Hello MENA folks....my youngest decided it would be great to be awake at 4am So it's now mid-morning to me at 6:30 am I hope everyone has a great day...the fam is going to my moms to decorate her Christmas tree...a yearly tradition of good old time Christmas music....me and my brothers singing obnoxiously to the songs....and remembering the years past..good times....

Have a great day everyone...and lets hope for some more good news next week for everyone!!

Im awake, lol but its after 3pm here. but i just got up 2hrs ago LOL, gotta stop goin to bed at 4am.

34 days. Still havent got anything accomplished as far as sorting my things, i reallllly dont want to wait til the last minute, but its lookin like thats what ill end up doing.

Hope everyone has a good Sunday.

Flea Market day for us again today, so we're up. Running a little late but it's ok--we'll probably get there around 8:15 and have 45 minutes to set up (last week we were there at 8:00 and started hauling things up the fire escape...like tables, chairs...LOL...but now we know where to go for carts and where to park the car to make unloading easier! )

Hopefully this flea market day will be better than the last, though I think we did pretty well myself. I posted a video on youtube

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VKWIiQOnHDQ

Good morning

Good Morning everybody!

Have a lovely Sunday - 15 days to Christmas and I am lighting the second candle on my Advent wreath today.

Julie

Good morning! Have a great day everyone!

Hugs,

Ayesha

Happy Sunday Today is Lexy/Grammy day. We are taking glue and glitter over to my friend Tiffany's house to make crafts. Sounds nerdy, but hey, I'm up for anything.

My work holiday party was last night. I got home at 2am. I found out I suck at bowling. The dinner was nice. My coworkers were drunk on their butts with a free open bar. The bonus check part was awesome (really awesome, like a check AND cash) Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?)


WOM tell me about those pics. Pretty cool.

Jackie

Goodmorning everyone, on my way to church . Have a wonderful week

On July 1, 2006, the community of Beloit, Wisconsin came together on the banks of the Rock River to recreate the famous masterpiece by 19th century French impressionist painter Georges Seurat -- “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte."

Well that is really cool. Thx for sharing that.

J

It was a pretty cool idea. Wonder how it took to get the dog in the right place



-MK

That was cool... as for the dog, just put something to eat on the ground at the right moment and he/she will stay there for a while

Well, I'm iced in and by the way the weatherman is talking, I we all might be iced in till Wednesday! I've seen a few cars sliding around on my street, but I'm not brave enough to get out. The kids are already fighting and I'm about to go crazy. I'm praying the weatherman is wrong so I can get out of the house. I think this afternoon the kids and I might go out in the backyard and try to tackle this big hill and go sledding on the ice!

AH HAAA!!! You're the one who is hogging all the cold stuff.... listen here sister, you stop it right this instant!!! Be a good girl and let the cold out and send it str8 south mmmmmmkkkkk.....?

Nothing planned. The 7th was my 3 year anniversary and tomorrow is hubsters 2 year anniversary in the good ole' U. S. of A. Wow how time flies!

Cool pic WOM!

Jackie, have fun with Lexy today!

Have a great day everyone.
amal

Girl, I'm sending this stuff your way cuz I don't like it. My kids were supposed to stay with my parents last night. Now if that did happening....I would be having fun now.

woman! it is RAINING outside, and at 20 degrees, what a mess. I just sent the hubster to the grocery store, I am not brave enough now!

Sigh. Depressing day. I have had to make the firm decision to get off my butt and make 2 seperate meals each mealtime because I just cannot eat what Dh is eating. He is like magic, and meanwhile I gain all my weight plus the weight he loses. I hate losing weight.

I'm going to a birthday party today! After I finish some work before finals of course.

Oooooh! I just got my first !

afternoon peeps

Got all my holiday shopping done now. Anything I buy after this will be for the stocking stuffers. I went to the mall last night and I swear I thought my arms were going to fall off carrying everything. I don't know why the mall doesn't rent those baggage carrier things that you wheel around like they have at the airport. I would have stayed and bought a lot more if I didn't have to lug the packages around. BTW I love bath and bodyworks the way they put their little gift packages together. That covered about 3 of the people on my list!

Eating chef boyardee 'cause it's the only thing in the house. BLECH. Tastes wicked metally. Gotta go food shopping at some point but really not looking forward to it. I'm thinking of doing Pea pod but I need things tonight. Everytime I think of using that service it's too late.

Still shaken up by what happened Friday. Have to have a conference with the principal of her school on Monday.

For all those iced in, I wish I were iced in 'cause then I'd have an excuse to stay indoors all day!!!! I always look at being snowed/iced in as God's way of telling me to chill out and relax.

wimp
had half an inch of frozen rain here today.

Happy Sunday eveyone!

Just got back from Church, lunch and buying food for the cats and dog.

Wifey, I love those two pics, very cool! Thanks for sharing.

My kids and I found out that if you flip over our plastic lawn chairs, they make excellent sleds!!!! The legs make great "OH MY GOD" handles to hang on with! I had a small collision with with neighbors fence (oops) and I'm sure I'll have a few bruises from that in the morning, but it was fun to let the kid in me out.

Weather says it's supposed to rain and freeze more tonight. Hope it's wrong!

GOOD DAY TO MENA!!!! SUNDAY KAMAL AND I LIKE TO JUST STAY LAZY AND DO NOTHING. BUT UNFORTURNATLY WE HAD MORE SNOW LAST NIGHT... THAT POOR MAN HAS SHOVELED MORE IN THE LAST WEEK THEN HE HAS IN HIS ENTIRE LIFETIME. LOL. BUT HE DON'T WANT ME OUT THERE SO HE DOES IT. GOTTA LOVE HIM. AND THE PACKERS WON AGAIN!!!!! YEA!!!!

you know I really can't think of a smell I like more than onions and garlic sauteeing in olive oil. My house smells AWESOME right now.

heard from my mama today and they are without electricity. They were told it would probably be 3 days before they could do anything about it. Thank god they have a portable propane heater or they'd be freezing to death. I told them to go check my house out coz its on another side of town and may still have electricity on. I hope they are safe.

Went out to my favorite restaurant today and boy was that a mistake. I thought I was feeling better but no more than 5 minutes after eating, I was in the bathroom. I feel soooooooo yucky now that I've decided to not eat for a few days and let my body clean itself out of whatever is in there thats making me feel rotten.

Amy, my mama has a MASSIVE hill on 40 acres of land that is perfect for sledding! We ahve had some great memories out there...especially when u can't stop and the briars and trees try to help you....

amal

Congrats on your first heart!

Oh I am exhausted. I had Alexis with me from 11am til 5pm. We shopped, we ate, we did crafts. She glued cotton balls and glitter on paper and it was so much fun.

I don't do sledding. I hate to be cold and wet. (why do i stay in Illinois?) We have a layer of ice on everything tonight.

Did you go to Damassi's amal?

Jackie

Julianna, I know what you mean; I've gained about 20 pounds since my husband's been here. He loves to eat, especially at night and does not want to eat alone (without me). I've got to think of a way to stop this; it's getting out of hand.

WOM, thanks for sharing the pics - they're really cool.

Jackie, I had my 2 y/o and 5 y/o granddaughters over this weekend. It was fun, but noisy, and they left a big mess after crafts and trimming the tree. Thank God, they can go home now and no longer live with me.

Just got back from Las Vegas. It was so much fun and it was fun for my husband to see it for the first time. We both are very glad to be back home however. There is nothing like home sweet home.

It looks like the weekend from HE!! is over finally on VJ. Glad to have missed it. It has been a long time since someone has come to warn us about our husbands and fiance's, so I guess we were due....lol

Oh lordy-- exactly. I gained 20lbs exactly since he's been here and I had gained about 10 or so since i had seen him last... add to that the 9lbs off i was form my goal and I was freaking out when I realized I was 39lbs over what I want to be. I got right on my stairstepper and did 30 minutes for the first time! Ammar loves bread, rice, and soda. He also only wants to eat with me, and sometimes wants me to eat off the piece he's eating off of, so I just had to explain to him I cannot do that anymore and why. I forget who posted the cinnamon roll recipe, but they are evil I made them for him and have made them every single day for teh past 2 weeks. He;s the only person I know who can eat a dozen cinnamon rolls every day for 2 weeks and still be thin.

:::jealous:::

The same thing happened to me.. I was used to eating yogurt, chicken, brown rice, steamed veggies and drinking sparkling water and when Medy showed up that all went out the window. After a a month or two I had to admit myself that I just can't eat loads of carbs, drink soda, and eat a pint of ice cream every day.

I know. Why do we have to suffer so? I made Ammar weigh himself and he's 170lbs at 6'2". I am going shopping today for more veggies. I like them, but I just don't like having to make 2 things since he doesn't like cooked vegetables and wants rice.

my husband's the same way.. he won't eat veggies unless they're cooked into a soggy, mushy mess We have also had to resort to making two meals most of the time... at least until i join a gym

Sorry for intruding in the conversation but I really can relate. My husband doesn't like cooked vegetables either unless it's a potato and usually it has to be fried. I've also had the same problems about gaining weight since my husband's been here. He loves burgers and red meat in general. Doesn't really care for "healthy" foods like stir fry or salads..unless they're covered in ranch dressing, lol. It's a bit frustrating having to cook two seperate meals. He has gained a bit of weight but seems to be losing it now that he's working over 60 hrs a week and not eating as much as when he was sitting home.

Yup, unless it's fried, covered in some kind of really fattening sauce, or straight sugar he doesn't like it! He also eats potatoes about 5 times a week and it's either fried or mashed with a huge amount of butter.

I've also had to start buying 2% or whole milk for him and skim milk for myself. Butter for him, magarine for me. Full fat for him, fat free for me. Even for breakfast we have all kinds of eggo waffles and toaster pastries and croissants for him and I get a yogurt... *maybe* some granola... And I won't let him cook north african foods for me anymore because I have sat in the kitchen with him while he cooks and have seen how much f-ing olive oil he puts in the food!!! He puts in 1/2 a cup of oil to saute some onions when, really, a tablespoon or two is pllllenty..

He's put on a little weight since being here, but is by no means fat. Although the button on his favorite pair of jeans won't button I have to admit I kind of enjoy that

Pshaw, you're not interrupting or intruding. We can fast make this the "how much weight did your husband cause you to gain when he moved here from the ME" thread.

My husband only eats raw veggies which is good, but sometimes a lot of raw makes my stomach hurt.. so I do stirfries. He feels SF are not good at all, because they involve a bunch of cooked vegetables. He does love fried potatoes of any kind. He does not liek things which he defines as being "wet" in texture, so no mashed potatoes, no pastas, no matza ball soup, etc. This is both good and bad I guess... but stirfries are "somewhat too wet" in his opinion as well, and I have to be cautious about what I decide to make. He did decide he adores chicken cut up and fried like a stirfry in soy sauce.

You know I have gone thorugh more olive oil in the past 6 months... jeez! He says that we could use canola instead, but somehow i don't think it would taste the same (and I'd probably even gain even more weight.)

Oh God don't even get me started about the vast amounts of sugar the man uses. Let's just say he likes a little tea with his sugar. He's a candy/cake/cookies freak. He'll eat M&M's by the handful while sipping on a regular Coke.

This is making me laugh. Hicham constantly says he's on a diet. The other day I made some mini chocolate cakes for a Christmas party and I had about 8 left over. He ate them all and said it was ok because they were "mini".

Hicham will eat pretty much anything I make and I got him to eat vegetables that are cooked, but crisp. That was quite a breakthrough.

I have actually gotten to the best shape of my life after having two babies and since meeting my husband. I eat much healthier since I have known him. I used to eat fast food, pizza, tons of carbs, tons of processed food but since meeting him and getting into North African/Middle eastern food I have lost so much weight. My normal weight used to be in the 160s and now its in the 130s. We only cook with olive oil and my husband has learned over time to just use a small amount vs. a large amount. We eat tons of veggies and fish and the occasional meat. We never eat processed snacks, we indulge in chocolate alot but high quality chocolate. We only use real butter nothing fake at all. Since I have been eating this way I have soooo much more energy and better skin and the weight loss. We are also working out together when possible but encouraging each other since my baby was born 7 months ago so that also helps. I also practice portion control so for example if we are eating couscous he might eat 3 scoops of couscous and 3 spoons of soup whereas I will eat 1/2 to one scoop of couscous and 2 spoons of soup. But I gotta say, much healthier since I married him!

Hey thanks for reminding me of fish! We eat it so rarely but the husband does love it and ate it probably 3 times a week back home. Really good fresh fish isn't so easy to come by where I live. Maybe this warrants a trip to the fish market this week. I've gotta get out of this cooking rut I've been in lately.

I will forever be in awe of the amount of sugar my husband can consume. I swear he must put 5-6 scoops of sugar in a his mug of coffe in the morning, which is not so much coffee, but half coffee half cream.



One thing I've been super excited about is he has liked every kind of international food he's tried... we eat a lot of mexican, chinese, thai, spanish, indian, vietnamese, japanese, etc.... hence.. the extra poundage





Medy does the same thing!!! "I'm only going to eat half of the large chocolate almond tart because I should really watch my weight" ......... riiiiiiiiiiiight.

man I wish we were making that kind of progress with vegetables... we're not even close.



I've also been in a rut... I've been desperately searching for new recieps because I feel like I make the same things over and over.

He generally wants about 3 cups of cooked rice, a few raw vegetables (as in 2 cabbage leaves and a carrot), and then about a deck of cards sized piece of chicken or fish per meal. I do alternate chicken and fish with him. Portion control is entirely my own fault... it sounds like your diet is like our diet now but with working out involved and portion control. I started back working out... and I cut out my carbs now. I'm just a quick gainer and not good with handling rice/pasta/soda kinds of carbs--whereas I do well with vegetable carbs. I'm actually glad he's not too bad in teh food department, and it's just unfortunate that I know myself well enough that I have such a difficult time with control that it's better for me just to not have it. I eat like crazy! I am always hungry it feels like... I could eat a whole large pizza by myself I also only buy natural/whole foods and ingrediants because I just feel better about them.

That's really awesome about your weight loss since the babies! i am worried about that, but my mom gained 20lbs and lost it in under 3 months... maybe I can take after her...



Here too-- totally land-locked. We have one fish place here with good quality fish-- and it's very expensive so we can't afford it.

Have you guys tried roasting vegetables? I always roast carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and green beans so that they are flavorful and crunchy. I hate boiled vegetables! I like the crust on roasted vegetables and Hicham likes it too, thanks God.

I actually did that and it was as much of a success as anything, although he preferred it with cheese on top He also took a bit to grilled vegetables, but really he just doesn't liked cooked veggies. I don't like boiled vegetables either and never make them.

Asparagus is good roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper and at the last minute I sometimes add a bit of parmasean.

I hate boiled vegetables, too. I generally steam, roast or grill them. Moh does like roasted carrots and potatoes. He also likes corn and eggplant (prefers it fried though). He hates zucchini, brocolli, grean beans, asparagus, cauliflower, etc.

ME?? EVIL???

Yep!