Good morning! How was everyone's Mother's Days? Fortunately no one tried to take me out to eat -- my kids know better! But I heard the restaurants were absolutely packed.

DH and I leave for New Mexico on Saturday, so it's going to be a busy week getting ready. And with the new baggage rules, I only get to check ONE suitcase! Guess I can't have a different pair of shoes for every outfit.

Anne, you're closing in on the end. Hang in there!

Lily, we are all so proud of you!! You are one tough (calorie-free) cookie.

How's every doing this rainy, cold morning? (at least here in Pittsburgh )

This was a tough weekend food-wise. It was Lacy's B-day party, Decoration Day at our cemetery, plus Mother's Day. My food choices werent' great, but weren't horrible either. I managed to only eat one piece of cake so that's good for me.

On a happy note, Shane called and wished me a happy Mother's Day. It was such a relief just to hear his voice. He sounded very happy and just said they are so busy he mostly just doesn't have time to call. He's getting at most 3-4 hrs. of sleep per night. He did buy a new laptop computer and should be getting wireless internet soon so he can then keep in touch better. For now we are posting messages to him on Myspace just by chance he might be able to read them sometime.

His unit was moving last night to a new location, so I still won't have an address to write to him anytime soon. The call was brief and I could hear others telling him to load up in the humvee as we were chatting.

On an icky note, Molly got sick this morning and I've been awake cleaning it up. (that is why I'm up so early). Now she is tucked away in the backyard and I'm heading back to bed.

Oh, BTW, still 100% smoke free. 10 Days, Oh Yeah.

My sister and I went to lunch in my old home-town yesterday. We ran into tons of people who knew me from high school and whom I haven't seen in years. Everyone told me "I'd know you anywhere, you look just like you did in high school". LOL, it was a good feeling, but unfortunately I didn't recognize most of them. What felt really good was most of them never saw me fat and have no idea that they wouldn't have known me then. Gave me great incentive to keep this weight off.

Samantha has her divorce and custody hearing this morning. (she decided after voluntarily signing over custody to the EX to change her mind and try for custody). Why not, after all MIL is footing the bill for all her legal fees! DH is going to court with her , I am not. I want no part of it.

Lily, I'm so glad you've heard from Shane. What a nice Mother's Day treat for you. Congrats on being smoke-free!!! Very cute how no one knew you ever got heavy. I can't say the same.

Meg, rainy and cold here too. Very unMay like. One suitcase? That just doesn't seem fair.

Mother's Day was very nice. I got flowers and a beautiful dress from my girls. I stayed POP and ate wonderful food all the while.

This felt kinda nice - I walked into my Mother's building yesterday with my 3 daughters (16, 18 & 20), and there were 2 men standing by the elevator and one said, "Now, I know there's got to be a Mom in there somewhere, but which one?"

Have a great week everyone.

Morning everyone.
Meg Good luck on the packing.
Lily I'm glad Shane called you
Robin Oooh, great comment

I didn't read at all last week so congrats or hugs everyone. I am firmly ignoring all the candy my kids bought me. If I wait they'll eat it.

Hi everybody. 28 days left. Well, maybe anyway, as the boy almost decided to arrive on Saturday. I was in the hospital with contractions 3 minutes apart, and after some debate they decided to give me some meds to stop it, which thankfully worked. Not that I don't have mixed feelings about that truth be told, but at 35 weeks, I'd like him to cook for a couple more at least.

I have a nasty cold (again) on top of being monstrously pregnant and it just seems like it is never going to end. And did I mention my pelvis has come unglued, and it seriously hurts to do just about anything? I had a little breakdown on the phone with my mother yesterday and just sobbed and sobbed, until DH came and took the phone and figured out with her that there was nothing really wrong.

Meg, congrats on your anniversary and have a good trip.

Lily, I'm so glad you got to talk to Shane, and good for you for staying smoke-free.

Robin, not very spring-like here either, with the thermometer reading 100 yesterday! What a great compliment you got.

Joy/Lisa, back away from the candy.

Hello to everyone else. I'm still lurking, but my brain is so saturated now, I'm losing track of what everyone is doing. I'll try to check in next week and give you all an update on the drama.

Anne

Hi Ladies,

I'm still here but don't post too much, as you know. Sorry about that but life has been so, so crazy busy. Things are starting to settle down a bit so hopefully I will check in more. I'm still plugging away. Trying to get back down to 137-8. I've been on plan for the last week and feeling much better. Haven't weighed yet becasue I'm afraid that seeing a high number on the scale will bum me out and send me into a feeding frenzy. Actually, I feel pretty in control and that feels good. I'm planning to weigh later in the week to see how I'm doing and keep myself accountable. My clothes are definitely feeling loser and I feel more muscle-y, thanks to all the working out.

Mother's Day I managed to stay on plan. We went to Village Inn with my MIL, dad, DD, DH, BIL and SIL. A couple of people in the group were having dental problems so that was a good place for them to go so they could order easy-to-eat pancakes. I had a veggie omelete made with Egg Beaters and it was superb. Absolutely great and I was so happy we didn't go to a buffet.

Lily, I'm so glad you got to hear from Shane. He is always in my thoughts and prayers. My son is 22 and I can't imagine how worried you must be 24/7.

Hang in there Anne. You are on the home stretch now.

To everyone else, Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Pam

Hi everyone! Happy belated mother's day to the moms!

Anne - I'm glad your labor scare ended okay.

Pam - great job staying on plan on mother's day!

Robin - what a great compliment!!

Lily - congrats on staying smoke free! Hearing from Shane must have been a great mother's day present.

Meg - have fun in New Mexico! Now I'm jealous, I totally want to go there!

I had a pretty successful weekend. I'm only up 1lb today from Friday, and I usually am up 2-3 from water weight on Mondays so this is pretty successful for me. We went out for Indian food Saturday night and I limited myself to a pretty small portion. Gone are the days of eating two whole orders of naan by myself! Last night's mother's day dinner at the in-law's was pretty healthy too. My FIL cooked as a gift to MIL, and he made lean burgers, salad, broccoli, and fruit. Of course there were also the trader joe's cheese puff appetizers and frozen chocolate cake, but those are always there at any dinner at their house, so I was glad the dinner was healthy. I had two of the cheese puffs, half a burger, a big salad, a big pile of broccoli, and a small piece of the cake. No wine, no potato chips! I feel pretty good about it. Calories even would have come in on plan had I not snacked on a bagel with cream cheese earlier in the day.

Our garden is coming along great, and I can't wait for the harvest! Our peas are nearly 2 feet tall now, we've been harvesting baby lettuce leaves and baby bok choi for a week or two, and the tomato and pepper plants are about six inches tall. We also have sprouts coming up of the beans (you wouldn't believe how many varieties of beans DH bought), melon, herbs, carrots, beets, spinach, radishes, etc . . . Plus our two little raspberry plants we bought are starting to flower (though if they don't grow much bigger this year we'll only have about 5 raspberries!). The peach tree has little mini peaches growing too. Plus, our CSA starts at the end of this month! So much good food. Who knew I would end up as such a fruit and vegetable lover?

Lily-- I am so glad you heard from Shane!!

I'm off to work and I'll check in later, but I just needed a little motivation and reminder this morning to stay OP! I think I got it from all of you wonderful folks-- thanks!

Good morning!!

After a wonderful weigh-in last week, I'm up again this morning. What gives? Sure we went out for lunch yesterday (but I had soup and salad) and my breakfasts have been totally on plan--even dinner is on plan. I don't quite understand what happened there.

If you read the no excuses week 3 post I just made, you'll see that I have to have my formal skirt let out as I didn't make my goal. Sure I could wear a different skirt--but this one just looks better. I might also try getting a new one if I can get out shopping. But that's just what I don't need--another full length black skirt (I already have 3 in various sizes and styles). Thankfully I got each of them at discount places so I didn't spend much on any of them--one I think I even got for $20 on close-out!! I've spent more on it on dry cleaning! LOL

Anyway, today is day 1 of my week on the beach (South Beach, that is). Egg whites and soy sausage for breakfast. Meatballs and broccoli for lunch. Chicken and broccoli for dinner. I'm kind of modifying the phase 1 a little. No grains or starches at all, but I am allowing myself any vegetable--including some that they consider "off limits" due to the glycolic index.

Anne~take care. I hope your cold goes away soon. What a way to spend Mother's day weekend! Baby--stay in there a while longer!

Lily~I'm glad you heard from Shane. Can you believe you were in my dream the other night? You were required to do some weird thing and you didn't want to because you hadn't heard from Shane so a bunch of us went before a judge for the judge to decide. The judge told you to go home and wait by the phone!

Meg~I've heard about that new one bag rule. So you HAVE to check your toiletries because of all the nonsense about liquids (unless you can get by with those tiny amounts in a zip lock bag). What do they want us to do? Check our toiletry bag and carry on our big bag of clothes? I wonder how I'll fare when we have to fly to meet our cruise ship--cruises require so much extra clothing!!

Happy Monday, everyone! I had a nice Mother's Day at my gram's where I ate too much, but that's okay because I intended to eat too much. :-) Sometimes it's fun to put 90% of your calories in one meal for the day just to feel extravagant! I even had a piece of pie - fresh strawberry - but I didn't eat the crust. Lots of sugar, but that's okay.

Today was the start of my summer term. Nursing school SUCKS by the way, if you want to have a life. sigh. Oh, well. Half done at the end of June, so I'll live. On the bright side, my days are planned for the week. Food service on campus doesn't operate in the summer, so I'll pack my lunch everyday and that keeps me on plan. I don't have to leave home until 6:45, so I had time for a two mile run this morning, too. Now if only someone else would do the homework...

Also - the scale loved me today - down two pounds. If it's still down tomorrow I'll get to move my ticker. YIPPEE!!!!

Alison, I know that Alaska Airlines is not imposing a one-bag rule, at least on flights to/from Alaska, maybe throughout their system. The others are charging $25-$50 for a second bag. I'm also betting that 1st class passengers are not restricted....

I've had a really crazy Monday, and I'm so ready for it to be over. On the up side however, I did interview the perfect person for a summer job we have open, and she can start right away. Yay! Now if it would only feel more like at least spring.

My brain is dead, so I'll just to all of you. Anne, hang onto that boy a little longer. May I assume this is your last child?

OH YEAH!

Hmmm, I've never in my life had to check more than one suitcase and my motto for packing is usually "when in doubt, take everything." Granted, my largest suitcase is pretty big (and I always use my two carry-on limit), but maybe I'm not taking long enough vacations.

This week's dinner theme is going to be swordfish because I accidentally bought too much and it's too expensive to freeze, so we're going to eat it while it's fresh. We had Spaghettini with Swordfish Ragu last night and we're having it again tonight. Tomorrow it will be Malaysian Lime-Coconut Swordfish (but with lemons instead of limes because my lemon tree is producing and the lime tree isn't).

Robin: What an awesome compliment! You do look fabulous!

Traci: I made your cabbage today and it was fantastic! I just broiled a wedge (1/4 of cabbage) in the oven with 1 tsp olive oil, some lemon pepper, and sea salt. It did come out really melty and yummy (and it didn't seem to smell at all). Maybe I'll try some garlic paste on tomorrow's wedge. I notice you are in Iowa. Are you going to nursing school at the University of Iowa in Iowa City? I got my undergraduate degree there (in English, not nursing).

paperclippy: Your garden sounds awesome. I wish we could grow raspberries but we just don't have the room. I've actually considered (only very briefly, it was really more of a fantasy) renting a plot of land at a community garden just to grow raspberries. I consider raspberries to be God's most perfect food!

wndranne: I'm sorry you having such a miserable time with this pregnancy.

Lily: I'm glad you heard from Shane!

alinnell: Good luck with South Beach. I'd definitely have a hard time giving up veggies too. I consider doing sugarbusters for a while but finally decided I couldn't give up corn and corn products.

Meg: Where are you going in New Mexico? How long will you be there? I love the southwest United States, but I've never really spent any time in New Mexico.

What a crappy Monday. Full of stress and anxiety and running around.
I kept thinking that if I was a smoker, I would have been smoking, if I was a drinker, I would have been drinking.... and then I was fighting the urge not to eat poorly! My true vice....sigh......it rears its ugly head as usual.
Work was very busy-- my Mondays always are.
After work I had many stressors with my daughters. One daughter had two appointments-- one at the ortho and the other for an allergy shot, so we were running already. To top it off, my older dd was stressed out over several things including a medical problem. She rides horses and was bit by something last week. She thinks it was probably a tick. She has had a headache for several days and then this morning when she woke up her jaw was killing her and she couldn't close her mouth. So, immediately I'm thinking Lyme Disease, so I make her a doctor appointment. In between this, I'm trying to pick up medicine for myself for a misdiagnosed medical condition-- of course, I get to the pharmacy and the medicine isn't ready. The doctor is having my dd tested for Lyme Disease but the results take a week to get back-- I guess we just worry in the meantime!
I had the ingredients all bought for a great dinner but there was no way I could get it made so we ended up eating out (healthy and within plan). My dh is also out of town for the week of course-- he always goes out of town when one of the girls has an issue it seems. I also refused to use my stress as an excuse not to exercise so I made it to the gym (I hate the gym on Mondays as it is always so crowded).
I have to count my blessings though. So many people in China who have lost their lives or their homes, and many people affected by tornadoes here. I have to put my issues in perspective-- my minor trials and tribulations are petty in the long run-- just frustrating at the time!
I'm hoping Tuesday is better!!

Hi everyone, thanks for all the comments about my hearing from Shane. It was wonderful.

rockinrobin, that was a very nice compliment you got.

Lisa, good job with ignoring the candy.

Pam, good job staying OP on Mother's Day. We eat at Village Inn sometimes and I'll need to try that omelet sometime.

michele, I'll remind you to stay OP today cause your post reminded me to stay OP. I hope your Tuesday goes much more smoothly than Monday and hope your DD doesn't have Lymes Disease. Keep us posted.

Allison, LOL at your dream with me wanting to wait by the phone. I try not to just sit by the phone cause that would make for a very long 400 days.

traci, I definitely agree that nursing school sucks. I went through it too, but it will pass and you're halfway through. The world needs lots of good nurses and I'm sure you'll be one of them.

Barbara, that swordfish sounds really great.

I think today makes Day 11 without a single cigarette. Yesterday was super stressful (with SD's custody hearing) and I wanted to smoke really badly. But, I told myself it wouldn't help a darn thing and I resisted smoking. BTW, full custody of the 2 older boys were awarded to the father . The baby must have a paternity test and for now is to remain with the mother. (the dad wants custody of the baby too if it proves to be his kid). I think DH's family all hate me cause I wasn't upset that she lost the kids. Oh well, they will just have to get over it.