Happy Independence Day everyone! Hopefully we'll all be independent of the bad habits that have held us for so long...

Boosmom - I'm feeling ya. My scale was up 2.5 from a week ago. Though on Monday they said I was down 1/2 pound. I had some very salty almonds last night so maybe some lemon water today will do the trick. I haven't been good with exercise and I know that's a big part of it.

Mizz T - GREAT JOB! On Monday at COD there was a woman in there who was at least 70 years old. As she was leaving she told us she's lost 15 inches! The gal that did my WI is also overweight and we were laughing saying "Well there goes that excuse of not being able to lose weight after 30!"

Dan - How exciting! Good job!

Katy - Enjoy your laid back day. That's what I'm going to try to do even though my neighbor/friend is bugging the **** out of me and counting on me to be the big entertainment at her party. I need to get some sort of exercise today despite the big crowd camped outside.

Tammie - I'm sorry to hear you're still stuck in rain. I'll send sunny wishes your way.

Lettie - Wendy is right, back up as much as you can. You need to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows. It's a pain, but the Blue Screen Of Death will stop and it will run like new again.

Wendy - you've done a great job! Flaunt it a little on the beach today!

Jillian - Scooter is adorable! Lots of mischief in those eyes... and YOU are gorgeous!

Tina - I'm glad DD is doing better. She just needs lots of loves from her Mama now! Maybe you can enjoy the 4th after all!

Amy - Stay strong in Vegas! You can do it! I can see why you'd miss SD. I've lived here for 9 1/2 years and I still love every palm tree, every grain of sand and every sunny day. When I visit other areas, I just can't wait to be home again. Too bad our local government is so bad, it's going to take a while to get out of the "Enron By The Sea" scandals. I'm sure the cost of living in Sacramento is much more reasonable. It seems the harder I work and the more money I make, the more they take from me.

I just looked at my cell phone and remembered it rang at 6AM and it was from the chopper hangar. I turned it off when I saw that. LOL. There's no message so hopefully the place wasn't burning down. The other two chopper reporters were teasing me yesterday that I only work the weekends in that thing and they're in there everyday but I know more about what's going on with it than they do.

Ok, I'm going to start drinking some hot lemon water so I won't be all swollen the rest of the day and venture out to say hi to people. One of my neighbors fixed my yard up for me the other day so I owe him something nice. I was going to try to tackle it today and he beat me to it. Cleaned the patio, mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges and pulled the weeds!

Liza - hope the lemon water works! It usually does for me.

We are getting a serious downpour here right now. It started about 2 hours ago and is showing no signs of letting up. Good thing we didn't have major outdoor plans! I did inject a pork loin and had planned to grill it, but if the weather doesn't let up, we can always just bake it, so no biggie. Today is the kind of day that I used to gather the kids in the kitchen and we'd either bake cookies or bread. I'm really not ready for that temptation yet!

Happy 4th of July my American friends!'

It is smokin hot here today, and forecast that for the rest of the week. Today is supposed to get to 34 C and Friday is supposed to be 39C . I don't know what that is in Farenheit, but it is well over 100. Just got home from golfing - and wowie - glad we were done before noon!

Hope you will be golfing soon Kim!

Wendy - you look fantastic. Just get out that swimsuit and have a great time.

Jill - love the picture - you look fantastic to.

Tina - glad your baby is feeling better. You have done awesome with losses lately .... keep it up.

Dan - hope you guys can keep that fire under contol - nothing worse than fire. Good Luck - and by the way you look great.

Liza - hope your day is going okay.... I am sure you are missing minime - but, don't forget to have a life yourself. Enjoy that lemon water. I prefer my lemon with a salted ceaser, but I guess that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it.

Lettie - I don't know alot about the techical end of things with the computer, but I think that your problem - not a good thing. I kind of think that your computer might be toast. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. (don't let it set you back - stay away from the drive thrus)

Okay - I knew I should have taken notes - but duh .... didn't. So, I will just shout out to you all to have a great day, and where ever you are, hope your having a fun time.

LOL well as it turns out I don't think I need that lemon water. My landlady called and said she is going to stay the night here so she can be a part of all of the parties. She retired to Mexico so she stays here when she's stateside. I got off the phone with her and started cleaning like a madwoman. It's so much easier when Mini Me is not here to clean. So I found a blessing in the kiddos absence! Anyway, I think I've sweat out all of the excess water. I'm in a much better mood now too. I used to be OCD about housecleaning and everything being immaculate. Over the past year, after moving into a MUCH smaller space I've slowly let things go and haven't been happy. Maybe now EVERYTHING in my life is getting back on track!

Good luck getting through the heat wave. It's muggy and 80 on the beach. I'm going to go shower up now and get ready for my company.

I finally got DD to eat something...not much, but something. She seems to be feeling much better. We had a nice relaxing family day...didn't do much of anything but hang out.

I just found a really cool idea...I have been bombarded with crafts from my DD. Between her new preschool and kids church, my refrigerator is full of artwork and it's spreading through the house. So I was going to get a scrapbook or something cuz God forbid I actually throw away anything that she made.:) So I found this suggestion on-line...to take pictures of the artwork, etc., and only keep the really special ones. Then I can use the pictures to make notecards, collages, placemats...or knowing me, they'll just live in my computer. But I'm really excited about this!

Hey everyone!!! I thought I would check in. I have a pork loin in the rotisserie and all of the sides ready to go and we will be eating in about half hour. I have been POP today even at the softball game! So it has been a good day. However, I have not made any headway with packing and washing clothes and I leave sunday lol.

Ok I gotta run and check on dinner!!!

Have a great night!!!!

Hi,

Happy 4th of July to all the US'ers out there.

Today was going pretty good and then I got a call from my ex telling me that my Chancey had been attacked by another dog tonight about 630p. He said the vet said she was ok. He literally had to boot the other dog off of her. She apparently had a puncture wound on her belly and is on antibiotics and painkillers for awhile. The Dr left the wound open to let it drain and we have to try over the next few days to not have a scab form. I tell ya this is the type of call I dread where I don't have her all the time. I will see her tomorrow after work. He is going to confront the owner of the other dog and report it to the mini-home park owner as well. I am taking my camera tomorrow night too to get some pictures of it. I tell ya I had a good cry. maybe oversentimental but I can't help it!!!

Otherwise today wasn't too bad. Warm here. Back to work and on the phone again until the weekend and then next week after my birthday break I am back in training for 3 weeks.

I'll check in later....

Allannah i am glad she is going to be ok. Hopefully she will be back with you soon. Keep up the good work!!!

I probably wont be able to check in as much until I get back from Vegas. We had a very close friend of the family pass away yesterday she was like a second grandmother for me so I will be at the funeral home the next few days and I still have to pack and get ready for Vegas. So my time here might be limited but wanted to let yall know what was going on with me. I do go friday morning to WI and i will try to give you an update after that. So far so good this week so I am expecting a good result at WI.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!!:wizard::flow1:

Hey, what happened to Shannon? I haven't seen her post in ages. Rhonda is missing again too...and LIbby, and Sara, and UK Sarah...I could go on and on.

Pearl/Kim/Carrie -- Thank you for the words of encouragement. I did it, I weighed in. It was not great, up 4lbs due to all my eating out last week, but I'm back on track now. Okay, I ate 3 chips today...5 at the most, but really, otherwise, completely back on track.

Lea Ann -- That's pretty scary about your folks place and the flooding. I hope the water starts receding soon for them! I had found my happy-place for sticking to plan, before my restaurant spree last week, I just have to try it again. I think what I did before was be REALLY REALLY POP (no CCs, all fresh veggies, light proteins, etc) and then when I saw two good WI's in a row it kind of pumped me up. I need to get back to that too.

Heather -- Congrats on the pound lost!

Cassi -- The fruit kabobs sound totally yummy!

Snowdogs -- Thanks for the tips!

Barbara -- My cat and dog are pretty much cross-species lovers. They lick each other in the most unseemly places.

Pearl -- My mouth is watering, between the chicken in the smoker, and the fresh veggies from your garden -- yum!

Felicia -- WTG on your 3lb loss! You are doing so well. Good luck in selling your current home quickly. I'd love to see the tutu pics you mentioned, they sound so cute!

MT Deb -- Ouch, the spastic colon sounds painful to me. Glad to hear that you are on the mend though, and nothing drastic was needed to fix you up.

Jillian -- Hi! I love your new pic. You look great.

Nicole -- Hello in Wisconsin! I hope your DS surgery will go smoothly. Poor little guy.

Lettie -- Good to see you posting! Congrats on your 2.2lbs loss! Where is the job your DH has applied for? Sorry about the PC issues, I've heard of the blue screen of death too. I think at the very least you will have to reformat your hard drive. Save anything you can now to websites, or to disk, as it will be lost in the process.

Dan -- So cool to see you on that news piece! Wow, you're skinny! lol

Tina -- I saw an idea for keeping kids crafts...they just took an ordinary notebook and glued in the stuff. At least it keeps it all from flying around and getting ripped and stuff. I also have memory boxes for my DS, and I keep the cutest stuff and put it in there. Sometimes I amass a pile of stuff and then when it's a grandparent's birthday/mothers day/fathers day etc, I put some things in with the cards.

Alannah -- I am so sorry to hear that Chancy was attacked! How awful. Give her lots of extra hugs and treats to feel better.

Britt -- I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. I hope you enjoy your time in Vegas.

Glad that your DD is feeling better !! I hate when my kids are sick

Well - I am sorta a teacher ;) I am a para professional - basically a fancy name for a teachers aide ;)

Norissa - you ARE a teacher - just without the title. I had an aide in my class one year because I had several special needs students who only came to my class for a couple of hours each day. She came to give them extra assistance when needed, but she did SO much more than that! She was wonderful and helped ANY student who needed it when I couldn't get to him/her right away. It was great - like having another teacher with me. When I moved to another grade level, I missed her terribly!

Thanks Felicia :hug: I am still quite new at my job - I just started this past Oct, and just when I get used to things - school is out - lol When school starts back up I have a special needs kid (cute kid) starting kindergarten -- wheel chair bound - so my duty for the school year will be to be his aide - should be an interesting school year, I am looking forward to it - I think ! LOL

Good Morning! Sounds like everyone had a Happy 4th, even it it was a wet one:)

Liza - We did have a great day, even stayed home and watched the fireworks from the front porch....saw about 8 different "shows" that way and got to bed almost on time. I did find time to walk on the treadmill. Way to go on getting the house cleaned, it is easier without the kids around.

Tina - Glad your DD is feeling better and eating some. It is always a struggle when they don't feel well.

Britt - Vegas sounds wonderful, be strong but enjoy yourself. Sorry to hear about your friend's loss.

Hope everyone else has a great day! I'll check in later.

Boy -- you guys were chatty even without me yesterday!
I have lots of work so this is my check in for today and I'm off for the day -

Felicia - the "tutu" photo shoot sounds adorable (post a picture of DD modeling if you get the chance)...you are one busy/creative gal.

Liza - I see you had a good day off and now a clean house to boot.

Dan - wow...thanks for checking in and letting us know you are doing okay. It was neat to be able to see your picture and hear the sound bite as well. We could put a face AND a voice behind Dan the man!

Jillian - love the Scooter pics..awwwwwwwww

Tina - glad folks are on the mend at your place.

Alannah - hugs for Chancey....glad your ex got her checked out at the vet. Let us know how she's doing.

Hi all (Lea Ann, Lettie, Tina, Tammie, AmyLou, Britty, Wendy, Heather, Katie, Karen, etc.

I like what Wendelina wrote:

As for me....was not POP yesterday, but I did do my 10K wog (walk/jog) plus about 4 extra miles of walking to park, get to the start of the race, back to the car, etc. I was exhausted. I didn't even bother stepping on the scale this morning..I just stepped back on the program. Lots of work to do today so I'm shutting down my home PC and honkering down to get some work done so I don't have to work all weekend!

Joni - congrats on the run/walk! That's awesome! DH does triathlons and he said once, "Isn't it just so cool how Jeff and Lori (friends of ours) both do triathlons? It must be SO cool to do that together!" I told him it didn't matter if I weighed 120 pounds, I would never have any interest in putting myself through that! A run or walk would be nice one day, but I have no desire to do triathlons!

I stayed POP yesterday, but when I looked last night at the stuff I injected the pork loin with, I was horrified to see that it has 700mg. of sodium in each TABLESPOON!! I didn't use much, but MAN! I'm sure I'll go through this day all salted up!