Living Maintenance - Maintainers Chat: Week Of July 20 - 26

I can't believe how fast July is zooming along!

When last seen, I was getting ready for a product launch party at the spa where I work. I was in charge of food (beautiful food, tons and tons of homemade goodies) and ended up dipping cookies, strawberries, and myself into gallons of chocolate. :o The party was Friday night and was wildly successful -- yay! I got on my scale and it was edging my red line -- boo!

My sister and BIL were visiting this weekend and my parents wanted us all to go out to some pancake house for breakfast, the kind where even an egg white-spinach omelet checks in at 1000 calories. I'm miserable when I end up at a place like that and don't enjoy the food, so this time I just said no and everyone was fine with it. I can enjoy spending time with my sister without eating mega-calories of unhealthy food in the process!

Then my mom made these decadent grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch -- think three kinds of cheese and tons of butter. I went for lunch but took a container of cottage cheese and ate it with fruit. And I managed to avoid the cherry pie and plate of cookies. The happy result is my scale being down 2 pounds this morning and I didn't feel sleepy and gross all yesterday afternoon. :carrot:

Thankfully, no one in my family would ever argue with me about my food choices and I'm way beyond the "I have to eat this so I don't hurt Mom's feelings"! I think my parents are puzzled why I can't eat like a "normal person" (a/k/a/ obese person) now that I've lost the weight but my slender sister and very fit BIL totally get it. They've been my biggest supporters over the past eight years. :)

So I survived the weekend and am setting myself up for a successful week! The gym opens in 20 minutes, then I need to do a big stock-up at the grocery store. I'm planning on grilling two pounds of shrimp before work so I have dinners for the week and making some Fiber One muffins. I'm mad that I gained a few pounds but am hoping they'll be gone by this time next week.

That's my weekend in a nutshell! How was yours? What's going on this week?

I'm back from the cat sit. I wish I didn't have to do the dog/cat sits and be tempted by all my clients' junk food, booze, full fat items, etc. But I really need the money so I have to do the sits. And I console myself or relieve my boredom by eating.

The reason I am able to maintain at my house is because I just don't have those foods around.

So I'm back on plan this week. We have a 4 day mini-holiday coming up with mostly camping and the rest eating in small town restaurants where no one has heard of vegetables or salads.

I know I will gain on this too so I'd better get the pet sit lbs. off now!

Have a great week all!

Dagmar

Good morning! It's 57° here in Atlanta this morning - it must be a new record low! So I ran a loop around the neighborhood before the kids got up and it was lovely. :) My daughter has science camp this week so I will have to work my gym time around dropping her off at 9am.

Great job on resisting temptation over the week-end, Meg.

Dagmar, welcome home!

Have a great week, everyone!

Meg, you are a daily inspiration. :carrot:

Good Monday maintainers!!

Hi midwife and WardHog. It is 58 here this morning. Quite cool after our drive home from S. California yesterday-- we kept taking pictures of the thermostat in my car as it kept rising-- it got to 114 and we thought it was done...then 115, 116, 117, 118! It was so hot!

Meg-- I am so impressed by the way you handle food around your relatives. I don't know that I could ever do that well. I usually make better choices around family but I don't bring my own foods.

Dagmar-- glad you are home. I agree about it being so much easier at home with our own routines. Can you not bring your own food with you when you pet sit and pretend the food there is off-limits?

I am glad to be home this morning. Dd and I left Thursday on our big road trip. We drove to Malibu and toured Pepperdine. What a beautiful campus-- right on the beach!! Then, Friday we drove further south to see older dd at camp. We picked her up and then spent a couple of days with her. It was a nice visit. The two girls don't get along well so that is always a tad interesting. I thought they would get along better once elder dd went to college but it hasn't happened yet. We ate way too much and got too little exercise. :o We saw Harry Potter, shopped, and ate...... Then we drove dd back to camp and left her and started our long drive back. Unfortunately there was a big brush fire along I-5 that cost us a couple of hours. It is scary to me how much my girls have matured and how little they need me anymore. Makes me sad and nostalgic. My older dd was always very sheltered and she is experiencing what I'm sure is normal life, but she has never experienced it before-- she is with mostly older people and they are going all sorts of places on their breaks-- she has her first boyfriend-- sigh... it is hard for me to let go. My younger dd socializes with much older kids so they are almost on the same level...... my dh and I just hope we have instilled our values and morals into them which we think we have.:)

The scale was okay this morning. I don't trust it since yesterday was a travel day and my eating was sporadic. I am back to the gym this morning and hope I didn't do too much damage over the last few days. I only have about 10 days before we leave for our cruise and have tons to do!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Good morning everyone!

Meg - you do such a great job of handling the family situations. I hope I do that well with it as time goes on! :)

Dagmar - sorry about the weight gain from the cat sit! It is always easier to stay on track in our own spaces....

Ward - it was very cool this morning! I get my AC fixed just in time for a cold snap. :) I bet the run was nice this morning! I just don't feel comfortable running on the streets around me, we don't have a lot of sidewalks and cars just don't pay attention.

Michele - glad you guys had a good trip! And, it is a little sad to watch the kids grow up, but your daughters will always need you. :)

I didn't do the greatest job this weekend - there were a couple of Hershey's kisses on Saturday, movie theater popcorn and a large meal at my MIL's yesterday, no exercise either day. Scale a little high today, but most likely water. Still lower than it has been in recent weeks. I'll exercise when I get home and get the week off to a better start.

Good day everyone!

I just went through and put together a large bag of clothes to donate.
It was weird because it was all clothes that I had bought when I lost weight but they are now too big. I tried everything on and debated each item. If they were a tad big, I kept them, but if they were really roomy-- I put them in the bag. It was just weird giving away size 4s. I just know that you aren't supposed to keep your too large clothes. I did keep some huge things that I just couldn't give away yet due to sentimental reasons...

I had a nice weekend. We had planned on seeing Harry Potter on Saturday but that morning I got a call from my BIL who said he was in town and wanted to visit, so he came over for the afternoon and evening and we had dinner together.

Sunday we drove to LA to see Spamalot and had a terrific time. The musical was hilarious! We laughed and laughed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We went out to dinner beforehand and I had a nice salmon dinner, a little too much wine and then we splurged on desserts. I had a few bites and stopped and felt quite fulfilled.

Today I'm back to work and back to the dieting. My weight was up a bit this morning, but I'm certain it isn't permanent. I think a lot of it had to do with a short night's sleep.

I had a pretty good weekend. Ate way too much at our cooking club Saturday night. However, it's not all bad. Why? Well, for one, I can't remember the last time that I ate to the point of discomfort. Therefore I must be doing it pretty infrequently these days, and that's good. Second, 90% of the recipes were from Cooking Light, and there were lots of veggies.

On the other hand, there was also a lot of dessert, and a fair amount of alcohol. I'm not saying it was good that I ate too much, just that compared to how I used to eat, it wasn't all bad.

In any case, one person left behind her leftover hot cross buns which I unfortunately munched on on Sunday, as well as my leftover steamed yeast buns and blueberry sauce that I'd made. I made a double recipe which made 25 buns, but there ended up only being 10 people there, each of whom ate only one, so I have a lot left.

In other news, DH and I went on a nice bike ride Sunday morning, I got lots of exercise cleaning the house for guests, and we went to see Harry Potter yesterday afternoon. So overall it was a pretty good weekend. I'm only up 1lb which will probably go away by tomorrow.

I've really missed this place and all of you!! I have pretty limited internet over the summer but right now I have wireless where I am staying =). Unfortunately almost every meal is buffet-style and those that aren't are usually pizza. I was going to rely heavily on the salad bar but the lettuce has been found to have bugs in it fairly frequently... ick.

Anyway, I'll sure be ready to get back to cooking my own meals and being able to go to the gym!

Allison, I saw Spamalot in NYC and had so much fun! I love Monty Python.

Michele, I agree that it's hard giving away clothes sometimes. I tend to fluctuate over the course of a year or so, so I tend to keep things that are a little too big and a little too small - if I didn't I'd have to buy new clothes all the time. Does giving away size 4's mean you're wearing a 2 now? That's fantastic! I have my grandmother's hips and think they're the limiting factor that make 4 the smallest possible size for me.:p

Does giving away size 4's mean you're wearing a 2 now? That's fantastic! I have my grandmother's hips and think they're the limiting factor that make 4 the smallest possible size for me.:p

Believe it or not I am wearing 2s and mostly zeros. I can't believe it myself. When I started my weight loss journey, my goal was to be able to wear a size 8. I know that vanity sizing is part of it as I'm not that much smaller than I was in high school and if I remember correctly I wore a 6 or 8 then. :carrot:

Howdy! I had a good weekend with DH away, though I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. So I've decided to take Wed off as well. :) I have a doc's appt anyway, so it just made sense.

Michele - are you staying at the Hilton at SeaTac airport the night before the cruise, or are you flying up that day? The Hilton is near nothing with a restaurant with healthy selections, which is not to say that their restaurant isn't good, it's just basically a steak house, with limited veggie selections, and quite pricey. Just warning you. :)

I did a little retail therapy yesterday, mostly underwear, but also a pair of black Dockers for work in the next size down. Yay! Wearing them today with a blouse I don't wear often (because it's a linen blend and needs ironing :lol: ) and have gotten lots of compliments. It's a little more fitted than my usual attire of knit tops and jackets...

Other than that, life goes on its quiet way. Eating was a little over the top this weekend, including some Chinese food, so my weight was up 3# or so, but I'm slugging down plenty of water.

:wave: to you all. Got plenty to do at work as well as home. Hard to belive they want us to work on next year's budget already......

Pat,
No, we are flying into Seattle the morning of the cruise.
However, the day we disembark we are staying overnight, but not at the Hilton (we got a great rate at the Westin).

Yea for retail therapy!!

Yea for retail therapy!!

I think that's why I don't go to the mall much - I like this type of therapy too much! :p

We're having a bit of a crisis with DH's band thingee. He's been audibly :mad: sulking since last Wed.

I found some "contraband" empty containers in the garbage this morning. I wish I could talk to him about not eating to console himself because it doesn't work. But I :o still do it so "pot . . .kettle" etc. etc.

Funny how I still can't seem to talk to him about some things after all this time. I don't know whether I should jsut totally ignore the slip or tell him I know how he feels or what??? :?: He's not big on empathy so maybe I'll just shut up about it.

We still have 2 weeks to go 'til the big garage band festival. I'm encouraging him in every way I can but I think he's determined to not enjoy this. Too bad as it's one of only two weekends we get away this summer.

I bought a sorta bathing suit that I'm determined to wear to the event so I'm definitely staying OP. I know I won't lose much weight so I'm trying to step up the strength training a bit. Better to be firm and bigger than flabby and smaller yes?

Have a great day all!

Dagmar :cheer2:

The water weight from the weekend is gone, and I'm back at 145 again. Why is it that it is pretty easy for me to maintain my weight (now that my thryoid is treated properly), but it's become pretty much impossible to lose? Weird. Then again it was always relatively easy to maintain, until the thyroid problem.

In other news, I am still deciding which triathlon next month to sign up for (as Anne throws her hands up in exasperation, since I have been "deciding" for months now). I had settled on one of them, but then I realized it's on a Sunday morning and I'm going to a wedding the day before. The wedding starts at 3:30pm so I don't think we'd be out too late, but still. Should I try to do it anyway? The other triathlon is on a Saturday and we have nothing planned, but I will admit I'm afraid of the open-water swim in the reservoir for that one. The one the day after the wedding is a swim in a 4-foot deep canal so I'm not afraid of drowning if I get tired.

Dagmar, definitely better to be bigger and firm than smaller and flabby!

Dagmar-- I don't think you should mention it to your dh. If he threw the evidence away, he is embarrassed about it so hopefully it was a slip and he'll move on. If you confront him, he might get mad and give up altogether.

Jessica-- I don't think a triathlon the day after a wedding sounds like a great idea personally. Even if the wedding doesn't run late, you may eat foods (and possibly alcohol) that you wouldn't normally eat right before a triathlon. Seems like you might be tired or sluggish. I'm sure you won't drown in the open water! That's my vote anyway-- it's not like I'm the one doing it!!

Hi Iris! Wondered where you were! :)

Allison - my weight tends to go up after a short sleep night, too. Interesting.

Michele - 0s and 2s! Wow! I am am the point now where my 4s are loose and some 2s are fitting, but don't see myself ever getting into a 0. And, I find it a weird world where I am a 2-4. :)

Pat - high five on the smaller pants! I bet you looked great in your outfit! :dizzy:

Dagmar - I wouldn't mention the contraband cartons, particularly if DH isn't into the empathy, he might just get offended that you brought it up. Now, if he mentions, absolutely jump right in. What is a 'sorta bathing suit'? :?:

Jessica - glad the water weight is back down! and I second the don't do a triathlon the day after the wedding. I don't think you will drown in the big open reservoir. :)

Yesterday was a good day - exercised, kept my food within plan, no candy or snacky items, only five sweet and spicy pecans from Trader Joe's before bed and I'm counting those as a good fat. :) Weight up a little still, but I tossed in strength training yesterday on top of the popcorn water so I'm not surprised. :)

Good day everyone!

I guess the reason I'm afraid of the reservoir is that in the triathlon I did a few months ago, the swim was in a 17-foot deep swimming pool, and while I expected it to be no big deal (swimming is the same no matter how deep the water is, right?), I completely freaked out when the bottom dropped out from under me. I also had to stop at each side of the pool to catch my breath, and in the open water there is nothing to hold on to to catch your breath.

So the real action plan here is for me to go to the park and practice swimming in the reservoir. I think I'll put that on the schedule for this weekend. Actually while I'm at it I should bring my bike along and try out biking up the hills there. The one in the park is a women-only triathlon but I'm still afraid of being dead last. (The other one has a sprint and an olympic distance, so even if I was last in the sprint I wouldn't be last on the course.)

paperclippy--I'm sure you know this already, but if you go to practice swimming in the reservoir, have someone else along with you in case you get into trouble. I'm just sayin'.

Jay

Shannon~don't you love those sweet and spicy pecans? Yummy!!

I'm so proud of myself. I have stayed completely away from the office candy jar for 2 1/2 weeks! Normally I'd stop there several times a day...oops! It sure takes will power!

Thanks Jay, I think they have a lifeguard there but I'll bring DH along anyway (although I think I'm probably a better swimmer than him!).

Jessica Just being in a triathlon is totally impressive. It takes a lot of time for training to complete one. No worries of you're dead last - at least you competed and finished!

Dagmar :cool:

Well, after 2 days my weight is back to what it was Sunday. I'll be updating my stats!!

Lily hasn't been here for about a month. I sure miss her. She is such an inspiration.

Hello everyone! :)

Meg - Great job on fending off the temptations. And it goes to show that 'normal' really doesnt' mean the same thing for everybody.

Dagmar - Well good luck with the eating plan! Resisting temptations once or twice is OK, but when face with them very regularly... gah.

Iris - What's with buffet-style meals, really. These things have been invading us! (And bugs in the salad? Yuck.)

Earlier this afternoon, I went to the sports club on the other side of the road, and finally signed up. ^_^ That it made me all giddy says a lot. Knowing myself, I'll probably hop there tonight (I haven't been able to run these past five days... too many "let's celebrate our CAPES" evenings and consequently, too many 4-hours long only nights :x).

And I finally sorted all the shiz (books, copy sheets, etc.) I had been piling up during the past months to prepare for the CAPES oral exams. Technically, it didn't amount to *that* much, but in a 20sqm room, even one carboard box is an eyesore. Now I'm feeling better. :lol:

Hello, all--

I had a lovely, almost weeklong vacation visiting my daughter and going to a three-day festival. My DH and I are kinetic sculpture groupies so we had a great time attending the sculpture races (the human-powered sculptures race on the road, in a sand dune, through mud and down a river) as well as the parade. We also went to the dog frisbee contest, which is fun. I'm attaching a photo of the front of one of the sculptures.

It was really hot in Oregon, but we stayed in my RV, which is housed in Oregon, and has great A/C. When we got home from Oregon, our A/C pooped out right after I changed the programming back from vacation programming. So the house got up into the high 80s. It's supposed to be over 100 today, and the A/C guy is coming this afternoon. If i get too hot, I can always sit in my car with the A/C on!

We went to Trader Joe's on the way back and got one large cooler and one small cooler full of frozen stuff. Dry ice kept it frozen from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon. I did forget to buy my soy chorizo, though, darn it.

Kery, life is always easier when there's no clutter around. Wish my DD would discover that.

Jessica, good luck with the practice swim. And kudos for going for a triathlon.

Allison, congrats on staying away from the candy. That's quite the feat of willpower!

Shannon, glad you had a great day yesterday. Hope today is as good.

Better turn my computer off now before my house really starts to heat up. Since we were looking into getting a whole new furnace and A/C system, I guess this proves that we need one for sure. Hope we have better luck fixing the A/C than you did, Shannon.

Sheila~where in Oregon were you? I've stayed at a wonderful RV park in Bend--Crown Villa RV resort. It was so beautiful there. We'd go back but it's a 2 day drive!!

Keri~I totally agree on how nice it is to finally have the time to clear the clutter!

Tomorrow afternoon we'll be hearing the proposals for installing solar panels on our house roof. We have a flat roof, so the job is a bit easier and no one can see it when it's installed (there have actually been thefts of solar panels around here). I know there is a 30% Federal tax benefit for installing these, but I'm curious to see what the proposed cost will be! But anything has got to be better than $900 electric bills in the summer!!

Hi everyone! Busy day today! Traveling from a training class to one of the restaurants. Whew!

Made a Trader Joe's run on my lunch break, and got pulled into more novelty items... today's most unusual is dried, sugared hibiscus flowers. Good, but a little odd. :) I also got some chicken gyoza, broccoli slaw, a pork tenderloin, chicken sausage, a couple of other things I've never had before. Wanted to spice up the meal options. I'm hoping I can steam the gyoza...I'm pretty excited.

Yesterday was a good day food wise, hoping to keep today in line as well. About to be on the road headed to my part of town soon, so should have plenty of time for exercise if the rain cooperates and holds off until after rush hour.

Jessica - definitely be careful with the swimming practice! And, if the reservoir makes you nervous, you might want to go with the other, even after the wedding.

Allison - high five on the weight being back down! :) And last TJ trip was my first experience with the pecans... love them... Hope the solar panels work out. And I thought my $250 power bill when the AC was on the way out was high!

Kery - things are definitely better with less clutter, even if it is only a few things! Kudos on joining the health club!

Sheila - cool picture! I looked up 'kinetic sculpture' - pretty neat! And, I hope your AC experience is smoother than mine, yes. It is finally fixed, but I was ready to kill someone by last Wednesday...

I miss Lily, too. Was just thinking about them this week. Hope everything is okay. :(

:wave: to everyone else!

Update on the health club: I knew I'd end up going tonight. ;) I tried their "Les Mills" RPM class, and gah, that was a killer. I run for ~1h 2-3 times a week, and I go to work by bike (1h30/day), and yet I still felt like I was going to puke in the end. Well, alright, forgetting to eat dinner before because I went to the 8 pm class on a sudden whim was probably not a good idea... :lol: Buuut!

The nasty bit is that I *still* suffer from Former Fat Girl Syndrome. You know, when you take on a new sport, feel like you're the most clumsy, untalented and slow person in the room, and tell yourself "drat, I'm crap, it must be because I'm fat". Grrr. Of course I'm crap at RPM, it's the first time I take this class, silly!

Seriously. Will that kind of feeling ever go away?

Kery-- I feel very self conscious whenever I try a new class at the gym. Good job for completing it without walking out! I see so many people try classes and leave after five minutes. What kind of a class is a RPM class?? I tried spinning for the first time last week. I had no idea I could sweat that much! I'm hopefully going to try it again tonight. Hopefully I will be able to set up my bike today without help!

Shannon-- sounds like you got some very interesting things at TJ's.

I was at the grocery store this morning and saw a special Cooking Light recipe book/magazine. It was just chicken recipes. Has anyone seen or tried it? It was 10.99 so I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the $$.

Missing Lily too. Hope things are going okay.

Michele - It's a 45-minute long class where everyone is on a stationary bike, with fast-paced music, and we have to pedal fast and regularly up the resistance. So in the end, it was becoming quite hard (but of course, I have no idea if I was just your average untrained girl, or if I had upped it too much, too fast XD).

All in all, it's pretty funny. Hard when you do it for the first time, and probably for everyone. But funny. :)

Ah, it appears that Kery has also taken up spinning! :) I tried it once and didn't like it at all - guess we're all different.

I'm taking the day off work. I had a doctor's appt anyway, and a lot of stuff that just isn't getting done here at home. Of course, if I don't get off the computer it won't either.....

:wave: And shoo me away if you see me here again today!

Spinning is one of those things that looks like fun, but the thought of my rear end afterward is scary.

Update on my A/C. It's dead. The new one will be installed on Friday, which is good. However, it's 103 degrees out right now and should climb a bit higher before the day is through, and it's supposed to be the same tomorrow. On Friday we get a "cool down" to 96. On the positive side, it's 18 degrees cooler in my house without any A/C. I think that means I can take a book and read under the ceiling fan, right?

Allison, I was in Corvallis (home of the OSU Beavers). Bend is lovely--haven't been to that RV park, but it's good to know it's there. I love rating RV parks after I go on a trip with my sister. A tip--avoid Barstow at all costs.

Sheila - book under the ceiling fan sounds like a fabulous idea. :)

Pat - :nono: get your stuff done before you come back to the computer! ;)

Kery - I always feel self conscious with that kind of thing, too. I'm sure you didn't look as clumsy and untalented as you thought you did! Most everyone there was probably thinking the same thing about themselves. High five for sticking it out! :)

My exercise tonight turned into 'circuit b' of my stumptuous circuit, some ab work on the weider, then cut the grass. Woo hoo.

Sheila - At least I'm alright regarding that part of my body. ^^ Must be all that biking I've been doing for he past two years, though: being used to a saddle probably helps a lot.

Shannon - Yeah, they were likely thinking the same. :lol: I didn't even really focus on what other people were doing. I was just listening to the instructor saying "now up the resistance again", but *I* had to keep it the same or even lower because otherwise I just couldn't follow. That is what I find annoying: was I just being a wimp, or had I tried to do too much from the start... Hmm.

I usually have no problem losing a bit of weight in summer. I look forward to eating lots of salads and fruit and other lighter fare in the hot sunny weather.

But we've had no summer here to speak of. Cold (jeans and jacket cold), grey, rainy weather from April on. The endless spring. I'm really depressed by all of this and can't get seem to get off my increasingly bigger *ss as far as eating goes.

And we have the 4-day camping thing coming next weekend which will mean a bunch of really bad food.

BLEEEAAGH!!!

Dagmar :(

Spinning is a killer! It's beyond me, that's for sure. My trainer told me that if I ever wanted to try a spin class, I should NOT increase the resistance when the instructor told everyone else to. (BTW Keri, my gym has Les Mills RPM as well.) My friend who does 500-mile bike rides for charity found spin class really hard, if that's any clue.

Jay

I love love love spinning! Of course, I hated it the first time I did it and didn't go back for a month. But now (two years later) I spin 4-5 times a week. ;)

Spinning scares me. :eek: I should do it!

Spinning scared me too! I tried every other class at the gym except spinning. I finally tried it last week and like every other class I have tired-- it wasn't as bad as I imagined. In fact, I went back last night! Everyone was like-- you came back! They seemed surprised! I got on a bike and it didn't work properly so I had to go to the only other open bike-- front and center in front of the instructor. I couldn't slack off! I kept up well and sweat like nobody's business. I don't think I'm too sore today but to be fair, I'm still in bed on my laptop so the real truth will come when I get out of bed!

And Kery-- my class is an hour long. I wished it was just 45 minutes last night!

Dagmar-- we've had little summer here too. I am sick of the cold weather! It will warm up for a few days and then get cold-- crazy!!

Pat, did you get everything done that you wanted to?

Shannon, cutting the grass burns a lot of calories, according to The President's Challenge website.

Michele, I'll be interested to know how you feel when you get up.

WardHog, does the loud music bother you at all? Must be my age, but I worry about my ears. Of course, the music is loud at Zumba, too.

Dagmar, sorry about the "endless spring." Having spent my childhood in Seattle, I understand what you're talking about.

Right now, however, I'd do anything for a little cold weather--or at least a cooldown at night. When I went to bed last night, the outside temp was 91 and the inside temp was 87. My whole schedule has been disrupted by the A/C thing because I can't leave my house (not leaving all the windows and sliders open while nobody's around) until the inside temp is as cool as it's going to get. I'm going to try and see if I feel like getting to the gym in the afternoon--not the best exercise time for me. Luckily, only one more day (and night) of this.

I'm curious if any of you who travel abroad try to learn the language before you go? We're planning a trip to Luxembourg, Austria and Amsterdam in two years (our 30th anniversary and my DH's 60th birthday), and I thought I'd like to learn some German. No community college here so I'm not sure how I'd do that.

Have a good Thursday, everyone! Only one more day until the new A/C!

I have been to Europe, Norway , The Netherlands ,Iceland, Denmark and France. I had no difficulty with language, they speak English in most European Countries .

I have been to Europe, Norway , The Netherlands ,Iceland, Denmark and France. I had no difficulty with language, they speak English in most European Countries .

Thank goodness for that because my induction to Italian hasn't been going so well!! I need to memorize a few choice phrases, but can't seem to grasp it. I keep reverting to my junior high French!

Good morning!

Sheila - The only time I went to Europe I was going to school in France, so learning the language was part of the deal. :) Though, pretty much everyone spoke English so I would have been okay even without it. Try to stay cool today!

Michele - hope you still feel as good when you get up! I'm impressed that you went back to the class!

Dagmar - dreary, gray weather makes everything hard.... :hug:

Allison - I find that when I try to speak Spanish I slip back into French as well. Italian is another one of that group - close enough to each other to help with the grammar, but different enough to be confusing!

Kery - I wouldn't say that keeping the resistance low on your first time out is wimpy! I would likely keep the resistance low forever - my stationary bike kills me, and it is a lot less intense!

Yesterday was another good day calorie wise, started today off with 3.25 miles on my treadmill. It is nice having the exercise pretty much done for the day already!

Good day everyone!

Hi everyone,

Another busy, busy week at work. This is the first chance I've been able to sit down in front of the computer and have several files to update (as soon as I finish posting here ;):p). Anyone wanting some warmth from the cool north I suggest Florida. It's hot here! I've been getting up and hitting the gym at 6 am b/c I know when I'm out in the sun doing field work all day I won't go to the gym afterwards. I'm glad I've been doing it, but also rather tired. Many of BF's extended family are here for vacation and they are all staying up late, and I've been either leaving early or begging off socializing b/c I just need to get to bed (and then feeling guilty I'm not spending more time with them). Then BF slides into bed late, and as a light sleeper I wake up... I don't have field work tomorrow, so I can go to the gym in the PM and "sleep in" (til 6:30!) in the AM.

My fridge/freezer conked out Saturday! Eek! I pulled it out from the wall and discovered the date "1982" on the back. It's the same age as me! I called my landlady and she ordered a new one right away, which got here yesterday. I'm glad I realized what was happening and moved my food to friends' fridges/freezers in time, and traveled around with a big cooler for a few days. Not much different from my normal routine, lol. After my previous landlord who took a month to replace the oven in my old place a few years ago, I'm really glad this one takes care of things so quickly!

Kery, I'm glad you're enjoying your new sports club! I also often suffer from former fat girl syndrome (FFGS for short!). I do the same thing a lot with sports/gym activities - still sometimes don't play frisbee or volleyball on the beach b/c I don't want people to see me "flopping" around. I also still am really sensitive about having to turn and squeeze between objects (getting out of the car in a parking lot with narrow spaces is a big one!). I don't know if I'll ever get over it. Good for you for trying something new.

Dagmar, sorry you're not feeling the summer weather up there! I know exactly what you mean about warmer weather making you want lighter foods. I hope it warms up soon.

I've been wondering about Lily and Lacy as well. I hope they're doing ok. <sending mental good vibes>

Sorry I can't catch up more right now, but I should have more computer time tomorrow. Have a great day all.

Michele - hope you still feel as good when you get up! I'm impressed that you went back to the class!



Shannon-- I do still feel fine. Thanks for asking! The added bonus is the scale was down 1.5 pounds from yesterday. Worth the burn if the scale cooperates! Now I'm trying to talk myself into going back to the gym today..... I'm really trying to exercise every day in July that I can.... no excuses... I have to work this afternoon and evening, but I don't have an excuse this morning. Except dd had a friend spend the night (so little sleep for this light sleeper mom) and the friend is still here. My plan is to go to the gym when she leaves so I hope I have time for gym/shower/work.....:carrot:

Why am I so hungry today?? Spinning class? Ugghhh.... looks like it will be an early lunch for me!!

Michele - The hungry could be from the spinning class. I am always starving starving starving the day after a long run and I imagine spinning class has a similar effect. :)

I have a friend who teaches spinning outside of Philadelphia. She spends hours choosing music to go with the program she's leading. It's become a career for her. She insists that it needn't be just another "cardio to music" activity, but a real experience where you can get into a zone. Maybe I should take one of her classes before I write it off completely. :)

Sheila - I did get a lot done, esp with all the paper that needed filing. I'll be spending the weekend on the rest, as - oops - I didn't get the house cleaned - which might not be such a big deal as DH came home from his hiking trip and added to the mess!

And yay! My riding mower is fixed - for only $75 - any my neighbor is picking it up today.

Dagmar - we had a summer like that last year. The record keepers tell us that we had only 2 days over 70F! Yikes. Thankfully this summer has been better, though it's been cold and windy this week.

The big excitement today is our quarterly all employee meetings (2 to accommodate everyone without shutting down any operations). As a department director I have to speak at both of them, sigh. Otherwise, I'm back to working on grant reports and budgets. And you all thought that librarians got to sit around reading all day! Well, Michele knows better....

Jay - Uh, okay, so if your friend finds it difficult, then it's probably a sure sign that it wasn't just me lacking training, huh? ^^;

WardHog - I think I'll go back next week, but to be honest, once school starts again (this time it's ME behind the teacher's desk! Hah!), I'll probably have to select which classes I can still go to. My top priority is BodyCombat, so if something else has to give due to lack of time, well...

Michele - 45 minutes was wayyyy enough to start with. Had it lasted for ten more minutes, I might have puked. :lol:

Sheila - I'd *like* to learn the language before going to another country, for sure. Now, whether I'd have enough time or not, that'd be another problem. On the other hand, in the worst cas scenario, English should still get you quite far in the countries you mentioned, at least when it comes to the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Megan - FFGS, exactly. I don't worry about squeezing between objects anymore, but sports is still a tough spot sometimes. It's like when my doctor calls me a sports(wo)man -- I feel like a fraud. >.<

Speaking of Les Mills, I took the BodyJam class tonight, and it was a lots of fun. Of course, as usual when it comes to anything that is remotely close to "dancing", I have absolutely no coordination. But other people in the class told me afterwards that the current choregraphy was quite hard, and I wasn't the only one who had problems with it, so I won't wallow about it next week when I go back.

I think the really good point in all of that is that what I worry about is my lack of coordination... and not my lack of overall fitness, fear of being out of breath, etc. :)

I tried spinning once, and really hated it... i definitely felt that "former fat girl syndrome." I'm thinking about trying it again, but we'll see. I'd rather work on my running but it's so much harder on my knees.

Every time I've tried to learn language before visiting another country, I've ended up using English anyway because it's always been easier for me to be understood in English than in my broken Italian/French/Swahili. I actually speak German, though, so I do all right with that. I really like languages, though, so I'd still try to learn a few phrases just out of interest. It's always nice to be able to do things like get some water or directions, etc. There are some audio CD's geared for tourists with things you would need to communicate at a restaurant, hotel, airport, etc.

One more day working here w/ the buffet meals, then time to get back to life. Thank goodness!

Hi everyone,

I've been MIA for the past months and I had a major fall from the wagon. OK, so I'm a bit older, a bit wiser (???I hope) and there is again more of me to love. It's back to the wagon for me. basically i've been to busy with other commitments and neglected to take some time for myself. We live and learn.

Anyway, It's nice to be back. I've started my holiday with a firm plan to include rest, relaxation & exercise in my future plans.

I have not caught up reading yet, so I'll just wave from here.

have a nice day all,
Rabbit

Rabbit, we missed you! Good to have you back again. :hug:

It sounds like you've got a good plan and are back on track. :)

I'm not working today and am about to dive into some heavy-duty bathroom cleaning. If I get all my cleaning and errands done, my reward is to go elliptical shopping this afternoon. :carrot:

Does anyone else have cats who have decided that the middle of summer is the perfect time to shed out all their fur? :dizzy: Good heavens, there's cat fur everywhere!

Good morning everyone,

I let myself sleep until (gasp) 7:40 this morning. Now I need to stay at work a little late to make up for it. :p I feel like I've been beat up! All of the field work this week was tough, now my back and shoulders are stiff and sore. I'm definitely going to do some good stretching at the gym this afternoon. Last night we had beer club, tonight is my co-worker's going-away party (did I mention a co-worker got a new job? so until we fill the position, another vacancy in our office). BF's family is still in town until Sunday, so I will try to spend time with them tomorrow as I haven't seen them all week b/c of work. I've got a lot going on socially right now! Yesterday was BF and my 4-year anniversary also. :love: We didn't do much to celebrate yesterday as we're both so busy this week, but this weekend or next week we'll be able to go out for a nice dinner. And he still owes me a nice dinner for my birthday, too!

I bought a watermelon from the fruit stand yesterday to take to beer club. The last one I bought was slightly underripe, so I was disappointed. This one - oh my, oh yum - was bursting, fresh, ripe, deliciousness! I have always love love loved watermelon ever since I was a kid. Yay for summer fruit!

Rabbit, welcome back!

Meg, oooh, elliptical shopping sounds fun! Don't get the kind Amanda had. It didn't appreciate heavy-duty use!

Kery, I'm glad you're trying out new classes! I took belly dancing classes for a while. I never looked that great, but my instructor was really nice and it was fun. I don't think you have to be great to take any kind of class. Keep enjoying your new gym!

Pat, sometimes it's good to have a weekend to clean up the house. I'm sure it will be nice to have some quality time w/ your DH home, too.

Michele, I hope you continue to feel fine. I've learned that when I'm exercising a lot and I'm hungry, I just need to go ahead and eat. Healthy things, of course. I figure if it's genuine exercise-induced hunger I'm doing ok.

Hi Iris, bargoo, Shannon, Allison, Sheila, Jessica, Ward, midwife, Dagmar, Jay, everyone else! What are everyone's plans for the weekend?

Hi Rabbit. Welcome back!!

Meg-- not only are my cats shedding but they are hilarious today. Shannon had posted a cat food bowl that keeps cats from binging and purging (I guess even our cats have eating disorders!!). I bought it yesterday as my Wilbur has major bulimia. He is having a hard time figuring out the bowl and is just walking around crying pitifully. He is such a sweetie that he just gets in your face and purrs and howls hoping you will understand that he is HUNGRY! His sister Charlotte just looks mad about the whole thing. I think she is ticked that she has to share a stupid bowl because of HIS problem. Hopefully he figures it out today (I just got it yesterday).

Megan-- hope your soreness wears off..... you do have a busy social life! Makes me tired thinking about it. I hope you get both of your special dinners soon or one REALLY SPECIAL one.

My office assitant feeds the feral cats in our area (she also traps them and takes them to Animal Samaritans for a free spay/neuter). Currently there is a spayed female that hangs out here a lot of the time. My assistant will go out and fill her bowl and then the cat comes and sits and stares in our front door--willing her to come back out and give her something better! The next door tenants also feed her and obviously feed her a better quality of food and she knows it!!

I'm just a little over 2 weeks away from my trip to Italy. So today I've been exploring the food in Tuscany (I already knew they were a lot different than further south). I found out that this region serves a lot more salads than other areas and a lot more pasta (I knew that already). I also found out that they don't rely on sauces or gravies very much. It looks like there won't be any problem finding healthy and good food there!

Today we're trying a new sushi restaurant for lunch. Hope they have some good stuff!

Oh, and shedding? Imagine two 80 pound dogs both shedding! I vacuum daily!

I've never tried spinning, Kery, I always thought it looked too hard! :lol:

Megan, congrats on 4 years! I love watermelon too!

We bought a Furminator comb for our dog. He doesn't shed a summer and winter coat -- he just continuously sheds all year long! Anyway since we started using the Furminator he hasn't seemed to be shedding quite as much. He won't let me give him a really good combing though, he gets antsy if I try to do his stomach or legs.

Scale is bouncing around. It was going down earlier this week, but it's up today. Probably from muscle soreness from my workout retaining water. I haven't been eating super-OP (what I should say is, I have been eating seconds, not that I've necessarily been eating junk). Our fridge is full of leftovers right now but I'm sick of eating them. We're getting two pints of cherry tomatoes a day out of our garden and I don't know what to do with them! So I've just been throwing them into every recipe I make.

Megan, what is beer club and how do watermelon and beer mix? I am very fond of both but not sure how I'd like them together. :p

:wave: Rabbit!

I had to get a tetanus shot yesterday because I injured myself with a metal tool I was using to collect soil samples... I'm a bit accident prone like that. :( Honestly I'm just glad that I'm the one who did it and not one of the students I was working with - I'd feel so guilty if one of them got hurt on my watch.

The students are all going home tomorrow so my life will be back to normal, but I really think I will miss them! Tomorrow night I am going out to dinner with my brother and my parents to celebrate my brother's birthday, but I should be able to get something that at least resembles healthy.

Good afternoon!

Pat - glad your riding mower is back in business!

Kery - glad you enjoyed the BodyJam class! I am totally uncoordinated to, so nothing like that for me anytime soon...

Rabbit - welcome back!

Meg - my cat sheds year round... I also bought a Furminator recently and it seems to help, but she doesn't let me give her a thorough brushing with it. I've considered getting her shaved. :)

Megan - happy anniversary! :) Hope you get some rest this weekend!

Michele - my cat wandered around pitiful when I first put the bowl in, too! I had to shake a little of the food out so she would figure out that she had to reach for it. Good luck!

Allison - how did your quote for solar panels come out?

Jessica - my grandmother is overrun with cherry tomatoes right now, too! Sorry about the scale... :(

Iris - ouch! Are you okay? I'm accident prone too, so I know how you feel. I always have a current tetanus shot because right as it expires I have some other stupid accident...

Yesterday was a good day, and today I got up to exercise before work again. Two days in a row. We'll see what happens with the weekend... I'm planning to go to the park in the morning for a run and take Sunday off. We have to move a 61" television tomorrow afternoon, so that will be a little exercise there. ;)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Shannon~the quote came in at over $100k, but Edison gives about a$20k rebate and then there are tax credits of about $30k. We'll be looking at it closer this weekend before we make the decision, but if we do it, our electric bill for the year will go from more than $6500 to less than $500 (and probably closer to zero).

Meg, a big YES to the cat question! I feel like I'm drowning in fur, and I have only one cat. How can one medium-sized cat have so much fur? And I think lack of A/C for a few days has made it worse, if that's possible.

Megan, you made me salivate with the description of the watermelon. And I must have missed what beer club is?? Do you make beer?

Iris, a tetanus shot--ouch!

Shannon, that's over 5 feet of television. Definitely a good workout. I assume you're going to lift that puppy yourself, right? Remember, lift from the legs. :)

Allison, hope you do it, if the numbers work out. I'd love to put in a solar panel. Before we moved from Oregon, I was thinking about doing it plus looking into grey water reclamation. But now that my house is a rental, I wouldn't get the benefits, although I think I'd still get the credits. And since I'm staying in this house only 8 years, I don't want to put in big ticket improvements. Was reading about a guy who turns his farm waste into electricity and gets a check from the power company because he puts power back into the system rather than taking it out. I'd love to live "off the grid."

Today's a great day--my new A/C should be in by 5:00 pm. And it was fairly cool this morning so we got the inside temperature down to 77 before my DH left for work, and I left for the animal shelter. Today we took animals to the TV station for the almost weekly 1/2 hr. show that the shelter does. It's fun, but can be rather interesting. One of the cats got out of the cardboard carrier while the volunteer was driving the truck and then threw up on her plus he peed and pooped in the carrier and it got all over. So we're trying to clean him up, and the volunteer up, then put the cat in a new cardboard carrier. I have never seen a cat actually push his head all the way through the cardboard side. I was holding his head in while we got a hard-sided carrier. Poor kitty, though, he was just traumatized besides being covered with yucky stuff. All the dogs were good, though, and the rest of the cats so everything else went smoothly.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I'm enjoying looking at my dahlias and glads that are blooming. Plus we had green beans from our garden for the first time, and a pepper. My basil looks awful, however, and I've only got one tiny (not tiny on purpose either) tomato getting ripe. Oh, well, it was a learning experience.

Pat - glad your riding mower is back in business!

Oh bad news. The $75 was when he thought he just have to do a tuneup. Turns out there are major engine problems, and the quote is now around $600 :( We'll do it because it's still cheaper than a new mower, and there is nothing else wrong with this one. So another week of push mowing.

Shedding - my cats shed ALL the time. I have two siamese mix (they have siamese markings, and voice, but came from the shelter) one of whom is long haired. Between the shedding and the mats in the fur it seems I'm always trying to brush one or the other. And even though they have seal point markings (i.e. dark brown/black) they shed white! Getting dressed is the very last thing I do before leaving the house each day.

:wave: Rabbit - we missed you!

Sheila - glad you're going to be cool again! It's still cooler here, but the sun is out for now. First time all week.

Megan - sounds like you're going to have a busy weekend.

I have very little in the way of weekend plans. I'll do some cardio workout tomorrow, and then I need to continue de-cluttering and cleaning. And of course the usual laundry/grocery shopping/yard and garden stuff. Oh, I'm tired already.....

Pat~I think I read earlier this week that California is finally rethinking the gray water reclamation. I guess it's actually illegal at this point to do it, but now that we're facing yet another year of water shortages, they're finally thinking that it'd be a good idea to let people do it, but obviously there will be lots of regulations....

It's been a hot muggy day today. We've got clouds everywhere with only a 30% chance of showers yet there is a flash flood watch all around us in the mountains. Go figure.