[BillBlueEyes]

We're into that lovely part of Fall of cool mornings and evenings with pleasant days. I saw a toddler in a T-shirt, iPoo, LOL. Walking outdoors often brings surprises, but T-shirts on toddlers hadn't been on my list of things to look for before - who knows what I've been missing.

[Mudpie]

Good Morning everyone!

I'm back from Chicago. Had a wonderful time - walked everywhere - literally!

And I'm up 2 lbs.

DH cooked dinner for me last night (and brought me roses) but tonite I take charge of the stove again. He has his doctor's appointment today so I imagine he'll be in diet mode for quite a while. I will join him for a bit.

Got a bunch of stuff to do - will check back later with an account of my adventures.

Great Monday all!

Dagmar

[paperclippy]

I keep having issues with 3fc where if I try to post a message with smilies in it, I get a message that says "The following errors occurred while posting this message:" but then there are no errors listed, just an ok button. And it takes forever to load. Anyone else seeing this?

Bill, LOL about the shirt.

Dagmar, welcome back!

Michele, yes, I fasted, although I think I ate more than enough at dinner to make up for it.

The weekend is never long enough. Yesterday DH and I took the dog out to a state park. DH went for his 8 mile scheduled long run (he's training for a half marathon). I took Carter for a 3 mile run, then went on a hiking trail there for about 25 minutes, then realized I was going to be late to meet DH so we ran back to our arranged meeting place which was another 1.6 miles. Didn't feel too bad at the time, but I was wiped out afterwards and I'm sore today. It belatedly occurred to me that even though I took a break in the middle, that adds up to 4.6 miles of running, which is .6 more than I've ever done and I haven't run for two weeks so I'm a little out of shape.

Oh yeah, one more thing -- Carter let us dremel his nails without having to use the muzzle yesterday! Woohoo!

[Megan1982]

Morning all,

BF finally returned home Saturday evening and I was happy to see him, and happy to get a full night's sleep. He brought me some really good pickles and salsa he bought from an old man on the side of the road in the NC mountains. Saturday I went to a very enjoyable Director's workshop given by someone from my community theatre group. Hopefully I've picked up some tips for when I direct in the spring. I'm still bogged down with trying to get our fall season going. I'm having trouble matching people who want to director with plays they like. The current Board of Directors president asked me if I wanted to be president. My response was something like "Umm... not really... I know you need extra help right now and I'm willing to help but I don't have enough time to be president with my job" (former pres is retired). And she basically ignored this and foisted everything on me. Ahhhh. I also realized I only have 2 weeks to tie everything up before I leave on vacation. I'm very excited about vacation, but it's a rush to get everything done before I leave.

Jessica, way to run! In a year or two I'm sure Carter will give you no problems with his nails.

Dagmar, how nice of DH! Glad to hear he's helping you out and cooking, too.

Bill, iPoo, that's funny.

How was everybody else's weekend?

[alinnell]

WTG Jessica on both the long run and the muzzle-less dremel session! One day I'll have to have someone take a short video of me turning Chico during his dremel session--he just lays on his back and I reposition him from doing his front legs to his back (or vice versa depending on where I start). He's like a wet noodle and never even thinks about trying to get away.

Dagmar~glad you had a nice vacation.

Bill~cool? Not here, we're expecting 106 today. I'll be thankful when we do get cooler weather.

Megan~that's too bad you got dumped with all that work. I hope it works out for you.

Not much going on here. A lot of little things to do at work today--stuff to keep me mildly busy, but that's it. We went to see Easy A on Saturday and The Town on Sunday. Both very different movies but I liked them both. A lot.

[traveling michele]

Hi Bill, Megan, Jessica, Dagmar and Allison (and everyone else),

Sounds like everyone had busy weekends.
Me too....
Fasting on Saturday really threw me for a loop. I was exhausted and couldn't think. We went to services twice and a bridal shower and I was wiped out. First day I didn't exercise all month but there was no way!

Yesterday I worked, drove dd and her boyfriend from a museum, shopped, went to the gym, paid bills, etc. Dh went out of town again-- this time to Dubai and then South Africa. He is having troubles with his phone there and with the time difference I doubt I'll talk to him much this week.

It is a wild and wooly week-- way too much to do-- feeling overwhelmed again..... sigh.... wish I had time to stop and breathe.....

Dd saw Easy A (actually both of my dd's saw it in different places) and they both loved it.

Megan-- just say NO! I know-- easier said than done.

Dagmar-- how was the weather in Chicago? Glad you enjoyed your trip.

I'm back to work now.....

[traveling michele]

Forgot to mention that I'm finally seeing 123 on the scale (last 3 days). Hoping to hang on to it this time!!

[paperclippy]

Megan, I hope you clear up the issues with the community theater! Remember last time and make sure you don't get yourself overworked.

Allison, it's hot here too -- forecast high of 94 tomorrow. Ouch!

Michele, congrats on 123!

I'm trying to figure out last minute travel plans right now. My grandmother passed away today and her funeral is this Saturday. Right now I'm trying to find a reasonable price on last minute plane tickets to fly to New Jersey Friday night and back on Sunday. I'm hoping it's okay with my parents if I fly in to Laguardia instead of Newark because it's about $200 cheaper. My dad said I technically don't have to go, but everyone else is so I feel like I need to go to give my mom moral support. I barely knew this grandmother and she was 95 years old, so while I'm sad that she passed away, I'm more concerned about the feelings of my mom and aunt.

In other news, I don't know if you remember that before I mentioned that my other aunt was also not doing so well, but she is out of the hospital and doing much better now, so there is some happy news too.

[thesame7lbs]

Jessica, I'm sorry about your grandmother. I hope your mother and your aunt are OK. If I'm not mistaken there are lots of transit options from LGA into NJ, so if no one can pick you up you should be able to get where you need to go. Are you a Jersey girl? I grew up there.

Bill, I might have to hunt down that iPoo shirt for my DS. And write, "A lot" underneath.

Megan, I'm glad your BF is home. My husband travels some and I never sleep as well when he's gone.

Michele, I've never fasted but it sure would be change from my constant snacking! In fact it's one part of Beck I never did -- she suggests you not eat from breakfast to dinner one day to reinforce that hunger is "not an emergency." I didn't do it b/c I picked up Beck while I was training pretty vigorously and figured I could try that when I was running less. That's be now. ~sigh~

Allison -- picking up from the last thread --- I am often up in the 5's -- DS is 21 months old and an early riser. But I just can't go to bed early b/c the kids don't go to bed until 8 and I need all the quiet time I can get in the evening. Rest vs. Sanity -- a constant struggle in my life!

I've been a lousy maintainer and I'm up 4 lbs since Friday - bleh! Time to get serious.

[Mudpie]

I stayed OP in Chicago for 4 out of 6 days. Usually I gain 5 lbs. on a week-long vacation but this time it was 2, and I think part of that was sodium from popcorn at a theatre on Sat. night.

I think having my own kitchen made a huge difference, as did buying a lot of my own groceries for lunches and snacks, and the city's culinary reputation.

In NYC it's all about eating out at night and being seen in all the new trendy restaurants. In Chicago there are fabulous meals to be had but that's not the main focus of tourism.

I planned for one great meal and dessert and had just that on Thursday night at a place called the "Atwood Cafe".

I also sampled two of the things Chicago is famous for - deep dish pizza and the italian beef sandwich. I had a smaller lunch portion of the pizza and used the sandwich for lunch and dinner (with a salad) on Wed.

All of these were pretty big calories splurges so I went really light on my other meals and snacks on those days as well.

I also walked for at least 3-5 hours every day and ran up and down a lot of stairs (Chicago has a bunch of different street levels joined by staircases).

So my vacation maintenance was a success and I now have a plan I can utilize in any North American city.

Great Tuesday all!

Dagmar

[traveling michele]

Jessica-- I am also sorry about your grandmother. Yes, it is important to be there for your mom. Hugs.

[Shannon in ATL]

Good morning everyone! I didn't make it here yesterday, busy busy busy. The reunion went well, most everyone didn't recognize me. Even reasonably close friends that I wouldn't have figured that from. Also, several people who would never have spoken to me in high school were coming over trying to chat me up. One gentleman was disappointed that I didn't recognize him, so I told him that he had never spoken to me before that night so shouldn't be surprised that I didn't remember him. Funny. Had a little more to drink than was wise so wasn't the best Sunday, and had my shoes on for essentially 12 hours between wedding and reunion so my toes are still a little numb this morning, but I'm recovering. I have eaten loads of salt the last few days along with too many calories Saturday and Sunday, so am working on flushing that out, too.

Jessica - so sorry to hear about your grandmother, and happy your aunt is on the mend. It is important to be there for your mom, absolutely.

Dagmar - glad you had a good trip! Sounds like a great vacation maintenance plan.

Amy - I'm with you on the getting serious and the up four pounds. Here to a great week for us.

Michele - high five on the 123! And, on surviving the fasting. I don't know if I could do it.

Allison - you guys go to a lot of movies. That is cool. I haven't been to one in weeks...

Megan - sorry the theater thing got dumped on you. Sit her down and tell her that you just don't have time to do all of this and she has to find someone else, don't let it make you crazy.

Bill - that shirt is funny.

Good day everyone!

[alinnell]

Good morning everyone!

Jessica~sorry about your grandmother, but really, funerals are to comfort those left behind. It's good that you're going.

Shannon~we do go to a lot of movies. Especially in the summer. It's a way of escaping the triple digit heat. The hot spot in the nation yesterday was Indio--about 10 miles from here. We were only a couple digits behind them. Glad you had fun at your reunion.

Amy~I think one of the reasons that I'm an early riser as that is my sanity time! Ever since the kids were little I'd get up early to get myself ready before I woke them--I really hate being rushed in the morning and I just don't know how I would have done it all at once (ie. get myself ready and the kids ready and be out the door and not late for work/school). Also, I really like reading the paper with my morning coffee. It's just habit, I guess. And I've been a real lousy maintainer lately, too.

So my Mom went into the hospital last Monday for what she thought would be an overnight stay and she's still there with no hope of going home for another few days. She has severely blocked arteries (she's had a couple heart bypasses as well as stents in her arms and legs). This time she got three stents in her lower leg (the one she broke a few years back) and a graft farther up the leg. The surgery was a success and it has ended her pain but her blood viscosity is at 1.6 (started at 1.0 after surgery) and they want it up between 3.0 and 3.5 before they release her. They've doubled her coumadin (blood thinner) and can't go much higher without fear of bleeding (which she did Saturday--all over apparently). Also her normally dreadfully low blood pressure (seriously, normal for her is like 80/40 or less) is up to 190/120 which they're also concerned about. But I guess with thick blood your pressure would go up. And now her oxygen sat rate isn't good so she's on oxygen. Then she choked on a pill yesterday and couldn't cough it up and eventually threw up all of which caused severe throat irritation (duh). Other than that she feels really good.

Oh, and I have a preliminary count for my Thanksgiving! We're looking at 23 to 24 right now which is up from last year (14) but down from my high (28). Just found out that one of my cousins got divorced this year which is too bad as we really liked her husband. They'd been married over 25 years, too!

And this morning I have a sore throat. Perhaps I caught what DS came down with last week. His cold started with a sore throat, too.

[alinnell]

Sheesh! I got on my laptop this morning and my battery was low...plugged it back in and nothing. The kitten has now eaten through TWO power cords! At $80 each! The first one, Apple was kind enough to replace for free as my computer was less than a year old, but I'm going to have to pay for this one. Anyone have any ideas? I coated the cord with bitter apple, but it doesn't seem to phase the kitten. I guess I'll just have to not plug it in in the family room any longer. Ugh.

[Shannon in ATL]

Pet Protector Cord

Allison - do you think something like this would help?