Conference rocks::weight_control

    
         As far as the children are concerned, chocolate bunnies
       are no better for them than it is for us as adults.
       For the last 2 or 3 years, I have been making and filling
       my kids Easter Baskets myself with things other than chocolate
       and chocolate..and more chocolate.
         I usually just buy the baskets and the grass and the foil
       separately. Then buy juices(snack pack juices), small games
       color eggs...crayons... and maybe just a few jelly beans, and
       whatever else I can think of and put it in their baskets. And
       they love it! Therefore, there's no temptation to *steal* candy
       out of the kids baskets when they're not looking:-)
    
    
       Chris
    

    re .1:
    
    Excellent point about giving kids things other than candy in their
    Easter baskets (I recall a similar point being made by someone in
    the note on Halloween).  I recall my nephews getting a big kick
    out of the Celtics T-shirts my wife and I gave them last year. 
    
    Also, if you do plan on giving candy, the advice someone gave in the
    Halloween note about not buying it too far in advance certainly
    applies to Easter as well.
    
    
    py

    
    
    What will you be having for Dinner on Easter ? Will you have
    alot of people over ?
    
    Do you have any good ideas ?
    
    Ann
    
    
    

    Here in Southern California, it's usually warm enough on Easter
    Sunday to fire up the barbecue grill.  So for Easter Dinner I usually
    marinate and barbecue a leg of lamb.  I also serve asparagus (which
    I love) and rice pilaf.  And for dessert I put out the biggest,
    sweetest strawberries that I can find.
    
    Lynn

   Well, how did everybody do on Easter weekend?

   I finally joined Weight Watchers last Thursday. But I was quite 
worried about this weekend. Weekends are hard for me, anyway, but 
add to that the fact that this was a *holiday* weekend, and, well,
I was afraid. You see, for all of the major holidays, my family all
gathers at one person's house for dinner. This year Easter dinner was 
at my Mother's house. And, this year we had many more people than
usual, all kinds of out of town relatives were visiting.

   And, of course, to make things easier on my Mom, I offerred to 
help with whatever she needed. What she needed was someone to make
some dessert. (Naturally!) Since I'm the baker in the family anyway,
I said sure. I figured I'd make something I'm not crazy about. Therefore,
there'd be much less temptation both while I was baking and after dinner.
But, Mom had two specific desserts in mind. Bad news. One of them was
made from Strawberries and Whipped Cream. Yum! My favorites!

   Well, I managed to bake both things without tasting. I rinsed the
bowls and the beaters IMMEDIATELY so I couldn't lick them...And, the
best news is that after dinner, all I ate was a tiny bite of the 
strawberry thing from my cousin's plate.

   So, all in all, I am quite proud of myself. I hope all of the rest of 
you who are engaged in the "battle of the bulge" had as much success
as I did!

  Happy losing! 

 -Amy.

    
    Congratulations, Amy!  I'm very impressed!  I joined just before
    Christmas, and was not at all succesful in staying on program over
    vacation.
    
    I'm sure you'll see great results at your next weigh-in!
    
    Beverly
    

    
    Thanks, Beverly! (Although I am committed to losing this weight
    for myself, so I can feel better physically and feel better about
    myself mentally, encouragement from other people is still very
    important!)
    
    -Amy.