Hi Julie:

Wow, aren't you lucky?? I always wanted brothers and sisters. I was an only child. My mother would always love to tell me "why on earth would I have more kids, when I had you, you never slept!!!" What she failed to mention was that she drank. Never knew that. I always thought it was normal to come home after school to find your mother sitting at the kitchen table drinking a glass of scotch. I am absolutely amazed at how naive I was. My father knew but no one said anything. That's why her personality was the way it was.

And that's why I ate. As we grow older, some of us get the lightbulb moment, some do not Anyway, I can only imagine having all those siblings. My mother had 5 brothers and 5 sisters. Holiday were crazy at my house and at everybody else’s house. I was always the odd duck because of my weight. When you are the biggest in the family and your mom is 5 feet tall and you’re grandma (the one who gave birth to 10 kids, who weighed between 9 and 15 lbs at birth), is all of 4 feet eleven inches tall, and then here I come, all 5 feet 7 and, well, let’s not talk about what I weighed, well none of my cousins ever had anything to do with me. I was the one who stuttered and who everybody made fun of. It’s quite odd, how at 60, you remember stuff.

It’s also quite odd that, at one family reunion, last year, at one of my cousins house, when Alan and I showed up and I had lost about 100 lbs since anyone last saw me and Alan lost about 75 lbs, and everybody is saying to each other “who is that??” and some one poked the other one and said “That’s Melody” and my cousin said out loud “THAT’S MELODY, OH MY GOD!!!! See, one might see that as a compliment. I do not. Not one person said “oh , you look great!!! Want to know why?? Because they all gained weight. So here we all are at this barbecue with all the food and they all weigh 200 lbs and let’s just say that I no longer weigh that and what got me, was the expression on the face of the guy who said “That’s Melody”!!!

See, I finally realized how they all saw me, as I was growing up. I was the fat kid.

No one really understands how others view you when you don’t look like the rest of the family. Well, I got it that day.

I also GOT IT, years ago when I visited my family in Florida. It was like visiting the Land of the Lilliputians, like in Gulliver’s Travels. Here I was, all big and tall, and people are ringing the door bell, all 5 feet 2 and 110 lbs. One my my aunts said to another aunt, as she was coming in the house and looking right at me “Oh my god, how big is she??”Like I couldn’t hear them at all. Yeah, right!!

I remember all this so vividly, it actually makes me grimace.

And I just came back from the supermarket. I got my Buffalo Chicken Sausage and my Perdue Short cuts. And Bumble Bee Solid White tuna is on sale for $.74 cents a can.

Can’t beat that!!!

P.S. Hope your headache is all better.

lol that is soooooooooooo funny about them gaining weight.

What a hoot!!!!!!

That made my afternoon, now I can go back to work on less fun things.

Boy, have I got a good tip for you.

Today, I was in Shopright with my friend. She had told me about Peter Luger Steak Sauce. Now I don't eat any beef but we do eat turkey burgers, and I usually put my worcestershire sauce and some Liquid Smoke on them. Absolutely delicious. Then I remembered watching Oprah one day and they had a special about who makes the best burgers and Peter Luger's Steakhouse came up.

So there I was in ShopRight Supermarket and I say "Where's the Peter Luger Steak Sauce? (It has to be in the refrigerated section and when you get it home it is kept in the refrigerator). Now I have never tasted Steak Sauce on anything. I keep it simple. But I said 'wow, 25 calories, no big deal),

So I made Alan and I turkey burgers. And I put just a bit on mine. A little bit on his.

Well, let me tell you. This is the best thing since sliced bread.

I can ony imagine what it will do to my chicken breast.

I now have a new thing besides my Buffalo Chicken sausage.

It has a taste all it's own. You must try this.

Just a bit but my goodness, it really souped up the turkey burgers. They tasted exactly like a beef burger.

Oh, I made french fries. But they were legal.

I took my Vidalia chopper. I took a regular Idaho Potato and put it through the chopper. Then I sprayed PAM in the frying pam, and cooked it for 30 minutes. Came out just like french fries.

And one potato fed the two of us. Imagine, I ate a half of a potato and I was satisfied. It's amazing what the mind does to you. You think you are eating a plate of fries but actually I ate one half of a potato. No oil.

I'm getting real good at this.

So try it and enjoy.

Melody

My mouth is watering!!!!!

I bet you could do commercials... seriously.

((((((((Melody!!!!!)))))))))
.

Melody, you are so nice with the recipes! I have started my shopping list: buffalo chicken sausage, veggies, Liquid Smoke (I have never used this!) and Peter Luger Steak Sauce. This should get me started on cooking better. We are re-doing our kitchen, and is is a mess right now, but I will try. I have to read the manual for my new stove.

I am 5'10" with my sisters being 5'3". I have always been the tall one, too. I adopted my daughter. She is 4'10"!!!! We have had a lot of fun with this.

Wow, you're tall. I'm exactly 5 feet 6 and one half inches. I got to this height by the time I was 12 and I stopped growing.

My mother, her five brothers and sisters, well, no one was over 5 feet tall except for my Aunt Sallie who was my height. I loved going there because I finally had somebody my size. But she was thin.

But my uncles. They never got beyond 5'2 inches.

Oh, and this is funny, when I was 28, I fell in love with a little guy. His name was Vinny and he was about 5'4. When my mother met him, she said to me on the sly "are you serious, this guy is a midget". She hated him. But I did meet Alan who was 6 feet tall.

Oh, I have a funny story that will make all of you laugh. Alan reminded me of it to tell a friend and he howled as I told this. This happened when I was 40.

When I was 40 years old, I had my first mammogram. Unfortunately, the guy calls me in and says: "there is something and it has to come out". Turns out it was something called a fibroadenoma. So I had to go back a few weeks later to get the results. So it was benign. So when you have a breast operation, they do follow-ups. and it's always the same thing. They put you in a room, you put on the green gown, you lie on the table, the doctor comes in, checks where you had the surgery, to see that you are healing....well the point is, after you do this 4 or 5 times, you know what's coming.

So one day, I had the appointment, they put me in the room, I put on the green gown, and I hear the doctor coming in, I look at him in his scrubs, so I opened the gown and said "okay, go ahead", and the guy starts screaming "Oh My God, what the h*ll are you doing?"" I jump up off the table, covering up my breast and I go "what's the matter??" and he goes "I'm the plumber". He ran out of the room.

Alan is still laughing his head off and this happened 20 years ago.

Melody

That may be one of THE very best stories I have EVER heard.

I can see why Alan is still laughing.

[COLOR="Blue"]So one day, I had the appointment, they put me in the room, I put on the green gown, and I hear the doctor coming in, I look at him in his scrubs, so I opened the gown and said "okay, go ahead", and the guy starts screaming "Oh My God, what the h*ll are you doing?"" I jump up off the table, covering up my breast and I go "what's the matter??" and he goes "I'm the plumber". He ran out of the room.


Mel,
You are so funny! I read this at work today and busted up laughing. You can bet my co-workers were very curious as to what I was sitting in my cubicle laughing about.

Keep sending those recipes.

You are a great story teller Melody. I'm sorry for everyones mental pain. I do think that people who say hurtful things to others though have their own issues that they take out on others. Julie as for teaching kids about food. I think many families have negative ways of using food. Though my mom is my best friend and I want to be like her she did not show a good ex of how to nurish yourself. She is still anorexic and I'm recovered physically but like I said mentally still a battle. It has taken a lot of professional and self therapy to learn what nurishment is and that everyone is different physically and mentally. I hope to stop the cycle of negative food issues when I have kids. Food is not about being good or bad and you shouldn't feel guilty. Really this issue of pn has taught me that your health is your tool and path to life and the goals around it. If you don't have your health other things seem like nothing. Hugs to all.