"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" Shakespeare had a point, but let's face it if we called a rose a cucumber it wouldn't be as romantic.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the name for this blog. I wanted a name that reflected as many facets of me as possible. I'm a mom with 2 teenagers, one about to fly the coop, and an elementary kid who's an overachiever (the most like me). They are all involved in sports, so I spend a lot of time at softball, baseball, football, and basketball games. I travel for my work, mostly on a train. I love to cook; although I'm not that good. I love to do crafts and projects around the house, but I usually don't have time for that. I'm married to a wonderful man who still drives me crazy after 20 years,  but I haven't hit him over the head with the skillet yet.

One day on the train, while contemplating the blog name, I was listening to our Cafe Car Hostess and I thought, "That's it!!" Life is like traveling on a train and watching the world. Sometimes, there's something interesting or, worse, horrible, but most of the time life is lots of scenery--some pretty, some pretty boring.

So why am I writing a blog. Well, for one (and I hate this answer from my kids) everyone else is doing it, so why not me? Two, I'm prideful enough to think I have some knowledge that would be useful to others. Three, I'd like to get into the habit of writing every day.

My husband and I joined Weight Watchers in January. So far, we've both lost 20+ lbs. It's so hard to not get discouraged when the weight comes off so slowly. We keep reminding each other that if we only lose a pound a week consistently, we will have lost 52 lbs by the end of a year.

The change in lifestyle has been good for all of us. Since my husband is on it with me, we all eat the same things for dinner. I tried WW once before, but it was hard because I was making something separate for me (I also like the Points Plus system much, much better). This time, the kids are older and they understand that we all need to make changes. They are eating more fruits and vegetables. We've always been fortunate that they all eat vegetables, but now they are reaching for the veggies for snacks, too.

My son has even decided that he likes the Veggie hamburger with fat-free Tzatziki sauce (see recipe below). We've been on a Greek kick for a while now.

Fat-Free Tzatziki Sauce

Half a large cucumber, finely diced and squeezed dry*
1 small container or 1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1 TBSP lemon or lime juice
Dill (I use about a TBSP of dried dill)**
Minced Garlic (I use about a teaspoon of dried minced garlic)

Mix all together and refrigerate.

*I'm too impatient and lazy to do this, but some websites suggest removing the seeds, cutting the cucumber into smaller pieces, and letting it drain for a couple of hours. I chop the whole thing and put the pieces into cheesecloth and squeeze the life out of it. If you are having a bad, it will give you something to do. ;-)

**Use more or less as you like. Some people use mint instead of dill.

You can use it on anything. It's really good with celery, too. There are tons of recipes out there. I got this one off of some website; just google it.

Have a blessed day!