[redballoon]

OK, right, I remember you talking about your blood, which was a bit beyond me. I'm glad you found out about that problem and can control it. Well, I've got to get out of here now. Nice talking to you!

[stormy1]

Red, sorry the song lyrics depressed you. It should motivate and inspire you! I keep my cheat days on Saturday b/c of school, parties, etc. I know that I will always cheat on Saturday. That is why I weigh in on Wednesday also. The only reason I weigh in on Sunday also is b/c it is the official weigh in day for us on the thread. However, I go by my Wednesday weight on my tracker.

NBK, sorry about my abs. I have just never had a big problem with them. Yours must not be that bad if you let your bf put his feet on them! Those vending machines remind me of when I first moved to TN. In Louisiana you can go through drive through daquiri shops. As long as a little piece of tape was over the styrofoam cup it was legal. When I moved here and I asked about a drive through daquiri shop people just looked at me like I was nuts.

[redballoon]

stormy, I will try to turn around my usual depressing outlook on life and be motivated!

[HAL123]

he he he.. stormy.. i wish that was the case. I just figure, if he wants to put his feet there then he can. Personally i wouldn't cos I might never see them again! but oh well...

Umm yeah I've heard of the drive through daquiri shops before.. has anyone in La heard of "if you drink then drive you're a bloody idiot!"... hmmm oh well to each their own.
and yeah red.. you be happy and motivated!

[redballoon]

Heh there! Everybody sleeping I guess. Hope to hear from you in the morning. I got in late from work, no time for a decent meal. Damn! Eating some junk, just something to grab. Have a story to still write and it's bedtime! Must be up early tomorrow. Oh darn it again!! Hope everyone is doing better. Where are you all?! Grasshopper, kjk, michi, crime girl, come out again. Seems like today was mostly stormy, nbk and myself. Oh well.. . .

[redballoon]

Good morning! I'm up. It's 5 a.m. Ugh, double ugh! Where are you all? Working hard? This (sunny face), by the way, is not the way I feel but I am doing the smile first the good feelings : will come later thing.

[HAL123]

Good morning! Sorry i haven't posted am working flat out at the moment and my wrist is getting pretty sore from all my spreadsheeting... grrr sometimes I hate excel! anyway had a good workout at the gym last night..more about that later!

Tiff

[redballoon]

Good morning, NBK. Looks like we're the only ones up in the world yet. It is only 3:30 a.m. on East Coast Stateside. I am considering canceling riding today and I hate that but I still have not finished that damned article. It's next to impossible. The guy said nothing and I'm pissed that this is taking away from other things. It's apparently really, really cold out and I'm worried the ground may be frozen anyhow, which means I won't be able to ride. Would schedule later but have to be home to do this volunteer interpreting tonight. Why, oh why do I get roped into these things? Last night too, at work, I called the meeting because I was sick of everyone on the desk complaining but doing nothing about it. Of course, this meant I am hurting because it took my time to work on the article. Damn again! Oh well. I suppose I have to participate more or get out of the place. I am so sick of going out and shooting the bull with the guys over beers and having it end there, in a dazed, crazed drunken nothing!

I'm feeling tighter all over by the way. Maybe just a bit dehydrated. It doesn't really mean anything. Got a pair of jeans out yesterday that don't stretch and am going to use them as a measure to gauge my weight progress. It was really disheartening to see that I can't even get them closed. They used to be loose. There was tons of chocolate and stuff at work yesterday but I only had a teeny bit. Made a big salad. Ok, when I got home I ate some junk crackers and snack kind of things but still it could have been so much worse.

[Crime girl]

Sorry - not posting today..please forgive me. Frantically behind in school so it was exercise or post today and I picked exercise. So- I wont be on until tomorrow- have 300 more pages to read and a couple of other school like things to do..
Egads!
Someone shoot me, would you?
Hope you all are OK! Have great day today!

[stormy1]

Hey! Typical Monday for everyone it seems. I just got it so I need to go and workout.

Red, use those jeans to motivate you.

NBK, the nice thing was instead of going to a smokey bar after work you could just go through the drive in and drink it when you got home. Sometimes the convienence things can be bad. Here I am too lazy to drive to the liquor store to get the stuff to make a daquiri. In Tn, you can not even get a bottle of wine at the grocery store. I only drink once in a while, like maybe once every two months but I would like things to be more convienent when I do want something.

[HAL123]

Stormy - sorry I wasn't saying you were a drink driver, i was thinking more from a kiwi point of view.. there is no way those containers would get home still sealed! I know one day, not long after I moved up here, this woman almost took me out turning right (left type turn for americans) into my street, she was trying to steer her hillman hunter (big old english car) and drink jim beam from the bottle at the same time. No seat belt, her kids were jumping around in the back.. grrr. NZer's have a bit of a binge drink mentality...I understand about not being able to buy a bottle of wine at the grocery, when I was in australia last I got so frustrated because in the state of Queensland, you can't buy alcohol except from a bottle shop associated with a pub, so prices are phenomenal, even for beer! I mean australian wine was more expensive in australia than it is here!

As for smokey bars, well on the 10 of december last year, they made all bars and workplaces smoke free in NZ. IT is so nice to go out and not wake up smelling like pub carpet...

hmmm well back to the spreadsheet from ****
food good today so far.. don't talk to me about yesterday!

[redballoon]

Heh guys, just in from riding. Am so tired because I was up really early to work on that damned story. Now, the guy's been calling me and I really just want to take a nap because I have that interpreting thing tonight and I have to have a good bit of energy to do it. Just bought some autograph boards I'm hoping I can get the guy to sign. I'm not an autograph hound but I know some people that would love to have the autograph from a four medal Olympic athlete so I'm going to try.

*******

Crime girl -- you made the right choice!! GOOD FOR YOU!! I am so happy to see you exercising like you've been. You are just amazing with everything you do just know I think so, OK!?

stormy -- you're right, I'll try to think of just easing into those jeans and having them loose, me able to breathe, bend any way, yes, heavenly! I've been so used to stretchy things but I actually do prefer the feel of non-stretchy fabric, yet tight in key spots, like jeans and tailored jackets. Ok, gotta stay up! God, I'm going to want a glass of something tonight. I'm getting excited about meeting this athlete. Athletes and people with real talent really get me excited! Because I know the dedication and the work they have to put into things to get where they get. It's not about looks. It's about guts. About the liquor, I've from Pennsylvania and that's like one of the driest states around, only hard liquor and wine in state liquor stores and try finding one of them and beer only at beer distributors. It seems so weird to think about now, especially having lived in Germany and Japan, where alcohol can be had just about anywhere and here, well, any time of day or night.

NBK -- I can't believe that woman drinking whisky out of a bottle driving. Poor thing, really, eh? I've been, cough, cough, known to knock a few back, binge mentality et moi! Here I come Kiwiland! But no, you know when they're drinking out a bottle we're probably not talking happy drunk, right? I don't know about the smoky bars. I don't smoke anymore and I hate having to wash all my clothes (dryclean, coats etc.) after a night in a bar but I know so many people that just love to smoke and it would really make them unhappy. Sure, it's unhealthy but I think they should have a choice. I think there should be more smoke-free places or better ventilation. I think I draw the line at pubs. Everything else can be smoke-free as far as I care.

[stormy1]

Red, when is your interview? I bet you are excited. I too hate to have to clean my clothes after going out. I also have long, thick hair which tends to suck up the smell. Have you worked out this week. I bought a new Pilates tape that I did on Sunday and I was so sore yesterday. It is funny how doing exercises really slow and paying attention to the body can make you so sore. I have a hard time with Pilates b/c I tend to have a hard time slowing down. The exercises on this tape is pretty similar to the Pilates one that I already have, maybe only two different exercises. However,I must have done somethind different this time.

NBK, when does winter start in NZ? Is it around July or so? Bite the bullet and b/c a diver. It would be a great thing for you and your bf to do. We love it! The only bad thing is now whenever we go on vacation all we want to do is dive. For us, this usually means leaving the States, which can be expensive.

CG, have a good day at school. I hope that you caught up with your reading,etc.

I hope that everyone else is doing well. WE miss everone! Little GH, I hope that you are enjoying time with your family. Michi, I hope things are going better. KJK, come back! Jacque, I hope that you are doing okay.

[redballoon]

heh people. Just back home now. After 11:30 p.m. God, it's been a long day. Did so many things. Working out was not one of them but I did ride and walk so exercise was done. Stormy, it wasn't an interview, it was just interpreting at a press conference dinner with about 30 people and this medalist. He was OK, only 22, a nice guy. I am so tired. I will catch up with you all tomorrow. Hope to see some more action around here!

[little grasshopper]

Hi guys! Wow, a lot has happened. I didn't get to read everything. I will after my doctor's appointment. I have to get all the junk back out of my body.

Thanks for the support while I was gone. I guess "weightloss-wise" my trip was good but healthwise it was horrible!!!! My grandmother kept getting more and more angry with me because I wouldn't eat SOME of the stuff she'd cooked. I basically said I'd cook my own breakfast since everyone there eats cereal. She said she was cool with that but later was putting stuff in my food while it was on the stove (cheese - because I need calcium....I'm REALLY allergic to dairy!) or she'd pull it from the refrigerator and put margarine in it....She was just incapable of leaving my food alone an not putting her "two cents" worth into it. I would eat whatever she cooked for lunch - when everyone would come over. So it was lots of fried chicken and fried potatoes. Then for dinner I would eat a Salad that SHE MADE. But she was telling everyone there that I had an eating disorder because I wouldn't eat ANYTHING. Kept making me sandwiches 15 minutes after I'd just eatten - right in front of her - and then get mad at me because I wouldn't eat them and not talk to me for another 15 - before getting up and making me something else to eat.

It's not like I didn't tell her before I went. I swear if a person could be abusive about food - she is. She loves you and that's why she does it - this need to feed everyone that comes through the door...but somehow if you don't take her food everytime it's offered she thinks you don't love HER. Frustrating! I was in a no win situation and decided that next year I will just stay with my cousin. I couldn't stay with her this time because she was on a business trip.

CG - the clorox thing is the fact that she mixes it with dish detergent - that makes a toxic gas that will make you VERY SICK. She has infazema really bad but will not stop making the clorox mix. Everytime she does her nose bleeds. Maybe the two are not related but it seems like a bad sign to me I had to ask her to stop washing my cup and my plate - that I'd wash it....she'd wash it while I wasn't there and put it back where I had it - like she hadn't done it. The stuff smelled so strongly that it would make my eyes water!!

I did my best to be nice and I know this all sounds like something I should have just caved and gone a long with - but I'm not on my diet for weight loss. By the 3rd day I was back on all my fibro meds. I even took them in front of Grandma hoping she would finally understand that I had an honest health reason for eating the way I do - but it never clicked...she said "if you'd eat something you might not be so sick."

I am trying to keep in mind that she is the "eat something, so I know you love me" extreme!! Otherwise it was a great vacation.

I have complained and *****ed enough now. I'm going to the doc to get straightened out now.