constantly looking for something me make me feel better.
I was going to make Cabbage Rolls today, but opted for the lazy version. It will taste the same, but won't have the same eye appeal. :rolleyes:

Hope everyone is having a good day... :)

Girls, we went from absolutely beautiful fall weather to winter within an hour, from 83 degrees to 58 degrees. Ah, the beauty of the plains! 58 degrees shouldn't be this cold, but it is windy too. We had 2 weeks of fall weather.

Last night I put hay bales out and some scarecrows, artificial crows and pumpkins. This year I put an American flag in the scarecrows' hands. Just a little different. At Lowe's they had some little cheap yard stakes that said, "Proud to be an American" so we added those.

Slavika - I copied down your recipe so I will try it this weekend. Looked good.

Maria - next week at this time I will have my little curly toe surgery. It is not anything like yours, but will be glad to get it over. About 4 years ago I had both feet fixed for bunions so I know what you are going through. It is so boring to be off your feet. But I remember how my feet used to ache and they feel so good now. It was worth it! Keep that in mind.

Karen - I hope your husband's union goes back to work soon. With the worry and less money you get a whole lot more husband and that can be a volatile combination. I know. Good luck!
Glenda

G'day all,

Glenda Good luck for next week and thank you for empathising with my feet:D It is good to hear from someone who had similar surgery and is very happy with the end result, every now and then I wonder if I have done the right thing:?:
I might have missed it somewhere in the many posts, do you live on a farm Glenda? I liked your patriotic touch of a flag on the scarecrow:D

Trudy sorry you still have your cold, I am in a bit of a 'downward spiral' myself :( , it was good to be reminded how to get out of it, now I have to DO it:)

I remembered some time ago that some of you mentioned the playing of games on line and how addictive it was. Of course I never took note of the sites but last night I went to the Yahoo games page and had a lot of fun playing canasta. It was great fun and before I knew it I had spend 2 hours playing it. That was two hours of forgetting about food, my feet, home etc.etc.
No problems about sorting cards in suits or trying to hold on to copious amount of cards:D

It is a rainy day here, dh is at the gym. This afternoon we will go for a bit of a drive but in the meantime I will go and have another game of Canasta:D

See ya all
Maria

Trudy: Labels: YES!!!!!!! I have to take mine off to. If they arent sticking out like Minnie Pearl they irritate my skin.

Peggy: I have the test coming up also. But I dont know what it is called either. Takes 6 months to get scheduled for it here, anyways.

Maria: Loved the joke! How are the feet doing?

Salvika: Glad you got your Puter back. Hope it keeps working. The dipped Veggies sound good.

Glenda: Same here. It was over 100 at the first of the week and then dropped down to 75 the next day. Wish it would make up its mind!

Well its way past my bed time so I best be getting there. Have to WI tomorrow and dont want to miss!

Later!

:wave:
Hi Everybody
We are leaving shortly for the lake. Maria is your Thanksgiving this weekend like ours or is yours like the Americans or maybe it's at a different time all together.
My Dear Friend Trudy I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving and I will see you at Tea Time on Tuesday. :) :)

Hope you all have a great weekend, and I will talk to you on Monday, when we get home. Bye now.

To Trudy and Slavika
Happy Thanks Giving

We don't have such a thing as 'Thanks Giving', it seems a rather nice tradition. My understanding is that you spend Thanks Giving with family and friends. The closest to that would be Xmas that we spend with family and friends but I would imagene you would do that as well.

DH and I went for a drive yesterday and went to look at some furniture shops, my feet held up pretty well but I have decided today to keep my feet up again.:(

It is a bit of a miserable day, rain and windy so I will just hone my skills playing canasta on-line:D

Hi to everyone hope you all have a good day

Cheers
Maria

Maria, sounds like a plan to me. Do you play spades? I do that at yahoo.com

Our Thanksgiving Day
 

We spent today with my entire family.... not too many of us left, just the 8 of us. My DD and her DH were able to join us. It was really nice, especially in light of the news of the day. We were very "Thankful" to all be together. The meal is turkey with all the fixings and pumpkin pie for dessert. Very traditional....and delicious. Tomorrow we are invited out to my DH's Sis for another dinner. Don't mind at all if we have turkey again... :lol:
Maria you have to tell me how you get to play Canasta on line. I love :love: Canasta. There used to be 6 of us who would get together on a regular basis to play, but due to illness with a couple of the friends we don't do it anymore. I found the game place, but wasn't able to access the Canasta. I have found another game I like called Alchemy at MSN Zone, the same place that has Bejewelled and Atomica. I never could understand how anyone could sit at a PC and play games, and now I am doing just that. :rolleyes:
Geri I guess I will try out Spades too.. :D We have just learned a new card game, a Solitare game that can be played with 4 people. This one is played with money involved. I won $3.23 one night :) ...not exactly high stakes, but lots of fun.

I can't believe that it actually snowed here on Friday afternoon, the weatherman called it "snow showers", .. :lol: it was a complete white out. It all melted and it has been quite nice since, but that was quite a shock to everyone. Guess it is time to put away the summer clothes and bring out the warmer duds.

Well it is late and I should get to bed... have a good day tomorrow.

here are the sites Trudy.......
 

http://cardgamecentral.com/ and the other one is http://games.yahoo.com/. I haven't tried the first one yet but will do so later this afternoon.
My dh cannot believe I enjoy playing the games, I have now realised why! DH is always so serious when we play any card game, I just play for a bit of fun and that annoys him, especially when I don't particularly care if I win or not.:dizzy:

Geri I haven't played 'spades', I don't know the game but that doesn't mean I cannot have a go :D something to keep in mind if I get sick of canasta.

What can I say, we woke up with the news that the USA has started the strikes in Afghanistan. I guess we all knew this would happen (and a very good reason why it is happening) nevertheless it is sad and I just hope that the outcome will be what we hope it to be, an end to terrorism.

Hi to everyone else.
Cheers
Maria

Hi Everyone, It is quiet here today. Guess everyone is watching or listening to the goings on. I was gone most of the weekend. Went on another Longaberger bus trip to the factory and town Saturday. I didn't buy anything but if you could have seen all these women with shopping bags I'd say the economy is booming there. We went to a Renaissance Festival yesterday. There was a whole village set up and all the people were dressed up in costume. I looked totally out of place in my pumpkin sweatshirt. We watched a jousting match. There are all kinds of things to see and shows to watch. The men had no trouble watching all the fair maidens with their low cut necklines although the ones with tatoos didn't look the part. I love to play canasta. I sub in 2 different groups although last week I won the booby prize. I will have to go check the yahoo site. Trudy I can't bellieve that you had snow already. Snow is a four letter word here. You would laugh at Ohioans when we get just a dusting. The stores are sold out of bread and milk. People panic. I don't know how they would handle all the snow that you all get. I have to run, see you all later. Maria take care of your feet. Don't do too much. Peggy

..Thanksgiving Day
 

:wave: Hello Everybody
We got home a short while ago. DH had wanted to cut the grass on Saturday morning BEFORE we left for the lake but some of the snow stayed on the ground so he couldn't. He is already out there cutting it now. :)

As we drove closer to the lake which is only about 30 miles or so, we quickly realized that they got much more snow then we did. The cars all had snow on top of the roof, that were COMING from the direction in which we were travelling. :eek: I had prepared a "Oriental Chicken Casserole" for us all to eat on Saturday night for dinner and the dessert. We had at lovely evening at our friend's cottage, just sitting around the fireplace, having a couple of drinks after dinner and talking. The next day (Sunday) my friend got the turkey stuffed and we worked together to get the rest of Thanksgiving meal prepared. It was a lovely dinner and we all took turns talking about the things we were most thankful for. With so much going on in our world right now, we are indeed very fortunate. :)
My friend gave me the turkey carcass, and a bunch of the left over turkey and I already have it on the stove simmering for "Turkey Soup". It will do both DH and I both good to eat a little lighter for the next couple of days.
Maria I told my friend at the lake today that I had asked when your Thanksgiving was and then said to her, "maybe they don't celebrate Thanksgiving". It really is a lovely holiday. Glad your feet are doing ok, and that you are resting them. How does it work when you move from place to place and take your computer with you. Do you hook up to the server that supplies the whole condo or do you apply for your own server. Sorry that my knowledge is so limited. The reason I am asking is that I might buy a second hand lap top computer from my friend's Son and then take it with me when I go to Hawaii....but I was wondering about the hook up??????
Trudy I am happy that your Thanksgiving was nice.....I guess you and I will really have to buckle down so that we can get weighed in at the end of this month. YIKES!
Peggy when DH saw the snow he said that if he was retired we would have already left for warmer places. LOL I don't know about that, I think I would like to spend Christmas here with my family and friends before going south for the remainder of the winter.
Talk to you all later.

Hi everyone: Boy, I've missed a lot. I had a post all done last night and got booted off the net, and it was late so just didn't go back.

[B]HAPPY THANKSGIVING Slavika and Trudy

Maria: Great Joke. We'd have rednecks and yankees here is Florida. Glad your feet are making progress. Do they itch. Usually healing internally makes one want to scratch. I need to snap a big rubber band too. Especially, when I put back 1# this week. I'm into the yoyo syndrome I guess!

Slavika: Glad you pc is up and running again. Your recipe sounds good. Did your family like it at camp? Your princess outfil sounds adorable. You'll have to post a picture.

Trudy: Your Thanksgiving feast sounds like ours. I love turkey and could eat it a lot, by it is not my dh's favorite, so we don't have it often. Did you ever try Sweet Potato pie? That is really good too.

Glenda: Like the sound of your yard decorations. Patriotic and autumn/Halloween at the same time.

Hi Karen, Geri, Lily, Peggy. My dh is taking me out to eat so must leave for now. :wave: Ann

Go to the new thread 'gals';) (for Slavika's benefit :D )

See you there.

Maria