40-Somethings - 40's July week 3 chat

Happy Sunday everyone! Not sure if I'm supposed to start the new thread today or tomorrow so here goes!

I got my wish and we had a cloudy day yesterday. We were outside for swim conference from 6:30 - 3:00. DD had a great day, placed 3rd in breast, 13th in the IM, 14th in butterfly and her medley relay team placed 2nd. It was hot but cloudy, feel like I lost about 10 pounds sweating! If only that was true!

Dancer, rollerblading sounds great. Glad to hear you and the others are wearing helmets. I wear one when I bike and have short hair so major helmet head but it's worth it to be safe.

Cat, Glad to hear you are getting back to yourself. Don't sweat the gain, you know where it's coming from. I feel like you these last few months, more maintenance than really working at losing. On the plus side, I know I can maintain but I still want to lose some more first.

Beemer, how was the rabbit show. How does a rabbit show work? I envision a dog show with rabbits!

Patchwork, were those strawberry chocolate brownies a light recipe? If so, please share!

Marie, When DD was 8, she fell riding a scooter and broke her arm in 2 places. The Dr. in the ER asked her if she was wearing a helmet (she was not that time), she answered that she wasn't planning on falling! We got a good laugh but it was a big wake up call about how important a helmet is. My DH is going fishing for a week later this month and I am looking forward to him being gone so I can have the house to myself (and the kids!)

Hope everyone has a "slim" Sunday.

Happy Sunday Everyone!!!

This morning is beautiful out. I just read that thunderstorms are to appear by 11:00 am. Our weather is so strange this year. Usually be mid-June, the rain and clouds are gone until mid-Sept. Not this year. It's chilly (highs of80 instead of 97) and chances of t-storms. It's almost like I moved back to the midwest. Anyway, I'm going to brave the chilly morning temps ( that's not different this year) and swim early today. I already walked with my doggies. I'll vacuum and steam clean the floors, then jump in the pool for a swim. It's a no elliptical day but for some reason I'm in the mood to do it. I know if I do, my quads will be sore by Wednesday's workout. So I'm going to try to resist the temptation to exercise (on it not elsewhere). I would never, ever have guessed I'd have to resist exercise. I really I'd come to this point a lot earlier in my life.

OMW, sounds like your daughter did great at the meet. We're totally opposite on the sun/cloud idea. I'd rather slather loads of sunscreen on me and bake in the heat then clouds. I just love sunshine.

I'm an audiobook person as I can't sit still to read a book. Anyway, I just finished a very lovely book, The Amazing Interlude by Mary Rinehart. It's a book written long, long ago set in WWI. I highly recommend it. And I just started to listen to Nora Roberts' new book, Black Hills on the doggie walk this morning. I liked it from the first minute. The narrator for both books is very good, especially The Amazing Interlude - the narrator was excellent.

Time to get to the floors. The doggies have slimed them up in a way only three dogs can. :)
Marie

OMW, I'd be happy to post the recipe but I have to warn you the texture was a little weird; like a wet sponge. I didn't copy the recipe word for word so please ask if anything is weird.

Weight Watcher's Raspberry Brownies
{I used Strawberry jam}

3oz choc
4 lg eggs, room temp
1/2 c sugar
1 tea vanilla
1/4 tea salt
1/2 c butter, melted {I think I used applesauce which might have affected the texture}
3/4 c flour {I used whole wheat}
1/2 c raspberry jam {or choice}

Preheat 350* Grease {Pam} 8" pan. Beat eggs and sugar 7min, until pale yellow and doubled in volume. Add vanilla & salt. Mix. Add butter. Mix. Add flour. Mix. {okay, I dumped it all in then mixed}

Divide batter between two bowls. Melt choc, pour in one bowl. Add Jam to other. Mix well. Scrape most of choc into greased pan, reserving a few TBs. Top with jam mix; dot top with rest of choc. Using a knife swirl in choc to make pretty designs.

Bake 20-25 min. cool in pan
WW Compele cookbook
274 cal, pro 6g, fat 12g, carbs 39g, sod 211mg, chol 106 mg, fib 0

OK - I've been out of touch this week, can't even catch up though I did read through everything. This last week has been "all about me" with my son out of town. Trying to get really firmly into my food routine, etc. before I have to cater to little Mr. Skinny's out of control appetite. I don't think that child will EVER stop growing! People keep telling me that he'll hit a point where he won't grow for 6 months or so. Well, it's been 5 years, and it hasn't happened!

Also, it's been wild at work, as we were short 5 people last week! And three days we were down to 2 people, when we normally have 8. Craziness.

Anyway - successful week. Hit my first "mini-goal", headed for the next. Also somewhere over the last month I lost an inch off the hips and chest. But only 1/2" on the waist. :(

Also did a full detail on my car this weekend - gotta pick MIL and my son up from the airport. Thank goodness she's going to a hotel, so she can visit friends in North Houston, and not coming to my house. Of course, if shere were maybe my house would look as good as my car . . . wouldn't that be nice? She is seriously hyper-critical. But I get my son back!

Oh - and got a sort of compliment the other day. I got in a conversation with the (young, fit, kinda cute) guy at GNC the other day about diet, carb/protein balance, etc. And he looked me over and said, "Well, you look pretty lean . . . For Baytown!" Joys of living in the 6th fattest metro (Houston suburb) in the country - I look great by comparison! Thank goodness I moved here from the other extreme, so I don't use these standards.

Penguin - Glad to hear your enjoying your renewed vision. It is so awesome! My vision was always correctable, but I was somewhere around the 20/2000 mark before. I couldn't even tell there was an "E" on the vision chart! And by comparison, my darling husband can read the bottom line, forward and backward, with each eye independently. They couldn't believe it at his last checkup. This is in spite of 25 years of welding. Thank goodness that so far my son seems to have his eyes.

Denver - I always enjoyed skating as a child, so I decided to try rollerblading a while back. I'd love to be able to, but I'm just not brave enough. Those things need brakes! I'm sure if I stuck with it, I'd get it back. I'm just afraid of what I'd do to myself in the process! Great job for sticking with it. It's great exercise, and looks like a lot of fun.

Marie - Good thing we don't live in the same area - if we ever got together the electronics would be in serious trouble! I'm always threatening various appliances, DVD players, computers, etc. And I'm a pretty good shot; my husband keeps the guns locked away any more.

And yes - I lived in Silverthorne, just across I-70 from Dillon. Beautiful area, extremely high cost of living. And snow from September until May (and occasionally July) got old. 7 years was enough. We have so much in the way of family and friends in Colorado that we're back to visit at least once a year, and frequently 2 or 3 times. My retirement goal is to be able to summer there and spend the rest of the year here. Typical snowbird!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Good morning everyone!! Got in really late last night and having a hard time getting going this AM! Started to type this post in the last weeks thread but changed it over when I saw the new one started.

Onmyway-Glad you got your wish for a cloudy day! Tell your daughter good job on her meet!! Too bad we can't lose that much from sweating. I sweat terribly when I run and carry a cold wet paper towel with me to wipe myself off. I really miss it when I forget. I tell my friends that is my secret weapon in a race, LOL!!

jelder-Good to see you!! I don't think they ever stop growing while they live with us!! My son has passed me in height and now wears bigger shoes than my husband at 13 years old! Just wait til your son has to buy adult shoes. They sure jump in price!!

Penguin-Sounds like you are having fun cooking!! That recipe looks great!

CAT-I hope you are doing well today and healing nicely!!

Marie and Onmyway-We breed and show Mini Rex which are the rabbits that have the velvet type fur. It has the best feel to it of any rabbit. Rabbit shows are quite similar to dog shows except thankfully we don't have to parade them around. Each breed is judged by it varieties for Best of Variety and Best Opposite Sex. In our kind of rabbit they go by color. Then the varieties all go against each other for Best of Breed. The Best of Breeds then compete for Best in Show. It can be pretty exciting when you are in the running. My kids show in youth.

The farthest they have made it so far is Best of Opposite Sex Breed. My sons rabbit won our 4H fair with Best of Breed so that was even farther but didn't count towards ARBA which is like AKC in dogs. ARBA is much stricter than AKC with registering. They will only register a showable animal which is nice. Then you know you are getting a quality animal. One of our rabbits so far is a Grand Champion. My son was very proud to accomplish that! Rabbit breeding is fun. The bunnies are soooo cute!! We have 5 babies right and two pregnant ones. Here are a couple pics of my babies last summer:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/annieemdy/DCP_0005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/annieemdy/DCP_0003.jpg

Beemer, your bunnies are so cute. What a neat thing for you and your kids to do. There is nothing like baby animals. Please post a few of the babies!

Jelder, LOL at the Dillon cost of living. One week there was enough to break the bank. But it sure is beautiful. I only have one relative left living in Colorado. When DH finishes building our plane (probably next summer) he's mentioned returning to ski there again. As we live near loads of ski resorts (Tahoe has the most) I think he's nuts, but I certainly wouldn't say no.
Dancer (from the post on week 2 that I accidently posted to as well), sounds like you had a great time. My inline skates are CCMs and I put an aftermarket ankle brake on them. The works great. Just straighten your brake leg and you come to a stop. I detested heel pads!I do have long bangs that are off to the side of my face. I did grow them out then cut them back to the picture length in May. I think they soften my face. The annoying parts - they don't stay in a ponytail, they fall in my face if I don't diligently blow them dry in the direction I want them to go,then spray them in place. The good part is I look better with them. :D For exercising, I use those snap type barrettes and hold them off my face. Heck, right now I have one in as I really get irritated when they're in my face. But right now is weekend and my DH doesn't seem to care if I look like I'm two. But at work and to look "good" I use my 2" curling iron to give them shape, then spray them in place. It was actually a hard decision to cut them back off but immediately I liked my mirror reflection a lot better.

I swam 1/2 mile this afternoon in the cold wind. I'd left the solar cover off my pool and it's only 67 degrees out. Brrr. The water was chilly. Even swimming full speed didn't warm me up. But it was stil fun. I couldn't convince myself to jump in the pool, knowing it was a tad chilly. So I did what I promised DH I wouldn't do the rest of the year. I dove in. I can handle it head first. I really do think I'm a nut case. But my wrist had no problem with the one dive . :carrot::carrot::carrot:

OK back to what remains of weekend. I hate that it's ending. DH just came home from guard weekend and told me he took this week off. That makes it worse as he'll be home and I have to work. :(
Marie

Reposted from the end of last week's thread - one of these days I'm going to catch on to the whole 'now it's a new week and a new thread' deal : )

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Howdy, ladies! Back from Boulder where we had a good time and it felt like we were much further away than we really were : ) I wore my helmet skating like a good girl although I wasn't thrilled about it.

Beemer - Rollerblade brand skates have a much easier brake than the ones where you have to tip your toe up to get the brakes to engage, if you're ever interested in trying again. It makes a nice complement to running as it's not so ballistic and works slightly different muscles (supposed to be great for shapely rear view too). Glad to hear that running helped with toning arms - I'm not a big weights girls so I'm psyched that I may have the arm thing covered in advance - now I just need to lose the fat layer : )

CAT - so glad to hear you're on the mend. And no more attacks, ever!! I'm sure the scale will go to a normal place soon once all the disruptions are over and you've had time to heal.

Marie - you're right about helmet hair - not too bad with long hair. Silly question but I'm thinking about getting long side bangs which it looks like you may have based on your avatar. Are bangs hard to deal with with the helmet and when you exercise? I haven't had them in ages and wanted to get some feedback before I take the plunge.

I thought the botox might not be working at all as I couldn't really see a difference yesterday but this afternoon when I frowned as hard as I could, there wasn't a horizontal groove/furrow above the top of my nose, just below my eyebrows so that was cool. My bf said my frown still looks like a frown, but less mad which I thought was funny. Don't see a difference yet with the crowsfeet but that may change. Will keep you posted...

Off to continue ice my knee...

As I've been wanting to shoot my scale I thought I'd share an image a great chickie friend from another thread shared...

http://www.mariesdogs.com/images/shootscale.gif

Ok, twist my arm to show off my babies, LOL!! Here are some pics from today:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/annieemdy/DylansPictures025.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/annieemdy/DylansPictures024.jpg

dancer-That is nice to know they have an easier way to brake now for us roller challenged, LOL!! I was so used to rollerskating that it was hard to do that. I actually have a pair of rollerskates that I use now around the neighborhood. I also use them at the rink. I think skating is great exercise!!

Have a great night everyone!!

Beemer, AWWWWW! Baby Bunnies. They are adorable! I love the dark grey ones in your earlier post!

Marie, I feel the same way about my scale. I did lose that lb {and its friend} so I'm back to the original 5lbs lost. I feel very virtuous tonight, I'm trying for 1500 -1800 calories but tonight I'm at 1999! LOL, so I'm happy that I didn't break 2000! I was hungry and Hubby wasn't so I kept snacking this afternoon until he caught up with me so we could eat together. Bad idea!

Dancer, glad the Botox is working for you. I don't think I could do that, I get enough needles as it is. Ick!

Jeider, I was in my twenties before I realized there was even 12 lines on the chart! I thought I was doing well to read the 6th! Dad and Hubby both have great vision. I'm thinking about trying to drive again. Scary territory, I was never comfortable with driving but I can see the stoplights again and 20/40 is driving vision but I'm worried about the distortion factor. I can't do anything about that, and I'm afraid I would miss something important. But I think Hubby and I are going out in the middle of nowhere so I can give it a try again. Its been about 8 years, I may need a refresher course. I kept Hubby from oversleeping this morning for church by threatening to drive myself {in his precious truck!}

Question, Has anyone used a choc cake/brownie recipe that calls for pureed prunes? How did that work/taste? I have to admit the whole idea gets an ewww form me.

Beemer - LOL - Maybe I'll try the wet paper towel during my workouts - my face and head sweat SO much! The rest of me, not as badly. It's weird. I also turn beet red and look like I'm about to die. It's gotta be genetic - my brother does the same, as does my son.

I've watched the growth charts, and my son is supposed to pass me at 13 also. And I'm 5'8" - HELP! And if things don't slow down, he'll be in adult shoes shortly - he's wearing 1.5 at just turned 5. The mini-Rex bunnies are adorable. Lance just spent a week trying to catch the bunnies at his grandmas - he would love to pet yours! They are the softest - we have a friend who raised / showed them.

dancerindenver - Glad the botox seems to be having some results. I have a friend who swears by it, though she lives the other end of the country and I've never been able to see the results first hand. Sounds like it might impair my "mommy look" though - better skip it for a few years. I don't need anything that will made me look "less mad".

Marie - That would be me with the scale some days! I'm sending that one on to some friends. Fortunately not right now - mine is flirting with 157! Just gotta remember that next week is the rough week.

patchworkpenguin - Good luck with the driving - it would be great if it gets to where you're comfortable with it. Though believe me, there are worse things than to be chauffered and not have to deal with the jerky drivers out there. They've gotten worse in the last 10 years.

Congrats on the weight loss - and definitely ewww on the prune thing! Might be good - but doesn't sound it!

Off to work out, shower, go to work. Going to be a rough week - the boss will be back, and there will be some grumpy bosses today 'cause of some stuff that happened last week. Not our fault, but they still won't be happy. Can I call in sick? First time in 3 years I've really wanted to do that. Oh well . . .

Down another pound. Lost five total. I'd like one of those ticker thingies that show a five pound lost increments. How do I find these things? I've earned one, and I'm excited. :carrot:

I spent the weekend with DH hoisting rafters (big 20' long , green 2x12's , up a 12/12 pitch) ... we're building a shop/garage. So I worked most of the weekend. Had a few perimenopausal meltdowns, but both DH and I survived. :dizzy:


Marie ~ I'm not all that far away from you , relative to the whole country, and we've been having unusually cool weather too.

Jelder ~ great about your meeting your mini goal !!!!

Beemer~ I sweat a lot too, know all about the towel needed as much as the shoes. I use a bandana, or two, one tied around my forehead. And, your bunnies are adorale ! I love those rexes, they look like real velvet . I use to raise rabbits as a kid, in 4-H, even had a rex. Later, in my twenties I raised some angora rabbits , as I became a yarn spinner. Talk about high maintenance !

Good Morning all!

jelder, my son passed me up at 13 and I'm 5'8" also. He topped out at 6' 4". It is such a weird feeling to look up to him! Enjoy the little guy, they grow up way too fast!

patchwork, I second the EWWW on the prunes in the cake. I would think you would have to warn guests before letting them eat it! I hope all goes well with driving again. It must be very hard to depend on others to get you where you would like to go.

beemer, OMG! How cute are those bunnies! I cannot show my DD these pics or she will want one!

Marie, Loved the cartoon! I feel that way sometimes too! Swimming in 67 degree weather, you are very dedicated.

dancer, glad to see you are noticing a change after the botox. Your trip sounded fun. Not sure if I'm ready to rollerblade again, the fear of falling and breaking something is a bit much for me. Also pitched the rollerblades after the mouse incident!

Walked with my neighbor early this am. Tomorrow we are going to go to water aerobics in the morning instead. If I like it I am going to get a swipe card so I can go regularly. Hope everyone has a great day!

Wow - another week gone by...and the weekends are just too darn short! I haven't been posting much...I promise I will try and get better...otherwise,how will I get to know you?!

I got back to logging my food. It really helps! I have made it to the 180's. Yesterday we did a lot of dancing at rehearsals which really helped. :carrot:

I hope you all have your plan and stick to it!!!

God bless!

~gloria

Susan - Those bunnies are just too cute. When I first saw the grey (blue) ones I was like I want one and then when you posted the new pictures I was like I've GOT to have one; they look like they are brindle. The would fit right in with my "Brindle Pack".

Patch - Those brownies sound really good. I'm not big on "cakes" but when I do want some I like brownies. I'll have to try those the next time I have craving.

Marie - I'm an avid reader and also enjoy audio books. Now that the Kindle 2 has dropped in price I've been thinking I might add that to my gadgets. I love that it can also be used with the iPhone. I've been watching a couple on eBay as I hate paying retail for anything. Would like to find one that has some books already on it that are of interest to me.

BTW - Did I miss something.... what is this about building a plane?

jelder - Good for you on having "me" days.

Hermit - way to go on the 5 lbs. You can find ticker's here on 3FC or you can to: http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticker/ticker_designer.php


Denver - That is what I need, a frown that doesn't make me look pissed. I've noticed that if I'm not smiling it looks like I am angry. I find the more weight I lose the worse this is.

OnMyWay - Thank you for the PM. I feel so good I'm finding it difficult to "take it easy". I have committed to stay off all equipment until Thursday. I'm doing some "putzing" around the house but nothing major and NO lifting.

Mack was home with me the four days and boy did he spoil me. He cooked, cleaned, took care of the dogs, and even did laundry. I am constantly wondering how I got so lucky finding such a GREAT guy.

Thank you again for all your kind words and well wishes. Now that it is over I have to ask myself why did I wait all these years??? I am convinced that the anesthesiologist made all the difference. We talked for about 15 minutes about past complications with a general and she said she would mix up a combination to help alleviate post op symptoms. Well I'm going to need to find out what that combination was because I had NO nausea, I didn't feel like a truck had hit me, and the pain in my shoulders from the gas was almost non-existent.

Cat - you sound great - sounds like your recovery is coming along smoothly.
Dietingdiva - congrats on making it to the 180s!
OMW - curious to hear about the water aerobics - I've never tried it.
Beemer - when I first saw the picture of the blue/grey bunnies on your earlier post before I read the text, I thought they were extra cute stuffed animals. They are absolutely darling!
Hermitgirl - isn't having a ticker such fun? Congrats on the continued losses...
jelder - hope work goes okay this week
patchwork - haven't tried a cake with prunes but my mom makes a lightish chocolate zucchini cake (unfrosted) that's pretty yummy. I'll see if I can find the recipe since zucchinis are so plentiful this time of year.

Happy Monday, all!

Beemer, oh my gosh, they are just so adorable. Do they have blue eyes? BTW, my aftermarket inline skate brake made me not fearful of a great way to exercise. I can stop as easily as on my bike. I don’t know if the brake is still made. But I know rollerblade has the ankle brake built into the skate.

Penguin, LOL at the way to get DH out of bed. I too was in a snacky mood yesterday. I kept munching on peaches, tomatoes, and carrots. I guess I really wanted cookies, but all the good produce was way lower cals than one cookie. I’m hoping the snack monster abandons me today.

Jelder, I get blotchy red when exercising in humidity, like in the Midwest. Here in the desert, I never sweat and don’t turn red.

Hermit, hoisting that wood is heavy lifting. Congrats big time on the 5 pound loss mark. You are doing great! BTW, I live 5 miles north of the CA border. DH told me when we first married he’d never live in CA. I got him as close as possible without crossing. Every once in a while I point out the window to CA and remind him of his declaration 25 years ago.

OMW, enjoy the water aerobics. I’ve seen some really cool classes (when I was at PT and drooling over their pool in the winter). I did Aqua-Joggers in the past and it was fun. The instructor ( a single man) was ogling the women and it made me give it up. I see him occasionally at work and he still gives me the creeps.

Gloria, great job on the 180’s. Seeing a new number is so motivating.

CAT, that is such great news on the mix of anesthesia. You found yourself a great dr. I’m glad you’re recovering so smoothly. For audiobooks, I’m addicted to audible.com. I’ve been a member for about 8 years. At the beginning, they had deals on players and that’s how I got into ipods. When I joined, I got a mini for $89. The rest is history as I’ve had all ipods except the shuffle. I get an average of 3-4 books per month. If I stopped, I could really save for retirement, but my mind has to be busy as well as my body or I go batty. And DH is building a Vans RV-7A plane. If you google it, you’ll be able to see it. I’d say he’s about ½ done. He’s about ½ done with his pilot lessons as well. It had always been a dream of his and I said go for it last summer. Heck it keeps him out of the house.

DH decided to take the week off. I’m glad for him but it makes me sad I have to work. Talk about me being selfish. But, alas, he’s taking it off so he can work on the kennel roof for MY doggies. Go away green jealousy monster. Heck, I’d lift the lumber like Hermit if I could just go home. Mr. Scale finally returned to pre-TOM weight this morning. Maybe tomorrow progress could be had????
Marie

Here's the cake recipe I made for DD's b-day that's so low in calories...

1 3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c.egg beaters
1 c. skim milk
1/2 t. peppermint flavoring
1/2 c. applesauce
2 t. vanilla
3/4 c. boiling water
1/4 c. mini choc chips (optional)

Spray 9" springform pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt; mix well. Add remaining ingredients, except choc chips. Beat at high speed 2 minutes. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with choc chips.

Bake at 325 degrees until top of cake is firm to touch, 50 to 60 minutes. The top looks funky in the middle, like little pebbles rose to the top. Cool at least 30 minutes. 14 servings at 149 calories per serving (w/o choc. Chips). 0.6 g Fat, 36 g Carbs, and 3 g Protein

Sorry about the weird mix of fonts, 3FC wouldn't let me fix the cut and paste fonts.

[COLOR=Navy]DH is building a Vans RV-7A plane. If you google it, you’ll be able to see it. I’d say he’s about ½ done. He’s about ½ done with his pilot lessons as well. It had always been a dream of his and I said go for it last summer. Heck it keeps him out of the house.

You are a better woman than I am. Mack has talked about taking lessons but when I informed him I would not fly with him I guess he decided against it. Call me paranoid but I will only fly or ride a motorcycle with seasoned veterans.

You are a better woman than I am. Mack has talked about taking lessons but when I informed him I would not fly with him I guess he decided against it. Call me paranoid but I will only fly or ride a motorcycle with seasoned veterans.

I figure I've had a good life. My only hope is that if we were to crash, that I would have had a gigantic piece of red velvet cake right before. :D

Hubby and I went to see Transformers 2. I'm glad we waited until after the operation, because that really made a difference! 1 was better but 2 was good also.

We re-arranged {I supervised, Hubby moved!} the living room to give us a little more space. The couch used to be in front of a window and we could hear everything outside so we switched with the TV and gained a little more room near the front door also. We have a little 50's starter home and they planned the room for converstaion not TV watching. I also exercise in the Living room so the extras space will help.

Marie, Hubby is an aircraft mechanic. I told him about your airplane and he gave me WAY more info than I wanted but he said his friend built a similar one. Hubby keeps telling me that he is going to buy the plans for one soon. <insert rolling eyes here>. LOL think of all the women on the Titanic that skipped dessert! Thanks for posting the cake recipe!

Demver. One of my friends gave me a loaf of zucchini bread as a gift a few months back and it was a lot better than I expected plus being really moist. Post the recipe if you can!

OMW, I get the theme somg from Sesame Street in my head when I read your name "on my way to where the air is sweet..." Okay back to reality! The brownie recipe calls for 1/2 c prune puree so I guess its like adding applesauce; we probably couldn't even tell it was in there. I'm going to by some today and try it.

Hermit, Good job on the 5 lbs!

Jeider, That was always my fear, someone else will do something dumb and I'd lose my licence because I had poor vision.

Hermit Girl - You have definitely earned your ticker - Congratulations on the 5 lbs. That "extra" work obviously paid off! I wish it had been cool here - it has been about 5 or 6 degrees hotter than average here. Just enough to push it from unpleasant to totally miserable.

Onmyway - LOL - that's exactly my son's projected height - 6'4" to 6'5". And I do enjoy him. Sometimes I wish I'd had him younger - especially when I see all my friends with college graduates! BUT, I am much more patient now. Don't think I would have been nearly as good a mommy in my 20's.

dietingdiva - Good job on making the 180's - love it when the scale crosses another "10"!

CruiseCAT - Also an avid (obsessive?) reader, and I switched to mostly ebooks several years ago. Absolutely love them! I can keep 30 or 40 books with me at all times - I never run out! And I can have a selection, so I have a choice based on mood. I started out reading on my PDA - of course those have kind of gone away. Now I just read them on my phone. The screen's not as big as I'd prefer, but I don't have to carry a separate gadget. Oh, and my husband loves it, because ebooks don't take up NEARLY as much room in the house! Now he just wants be to get rid of all the old ones. When I can get them ALL in electronic format, we'll talk.

Glad you're recovering well - keep taking it easy. You'll be glad in the long run!

dancerindenver - Work was better yesterday than anticipated. We'll see . .. . can't believe it will stay that smooth. If you find that zucchini cake recipe, please post. I'm getting a lot of it now - as you said, it's plentiful, and I'm trying to get a better variety of veggies going.

Marie - LOL - I got red when I lived in the desert too! But mine's not blotchy - I'm solid red from the hairline down to my neck. As I said - scary! I look as if I'm about to keel over from over-exertion. I always loved those girls who got all cute and went to the gym - and could actually meet guys there! My husband is the only man alive who would find me attractive when I'm working out!

patchworkpenguin - I rearranged my LR to make it more "workout friendly" at Christmas - it was a huge help and I love it! My house is pretty small - only 1200 square feet, so I've got to maximize space whenever possible.

Oh - and I was trying to come up with an oil substitute yesterday to modify a honey mustard dressing recipe, and fell across the pureed prunes as one of the substitutes for baking. So I'd guess that's it - probably denser and sweeter for the brownies than the applesauce substitution.

Quite the morning - still recovering from the aftershocks of a week at grandma's house. She let him watch cartoons! I'm pretty strict, SpongeBob and lot of those popular ones are not appropriate for the little guys IMO. And who knows what else. He came into my room at 4:30 am with "I had a dream that a crocodile ate me" - where did THAT come from? Anyway, I told him he was here, so obviously it didn't, and he snuggled right back to sleep - in my bed!

Then I got up, and I have a stray cat circling my house crying to get in. Obviously used to be someone's house cat, because I finally got suckered into taking it out some food, and it wouldn't hop on the table on the deck - I had to put the bowl down for it. And it's still wanting in, in spite of my dog that tried to eat it. (The dogs want to eat any cats that don't live with us). I DON'T need another animal. And when I get a 2nd cat again, I want another Tom (mine passed away about a year and a half ago), and if I get another female instead, then I'll still want another male, and wind up with 3! No, no, no. I will not . . .

Have a great day - let's stick to it!

jelder - I too had a nightmare of sorts last night. I woke up at 1:30am with my hand in a bears mouth, or so I thought. I've been planning my shore excursions for my upcoming cruise to Alaska... you think that might have had something to do with it???

Good luck with the cat. I have found that more often than not "they" adopt us not the other way around.

I'm going nuts here at the house and have decided to leave for the first time in five days. It's funny I usually only go out a couple times a week but as soon as I feel "I can't" I start to go stir crazy. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that there is not much I can do yet so much I see that needs to be done.

Morning, ladies!

Here's the Chocolate Zucchini Cake in it's original form. Not exactly skinny but lighter than a traditional chocolate cake.

1/2 C butter
1/2 C canola oil
1 3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk or yogurt
2 1/2 C flour
4 T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 C finely shredded or diced zucchini
1/4 C chocolate chips (save for top)
Preheat oven to 325. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips. Grease 9x12x2 pan. Spoon in batter and sprinkle top with chocolate chips. Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes.

Nonfat yogurt instead of the buttermilk is an obvious swap. I've heard of substituting applesauce for 1/2 cup of oil but don't know if it works and you could probably use wheat flour. Don't know what it's like cooking with eggbeaters but that's another possible swap. Curious to hear if you guys have an success with making it healthier...

Went to Water aerobics instead of walking this morning! What a great workout and lots of fun. I'm going to start going regularly. As I was doing the different moves, I was trying to imagine being able to do them on land. No way!

Cruise, I can relate to being stir crazy. Seems when we can't be home we want to be there, when we have to be home we want to be someplace else! Glad you are feeling so much better!

dancer, that recipe looks yummy, We are growing zucchini so I'm definitely going to try it.

jelder, Most of my friends have college kids as my oldest is 20. My DD just turned 11 and I have been such a different parent to her. I'm way more relaxed. If she hadn't come along we would be empty nesters! That's a scary thought.

Marie, You have a great outlook on everything. Instead of red velvet, I would like to have something very chocolate!

Patchwork, You must be so excited at the new way everything looks. All of the things we take for granted are new experiences for you.

dietingdiva, Conrats on hitting the 180's, 170's here you come! Post when you can, you're always welcome here!

Hermit girl, congrats on losing 5! You are off to a great start.

Off to a friends to swim with our kids. The summer is going by so fast. I start back to work Aug. 12. I'm not going to think about it!

I did my first workout since the surgery. Its been one week today, I may be pushing things a dad but my body is screaming for activity. I did Bellydance Core Conditioning by the Belly Twins. I skipped the hard parts and slowed down when I thought I should {or couldn't keep up anyway} Basically, I stood in place and moved my hips and shoulders as needed. We did do a few sidesteps and walking in place once with high knees! I think this was a good choice because it was very slow and gentle, but I didn't think the workout was very fun, and was repeditive. There was very little teaching of the moves but there may be a tutorial {didn't find one}. Verdict: Snoreworthy

Dancer, Thankd for posting the cake recipe, I"ve got it printed out!

OMW, My mom and I teach a Bible study for women during the school year {CBS}, and it begins Aug 19th. Where did the summer go????

Time to start dinner!

Penguin, what type of aircraft mechanic is your DH. Mine is Airframe. He has his A License with the FAA but he’s in the military and he doesn’t need it there. How neat that the rearranging gave you more exercise room. Also, Hungry Girl website, great resource for those that haven’t heard of it, has a brownie recipe and she uses canned pumpkin. Check it out.

Jelder, I’m obsessive about books. I tried a few ebooks but the selection was too small. I get all my audiobooks from audible. I’m not sure about reading on my phone, although the iphone fonts/screens grow easily. Good luck in making kitty go home… sounds like you have a new member of the family.

CAT, an Alaskan cruise? You should have fun. I had a lot of trouble on mine about 4 years ago. I am convinced cruises are just floating, free restaurants. Food was everywhere. But a caffeine, sugar free soda was non-existent. :D I hope you do better than I did as I ate my way up and down the Pacific. BTW, my favorite place on ours was the glaciers. They were awesome!

OMW, sounds like you had a great time with the water aerobics. I can do all kinds of tricks in a pool and wouldn’t dream of trying on land. Handstands, flips, etc. Water is great. BTW, red velvet has chocolate in it; it’s just dyed red.

Penguin, “snoreworthy”. Way too funny. I’ve had videos like that.

The torturous state report season officially comes to a close for me and my job tomorrow. I say official because I can have the reports re-opened for minor changes. I’d say this last report was the worse it’s ever been. I was given really bad data by two schools that has required a ridiculous amount of work. Time I’d normally spend going through all the data with a fine tooth comb was spent fixing their @#$^#$% (insert any bad word). As this is the report the school district receives its budget from the state, I have lots of concerns. Auditors will rip apart what I submitted and I can’t swear by it. To say the least, I will be asking for a re-open but at least the worst will be over. I’m almost done fixing the bad data and will have about 4 hours to comb though 5000 records. No problem… ;) DH called me in the middle of the day and I warned him I was just as crabby today as last night. He just laughed. At least I haven’t eaten my way through my frustration. So that’s a good thing. And Mr. Scale is beginning to show signs of hope for a loss.

Marie

Marie, Hubby got his A&P before he joined the Navy {3rd generation}, but when he got out got a job with an airline. My Hubby wants to know if your Hubby would post pics of the RV. Hubby wants plans for a Legal Eagle for his B-Day. I've tried a pumpkin-butter cake from HG which was very good {cake mix and can of pumpkin puree} but haven't tried the brownies yet. Walmart stopped carrying the 16oz cans of pumpkin so now I have to make a special trip somewhere else. Grrr.

CAT, an Alaskan cruise? You should have fun. I had a lot of trouble on mine about 4 years ago. I am convinced cruises are just floating, free restaurants. Food was everywhere. But a caffeine, sugar free soda was non-existent. :D I hope you do better than I did as I ate my way up and down the Pacific. BTW, my favorite place on ours was the glaciers. They were awesome!

Marie, cruising is my passion... OK.... truth be told it's an obsession. This will be my first Alaskan cruise and I am really excited. It will also be my first solo cruise as my sister (#1 partner in crime) already had one booked in August and Mack and I are still vacationing separately due to the needs of the dogs. Mack also lived in Alaska for 4 years so it wasn't anywhere near the top of his must do list. My other sister is obsessed with Alaska but has yet to take a cruise. I thought I might be able to talk her into it but she has her vacation plans booked for the next 2 years.

I definitely have had some interesting cruises but can't say that any of them were bad. I often say that a cruise is what you make of it and to expect "problems"; they can be as simple as weather issues, port changes or staff with short timer syndrome. On the other hand they can be MAJOR issues like a 25' wave that takes out a huge window in the dining room with you sitting 30' away, stranded on the far side of the island and your only ride back down the twisting turney road is a guy that is drinking a beer with what is left of his six pack (2) sitting in the passenger seat, the worse I think was circling a "sister" ship for 36 hours in a tropical storm because they had a "small" fire and may have to abandon ship. Yep, if something can go wrong it probably will, your basically on a floating city.

Hi, everyone. I'm back!

CruiseCAT - I'm so glad your surgery went well, and you're well enough to get out and about! When will the recovery be complete?

PatchworkPenguin - I'm glad your sight recovery is going well. What an incredible experience.

HermitGirl - congratulations on the 5 lbs!!

Jelder227 - I'm an avid reader too. But I can't imagine going electronic! Somehow it just doesn't seem the same to me... Glad it works for you, though!

Marie - sorry you are stuck on the cusp of the 150s... Hopefully you will break through for good soon.

Everyone - sorry I can't go back and do a personal reply for everyone, but there are just so many of us now, which is great!! My trip to Florida was nice. High 90s every day! We had a great time, and I came back up 1 lb, which is nothing. Now back to the grind. I hurt my back, I think from playing with my kids in the pool (ie, lifting my 8 year old and tossing him, etc). So I'm in nurture mode but will try to walk on the treadmill a bit today. We're going on vacation as a family in a week and a half and I want to be all healed.

Went to Water aerobics instead of walking this morning! What a great workout and lots of fun. I'm going to start going regularly. As I was doing the different moves, I was trying to imagine being able to do them on land. No way!

Cruise, I can relate to being stir crazy. Seems when we can't be home we want to be there, when we have to be home we want to be someplace else! Glad you are feeling so much better!

I so want to take water aerobics so I can get out with others who are looking to get fit. It's also something that I can incorporate into my home routine. I also want to do a ZUMBA class but feel like I need to practice more at home so I don't humiliate myself.

I never did make it out yesterday. By the time I got done with my putzing around the house it was pushing 100 degrees outside and I really didn't feel like being out in the heat. Might try to get out this morning before it gets hot but have to admit it's not looking good.

It's been so hot here the last week and with the solar cover on the pool non stop for 10 days yesterday when Mack helped me take if off so I could at least brush the pool the temp was 99, we've had it as high as 94 but 99??? That's almost hot tub temp.

Well I have dropped 2 of the 7 pounds I put on but that it all. I really thought it would all be off in a week or less. Tomorrow will be one week since surgery and there is no way that's going to happen.... so not fair. With getting closer to goal and my frustration with the scales I have decided to MAKE myself only weigh on Monday morning. It's amazing how a number on the scale can make or break your day.

Hi, everyone. I'm back!

CruiseCAT - I'm so glad your surgery went well, and you're well enough to get out and about! When will the recovery be complete?

PatchworkPenguin - I'm glad your sight recovery is going well. What an incredible experience.

HermitGirl - congratulations on the 5 lbs!!

Jelder227 - I'm an avid reader too. But I can't imagine going electronic! Somehow it just doesn't seem the same to me... Glad it works for you, though!

Marie - sorry you are stuck on the cusp of the 150s... Hopefully you will break through for good soon.

Everyone - sorry I can't go back and do a personal reply for everyone, but there are just so many of us now, which is great!! My trip to Florida was nice. High 90s every day! We had a great time, and I came back up 1 lb, which is nothing. Now back to the grind. I hurt my back, I think from playing with my kids in the pool (ie, lifting my 8 year old and tossing him, etc). So I'm in nurture mode but will try to walk on the treadmill a bit today. We're going on vacation as a family in a week and a half and I want to be all healed.

Welcome back.... we missed you. Glad the trip was nice, not good about your back, nurture mode sounds like a good idea. Another vacation.... where to this time?

Recovery is going great and my instructions were that I could do anything as "tolerated". The only real problem with that is you really don't know for sure until you try something and it's not tolerated:(. A couple days ago I found that flicking the covers off with my foot was not tolerated, yesterday it was swatting a fly that was about 3' above my head. I'm thinking I'll get back on the treadmill tomorrow and maybe do the Bowflex on Monday.... we shall see.

CruiseCAT - we've rented a house that borders the Shenandoah forest in VA (Stanardsville) for a week. The house has a pool and is on 300 acres. So, quiet and private. It should be very relaxing. My MIL is joining us for a couple days in the middle, which will be nice. Bummer about your weight; it will come off, though -- don't worry. Don't push yourself too hard; you don't want to send yourself backwards, not forwards. How is the food situation? Can you eat what you want, or do you still have to be careful?

Welcome back Newleaf. Sounds like you had fun in Florida. Sorry about your back, take it easy so you can be ready for your next trip which sounds wonderful too!

Cruise, sounds like you have had many adventurous trips. The fact that you continue to cruise must mean you truly love it!

My neighbor and I are planning to go back to water aerobics again tomorrow. The community center has classes 6 days a week in the AM and 2 days a week in the PM for the rest of summer. You buy a swipe card, so you can go as often as you like. I'm thinking this will be a good addition to my exercise routine.

Anyone else feel really tired after eating sweets? DD and I had sundaes from McD's and I felt really tired after. I'm thinking it was because I wasn't used to eating sweets. Kind of an eye opener for how different foods make me feel.

Glad to see a little more activity here today, yesterday was kind of quiet!

Penguin, here’s a link to my website that I put DH’s pictures on. http://www.mariesdogs.com/Plane/Images/index.htm Your DH will know what the stuff is but not me. Fuselage/smuselage. BTW, you might as well get your DH his plans. When it’s a dream, it won’t be snuffed. I know I’d rather have spent the loads of $$$ on something else but DH is very happy pursuing his passion. I think having a plane will be cool but there are no BATHROOMS on board and I am female with tiny bladder. :o That’s my only worry.

CAT, After my post last night it dawned on me that your screen name had to do with your upcoming vacation. I’m just so quick. :D Your cruising experiences were entertaining to read. Even the wave one but I’m betting not so wonderful when it happened. I think if I was ever to go on a cruise again, I’d like one that cruises the Fiji Islands. A friend and I were looking at one a few months ago, but the idea sort of fizzled. Now that I’m saving all my $$$ for my February surgeries, I will be waiting on that one. You will love the Alaskan one. I swear Hubbard Glacier was probably one of my 5 most favorite sights in the world. It was awesome. I can post a picture later if you want.

Newleaf, it sounds like your trip was great with the exception of the back. I think the more in shape we become the more we forget we’re in our 40’s. I’m amazed how much easier I can tweak something than when I was fat and out of shape. When I was muttering about getting as cast in the spring, the cast technician said “I’ve never had to cast someone who sits on the couch all day”. A very valid point. So your back is sore but I bet your kids were so thrilled to have an active mom playing with them. Just be careful in the VA pool.

OMW, I have the sweets crash after eating high carb items, like blueberry pancakes out. You've trained your body to expect healthy and it revolts at the non-good stuff. I always try to remember to weigh the wanting vs the after effect before ordering. I success occasionally. :)

My cycle so dictates my weight loss. I knew yesterday that I’d moved into the “losing” week/10 days so this morning it wasn’t a surprise that the scale said 158.0. Yeah, another pound gone. :carrot: I’m going to change my ticker. I just hate the two weeks of my TOM cycle that has no losing. It’s always irritating. Just like CAT said, it’s amazing how the scale can make or break your day.

Time to get back to my state report. Boo-hoo… I’d rather play here.
Marie

Cruisecat - I'm sure most of the extra lbs are from post surgical swelling but it must be really frustrating. Sounds like easing back into your exercise routine is a good idea. Hang in there!

Newleaf - glad you guys had fun! And way to go on keeping things steady on vacation!

Quick botox update - it took a few days but I can really see the difference now - way fewer smile lines when I do a full smile. And absolutely no vertical lines between my eyebrows. I'll take some after pix tomorrow morning and post them with the befores. Based on my one experience so far, I'd definitely recommend it.

OnMyWay - that's great -- all you can eat water aerobics!! Have fun!

Marie - I agree with you re: the plane. The last thing I would want is for my DH to resent me for preventing him from pursuing something that was his passion. What can you do??! My DH got a big pay raise this winter and you know what he did -- spent > $1500 on some fancy leaf blower. (not that leaf blowing is his passion!) I was quite surprised that *that* was what his pent up demand was for, but whatever...

Marie and CruiseCAT - we are doing the Alaska cruise next July with my ILs. Marie - I'd love to see your photo. CruiseCAT - let me know what you are researching; I'd love to piggyback off of it. We're already doing some 10-day cruise / land package, but what I need to decide is if I want to stay an extra few days with the boys (DH will need to go home) to do something fun... They will be 9 & 11 at the time of the cruise.

DancerInDenver - I'm glad you're happy with the Botox results! Can't wait to see the before & afters...

I slept in this morning and now am having a hard time getting myself started. Seriously, who wouldn't be excited about doing leftover laundry from yesterday???

Marie, Thanks for posting the link. I'm sure Hubby will get a kick out of that.

Denver, Glad the Botox is working! Looking forward to the pics.

OMW, I get tired after eating sweets. Once my response was to eat more sweets to wake up. that didn't work very well.

NewLeaf, Your house sounds fabulous! Enjoy!

Cruise, Congrats on those 2 lbs! Hmmm. on the tolerated idea, maybe a few suggestions would have been helpful???

I made this for a side dish last night and Hubby loved it even with the veggies.

Veggie Stuffed Mac and Cheese
Volumetrics Cookbook

4oz dry pasta
1T breadcrumbs
1/2 tea butter melted
1/2 tea paprika
1 c milk
1 1/2 T flour
3/4 c shred chedder cheese
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/8 c grated Parm
pinch nutmeg
1/4 tea salt
pinch ground pepper
3 c fresh spinach ; 1/2 lb
1 tomato diced; 1/2 can

Preheat 375* cook pasta, drain, set aside, Mix breadcrumbs - paprika; set aside. Heat 3/4 c milk in saucepan over med-high heat, until steaming. whisk 1/4 c milk and flour, until smooth, add to pan. Whisk constantly until thickened 3-7 min. Remove from heat. Add chedder stir until melted. Add cottage and Parm. Mix. Add Nutmeg- pepper. Mix. add pasta, mix.
Spread 1/2 pasta mix in bottom of greased {Pam} 8x8 pan, top with tomatos and spinach. Spread rest of pasta on top. Sprinkle with crumbs Bake 25-30 min.

Cal 330 Carb 38g, Fat 9g, Pro 25g, Fib 5 g.

The nutioninal information is based on the full recipe {6 servings at 1 1/2c each} which made a 13x9 dish as an entree. I halfed the recipe and made it a side dish. I made a mistake and pulled a package of broccoli out of the freezer instead of frozen spinach but that worked well also.I'm not a big fan of Mac and Cheese but thought it was okay, Hubby loved it even with the veggies. I thought it would be good to make it with peppers, onions, salsa, and chili powder to make it Southwestern. Might try that next.

Well, we're back from vaca! 2 weeks in DC. I'm pretty sure that we saw everything that we could possibly see. I'm up 2.5 lbs which is awesome! I was expecting a much larger gain. We did walk alot and DH and I did run a few times, but not enough. And I ate too much, but I still feel good about it overall. It was great to get away and see DD. We celebrated her 22nd birthday during our stay. I think that I was starting to get a little too obsessed with my weight before we left, I was becoming afraid to eat--not good, and I was developing a real fear of maintenance. But the fact that I ate pretty much whatever I wanted has proved to me that this is doable. Today, I'm back at it and feel really good about my choices. I think that I needed the break to put everything in prospective.

LoserMom - welcome back! I'm glad you had a great vacation... Up 2.5lbs is nothing, and getting the perspective that you needed is wonderful. I'm glad that all is well. I just got back yesterday and spent this morning cleaning out the refrigerator. I don't know what DH ate the week we were gone, but clearly not the vegetables that I would have eaten so I threw a lot of stuff away. It was fun to go to the farm market to stock up again!

newleaf - welcome back! It sounds like you had a good break.

losermom - I hear you on getting obsessed. Because the scale hadn't moved in many days, I was feeling a bit obsessed, myself. Glad your perspective is back.

Penguin - your recipe sounds great! I wish I could eat dairy products.

dancer - looking forward to seeing your before and after shots. I don't think I'd ever have the nerve to get it done, though.

Marie - if you ever cruise in Fiji, I'd recommend Blue Lagoon cruises. Mind you, I went there 15 years ago, so I don't even know if they are still in business. They have an island that they own, so the snorkelling is amazing - there are no other people there.

Onmyway - love the water aerobics! It is a lot of fun!

Cruise - we went on an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon and we loved it. My favorite part was hiking the first couple of miles of the trail that was used for the gold rush. I've seen many pictures of it from the days when there were hundreds of people using it and it was fascinating to imagine what that must have been like.

Finally, I'm down a pound. That took 3 weeks. That vacation I took really threw me off. I'll hope for a better week this week.

Good morning everyone!! Been quite busy the last few days. Besides the baby bunnies we now have baby birds. They are definitely not as cute as the bunnies right now, LOL! I have more bunnies due next week from two moms. I am going to be over-run!!

CAT-I can't believe how well you are doing already after your surgery!! Aren't you glad they don't do it like they used to? My Grandma had a huge scar all down her side from her gall bladder surgery. I will have to remember to talk to them before any surgeries I have as I get really sick after usually too. It was no fun puking my guts out after hernia surgery, let me tell you!!

Those bunnies you like are called Castor. When you blow into their fur you see rings of different colors such as red, greyish and black. They are similar to brindle in the mottled coloring but there is actually a Mini Rex color called Harlequin(they can't be shown as it isn't an accepted color yet) which looks even more brindly with the mottled striping running through the other color. Isn't there a color called Harlequin in the Danes?

Hermit-Awesome job on the 5 pounds!! You go girl!

Marie-I think the bunnies eyes have that bluish tint like young puppies do at first but change later. There is a White version with blue eyes in the Mini Rex though. They are really pretty. I have one with red eyes which I don't like but he has the best fur ever so he is staying.

That is awesome about the plane! I have flown in smaller ones quite a bit as my brother-in-law, nephew and cousin are all pilots. My brother-in-law and nephew have been in the middle east quite a bit lately. I don't know how my sister can handle it when they are both there!

Red velvet cake rocks!!

Penguin-That is amazing how you may end up being able to drive! My niece fortunately now lives where she can hop a bus but she always hated having to rely on everyone else for transportation.

jelder-So how is your new cat doing, LOL?!?!

dancer-The zucchini recipe looks great!! Glad to hear the Botox worked so well for you!

Onmyway-Water aerobics sounds fun!! Nice thing is they wouldn't be able to see how uncoordinated I am under the water, LOL! Sweets make me crash royally now. I try to stay away as much as I can. No wonder we had no energy before eating healthier huh?

newleaf-Welcome back!! We sure missed you and your uplifting posts and encouragement! Glad you are back safe and sound!! I am nursing a sore back right now too. Kind of stinks getting older huh?

losermom-Welcome back!! DC is such an interesting place to visit! We walked a ton when we were there since everything is all in the same general vicinity. I would like to go back before my kids leave the house. We crammed what we could in one week but is was not enough. I have been there several times now and have never been up in the monument!

presmaggie-Good job on the pound lost!! Vacations can throw us off. You will get back on track!

Have a great day everyone!! I am off for a run with a friend!

Presmaggie - congrats on the pound. Even though it took a few weeks, it's a start... :hug:

Beemer - I can't believe all the bunnies (and birds!) in your world!! Too cute. One very needy cat is enough for me! My DH said the cat was absolutely forlorn by the end of my week away... He has been craving my affection around the clock since I got home! (The cat, not DH - who I haven't even seen yet since he turned around and left on a business trip the day we were coming home). Sorry to hear about your back... at least you an still run -- wtg!

Hey, I lost another pound. *whew !* I am back now to where I was only beg of last May. For some reason May and June I climbed up five more pounds, but I've now beat 'em.

Keeping track of everybody is getting difficult, you know, writing a personal note to all, nobody will be offended I hope if I make general comments ? Cruisecat brought up a very important point, that when weighing everyday it really makes or breaks your day. I pretty much weighed daily as I gained all the way up, and I admit, I got into some bad self judgement as I knew the numbers were only going up, up, up. They would have even if I didnt' weigh.

I'm carefully observing how women lose , around TOM, around holidays, around stress, injury (surgery)... and well, it' still in the mindset. As long as we keep our lifestyles in mode of exercize and clean , light eating, the scale is going to drift to our healthy weight... slowly.. but most surely. I have decided that I am not going to try to speed up the process by starting to deprive , but it's okay if I decided to exercize more. Basically, anything I do that is PRO balance... pro-happiness, pro-health, then I am going to allow myself more, and the scale is the last thing that will show the results ! I am trying to remember that... the last thing. Yet, the only thing we've trained our self confidence to react from. I say MORE of looking for other signs of results. But, I still get impatient with the scale, I'm not above that yet. I have so long to go, but I can imagine that once we get past half way that like a horse to the barn, we just want to go, go, go... and I expect the difficulty to go up a notch.

Hermitgirl, you are so right. The scale is a great tool but also an enemy! As my weightloss has slowed, I'm trying to focus more on the many NSV's rather than that number. I won't let it ruin my day, especially when I look at how far I have come. As for replying to everyone, we all agree that it's hard to keep track when the thread is very active, no hurt feelings if one does not post to everyone individually.

I haven't lost since returning from vacation 3 weeks ago. I'm exercising regularly but not following my WW points like I did in the beginning. I'm making better choices when I eat out but it looks like that is not enough to see consistent results. I've decided to keep doing what I'm doing now until I go back to school in Aug. and then get back to really serious weightloss eating. I think this summer has been like maintenance and I see that I can do that.

Have a great Thursday!

Hi all..Newbie here, but have been a member for couple of years. I am very, very motivated to lose weight and I hope and pray that this time, I will stick to it...Have enjoyed reading through everyone's posts today. I am a military wife, have 2 sweet and cute teens (16/13) girls! Have a great dog and 2 cats. Living in N. Va at the moment and I just ordered power 90X as NOTHING else I've been doing has worked.

Hope y'all have a great day!:)

Hi Fittmom.... WELCOME to one of the greatest groups on 3FC. The ladies here are wonderful.

BTW - What part of NOVA are you from and how long have you been there? I grew up in McLean.

Dancer, after reading your post yesterday, I stared in the mirror at the vertical lines between my eyebrows. Hmmmm… How long do they project the botox lasts? You must be pleased your reward looks great.

Newleaf, is your screen name because of the 1500 dollar leaf blower??? I didn’t know anyone made one that expensive. I will get the glacier pics off my DH’s computer and upload one. They really are amazing.

Penguin, laundry isn’t exciting??? :?::?::?: Since the turn of time, it’s always been a woman’s pleasure to wash the whites. ;)Actually, if I lollygag in bed for more than 10 minutes, I’m blasé all day and have little energy. So I set an alarm on the weekends. But my doggies beat the alarm as they know when it’s time to go for their walk. I can’t train them not to pull while walking, but I sure have them trained at what time they walk.

Losermom, welcome back. It sounds like you had a great vacation. My goal for vacations and exercise is to do enough not to lose stamina/fitness. If you ran a few times, you did that. When I was gone for 3 weeks in Thailand, I exercised daily but not with the workout that my elliptical gives so it took 3 weeks just to get the stamina back. At least your running, you can take anywhere!

Presmaggie, YEAH on being down a pound. Congratulations!!!:carrot::carrot: I swear when the evil scale shows progress it’s the best motivator in the world.

Beemer, I have to agree red velvet cake rocks. It’s my birthday cake (my mom always homemade a cake of our choosing and that was mine – still is). I’ll be in MN for my b-day in less than 3 weeks and my parents are having a party with all my siblings (I think the last time was a reunion 7 years ago). Anyway, my middle sister told my mom I wouldn’t want red velvet cake as I was dieting. My poor mom called in a panic as that was something special she loves to do. I was like, no way, I want red velvet. I told her I knew exactly how many calories were in it and I will eat a piece proportional to my calorie limit. I was blown away my sister would think I’d want something different.

I don’t think I’d do good with red eyes. My 3 doggies have blue eyes and when light hits their eyes just right, they’re spooky. :devil: I guess if your bunny’s fur is excellent, I can see wanting to pet him endlessly. I just don’t think I could look him in the eyes.:D

Hermit, I agree that balance is the right idea. I still weigh daily but my brain reaction to the scale is to want to lose. If I don’t weigh, I gain weight. Pure and simple because I don’t have a daily accountability. I no longer get totally angry by the fluctuations as long as I’m seeing a downward trend. It’s very interesting how all of us have different triggers and coping methods. I think it’s totally trial and error of what works for every individual. My guess is that by our 40’s we’ve pretty much figured ourselves out and what will work. That’s why I know I won’t see the 160’s again. I won’t let myself fall into old traps.

OMW, if you’re maintaining, that’s success.Never underestimate the power of maintenance.


Welcome fittmom. Wow you’ve been a member for over 2 years and this was your first post. What is 90X?

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m at the lose weight stage of my cycle (I honestly lose 95% of my monthly weight loss during this 7-10 days). So this morning I was excited to see another pound eradicated. :carrot: I even made DH look. I’m like, look 157.0. Look, do you see??? As I’m poking him in the side. Today is no elliptical day but I’ve already walked and DH promises to toss the automatic pool cleaner in so I can swim. I usually do ¼ mile but on non-elliptical days, I do ½ mile. It’s supposed to be in the nineties so it will be awesome. And I am officially (not unofficially though) out of ADM he11. ADM is the calculations of each students Average Daily Membership (a student that is enrolled every day of a school year is a 1.0 ADM and every day less enrolled is approximately .006 less ADM). The ADM is what our district (as well as all other school districts) is paid on. So it’s the most important and most difficult of all the reports. Yesterday at midnight it officially closed. That is even more reason to celebrate than the 1 pound loss. But in the long run, the 1 pound is more important to me.

Have a great day all my chickie friends!
Marie

We had a lot of storms and rain last night. One of our power wires from the house to the garage is broken but its only hanging down about 6 inches. I couldn't touch it if I tried, so Hubby will have to fix that later tonight. Funny there wasn't a branch, or any other reason I could tell for it being broken, and the other 4 in that bundle are fine??? :?: ISP had been off for most of the day Grr

Sadly, I'm still at that leftover laundry, but only sheets to go!

Marie,April thinks she's a draft horse, and that its her job to pull us along! We bought her one of those Haltis and it works pretty well but we prefer to take her to the dog park where she can run off leash! She's a little bit of a couch potato {she takes after her Mother!} congrats on that pound

Welcome Fitmom, I did P90X a few years ago. I enjoyed it but I got really sick of Tony very quickly. I did the "lean" rotation with 12-15 reps. If I were going to do it again I would do Classic and 6-8 reps and probably get better results. I didn't follow the eating program, or really any eating program, but still managed to lose a few inches here and there. plus making strength gains. I did the weight workouts but did other workouts for cardio to give myself a break from Tony. He's great, he's goofy, but 90 days straight would be too much! I'd be happy to answer any P90x questions if I can. Glad to have you with us.

Hermit, congrats on the lost pound! I don't feel offended if someone skips me.

Beemer, I was never that fond of driving and am fine with leaving it in someone {anyone!} else's hands

Maggie, congrats on your pound! Good job for sticking with it through those three weeks!

LoserMom, welcome back Glad you had a revelation while you were gone! :D yay, for getting away and relaxing!

Penguin - do you usually get a lot of bad storms this time of year? I'm on the west coast and our stormy season is Oct-Dec.

Marie - what did you find was the best way to improve your stamina? Was it by attaining a certain heart rate during cardio?

fittmom - :welcome: Honestly, for me I have never been able to lose weight so consistently in my life. It doesn't go down all the time, but when I go back to old habits briefly, it always helps to come here for support. I would not be able to do this without a supportive community like there is here at 3FC.

Onmyway - it's good to practice maintenance, too. I know that I would not be here if maintenance had been easy. :rolleyes: When I was in my teens and early 20's, it was so easy to lose a few pounds and keep them off. Everything happened quickly. Now, as we all know, it's not our reality anymore.:D

Hermit Girl - I tend to gain weight when I don't weigh myself frequently, but I get obsessive after awhile with daily weigh ins. I haven't found the answer for that dilemma, yet, but if you do get some ideas, I'd love to hear them.:)

newleaf - thanks, I am trying to stay focused on the success of losing yet another pound. I have a top that was waaaay too tight when I started this journey and now it's looking a little baggy. That's a success, too!:lol:

Beemer - I forgot to say what beautiful bunnies you have! What's it like having so many of them around?

Today I have my wonderful cleaning lady here. Even though I'm not exactly rolling in money these days, I know that I need this for my mental health for awhile. I got really behind on cleaning over the winter when I was quite depressed about our Russian adoption falling through, so this is really helping me on the mental health side. I decided that I'm worth it (that is still a bit hard to say, though).

Welcome, fittmom - we're glad to have you!

Marie - way to go on the new number!!!

Presmaggie - congrats on the loss - way to go!

OMW - maintenance seems like an important skill and you've already proved you've got it.

Okay, here goes with the Botox before and after photos, no makeup. Because I'm holding the camera so close to my face, my nose looks strangely large - I'm much more normal looking in real life : )

- photos removed -

Maggie, Thunderstorms aren't unusual, but most of our bad storms happen in spring and fall when the weather is changing. The cold fronts from the North meet the Warm fronts from the south {Gulf of Mexico} in the Mid-South. In July '06 we had a straight wind storm that we call Hurricane Elvis, that knocked down a lot of trees and elecitricity was out for a while in parts of town. This year the same thing happened again a few weeks ago but less severe. We get tornados more often than the straightwinds, but thankfully not frequently in Memphis' limits. LOL, probably TMI but I'm pretty bored today! :o


ETA Wow Dancer. The Botox did make a big difference!

HermitGirl - I'm glad you've found something that is working for you; it sounds like you're on a great trajectory!

OnMyWay - I'm with you -- losing over the summer has been harder than I thought... but not gaining is a victory, too! At first I was disappointed on the day I went to FL last week, that I hadn't lost any more weight since I saw my parents a month earlier. But then I realized -- I WAS 20 LBS LIGHTER THAN WHEN I MADE THE RESERVATIONS FOR THE TRIP!!! That was something to shout about, to be proud about. Same goes for you; you've done great thus far, and will continue.

FittMom - Welcome!

Marie - I LOL'd about the reason for my screen name. Nah, if I named myself after the blower, I would be OverpricedLeaf!

PatchworkPenguin - I hope your power is all resolved... no ISP -- eek!

PresMaggie - A loose top is definitely a victory. I've had a lot of those myself. My shirts all look so good now, it makes me realize they must have looked awful before! And look how close you are to your first goal... You'll be there soon!

DancerInDenver - you are so pretty, before and after!! And re: the Botox, wow. It definitely filled you back out, and took those wrinkles away. I'm glad you are happy with the results!

Good morning friends! It's a beautiful cool morning here in the midwest. Temps today in the high 70's, unseasonably cool for us but I'm not going to complain! Walked this AM, nice and cool out. No big plans for today, I'm thinking I might try going through some stuff in the basement, then taking DD and a friend to the pool this afternoon.

Newleaf, thanks for the pep talk! I've decided I'm not going to stress about not losing and really get back to business when I go back to school. When do you leave for you next trip? How did you find your rental? LOL about the leafblower, maybe your DH and mine are related! Give him a yard tool and he's happy as can be!

Dancer, I see a big difference! Are you sure you belong in the 40's group, you look much younger? How long is the injection supposed to last?

Presmaggie, Of course you are worth it! Seeing change in our clothes is a great reward for our hard work! Keep it up!

Patchwork, Laundry! UGH! Never finished. We did go to a front loader this winter and it holds a lot more than my old one so I can wash more at once. It's still my least favorite household chore!

Marie, glad you finished all of your big project. I agree, the 1 pound is way more exciting though! Way to go!

WELCOME fittmom! Can't wait to hear about power 90X. Hope you keep posting with us. This is a great group!

Beemer, Bunnies and Birds too! What a busy house!

Welcome back Losermom, glad you had a great trip!

Hi Cruise, are you getting back to your old routine?

Hope everyone has a great day! Weekend here we come!

Newleaf - the 20lb difference between when you planned the trip and when you went on it is amazing - that must feel so good!

Presmaggie - Isn't a cleaning lady just the best indulgence ever? I absolutely love it. And there is no question about whether you deserve it - remember those old loreal hair dye commercials, 'because I'm worth it' - not a bad personal mantra in a pinch : ) Aren't we all here because we feel that we're worth improving and taking care of?

OMW - I'm jealous of your cool walking weather - that sounds great. My last walk was mid-90s and blisteringly sunny.

Thanks, guys, for the botox comments - I hope the posting of giant pix of myself didn't come across as vanity or some weird self-obsession - it's just that some of you had asked for before and after closeups as it's so hard to know which of these procedures actually work. And as far as how long it lasts, apparently that varies a bit but at first it lasts 3-4 mos and then for many/most people you only need it twice a year or less for maintenance as the muscles get trained not to wrinkle. This first session cost $200 in case you were curious. I have a feeling I'll be making another appt in 4 mos : ) I realize after I lied about the last picture - I retook it later in the day since the earlier ones didn't show the crowsfeet well and I have eye makeup on, but anyway, you get the idea.

Happy Friday all! I have my 12-yr old niece coming over for a sleepover tonight and am psyched to have some girl time. I may put her hair in pincurls to sleep on - anyone else do that when they were little?

dancer - it was really interesting to see the before and after pics. Your face looks better, but it's hard to pinpoint why without the close ups. It seems to have worked really well for you. It's a lot better than the women who overdo it to the point where they have no expression at all on their faces - at that point, they look pretty unnatural. I didn't realize that it could be done in a way where you still look natural.

Onmyway - I love morning walks, too. It'll be sad when it's dark in the early mornings again - it's been so nice to see the flowers and wildlife (saw two deer this morning).

newleaf - thanks for reminding me about my first goal. I forgot that I'm really close.

penguin - interesting about your weather. Sometimes I forget about how big North America really is and how different the climates are. I grew up on the Canadian prairies where winters were very cold and the summers were dry and hot. I prefer the more moderate climate of the west coast where I live now.

I went out for a long walk this morning and I had to leave shortly after 5AM to get back in time before dh left for work. It's such a lovely, quiet time of day and it lifts my spirits for the day.

Good morning ladies....

Sorry I wasn't around much yesterday, I finally left the house and got my running around done; bank, Costco, Target, and Rite-Aid for an ice cream. Did you all know that Rite-Aid has hand scooped ice cream. I just found out last month and have to admit it's really good. It's a nice way to have a treat without having it in the house.

I'm back on the treadmill (slower pace) but not the Bowflex. Have decided as long as I can "feel" that I have had surgery I would wait.

Dancer - LOVE the results!!! I have to agree with OMY, are you sure you are 40 something? Everyone here looks so youthful it makes you wonder if fat is a preservative.

Pres- baggy clothes are a BIG success. I find the purging of those over sized clothes VERY motivating. For me it is commitment not to look back. Although I have to tell on myself, yesterday when I was getting ready to go I looked for a pair of capris that I donated for like 20 minutes before the light bulb went off. For a split second I questioned why I got rid of them they were one of my favorite pairs, well they were falling off my butt and they looked frumpy.

LM - I think many of us have been in a maintenance mode this summer. I know for me it feels good to find balance while living life. Life includes vacations, holidays, weddings, and parties that I don't plan on avoiding. My plan is to stay within "MY" comfort zone. At this point I'm thinking that will be roughly a 5 lb gain. I thought it would be 10 lbs. but my recent 7+ lb. gain really freaked me out. I've lost 2 of those but nothing since and I'm overly frustrated. I know I just started on the treadmill again and my body is in "recovery" mode but it really doesn't ease my mind. I see on my weight chart that I hit 148.4 for the first time back on April 28th, talk about a reality check. OK... I've typed that and just sat here looking at those numbers for like 10 minutes and have to say this does not feel good. The fact of the matter is I am not at maintenance and it really it time to get it together.

wow.... this REALLY sucks. I was in a good mood and now I'm just pissed with myself. Time to go get on the treadmill and really get honest about how I got here, where I want to be, and how to achieve my goals.

Sorry to leave on much a bummer.... I'll be back later.

Rich Cocoa Bars--makes 28 bars

1 1/4 c cake flour {I used 3/4 white + 1/2 wheat}
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1 1/4 tea b soda
3/4 tea b powder
1/2 tea salt
1 c milk
1 c prune puree {baby food}
1 egg
1 egg white
2 tea vanilla

Preheat 350* Beat Milk - vanilla. In seperate bowl mix flour - salt, Add flour mix to milk mix in stages. Mix slowly. Pour into greased 15 x 10 Jelly roll pan {since I had to transport the cake I made it in a 13 x 9}. Bake 25 min. Let cool

There was icing but it was icky so I left it off.
Family Circle's Eat What You Love & Lose
Cal 123, Fat 3 g, Pro 2g, Carb 23g, Fib 1g, Sod 133mg, Chol 15mg

Morning all!

Its Friday, but Hubby decided to take advantage of the extra pay at work so He's going in on Sat, just when I was getting excited about the weekend!

Yesterday, I did a mile with a Leslie Sansone DVD, I did it barefoot of the hardwood floor so I wouldnt' get to 'into' it and work harder than I should. Mayve 2 miles today or a ballet workout.

I lost another pound! That makes 6!

While I was typing the recipe I pushed some button {one of the f's at the top of the keyboard?} and the bars of information at the top and bottom of the screen have disappeared. Anybody know how I can get them back???

Cruise, Probably better to take things slowly for your recovery. You don't want to hurt yourself and have to start over again. If you are gaining at least you realized it before it got too out of hand!

Maggie, Hubby and I both grew up here in Memphis, He was stationed {Navy} in the Pacific Northwest and we couldn't believe how different the weather was, either. I miss the long days and the cooler temps.

OMW, My Mom has a front loader and really likes it but I've got a stack washer/dryer stuck in a closet. At least its not in the garage.

Dancer, It hought the pics were great. I didn't know the botox would work that well.

Newleaf,Hubby checked last night and the wire is fine, just a little insulation had come off. ISP working fine today!!! Yay

CruiseCat, do not beat yourself up over a 7 lb gain. What's past is in the past--look to the future. Plan on taking the very best care of yourself including exercise, rest and eating well.

Patchwork, your recipe looks interesting. I usually just swap out the oil in the Betty Crocker mix for applesauce. My family seems to prefer it.

Dancer, I don't think like you look like you are in your 40s either. You look great with or without Botox! I think CruiseCat is onto something regarding fat as a preservative. I have toyed with the idea of Botox for my 11s (as my girlfriend calls them), the vertical lines between your eyebrows. I'm not sure if I want to spend the money on that right now.

Regarding my weight, this morning I clocked in at 148.5--not too shabby! I'm thinking that my weight gain may have been too much salt and sitting (riding on a bus/metro/plane).

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Tonight I'm having some girlfriends over. I am way overdue for "girl time".

Love the 'fat as preservative' idea - CAT, you're too funny : ) Will write more later...

CruiseCAT - The cat - that's an issue. The outdoor cat is still sort of around, but I think it has another home in the neighborhood, and has decided we aren't the best option for a 2nd home. Something about two 60 lb dogs that like to eat cats. Gotta count that as a win. However, my neighbors cat had kittens about 6 weeks ago . . .I think you can guess where this is going! My husband swore to my 5 year old last night that if it's still there when he comes home next, it's going to be spankings all around. Lance said, "Well Mom, I guess we're going to get spankings."

Glad to hear that you're recovering, and that what's "tolerated" is improving quickly!

LOL - some of your cruises sound like our family's camping trips. If something can go wrong, it will. I've always wanted to go on a cruise - but if I lose this weight I think I'll be afraid to! Unlimited good food? Not sure if I'll EVER have that much control. Esp if I went with DH who can eat whatever he wants.

And LOL on the fat as a preservative! I think it's just less sun damage 'cause of reluctance to deal with swimsuits, etc.

dancerindenver - Thanks for the zucchini cake recipe - I'm trying that one one of the next couple weekends. Will definitely try some "low cal / low fat" swaps, and post how it goes.

And the botox results are awesome! I love the difference around the eyes - maybe I will go that route for a while. The eyes and the frown lines are about all I've got as of yet, and I really want to put off the surgery for a few years.

Onmyway - Can't EVEN begin to imagine how my friends feel with the children out of the house already. Although there are days I wouldn't mind . .. It would be so quiet though!

newleaf123 - Glad you enjoyed FL, and still have VA to look forward to! I'm hoping (and trying to budget) for a Disney vacation next year.

Marie - Men and their passions - just why can't they ever have affordable ones? My husband's make my crafts and books look affordable!

Congrats on the extra pound! I am so looking forward to next week. I went down 3 lbs in 5 days, stalled for 2 days, then skyrocketed up 2 lbs overnight! It's not possible for it to be real weight gain, but I've been fighting it all week. Of course, TOM starts this weekend or Mon, and there's also been a lot of stress this week. I'm blaming it on that and moving on - figure it will correct plus a bit next week.

And I have to laugh about your dogs - I try to get up at 5 am to work out during the week - well the dogs do NOT get the concept of weekends! So I get up that time every day, like it or not, 'cause it's time for them to go out.

Glad you're almost through your reports . . . I moved from accounting to sales to escape that sort of thing!

patchworkpenguin - Thanks for the recipes - I've been looking for a lower cal homemade mac & cheese. I took a bite of my son's mac & cheese from the box the other day - YUCK! I know kids love that plastic stuff, but I feel guilty feeding it to him.

My younger dog also pulls like crazy - I've got to do something! I just keep reminding myself that 10 month old labs are crazy things - she will calm down, she will calm down. ..

losermom - Congrats on the maintenance when on vacation! That's great! I have to empathize on the obsession thing - but unfortunately I'm at the point where that's really what I have to do. The ONLY way I can create new habits is to go overboard and work on it all the time. But that's me. Hopefully I'll be solid enough to work on the perspective thing in the next few months.

presmaggie - Good job getting the scale moving again! And I'm with you on not giving up the cleaning lady - though mine are teenagers. The neighborhood teens come over on Fridays after work and just go through my house. I'll have one on the kitchen, one on baths, another dusting and vacuuming. It's awesome! And it doesn't cost more than $30 or 40 a week. I refuse to give it up no matter how tight the budget gets - I'll take it out of my grocery money!

Beemer - How do you deal with that many bunnies? That has got to keep you busy!

fittmom Welcome! I have family over there in North VA (McLean) though I don't get over there often at all. Also, used to live in coastal NC. Love that part of the country. Good luck!

I've been lurking around the edges, but not participating because I have not been in a positive mood about anything. I tend to pull into my cave when things aren't going well. The good news is that the Doritos didn't come in with me this time!

Anyway - I have to go finish up lots of paperwork this weekend. Hopefully the next few weeks will see an end to one of my crises. And keep your fingers crossed - the job my husband is on wraps up in the next two weeks. I will NOT deal well with another 5 month break!

OK...I'm back and feeling much better. I guess what I was really upset about was the realization that I basically have lost nothing in over two months or more appropriately lost the same 5-10 lbs.

LM - the 11s love it.... that is what I have and between those and the frown lines if I am not smiling I look like a really angry and unhappy person. After seeing Dancer's photos I think I might do some research. BTW Dancer thank you for posting those.

Thanks for being here ladies, you really do help me stay grounded. Hugs to you all.

Penguin, I hope your laundry is finally done. Bad thing about laundry is it never really goes away. We tried the halter collars for our doggies, but it hardly helped and they hated them. They just pulled with their head to the side. And WTG on another pound leaving your vicinity. You’re doing great!

Presmaggie, I improved my stamina with my elliptical. I increase either the speed of the hard intervals or the resistance. With the hard interval, it’s quite a quad workout and increasing the speed really makes my lungs work. I now have quick recovery and can normally really push myself. Eventually I will up the resistance again. BTW, I loved your comment about learning maintenance in our 20s. As a fellow daily weigher, I found the way to not let the scale get to me is to record a low weight. If it fluctuates the next couple days, I stay with that low weight in my log. Then the next low replaces it. I know I couldn’t have gained fat during the fluctuations as I’m nearly obsessive about my calorie intake. Making those two moves made it so that I don’t get upset past the initial curse when it fluctuates up. One other thing, morning walks. I asked my DH two years ago for a tiny headlamp for my morning doggie walks. It’s really lightweight and brighter than most vehicle headlights. I figure I’m quite safe in the wilds of my neighborhood with three big doggies. Once this past spring I did catch a cougar in my headlamp and it was sort of freaky. His/her eyes just glowed green. Anyway, just a thought. I certainly know I can’t start my day without the walk. I’m crabby all day if I miss the doggies and me time and the incredible quiet of the morning.

Dancer, you are incredibly beautiful!!! I can see why you wanted the botox to get rid of the little wrinkles. I’m awed how pretty you are. Thanks for the explanation of how it works and the cost. Have a great girl time with your niece. That sounds fun!

Newleaf, LOL at the screen name if after the blower. I’m still blown away (pun intended) by the cost.

OMW, I hope you enjoyed the cooler day. Ours was the hottest day of the year. BTW, you really should look into your own pool since you’re more addicted than even I am to swimming.

CAT, LOL “fat is a preservative”. And be way careful on that treadmill. You are only a whopping 10 days past surgery. I’d be willing to bet some of those pounds are still surgery med garbage. Give yourself more time!!!!!

Jelder, men and their $$$ projects. I’ll feel guilty for spending $100 here and there, but don’t blink when he spends $50000 on a plane dream. I must admit since the project started a year ago, I rarely feel guilty any more. And I totally agree about coastal NC. I love Nags Head and Wrightsville beach. If I win the lotto :D I will be moving to NC. You scored a victory against the Doritos. Way to go!
Marie

Good Morning and Happy Saturday friends!

Another cool day here. We should have temps in the 90's this is bizarre but I'm not complaining. DH and I spent a couple hours last night pruning and weeding the beds in our backyard. Barely broke a sweat it was so cool!

DD is going to a friend's today and I'm heading to Kohls to do some much needed bra shopping! I expect I'll be doing a lot of trying on to find some that fit right. I' have a 30% off coupon (I love a sale!) so I'm hoping to find some great deals!

Marie, I would love a pool! Unfortunately our yard has some drainage issues that prevent us from putting one in. When we retire and move, that's on the top of my list!

Cat, Sorry you are feeling so down, You see some results soon, hang in there!

Jelder, We are here for you. Hopefully when the crisis passes you will have a loss to go with it! Add me to the list of Carolina lovers! Went to grade school in Winston Salem, beautiful azaleas and dogwoods everywhere!

Hope everyone has a terrific day!

Hubby went into work last Sat and had decided to go in this Sat also until he found out that although they had told him time and a half, since he had taken those two days off to be with me after my surgery, he didn't get time and a half for his overtime. So he stayed home this Sat. He told them why, too!

I finally did two miles with Leslie last night; WATP High Calorie Burn .

Marie, Lol, on the dogs and the 'head to the side pull'. April doesn't like her collar and we have to watch that she doesn't scrape it off. Hubby enjoyed the RV pictures; thanks for the link.

OMW, It got into the 60's last night here! Whoo-hoo!

Cruise, Glad you are feeling better. My mom gains and loses the same five lbs and it drives her nuts.

Jeider, I never liked Mac and Cheese but Hubby loves the stuff, even with the veggies. :carrot:

LoserMom, I like the mixes but thought I could find something better. I made some brownies last night and wasn't impressed, so I think I'll try your idea about the mix and applesauce. I like adding banana too.

Penguin, I've also eaten (I didn't make them, but co-workers did and brought them to work) brownies and cakes, from mixes, made with Sprite Zero?. They did not add eggs, oil or water. The consistency was slightly sticky and dense, which I like. My brownies come out dense as well and I add the eggs and a little extra water so that the liquid is equivalent.

Marie, all of our dogs have been pullers. I have found that the halti collars are effective if used consistently. Regarding the headlamp, our paper carrier uses one and it regularly freaks me out in the morning!

Penguin, our dog, Lucy, tries to "scrape" hers off too and it sometimes works. She scoots on the ground like crazy when we take it off. But if we don't use it, she'll pull your shoulder out of the socket and she's only 47 lbs.

Good morning, everyone. Cool here, too -- highs today and tomorrow should be in the low 70s, which is quite nice! Nothing too exciting going on... but I thought I would at least say hello. My back is still bothering me, although not enough that I'm taking anything for it anymore, so that's an improvement.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Marie - I haven't tried an elliptical before. Maybe once it's too dark for walks in the morning, I'll go to the gym and try one. I'd love to keep walking, but we don't have any dogs and I think I'd be too nervous to walk in the pitch dark. The headlamp idea sounds interesting, though.

Cruise - about the rebound you're having, I had a 25 pound rebound from a lower weight that I managed to achieve last year after I was quite sick for a month. Needless to say, it's been tough to be covering the same ground again, but I don't plan on ever rebounding that far again. Like you, I'll have a plan in place once I'm lower for anything above 5 pounds. Hang in there.:hug:

jelder - I wish I could get house cleaners for that price! I'm paying about double that, but it is really helping my state of mind. My two little boys really take it out of me and I think it's better to use my energy looking after them than keeping the house clean.

It's a beautiful day today and dh has taken the boys to their swim class. We're going to have a pretty quiet day today because the boys are exhausted from their week at summer day camp. ;) We've arranged a babysitter for tonight so that dh and I can go out for a meal and actually relax.

OMW, I’m impressed with working outside in the evening. Great job on getting so much done. If I pulled weeds after the sun wouldn’t bake me, I’d be eaten by flying pests (mosquitos and yellow jackets). I was in the pool after the sun was behind the trees on Thursday and a yellow jacket bit me twice on my neck. Man that hurt. So I stay inside.

Penguin, I think your DH was smart to stay home. I hope you had a great time with him!

LM, I took my doggies all for dog training since they wanted to pull my arms off. The boy, Kodiak, needed several private lessons to stop the pulling that caused him to gag. Now he and the baby pull enough to have tension, but no more. My eldest doesn’t pull hardly at all anymore. She learned at 8 yo that it felt better not to. Can’t get anything past my huskies, they eventually figure it out… :D

Newleaf, I hope your back starts to feel better. As we get older, it’s amazing the number of aches and pains.

Presmaggie, have a great and romantic date!!! :hug:How fun!!

DH and I did tons of outdoor work this morning. I am exhausted. For a little bit I was rethinking my advice to OMW about getting a pool. We had to replace 500 pounds of sand in the filter. OK, DH did that and I did his normal Saturday outdoor work. Then we cleaned the pool, did the chemical balancing, I swept the deck. Pools are a lot of work. You all talk about a house cleaner. Maybe I need a pool boy... :o:D;)
Marie

Presmaggie - I'm a huge fan of the elliptical, too. You can use it in so many different ways, I rarely get sick of it (unlike the treadmill, which I do enjoy, but do get sick of, too). I forget -- how old are your boys? Mine are 8 & 10. And... I hope you had a wonderful evening tonight.

Marie - I *hate* flying pests. It was terrible where we lived in Massachusetts; you just couldn't go out at dusk or later... Here in Western PA, there are no mosquitos... it is wonderful. We can sit on our deck into the wee hours of the morning and not get bitten. We love it!! Re: all the work you did today... hopefully tomorrow is a rest day! Oh, and LOL about the pool boy!

Me, I did 2 separate 1 mile walks. We have a 1 mile loop in our neighborhood, which is pretty hilly. I did it in the easier direction before dinner, and then the harder direction after dinner. My back seemed to handle it well, so that is good. I spent my whole day working on the computer, doing the layout for our school newsletter that will go out the first week of September. I'm almost done -- woo hoo! I felt like with all that chair time, I *had* to get out and do something.

Marie - we had a nice time out last night. Since our second adoption process started 5 months ago, we haven't had many nights out. I know that we need to make it a higher priority for the sake of keeping our relationship healthy.

newleaf - my boys are 5 and 6. They both had very hard first 2-3 years of life, so they struggle more than "average" kids who had a normal start to life. They are both strong because of what they went through, so I have to deal with harder to handle kids as a result. I do adore them and they do push me to my limit, sometimes. That's a big part of the reason I need to get healthier. I'm much older than I planned to be for having kids and I need to have the stamina to keep up. Fortunately, most people think I'm still in my 30's, so I haven't had anyone ask if I'm my boys' grandma, yet.:lol:

I had a pretty good day for eating. I'm still trying to find out what my optimal level of carbs is, since I'm insulin resistant. This week, I'm going to eat very little to no grains and see how I feel. It's hard to eat enough calories, though, and I'm still working on that.

Good morning! I have been offline for quite a few days as "life" took over and didn't have much time to participate in my computer life. I am trying to use the blog feature but can't figure it out. I started a new thread about it asking for help just now. If any of you can give me some insight, please post. Thanks! I also want to know how to link it like I have noticed Hermit Girl and Cruise Cat, does, for instance, so that a link appears under my profile info on the right side of the post. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lack of flying pest is a BIG reason I live in the desert. Actually we have a few creepy crawly pest too (no fleas or ticks) but we do have black widows that we have to spray for a couple times a year.

Debbie you can link a blog at your "User CP" at the top left after you create your blog here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/diet-blogs/

Heidi - Glad you back is doing better.

Thanks for the reminder on training.... I've been slacking with my guys and with over 400 lbs. in dogs it's not something I can let get out of hand. I always fear they will revolt and REALLY take over the house..... lol

Hey... I just realized it's a new week. Guess I'll start a new thread.

Have been here for awhile...was in CA on vacay. Had a great time...sad to be home :(

So much to read here that I don't have time for personals, but wanted to check in. Hope EVERYBODY is doing great!!!