WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2012

Hello,

First of all, thanks to everyone who welcomed me back to the thread.

I would have posted on Friday, but as I was catching up on reading, my internet connection went "poof," and I didn't get a chance to get back here until now. My router needed a stern talking to, but is now behaving once again.

Regarding Chickpeas--whomever was talking about roasting them and then having them mold. Wouldn't it be better to keep them in the fridge, rather than in the cupboard? Between that and making sure you have something in the bag to absorb moisture...maybe a small quantity of uncooked rice?..perhaps that might be a solution.

Amanda, So sorry to hear of what you went through with your son-in-law. My big concern would be if he would raise his hand against you, what is stopping him from doing the same to your daughter or the grandbabies? I don't remember if you have another daughter besides the daughter you mentioned, but if you do and you are close with that one, and they are on good terms with the first daughter, maybe you need to arrange a time to have a conversation with both of them, tell what happened as dispassionately as you can, and express your concern for the daughter and grandkids' safety.

I am probably not qualified to advise you about how to handle your kids, since I have none, but I have dealt with people who have anger management problems, and when it comes to abuse, they are usually not real discriminating, and the closer you are to them, the more likely they are to strike out. I hope I am wrong about this but still can't help being concerned.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter, or Passover, or whatever they may be celebrating. I will have dinner with my parents tomorrow. We are having ham, green salad, asparagus, scalloped potatoes (not me), with Strawberries and a little whipped cream for dessert, with a little angel food cake and chocolate sauce to keep my dad happy.

It finally stopped raining here, so we actually had a sunny day with a temp above 60 degrees (F). Tomorrow may be a little cloudier, but still dry and about same temp. Pepper and Mai Li have spring fever.

It is late, so I need to quit.

Barb

You look great !

:flowerforyou: Happy Easter, don't sit on your keester :laugh:

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! I'll be baking a ham this afternoon, with fresh pineapple and a lighter potato salad made with olive oil, dijon, white wine vinegar, green onions, radishes and green beans. Planning my meals this morning and will have to pay attention to the sodium count...ham, you know.

Off now for a day of gardening, the temp is mild today here in Portland although there's a bit of cloud cover. We had real sunshine yesterday, nice nice nice.

Cheers, :drinker: eat your peas and carrots :bigsmile:

jb

Happy Easter and Passover Everyone!

My main goal for this month is to increase my exercise. So far I am doing well with that. I worked out 3 days last week. Next week I plan to increase that further. I know I will probably go over on my calories today considering the fact that I only have 200 calories left and dinner is yet to come. Holidays come with so many delicious, high calorie foods. Thank heaven there is time between holidays to regroup. I enjoy seeing everyone on the holidays, but I must learn not to hinder my progress on these occasions.

Need ideas:

I have this pattern for a bunny cake which I'm thinking of making for next weekend. When the kids were little, I always used to make cakes and cut them out into shapes and decorate them.

Anyway, I have this pattern for a "bunny" cake. Only most bunny cakes tell you to tint coconut and use that for the bunny's fur. Jesica is SEVERLY allergic to coconut, even if it's in the air she has a reaction.

A few years ago I made a cake in the shape of a basket. The directions said to use green colored coconut for the "grass" in the basket. What I did was take green jello, run a fork thru it, and then used that as the "grass" Can anyone think of something that I can use in place of the coconut. I'm just afraid that if I only use icing, that it'll be too "flat", not have enough dimensioin.

I guess if worse comes to worse, that's what I can do.

But if someone has another suggestion, I'd be ever so grateful.

Michele

push icing through a ricer or sieve over the area you want to cover. Experiment first till you get the right consistency

Happ Easter! I hope everyone had a great day with family. I know that I ate way too much, tomorrow will be back on the diet again. Good thing we burn calories for all the time I spent cooking and cleaning the kitchen after all my family left.

I am back again.

I am up late tonight due to trying to ignore the fact that I should NOT drink caffeine in the morning if I expect to sleep that night.

In a moment of lunacy, I decided to go on a hike this morning with a local group of people who meetup and do things with their dogs. It sounded like a great idea, a hike on a day when it was going to be about 65, mostly sunny and no chance of rain, but it was on a trail I am not familiar with, and with all the rain we have had here, I figured it could be a muddy undertaking. Mai Li would have pooped out after about 3/4 mile on any trail, so I already knew she wasn't going. As I thought about Pepper, I could just see a dirty little doggy, in desperate need of a bath, which I would not have time to give him until late evening, after Easter dinner at my parents' house.

I finally figured out a solution. I left BOTH of them home and went hiking with the group anyway. It worked out fine, as there were two people there who had each brought 2 dogs! The trailhead was about 40 miles from my town, so I had another hiker and her cute little Yorkie--yeah, that's right a Yorkie on a hike--in my SUV. Bebe the Yorkie did very well, only had to be carried occasionally by her "mama"--a very nice lady who recently moved to my area and is originally from Central California. Bebe is quite possibly the most spoiled little girl I have ever met, but she is very sweet, and really seemed to enjoy being out of doors.

If Pepper had gone he would have probably been at odds with the male French bull dog who was there, as both of them are not neutered. And, he would have been a filthy mess, too, as the trail had plenty of muddy spots and several spots where you had to tread through the shallow water of a smaller creek feeding into the main one. There was a 100+ lb. Newfoundland who came along, and I am REALLY glad she was not riding in my vehicle as she went swimming in the creek, and then picked up all kinds of "souvenirs" from the forest floor as she walked. When I first saw her, I asked her "momma" if she had remembered to bring the saddle!!! What a horse!!

We (the woman who was riding with me) found we had a lot of common interests, and some common philosophies as well. I am up late because the group leader ignored my suggestion that we stop at Starbucks as we were leaving town, and instead assured me that there would be coffee at the store where we were going to make a rest stop before hitting the trailhead. I drink DECAF, or else I end up not sleeping, no matter how tired I am. There wasn't a drop of decaf to be had in that place, and I really was in the mood for the taste of coffee. Worse yet, all they had was that godAWFUL powdered creamer--you know the hydrogenated stuff that I can imagine clogging up my arteries like cement!! So I decided to live dangerously, do the caffeinated coffee and get a single serving carton of milk (which, BTW, cost more than a quart of milk at a grocery store in my metro area!!!).

The coffee tasted great, but it is now a little before 2 am PDT, and after a 4.5 mile hike, I SHOULD be tired, but I am not, so here I am.

When I got back home from the hike, I took Pepper and Mai Li out for a bit of a walk, and then did some serious clean up before going to my mom and dad's for dinner. We had salad, asparagus, ham with fresh pineapple (thank you Costco), scalloped potatoes, and angel food cake with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream, a little chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream. My original plan was to pass on the potatoes and only have berries and a little whipped cream, but when I checked out the calorie burn on the hike, I realized I could eat anything I wanted on our menu and still come out way under calories. So I had potatoes, AND dessert, and since I won't get weighed until morning, I don't regret it.....YET!!! LOL

Regarding the person who needed to create make believe coconut on a rabbit cake. If it is texture you are looking for, I wonder how sprinkling those crunchy style Chinese noodles on the frosted cake would work. If you pressed them into the frosting, they might look a little like bunny hairs. Realize it is too late to try it now, but there is always next year. And the crunch of the noodles might be a very unusual addition to the cake. Just a thought.

BTW, jb2011--you mentioned Portland. Do you mean Oregon, or Maine, or some other place? Just checking to see if we might be neighbors. I am near the one in Oregon.

Well, I think I am going to try to get some sleep.

Barb

Its absolutely amazing how motivated one becomes when a wrong choice results in discomfort or pain. Its taken a week of experimenting with my food choices to find something that WORKS, but l I think I have the hang of this... so long as I stay away from fried foods, caffeine and carbonated drinks, pork, and anything with butter, milk or cream in it , PLUS don't eat ANY meat or nuts past 3:00 p.m., my digestion behaves and I feel decent. Energy is beginning to return which is good, because Spring cleaning chores are staring me in the face and I have a garden spot to finish so I can plant in a few weeks. Counting the days until the 19th so I can begin getting some answers!

Happy Monday, Dear Ladies!:flowerforyou:

Had a nice trip up to see my parents and back yesterday. I helped them in their garden and went with them to a breakfast that the men of the church cooked and served yesterday morning and then on to their Easter Service. It was very nice and they are always so glad to have me come with them. My Dad had worked hard, along with the other men, and done a wonderful job of serving a large group of people.

But I am glad to be home and hope to get outside to work in my garden the next 3 days. It is to be cooler this week and sunny, so should be just the weather I need. I have tomatoes to put in and some other veggies, AFTER I get some weeds out. I had added many cart loads of compost on top of each bed and covered them with 3 inches of pinestraw in the winter, so I do not have as many weeds as I have in years past after being away for 2 months.

My goals for April:

Continue on my 13 week Challenge which include 2 miles minimum walking each day, a different set of exercises in addition to this, 12 glasses of water a day and...

For Me: Adding more weight training 2-3x a week

JellyFish: I loved your bunny cartoon! Thanks for sharing. It gave me a good laugh last night!:laugh:

Barb: I am so glad you are back here with us! And your hike sounds like a good one! Keep coming back when you can...it's good to hear from you:flowerforyou:

I went shopping this past Friday for dresses to wear to several upcoming weddings as well as a dress to wear to our son's Rehearsal Dinner this July. After much frustration...all the dresses are WAY to short for me to wear. I am 5'8" and few dresses have hems in them anymore that you can let out. Anyway, I DID find a lovely dress that FITS and is LONG ENOUGH, although I had to go to a more expensive dress shop to find it. BUT, I will wear it to our son's Rehearsal Dinner and also to 2 other weddings this summer where the guests won't be the same, SO I am justifying the expense! I DO NOT like dress shopping, so I am thrilled to have it off my list of things to do:flowerforyou:

I leave this Thursday for Chicago to attend a shower for our future DIL and a Tea that some of my very best friends are giving for her as well. They are FLYING to Chicago to host this, so I am so overwhelmed at their very generous and touching gift to Erin...and Me! I also bought a few things to go with dresses I already had that I can wear to these events. (Shoes, a little crocheted jacket to dress up a plain navy dress...and cover up my upper arms!)

Enough...sorry so long. I need to get outside! Have a great day ALL! Kackie

Hi - I'm a MFP newbee & i'd like to join your group. What do I need to do to join?

hello everyone!
i have been off for over a week and do not have time right now to read all posts, but will hope to get to it. had a lovely week with my grandchildren...thought i would be able to post and log at least a little but nope...they are just too active. so i didnt log food and i didnt work out, and i didnt ride, but still lost a pound...and today i have the snotty coughing crud.:sick: yikes! and i finished all the easter m&ms :devil: so now there is nothing in the house i shouldnt eat. not too too bad when the kids are here as they eat pretty darn healthy, but i ended up not watching portions like i should.....playing with 4 and 2 year olds makes me HUNGRY! we went to the pool, the city park, the county park, the bouncing playhouse, the dairy and painted big rocks for nanas garden and dyed easter eggs, had many egg hunts thoughout the week, rode thunder the wonder pony and groomed horses for hours...all in all a good week. :bigsmile: next week i get luke back for the week since my daughter is taking lily to disney...we also had a dog fight at our house,:sad: totally out of the blue and the little dog (jack russel) went in for four surgery to fix her. we lost sara, our shepherd mix. and then on easter we were at church by 6am until 10am then came home and cooked for some of the kids to come over (babies went home sat). today back to vet for recheck on jrt...and now some much needed rest. i am so exhausted i can hardly move, except to cough.
hope everyone had a blessed easter and is having a fabulous start to the week! my sister turns 50 this month...she is a stage 4 breast cancer survivor:bigsmile: so big party in 2 weeks and i have to get cracking on those plans too. love to you all :flowerforyou: , and good wishes for this week! yvonne

Chica: By posting here, you are a "member"! Welcome and come back often...we look forward to getting to know you:flowerforyou:

sissygok: So glad to see you again. I think that MOST of us have done the same thing you did on more than one occasion, so jump back in! I am trying to have a longer term approach to this than I have in the past, but it is always a struggle. That's why we are here!!!

Worked in garden for several hours...planned to all day...but just stuck my hand (with gloves) into a big planter to pull out old plants and FIRE ANTS crawled all over and into my gloves, up my arm, before I could get them off...bit me ALL over. I am allergic to the buggers so I have taken my benadryl, and am sitting with ice on the area and cursing at them from the porch! One of the real drawbacks to living in the South are these xx##**!! critters!!!

I did get 6 tomato plants in the ground, some spinach in and lots and lots of weeds out, so at least something was accomplished!

Bye again! Kackie

Hi All.....Checking in. Hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend :flowerforyou:
salad day today......because of some goodies over Easter:drinker: :blushing:

Have a blessed week!!
Barb