We are going to friends (my skinniest one! ack!) but I am taking the angel food trifle of Katie's and another friend is taking veggies--I'm sure there will be fruit. I have full intentions of making it just fine--I was perfect for close to 6 months so I know I can get there again--just re-train the brain!!!!! I even got out the Power90 DVD--and did it!! Sometimes I just get it out--haha. All for now--I NEED a shower. really

Hey everybody! Dh will be getting the smoker going early in the A.M. for chicken and pork loin. While he's doing it, we might throw on a turkey too. Then we'll put what we don't want to have now in the freezer. We even portion control it and vacuum pack it. Works great for throwing in our lunch coolers on really busy days.
Our garden in starting to come in and I cooked a huge pan of zuchinni this morning with lots of onions and lots of garlic! Neither of us liked zuchinni until I tried a recipe off the net that called for 4 cloves of garlic for 3 zuchinni... At first I thought it was crazy, but we tried it and loved it! Now I'm cooking zuchinni and yellow squash the same way.
BoosMom - Lea Ann, it's so great to "see" you! I asked Joni about you this morning!
Okay, gotta go get ready for work.
Happy Fourth everyone!

Pearl--it's great to see you too! I am afraid there is more of me to see than when you last were around... All is well. I was not a zucchini fan (unless it's zucc bread!) until we started cooking it on the grill. Our current favorite meal is "chicken butt" with grilled zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and asparagus--yum..

Hip Hooray! Went to WI and I've lost 3 pounds since Friday! That officially puts me at the 20-pound mark!! Woo Hoo!!!!

Went to the school and moved the rest of my stuff out of my old classroom and into my new one. All that's left is my bookshelf and two file cabinets and the custodian said he'd move those. He's such a sweetheart! All those mornings when I got to school and surprised him with breakfast from McDonald's have paid off! That's really not why I do it. I just love him to death and don't like the fact the so many people at school treat him as if he's their personal servant! DH and I will have to go one evening and take my t.v. out of the room and mount it in the new room.

As we were leaving school, DS said from the backseat, "Mama, we haven't been on a date all summer! Last summer, we went on lots of dates!" Any time he and I go to eat without DD or DH, he refers to it as "a date." So we went to Chili's. I had the Guiltless Grill Salmon and steamed veggies, so I did just fine and stayed POP!

Lots of rumbles heading this way! Big storm coming. I sure hope it passes in the next hour so DS won't miss his swimming lesson!

Holy guacamole Tina...look at you go on that summer challenge. You are down 12 lbs in just a little over a month!
That's fantastic! Hope DD feels better soon.

Lea Ann - you mean your DD didn't come home just to be with you???? Here's to your staying strong. I've been tempted to go back to my COD, but they don't seem to be offering any great deals, so I'm just hanging around here. I think it helps me to run a challenge vs. just participating in it. I think playing the healthy lifestyle game is just easier for some folks than others. Don't be too hard on yourself. The important thing is to keep trying and not give up. Darn, I was about to email you to see if I could borrow that Power 90 DVD!!! Your ears must have been burning. I remember when I first came around here you were doing that faithfully...then you stopped because your WL was stalled....did you learn anything from this lesson???

Norissa - you too...stay strong...we can all do this!

Look out upstate New York.......Kim's behind the wheel!!

Pearl - sounds like you're going to have a smoking good time tomorrow! enjoy. That zucchini with tons of garlic sounds yummy!

I'm going to eat pasta and ground turkey breast/tomatoe sauce for my early dinner tonight (healthy version of a pre-10K race pasta party). I've got to get up around 4:45 AM tomorrow to go do the big July 4th race. It's all fun.
Lots of work to do so I, too, am shutting this down for the day. Happy 4th to all and be good.

Quick edit...Felicia...congratulations....20 lbs is a lot!!! Love DS' comment and glad he got in his special date.

Pearl - I love reading your posts. You just have a great and genuine personality from what I can see! Yes, Mini Me is my daughter. A few threads back I posted a picture of us with our heads leaning together and most people think I just spit her out. Whatever that means.... My fluffy white cat is cuddly. The other one on occasion will rub against me and let me scratch behind his ears as he purrs and drools but that's about it. No holding or even attempting to or he will resume plotting my death.

Katy - Welcome! We'll keep you POP!

Kim - It's good to hear you're recoupping so fast from your gallbladder surgery! I broke my leg a couple of years ago two days before the last time my daughter left to visit her father. It was so frustrating to not being able to do everything by myself and not have anyone to help out. As determined as I always am, I got through but with a lot of cursing. Grocery shopping with one crutch and a cart for balance is a challenge, but doable I discovered!

Tina - Sorry to hear about DD being sick. Hope she feels better soon!

Carrie - That cat is more like a dog so most dog people actually like him a lot. He was the family dog until the real one came around! Sorry to hear you overslept this morning. Can you workout tonight? I prefer to run and bike at night and let go of all of the stress of the day.

Barbara - The siamese blood really makes them quite the characters doesn't it? He's just a big nutty furball. No grace, always happy go lucky. The two cats are complete opposites. Sometimes they get along and will hang out together and sometimes they can't stand to even look at each other. I guess 10 years in the same space of each other will do that. He and the dog probably hang out more and stopped trying to figure out what the other is useful for. And the straws.. that's funny. S**tty Kitty loves the glass holiday ornaments. He can't resist taking one each year and hiding it behind the chair! He doesn't break them.. just takes it and hides it. He also likes the dogs toys. Anything the dog eats or plays with must be shared! Good luck being POP tomorrow! Plug your ears when the donuts are near.....


Lea Ann - I'm sorry to hear you're stuck in that bad weather. I hope your parents home makes it through ok! Hang in there with POP thoughts.... you can do it!

Heather - Too cute about DFS! Glad to hear the extra rolls didn't sabotage your WI! Good job!

I don't think I'll have trouble tomorrow staying POP. My whole neighborhood turns into one big bbq on the holidays. We're right on Mission Bay with the perfect view of all of the fireworks so we don't have to leave for anything. Everytime I step outside someone is inviting me in for beer and food. I think the beer will be the bigger temptation but knowing I have to be up at 4AM the next morning will probably keep me on track. I usually just go for a run or a bike ride when I don't want to hang out and drink with people but that will be tough tomorrow. It's bound to be very crowded outside.

I was looking at a friend's diet diary and she's on WW. Looking through it, I guess I'm just a bit surprised by the plan and what she eats. It doesn't look very nutritional to me (I'm a bit fanatic about nutrition) She drinks twice as much diet soda as water and the other food is low calorie, but empty in nutritional value. I am very happy with the LAWL plan and feel of all of them out there, this one is the most reasonable and smart. For those who get discouraged, just keep in mind that this is a very smart plan and will work when you get back on the wagon! Might not be as fast as we'd like, but it is healthy and will train us to eat properly for the rest of our lives.

Ok, time to snooze between shifts. I'm running out of time. Hope everyone is having as great of a day as possible!

Hi everybody

Lea Ann & Norissa- I totally hear you about re-training your brain. I am having the same problem. I do really good for a few days, see a good loss and then decide I can slack off, and end up right back where I started.

Pearl- I welcomed you back in last weeks thread, but just wanted to say again how great it is to have you back around!!

Kim- Glad you are getting better from your gall bladder divorce!

Heather- WTG on the lb.!!

Kristen- I am also praying for you to find your ring. Along the note that Angie left, I have a friend that also lost her wedding ring that was her great grandmothers. She also prayed to St. Anthony and then the very next day, she found the ring.

Felicia- I love the house pics, it's gorgeous!!

I found out that my problem that I thought was evil PMS turned out to be crashing potassium levels and spastic colon (similar to IBS) attack. Gave me all the physical symtoms and aches of PMS. So, got the spastic colon under control and eating bananas and spinach along with my potassium pills and I think I am on the mend. Now if I can just remember when that dang TOM is supposed to show up!!!!

Tomorrow we have a BBQ and fireworks next door. I am bringing veggies and they always have yummy fruits out, I think I will be OK, I can always run home and grab something if it's all bad stuff. Then we are going out of town for Thursday and Friday. I am planning on being good, but my best intentions don't always work out like I want them too.

Carrie, Letisha, Tina, Cassi, Joni, Britt, Katy, Dan, Liza, Barb, Angie, Allanah, Jillian, snowdogs, Karen, Katie, kim2, nicole, Amy, Paula, Holly and everybody else . Have a safe great 4th and a great weekend.

Felicia--congrats!!! 20 pounds is awesome!! WTG on your date

Joni--I don't learn lessons--haven't you noticed that about me??? I am hoping that since I haven't been really eating well OR exercising that I can shock the old body into something new. Gotta say--I have to drag my a$$ to exercise but once I get started I really love the feeling--it's just those first 5-10 minutes!! Something has to give--eventually. And on the subject of DD--oh please--eyeroll--she is already at her friends house. She slept on the couch because she couldn't bear sleeping "so far away" from us and all alone in the other side of the house--then griped at how noisy we are in the morning--poor baby--didn't get to sleep til noon--wahhh...

Deb--EXACTLY--I do great--lose 4-5 then think--wow--I've done so great I'll just have this little something and boom--it's back. I have no doubt my metabolism is wrecked from dieting for so so so many years but hopefully if I can get back into exercising that will help. I fondly remember times when I could eat what I wanted because of exercise and youth--what happened??

Congrat Felicia! that is wonderful.

Liza - I agree completely about WW. You can use all your points on birthday cake and potato chips....you'll probably still lose weight but how healthy will you be. LAWL is much more balanced.

If I don't have a chance to post again today I hope everyone has a great 4th and good luck staying on plan!

just wanted to pop in and say hi.

Hi everyone
We made it safely to Wisconsin, and my parents got a new computer, so I just may be able to keep up a bit!!! That makes me happy. I stay OP so much better with you all helping

I took 4 yo DS to the ENT today, and I think we are going to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out, and tubes put in his ears while we are here. I dont want to do this, but it is best for him, I guess.........

I am going to Summerfest in Milwaukee today to see John Mayer. I am going to stay OP, and that's all there is to it

Have a happy 4th everyone......I will check in soon again.

Congrats to everyone on their great losses this week........and if you didn't have a loss.........hang in there..........it will work
XOXO

Nicole - glad you have access to the 'puter! yipee. Sorry DS has to go through all that, but doesn't just about every kid have those problems??
Oh, I used to love Summerfest....say hi to John for me and have fun. Be good or else!

Lea Ann - are you feeling the love yet from DD? I think I'll do an exercise challenge and make you co-captain...okay?

Liza - so true about WW. As I recall, I could have 10 beers for 20 pts. That works for me!! Seeing the fireworks from your own neighborhood sounds so cool. Enjoy the day.

Hey Jillian...........

Nicole - Sorry about your DS. Joni's right, though...those procedures are becoming much more routine. A guy that I work with took his daughter to have tubes in her ears and she came through it just fine.

I'm glad you all are not too incredibly chatty today...I can actually kinda catch up. Ok, I'm just skimming

DD now has a 101 temp off and on along with her cough. She feels great after the tylenol and then slowly goes downhill from there...until the next dose. Unfortunately, with all of the coughing, she's not getting much sleep. All prayers are welcomed...

Oh...and yes, Joni...I'm shocked at how well the 5 week thing is going. This is week 5 for me, but I may just extend it for a while...I'm liking the results...