Hiya PG!! I'm glad your powers back on! I got a very short glimpse of no power last night. A transformer blew down the street around 11 last night. It sounded like huge fireworks for a minute then *poof* total darkness! It was pretty creepy to be in that kind of darkness without any real warning. I can't imagine that for many nights in a row!! Your a tough one!

Haven't seen that article, but I'd love to read it. I haven't noticed that really. The marriott's have been reno-ing all the courtyards. They're much nicer now. Wonder if that was part of it.

I'm back to my posted weight today. I was so hoping to creep by that even by .2lbs, but it didn't work out that way for me. So I'm still hoping to see VT this week! Darn scale!

Here's the story, Cindy. http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztr...ests-usat_x.htm

great story on how they're more interested in making sure women feel more secure, have better blow dryers, thinner counter tops, lighter menu's, shower curtain rods, chick flicks on the hotel movie list.... etc.

Y'know Nancy, sometimes I would agree with this statement... but for some reason, when I'm traveling.. just a wee bit of salt shows up on my face, hands, and feet the next morning.... after I've eaten a salty meal.

And I have to try everything I can do to get the swell outta my face, before I go down to the public in the mornings....

I hate when I get all puffy.

Good heavens, you'd think women are a different species after reading that article. I do like the idea of a woman only floor though, less likely to get the drunk guy falling asleep next door with the TV blaring full blast.

My biggest issue with hotels is the noise. I need quiet. And coffee... I need lots of coffee and some refrigeration.

How about the prostitute on the floor above? I had one of those one time. Her customers were noisy drunks for the most part and there was a lot of door shutting noise, laughing and so on. Anyway when I complained, the night porter-person insisted that there was no-one staying in that room...so guess who was on the take, eh. No sleep for Val that night.

In fact that whole experience was a nightmare...the conference I went to was in deepest New Hampshire and I felt like I had dropped into a creepy right wing Stepford Wives planet, with huge American flags hanging in front of houses, etc.. And as for coffee- forget about it. There was only instant and/or the overbrewed stuff. After 2 days of all this I was getting panicky so to preserve my sanity (and stuff the rest of the conference) I rented a car and escaped, at top speed, straight to the coast. Still in NH, but what a difference..
people with longer hair, jeans, book shops, cappuccinos...I could feel the long idealogical influence of Boston had made its way up a very thin stretch of coastline..I checked into a gorgeous B&B run by an expat European woman. And just across a bridge was Maine, and lobster feast.. Phew!

Pilot-- you're an artist? I would love to see some of your pieces. I too enjoy drawing and painting, but I have never sold anything or had the confidence to sell something! Do you have any pics of your work?

I totally agree with you on this, Nancy.
I have to carry ear plugs for noisey hotel guests.
And I hate a room with lousey A/C.
We were in the Swan, in Disney World over the weekend, and they have a "heat" sensor. Well hell, when you crash, you're no longer moving.. the temp in the room got up there.. I kept getting up, lowering the temp. When I awakened, pissed that I had sweated during the night, I looked at the temp and it said 76. But when I hit the button, it said that I had put it down to 61. It never got cold in the room. I'll never stay at the hotel again, just for that reason.

If I were a regular traveler, I'd definitely put myself on those Women Only floors. I bet it would be soooooooooooooooooo much quieter!!!!

This is my first attempt at selling. The thought that runs through my mind is... "Will it sell?" I like my work, that's why I paint as I do, but never sure anyone else appreciates what I've painted.. It's a pill that I swallow regularly. When I walked in with my canvases, and set them down, the thought occurred to me, "face the people, face the wall." (how I should lay them down) All of these little things hit my ego, and self esteem.

I had photo's of my work in here, took them off. Painting 6 more, will reveal those when finished. My ego isn't big enough to leave my artwork in the forum. Still have my doubts about quality.

I like your paintings! However, I can imagine how vulnerable showing them to the world would make you feel. *shiver*

I am sure you are a talented artist. Besides, as long as you are satisfied with it, that's all that should matter!

So I did really well for two days (low carb and no cottage cheese) and those extra water pounds came off! I was so happy this morning! Back down to 225.5. I'm not sure what qualifies as VT when you are a yo-yo dieter. I have been all weights at some point or another! LOL However, it has been about a year and a half since I've been 225 so I guess I could count it as virginal! Hahhaaha. Can't wait to be under 225!

woohoo PB!! I'd say that counts as VT. I know the last time I was this weight was in Feb 2000. After that it gets a bit fuzzy trying to remember weights and dates. I just figure it's VT for this round of dieting (which for me started in 11/03).

I love your paintings PG!! They were awesome. Can't wait to see the new ones.

Val - I am happy to say I've never stayed in a hotel that had noticable prostitutes! That would have been awful!!

Interesting about the hotels. I see pro's and cons about an all women floor. I think women might feel more secure and end up being less cautious and all it takes is one door that's not properly closed and anyone could get on the floor. I stick to the typical safety rules. No first floor rooms, close to the elevator, etc. Gotta be careful.

Well, I made an almond loaf tonight. Its a recipe that was in the recipe section, very tasty, but not at all low cal. First time I made it, I made as is. Bad calories, very bad. But this time I decided to lighten it up. I used only 2T of butter versus a whole stick, I used cottage cheese and yogurt to make up for the missing butter. Then I also used resistant starch, corn bran and a bit of polydextrose. Which are things that are very low cal, and I replaced part of the almond flour with that.

It came out tasting pretty good! Kind of like corn bread actually. I messed up my measurements though so it didn't come out as light as I had hoped.

Anyway, I felt like I needed a massive infusion of fiber, things haven't been moving through me so well since I quite eating wheat. That and 1500mg of magnesium will hopefully do the trick.

The idea would be to not make it TOO good or you end up overeating calories! How do some of the other non-gluten flours compare with almond meal calorie-wise?? I guess it is a toss up between eating carbs, or eating calories eh. I have been throwing psyllium in my whey shakes and protein pancakes for the extra fiber.

Good question, Val. I have some rice flour, I'll check.

Ok, rice flour is 110 calories per 1/4C and 1/4 cup of almond flour is 130 calories. So there's a bit of savings there. I'll try it next time. Cornmeal is the same as rice.

So far it looks like it is about 80 calories per slice, if I get 8 out of it. I might actually get 10-12 slices out. Not bad!

How about this one? Its 100 calories.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/...&product_ID=199