Since it just got bumped anyway, THANKS!!! to the latecomers. p.s. Kathleen - you've been missed. Come back soon or I'll blow all my snow eastward down 27.

Good morning from drizzly, cooler SE Texas! I just finished my oatmeal and having the last few sips of coffee before getting ready to go work out. This makes 8 days of doing it, with only Sunday off. I've already lost a few 10ths of my BMI! They have this little gizmo there that measures it, and I tried it yesterday, a week after the first time, and was pleased to see that 7 days of exercise made some difference. Suzanne, I never did try the polenta last weekend because I have 3 rolls of it in the fridge and didn't want to waste it yet. But, I'm definitely going to try it in a few weeks. I'm just not eating that much of it anymore, which is probably good. I'm no good at naming rides today, but I think that my favorite one I read from y'all has to be BJ's: The Kharma Carousel: what comes around, goes around. :) Patti, I've never heard of, much less been to a Rosa's. Are y'all going there while you're in Texas? I miss freely dining at a Mexican restaurant now - I always order fajita salads without sour cream and cheese. No chips. :( I'm not shopping anymore for at least a month because I'm just not losing enough to make a huge difference in what I still have to wear to places other than the fitness center. I am wearing t-shirts I couldn't wear before. When I go to Dallas at the end of May, I will break down and buy a few nicer things, but that's it. It's nice seeing so many posting these days. I was so tired and a little sore yesterday, so I just rested and didn't do anything else. Some days I just don't have anything to say. I'm always glad that y'all do though! LOL

A belated Happy B-Day Lori!!! Glad to hear it was a good one. Mackenzie is such a little sweet heart to wrap the outfit you got the night before...awww!!! The best gifts are the ones that come out of no where --massages and clean car! Now I will always remember your birthday because it's the same day as my niece's (Miss Perky is 18) weren't we all Perky at 18! Keep the partying going...Hey its St. Patricks Day...good excuse. ((Hugs)) & XOXO Heidi

Just got in from the land of orange groves and double wide trailers. It was good, actually! I went to get granny first, and I made her cry because I gave her a rotary cutter and self healing mat... she quilts by hand and she's lost her rotary cutter and never had a self healing mat. Her hands shake now and she has trouble cutting in a straight line with fabric scissors, so I thought that would help, and she was really touched... now I just have to get her that Bunn coffee maker she's been talking about. She had a bunch of quilt blocks spread out all over the sofa so she could show me what she has been working on. She's always so happy for me to see her work, and I am so shocked that she insists in quilting by hand at her age... she thinks machine quilting isn't really quilting. I strongly disagree! I brought my Dyson to vacuum for her since her vacuum is so awful. I took the hose off the Dyson to get under her couch where the upright part was too thick to reach and heard a SLURP. The incredible suction of the Dyson pulled in an entire quilt block! And, I was nowhere near it with the wand, I still don't know how it happened. It happened so fast, I didn't even see it, just heard it. I had to open the dust bin up and retrieve it.... I apologized, but she wasn't upset at all... we both got a really good laugh out of it. It didn't even get dusty! Once I realized it didn't bother her, I laughed so hard I cried, and so did she... it took me a while to gain enough composure to retrieve the quilt block from the cleaner. I sucked up enough bobby pins and straight pins to start a factory... not to mention thread a fabric scraps.... I could make a whole quilt with what's in the dust bin. I also brought my new tiffany style lamp to show her and she really liked it. She gave me a card that was really sweet, and apologized that she didn't have any money to buy me a real present... I told her that was silly and love was all I needed (I buy myself enough "stuff")... she said,"Well, that's good because you got plenty of that" (meaning love). It was really sweet. Then we went to my uncle's and the food was ready.. they smoked chicken, grilled chicken, and BBQd chicken. The also had a salad, and baked beans with sausage. It was all REALLY good! My aunt made me a cake (just want I needed!).... it was a boxed yellow cake with store bought icing. I didn't get any salad and they were wondering why... my grandma told them I was dieting and that I love salads (which I have never said because it isn't true), so after eating the other stuff, I had a plate of salad (had to pick the tomatoes out, at least they had ranch dressing). They gave me a card and more mylar balloons (what is up with mylar ballons) and pictures of me as a kid all dressed in halloween costumes and such (remember they were the ones that raised me from 6 to 19). There was another aunt there, another grandma (not the one I was close with... the one I brought was the one I was close with) and my little cousin that I was raised with (she's 19).... we talked a while and ate and then granny stood up, which his her signal that she was ready to go home. I was too at that point.... the aunt was getting annoying (she just doesn't know when to shut up and "picks" on everyone... except me, because I haven't been back in their life long enough yet) and their spoiled black lab was begging for food and trying to lick my face the whole time. So, I took granny home and we talked a while at her place... I looked at her sewing machine and fixed the tension and wrote down the model number so I can download an print a manual for it.... she wants one and it didn't come with one when she bought it. She had trouble letting me go, she didn't want me to leave... she's so bored/lonely living out there, so I promised I'd call and be back soon and started home. It was a good day. The aunt gave me a tupperware cake carrier (turquoise!) to take the cake home in and told me to keep it... it was my little cousin's, exes and he never came to get it after they broke up. That is great because I can keep that one and give Larry my gray and white sterilite one! Oh yeah, and I popped those mylar balloons (my "car scissors" are so handy!) and threw them in the trash at the gas station on the way home. I didn't need them bouncing around in the car during the 50 minute drive home, and they would have just been one more thing to carry home. I tried to find some child to give them to, but there weren't any! I hope they don't go to the gas station later for some chewing tobacco and see them in the garbage (there's only one gas station in that town!). I'm throwing aunt's cake in the trash too because I just don't have room for it. They sent me home with lots of food and I will enjoy it for a few days... I don't have room for 3 cakes, but I'll make room for the chicken and baked beans, even if I have to throw the milk and eggs out! So, yes, a good day, I'm surprised and happy :) Larry is on his way over to try some of the Publix chocolate cake and see his nephew (Jasper the cat) and watch some Lucy :0) I guess I'd better vacuum the cat hair off the sofa (he hates cat hair) and dig a place on the couch for him to sit.... oh yeah, and wash a dish so he can try the cake.... I've been lazy with the housework lately! Thanks again everyone.... by the way, Larry said that isn't the Paula Dean recipe, but one of several he found on Google for the coconut cake. Oh yeah, the Publix cake tastes as great as it looks.... under that dark brown chocolate top layer is a lighter brown layer of mousse like frosting.... man it's good!