Hi Xuan, Nice to see you here, and Thank you for the sweet comments. MeMo, my sweet puppy is very sweet, but she is now comfortable in her new home and the full-blown Jack Russell has come out of hiding. Last evening she helped me carry the buckets of water up to the chicken pens...lost of help. She helped me clean weeds out of the flowerbeds, leaping up into my face and grabbing my hair. What fun. I may end up bald before long. She helped me rake. She grabbed a length of the garden hose to help me drag it. What a cutie. My arms have little bites all over them. She is only happy in HER bed with HER blankie over here OR up in my lap, that is when she is not gobbling down her Puppy Chow and chewing up paper. She loves her tennis ball. She found an empty plastic coffee can and took that to her bed to play with for awhile. She tore the paper label off and layed on it and looked up at me with the most innocent expression. What a stinker. She poops in the house, but goes out to go wee. So now it is imperative that she learns to do her 'business' outside too. Uck! She tries to go on the puppy training pads, but sometimes misses and if she is in the living room when the urge hits, she goes by the front door. Oh boy. But, it comes with the Puppy territory, don't ya know. Bonnie seems to have adopted her as her pup. They were gallivanting around together yesterday evening. Bonnie would stand over her like a mother dog does and check her bottom after she went pee pee. They romped and leaped about. Then Bonnie would take off like greased lightening, running all through the gardens and streaking by me ans spinning about like she had lost her mind. Puppy dashed straight away back to me for safety. So cute. She snuggled with Gus and that was cute. Gus is loving having a little wild one. He is VERY hyper. Never seen a collie that was hyper like he is. He howls and barks and wiggles and bounces about. He thinks he is just the same size as the puppy. "Oh boy! A little puppy, like me!" Shep on the other hand is afraid of her. He has to be watched. He let her know this morning to back off pup, and she ran to me. He did not snap at her or growl but let her know not to come close. He is a huge dog, but timid. They were all four fine romping about outside yesterday though. Shep doesn't feel trapped, so he can move away if she gets too rambunctious. No signs of aggression, so that is great. Shep likes her - he wags his tail and is curious, but a little afraid of her. She moves around so fast and it makes him nervous. It will be okay though. She will learn her place and he will chill out as time goes by. No name for her yet. I am thinking of calling her Shrew, but Suzie suits her. Nothing that grabs me for certain yet. Thanks to all for your sweet comments. I KNEW you guys would enjoy hearing about her and would feel sympathetic towards her. I think I know where she came from. I found pine pitch stuck to her belly. There is a house in town where the people have Jack Russell dogs. There are several large pine trees around the yard. Pines are not native in this part of Oklahoma, and she hasn't been in our back yard yet, so...that narrows it down. Fine. I am glad they dumped her on our driveway instead of someplace else. It was Fate that we just happened to be walking down the driveway at that moment. We were going to the car to drive down to Chandler to bet a burger, talking as we walked to the car...she heard us talking and ran up to meet us, crouching low to the ground, but wagging her tail wildly. Fate stepped in and saw her through... And brought her to us. :) She looks up into my eyes with the sweetest look of love. It melts my heart into a puddle of chocolate. She has certainly livened up this house and we are loving every second of it. ~Annie

I'm 49 and relatively fit/toned, but the first place I notice any slacking off is in my upper arms. Right now I'm a bit disgusted at myself for having "let myself go" from the shape I was in summer-before-last, when I had positively sculpted arms. No jiggle, no wiggle whatsoever. Now, after almost 9 months of not lifting weights with any regularity, my biceps are still shapely, but the batwing is growing back. My Mom is 72 and works out daily, but she still fights if not so much a flabby upper arm, a crepey-ness that has more to do with the sagging of the skin than lack of good underlying muscle tone. I think it may be something that many women are just prone to as they age. That said, have you ever worked with a trainer at your gym? The times that I was religiously working out under the supervision of my personal trainer (who also happens to be my husband - I hired him, then married him ;-)), were when I was at my fitness peak. It seems to me that I really do have to continually work at it, almost to the point of being "a fanatic", to get the results that please me most. I would really encourage you to set up a few sessions with a trainer, even if you don't want to commit to one long-term. A good trainer can show you how to get the most out of your weight routines. Many women also think that they're lifting and using the machines properly, but either they're flat-out doing them wrong, or they're not getting the full benefit by carrying through with proper form. I'm a bit embarrassed at the shape of my upper arms right now too, and have foregone sleeveless things until I get back to where I want to be. Thank goodness Fall has arrived, and sweaters will soon be more appropriate here than tank tops. ;-)

WIP: I always serve Biscochito cookies with them but anything chocolate would be fantastic, as well. One cooking hint when making anything chocolate, especially for Mexican/New Mexican foods, is to add a bit of cinnamon while mixing it. It adds a richness to any chocolate dish. My good friend, a home-ec teacher, taught me this. For example, to add richness without actually tasting the cinnamon flavor, I add 1 teaspoon to chocolate cake batter; 1 1/2-2 tsp if I want to taste it. We also frequently add cardamom and chile powder to chocolate. BTW, here's my favorite recipe for biscochitos. The purists and old timers use lard instead of Crisco, margarine or butter, but my DH is a family practice doc and would have a fit if I used lard ;^D Lynn's Biscochito Cookies Ingredients: 1 cups butter, Crisco, margarine or lard, chilled 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided 2 eggs 2 teaspoons anise seeds 4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt About 3 tablespoons brandy 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Beat Crisco/butter and 1 cup sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and anise seeds, and beat until very light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture along with the brandy. Mix thoroughly to make a stiff dough. Place dough on a long piece of waxed paper(approx. 3 feet) at one end. Bring the long end over the top and press dough until it's about one inch or slightly less in thickness; refrigerate until chilled. Roll out dough between waxed paper to just under 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with flour dusted cutters into the traditional fleur de lis shape or into 3-inch rounds. Combine the 3 remaining tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow bowl; dip unbaked cookies into the sugar-cinnamon mixture on one side. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until tops of cookies are just firm. Cool cookies on wire racks. Makes 4 dozen cookies (These can be frozen up to six months, if stored in a tightly sealed container)

Well, as an afterthought (duh!!) i googled it and one site said that it's just genetic for some breeds and/or it could be due to being obese in the past OR pregnancy. since hers is so large and she's so pretty i'm wondering if she was used for breeding and she's actually an older lady. I love her no matter. vicky