Third Quarter Posts: July 1-September 30.

KonaKat

Helene--My exercise is the keyboard on the laptop, swiping a screen on a tablet or the turn page button on a Kindle e-reader. Oh, let's not forget tapping the button on the remote.

Maryanne--I'll check the link out but right now, I'm heading to bed. I worked today and had a busy evening, so I am tired.

mdubbs1

I've been routinely getting NS emails. Funny, they cancel the boards but get their emails working. This email had a "special" on NS ice cream. I went to check it out and couldn't find a la carte ordering on the web site. Thought I was losing it! Only way I could figure out how to get to it was click on the teensy tiny "site map" link at the bottom of the page. I don't think I ever saw a web site with such tiny print for that link section at the bottom of the page. Then when I got there a "Save $30" link came up. Of course no details on the requirements. So just for fun I tried to use it. Of course it didn't work on a modest a la carte order. Since I don't really need anything, I just left it all there.

Yesterday I actually did a JC day. Day one of the rest of my life? I can only hope!! I need to stock up on vegetables. Because of the garden I haven't been buying any but when I'm being "good" the best part of my dinner is usually the big plate of vegetables!

Helene610

I almost forgot my chiropractic appointment yesterday. I was already 5 minutes late when I realized it but he's only 5 minutes away. DH and I both had appointments. We arrived and I apologized for being a few minutes late. She told me we weren't on the schedule. I had the appointment card with me so she said her co-worker must have forgotten to put us in the computer. We had to wait a few minutes which was fine since we'd arrived late. I ended up running errands as long as I was out and never got back here to post. I hope everyone had a good day.

mdubbs1

Helene - quite the mix-up!!

Day 2 of sticking to my diet. I'm thinking what I need to do is spend the next however many months eating out of my pantry. I've got TONS of food here. Someday I'd like to sign up for Jenny Craig for at least a few months but I couldn't possibly justify it with this much food on hand.

For dinner I had the "tuscan inspired pasta" from NS. Nothing to write home about IMHO.

At least I'm stocked up on vegetables. I realized last evening that not having any raw vegetables here made me vulnerable to bad snacks.

KonaKat

Helene--I had that happen once with an appointment but they worked me in since I had driven a distance.

Maryanne--I have a ton of NS food here; I just need to start eating it again. I'm trying some "Santa Fe chicken" thing. I think I saw some chicken. Mostly rice and sauce.

I work again tomorrow and also on Monday. Also waiting for my heart monitoring equipment to arrive from Cardionet. I have another 3 weeks of 24/7 monitoring.

Helene610

I had the Tuscan pasta today too. I share your opinion. I won't order it again. it was pretty bland.

KonaKat

I hope I didn't include the Tuscan pasta in my order.

Off to work!

mdubbs1

Strange to think one could wax nostalgic about NS of yesteryear. Once upon a time I really thought I could eat NS forever. There were so many meals I liked. And such a vibrant online community. Just gone.

I'm especially sad about the two mac n cheese's disappearing. Because I only liked the chili when mixed with the mac n cheese I essentially lost 4 more entrees.

Not sure why there's been almost zero jenny craig food on ebay in 2015. It's possible JC decided to prohibit it (companies can do that) and the few items listed just snuck by the monitoring program.

Yesterday I had the NS pancakes for breakfast with a very ripe banana mushed in. Never again. Wonderslim pancakes are head and shoulders above. For lunch I had tomatoes and NS tuna salad. I ate in peace - no attack by the cats - not sure what that says about the NS tuna salad. LOL! For dinner I had the tuscan pasta with tomatoes. In the evening I had baby carrots and stringless sugar snap peas, NS popcorn and NS pound cake. The pound cake is one NS item I still enjoy. I tend to trade some of the extras for a second evening snack because we eat dinner so early.

Last evening I started watching an Extreme Weight Loss with a little person. I know that's politically correct but would you choose that as the politically correct way to refer to yourself? Her job involved appearing on television giving advice on how to live healthy and even she got the irony of that. This poor woman apparently tried everything to find somewhere she'd be accepted even trying a convent. She says even the nuns wouldn't accept her. Of course to be fair we didn't hear the nuns side of the story. But I can sort of believe it. In my work life I've had a few run ins with nuns myself. Of course even the very Catholic partner I was working with (complete with VERY Irish Catholic name) couldn't make them happy. They had a set amount of money they wanted to use to provide pension benefits and we tried to get them to hire an actuary to make sure that the amount of money they had would be enough to fund the benefits. They were tres annoyed because "God will provide". I digress.....

Today is day 3! I haven't started my calorie spreadsheets yet. Right now I'm just trying to get in the groove. Stick to the format. My mantra this time around is "in a year I can be 40 or 50 pounds lighter or I can still feel this slow and achy and miserable..." I think the #1 thing I need to change from prior attempts is never letting myself feel free to eat things I love. I am not good at moderation. Something to work on!

If I eat out of my pantry for a couple months it should cut down on my grocery shopping. I have to get out of the mind set of standing in the grocery store and thinking "what looks good for today's dinner/breakfast/whatever". That instant gratification thing.

The tomatoes are almost gone so I need to go back to adding vegetables to the weekly grocery shopping list.

Breakfast this morning will be NS nutriflakes and a banana.

mdubbs1

Jean - I haven't had the guts to try the Santa Fe chicken thingie. I think I have one. Blows my mind that you're already subbing. What teacher takes off at the very beginning of the year? I don't envy you the cardio monitoring. I HATED that Holter monitor thingie.

Helene610

I'm thinking of switching to A La Carte. I have quite a lot of NS food backed up that I just can't get enthused with. I find myslef making more and more of my own dinners. Between eating it for too many years and the fact that so many good items have been discontinued, I could get by just ordering NS breakfasts. I have til early next month to decide before my next BBB ships.

mdubbs1

There are some sweet snacks I like and some lunches. A handful of dinners. A tiny handful of breakfasts. Not nearly enough choices for the long haul. Of course I've never been on auto delivery.

For dinner tonight I had a modest helping of rotosserie chicken, a big plate of brussel sprouts, some fresh tomatoes and a small triangle of watermelon. As usual DH turned his nose up at the brussel sprouts - more for me!

mdubbs1

Ten biggest dieting mistakes: https://www.yahoo.com/health/the-10-biggest-diet-mistakes-according-to-experts-125955751813.html

Nothing earth shattering or anything but I think I'm in need of reminders!

This morning I"m planning the NS bagel and egg beaters.

Lunch will be a big salad with turkey.

Dinner will be salmon, vegetables and little potatoes. Bob loves little potatoes boiled and our local stores, normally pretty pathetic in the produce arena, suddenly have sprouted (sort of a pun?) the best looking variety of little potatoes I've ever seen.

If I eat from the freezer and pantry I'll have plenty of money in the weekly budget for produce! I could even go looking for a more upscale store but every time I think about doing that the time involved sort of nixes it. It's not like you can stock up on fresh produce.

Have to go meet Bonnie at the storage unit and other than that just work today! I wasted too much time this week on an employer who doesn't seem to appreciate anything! I have a feeling the folks that called us about them are going to decline to work with them. I'll be happy to follow along but that will mean writing off the time I spent this week.

I'm up early today. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I've been stressed and that's when I get sick. Always has been. Couldn't stand to be lying down any more. There's a Walgreen's on the way home from the storage unit and I guess I'll hit the cold aisle. Wouldn't you hate to be a cashier. Someone is buying a ton of cold meds, hands you money and all you want to do is say "no, I'm not touching that germy money". LOL! Of course maybe when you deal with the public so much you build up a tolerance.

I bought a used copy of Jeffrey Toobin's OJ Simpson book. Jeffrey has always sort of impressed me when he comes on CNN. When I saw he'd covered the OJ trial and written a book I wanted to check it out. Massive thing but it isn't like I'm going to be racing through to find out the ending! I'm also working my way through Suzanne Brockmann's troubleshooters series. Sort of out of order. I think there are something like 17 books. I've read maybe 11-15. Now I've gone back to the beginning.

I've also been fighting to get a contract for the big September cat show. When you've faithfully done a show for 15 years or so it shouldn't be such a fight to get a contract. The people that run the cat shows are volunteers but have never figured out that when you're selling something you can't just say "oh I'm a volunteer".

mdubbs1

I checked and diet direct does have a packet version of mac n cheese. Have to tuck that in my memory for when my NS mac n cheese is gone or stale. Because my NS chili will be good a lot longer. The diet direct version is worth trying to mix with the NS chili.

Helene610

I think it's true about building up immunity when you work with the public. I rarely got colds when I worked at the library because we saw so many people. We'd get them stopping off from a doctor's visit to pick up books and DVDs on their way home from work. We'd wipe down the phones when staff came in sick. I'm amazed how little I caught. I think that's less true since I retired but I try to avoid crowds during cold and flu season and I'm good about getting flu shots every year.

mdubbs1

I've been amazed at how much healthier I'm been overall since I started working at home. But I think something got me this time!

KonaKat

I have a weakened immune system but despite working in the public, I have bee fortunate not to get overwhelmingly ill like some. I don't remember the last time that I had the real flu, or bed because of a bad cold. I am very good about taking my supplements, shots, etc. I just got my flu shot for the year and a few months ago I got the Prevnar13 pneumonia shot.

I absolutely love the NS lasagna, especially the veggie one. Yes, NS used to have such a great variety, but that definitely seems to be a past tense. Often I just reach in and grab a box for the evening meal. Tonight, that method resulted in my getting another Sante Fe chicken. That sucker went back el quicko to be replaced by a veggie lasagna. I'm definitely saying no Sante Fe on the next order.

Diet Direct has some really great options. The link is a great reminder. There is something about work that is getting me motivated again.

mdubbs1

Jean - you are lucky. I got sick all the time when I was teaching school and my colleagues with kids brought all the germs to the office once I started working in an office. I need to get the pneumonia shot and, of course, my annual flu shot. I had the shingles vaccination but they wouldn't do the pneumonia until I turned 65.

mdubbs1

My cold is really terrible - very little sleep last night. And I spilled diet root beer on the cable remote so I couldn't even watch TV! Boy, am I whiney today.

I had Smart Ones pancakes for breakfast!

Helene610

Of course you could always turn on the TV/cable manually. It's probably a pain to change channels that way but you could always watch the channel you had on last. I've been relaxing today. We were at a party last night and I got to bed late. DH woke me up during the night thrashing around with a bad leg cramp. He settled down fairly quickly but it took me at least an hour to fall back to sleep. I had the regular pneumonia shot last year but I'd like to get the Prevnar one at some point.

mdubbs1

Yes, I'm spoiled I almost never watch anything except stuff on the DVR that I can skim past the commercials.

I had a big salad with turkey for lunch. For dinner I had a small helping of meat load, 1/2 baked potato and tomato slices. Finished up with my once a day mini candy.

KonaKat

Have you ever tried to find the channel change thing on these new tvs. They are so flush and blend in with few easily discerned markings that you hope you don't lose the remote. Of course, with a cable box, you don't have to change channels on the tv directly but on the box if the remote is kaput but you still have to find the power button on the TV.

Leg cramps are bad to disturb sleep. They rarely happen while you are up and about but start after you go to bed. I hate getting up and walking them out, especially when the cramp in the leg causes your toes to draw or you can't flex the leg easily.

Off to work tomorrow. It was such a nice cool day today that I went to the city for an outing.

mdubbs1

Well, this is spooky! I went to amazon and all that was on my front page was cold medicine. I've done zero recent online shopping for cold meds as I'm well stocked. How do they know I have a miserable cold? Scary!

Our remote now works again. I guess it dried out. LOL!

I'm planning a Jenny Craig day today. Not having to go to the comcast store (which isn't close) will really free up some time!

Helene610

Good your know your remote dried out and works again after a soaking. I have 3 Comcast remotes for different sets so I'd just have to grab one of the other two while waiting for drying. Our Comcast place isn't convenient either so I'd wait it out too. No more leg cramps for DH so I got a decent nights sleep

PamS53

We made a trip to Houston over the weekend to visit MIL and SIL as well as our nephew, his wife and their 3 month old baby. It was a fairly easy 4 hour drive down there, which is a huge improvement over the 11 hour drive to El Paso when MIL and SIL lived there. We were very happy to see that MIL is much improved in her new home. In fact, I thought she looked better than she's been in the past 4 years since she was first moved into assisted living. Her new doctor has been changing up her medications as well as ordering physical and occupational therapy for her and it really seems to be making a difference. All of that is provided there at the place where she lives, so it's very convenient. So far she has ridden the van to Wal-Mart twice and participated in a Red Hat Society meeting and she is going to the dining room at least once a day for a meal. While we were there, we got her out and took her to a family dinner at the house and to brunch on Sunday at a restaurant. This is a huge increase in activity for her over what she was doing before. She also seemed much more alert and less "foggy" mentally. We did some work in her apartment, rearranging some of the furniture to a better layout as well as hanging window treatments and pictures, so it looked a lot more homey by the time we left. There is still work to be done, but this was all we could do on this trip. I'm sure we will be going back fairly often so we will do the rest on another trip.

For now, SIL is living with her son, DIL and their 3 month old baby. Her home in El Paso had a contract on it, but the buyers were unable to secure financing, so it is back on the market. Until it sells, she will stay with them. Luckily, they just bought and moved into a 4 bedroom home, so there is plenty of room and they seem to get along well. DIL just returned to work after her maternity leave, so having an extra pair of hands has been helpful. While we were there, we slept on an Aerobed on the floor which was not that comfortable. I'm hoping SIL's house sells quickly and she is able to buy a new house before we have to go back because neither of us slept well at all for the two nights we were there.

This week is shaping up to be busy. My niece from LA is here this week to visit family and shop for the fabric for her wedding gown, which her mom will make. They will be here with us on Friday and that is the day we will buy the materials for her gown. That will be my gift to her, so I'm looking forward to a fun day. I did a scouting trip last week with a friend, so I have a good idea of where we need to go in Dallas. Her fiance is now in New York, in rehearsals for a play that is about to open on Broadway and there's a chance that it will go on to London after it closes in January, so we aren't even sure when the wedding will take place at this point, but at least she will have a dress ready whenever they can squeeze a wedding in to their busy lives, lol!

I hope everyone is doing well. School started here today for most of our public schools. I think the private schools started last week. I really noticed the difference at the gym this morning. A lot more women there at a later time than usual, I suppose because they came after getting the kiddies off to school first.

KonaKat

I'm off to work again. I'm working 4 days this week but as of now, I have tomorrow off. School has been underway for two weeks. I'll try to catch up this evening on the posts. Special K breakfast sandwich to start the day.

mdubbs1

Jean - I can't believe two weeks of school already! Wow!

Pam - that's such good news about your MIL but too bad about your SIL's house. It's good that they are all closer to you. I really hate the thought that my sister is moving so far away. I thought ours was the last generation when mom made the wedding dress. That's so sweet. I don't think my maid of honor appreciated it though. We sent her material to make her dress. LOL!

I'm having "packet day" today. Been awhile since I did that. I need to check my "supplies". LOL!

I didn't weigh myself last Monday. One of the few weeks I've skipped lately. Bad choice since it means I don't really know what difference it made getting on track last week. Don't worry Jean it wasn't any big number! LOL!

I'm trying to literally think to myself several times a day "one day at a time and if you do it next year at this time you'll feel a lot better".

I need to figure out how to not deprive myself but yet not plunge off the deep end every time I let myself eat something off my plan.

I'm working on the raffle mailing/fall newsletter. It's always bizarre writing fall/Halloween when it's blazing hot outside.

Helene610

Pam...That's wonderful news about your MIL doing so much better. I too hope SIL's house sells soon. Sleeping on a bad bed can really wreck your back. can you go to a motel next time mentioning you have a bad back and find the air bed bad for the back? I would hope they wouldn't be offended. Or maybe they'd offer you their bed and try the air bed themselves for a couple of nights. I've slept on some that are actually comfy so maybe they jusy bought a bad one.

mdubbs1

So far today I've had pancakes, chicken noodle soup with 4 crackers, and cheese steak mac n cheese with a huge plate of steamed broccoli and cauliflower with RF parmesan.

I still have these packets left for today: high protein pretzels and vanilla pudding. Reminds me I need to get the pudding in the fridge to "set".

I never got around to the high protein cappucino today and probably wouldn't be a good idea now as I imagine it really has caffeine in it.

PamS53

Helene, unfortunately, the bed belongs to us! It wasn't terribly uncomfortable, but what kept us from sleeping well is that their home is near an active railroad track and there were four trains each night. They cross several unprotected intersections which requires them to blow the horn each time. So every time we would get to sleep, another one would come along. I suppose we might get used to it eventually, but if we visit only occasionally we won't ever get used to it.

Maryanne, my sister is a fantastic seamstress. So far, she has made my wedding gown and a gown for each of her two older daughters. I couldn't even count how many prom dresses and other formal gowns she's made. Heck, when she and her husband were young and poor, she even made suits for him. She has made most of my window treatments and bedding and even reupholstered my living room furniture. I'm very fortunate to have such a talented sister who is willing to share her gift whenever I need her help.

KonaKat

Maryanne--I love that high protein cappuccino. What's a scale? I need to discover mile again. I see it every morning but have quit weighing in.

Pam--Great news about MIL. Sorry the potential buyers didn't get financing for SIL's home. Shopping for the wedding dress sounds like fun.

Work went well today. When I arrived home, the heart monitoring equipment was there, so I wired myself up and am ready to enjoy 3 weeks of 24/7 monitoring.