If there is any way you could post a picture of the kanji characters, I could surely get someone here to officially *translate* them for you!!!!

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Kelly
Highest recorded weight: 103.2kg/227.04lbs (03/15/08)
Current: 97kg/213.4lb-13.64
Goal:150
"Resensitizing myself to the urgency and severity of my weight problem is important in keeping myself motivated. I have to remind myself that my body will not tolerate this abuse forever." Jeannette Fulda, aka PastaQueen

i saw this KANG character that the box of GOOD EARTH tea says means GOOD HEALTH.. it sure is pretty...
' course i am PARTIAL to what looks like a K on the bottom part... heh heh...

i bet your presents are ALL hits barb!

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OH man, am I in a funk. DH took the puter I use to a training class and has been gone for 3 days. I barely got on the other computer (he hooked up our old one for me) in that time. I've been trying to really focus on getting these presents done. I also forgot that I promised one of the grandkids I would make him a box. So I have to make his siblings each one also. They are almost done. I bought 3 photo boxes from JoAnn's in red. I peeled the Spiderman faces and bodies off the Spiderman action figure packaging he's getting for Christmas and decoupaged them onto his box. He'll love it. The girl is getting one with Strawberry Shortcake pieces cut out of the fabric I used on her nightgown, decoupaged on. The youngest one may get a plain box, I dunno. I should try to find some Blues Clues or Pooh something to decoupage onto his.

I still haven't made the cookies and haven't even started on the BIL and SIL stuff. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, tired, and I'm FREEZING all the time. I wouldn't mind some hotflashes to start happening. I've been trying to finish up our decorations too and get plastic on the windows. (They leak like a seive.) When I get the decorations stuff finished, I can put all the crap away......boxes and stuff. I can't keep up with the mess and we're going to have a housefull in ONE WEEK!!!!!

TOM still hasn't arrived, but I feel all bloaty and the scale is reflecting that. I keep drinking my green tea and water, watching what I eat and exercising. But a couple pounds have piled back on. BUT my rings are REALLY loose and about to fly off my fingers. My pants don't seem to be any tighter, but the scale is still up a few pounds. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It's frustrating. This is a very stressful time of year too, so that isn't helping in the weight loss area. I'm not stressing, really, about the pounds, just everything else. OH and I haven't even begun to wrap presents. Add that to the list. Ugh. I better go get some sleep.

Oh and Kelly, thank you so much for the offer. I am going to try to take pics of all the stuff I've made. So If I do, I'll try to remember to post a picture of it. (I have no idea what dialect the Chinese might be from my tea package.) I think the dialect for the "Long" and "Life" characters I copied from some site I found were either Cantonese or Pinyin. It's not that big a deal if they aren't exact......I don't think my DD will ever learn Chinese. LOL

Okay, I'm gonna hit the sack now. Nighty-night all.

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Barb, believe me, you do not want hot flashes to come. I said the same thing because I was cold all the time. (as I sit here with sweat rolling down my face, and my heart pounding). You don't have any control as to when they come and turning red and sweating when you are in a meeting with the boss is not the best timing. They are very uncomfortable and can last over 2 years, so please don't wish for them. I've tried just about everything and nothing is helping. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Please, just put a sweater on or have a hot bath.

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Donna
238.5/173.4/150
I will see my goal weight again

LOL, not REALLY wishing for them. It's just getting so freaking cold here. br-r-r-r-r-r.

DH has had nothing but crisis after crisis with his business. Poor guy, I feel so sorry for him. He has a lot of website clients depending on him and none of them have been able to get to the sites. A server crash is not a pretty thing. And the company that hosts the server has not helped in the least. They don't answer the phone, they don't answer e-mails, the guy that was in charge of their account abdicated his position with them, they get absolutely NO cooperation from them. And DH and his partner are soooooooooooo customer service oriented, it is frustrating the he** out of them. He's been on the phone ALL day, holding their clients hands to even just get their e-mails working again. What a pain.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get this dang French Cafe thingy done. It's coming along, but it's slow going, since I've decided to "stucco" the front wall of the "shop". But that takes time to dry. I have the little window done, complete with a cafe curtain inside it. The doors have shutters and a stoop. There will be fancy little pillars in front of each shutter with a topiary flower pot in front of each one. I "reapholstered" the little table and chairs with the fabric that matches the curtains. I made teeny little loaves of french bread out of polymer clay to put into a miniature basket that will sit out in front. I found "champagne" bottles and will have one of those in the basket with the bread. I found my "grass" (for railroad miniatures) and will "dust" the area in front where the table and chairs will be. I also found the teeny gravel and will gravel a path to the door. It will be cute when it's done and SIL will love it, but oooooh what a lot of work. My house is still a big mess. I GOTTA get it cleaned up. I'm gonna work on this cafe tonight until it's DONE!!!!

Still no cookies made, still no presents wrapped. UGH!!!!

I went nuts saturday night and ate french fries AND pizza. I'm up to 144 this morning. I blew off Curves (too much to do). I'm running to the store tonight to get stuff to make Cobb Salad for dinner. I will have that again tomorrow. I better eat salad all week to make up for the damage I did last saturday.
TOM was due about 5 days ago, but so far hasn't reared it's ugly head. But that may account for some of why I'm up in pounds. I seem to go every six months and am 2 weeks late. My body had been doing that for years and is very regular about it. So, I guess it's that time again. When it first started happening it was VERY disconcerting and the timing happened when DH and I were first together and we had decided to NOT have anymore kids (had 5 between the 2 of us) it caused some sleepless nights. But since my tubes are tied, that's not a concern anymore. That's just what my body has decided to do now.

Better get off to the store now.

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AAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Christmas is over. It was a hectic two days of party, party, party. FUN and exhausting. The oldest grandchild played "Santa" with handing out presents since she knows how to read and it became a free-for-all. Usually Rick is orchestrating the whole thing, but this time he was in the kitchen putting food away when the present opening began. I didn't have the energy to direct it at all. It was actually kind of comical. BUT, the kids LOVED the hats, mittens and jammies. The nightgown fit the girl perfectly as did the jammies for the boy. They looked sooooooooo cute in them. As a matter of fact, they kept them on the rest of the evening and went home in them. They looked really cute in their hats and mittens too. I took pictures of them with the jammies and hats and mittens on all at the same time. LOL. I'll post pics one of these days.

SIL LOVED the French Cafe. She is going to do her home office in that theme too and is going to put up a shelf just for the little vingette piece. I still need to take a picture of it. BIL loved the game board too.

DD thought I bought the Chinese tin. When both DD's found out I made it, the other one said she wanted one too, only with old fashioned fruit on it. I will have to start on it soon.

I indulged a bit with the food, but not tooooooooo bad. I controlled my cookie eating and could have easily gotten out of control with it. There were so many good cookies to eat at the in-law's. I ate a bit of potatoes too, but skipped the stuffing. We're still eating leftovers from our Christmas eve dinner. I made a "German Potato Cabbage" dish that turned out scrumptious. I am definitely going to make that again soon. I cut a pound of bacon into 1" strips and diced up a little onion and cooked that all together until the onion was translucent and the bacon was done. I didn't drain the grease. (nothing low-fat about this dish, LOL) Then I added 1/4" strips of cabbage to the pan and (about 3/4 of a large head) and stirred and tossed until all the cabbage was limp. I made a sweet and sour "sauce" with about a half cup of Apple Cider Vinegar, about a half cup of water, 4-5 packets of splenda and 2 TSP of thickNthin. I poured the "sauce" over the cabbage and mixed that in really well. Even my DIL liked it and she said she didn't really care for German Potato Salad. It was even good as a leftover. I just LOVE it!!!! It really has the taste of GPS.

I was a definite slug on Sunday, which was probably due in part to the off-plan eating I did. It's back to normal for me now. I will look at the new year as a new beginning. I'm going to try counting my carbs again, keeping a food journal and being very conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth. I also need to get back to drinking enough water. I've been slacking a little bit on that. (now that I'm not having to run out and do holiday shopping anymore and can stay near the bathroom.)

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Kim, I just realized I hadn't seen that picture you posted until now. I don't think that's what either character looked like. (I don't have the box here anymore, DD took it home with her.) but you're right, that is really pretty. Although, I think it looks similar to what's on my box of green tea. I wish I still had the site I search on for those character, J. But I searched through a zillion characters to find them, so I don't even know if you would be able to locate them. I'll trust the site I found that the translations were correct. At the very least, they do look like her initials, so it's all good.

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I'm down another pound this am, working hard to get back to my 138.6 weight. It's gonna be awhile.

I'm trying to drink my tea without half and half in it just as an experiment. If I don't see any results, I'll go back to using it.

I was STARVING last night when I went to bed and am starving again this morning. Don't know what that's about. I need to go eat, NOW.

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GOOD JOB barb! pretty nice that you at least ATTEMPTED to drink the tea without the cream..
i think that after having carbs during the holidays.. it makes you want to eat more and more often ... now the TRICK is .. for you to make the things you DO eat.. the RIGHT things..

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I broke down and had my second mug with the half and half. Ah well, old habits die hard. Maybe I'll start my day, each day, with a mug without and slowly work my way into having it without all day long. But, dang, I just love the creaminess with the half and half. I'm eating a good meal of pot roast, a green veg and salad for dinner tonight. I'll try to load up more on the salad. It's cooking right now and smelling divine!!!!! Can't wait to dig in.

Tomorrow DD and I are going to run to some Asian markets that she knows of (where her b/f from Laos goes) and hunt down some of those shiritaki noodles. I'm dying to try them and experiment. I hope I find them. The Saigon market I get my tea at doesn't carry any Japanese noodles. So that's that. I hate to order a huge quantity online in case I don't like them. (I probably WILL like them, I like just about EVERYTHING, which is what got me in the shape I was in almost 2 yrs ago.) I love trying out new foods, it's an adventure to me. And I like stuff that comes from other cultures, other than just plain old American. I probably won't be able to sell my DH on these tho. Oh well, too bad. He can have his junky normal pasta every once in awhile. (when he's been a good boy, LOL)

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thats the spirit barb! ease your way into the au natural tea... or have THREE cups of the regular... and one cup of the messed up nasty yucky funky CREAMY stuff..*L*...
pot roast eh? whadda ya use for gravy? i want to make stew... without the potatoes ... i dont have thicken thin or whatever to thicken.. i know .. i know.. just POP the 15 bucks for the X gum crud.. i know.. i would pop that for a pair of socks fergawdsakes...*L*... it just SEEMS like 14.95 to thicken a 4 buck stew is nuts..*L* did someone say NUTS? OH NO...
fine! i guess i cant razz you on the half and half till i ditch the NUTS eh? *L*

let me know how the noodle search goes...

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LOL YEP I use that thickener stuff. But I ordered a bag of "gold" thickNthin from Netrition last year and I am now almost out of it. It lasted me a long, long time. And a little goes a long, long way. What I do for the gravy is I strain all the juices into my gravy separator (it has a spout that begins at the bottom of the cup) and the fat floats to the top. So you can pour off the good juices. Then I add about 4 oz of cream cheese while it's hot, so it will melt and creamify. Then I start whisking and add about a tsp or 2 of xanthan or thikNthin while whisking. It creams it up real nice. I then add a small can of mushrooms. It's soooooooooooo yummy!!!!!!!!! I cook my pot roast with onions, celery, bay leaf, a dash of thyme, a dash of basil and a couple cloves of garlic.............so the broth is really savory. OH and I simmer my roast in a can of chicken stock (swanson's) and stick it all in the oven for about 3 hours. YUMMMMMMMMERS!!!!!! (I like my pot roast falling apart tender)

I'M HUNGRY!!!!!! Gotta go make gravy now................

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honeymoon got me a roast... i will go get the X gum and make it tomorrow... thanks for the recipe.. (PLEASE dont move this to the recipe section anyone.. i will never find it..*L*... i dont LOOK in the recipe section..

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Kim, this is MY journal, so I can write whatever I darn well please here (um, well as long as I keep the language clean, LOL) Trust me, I won't move this to the cooking forum. I ended up using my stick blender to blend in the X-gum. You gotta keep the liquids moving while putting it in, or you will end up with a lump. I rest the spoon on the edge of the deep bowl and let the vibration shake the powder in slowly. Do you have a stick blender? (If you don't I would suggest you get one, I use mine at least twice a day.) It's kind of tricky to whisk at the same time you are sprinkling the powder in, kinda like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time. I found out quite by accicent that resting the handle of the spoon on the bowl edge keeps you from having to do the sprinkle action. It's a snap if you do it that way.

I was REALLY craving something sweet tonight, so I made Mock Danish CAKE. I use the basic MD recipe and to it I add a pinch of Stevia, a dash of whatever flavor syrup I have on hand, tonight it was eggnog AND vanilla. I soften the cream cheese first in the mic about 30 secs. Add the flavorings and stevia and mix that up good. Then I add the egg and mix well. THEN, I add about 2 TBS of almond flour, 1 TSP. wheat gluten, and about 1 tsp of baking POWDER. Mix that all up really good and nuke for 2:30 mins. It pretty much tastes like yellow cake, but with a little graininess from the almond flour. I haven't had one of those for about 3 months now. I used to eat one almost every morning before work. It's good with cinnamon too. I also like to top it off with strawberries and whipped cream. Then it's like strawberry shortcake. I subsisted on those this last summer while the berries were in season. It's good with blueberries too. Tastes like dying and going to heaven.

The roast was delectable as was the cauliflower and salad. I trimmed MOST of the fast off the roast, so there wasn't much fat to strain off. I don't like the flavor of beef fat anyway.

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