Ammi- Awww thanks darl, I always try to make it exciting and mind-blowing for him and trust me that's hard. Last year I made him a neon sign with his nickname "heavy-duty" LOL. The year before I "made over" his balcony with astro turf, a barbecue, live palm trees and a camping table and other trimmings from ikea like a tea light lamps. It gets harder every year!! The problem is, good secrets are so hard to keep!!! :lol: OK i will take your advice and go for Pizza!! Good one!! I have to admit though, the very next thing will be the rarebit :devil: . I admire you guys, I would never have given up chocolate- I would have no chance of success and would have been smited for sure :lol:

Catherine- Are you seriously making a diet book! When I wrote that I meant any book, cause I think you are SO funny... Also LOL scale roadkill.

Tarra - WTG!!! :cool: keep up da good work!

AMMI-Yes I had to get some tests done for melanoma. I still need to get a good bit more checked but I was told to just watch them. That is why I thought this was all crazy. I had a scare with it now my DH may be and my cat has it??!! It just seems so strange.
And I just wanted to say I am happy you all came to a decision about your mom.:hug: :hug:

TARRA-WTG on losing 11 pounds!:bravo:

CATHERINE- I hope you and your DH get well soon!:hug:

KYMBERLY-Good luck at your weigh in!:) :goodluck:

Have a good day everyone!:hug:

Tarra WTG on losing 11 pounds!!! Great to see you posting again.xxxxx
Mechelle, sorry about hubby AND your kitty, I hope both aren't serious & get better soon.xxxxxxx
Chimichanga, WOW you are talented AND imaginative!!! ok, I could do the astro turf, but no electronics!!! lol I have trouble wiring a plug & switching the pc on!!! Next year how about turining up at his work in a mac, with nothing on underneath!!!! lol by then you'll be so slim & gorgeous!xxxxx
Ammi, big hugs, I'm glad you made a decision about your mum, at least you & your sis will be close by, rather than the other side of the world. You've had such a hard time with this & you're still losing weight & being strong & supportive to others too, YOU ARE REALLY SPECIAL!!!!xxxxx
Annie, glad you got the $20, whats your next 'destination'? how about Wales to Derbyshire?lolxxxxxx
Xena, great to 'see' you, glad you're busy rather than ill or depressed, I always worry when regulars don't post for a while. Hope the tests go well & you're enjoying studying again.xxxxxx
Luan, WOW what a busy life you lead!!!! All I do is housework & look after my boys, how boring at the side of you life! I'm so jealous!!!xxxxxx
Well TOM is due, but I feel great, apart from a little tummyache. My weigh ins are now Fridays & I allow myself an extra bar as a treat, I can't have them the rest of the week as for some stupid reason they 'make' me want to keep eating!
Lisa how are you doing, in ketosis yet? It feels great, apart from the bad breath!!lol I'm having to take meds to make me 'go', I'm having trouble with that but otherwise I'm really loving it & not half as hungry as I was. Have you found some flavours that you really like now? Hope the scales have a HUGE drop for you!xxxxxx
bye for now,
xxxxsharon

Hello All,

Well my Cousin rang and I have finally had all my questions answered. My mum passed away on the 5th of February of congestive heart failure. Her funeral has actually taken place, it happened on the 8th of March! I can't believe it went ahead without me even knowing about it, but it does help that I know now that with mum's ashes coming over here I will be able to give her a little send off myself, with my family of course. So it's all very real now, and I am feeling pretty blah, but I shall pick myself up again and start giving thought to a memorial service for her etc. Thank you all for listening yesterday and again today and for all your advice about what to do about mum's ashes :grouphug:

Luan - wow 15 hours days, you must be exhausted but in a good way. And what's this about a cute boy, I must have missed something while I was away. Do tell all!

Tarra - I don't think I was here when you first joined, so a belated :wel3fc: from me. I am amazed at the amount of weight you have lost, that is really brilliant, and congratulations on another 11 lbs down. You must be thrilled!

Catherine - I am glad you are feeling a bit better, I hope it won't be long until you are back to 100% well.

Heather - how is your hubby doing now, how long will he be hobbling around on his crutches? Is he driving you mad yet :)

Kymberly - I hope your team moves up in the comp, or it not, definitely stays in the same spot, it will be nice to get a cash reward for all your hard work staying OP and exercising. You are right that when the comp finishes you must still stay on track, what will you use as another great incentive, any ideas?

Annie - I was wondering how they would ship mum's ashes over here, I guessed it wouldn't be a normal delivery. I hope it's not going to be too expensive for my Aunty to get mums ashes sent here, I really don't think they are going to recoup much of their money from the sale of the lease on mum's place and my sister and I don't have savings we can offer. So I just hope it's not too expensive. I might do some research on the Net when I am done here while I wait for that phone call. Thank you for telling me about your mum and what you did with her ashes.

Chimi - wow you sure do know how about great gifts, I love what you did with his balcony, that must have been such fun? I bet you organise some great parties too like for 40th birthdays etc? Any tips, I have Daren's 40th coming up this year and am stumped for ideas on what to do, keeping in mind it will just be me, him and the kids celebrating the event.

Michelle - my memory isn't as bad as I thought, I am glad I didn't get it totally wrong about you having had the skin cancer scare yourself. I didn't realise that was what's wrong with your kitty too, how very odd that you, and hubby have got to be tested, and that your kitty actually has skin cancer, it's not as if you live in a country like Australia where the incidence of skin cancer is really high. Well my friend I hope and pray hubby will be OK, your skin stays cancer free too, and that your kitty will pull through his surgery with no problems :hug:

Sharon - sounds like you are really getting in control with the diet, and I am so glad you aren't so hungry anymore. How long do you have to cope with the bad breath, I guess Steve won't be wanting lots of kisses for a while :dizzy: Can't wait to hear how your WI goes on Friday. It's so weird to hear you say that your treat will be an extra bar when before your treat was a curry or something! You are really doing great sticking to this diet, I am so happy for you!

Ok I better make a move now, my sister should be home from work now so I am going to give her a call. Take care all,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi -- Glad to hear you have news of your mum (though it's too bad about the funeral). Planning a memorial can be sad, but also healing. Good luck!

Hubby is getting better. It was quite a bit of work to care for him at first, and he was in a lot of pain, but he can hobble around now okay. From how quickly he's recovering it seems it wasn't a stress fracture but more likely tendon or ligament damage. He was actually a pretty good patient and it's been nice to have him around!

Ammi i am glad you finally have the answers to your questions about your mom. now the healing can begin.

How is it that I've not posted on this thread at all yet this week? Oi!

Anyway, giant hugs to Ammi :hug: It is so great to see you back and posting again, and you know I wish only the best to you and your family.

Man, it's not even 10am yet--today is going by very slowly for me so far.

Oh, I found the engagement ring I want. I found it at 3 different stores, but none of them have it on their websites. I have literally looked through thousands of rings online, and I can NOT find a picture of the ring I want! So frustrating--and for whatever reason, the stores will not allow me to take a picture of the ring (which I don't understand AT ALL). Anyway, it's white gold with a round diamond in the middle in a 4-prong setting with a square-cut sapphire on either side of the diamond, but they are tilted so they are actually diamond-shaped when you look at it instead of square. There are also 5 small round channel-set diamonds on each side on the band, and there's a bit of a design in the gold on the band as well. I like it because it's different from the usual engagement rings, and I really didn't want all diamonds, so I'm pretty excited about it. Now it's just a matter of decided what diamond to getto put in the setting and who we're going to buy the setting and the diamond from.

Hello everyone

I've been to busy studying for boards to post but I do come here to read and get support and help me feel more OP, funny, but my Sesquecentenial Vanity Liscense plates on my car say optimistic (spelled differently though because of the 7 letter limit of course) I look forward to reading Annie and Catherines posts Catherine keeps me laughing and Annie you seem like the sweetest person in the world. As far as what I am doing now....hhmmmmm still sitting here looking for employment feeling like such a loser and not in a good way. I haven't lost any weight but haven't gained either so thats a possitive thing. I took my Boards yesterday and sitting here dying of curiosity to know if I passed, I won't know til Thurs. or Fri. I didn't feel good about it while taking it, I went in feeling OP and not even nervous...that was a strange feeling for me..now that all is said and done I cannot get the questions out of my head and whether I answered correctly and doubting myself big time right now about if I passed....Jeeeesh giving myself a headache over this...lol. I've got to put my mind to more constructive thinking like exercising the stress away. Well I hope all is well with everyone and thanks for listening to me....

hey everyone

well it serves me right. Everytime I call in sick and I am NOT I freakin get SICK! I am eating sparingly but running to the bathroom quite a bit. On the bright side I should have a decent weigh in on Friday LOL

Just finished planning my menu for the week...Think I will grab some crackers and head off to bed with my electric blankie. Maybe that will fix the aches. At best, I will sleep till its time to go to work *L*

Brenda :wave:

Annie – Congratulations on winning that race! That is so cool. I agree with Catherine - get something naughty! :devil:

Karen – I can’t believe that your brother was so brash with your mother’s remains. Unfortunately people can behave in really weird ways when they are grieving themselves and not understand how their actions hurt other people who are also grieving. You can see that so clearly in families that lose a parent and the spouse gets so wrapped up in their own grief that they almost forget about their own children. I really hope you are able to reconcile things with your brother now that some time has passed.

Catherine – Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well. That sounds like a great idea to help other people out with their immigration process once yours is fully through. I briefly considered immigrating to Canada and decided against it due to the difficulty of the process. It is definitely the one government bureau with the least accountability, because the people it services aren’t voters and can’t complain to their representatives.

Peggy – Traveling can be really difficult, also depending on who you are traveling with. However, often on trips you do a lot of walking and if you don’t go crazy, then it can balance out pretty well.

Brenda – Your office sounds so supportive. That is great that they hide the goodies from you. Luckily my office is small enough that we don’t get much food brought in. I do the buying of the office supplies and make sure to buy things I don’t like all that much. Sorry to hear you are feeling sick!

Jane – Now that you mention it, I think I will have to grab a grapefruit next time I am at the store. I can’t remember the last time I had one. The ruby ones are so tasty. If you did a bunch of eating out with your hubby then no movement on the scale is a good thing – good that it didn’t go up! I am sure that it will head down again very soon.

Lilion – I hope the home improvements are going well. I keep telling myself I will try and wake up before work in time to get some exercise in, but it doesn’t happen. Good for you for getting even 10 minutes in.

EmilyMay – It sounds like work has been brutal for you. Glad to hear you still sound so chipper.

Carolyn – Moan away! It sucks to be doing everything right and not have the scale move. However, I am sure you will see it go down very soon!

Lisa – It is great to hear that you are hanging in there and doing so well. Hopefully this weekend you won’t need to go into work.

Michelle – Sorry to hear your DH might have melanoma. I hope they are able to test it and find out soon. That is also scary about your cat. I will be sending :goodvibes: your way on Friday.

Luan – I meant to tell you before that your new beau is quite a cutie! It sounds like things are going great for you.

Tarra – I don’t think I added my welcome before. Congrats on being down 11 pounds – that is amazing! You are SO CLOSE to being out of the 5’s! Have you set a reward for yourself when you get there?

Ammi – I am really pleased that you were able to talk to your family and come up with a good solution for everyone. I feel the same way about my mother’s soul – that it isn’t tied to where her remains lay but that she is off somewhere on the next step in her journey.

Kymberly – My fingers are crossed for you for your weigh in tomorrow! I am sure you and your team will do great next week. No matter what you are all still winners for having made great progress.

Chimi – You are an amazing present giver! Now I know who to ask next time I need an idea. :) The Astroturf on the balcony sounds really fun!

Sharon – It sounds like you are doing so well with your new plan. I would definitely expect to be really hungry all the time.

Heather – I am sorry to hear you hubby is still in pain, but at least there is the bright side of having him at home. Oh, and the spa thing sounded fantastic! That is so great that you treated yourself like that.

Jill – I am glad you found a ring you love, but that is so disappointing that they won’t let you take a picture. When you do get it we definitely want to see!

Julie – How long will it take to find out if you passed your boards? The waiting must be agonizing! Exercising is definitely the most constructive way to deal with the stress.



I am doing pretty well right now. I feel like I am really back on track with everything and feel really strong about what I am doing again. It feels so good! I am a little concerned about going away this weekend to visit my parents (I was supposed to go last weekend and couldn’t because of snow). It will be somewhat emotional because they just sold their house and will be moving in about a month. This is my last chance to visit the house I grew up in (where I was brought home from my birth to). It will feel really weird to not be able to “go home” any more, although I know in my heart that it is the people and not the place that really matter.

I picked out my glasses on Sunday and can’t wait to get them in. They are really different from my last pairs – much more subtle. They only have wire on the top part of the frame, although the lens had to be on the larger side than the ones in my pic to fit the bifocals. As soon as I get them I will take a pic.

Well, I am supposed to be working today so I had best get to it. Happy first full day of spring everyone (except Chimi and Zelma, and in that case happy first day of autumn).

Nancy~ good to hear that you are back on track. It is so easy to fall off the path but so darn hard to get back in the right direction :hug:

Brenda :wave:

Chimmi-I’m about half finished with a book tentatively titled “the laying in bed diet.” It’s not really exactly a diet book. It’s more about how someone could get to be the size I did, and how I climbed my way out of it. It’s unfinished, because so am I. I don’t know how the story is going to end yet. I don’t think of myself as being funny, just cranky. My mom didn’t really have a sense of humor, and my dad was an Irishman, but he only told really corny jokes. We did pull a few practical jokes, usually on nuns or priests. I spent a fair amount of time Murphy Oil Soaping the pews in church in penance.

Michelle-I’m feeling better, but I still made him go for ginger ale this morning. He of course brought the regular 200/cup stuff, which I won’t touch. He has a book launch this afternoon, so I’ll have him take them back tomorrow. He didn’t do it on purpose to sabotage; he’s just clueless most of the time. I think it’s on the Y chromosome. Were you guys living under a hole in the ozone layer up there? Ammi’s right, that would make sense if you guys has been in Australia. I knew a family once that all got skin cancer at the same time, and they found their microwave had been leaking.

Ammi-I’m at that in between stage between “too sick to care” and “well enough to function.” I’m looking around at things that need to be done, and mad that I don’t feel like doing them. I’m glad you are starting to find out the things you need to. Having a memorial for your family there is a great idea.

Jill-a lot of ring designs are copyrighted, that’s why they won’t let you take a picture. Once you own it, they can’t stop you. As for the diamond, I highly recommend Canadian. They are very pure and white, and you know they aren’t conflict diamonds. They etch polar bears on the bottom of them.

Julie-I haven’t worked since 1992. I had a boo-boo to the head, and kept forgetting my client’s names, so the Bar asked me real nice if I wouldn’t mind retiring. All that money and time invested in an education that I can’t use. I have definitely felt like a loser many times, but you can’t think that way. There’s a niche for everyone, and yours just hasn’t come yet. When I took the bar exam, I was convinced I had passed as I left, but as the weeks went by, I was more and more convinced I had failed. When the day came that the results were finally going to be posted, I couldn’t bring myself go to over and look. They posted at 9am, and my mom kept calling, finally at 3pm, she just drove over and grabbed me and took me to the Association. I couldn’t get out of the car, so she had to go look. They post on a Saturday on the outside of the closed offices. She went up the steps and started doing this crazy dance. That’s how I learned I’d passed by watching my mom make a complete fool out of herself on the steps of the Bar Association.

Nancy-I may not be able to vote or complain, but my husband can. Our Member of Parliament is a personal friend, and with himself just being awarded the Order of Canada, you’d think that would light a fire under them. Not so. They keep all their procedures classified so they can work without much oversight. There is a new minister of immigration, so there’s hope that she’ll clean up some of this mess. They named her after an Immigration appeal judge was caught with his pants down with an immigrant that was before his court. At least our MP is allowed to actually talk to our immigration officer since we aren’t. They have to respond to MP’s within 5 days. He actually took the tracking number of our mailing so he could know exactly when they received it. If they don’t finish my stuff soon, I’m just going to explode. The waiting has become sadistic. 14 months and counting for an uncomplicated case. I’d understand if I had a criminal background, or used to work for Israel intelligence or something like that.

I remember that last trip to the house I grew up in after my mom sold it. The doorframe where our heights were marked, the garage where I used to hang out with my dad, the big tree we all loved, but blocked the sewer line with roots ever year. Just remember that you may be losing the house, but you get to keep the memories.

Hi ladies. I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for your support and kindness, and the occasional kick in the butt that I need. I'm feeling a bit better and will definitely try to post more.

Hi Sharon! I don't know if I have gotten into ketosis yet for sure, but I must be approaching it because I am not quite as hungry. I still do get hungry though. I am sticking to this 100% and I have found two soups, one hot cocoa, and two puddings that I like, so that gives me variety everyday. It is still hard to keep having the same old stuff, but I guess it will get better in time. Today is Day 14 and tomorrow I go for my WI. I'll let you know how I do.

Take care everyone! I'm going to a play tonight, so I won't be posting tonight, but I'll fill you in tomorrow after my WI. Talk to you guys later!

Lisa