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Deb...you look a lot like your avatar. Pretty lady...big gourd! That is a gourd, right????????

Long..don't know how I missed your post...yep, dogs (and cats) are such caring creatures. Yesterday I laid down on the couch. I am not a nap taken but NY resolution to recharge the body once a week. Well, our black lab ran and got DH, barked until he came in to look. I think the only time I have laid on the couch is when I have had a kidney stone. He does seem to know even when one is coming on cuz he will lay is head where the pain is. You better get out there and clean out that going out of business AT store!!!!! I will say this again...I LOVE Ann Taylor!

Thanks, Laura for the compliments. Dress was my mom's when she got married in 1949...we got married in 1979. My boys still have those kissable cheeks. I kiss 'em but those girls that chase them like to kiss them more!:blushing:

Kashi Go Lean and Fiber One cereals are a staple in my diet. As soon as I get home from purchasing them at the supermarket, I ration them into 1 cup snack bags so I don't get carried away with the amount I snack on. (Around 200 cals per dry cup). I use them as an afternoon or morning snack. Most have over 40% of daily requirement of fiber a person needs. They can be addicting so beware!

First off...congrats on your weightloss so far. It is good to limit carb intake but you do need some healthy carbs for a well-rounded healthy menu. We are all so different in what our band allows us to eat or tolerate. I can eat almost any meat but some just are too rich for my stomach. For instance, beef fillet mignon I can eat but after I eat it, it seems too rich for me. But, sirloin works fine. In my opinion, not being too tight is the trick to enjoy that well-rounded menu. Getting hungry every 3-4 hours is not a negative thing. Making good healthy choices, eating hard protein to keep you fuller longer is the trick. Let us know what your usual menu is and maybe we can help you tweek it a bit.

That's the "male" version. We have the "female" which is double the size. Cannot find photo. Will snap one for Nels in the spring.

Product of above posted happiness:tt2:

Gotta share this. Was looking through photos saved on my computer files and came across this happy couple

Good girl, JB with the eggs....wait an hour or so on the coffee! Don't want to wash it through. Yep, a farm girl. 15 miles from the closest town with a store. Our town has a population of 156. "My" life would be more stress free if I worked off the farm but DH's would be more stressful. It was a comprimise for me to be here. DH encourages me to go back to work if that's what I want. I do have some very stress free days but also a good share of them are high stress. Just a trade off. I miss the interaction with "real" ppl on a daily basis. Laura...tell Nels to look up "Big Bud" tractors on the internet and he can see one that we use for our tiling business. I swear that thing is 1/2 the size of our house and they added big arms with wheels on them to hold the big rolls of tile which made it even bigger. I will try to get a photo of it and send it to him when the thing comes out of the machine shed next spring. Will search my photos...maybe I have one. DH also had JD's and Catapillar tractor with tracks, not tires. Good goin' on getting to the gym. Way to go!:blushing:

Sounds like an interesting job, Deb. JB...I'm a stay at home farm woman...going on ten years. I long to be in the working world most days. I owned and operated two insurance agencies for years and sold them to "simplify and de-stress" our lives. We manage a corn and soybean farm and have two other business'. A agricultural tiling business and a farm machinery business. DH and his partner invented a piece of machinery that we sell throughout the US and Canada.

Got room at your institution for one more? All this talk about you guys going back to work is making me want to go grab a blazer and skirt and head out the door. Social interaction? Do dogs count?

Wow Eva...can see how beautiful all the shrubs are and everything surrounding you. Will never forget stepping off a plane in Pheonix years ago and thinking that I would miss the green grass of MN. By the time we left ten days later, I was in love with AZ. Morning Deb...I'm an early morning lover also. Time with hubby over coffee. I accomplish most of my work in the morning. Accomplishing anything after 2pm is iffy.

Great...have fun on you "solo" adventure. Watch of ice and snow but have a good time with Grandma. When do you go back to work? Maybe a good thing you do not have to deal with the hordes heading to the gym to start their new, healthy lifestyle.

Awww...you're all making me jealous...wish I was heading out the door to work,, gym whatever. Too cold to go anywhere. Frost on the nipples this morning, girls!

Janet...somewhat of a resolution for this year for me is to take a nap once a week to recharge...no matter what is going on around this farm. There are times I am so spent but do not want to lay down for a nap cuz I think I should keep going. I slept for 45 minutes. Great....can you give us all an idea of when to expect our invites to the wedding????? Dawn...been using it for years for anything that is oil based. Also, love the new Tide tablets that take out spots. Linda...yahooo! Good going on the exercise. I know it's been bugging you not to get any. Just be careful. I know I cannot stand it when I cannot exercise. I think it is a great destresser. Even if it's just for a bit a day. Ready to go sit in a tub of warm water and read. Corn hauling day on the farm tomorrow. Will have extras around here so better go take something out of the freezer. Freespirit....hope you get things figured out. Never good not to have the support you need. Take Janet's advice, study her list she provided, ask for help if you are unsure. Good luck and hope we hear back from you on how things are going. Sleep tight everyone!

Afternoon Girls, Didn't even get on to check this thread until now. Had some fine-tuning on the books with DH for a big part of the day and then laid down for a long winter's nap. Did get outside for a short walk...was feeling pent up and DH is a little bit of a perfectionist....yep...needed the walk. Jewel (Jessica) just want to wish you the best of luck tomorrow. It's a big step to prepare for and you seem to have accepted what is coming your way. The only advice I feel I can give you at this time is to follow ALL of your doc's rules. I hope we can follow you throughout your journey and your transformation. Please let us know how you are doing when you feel like posting. Take care and stay in contact with us. Laura....hope you get some "me" time this next week. You know...I cannot think of much to say. I think I woke up from my nap missing part of my brain. I will call back later.

Laura...I don't know if I would have one good answer on the nail biting issue with Nelson. I can only tell you what I would have done. I would have maybe turned it the other way and rewarded if each week the nails had not been bitten. Nothing big but something like a trip to DQ or going in to buy a matchbox car. Every child is different on how they react and each parent has their own technique. That's the approach that I think would have worked at our house and my DS's.

The photos only show about 1/4 of the collection...didn't want to bore you guys. Arlene...you asked about the size of pan for potatoes. You have me stumped. I think if you did 2.5 lbs you could use a cake pan. I use a roasting pan for the 5lbs.

Evening Ladies...our last Christmas celebration was wonderful. Everyone got here about 11:30am and left about 1/2 hour ago. Was a lovely day. The kids were so good and had fun at "Auntie's" house. They had more fun on my treadmill than they did with their toys. That and dancing with my big Santa. Deb?????? Did I hear that you are playing with the idea of FL???????? How about it???? Might be just what you need. Hey Julie...sounds like you brought the New Year in with family and friends. I LOVE potato pancakes. Our Friday night meal with halibut when we were growing up (Catholic...no meat Fridays). Meredith...forgot to mention your photos. You are quite the beauty. Hope you had a great time. Eva...Nice big pup and beautiful cat..Laura also. I cannot have a cat in the house but I love them. Great pics. Supposed to go to a machine shed party tonight. Am hoping DH just heads out for a couple of hours by himself. -30...I just can't go out and just to stand around and watch guys drink beer and talk about farming. I think a bag of popcorn to share with my puppa sounds a little more comfy. Hope you all had a great day and enjoy tomorrow.

I forgot already what photos I attached but was hoping to post all three trees. The loaded one is in living room, little one in Kitchen and other in basement familyroom...

I know this is late but wanted to post some Christmas photos that I was going to do last week but card reader would not cooperate. Soooooooooooo, now you have to look at outdated, old lady Christmas photos:scared2:

Forgot to add...it was -29 (yes, minus) degrees this morning at 5am when I got up. Cheri...have fun with the grand babies

Hey Meredith....it's soooooooo good to hear from you. And, thanks for posting the pictures. I love seeing what ppl look like and what they are up to. I am going to post some as soon as I can. Sounds like it time to get out of your funk and beating yourself up. Make that clean break from the junk in your life and get back on the ole' horse? You fell off but didn't get hurt too bad, did you? 2lbs is manageble. Might work to just go back to your LB basics to get yourself into a healthy routine again. The house smells wonderful. Roasted the porkloin in the oven all night on a low temp. It's out cooling, going to slice and put back in juice and keep warm. Then I have floors to do and I should be ready for the crowd. Looking forward to it. Have four little ones coming. Got the Christmas stockings back out, renamed them and stuffed them for the kids. Had a great night of sleep. I am really strange (alright...no comments). I don't like to go to sleep. I dread going to bed most nights and if I wake up during the night I just wish and wish and wish for morning. I just plain DREAD going to sleep. Think I need to hire that life coach that I was going to tell you guys about. She had so many calming techniques to use b/4 bed and as soon as a person wakes in the morning. Great...I use 2-8oz, 1/3 fat cream cheese in the 5# of potatoes and 4 cups (2 tubs) of FF sour cream. I don't put salt or butter and any milk. I bake at 350 for an hour. They go a long way so you might want to start with 2.5#'s. OK...of and running. Gotta get things done and ready for our last Christmas. Dang....this holiday season was spread out. Ready to get the Christmas decorations put away. Embarrassed to say I have 21 large tubs and that does not include outside or the three trees. DH put up huge shelves that take up most of our storeroom to accomodate the tubs. I am not one to hang onto a lot of "stuff" but my Christmas stuff is the most special. I love Christmas. You all have a great day and hope everyone's eating habits will slide right back into normal. I know I need a break from too many different kinds of foods and rich foods. Makes a person feel sluggish and lazy.

The make ahead potatoes...I just pealed 5#s of potatoes, boiled, mashed and added cream cheese and FF sour cream. Put in a baking dish and ready to put in oven to bake for an hour when the time is right. My mom used to make them with above ingredients but would fold in stiff egg whites. I cannot remember, Lori, who you said you were going to funeral for. I, too, love when ppl post photos. I am going to try to snap some tomorrow b/4 I have to take down my Christmas things and post them when I get my card reader working again. Darned tech guy we have....takes forever to take care of business. Time for a new one. We have had our new computer for close to six months now and we still have not been charged for it. Called in and they keep saying "Thanks for being so honest but we don't have an invoice for you". Well, DUH! make one! It just might be to their advantage to bill us for it. Cheri...summer trip to Chicago would never work for me....farming does not allow for me to travel during spring, summer or fall months. Maybe the girls from AZ and CA would welcome a climate change from their hot summers?????

Poor DH....you would think that at the age of 55 he would know better than to try and out-drink his 28 yr old DS. He goes weeks in between a beer usually and he drank a years worth in one night. He was laughing so hard at comedian, DS's GF kept looking at him and was making sure he was not having a heart attack. Gotta get that boys off the farm more often. Laura...dang that hot tub looks inviting. Pretty easy to freeze the finger tips and toes where we live. Cannot wait for our trip to FL. Six weeks of warmth (Anything over 30 is fine with me). Sweet of Nels to write a personal thanks. Cannot wait to see it. I will have to grab some farm stuff once in awhile and send it his way. Ventured out in the cold this afternoon for a visit with family. Thank God of auto-start. Just finished most of the food for tomorrow. I have a huge porkloin marinating and will cook it all night on low heat. Made homemade mac and cheese cuz thought the little ones would like it, strawberry salad, make ahead mashed potatoes, will serve sweet corn from our field that had frozen, and have three different kinds of homemade bread. Also made some peanut butter/choc/rice krispie bars for the little ones and made Dutch apple pie ready to pop in the oven. I should be set. Can anyone say "Comfort Foods"? There's a good number of people from our area that suffer depression during the winter months. One of the reasons youngest DH moved from Alaska. I count myself as very fortunate to have really never experienced depression and feel for those who do have it. Did nothing but eat junk while visiting today. I swear I ate an entire batch of Chex mix over the last week. My tummy needs a rest and back to totally healthy after tomorrow. Too many rich foods for my system. Sure has been fun though! Suggestion for our FL meet. If you have room in your suitcases, throw your favorite board game or card game in. OK...think I am heading to bed to start a new book. DH has been watching Law and Order marathon and I like the show but after many, many hours of listening to it, I can rattle off the Miranda in 25 seconds. Sleep tight!