Hi everyone!

Michele, I hope your tests come back okay. When I was in college I had a scary illness where my liver enzymes were elevated and my liver was enlarged, plus I had all the symptoms of a stomach ulcer. All my tests went back to normal before they figured out what was wrong with me so they said it must have just been a virus. Someone on here was talking about mono -- was that you? Mono can cause liver problems and enlarged lymph nodes, when I had it my doc took me off birth control to avoid liver damage.

Shane, I hope your cold is going away! That's cool that your church is open-minded.

Goal, it's great that you're walking twice a day! You are so determined to be healthy that I'm sure you will be back to your old self in no time.

Sheila, ick! I hope you AND DH are feeling better soon!

Happy winter solstice and to those who celebrate them! It is really cold here -- high of 17 today -- but at least it's sunny and my doggie is laying in the sunlight.

Oh, funny story. You know how I put my dog on a diet since the vet said he was overweight? We weighed him yesterday and he has already lost 4lbs! That's a whopping 2lbs per week! No wonder he's been whining for food so much. He only has 4lbs to go before he's back to his ideal weight. He's already stopped moaning and groaning and is snoring less, so I'm happy.

My parents are here and the junk food is filling up the house. Today is our cookie making day. There's also chocolates galore and ice cream. It's funny because my mom is watching her weight too, but somehow we always end up eating junk when we're together. Luckily I've been working out -- ran 2.5 miles Friday and swam half a mile Saturday. Since I'm on vacation I can take advantage of the fact that my local parks department has an indoor track that's free M-F during work hours, so I can run inside instead of freezing my butt off next week.

I leave for DC on Tuesday !!! I AM SO EXCITED!
I heard my sister got pretty buff since returning from basic training (army). She now exercises every day because she wants to keep her army shape up. That's good; we can exercise together every morning! We also talked about how we should go to a buffet for old times' sake (we ALWAYS went to buffets together, but I haven't been to one since losing weight), only this time around, we are going to jog 5 miles each way to get there.

I have a really good feeling about this new year. I just think I have much more peace of mind than I did last year, got all my personal drama sorted out and refuse to let anyone else's affect me, and am super excited about all the great things 2009 will bring.


Jessica, I think I was talking about mono. I started thinking I might have it before seeing the doctor. I thought I had a zillion things, though. It's funny how most cold-type symptoms tend to overlap.

Enlarged liver is a scary thing, even when you DO know the cause. Last year (New Year's 2008), I got VERY, VERY, VERYYYYY intoxicated. I hadn't gotten trashed in eons, so I figured I'd party hardy. The next day, I woke up with severe abdominal pain and a very swollen stomach. I poked myself around and realized my liver was swollen. It was somewhat scary. I knew it would go away, but that was one of the most miserable days of my life (of course, it also came with the worst hangover known to man! it took half a bottle of Pepto to put that thing to rest.)

WOW, your dog lost 2 pounds per week? That's like a human losing 10 per week or something. I think overweight pets are actually really cute, but I know it isn't any healthier for them than it is for us.

Hi everyone!

Michelle, hope your tests go okay!

Shane - I am going to New Orleans with my sister in January, we are planning on running together while we are there! We both started running this year. It's so cool to do fitness stuff together instead of just eating together

The cookie monster got me today, big time. We started our cookie exchange baking, and not only did I eat dough, I have been eating cookies, too. Ugh. I am so not used to the sugar high.