Here's the Snoqualmie Falls granola cookie recipe. DH is not a big baker but he's health conscious so when he made these the first time he couldn't bring himself to put butter in so he used the light, watered down Promise margarine. I said OMG that will never work - he said it says for baking - it worked fine. I'm not sure how much whole wheat flour he uses - the majority is whole wheat and some regular. He's into this Snoqualmie oatmeal and orders it online. They sent him this recipe one time but it didn't come with any nutritional info unfortunately. When I log them in my tracker I just use an oatmeal raisin cookie. The cookies are kind of heavy and chewy - not sure if that's how they're supposed to be since he's never made them according to the original recipe. They're tasty though - toasting the almonds is critical to the flavor - don't skip that step. FAMOUS BREAKFAST COOKIES First make the Healthy Delicious Granola Stir together in a large bowl: � 3 cups Snoqualmie Falls oatmeal � 1 cup freshly roasted sliced almonds � 2 tsp cinnamon Heat in microwave for one minute and add to the oatmeal mix: � 1/3 cup salad oil � 1/3 cup honey (we use agave nectar instead of honey because it never solidifies like honey) � 2 tsp vanilla Spread on 2 greased pans and bake in preheated 325 oven for 8-10 minutes Stir and don't over bake; mix should be honey colored. Add: � 1 cup raisins or craisins Store in an airtight container for up to one month. Famous Breakfast Cookies Beat until fluffy: � 1 cup butter (substitute light Promise margarine in blue tub) � 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar Add: � 1 egg (substitute egg beaters) � 2 tsp vanilla Add and beat well: � 1 2/3 cups flour (substitute some whole wheat flour) � 1/2 tsp baking soda Add and mix thoroughly � 3 cups granola � Dash of salt Chill dough a few hours or overnight. Dough can also be frozen and thawed in refrigerator. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned and dry. Do not over bake.

I have now hit my goal weight. Started my serious weight loss plan on Jan 2 and hit my goal on Feb 7 so about 5 weeks. I waited another day to declare victory to be sure it wasn't a temporary fluke. I only had 7.6 lbs to lose but I haven't weighed this little in maybe 5 years. Gradually kept creeping up but reaching the 7 lbs over mark during the holidays really hit home with me and that's when I got serious about getting back on track. I did what I did when I initially dropped about 12 lbs in the past. More disciplined, healthy eating and more frequent exercise. I'd just gradually started eating more junky food and exercising a little less and of course the pounds crept back on. Now I'm focusing on continued regular exercise, building and maintaining muscle and healthy eating. I had my tracker set for 1/2 lb weight loss per week and it's very nice to get a couple hundred more calories to work with each day. Some things I observed over the past month that I have to continue to do: stay conscious of the quantity of stuff I eat - portion control and snack quantity control - no mindless eating forbidden treats - not a problem in SMALL quantities - eat slowly, savor, and linger over each delicious bite

I am not my husband but I can tell you why he would not consider the sex and times I offered> He felt that i was using sex as a blackmail to get him to wait on things he did not want to wait for in the community. He said we were trying to Ransom his life and he was not paying the ransom when The sex did happen it was in no way the way i wanted in 2013> He had just come home from three years of rehab after MRSA in his spine and its complications. Had been in a stress center for two weeks. because of an incident that happened in the Rebab in 2012 when his father told him he again thought he was going to have his way when what he was really going to do was shut his face and just accept what was decided for him and that did not include a vacation ever, He flattened his father with a stainless steel bed pan to his face and he threw a full urinal at me telling me i had nothing ever to say about holidays and vacations. HE was done and would kill the first person that got in the way of his rights when he was out of rehab. When He got out of the stress center it was on the worst possible evening, I was getting ready to go to an Awards dinner as a promise to his mother, father, and his fathers best friend. I started out of my room and ran right into his chest and His first comment home was good i was ready to go out, He had not been out in 31 years. Where were we going!. He Knew full well we did not expect him home that day. I broke down Crying telling him I had promised that evening six months before and I could not add him to the table at that late hour. He just said well it looked like His parents and his fathers friend may as well get used to broken promises just as he had the last 31 year. Back off this or that and i promised him we would have the sex life and vacation as well as the holidays he earned and wanted and then when i came time to keep my promise where did he end up again. Filling for someone else taking his time and I would make the same stupid promise again expecting him to fall for it. He said Now the Bill was due and I was keeping 31 years of promises to him before I even thought was keeping any to any one else.. I was trying to hand him a 100 and get him to meet us anywhere he choose after the event. I just wanted a Civil discourse why things had happened as they had> He was not going to permit it and ripped my outfit to shreds and had his way about sex. Then he went after his fathers friend when he arrived and called my husband a crip and told him to get out of his way he was entering our home< He Through the man over the rail on our deck landing him face first in the Drive right in front of his fathers car. We think he was intending the man land in his mother and fathers lap. Over the years for everytime he w3as interfered with from @001 to 2009 he made sure somebody hurt over it even if he had to ambush some body. I Never understood why when his father and others used weapons to force him to work the holidays, Or when His father put his passport in his safe deposit to make him stay and work vacations Why he could not just Do as was requested and Take the times offered in exchange Instead of wait until the incident was finished and he worked then he would show up with a machinist sledge and break parts of people for daring to hold a weapon on him. I saw what he did to one man who thought drawing a pistol when he appeared at his home was going to stop his pain, My husband shattered the right hand, his arm up to the shoulder bad enough he lost his arm, all because he had wanted a holiday off and they forced him in at shotgun point. IN 2014 On Memorial day his father offered him 200 to stay away until we called him home. Before the end of the day he's taking a reservation my name was on away from another friend and telling his father he did not care if he was invited where I was invited he was to His father slapped him and called him stupid, His father flew over the kitchen island with the full force of a full fisted backhand breaking his jaw. He Had To be stopped from making the doorman at the club from getting his face ground into the pavement after pushing him to a public sidewalk and into the street. On the fourth of July that year they used Ketamine in a drink he had and Dumped him 30 miles out of Tow intending tio go back and get him later, HE Did Nor wait to embarrass everyone sending state police in To Search for the drug after they pumped his stomach. Two Friends were arrested in front of their families wives and children. They called it a joke, The police called it abduction with intent to do bodily harm and not a joke dumping a man in the middle of a county road and leaving him there drugged not with his consent. If My husband would have just talked to us then those men would be home with their kids instead of paying in prison for a joke. IN 2015 We were going on a cruise to Cancun My Husband Did Not care he was again not invited withy his rule if i was then he was.. It Made his father so angry he intended to use a ball bat to send him back home and stop hi9s defiance. His Father was hit so hard with an Upper cut before he took his swing it broke his neck. Latter in 2015I was offering the First Christmas dinner as a married man in 33 years, at home, To keep tensions down I gave him his plate and told him to go out to the barn and eat out there and if he wanted more I would get it at the back door He hit me in the face with the full plate yelling at me he was not some dam hand to e given charity. It Was his table , the food he had supplied and he was not eating in the cold barn.. He made everyone leave under the barrel of a 30 30 and I just stood and cried thinking why did it always have to be so hard to gain just a little cooperation. IF just one year we could have gone without defiance about sex, his work, and time out of the plant I think something that he wanted could have been worked out. I know after we ran into the problems within two years of his return home about vacation time, We had come back from ROME with a plan to Find A vacation starting after the New Year in 1988. I was thinking a nice beach and hotel for the same two weeks off in time it was just six months away. He Wanted me to keep the two promises i had made the last two years About sex And The mos5rt recent was any time, any where and any way he wanted, I Would Be both a Willing sex partner and travel companion if he stayed behind for that girl and her lazy fiancé to marry in ROME. I was not expecting him to want to drop everyone else at his fathers house and want to point the nose of the Van to Wyoming and His Grandfathers where he was from 1239 miles to the west. He had been hounded to go out there with me to introduce me. I just did not want a three week road trip after traveling all night from Rome, Every suggestion we mad for six months away was shot down. He Said did we realize he had not even seen the3 sun in seven years, What would he look like on a beach, probably a lobster. He got in the sun the first time In 2014 and he burned within five minutes so bad he blistered. I had no idea years ago when he left the Boats that sun was now a allergy for him.

I've used chapstick off and on for years and I have found the medicated kind to be very soothing. I don't use it all the time, just when I've been out in the wind. Riding in an air-conditioned car for long distances always chaps my lips too. I have sensitive skin and there are a lot of products I just can't use. I don't wear lipstick except for special occasions and sometimes not even then. Doris Day (you younger ones probably won't know even who she is though) said at one time that she covers her whole body with vaseline and sleeps in something like a body stocking and gloves. I don't know if she was married at the time but I bet that's a real turn-off for a guy, huh? But anyway, there are natural alternatives to petroleum products. Good old olive oil, for instance. Or open up a Vitamin E oil capsule and smear it on. I'm not sure about that "Tea Tree Oil" thing though. Is there really such a thing as a "Tea Tree"? It kind of tastes like Castor Oil with almond flavoring in it. The truth of the matter is, we none of us know what's in some of these products we put on our skin. And yes the makers of these products would most definitely sell us something that's not good for us (and charge us big bucks for it) because they don't give a rip about whatever damage it does as long as they don't get sued because of it. The almighty dollar is always the bottom line. We must be our own advocates. The best thing to do is to just keep it as simple as you can. Use as many one- or two-ingredient products as you can. Good old witch hazel is what I used as an astringent during my oily skin days. Buy things without fragrance and without artificial coloring whenever possible. The secret to good skin is actually good health.