Thank you, everybody for the good wishes and big welcome back to this side. I really hope I can spend more time here. Now, now, Sharon, the Patriots are only the best football team in history. Stacie, I'm happy to hear Aiden is doing so well. He sounds like a fighter. Shaun, have a drink at the tiki bar for me, please! Alexa, good luck with your busy upcoming week. Nancy, a big happy birthday to Kim. I hope dinner was the best - well, I KNOW it was the best since you made it, but I hope your celebration was just as good. Pat T, congratulations on your grades! You should be proud. I'm not even going to respond to your Patriots comments...LOL Cathy, I cheered for the dolphins to get their ONE win this year ;) And yes, Brady is a cutie. Michael/Lyra, a sincere thank you for giving me the biggest laugh that I've had in a long time. Your posts always make me smile. This one made my day. Duane, don't work too hard. At least enjoy the time before things get too busy. Pam, I hope you feel better. Don't eat too many cookies! Jcrowley, thank goodness no bifocals for you...I'd be walking into walls with them. Annie, you work so hard, I don't know how you do it! I hope all goes well with your dad. Best wishes to him. Ellen, I hope the party was fun Susie, jeez, feel better, soon. Good to hear Wendy is better, now let's get you there. Maggie, dentist - Yuk!!! You have a right to vent. SharonCB, recycling can be a PITA, and they're real sticklers around here, but at least you're helping out the environment. Gina, glad to hear you're keeping up with the lessons. I think I remember you saying you had hit a plateau awhile back. I bet you're back to kicking butt again. Teresa, enjoy your movies. Wow, that's alot Katie, sounds like the snow will be around awhile. Try to stay warm and dry San, my son is in NH and he said the snow is insane. I heard more Sunday night/into Monday. Boo-Hiss! Thanks again, all, for the hugs!

Test is done and I came through with flying colors...nothing there that shouldn't be....I even got a picture...Yuk....I woke up totally dehydrated of course so I weighed and the scale read 143...now that made me feel good....I knew it was only for a few hours but still...143....yipeeeeee ... I weighed in at 145. this morning so I am happy with that...I ate too much food yesterday but tried to be careful...I was just starving after the big ast...So I'll be good today and hope that this coming week I can hit the 144 mark... I really believe in enjoying life and accomplishing goals at the same time so I won't worry too much about Thanksgiving....It is just a happening with way too much food...I love all those foods too so I will just try to eat until satisfied and then quit...I really believe that is what it's all about...I hope you all can come to terms with the holidays and try to limit your intake but enjoy at the same time....Life is too short...

TGIF y'all. Chiming in late as usual. Everyone seems to have something nice planned, even if it IS bathing suit shopping. I was supposed to go out with a friend for her birthday Friday lunch, but I had to cancel, and I suggested Sat night at our house instead thinking she might be alone - SCORE! She is excited about coming over for my cooking, LOL. Vday is a big yawn here. I am lucky, I've been treated like a queen pretty much every single day since 1981 when I met DH. No flowers though, unless he grows them himself, suits me fine - I don't like flowers...messy plant genitalia. I appreciate them better on the plant where they do some good. Today we're going to try to drag the kids to our library to renew passports; theirs have expired. I have chicken marsala on tonight's menu since a local store has HUGE MUTANT boneless chicken breasts (health food store, they say its natural, swear to God) on sale for $2/lb. I've been doing a little bit of necklace beading. I'm trying to fix a necklace I broke all over my car last September, and started noodling around ebay - not a good idea, grin. This guy has some stuff I've been lusting after - means a trip to downtown LA's bead mart....so far I've made a necklace I didn't like so I donated it to our school fund raiser, I made it in our school colors. Hey every few bucks helps. Sunday night we're going to a friends house for dinner, Monday I haven't figured out yet! I might drag a kid up to Los Angeles, museum hopping.

Still clear skies, mostly, but getting colder. The leaves are mostly down. I'm getting out the winter clothes and wrapping the backyard up for another Oregon rainy season. We are hoping for snow this year, after four years with hardly a trace. My son wants to build a microscope this weekend, so we'll do that. My daughter may want to go to the darkroom. I want to take one early morning and go for a bike ride. I might go explore some of the steep windy roads in the West Hill that lead to the zoo. Or just do laps up my local hill, less scenic but a more efficient workout. Sometimes I wear a heart rate monitor on these rides. Afterwards I can look at the data and see how my heart rate spiked when the road turned upwards or when the speed rose. The rule of thumb is that your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. I think that is bunkum, or at least that it varies so much between individuals that it is no rule at all. I have gotten my heart rate up to 200 beats/ minute, only for a few seconds, but those were exhilarating seconds. On a pretty routine basis, I ride at 170 bpm which is 85% of my max heart rate, or a. "submaximal" heart rate. There is a whole science of training by heart rate - you are supposed to spend X time at 80%+ of max, Y time at 60%, and so on. I don't pay attention to that. I just like to get up to 170 bpm frequently and see if anything untoward happens. It is kind of my personal security blanket. There is another test you can do, which is a little more useful. You get your heart rate up to 150 bpm or so, which might mean a few minutes of jumping jacks or chopping wood or running fast. Then stop, sit down, and see how long it takes for your heart rate to settle down to 100 bpm. It should only take one or two minutes. If your heart continues to beat at a high rate for much longer, that is a worrisome sign. This is called "recovery heart rate". Finally, there is "resting pulse". The true resting pulse is taken when you are laying down and completely relaxed. In the morning, right after waking up, is a good time. Some people have a high resting pulse, some a lower one. The interesting thing is how it changes. If you get serious about exercise, you can lower your resting pulse quite dramatically. That is a sign that your heart has become more efficient, which is a good thing. I've been thinking a lot about getting older. My kids are only teenagers, and I'm fifty. I don't know when they will have kids. When I have grandchildren, I want to take them riding and skiing and fishing. That means I will have to be strong and athletic into my seventies. Gulp. My dad had a heart attack in his mid seventies. My neighbor is seventy-five and has CHF and PAH. I've got a lot of work to do, anyway that is how it feels, so I get on the bike every day and push until it hurts. It actually is kind of pleasant to hurt. I think I've learned a little about masochism. But I digress. What were we talking about? Cooking. I'm going to go through my Momofuku cookbook and make some Asian comfort food. Daughter is getting interested in sushi so we'll make some basic rolls. Son is a big ramen fan, we'll roast some pork and leeks and make a big hot bowlful. I'll make some meals for my neighbor with the health problems. And I think I will try baking bread again. I was on a low-carb kick this summer, but it turns out I need some carbs. Carbs = glycogen. Glycogen = muscle energy for efforts longer than a few minutes. No carbs = weak muscles. Doesn't work for me.