LOL , Eden . I was thinking the bra discussion may have scared our male posters away . Of course it shouldn't bother David , since he is a physician . Thanks on your good wishes , but at this point my Dr. isn't very much involved . Wow ...I got up with a doosey of a headache ! Am waiting for pain pills to ease it . Our phone company is installing a new underground cable . According to DH , the phone guy told him that it would improve our internet service ... we'll see. The line has arrived at our mailbox area , and is proceeding down the hill today ( if nothing bends or breaks ) . Marie , I hope I didn't sound insensitive to your loss . As I said , I have no problem accepting the death of elderly folk , no matter how close . I am more apt to rejoice if I know they have 'lived a good life ' ( sort of like what EP said ) . I hope my survivers don't grieve too deeply when I pass on . ( BTW , I like the name 'Vashti' . I know from whence it comes . ) RE : Merlot , we believe the 'fruit of the vine ' was unfermented . Now the wine that Paul told Timothy to take ," for his stomach's sake , and his many infirmities " , was surely fermented . Sorry about your DS concerns . It sounds as though he has a very busy , and interesting , life . Good to hear that your DH is on his way home . Thanks for the St. John's Wort link , EP . It is a good one . I have bookmarked it . Mmmmm , I'd like to sample your cotlets ! If you have noticed that I am jumping around with my follow-ups , it's because I am just scrolling back and forth , and not taking notes . I'm afraid I keep missing things I want to respond to . Brrrrr , Cynthia . I hope you donned plenty of warm clothing after your shower , with the indoor temp only mid 50s ! Does the sun help warm your house ? It does ours . We have lots of windows on the sunny sides . LOL , shouldn't that be 'Westing wabbit near the gwapes " ? Chelone , if your bean recipe is anything like the famous green beans and onion rings recipe , I'll pass . YUK ! MY sis loves it . She can have my part ... lol . Deanne , I'm happy you have found a nice dress . I hope I didn't offend you with my post . I just don't have that much interest in clothing . I guess I'm fortunate that I live in a country atmosphere . I don't want you all thinking everyone around here are 'country bumpkins ' . There are lots of 'high-toned ' ladies . I'm just not one of them , and I am never involved in activities that require fancy dresses . I do think the dress you found sounds lovely , and I do want to see a pic of you wearing it . LOL , on the 'dope slap ' for Nolon . He hasn't a clue ! Congrats , Martie , on your pic posting success . You are a fast learner . Guess I need to get out and do some walking . I don't want to go up the road while the work crew is there , so will walk around and around our yard . That in it'sself can cover a bit of territory . Marian

Well, if you're talking about that Calorie Counter assessment, I really like it, but it is only a general guide, and probably based on a "one size fits all" function. However, I am coming in consistently very low on fiber which is odd since I always thought I ate a lot of fiber. I'm trying to fix that. Basically I think I'm coming in low in fiber because I'm just not eating that many calories. I'm also low in calcium but I knew that and have been taking calcium/magnesium supplements with a vit. C chaser for years. They make a huge difference in how well I sleep and help me avoid "restless leg syndrome." Other than that, I take a multi-vitamin and acidophilous every day. That's plenty IMHO. Most vitamins are not stored by the body, so you're just peeing away money by taking a lot of supplements. BF swears high dose B vitamins give him energy, but they just give me weird dreams. I'd rather take my fish oil in the form of fish. I guess I should do flax, but I don't at this point. The best thing is to freshly grind the seeds but I'm not organized enough to do that. I also come in low in iron, but the body stores iron so you don't have to have adequate intake every day. Too much iron is toxic, so I just have some iron pills which I take every once and a while, with a C chaster for absorption. Calcium blocks iron, and iron is absorbed best on an empty stomach, and my thyroid medicine blocks calcium too. So timing and absporption are important with taking vitamins. I take my calcium at night, my multi and acidophilous with lunch, and my eye vitamins and iron if I'm taking it, before breakfast. Oh yeah, I have macular degeneration so I take Lutein with some other antioxidants. Probably futile. My mom has it so it is probably genetic. I don't have the worst kind though.

My experience with home exercise equipment was not that great. We bought a fairly expensive treadmill several years ago and after about three years it developed all sorts of problems. I called the company and was told it would cost $130 for someone to come look at it and that because that model was no longer made, it was unlikely they'd even have the right parts to fix it. Since then, I was talking to an equipment repairman at the gym I've since joined and he said this is pretty typical of what happens with home equipment. Gym memberships have become very reasonably priced in the last few years. There you have a variety of equipment to use, classes you can choose, and personal trainers available if needed. Most gyms in my area are $30 per month. When I first considered joining, I was afraid it would be filled with young, fit people and I'd be intimidated. That didn't turn out to be the case at all. There are all ages at my gym, including lots of elderly people who only recently began to exercise. I've made new friends there and can constantly change my routine to avoid boredom and focus on specific results I want. To me, the gym is a much better value than buying equipment and dealing with repairs. My treadmill, due to its short lifespan, cost me $500 per year compared to $360 per year for the gym and I have many more exercise options than just walking. It's also nice to not have to deal with bulky equipment taking up space in my home. I realize there may be some areas where there is no gym available within a reasonable drive, but if you have one I would recommend looking into that rather than buying your own machine.

Wow, what a lot of really great ideas for me . . .and for all of us here. Thank you!!! I'm following a lot of it and have lost 12 pounds so far. Mainly by cutting out most carbs and white sugar,and as Kelly suggested, doing interval training. I'm also keeping bags of fresh, pre washed baby carrots, baby bell peppers and green beans to munch on when I get hungry. Last night we grilled out burgers and I had mine without the bun. It's getting easier to eat like this and I'm finding the cravings for sweets and cheese are becoming less with each day . . . thankfully! As I mentioned in an earlier post here, I wasn't vastly overweight, just at the tops of what my weight should be for my height and age. Now I'm 12 pounds lighter and my clothes fit so much better! I'd still like to drop another 8 pounds. We fly out this Thursday morning to Palm Beach and then on to the Tampa area 4 days later. I've already eaten dinner and lunches out several times since I started this weight loss drive and have found it pretty easy to eat out healthfully . . . as long as it's in a regular and not a fast food restaurant. Salads with grilled meats, nuts, etc. are my go-to's, with a lite salad dressing on the side; hold the croutons and bread sides (LOL). But, as always, I have to be so careful that "lite" doesn't contain any artificial sweeteners, as I'm extremely allergic to them, especially aspertame/aspartame. So many thanks for all the great, helpful ideas. I'll continue to read them, although I'm not sure if I'm taking my laptop with me to Florida yet. Lynn