Hi all. I've been doing real well for the last two days. Went to the store and stocked up on a variety of foods. I am not one who can plan their meals ahead of time. I need to be able to eat what I want at each meal or I will feel unsatisfied. I have to be a bit selfish when I want to lose weight. I treat myself to the things I like. I went and bought some boneless centercut porkchops and pineapple so I could do teriyaki with them. I got some dark rye for the egg salad I've been craving. Bought a bunch of ground beef for freezing into weighed out patties for the freezer. I keep a few Lean Cuisine frozen meals and I like the new Pannini sandwiches. I will buy the regular ones as well as the Lean Cuisines because I find a half of one fills me up fine. For snacks I usually have regular ice cream that I eat in a 1/2 cup Tupperware snack cup. I like the Jello fat free Devils Food pudding cups. I also like the new Weight Watcher's Key Lime Cheesecake and I love the peanut butter chocolate or mint Skinny Cows. I fool myself into "healthy" desserts by using a frozen pancake as a base, topping it with sliced banana, cinnamon sugar and a squirt of whipped cream and calling it "pie". Do the same with a nuked sliced apple or canned blueberry topping. For take-alongs I carry little cups of natural applesauce, chewy low fat granola bars or breakfast bars, the above mentioned cheesecakes or pudding and fresh fruit. When I know I'll be out for awhile I pack a small insulated lunch bag with snacks and a diet soda so I won't be tempted by the drive-though or heaven forbid the donut shop. I have a challenge tonight, will be meeting some Red Hatters to eat at Dave and Busters. Looked at their menu and it's going to take some doing to stay on program. I see they have rice and they have steak and grilled shrimp. Maybe they will sub the grilled shrimp for the fried on the shrimp dinner. Or I could bring my insulated bag with gel ice, order the steak and shrimp and bring the steak home for a cold steak lunch tomorrow YUM. Tomorrow is my weigh-in and I'm shooting for a break even day what with eating out and hanging out in the bar to watch some friends in a karioke contest. They won a cruise last year and are shooting for a trip to Hawaii this year.

Hello all. Life keeps getting in the way but I'm still here. Here's a cut and paste from another forum for starters. This was 2 nights ago. Well my day has started with a bang and I haven't been to bed yet. Around 2:30 am the dogs went crazy in the neighborhood. Our Rottie went absolutely nuts and I couldn't see what was going on so I called her back in. Our Lab who has a touch of Coonhound went out and joined in but not like the Rottie. Shasta (the Rot) became extremely stressed when I tried to keep her in so after distracting her with play for a bit I let her go out in the backyard again around 4:30. Both dogs started going at the rear side fence and then I heard a splash, a crash and a lot of hissing, high pitched barking. Got DH up and we saw the dogs had crashed through the fence and they and a large racoon were all in the neighbors in ground pool. DH goes around to the neighbors yard and I stay on our side. He's in the neighbors yard trying to corral 2 large dogs who are jumping in and out of the pool trying to get at the coon swimming in circles and the neighbors are nowhere to be seen. Finally the neighbors turn on an upstairs light and call out their bedroom window to ask what is going on and DH tells them they have a coon in their pool. They don't say anything and turn out the light. DH finally get both dogs back thru the fence. We get them in the house. He gets hammer and nails and repairs the fence. It is still dark and still no sign of neighbors in spite of all the commotion going on in their yard. So now I'm sitting here waiting for 2 wet dogs to dry and the Rotti is strutting around so proud of herself for taking care of the" intruder" and our Lab/Coonhound acts like he just had a fantastic playdate at a pool party. See life in the suburbs isn't always all that dull either. DH had our anniversary dinner on Tues. Tonite I have a Red Hat dinner and on Sat. I have a Red Hat picnic. FOOD and more FOOD. I'm not losing but I'm not gaining either. This is good ;) but I really need to get back on the program and go for he next ten pounds. Jen, WW is great because unless you do their CORE program there are no bad foods. Lots of peeps have great success with the Points System. I don't so I do an old style food exchange plan from the 80's. Great going Trekaren. Welcome Jen and Mooner. Waving at ya LL. Come and post Ruthie.

Gosh, Anj, have you heard that old saying "when it rains, it pours"? I think that applies in your current circumstances. Just one thing after the other, huh? At least the car can be fixed, thank goodness your DH wasn't injured. Just more unwanted expense though huh? Hope the family "drama" has calmed down too--the holidays often bring way too many emotions into play--and we sure have very little influence or control of other family members! I think we get that organizing/cleaning urge this time of year partly because it helps us feel more "in control" of our environment, don't you? Things just feel better when things are "in order". (Not that any of it ever lasts long.) Good luck with the classes and the new business. I've wondered several times about your real estate investments with this economy--hope everything stayed in the black and you will have a chance to regain what went down. My investment of my 401 money sure took a hit--but is now going back up again thank goodness. Never know whether to wait it out or pull it all out! LOL I hated it when your DH's job was "restructured" and was afraid he wouldn't like it as well. I'll keep my fingers crossed that he will be able to find just the right fit so he can make the change. I know it's a huge decision for him. Punk, glad you made it safely over those icy roads both ways. You work such long days, I can totally understand why you need to just relax after dinner. I'd be falling asleep in my chair for sure. And it is dark so early now, just feels like bedtime to me after dinner. ;o) I've talked to my little friend and her daughter two or three times since they left. She was making some good progress and regaining her strength, but then another infection flared up and is zapping her again. It has been a big adjustment for all of them, and the daughter is still trying to work part time. Biggest problem seems to be that she is having to get up with her Mom a couple times each night, so not getting good sound sleep. It was so nice for my friend to finally get to be with her family for Christmas--over 15 years since that's occurred! Well, I'd better get busy. I was redecorating the living room yesterday and discovered that I've hidden a few things from myself! Got to go see if I put them in a box in the garage or what????? Hate it when I do that! LOL Luvs

Hey girls. Where did all the time go this week? Wow it flew by. As predicted...I didn't get any of my projects done, but DH got a lot done. You got that right Punk..I have been the helper. Oh well, I work better alone. ha I did manage to get my van cleaned out and vacuumed which it really needed. Sounds like ya'll have been busy too. I stopped in the TS the other day and found a little wooden Christmas wagon that was falling apart for a buck. I want the wheels off of it for another project down the line. I also found another prim picture. This one is a print on paper. Looks like someone tried to do a re-paint job on it, but messed it all up so I'm using it to make a pattern so I can just paint the whole scene and use the same frame. Is that copyright infringement if I'm just doing it for myself? I looked the print up online and it was worth $35 before, but now there is paint all over it and scratches (TS doesn't handle with care). I will try make a few changes to it so it won't be exactly the same, but give me your ideas on that. The other one I re-painted was painted by someone,but I didn't think of the copyright thing before and I did make changes to it. I'm close to getting the pattern done so I want to start painting it this week if possible. Have one Uncle Sam based. That's as far as my painting has gone this past week. I will try to do better and get something finished up this week to post. I have one other U Sam cut out and ready to paint and a Ms Liberty cut out. Went thru my mags the other night and found a couple more U Sams I want to do for my collection. Ya'll may be sick of Uncle Sam before I'm done. =) Your painting areas look so nice. I need to clean mine up and take a pic, but all my painting stuff is hidden except for a few things on my hutch shelves. It's my office too so right now there is a bunch of paperwork strewn across my painting area. =) It is due for a cleanup this week. Luvs~ Thanks for the heads up at Joannes. Hmmm wonder if I can plan a trek over there this week. It's kinda far from my house so I like to hit 2 birds with one stone when I can. Hope you can come up with some cute things for your trip. Our weather was so nice at the beginning of the week. 80's Ahhhh. Some of our tulips came up which was so nice. DH had some casualties with the weed whacker so he brought them in to me to put in a vase and they are so pretty. It's been raining for the past 2 days and looks to be rainy again today. Went back down to 60. =( I like the heat! Luvs~ I'll trade ya!! Anytime!! ha Well, the time has come for me to get ready for church. Ya'll have a wonderful Sabbath and I'll try to get here more next week. ~Anj