40-Somethings - 40-Somethings August Week 2 Thread

I forget -- do our weeks start on Sunday or Monday? Since we're all in our 40s, I'm guessing the "old fashioned" way of starting on Sundays...

PresMaggie - I really thought that our last cat was our LAST cat, espec. with DH being allergic. But after a couple weeks, I really missed him, missed having a cat. So we got our new LAST cat, who was a 4 year old from the shelter. What an absolute sweetie! Don't be surprised if another cat works his way into your heart... I'm glad you had a good Friday, food-wise.

PatchworkPenguin - too bad about the Microsoft upgrade -- I agree with PresMaggie -- write to complain!

CruiseCAT - thanks for the ideas on where to get more information on the Alaska trip; I came across some new ideas looking at those sites, already. I can't wait to hear all about your trip...

We had a very nice day as a family yesterday. We took our bikes into Pittsburgh and did a 5 mile bike ride along the rivers, stopping for dinner when we were done. It was a great way to spend the day and everyone had a great time. DS8 is begging to do it again today, but I don't see it in the cards...

Its been miserable out today. Its suppposed to rain for the next week, so its very humid,, plus the heat index is near 100* I just checked a weather map and it has a 70* over Memphis. I can look outside and tell them THAT is wrong! Hubby and I went to church, the library, Dollar Tree and TJMaxx and called it quits for the day.

newleaf123 - thanks for doing the new week thread; I guess I should have done that this morning.:o About getting a new cat, it's already on my mind, but the last one was so sick that I'm a bit worried about that happening again. We adopted him from the pound last November not knowing that he had multiple tumors in his tummy. He was the sweetest cat I've ever had and he never took out his pain on others. I think I just need a little rest and then I'll be back to the cat shelter.

patchworkpenguin - that sounds pretty hot! We had our first rain today in weeks and we were really glad to get it. There are a lot of forest fires in the region and there have been some small brush fires in the park close to us, but the firefighters were able to put it out. The fire danger is "extreme" everywhere and outdoor fires have been banned for weeks.

We went to our local museum today and there's a visiting exhibit from the British Museum in London. The British Museum is my favorite museum and it was great to be able to show our boys a real Egyptian mummy and Roman era artifacts without traveling all the way to England.

It was great to be able to walk all around the museum without getting tired like I used to. Chalk it up as another NSV.

Pres. - All the extra clothes for layering was my problem with packing for this trip. Being a desert dweller I'm chilly when the temps drop down in the 70's, 50's is just down right cold. I was just reading about the fires and apparently they have made for some smokey conditions for the last couple cruises. I just checked the weather forecast for all our ports and rain is in the forecast for EVERY one of them for the next week..... OH JOY!!! I like the rain but this might be a little much.

Heidi - What ports are you doing on your cruise?

You bike ride sounded great. How nice that your DS enjoyed it. I bet you passed several GeoCaches on your ride and didn't even know it. Kids and adults alike really enjoy the hunt. With the price of GPS's dropping it has become a very reasonable activity. The thing I love is finding stuff in my own community that I would have never known was there. Here is the link if you are interested if checking out what is in your area: http://www.geocaching.com/

I am cleaning house today so Mack doesn't have to worry about it while I'm gone. Tomorrow will be spent running around and Wednesday I have an early flight out.

I'll check back later.

Hi, everyone! I'm behind on the threads again. There's just some days where I can't face being on the computer for one more minute - I do a lot of stuff at work on them, and at home it's managing all the bills, dealing with email, and sometimes my eyes are tired and my neck says "ENOUGH"!!! It's such a great way to connect, though ...

presmaggie - :hug: we're "resting" all this year. Next spring, DH wants to get another Gordon Setter for bird hunting. DS10 is old enough to help. I got to meet a leopard gecko yesterday (omg - so cute!), so you can see that we have separate ideas about what makes a great pet ... lol!

patch - agreed with the others that dropping Microsoft a line would be a good idea. Could it be possible, though, that like with the Office 2007 conversion, they just put the feature somewhere so totally un-intuitive and stupid, that no reasonable person could find it? I'm still trying to figure out the new Excel, and for a long time, I thought I was decently computer-savvy!

newleaf - I've heard that Pittsburgh is a good spot for a long weekend and is really friendly to biking. If it has kid approval, it MUST be good! I'm hoping to take my son to Wash DC, maybe this fall. My GF there is a fitness FANATIC and has really made the city her own playground. Oh ... I did get my Isle Royale pictures uploaded to Photoworks, finally, so I'll get that link to you.

We had a great day yesterday - spent a day on a non-power private lake (it was a blazing, humid 94 yesterday), and I was able to swim across the middle of it without feeling like I was taking my life in my hands from powerboats and jetskis. Wow! DS caught 3 turtles with his swim team friend who'd invited us out, and we had a lot of fun just hanging out. I'm just a little pink from the sun and just a smidge tired from the swimming. Life is good. :)

Cindy - Y'know, we had cold and rain just about the whole time we were in Alaska. Funny, I don't think about it much at all when I'm remembering the trip. Honestly, I think if you can stay warm and dry (I spent almost the whole time in a technical T, a fleece sweatshirt, and my Marmot Precip jacket), the input coming in from the sights will overwhelm all your other senses. It's so far beyond awesome ... and Alaskans are incredible people. :D

Newleaf, Our week start whenever someone starts the new thread. Let's hope Jacquee finds us! Your bike ride sounded fun. St. Louis has a trail downtown near the river. I'm thinking we might try that this fall sometime.

Patch, very humid here also, makes you want to stay inside! Walked this morning and I was drenched!

Presmaggie, What a great NSV! Noticing things like that really help this journey along. Keep up the good work!

ICU, your day at the lake sounded wonderful! We had a leopard gecko when my son was much younger. In addition to our dogs, we have also done guinea pigs, fish and my DD has the cutest dwarf hamster.

Time to get back to business. Weighed 183 this AM. I will need to adjust my ticker. I have been wavering between 178 and 185 most of the summer. I know what I need to do, so here I go!

Hiya Everyone...

Battening down the hatches here for another onslaught of Sever Tstorms and a Tornado watch. Was up all nite with Geriatric Dobie.. about 3 hours sleep. Not functioning well, but I am eating well. Dobie is napping on the couch.. Lucky pup..

For those of you wanting to go to Cuba one day. Fly out of Canada or Mexico. You do not get a stamp in your passport. YOu get a paper "visa card". That gets stamped and they take one half when you get there and the other half when you leave. No trace of you going to Cuba!

Ok.. off to try and clean house in 100 degree weather.. well 90 but 102 with Humidex... ick..

Happy Hot Monday Ladies!!

My Brilliant Hubby found a easy way to change the print size on my computer!!!!

We downloaded Windows EX 8. In the bottom right had of the screen, right above the date, is a arrow. Hit the arrow and a list will pop up of precentages. This list controls the size of the print on the screen. I'm using 150%!

Hubby is so smart

"Hubby is so smart" Don't tell him that! LOL Glad he was able to fix that for you!

Today is my last day of summer vacation. Back to work tomorrow! This has been such a good summer! I slept in a little, felt good!

Penguin! THank Hubby for me! He just made MY life easier with that little secret! And, yeah, Don't tell him he's too smart...then he and the other men will start thinking they can rule the world without us!! THEN where would they be?? Going to work hungry with two different colored socks on!lol

Onmyway: Last day of vacation...oh nooooooooo..> But at least you got to sleep in! Has the weather been good in your area? Enjoy the rest of your day, I hope you get to have a BBQ and do some fun things!

The expected T-storms didn't show up today. SO I am happy. And the weather is beautiful. I went to my big veggie patch and actually found 3 ripe tomatoes out of about...ohhhh 300? But I got a nice big Lemon BOy! Gonna make a Toasted T'mater Sammich with Cheddar Cheese!

Anyone else get what I call, "Summer Cravings"? For me it's always Watermelon or Tomato sandwiches...

Penguin - so glad your font size issue is resolved - that must have been a pain. And it was probably fun for your hubby to come to the rescue - they need that sometimes, don't you think?

hotsplashes - I'm jealous of your homegrown tomatoes - no garden here so I try to hit the farmers markets when I can but it's not the same.

Am doing the yucky part of a Costco trip - bringing everything inside and putting it all away (portioning, bagging, freezing etc.) and it's too hot so I'm taking a quick break.

Hi all, I’m back home and perhaps can get back to my normal life – like visiting 3FC on a regular basis. I felt lousy on Sunday and still had to do chores as DH is away for another month again. Then when I was done with all the stuff I didn’t even look at my computer. Yesterday at work was swamped with the “how dare you go on vacation – we have needs you know” stuff. But now that I’ve whittled the ASAP list to a normal amount, here I am. I’m glad to be back.

Newleaf, biking with kids is always the best family activity. I walked along Eugene’s river in June and kept thinking how great it would to ride my bike there on a summer afternoon. How wonderful your son liked it so much. :bike2:


Penguin, I’m glad your DH figured out the size change for the new windows.

Presmaggie, great NSV. Isn’t the energy we’ve covered in fat cells for too long so wonderful to find. I love my go button.:running:

Cruise, I hope you’re having a great time on your cruise. On our Alaskan cruise, it was forecasted to rain every day and it did, but just for brief periods. It was also sunny every day, but way too cold for us desert girls.

ICU, I love the new Office formats. I agree that they made if difficult at transfer but I always use Google to figure out where what I want is now hiding. I truly love the Chart templates they added. It made my job so much easier that I wouldn’t go back. My work counterpart hated Office2007 so much he dictated to our district that it wouldn’t be deployed. Except I kept creating databases in it so for people to use it, he had to deploy it. I’m devious. :devil:


OMW, here you go and we’re right there with you. I hope you had/have a great last vacation day. Our teachers return way too soon for my liking. I love that my phone rarely rings. But since it’s the teachers that make a school… :)


Hotsplashes, I’m sorry about geriatric dobie. Isn’t it amazing to what lengths we will go for our 4 legged loves??? I hope you didn’t melt yesterday. I love heat and HATE humidity. So the desert is the right location for me.

Dancer, I feel your Costco pain. That is the bad part of the bulk good deals. But I LOVE Costco!!!

The munchie monster is chasing me and seems to be winning. I still can end my day on plan calories but I must be very good. I hope giving my stomach a decent lunch will get the monster to leave me alone. I successfully lost .5 pound on my trip so I’m happy.

Another NSV – I’m wearing an outfit from the GAP. I’ve never shopped the GAP before. I was too fat. And it’s not the largest size they sell. I look so hip today… ;)


Marie

Just wanted to pop in before I leave tomorrow. I have been running around like crazy trying to make sure Mack and the pups have everything they need while I'm gone.

I'll be back the 20th and ready to get back to some serious working out.

wow, it sounds like everyone has a lot going on! I'm fairly new to the site, struggling to lose weight while dealing with insulin resistance and a herniated disc. starting physical therapy tomorrow and hoping I can get back to the gym soon!

Hi, all. Sorry I've been MIA; I've been in denial as I have spent the last couple of days off plan. Tomorrow is a new day and I plan to be back on track!

I tried something new for dinner tonight -- sauteed beet greens. They were incredible, and I can't wait to do that again! Tomorrow I'll have to roast up the beets that came along with them, LOL

CruiseCAT - if you check back in here, have a great cruise!!! I can't wait to hear all about your adventure, which I am sure will be filled with NSVs... Have fun!

Hubby stayed home from work today. We picked up some kind of stomach bug and vegged out today, napping or watching movies from Netflix. We are starting to feel much better, at least.

Weightlosswanted, Welcome! Glad to have you with us! What part of the South are you in?

Marie, Glad to have you back!

Cruise,Have a good time!

Dancer, Hubby loves to be Mr. Fixit!

Splashes,Glad we were able to help you also.

OMW, Eeeek, on going back to work, but it is that time. Our usual Wed night at our Friend's was cancelled because Thursday is back-to-school for their two boys. We didn't really want to be part of that madhouse!

Just wanted to pop in before I leave tomorrow. I have been running around like crazy trying to make sure Mack and the pups have everything they need while I'm gone.

I'll be back the 20th and ready to get back to some serious working out.

Have a great time...can't wait to hear all about it!!!

Good Moring everyone! Eating has been going well. I am obsessed with toasted tomato sandwiches! It's like I can't get my tomatoes ripened fast enough.

Another cloudy day here. It was supposed to be sunny... BLECH...

Weightlosswanted, Welcome to the group!! Jump on in and join us. This is the BEST group on all the forums!!!The Nicest people on this thread EVER!!

Newleaf, Beat greens? I must check this out. I love beets. Never had them roasted.

Cruise, MUST POST PICS!!!!lolol

Dancer, Can you send Hubby over here to fix my leaky tap?lol If he can't come, maybe Penguin can send hers?? Dr. BF is not a Mr. Fix it.

Jacque9999... how's the weather out your way??? Are you the one sending me all the rain???lol

Jacque9999... how's the weather out your way??? Are you the one sending me all the rain???lol

It's been icky here too...must becoming from somewhere else!!! Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow.

Cruise - have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Weightloss - welcome!!

Marie - so nice to have you back - we missed you!

Newleaf - glad you're back at it - I'm having a little trouble focusing on sticking to plan too if it makes you feel better : ) What are you using as inspiration for the rest of the week? My latest is we've booked a trip in January to Costa Rica which will definitely involve bathing suits which <<shudders>> is scary.

Ok, enough break - back to work!

Newleaf, sautéed beet greens??? Eeks, I think that may push my adventurous nature. I do like the beets though.

Penguin, a veggie day sounds wonderful and relaxing. Too bad you’d been ill or it would have been perfect.

Hotsplashes, what’s a toasted tomato sandwich? Do you put anything else with the bread and tomato? I made sourdough bread on Sunday and have tomatoes. Do tell….

Weighloss, welcome to what I have to 2nd as the best thread on 3FC. Lots of motivated, successful losers here. Weight losers that is… :joker:


Dancer, oooo, the beach in winter. :beach: You can’t beat that. One way to face swimsuits on a tropical beach is to know you’ll never see the people again so who cares if there’s a bulge or cellulite here and there. Besides, you’re gorgeous.

I lost another pound. Yea!. :goodscale Another .2 and I could say two. So I’m not going to change my ticker for a little bit. I had a victory that had nothing to do with losing weight. My beloved little Jeep needed a new battery (why does it die when DH has left for a month???). I bought a new battery and actually replaced it by myself. I printed instructions from ehow.com and wasn’t quite as terrified of electrocuting myself. And it worked. I got to drive around topless today. :cool::joker:One interesting point is that the batteries weigh about 60 pounds – basically what I’ve lost. It was so heavy!!! I started thinking about that 60 pounds on my joints and had a stab of regret that I’d tortured them so long. But now they’re happy so the regret didn’t last. But it was very enlightening.

Marie

We napped a great deal yesterday, so when it was time for bed we weren't sleepy but gave it a try anyway. One of our neighbors down the street decided to have a party complete with load music starting at mid and getting loader and louder. Hubby finally called the police at about 2am. So we didn't get a lot of sleep either. Poor Hubby, more than me, I just slept late.

We are feeling better today, I was afraid to eat anything yesterday, so I expected to wake up starving today.

Marie, Yay on the pound!

HotSplashes and Marie - so how do you prepare your beets? As for the greens, they were so incredibly good. I just sauteed them in olive oil and garlic, then squeezed some lemon juice on them when they were done. Simple and easy.

HotSplashes and Jacque - Here in P'burgh the sun finally came out around 1:30pm, so maybe you all will see some too!

DancerInDenver - Costa Rica in January sounds wonderful!! I've always wanted to go there. As for inspiration for me? Maybe that's the problem, I don't have anything dangling out there in front of me... Need to think about that...

Marie - great job on the battery; I can't imagine doing that myself. And I guess I didn't realize that you had lost that much weight; that's quite an accomplishment

PatchworkPenguin - glad you are feeling better :)

Me, I got my hair colored today, and boy did I need that! Still haven't exercised this week; making it a priority has been difficult. I need to change that.

Marie - my favorite swimsuit coping method is a pretty sarong - covers a multitude of sins and luckily I still have a few so I should be okay. Major congrats on the 1.8lbs and on the battery - I don't usually play the girlie card but I'm just not automotively inclined so I'm particularly impressed!

patchwork - poor you! You just can't catch a break right now. Hope tonight is uneventful!

Newleaf - A friend of ours bakes whole beets coated in olive oil and garlic and wrapped in tin foil. Not sure of the exact recipe but yummy! Amazing the affect hair color can have on your mood, isn't it?

I'm trying to break the lethargic chain by doing a workout today. I told myself to do one section and ended up doing three so I must feel better!

I tried out more of The Best of Tamilee DVD set today. I did the warmup, Buns, Thighs, and one of the abs sections plus the stretch; probably close to an hour total. I didn't like the Buns or Thighs sections, Tamilee went a little faster than I like during lunges etc and I kept losing my balance or getting confused. I think I figured out part of why I like slower workouts; we were doing pile squats and I have to go down pretty low before I feel my glutes engage, which doesn't happen at all at the faster speed, so I feel like I'm just pulsing the whole workout, without getting full range of motion. I liked the ab section fairly well. This is the two DVD set and Buns in on one DVD while Thighs is on the other; Grr, I hate changing DVD's. What I do like is that the set is very mix and match so I can do whatever I feel like today. I'm not sure I'll keep this one, but I haven't tried either yoga, the cardio, or the other abs section.

Dancer, Those baked beets sound very good. Have you ever added them to oven roasted veggies??? That sounds like it might be good too? I' roasted some veggies in the oven a few weeks ago, which we really enjoyed and I'm looking for new additions. I like beets but I'm not sure about Hubby.

Newleaf, I'm getting a much needed haircut tomorrow, so we can be gorgeous together!

*roasted beets are yummy, haven't tried the greens. I just quarter them, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some garlic powder and sea salt.
*I'm in Charleston, SC.
*PT didn't work out today, the bus company gave me wrong info and I can't get there using our public transportation. I'm really bummed about it, I haven't been able to work out since april : ( I can't start again until someone shows me what exercises I can do safely with my herniated disc.
*thanks for all the welcomes, ya'll sound like a great group!

oops, I should have mentioned that since my leg has healed after my car accident, I usually walk 1-2 miles a day getting back and forth to the bus stop. sometimes as much as 4 miles a day. and yet the weight isn't budging!

First day back to school. First day back on plan. DD had soccer practice, walked the track for an hour with 2 other moms. Poor planning on my part had me eating dinner at 8:30 tonight. Not the best but it will take me a bit to get back in our school/practice routine.

Weightlosswanted, welcome to our group! Charleston is one of my favorite places! DH and I honeymooned on Kiawah Island and spent several days in Charleston.

patchwork, great job with exercising even when feeling puny!

Dancer, A January vacation is a great incentive to stay on plan. Good thinking!

Newleaf, A new hairstyle does wonders! What can we do to help you get back into an exercise routine? What about biking with the boys?

Marie, congrats on the loss and the battery! It is nice to have physical examples of how much we have lost. Really helps put things in perspective!

Jacquee, Glad you found the new thread this time! LOL!

Hotsplashes, my summer tomato favorite is tomato mozzarella salad with fresh basil. I have it every day!

PatchworkPenguin - people do add beets to roasted vegetables, but I personally don't like the addition. It can make some of the other vegetables turn pink / purple in the process... I'm glad you were able to work out today!

WeightlossWanted - my nephew is headed off to Charleston for college very soon; I've never been though. Bummer about the bus not working out... sorry to hear that!

it's a beautiful city! which college is he going to newleaf? let me know if he needs anything, or just a local contact in case of any problems. and we can meet for coffee or a bite to eat if you get a chance to visit. is he your first to leave home?

oops, I thought you said your son, just realized you said nephew. i better eat some breakfast!

Happy Thursday, everyone! Count me in the "drifting" group - I've been doing some really sloppy eating over the past few days. For the most part, the caloric damage wasn't bad (except yesterday) and I did get it written down. Yesterday morning I had blood drawn for a whole raft of stuff including hormone profiles, Vit D, inflammatory markers, lipid profiles, etc, and maybe it was having to fast that made yesterday such a train wreck. It was weird and uncontrolled. Back to basics today!

Tomatoes. Oh, tomatoes ... OMW, I'm also a huge caprese fan! It's such a perfect meld of acid, savory, creamy ... I'm drooling. And Hotsplashes, I am definitely going to try a tomato-cheese toasted sandwich. Classic BLT? I'm in! They're kinda hard to work into the calorie count though - and please, nobody try to talk me out of real bacon and real mayo. :) I'll eat salad for breakfast instead. LOL!

Marie - great job with the loss, and with the battery! Electrical stuff scares the snot out of me. I'm willing to fire up a torch and weld or solder pipe together, but I've never been able to shake my deep suspicion of electricity. You are my hero!

newleaf - I've done exactly what you did, but with Swiss Chard instead of beet greens. That's yummy too! Roasted beets are great and the foil pack does make cleanup much simpler.

Weightlosswanted - welcome!

patchwork - sorry about the tummy bug; glad you're on the mend!

More to follow - meeting to deal with!

On the topic of tomatoes, here's what I have been doing, which I absolutely love!!

I cut an eggplant into 1" thick circles, brush with olive oil. Grill the eggplant approx. 7 min. per side. In the final 2 minutes, put a thick slice of tomato onto each eggplant slice.

If DH is home, then I serve the tomato slices separate from the eggplant slices (he doesn't like eggplant). But if it's just me, I serve it just as it comes off the grill. TOTAL yum...

ICUWishing sorry about the bloodwork extravaganza. Today's a new day!

WeightlossWanted he's going to College of Charleston. Yes, nephew, not son. I actually don't even know him that well since my brother (his father) and I are not close... But he's a nice kid, and the first of all the cousins to head out of the nest...

Morning all!

My parents are takng me to lunch, a movie {Julie & Julia}, then to get my haircut! Yay!

My abs and pecs are a little sore from yesterday's workout, but nothing horrible.

ICU,EEEK, on all the bloodwork!

Newleaf and WLW, I put beets on the shopping list and thought I'd give them a try.

Weightloss, I find that what I eat has more to do with weightloss than how much I exercise. I did P90x and only lost a few lbs because I didn't watch my eating. I would personally prefer if I could eat whatever I wanted and just exercise it off but it doesn't seem to work that way, for me anyway.

Thanks for the sympathy on the bloodwork (SEVEN tubes!!!). :) Funny part of it is that I ordered it myself, and am paying out of pocket. Darn engineers - we can never not look under that very last rock. :) If everything is great, it will be a good baseline for the future. And if it's not, I'll have a much better idea of what to work on.

Thanks for the sympathy on the bloodwork (SEVEN tubes!!!). :)


7 Tubes??! Wow! Let us know if you uncover anything...

I'm back from my haircut. Its not much different from before but the sides and back are shorter. I look more like Demi from Ghost. I haven't gotten used to it yet but it doesn't look very different in the pictures I got my Dad to take.

Julie and Julia the movie was much better than the book! They paralelled the lives of Julie and Julia as they discover themselves through cooking. I thought Julie was much more likeable in the movie. While Meryl was hysterical as Julia; I thought the movie was a tad confusing on some points of Julia's life but since I have read her biography that helped clear things up. Julia and Paul were adorable in the movie and so obviously in love!

Penguin, I’m impressed you and DH waited until 2am before calling the police. That was darn rude of your neighbors. Sometimes people are astounding. I hope your DH caught some extra Zzzzs last night. And I totally agree about eating whatever I want and exercising it off. If that was an option, I’d be on that track. I love to exercise and I love to eat. Unfortunately the exercising doesn’t fix uncontrolled eating.

Newleaf, oh I hate to admit this, but I love canned beets. I haven’t tried “real” beets since I was a kid because my mom made them taste disgusting. But your way sounds tempting.

Dancer, I’m not auto inclined either, but being married to DH for 26 years, a little knowledge rubbed off. That and printing instructions off the internet.

WLW, one thing I noticed when I started walking/exercising daily about 3 ½ years ago was that I ate more because I was hungrier. Do you log your food? That was a rude awakening for me.

OMW, how do you make your tomato mozz salad? Tomato, mozz, and basil are three of my favorite foods so I need more info. Congrats on being on plan yesterday. I think the first day back I’d eat my way through the classroom but I understand using a big lifestyle change as the change of eating too.

ICU, it’s smart to get that baseline. Too bad that it’s out of pocket. Electricity scares me. I was terrified I’d electrocute myself. I admitted that to DH and he laughed. Actually laughed at me. Meanie…

Work was so busy today I couldn’t even find a break time to visit 3FC. I had to wait until I was home. I lost the .2 so I’m going to change my ticker for the two pounds now. Yeah. 20 to go. I was told today that if I lost 20 more pounds I’d float away with the wind. Ha, I’m thinking not. But it was still a nice compliment. I got lots of those today since I hadn’t seen a group of staff in about a year. A good ego day. :D
Marie

Patchworkpenguin - so where's the pics? We already know you rock the short hair ... so let's see the new 'do!

Marie - big congrats on the ego-stroke - they do feel good! Only person who EVER comments on my weight loss is my mom, because she's doing WW (very successfully). DH claims to have noticed, but absolutely will not comment unless I ask him point-blank.

Well, I decided yesterday that I have had enough of corporate life. I work for a great company and a growing industry, but I have a huge yearning to be my own boss and see if I can be successful getting people to pay me for doing things I like to do. I'm really good at what I do - I just don't enjoy it all that much. I'm coming to grips with the idea that my time on the planet is approaching the halfway point (I hope), and there are still an awful lot of things I want to learn to do. Thus ... I'm moving into a major planning stage and really thinking about what an ideal life will look like. At least I've got one point defined already - and that's to never let my weight get out of control again!

ICU - wow! branching out on your own? You mentioned being an engineer - what kind of work do you want to do independently?

And you bring up an interesting point with your dh and his not making comments. My bf doesn't say anything about it unless asked directly. But then, he never said a word or acted negatively when I was gaining the weight either. What about the rest of you? How have your husbands/partners reacted to your weight loss progress?

dancer - I love the written word, I dearly love solving puzzles, and I am enthralled by colored gemstones. So I expect to start training to be certified as a gemologist/appraiser as a piece of my ideal world. I already have the equipment (I'm a rabid gemstone hobbyist), and I've found a distance-education program that can be done while I still hold a full time job. Life is too short, and I have been playing by everybody else's rules. I've exceeded every expectation everyone's ever had of me .... it's time to leap off the cliff and be unsafe (in a calculated, minimized risk sort of way!) :D

Patchworkpenguin - so where's the pics? We already know you rock the short hair ... so let's see the new 'do!
LOL, its funny to hear you say this I don't consider myself a 'short hair person' A little less than three years ago my hair was down past my butt, and I had no intention of every getting it cut more than a few inches. But I had been wearing it in a French braid for about 20 years, and was getting sick of it {the braid not the hair} I would put it up in a 'big bun' and wear decorative combs in it for church and special occasions {like my wedding}. The front of my hair is begining to thin so I decided to get one of these long layers cuts to the middle of my back. I liked it but wasn't convinced so let my hair grow out again to my waist. Cut again, this time near my shoulders with long layers. Next cuts were shorter and shorter. I don't like having my hair loose or hanging in my face so the pixie is actually perfect for me. I do miss my hair sometimes, especially when I see someone with their hair very long and loose. I don't miss the French braid or all the brushing.

I'll get Hubby to post pics.

Dancer, Hubby and I put weight on together after we were married, but I was the one with the heath issues, and the desire to lose the weight. He was supportive during the inital weightloss but didn't really volenteer any advice or help of his own {such as suggesting we go for a walk, take the dog to the park, not eat out again}. He was happy with the results but wouldn't join in the workouts, and that was a sore point for me, I thought he was missing an opportunity to spend time with me doing something to benefit both of us, etc. He did however buy me whatever workout equipment we could afford that I wanted, including whatever DVD's I wanted to buy. He ate what I fixed for dinner, and splurged on burgers and cokes on his own time. He did eventually give up drinking Cokes, and talked about losing weight with me but never was motivated. His father is diabetic and has had a very bad stroke several years before, from which he never really recovered. His dad can barely walk, talk and can't use his right side very well. {living breathing motivtion for me!] I found out I was prediabetic about a year after this stroke and suggested Hubby get tested but he didn't.

Hubby did mention to me last night that he was going to try to lose weight again. I suggested a few things but dont' have very high hopes. I would love for us to have an active lifestyle together.

My DH is very supportive of my weight loss and frequently tells me how great I look. Not *so* often that it sounds false, but every couple of weeks or so, I'd say. He also is very willing to eat whatever I cook, so there's no issue there. I've turned him on to tofu!

On an old topic, I remember someone asking about scales and how we liked the very accurate ones (Becky?). I forgot to reply at the time. I *love* our scale, which measures to the 1/10th pound. It was very expensive ($500??) but DH bought it for me a couple years ago when he got sick of hearing me complain about our old scale. This one is very accurate, doesn't get "stuck" at a certain number like the old one did (which would sometimes only change if I weighed myself holding a stack of towels, and then again without) and if I weigh myself 3x in a row, I get the same result, maybe a 1/10th pound different, each time. http://www.totalbodyworks.com/seca_scales/home_scales/Seca_770_High_Capacity_Scale.htm

Yay - I broke my mental block and exercised today! I even did some work with weights for my arms... So I'm feeling good :-) I hope everyone's having a great day!

Newleaf, congrats on the exercise!

I did an add-on workout. I got Tamilee Webb's Cardio Blast {30min} from Netflix today. I didn't think it was a blast but was glad I gave it a try.:D

Hi everyone! I made it through my first 3 days being back to school. Our classroom is set up, the kids start Monday! I'm back to packing my lunch and getting back into my good eating routine. I'm ready to finish what I started!

Newleaf, your scale sounds amazing! Mine is just a basic digital that weighs to the 1/2 pound, nothing too fancy but fairly consistent and inline with my Dr.s office scale. Glad to hear you got some exercise today!

ICU, your career change sounds terrific. Is it possible to take a leave of absence from your current job?

Dancer, I am lucky that my DH has been very supportive and complimentary on my loss. He has also been losing due to elevated blood sugar. He's gone from a 38 to a 34 pant and lowered his blood sugar to a normal range.

Patchwork, How about you inviting hubby to walk. If you get him moving and he starts to see results, maybe he will start asking you to walk!

Marie, To make my tomato mozzarella salad I halve cherry tomatoes, add cubed fresh mozzarella and chopped fresh basil. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add a little salt and pepper. Eat and enjoy! Congrats on all of the compliments. They are all very well deserved!

ICU, I think that if you’re not happy doing your job then it’s not the right thing to be doing.Definitely plan it out. Make pros/cons lists and enlist the help of your family and friends that know you best. Even though your DH won’t comment on WL without being asked point blank, ask him point blank to help you start your own business so that you’re happy. Truly that’s what’s important in life. Heck, you already figured out the weight/food wasn’t doing it.

ICU and dancer, my DH doesn’t comment unprompted either. But like dancer wrote, he didn’t as I gained either. My weight and figure doesn’t matter to him. For that I’m eternally grateful. My DH did notice the 6 pounds I'd lost when he was gone for the month of June os maybe it's harder to see on a day to day basis.


Penguin, my DH was emaciated thin when we met and married. Now he’s gotten a pudge and talks about losing weight too. He makes the military’s weight demand so it’s not a big priority. He talks about losing and like you, I don’t have high hopes. But unlike you, we have a very active life together. He can out bike, out run, but not out walk me. Regardless of the pudge, he’s active. He “found” microbrews two years ago and guess when the tummy pudge started??? ;) He didn’t drink alcohol before that. Since I’m a tea-totaller, if I mention the connection, that would be problematic. :o


Newleaf, YEAH on the exercise!!! :carrot: I smiled at your scale description. I used to have a scale that would vary by a pound or two weighing 3X in a row. I’d, of course, take the lowest reading. So I bought a new one (about1/10th the price of yours) and it’s very accurate. Never a different reading. So I stopped doing it. But yesterday, I weighed and noticed my left foot was a little off the scale, so I did it again. Exact same reading. Having a good, dependable scale is a must.

OMW, thanks for the recipe – it sounds divine and will be dinner tonight. I have my shopping list on my desk and just added the needed ingredients. Oh, dinner sounds great!!!

My dependable scale gave me another .8 loss. I just love the 3rd week of my cycle. I rarely lose the other 3 weeks, but week 3 is GREAT. :carrot: 2.4 pounds in 4 days. In other words, 2.4 pounds this month (the week isn’t completely over) so I have hope for at least another .2 as I could change my ticker again and get into the teens for fat pounds left to lose.

Marie

I have a picture of Hubby hanging near the doorwary of his office where he can see it everyday. It was taken on board his carrier at the end of his 6 month cruise a few months before we were married. He was 177lbs at 6ft. I hope it would inspire him to exercise or make better choices. Hubby drinks a lot of Cokes and instead of taking his lunch buys fast food. {that really bugs me!} But in his defense I've hung pictures of me, even a dress up to inspire me and I don't feel they helped either. Maybe I should hang copies of the pic on the vending machines at work?

Happy Friday Ladies!

All this talk about our SO's and weight loss. Dr. BF loves me the way I am but does encourage me to lose weight for my health. He's 6'4 and a whopping 180lbs.. that's up 10lb since we first got together...

Bloodwork SUCKS!! But 7 Vials? I hope they gave you lots of donuts!!

Gemologist.. What an exciting job. I picture you travelling the mountains of some foreign country looking for rubies and Emeralds!

School is in already?? Kids up here don't go back until Sept 8th.

I am finally getting ripe tomatoes out of my garden. I am in love with my Yellow Boys. Big fat sweet juicy low acidic tomatoes. Makes the best toasted T'mater Sammiches. No bacon. No lettuce. Just T'maters , mayo, and a bit of old sharp Cheddar.

Got a reduced "student rate" membership at our local Y. Doctors want me to swim so I now have a pool. Might try Aqua Fit classes see how that works for the back.

Enjoy the weeknd ladies... I'm off to do my first book signing!!

OMW, oo-la-la, dinner was fabulous. I made the Tomato Mozzarella Salad. (Reddish font for the tomato dinner). Since you'd said fresh basil, I decided to make a small amount of pesto. I used the pesto, 2 oz mozzarella and 2 tomatoes. I added up the cals (even weighed and measured everything and it was 289 calories. It was delicious. Thanks so much. I told DH about my dinner and I got a very tepid response since he hates tomatoes and fresh mozz (likes the shredded stuff - I don't get that). I think he wasn't too interested in the pesto either. :D:o Anyway, thanks for sharing your yummy salad idea. I loved it and see it in my future often. BTW, the pesto was simple to make in my Magic Bullet. Took less than a minute. I love my bullet.

Hotsplashes, have fun at your signing. And with the swimming. I did AquaJoggers at our Y a couple years back. I really thought it was fun until I realized the man teaching it was a bit freaky - bad vibes. I still have all my stuff and use it in my pool when I'm injured from my more adventuresome sports.

Penguin, I put a pic of my DH on the fridge that I love. I can't remember if I posted it so I'll do it again. It always makes me think about whether I really need anything from the fridge.

I'll edit my post after I upload it. I tend lose my posts when I do anything but type. :D
Marie

Edited... I'm bummed, I can't find the original jpg so I scanned the 3x5 I have on my fridge so it's pretty grainy. But it's still funny.
http://www.mariesdogs.com/images/dh.jpg

Hi all! I'm new. I put my bio up in the bio thread and started a blog, so I won't put all the introductory stuff here, I will just jump right in with an interesting little fact I learned last year about beet greens when I got into gardening. Beets and swiss chard are the same species, beta vulgaris. We call them beets if we grow them for the roots and chard if we grow them for the greens. So, if you like chard, you'll probably like beet greens!

ICUwishing: good luck on the planning to take the big leap to entrepreneur -- that's very exciting!

patchworkpenguin: I've found that shorter hair works better with thinning too. And, it's a lot easier to care for!

Onmyway: good to see a Missourian here! Good luck with the start of school!

Hotsplashes: congrats on your first book signing -- what a wonderful moment in your career!

Marie: love that refrigerator pic! Very inspiring in a goofy way!

Gardener, we're pretty close, I'm in Ellisville! Welcome to the boards, this is a great group!

Marie, Glad you enjoyed the salad, I have an abundance of basil right now and need to try making pesto!

Welcome Joy, you've found your way to a great group. Very supportive and the best part is we all grew up in the same era and are currently in the same boat with aging. It's amazing how wonderful that is . Because dieting when I was 20 was so much more effective daily than now. But now I'm old enough to be losing weight for health not beauty. I'd much rather the now than when I was 20. And the picture - it is extremely goofy and strangely a great motivation on the fridge. One other thing (after reading your bio), weigh yourself. Do it first thing in the morning. I swear there's nothing more motivating to get you started. Also it's really motivating to see the downward progress on a regular basis, especially in the first couple weeks.

OMW, my sister taught me to make pesto last week when I was on vacation. But I couldn't exactly remember so I typed pesto recipe on google. One of the first hits stated exactly how to freeze the frozen pesto. Take a look since you have loads of basil. Me - I just bought 6 containers of basil at the gardening store and 3 italian parsley. Also 3 humungous pots to plant them in. Today's plan is to re-pot them and put them on the file cabinet. It has year round sun and needs something on it as Kody seems to think he can stand on it to look out the window. A no-no so. I'm going to fill it up so he can't do it. :D

Another loss today. 154.0 - no rounding necessary. So officially I have 19 pounds to go. But as I think I'll be eating about the same calories to maintain, it's not a finishing line - more like a commencement in the real sense of the word. I nearly bubbled this morning with the reading. So little to make me happy. I just had to call DH to let him know. He was happy for me too.

Marie

Hi ladies,

I'm back home after a long time and looking forward to be with all of you again.
As I can see you are all doing great :) . I've menaged to maintain my weight last few weeks,while I was on vacation.
It is now time to go back to good old : exercise + eating routine.
Have a great weekend :)
Nell

Hey All! Hubby and I are trying to get some things done before my surgery on Mon. He hung a picture for me in our bedroom, now he's working on a new doorjam for the front door, and hopefully later tonight he'll get to install new folding doors for our laundry room. Ours are louvered and a pain to clean, I saw on HGTV where they replaced the doors with solid doors, and I had to have some. Our laundry room is the original outside storage room. Someone removed part of a wall between the kitchen and 3rd bedroom and opended the sstorage room to the house, but there's only enough room for a stack w/d. I think the 3rd bedroom is supposed to be a breakfast room, since there's a passthrough also, but I use it as a sewing room.

Nell, Welcome back

Marie, I went looking at Lowe's for some herbs to keep inside in a pot but no such luck! My few outside herbs aren't doing very well either this year. Love the picture of your Hubby!

Joy, Welcome to the group!

ICUWishing - I think it is great that you are taking a step back and deciding what to do next!! Can't wait to see how it all turns out... The world of gemology is so interesting!

OnMyWay - Good luck at school on Monday! Do teachers get nervous on the first day, too??

Marie - I'm glad to see your loss is going quite well!! And I love the pic of your DH!

HotSplashes - Wow, no school until 9/8??! We start 8/27 here. I'm glad your tomatoes are finally ripening. I see we have 2 on our bush that are red. Woo hoo! How did your book signing go? That's great that you got a Y membership; I'm sure that you'll enjoy that...

GardenerJoy - Welcome to the group! How interesting about the beets / chard distinction... I bought more beets today. I don't really *want* more beets. But I bought them for the greens! At the farm stand where I buy them, they ask if you want them to cut the greens off. I asked what most people say, and most people say yes. They're missing the best part!

Nelie - Welcome back; I hope you had a great vacation!! Congrats on maintaining your weight!

PenguinJoe - Sounds like your husband is a busy, handy, man! Good luck with the surgery on Monday; I'm assuming this is for the other eye?

As for me, I exercised again today (woo hoo) including the arms. Tomorrow is the dreaded Steelers party. I'm sure it will be fine, though...

Garden! Welcome to the nicest and bestest group in 3FC! YOu will love all the gals here!

Nell, Welcome back!

Marie, that salad sounds great. I know what I am making tomorrow for lunch!

NewLeaf, My yellow tomatoes are coming along nicely.. but those reds are slower than Molasses in January! Might be December before they are ripe!lol

As for book signing.. decent turn out. I was happy with it until one woman came up and said quite loudly, "You are MUCH bigger than I thought. But it's nice to know someone of your SIZE is confident enough to try things most BIG girls wouldn't dare try."

I coulda reached across and smacked her.. instead I smiled and sweetly said, "Size has no bearing what kind of person you can be. Even the most beautiful, thin person can still be ugly on the inside."

She didn't know quite how to respond, but the ladies around her smiled as she skulked away. Made my day!!lol

See everyone Monday!!

As for book signing.. decent turn out. I was happy with it until one woman came up and said quite loudly, "You are MUCH bigger than I thought. But it's nice to know someone of your SIZE is confident enough to try things most BIG girls wouldn't dare try."

I coulda reached across and smacked her.. instead I smiled and sweetly said, "Size has no bearing what kind of person you can be. Even the most beautiful, thin person can still be ugly on the inside."

She didn't know quite how to respond, but the ladies around her smiled as she skulked away. Made my day!!lol

Kudos for handling a tough situation with more grace than the person deserves! Good for you! I love your answer and will have to steal it!

Read your post to Hubby and he's still laughing about your answer!

Hubby put in the doorjam and hung the picture; we will have to buy some trim to get the door to fit but that's okay. I didn't realize that the door wasn't painted, just primed, so now I have to paint it also.

Newleaf, Yes, the other eye. Soon I'll have a matched set! I'm really looking forward to throwing my contact and solutions away! Our orientation for Bible study is the following Wed, at a new church, so I can't wait to see what I can see! I tried to schedule the surgries so it wouldn't interfere with BS but this was cutting it a bit close, LOL

patchworkpenguin - good luck with getting your other eye done. Even now, 9 years after having my laser eye surgery, I still marvel at how well I can see. Thank goodness for modern medicine!

Hotsplashes - I admire you for keeping your cool and putting that woman in her place at your book signing. I'm one of those people who thinks of a good comeback hours later, when it's way too late.:lol:

newleaf - you were right about the cat. I lasted all of a week after we lost our little black cat to cancer. Yesterday, we went and got two 3 year old female ragdoll cats from a breeder. She was selling them because they had already had some litters and she wasn't going to breed them again. They are supposed to be really good cats for kids and so far, so good. The kids adore them and I'm really happy.

Nell - good job on your vacation! That's always a bonus to maintain.

Marie - we have lots of basil, too! Pesto sounds like a great idea.

gardenerjoy - welcome! Thanks for the info on the chard. That's a common crop around here, so I'll have to try it. Do you know a good way to prepare it?

I had a tough week after our cat was put to sleep. I'm still stuck at 180 pounds, but I am definitely losing inches. My weight training workout yesterday was pretty tiring and I had trouble doing my cardio afterwards. Today we hung out with the kids and had a great day. Tomorrow, the sun is supposed to be coming back out so we'll be off to one of the waterparks.

HotSplashes - WOW, I can't imagine somebody saying that to you; how rude! You handled it incredibly well...

PatchworkPenguin - Good luck tomorrow!

PresMaggie - Oh, I LOL'd that you got new kitties already... I'm glad that they are bringing you some joy :)

Onmyway: I think I'm going to make pesto today. I have a ton of basil in the garden. It grew really well this year!

Marie: thanks for the advice -- I weighed myself this morning and now I feel like I've taken the first step on this journey instead of constantly putting it off for another day.

patchworkpenguin: sending healing energy in your direction for your surgery tomorrow

newleaf123: I once got free beet greens at the Farmers Market because a woman bought the beets but didn't want the greens. She tried to give them back to the farmer, who didn't want them, so I said I'd take them!

Hotsplashes: What you said to that woman was just perfect! Like presmaggie, I wouldn't have thought of that great comeback until she was long gone. Good for you for thinking on your feet!

Presmaggie: I put our chicken and green stir-fry recipe on my 3FC blog. I'm too new to post links -- but the blog link is in my profile on the left, so I'm sure you'll find it. We eat a lot of greens this way -- often fixing it once or twice a week. My husband says it's the best dish for normalizing his digestive system when it gets out of whack.

I'm working through Stage 1 of the Complete Beck Diet for Life. I just finished The End of Overeating by David Kessler and was convinced that I need to work on overcoming the conditioning that the food industry has given me to eat high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods. But he was a little skimpy on the details of how exactly to do that. Stage 1 of Beck has lots of details for one way of doing it.

I haven't decided if I'm going to do the food plan in Beck -- I haven't really looked at it yet. What do you all do for food plans? One thing about being an over 40 dieter is that I'm pretty sure I have the experience to invent my own customized plan that would be perfect for me (and probably no one else in the world). So, I may do that.

newleaf - I guess you know what it's like to want to have cats around.:lol: They are wonderful company for me when everyone's out of the house.

gardenerjoy - thanks for the recipe! I think I'll try that this week. It's great that you have a peanut sauce recipe because all of the bottled sauces have garlic in them and I'm allergic to garlic. Now I can use this for other recipes, too!

I did come back here this morning because I have finally broken through my 180 pound barrier! With all my exercise, I'm surprised it has taken this long, but I'll take it when I can.

GardenerJoy - funny re: the greens. I asked at our market what they do with them and the answer was use them as compost... Seems like a waste...

PresMaggie - congratulations re: breaking into the 170s!!! Hooray!!!

I had a wonderful lunch now -- I sauteed the beet greens in olive oil. When they were almost done I sectioned up a tomato and threw it in to warm. Put it all on a plate, drizzled lemon juice on top. Yum!!!!!!!!!

Good morning everyone!

Had a nice relaxing day yesterday. DD had an early soccer game and then I took a group of her friends to the pool. Met the nicest woman with a newer baby. You really do forget how little your kids once were! I'm getting used to the idea of being back to work. I'm ready to get back to eating to lose. Thanks for all of your encouragement this summer!

Presmaggie, great news about the new cats. 179 - You rock!

Gardenerjoy, stepping on the scale is a BIG step in owning this journey. Sounds like you have done a good job preparing yourself. These boards are a great source of info about various diet plans. Good luck!

Patchwork, we will be thinking of you tomorrow. It must be very exciting especially after the success of your last surgery! Keep us posted!

Hotsplash, great comeback! Glad to hear your book is doing well!

Nell. Welcome back! Hope you had a great vacation!

Marie, less than 20 to go, you are in the homestretch! Your DH's picture gave me a good laugh. I'd think twice before opening the fridge with that looking at me! LOL

Newleaf, Your lunch sounds delicious! Makes you wonder how many other things we easily discard taste good?

Hi to anyone I may have missed. Have a great day!

Just checking in for the day. I let April out this morning and when she came back she had a big rawhide bone in her mouth. We don't give her rawhide so we wondered where it came from! We still don't know! Hubby checked the fences to make sure she didn't get out and into another yard, so the only thing we can think of is that someone {a neighbor?} gave it to her?? We took it away much to her disappointment. Weird!

Hubby took the next week off from work so be with me and work on the bathroom with my dad! Yay, This may mean Hubby and I {April, too} will spend a night at my parents house while grout dries, etc. This should be interesting. Mom and I have a workshop for Bible study all day Wed, also. I need to get my things {and self} together. The new year has snuck up on me!

Thanks all for the well wishes!

Maggie, Sorry for the difficult week but yay, on the 179!

Joy, I feel I do better with a custom plan than following someone else's plan. I get to improvise that way also.

Hi Nell, welcome back!!! Great job on maintaining during your vacation. That’s never an easy feat.

Penguin, I was looking for seeds and there weren’t any so I decided to look thought the dregs of the garden plants. There the plants were. I was thrilled, especially since OMW got me addicted to Tomato Mozzarella Pesto salad. Also, you’ll love the solid doors for the laundry room as they help reduce the noise from those machines. Yeah for DH being with you for the week. That will be nice. And I’ll be thinking of you tomorrow as well.

Newleaf, you are on an exercise roll. Pretty soon you’ll be addicted and just love it. I really don’t think it takes long to get to the addicted level – probably as long as it takes to get out of it after one doesn’t exercise for a couple days in a row.

Hotsplashes, we have our friend OMW to thank for the salad. I can see how she’s addicted to it – I am now too. Make it with your yellow tomatoes. My sister gave me a yellow one when I was on vacation and it was great. And OMG on the RUDE, :devil: A$$NINE woman. Excellent job on the verbal comeback. That was AWESOME!

Presmaggie, excellent addition to your family. I know some people have this thought that when you get another pet after one has passed away that you’re “replacing” them. That is such garbage, there is no replacing. My belief that there’s so much emptiness from a pet passing and that a pet person has such a big heart, that it’s important to fill the emptiness and give a new pet a great place to live and love. Those kitties are so lucky to have you! :congrat::bravo: WTG on the barrier being broken. Both the 180’s and getting to just overweight!

OMW, sounds like you had a great day yesterday. Sometimes it seems like just a bit ago that my kids were babies and now they’re in their early 20’s. Time sure does fly. Enjoy your group of new students tomorrow.

Joy, congrats on taking that first step. It’s the hardest! I think you are right on the customized plan for yourself. I bet you know if you are a quantity or quality food lover. (Of course we probably all like high quality and quantity but weigh which one is more important). I found I am a quality person. I HATE no fat food imitations for the most part. I like the real stuff. So I made my choice to make my life around quality, healthy food. If my portion is tiny, I can be fine with it. But I know several people who made the opposite choice wanting lots of food with the sacrifice of great taste. It really is a matter of what is more important to you. Then you base your diet around that. Eating something that someone else designed is short term and most of the time is a setup for failure to maintain. In my case, I know that when I reach goal, the number of calories will probably relatively close to what I’m doing now as it’s not as hard to move a 135 pound body as it is a 212 one. When I began my journey, I made a commitment to myself (after really focusing on the quality/quantity issue) that I will weigh daily and log my food every day the rest of my life. That there will never be an excuse not to do it. I told DH to demand my food journal if he suspects I’m not logging. Anyway, really think about this journey in the terms of forever because for those of us in this nasty fat boat, it is life long.

Today I'm going to knit leg warmers on my knitting machine (I don't know how to hand knit). It's so cold in the morning when I drive my topless Jeep (high altitude makes chilly nights) that the blanket I wrap around my legs isn't cutting it. I tried to buy some and the store didn't have what I wanted - then I remembered my knitting machine, so that's my objective for the day. During today's training with the dog behaviorist, I volunteered to donate a wildlife stained glass for a silent auction fundraiser. So designing something is also on the list. Most importantly is my non-elliptical day means I'm going to swim. I always swim one 1 mile swim at some point every summer. I think today will be the day unless my wrist doesn't hold out. It does a 1/2 mile swim ok so I'm going to go for it. So much for my day of rest...

Marie

Thanks all for the well wishes and prayers. I'm excited about my second cataract surgery now that I know what to expect and what the results will be. I'll check in as soon as I can!

Marie, I did another load of towels tonight and leaned the new solid doors up against the opening to see what the difference was. Now I'm afraid that once they are installed I'll never hear the dryer buzz! always something!

I hand knit {usually baby hats and bootie sets} but considered getting a machine at one time, I thought the setup would be more trouble than its worth? I have a bit of yarn stashed away I had intended for a sweater that I've been considering pulling out and making a rectangular shawl out of. Maybe when it gets cooler here!