4 the Birds #99

[Maple]

We are officially 21 posts away from #100. Post your hearts out buddies. :headover: Guess who might come back to help us get to that magic number Patti. Faye! She e-mailed me her change of e-mail address so I dropped her a note and asked if she'd like to help us out reaching 100. After all, she is responsible for a lot of those posts too. So keep your eyes peeled, Faye just might drop in. I know we can do it now! LOL

[PattiG]

Hey Faye! Come and add a post! We haven't heard from you in such a long time, how's everything going? How is Rex? Roxie?

Gee, wouldn't it be fun to get all our originals to write an "anniversary" post? We could see how far we've all come (lol or haven't come) in 3 yrs!

Today is going to be very very quiet here at work. There are 6 people in my department Between vacations, sick kids, and other sundry emergencies, I am now the only person here today. That could work to my advantage by getting a lot of work done w/o interruptions. On the other hand, I feel like going home too. lol

Maple, how do you make your stuff cabbage? Do you use a tomato sauce on it or sweet & sour sauce? Some time ago my friend had given me a German version which steamed the rolls with caraway seeds and saurkraut. It was ok tasting but my family prefers a light tomato sauce.

Charmaine, you mentioned receiving some holiday candy from Pfizer. What kind of work do you do in the Parliment Building? Is it pharmaceutical related? Such as govt grants?

[Bailey's Mom]

Good morning Ladies,

TGIF!!! It is only 8:15 AM and I am counting the minutes until I get to leave today. It is not THAT bad, but I want to get started on my weekend.

Although I lost my appetite yesterday as DB and I hit a rough patch and my thoughts have been consumed with that.

Well I am sure we will make it to 100 posts before Christmas.

[Maple]

Just a quick post to keep us rolling. I've had another good OP day and am beginning to feel the benefits of sticking with it. May clothes are definately fitting better and I'm much more comfortable in them.

I installed my MasterCook this afternoon and am having lots of fun with it. So far I've added 2 recipies to my created "My WW Cookbook". It's great. All you do is add all the ingredients and it calculates all the nutritional information. From there it's easy to calculate the points. Sure easier than the way I was doing it when I created a recipe of my own and had to figure out each individual ingredient's data, add it all together and divide by the number of servings. There are scads of cookbooks in the program too. You can import and export recipies too. There are so many great features I can't list them all here. All this for just $14.98 Canadian!

[PattiG]

So we're all experiencing a looseness in our clothing? Doesn't it feel great. It's been too long since I've thought "gee, these pants are really comfortable" and it's amazing at how just a few pounds can make such a big difference in fit.

Tomorrow night is our "early" Christmas dinner with my brother's family....with all the requisite special dishes that go with that meal. I've been sooooo good all week OP (today will make 5 days of exercise) that I'm not stressing over dinner. Today we're making those infamous delicious Italian riceballs that is enough to put any WW or cholesterol-watcher over the edge, but instead of having 2 or 3 of them, I will do my best to have a low point breakfast and have ONLY 1 riceball. The rest of the meal will be manageable (shrimp, baked clams, prime rib, veggies, etc.). Dessert will be another story that I will need to pass by (maybe I'll try the 1-bite method that you described Maple.....lol got a BBQ-size fork?!) Nah, just kidding. I'm working too hard to blow it on a couple of desserts that I can have at any time. I'll stick with some home-made applesauce or clementine. That should work.

You know, this is really a first. Up until this year, actually losing weight in December was unspeakable. We may have said we'd "try" but it never occurred. And yet, this year is different. Why?
Ok, one last little tidbit. The following blurb was in our newspaper the other day. I suppose it would help if you just can't get going in the morning or need to find a gift for that one impossible-to-buy-for-person:

[/b]"Wake up and smell the .....soap. You won't need a cup of joe to get going.....just lather up with Shower Shock. The peppermint-scented soap is infused with anhydrous caffeine, which is absorbed through the skin. Each wash from a 4-oz bar (about 12 washes to a bar) releases almost the same amount of caffeine as a couple of cups of coffee. Available at www.thinkgeek.com and www.target.com. $7/bar.[/b]

LOL! I'm picturing a fastidiously clean person zipping around in a blurr of activity! Need to re-charge? Shower again!

Actually, did you know that many cosmetics are made with caffeine? In our manufacturing dept we have kilos of anhydrous (dry, powder) caffeine and the workers need to wear respirators when weighing it out. Last year there was one employee who forgot to put his on, opened the bucket, and inhaled a cloud of it's dust. He had to be rushed to Emergency for heart palpatations. He was lucky, he could have had a heart attack.

Patti
OK, I'll be back tomorrow with WI news and jingling all the way!

[Maple]

Phooey! I just lost my post! Guess my fingers were exceeding 90 wpm. When I was typing daily I used to type 90 wpm easily on an old Underwood without an automatic return carriage. You know, the kind you had to lift you right hand up and manually "throw" the carriage. Maybe you youngins might not have seen one of those in use. After I got onto an electric typewriter, my speed was up to 120 wpm. Again for the youngins, computers weren't in office use yet. LOL By the time I got onto the computer I slowed down a bit because of the feel of the keyboard. Today I think I probably only type 60 wpm because I don't type much anymore other than e-mail and here. I have to intentionally slow my fingers in order to get my thought gathered together. The fingers are willing, but the mind has slowed. LOL

When I turned the page on my desk daytimer I almost had to go back to bed. It made me tired anticipating everything I have to do next week. I've been ready for Christmas and not had a lot to do lately, but these are all the last minute details to pull the family dinner together, outings with the kids etc. As Foxworthy put it, I'l be as busy as a one armed paper hanger.

Good luck with your pre-Christmas dinner at you brothers Patti. What the heck are rice balls? To answer your question regarding the cabbage rolls, these are the Ukrainian type. A mixture of fried bacon, onion, ground beef and pork mixed into rice. The rice mixture is wrapped in par-cooked cabbage leaves. Each layer of cabbage rolls in the roaster are sprinkled with more of the onion bacon mixture (not the ground meat) and moistened with tomato juice then baked until the cabbage is well cooked.

[PattiG]

What can I say. According to WW WI today, ISupposedly gained .5 lb this week. I KNOW otherwise cause my scale and my clothes both show that I lost a pound. And now....I may never be able to show my face at this center again. I had an disagreement with the weigh-in lady that the scale was all out of whack (and I showed her the problem on the scale). I tried to explain to her that it needed to be balanced properly to get an accurate weigh (the bubbles weren't even close to being lined up...she didn't know what i was talking about) and the scale was totally leaning downhill to the right. Well, I nearly caused a mutiny with the other women waiting to be weighed! She said "The scales are calibrated just fine! I said, "I do this for a living and they're calibrated to an off-balance scale!" She wouldn't let me fix it and then re-weigh. ROTFL It wasn't a pretty sight. Oh well, I might need to find another WW center. THey might shoot me the next week.

[Maple]

OMG Patti don't let a little scale mutiny derail you now. I've had the same happen to me in the past but fortunately my meeting now has digital scales and they are dead on to mine at home. Are your home scales digital? Also think about when you weighed at home. Did you have clothes on? Were they the same clothes you wore to my meeting? What time did you weigh in at both places? A little difference in any of that could reflect your shock at WW. Don't worry about what happened at the meeting, you're not the first and won't be the last to challenge them. I understand how you are feeling because I had an experience where I "knew" their scale was off but nobody would listen...........I quit and never went back! That would teach them a lesson! HA! I gained it all back. Some lesson.

As an afterthought, if you don't have digital scales at home, go out and buy one today and give it to yourself as an early Christmas present. You won't regret it because they don't ever "play games".

[PattiG]

yes, yes, I took all that into consideration (clothing, time of day, etc.). My scale at home which is digital usually matches WW well (maybe off by .25 lbs at most). BUT, unlike digital scales for home use, precision balanced (scientific) scales like what we have at work and the ones used at WW have four little "feet" that the scale balances on. These feet take into account any slanting of the surface the scale is sitting on (like the grooves in floor tile) and there's a side apparatus with a small circle drawn on it. A "balance bubble" needs to be centered in the circle to insure vertical, horizontal, and diagonal balance of the scale. Until that bubble is centered, you can calibrate the unit till the cows come home but you'll never get an accurate measurement. The lady said, "but I zero-balanced the scale." Doesn't matter. "Zero-balancing" just tells the scale to "start from this point" but if your weight isn't distributed evenly on it when you step on, your reading will be inaccurate. Consider 30 members stepping on that scale every couple of hours, shifting it over a tiled floor, 7 days a week....ain't nothing calibrated anymore! If you did that with pharmaceutical weighings.....you could kill someone with the inaccuracies!

OK, I'm done with my tirade. Now I'm just waiting for my SIL to arrive for dinner!

[PattiG]

Did I say dinner tonight was going to be well planned for an somewhat easy to keep under control? ohhhhh, it sooooo wasn't. It wasn't the desserts that did me in, I did fine with that. Did I say something about the one bite method in relation to tortilla chips and salsa? Did I say only 1 riceball yesterday?? I'm going to H-ll in a handbasket tomorrow. Back OP first thing and NO looking back!

Snicket if I so much as hear a sneeze from you....you're going to be mincemeat!

Patti

[KramerFoxworthy]

Mincemeat she says. Jolly good stuff. Patti it sounds as if you have had a very trying time with the WW scales. Why don't they get digital scales like Maple's meeting place? My chemist uses the ones like you mentioned and even he says they are a bloody bother. Which brings me to what I wanted to report to you. I've lost one stone (14lbs.to you) since my last weigh in. That was about 5 weeks ago if my memory serves me right. From now until the new year I hope to hold fast at that and not gain anything back. I'll not weigh myself again until sometime in the first week of January. Even the misus is taking notice to the change in me. Dare I hope she will join the WW way after the holidays? Blimey, she needs to. Shhh, don't tell her I said that.

[PattiG]

VERY WELL DONE Foxworthy! Fourteen pounds?! That's STUPENDOUSl!!!

Maple, Charmaine, Snicket, how are you all fairing this weekend? First thing this morning was back OP with breakfast. I must say, after 3 weeks of watching my food choices and portion control...I actually did not feel well last night in terms of "fullness." Mind you we finished dinner by 7:00 pm and I didn't go to bed till 11:30pm and I STILL felt as if I couldn't digest. Well, if nothing else that showed me how badly my body reacts to overeating. I don't like that overstuffed to the brim feeling. A lesson well learned.

Patti

[Bailey's Mom]

Hi Everyone,

I enjoyed reading the posts since Friday. Patti, don't get too worked up over .5 as that really isn't much at all! And as for the scales, I can see how you would be frustrated. You are doing so well. Did I miss your WI Maple? I jumped on the scales at Curves again on Sat and was still exactly the same weight.

I will go to WW tomorrow for an official WI and then again in the New Year (they will be closed next Tuesday). I am very proud of myself and how well I have been doing. I am making good food choices and when I decide to give myself a treat, it is just that - a treat - not an overindulgence or off the wagon. The flex points are very accommodating for that. And I second what you said Patti about having losses over Christmas, this is a first for me. When I got my goal weight two years ago it was the WI right before Christmas. So I decided with all that hard work that I would let myself go "just a little", well that added five pounds that I didn't take off. I maintained the five pound gain for six months and then I put on another five and then another five and here I am. Christmas and summer are the biggest challenges for me and eating too much, so I feel if I can get myself through this Christmas then I am on the home stretch. And I feel very comfortable with a maintainence over Christmas.

Maple, I had a question for you as I noticed before that you volunteer at Hospice. DB's parents both have cancer right now and I was wondering if there are any books for me to read on how to deal with people that are ill and then the stress that it causes their families. DB is under a lot of stress right now and I don't know how to support him and now it is starting to wear on me and our relationship. Do you know of any resources?

I am going to try to find a light recipe for either a pumpkin or eggnog cheesecake for Christmas dessert.

That Mastercook program sounds awesome Maple - where did you pick it up at? I could make great use out of it!!!! Baking is the best stress reliever for me.

Well I will check back with you guys after I have my lunch at the Mexican restaurant with my former coworkers.

And a BIG congratulations to you Foxworthy for that amazing weight loss of 14 pounds!!! Of course I couldn't imagine myself losing that much in a month, although then I would be at goal!!! So I will imagine it. And my resolution this week is to look at the "Tools for Living" to see about putting some into use. Does anyone want to join me in that?

[Bailey's Mom]

Me again,

Well I had a lovely mexican lunch today. I had Alambres which is basically a skewer of beef with veggies, salad, rice and refried beans. I even left food on my plate as I was stuffed after eating the skewer and then some of the beans. I didn't even snack this morning or this afternoon. Will just have a breast of chicken for dinner and I'll be good to go.

It is just beautiful out right now. I am going to exercise at Curves after work with my Mom and then tonight I plan on wrapping all my Christmas presents. That is always fun.

See you all tomorrow.

[KramerFoxworthy]

Christmas is upon us isn't it? The festivities have begun and I'm kept very busy with my job. In case I don't get back until after the holidays, I wish you all a very healthy, happy Christmas.

[Maple]

Charmaine I got the MasterCook at Office Depot. Here are a list of books that are good reading about dealing with cancer and or someone dying;

Final Gifts by Maggie Callanan and Patrica Kelly
Sacred Dying by Megory Anderson
On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

the Losses of Life by H. Norman Wright

I'd recommend #1 and #3 to begin with. #4 is the best book I've read to help one that is grieving or trying to support the person grieving.

BTW, I reported a loss of 1.8#'s last week for a total of 5.4 #'s in two weeks. Guess you missed it.

[Bailey's Mom]

Hello!

Thanks for the book recommendations Maple, I will definitely go and check them out. I can devour a book in a couple of days, so I might have a look at all of them. I am also going to "chat" with a friend of mine who is a professional counsellor and see what she can suggest as well. I just hope that we can make it through Christmas without any meltdowns.

I kept dinner light last night and today am going out for lunch with my coworkers and I am just having salad today as I think I am still stuffed from lunch yesterday. Nothing like a spoonful of beans to do that to a person.

We took the dog out for a walk around the neighbourhood last night and checked out some of the Christmas light displays. It was really nice. Pretty crisp and cool outside, but I was bundled up appropriately. DB not so much. Dog didn't care, she was happy to be out.

Tonight is our trip to Butchart Gardens with my Mom and Grandmother and DB. That should be nice too.

Let's try to get our 100 posts by Christmas!!!! I will check back again today.

[Bailey's Mom]

Well one more hour till lunch and have hit a snag! One of my coworkers won't be able to join us until 12:30 and the rest of us are going at noon. So that means half an hour of resisting appies and alcoholic bevies!!! I will sip on my diet Coke and if I do get an appie I will get veggies.

There, not sure what Winning Tool that is, but I will utilize it.

And Maple could be lurking around the corner, so I wouldn't want her to see me pigging out. Although she doesn't know what I look like, ha ha.

I am making an Eggnog Cheesecake for Christmas dinner and think I found the recipe I am going to use. I am going to use light eggnog and cream cheese to help make the recipe less fattening. But otherwise, it is not the healthiest dessert. It has cashews as part of the crust, but I am going to change that to pecans as I like them better.

Spoke to my Grandmother on the phone today and she is not going to Butchart Gardens with us tonight (doesn't want to be out in the cold that late at night) and then tried to guilt me into seeing her more often. ha ha. Boy oh boy, Christmas comes along hard and heavy doesn't it? Problem is my grandmother wants me to see her two or three times a week and phone almost every day!!! I would love to, but do have other commitments such as work and my own life. And don't picture a shriveled up old lady sitting in a rocker -- my grandmother is very young for her age and she goes out dancing and everything else. But she is alone a lot as she needs a hobby. Anyway, just me filling up a post ;).

I don't know how you guys get those icons in the body of your emails or how you change the font size and colour either...

[Maple]

We're going to make it! #100 here we come!

Sounds like the Christmas season is in full swing now. I did my final grocery shopping this morning and managed to get through the checkout just as people began to flood the place. If I'd been 20 minutes later, I'd have been standing in a line a mile long. Phew........a bit of luck. Hee hee....blimey as our Foxworthy would say.

I'm in count down mode now. Every little thing I do will help bring Christmas day together without a hitch or me getting over tired. I'm loving our new bed too. It's really helping me have a good nights sleep and finally I'm feeling refreshed when I get up. For those that don't know. We got a Tempur Pedic and it's awesome. :buddysmoo

Patti I had my first slice of Pannetoni at lunch today. OMG I'd forgotten how good it is. I bought a little one so I'd not be able to go overboard with it but I have the large one for Boxing Day breakfast with our relatives that will be staying overnight Christmas night. You know what? I have said all along that I'm going to count points right up to Dec. 23rd, then on the 24th and 25th I'll just enjoy myself. This of course I will do, BUT I think I'll have to extend it one more day to include Boxing Day. That's 3 days! :embarrass This is more realistic and doable for me. One Dec. 27th I'll be back OP 100%. What are the rest of you doing about it?

[Lemony Snicket]

Good Evening Ladies and Foxworthy. Here is my accounting of last night's weigh in. As was accurately predicted, I've lost 7.8 pounds since my last weigh date. I don't doubt that I'll continue this trend through the holiday.

Ladies, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Foxworthy, you're weightloss was very good as well. Keep up the good work. Drop me a line when you can, I missed your birding discussion on the other board last week and we sorely need your expertise on several issues.

[KramerFoxworthy]

Jolly good day to you all,

Thanks to all of you my sized down self will be having a lighter holiday this year. This was the week I dreaded and when I get myself into the worst of the best out of the kitchen. All the so called sampling of Christmas sweets usually does me in. This year I will enjoy a day of so of eating without guilt then I hope to continue down the road to good healthy eating.

Snicket thank goodness you showed up. I was affraid I'd be at the mercy of these lovely ladies. Sorry about the absence from the birding board last week but you know how busy the Christmas season is with entertaining schedule of my employer. They've been out every evening until late so I wasn't getting to bed until the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully the entertainment from now until New Year will be at the manor so my services won't be needed as much. Anyone needing a lift home will have their own driver so that let's me off the hook so to speak.

I'll be lifting a stout for each and everyone of you on the eve of the 24th.