It's official, I have the flu.

Gross.

Zen- hope you are feeling better soon!

Daisy- good luck on getting to your goal!

Mango - I have the same curtain issues - LOL! I can't workout at home knowing the neighbours can see me. DH thinks I'm paranoid.

Ollie- I had a bad week too so I will be joining you on the dieting wagon on Monday, save me a seat.

Gaia & Ginny - those concerts sounded like fun!

I spent several hours this afternoon going through a box of paperwork and shredding or organizing them, very boring and somehow mentally exhausting - but I am determined to get every aspect of my life cleaned up an organinized by the end of the year.

morning, alternachicks!



Zen--hope you feel better i just got over a...i don't know what that was, but it sucked.

Mauv--so far so good. and good luck with getting organized this year. that's something that is on my perpetual to do list.

The window thang--i know this much is true! i was exercising in our spare room and then my g-parents gave us an extra bed, so my spare empty room turned into a guest bedroom. the only other option for me was the living room, which is complete with a HUGE window facing the street and sheer curtains. so, today, i am chunking the extra bed to the garage (we moving in a few months anyway) and reinstating my workout area. it's time to do this dam thang.

on a brighter note my buttercups are blooming meaning spring is coming!

Well, my weekend was great until about 3 hours ago. I hit a bookstore, picked up all the Sherrilyn Kenyon books I've been missing, along with Vegonomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (I don't eat a whole lot of cupcakes or sweets, but I have a niece and nephew, and a vegan cake book is always a good investment for when I have kids of my own). I hit Miami with my sisters, my mom, and my sister's friend. We spent Friday through today there, shopping and spending time with my grandmother who pouted whenever we wouldn't let her pay for a meal. But overall it was fun, especially when we stopped in Orlando and had lunch at Disney.

Gaia What was so bad about 3 hours ago? Hope everything is okay. I read a little of your blog. Sorry you are going through so much! Definitely doesn't help with the lifestyle change. Stay strong.

Doing well so far this week. Haven't exercised yet, but I am hoping to get a little balance ball and yoga in tonight. I'm also going to make a huge pot of vegetable soup when I get home to eat all week. Yummy.

Hey there everyone! I haven't been online properly for what seems like an age! My working hours and the fact I look at a computer screen all day mean the last think I wanna do when I get in at 10:30 or 00:30 is get online, but yay, I'm catching up now

I started off well, losing around 8lbs by the 1st week of feb, but the week after saw me put on 3lbs(?!) in alcohol and silly junk food choices. I've jumped back on the healthy eating wagon, but my exercise is still lacking. I'm SO tired all the time I find myself sleeping till the last minute and going to work, coming home, winding down for a bit and sleeping again! I started running at the start of the year, only to find my right knee was too weak to cope, so I donned a support, which then just seemed to make my ankle hurt... my final conclusion is that running = pain and I can just about afford a gym membership so I'm scouting about for the best deals around town

I'm really excited because I just bought a pair of walking/hiking shoes in the sale for my holiday in the summer in Namibia. This is one of my biggest motivators at the moment. It's going to be a pretty active holiday, we're moving almost every other day to a diff part of the country and doing a lot of walking and activites so I want to be in tip top shape so I don't miss out on anything

I hope all the alternachicks are having a good february and if not, it's nearly over

One thing after another!

I haven't weighed myself for nearly two weeks, so I've no idea what's going on there...and last night was the first time I cooked for myself in who knows how long. As for exercise, well, there was a long dry spell in that area as well.

In the last two weeks, I have been to the emergency room once, my physician twice and my allergist once due to a freakish (oh, and I do mean freakish!) outbreak of inexplicable hives. It has been very frustrating because I cannot pinpoint a cause. Originally I believe it began as a reaction to Lunesta, which I only took 3 times. I can discern no pattern to the recurrence however. My allergist says that sometimes happens as hives are usually a response to several things in combination and tend to spin out of control for awhile. I don't like that answer. It's too much like a shoulder shrug to me. But I have been off the steroids now for over a week and haven't had an outbreak for 2 days.

Oh and please don't say it's stress or I'm likely to reach through the bandwidth and strangle you.

I know it's not stress, and my physician(s) and therapist have concurred, because I am actually feeling quite on top of things. Also, I'm taking a meditation class and have joined a meditation group and am feeling rather great about the direction my life has taken lately.

My only problem is these lovely pink blossoms spouting willy-nilly over all my bits!

I haven't been around all week either due to work and getting everything set up for a conference which went really well but thank goodness it's over and I can get back to my normal routine. I haven't been eating well because of all the extra work and running around.

I am in desperate need of restocking the fridge but will have to wait until Monday to do that.

Heidi - ugh! Sound like you are having a rough time of it. Hope the hives clear up soon!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

I'm at my parents' house right now- and loving every minute of it! My mom is like a fun-loving hippie confidante; confused as to why I'm going vegan and a little frustrated, but supportive nonetheless. Today was the first day of true veganism, and I feel pretty good, except for, as mom put it, "doing something to get your butt in gear."

Woke up this morning and thought I should apologize for saying I'd strangle people over the internet. not nice! As you may have gathered, I'm a bit sensitive to that as every little old lady who's seen me in full bloom as said "oh honey, that's stress." Rather condescending I'd say.

So, sorry. I'm really not a beeotch.

Its cool. I break out randomly all the time, no one knows why. For me it just goes away if I don't scratch it, but then, I'm am the perpetual definition of odd and unusual. And lovin' it, btw. ^_^

Oh man, so with the flu they decided to go ahead and run a full blood panel (glucose, cholesterol, the works).

Apparently my TSH level was around 15 and so an ultrasound and some other hormone checks later, I am now the proud owner of a bottle of levothyroxin.

It does make me feel better because some things I've been equating to stress are actual symptoms of hypothyroidism.