Catherine: Hugs first of all. I can only imagine how scarry it would be to share your innermost thoughts and secrets. I so appreciate you being open and willing to share. As always you are so much an inspiration to me. I think what the film maker was talking about was a documentary. I did tell my husband that Roseanne should play me in the movie though. lol.

Blessings,
Annie

Catherine - fun house mirror would be great. I think a young Catherine Hepburn should play you - she could deliver those zingers with a straight face and get her point across - all with humor. She was one amazing lady but doesn't hold a candle to you.

I chickened out at Kohls - I couldn't do the mirrors again so I bought 5 pairs of pants and brought them home to try on. Three size 24 and two size 22 - the 22s fit. I'm overwhelmed. I am not sure I will keep both pairs because I do have some nice linen capris (2 pair) and another pair of dressy capris that can get me through the summer. This is when only working 4 day works really pays off. I should be set for awhile clothes wise - may need to pick up some new undergarments but that's not as stressful for me.

Hugs to you all,
Carol

So, I have been wanting some fitflops, but sadly I cannot get any. Why? Because my doggone feet are too big. I am about a size 13. Boo.... I want some.

Catherine, nope, not going to cook it. ICK!! Sometimes the best way to stay on plan is just one day at a time, heck, sometimes just one hour at a time. Will you be going on tour with your book?

Debi, it's $3.59 here in Washington State.

Carol, what great news!! I'm so glad you went shopping and had help there with you. I'm so happy for you! Look at you fitting into 22's and x larges!!! It's wonderful!! I can fit into 22s too but I don't feel comfortable in them yet. I'm used to the boot cut jeans and them being bigger in the bottom part of the leg, but these and my grey ones are a tighter fit. I guess I'll have to get used to it. My 24s are getting way too baggy too.

Annie, I would be sorta leary about the film too, if he won't even say where it would be shown and to who. Sorta creepy.

I got the veggy garden all ready. I talked to the dogs, :lol: and told them they have to stay out of it. I put string all the way around it which was sorta silly because now I have to climb over the strings to get to the garden to plant the veggies. :carrot: I always do things bas-acwards!!!! Sheesh!! Tomorrow the seedlings go in the ground. I also have to plant some violas and columbine. I just love the columbine. They are so pretty and remind me of something you would find in the land of fairies. Tomorrow we are going to the show to see "What happens in Vegas". I've heard some reviews and they aren't saying it's very good, but some of the critics just put everything down. I'm just gonna have a little popcorn and a diet soda and that's it....hopefully. I tend to get peanut M&Ms and put them in the popcorn too, and they get all warm and yummy......ok...stop talking that way!
toodles
Debbie

zelma - i would love to meet up with you when you are here too

julee - you should try to meet up with annie and i when shes here in a few weeks.

california. bringing fat chicks together :)

Annie - if youre not comfortable, dont do it. period. he says "he'll worry about that later" because he doesnt KNOW where it would be shown, or if it would get accepted to a festival. and if you do decide to do it, let me talk to him first. lol :)

Catherine - please PM me where to get your book too. :)

Luan - YES!!! I was hoping you would say you wanted to meet too. I don't know whether the three of us would be able to make a time to meet, or whether it will have to be two different times. We'll have to get ourselves sorted when the time gets closer. Our hotel is in the Hollywood area, but we don't mind travelling to get places. We may have a hire car for a couple of days, but not sure about that yet.

Debi - We're playing the equivalent of $5.50 a gallon at the moment. We're not impressed at all! We are trying to watch the amount of driving we do, but there are some weeks, like this coming week, when I have PD to drive to and it is NEVER close by. I would also have loved to make a surprise visit to Mum for Mother's Day, but it would cost a lot just to get over there, so I'm just going to have to be satisfied with a phone call.

Carol - It is wonderful that you fit into the smaller clothes. If it were me, I would buy both pairs of pants, but I became REALLY bad at spending money on clothes after I was fitting into smaller sizes. I am trying to be really good at the moment, while we are saving for the holiday, and you would think it would be easier, with TWO wardrobes bursting with clothes, but I STILL want to buy more, simply because I can fit into them. Sad huh?

Annie - I'm glad that you meeting with the seniors went so well. I don't know what I'd think about the man wanting to make a film of your story. I would put him off for the moment though, as I'd tell him that I wanted to wait until the story was 'kinda' finished, after I had kept the weight off for a few years. To me, the weight loss isn't really over until we prove to ourselves that we can keep it off.

Actually... I was just wondering how many of you have worked out how long you have kept a certain amount of weight off. I think I have read that if you keep weight off for 3 years, then you have a MUCH greater chance of keeping it off for good. Well, I have kept probably close to 100lbs off for 3 years, so I should never see that again. Now, just another year and I will have kept about 185lbs off for 3 years. I think I like looking at it in increments. A number of you lovely ladies would be able to say that you have kept 'some' weight off for a few years, so you should be happy that your body can wave that amount off for GOOD!

I have a strap on my arm at the moment, to try to convince my tendons to work from a different spot to usual, to rest the area just below my elbow. Hopefully that will be enough, with rest, to start the healing process.

Well, I'm off to treadmill for a while I think. I was feeling a little too tired before, but I will probably just start off slower (6.5kmh/3.9mph) for a while and see whether I am in the mood to go any faster, or to add an incline. In the mornings I usually walk at an incline of 4 and lately have been able to get up to 8km/h (4.8mph). I only usually do that for 20 mins though, whereas I usually do 40 mins in the afternoons.

Take care,

Zelma

HI everyone!! I am so excited!! I finally lost 40lbs!! I dont know why this last pound meant so much to me but it did!! I still have a long way to go but I know i can do it!! And keep it off this time!!
Carol_ im so glad you went shopping!! I knew you would be happy!!
Bernice_ glad you had fun at the picnic.
annie_ im happy you went to the senior thing!! I am so impressed with you and how far you have come!! My sister in law is considering weigh loss surgery. IF her heart dr will let her have it.
Zelma- My daughter isnt coming home from college as much as she would like because of gas prices.
realist_ i need to try and find some fitflops also...but dont know about the thing between the toes.
Well today is PROM....I will take picture and maybe post them tonight.
debi

Debbie-I had visions of him making me do book signing from a closet where they just hand the book in, and I sign it in the dark, and slide it back out through the slightly ajar door. Besides, I hate to fly. I suppose if Oprah called. I’m actually quite shy. I know I hear laughing, but I don’t like a lot of attention. I guess I should have thought about that before writing a book.

Annie-Roseanne is way too short to play you. Sigourney Weaver is tall enough, and they could just put her in a fat suit like they did for Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hall.

Carol-Katherine Hepburn definitively is feisty enough, but my personality is more Maureen O’Hara.

Angie-When I can’t find something in my size, 12+, I just hit the drag queen shoe store. I don’t really look good in red patent leather pumps, but they have other things too.

Luan-a PM is on the way, although I still can’t for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to read it. If it is horrid, just remember all proceeds are going to charity.

Zelma-Research out of the Center for Human Nutrition at the U of Colorado does show that keeping it off for 3 years makes it easier. I have found that as I’ve gained some weight back after getting married, that I never went above a certain size. It’s like the amount I’ve had off for at least 3 years made kind of a hard cap. I’m sure if I tried hard enough, I could gain it all back, but it would seem to be harder. They don’t even know why exactly. It may be that after 3 years the fat cells that have been shrunk reabsorb, or just stop sending out chemicals to make you want to fill them again.

I’m going to mow the lawn today. We haven’t even put the snow shovels up yet. I sure hope the mower starts. They had a couple of inches of snow yesterday down South of us, so I’m not counting any chickens yet until I’m sure they aren’t going to freeze.

hi all! I'm in my busiest time of the year, so I'm going to be scarce here for a while longer. Work is really busy and my eating is definitely off, but I'm reminding myself that this craziness is temporary, and that I can get back on track in a few weeks. I won't gain back 100 pounds in that time (though many of my clothes are already tight.)

I'll at least be lurking for the next little while!

Well I finally took a picture of my flowers! ***edited to add*** please excuse the messy desktop! I didn't notice it until I posted the picture.....the mail needs to be put away!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...8picnic041.jpg

Here is a picture of me with one of my former students that I had a special friendship with.....He ran up to me and tackled me when he got to the picnic!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...8picnic036.jpg

here is one of our water balloon toss game. The woman in red at the front of the line is the other Asstant I work with and if you look at the right of the picture towards the back of the picture there is a blonde lady with the same red hat & shirt that is the Teacher that I work for.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...8picnic033.jpg

As you can see in the pictures we had overcast skies all day and a bit of drizzle most of the time...but the kids still had fun!

We had a bubble station.......they all loved it!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...8picnic017.jpg

Debbie54: LOL I am sure your dogs totally understood when you told them to stay out of your garden! Hehe

Catherine: Sounds like a very good book to read.

Debmitch: CONGRATS on the 40lbs LOST!!!! You go!!!!

Berniece: Love the flowers. (psst… I didn’t notice the messy mail lol) I am also sooo jealous of all that beautiful green around you!!

As for me: I went to Y again on Friday evening. I did 40 min on the treadmill and 20 min circuit training?? I think that is what it is called. Then this morning was my first water aerobics class. It was for an hour, I was just fun fun fun. That class is every Saturday. I am for sure taking Sunday off to rest. I think my muscles and my scrapbooks need it lol. I am almost finished with hubbys scrapbook for his trip he and my oldest son went on to visit his sister in Alabama.

Toodles for now.

Debi-so I hope you get some great pics of your daughter's prom! I know when my 3 oldest went we had a blast the day of! are they taking a limo? our oldest was blessed from his best friend's parents.....their son(my son's best friend) passed away ealier in the year.....they paid for a stretch limo for 10 or 12 couples that were close with their son....and insisted on having them start their night from their house with pics and everything.....the kids blessed his parents by letting them experience prom that year w/o their son they would of missed out. Our 2nd oldest went in half with a driver and a nice car for his prom......and for our daughter I had just gotten my PT Cruiser and since my son took her(so that meant we paid for both prom dress & tux rental) they drove it to Prom.

Cyn-yes I love the green and that is one of the many reasons we stayed here in KY when DH retired from the Army. I grew up in Vegas (desert) and then in California in an area where farming is a huge industry......so I really prefer the green.........I love that we have 4 seasons out here.....at times weather is something that I wish was more like Vegas LOL like in the dead of winter! But for the most part I love that it is always green around here! My sister came for a visit a couple of years ago and her comment on it was she had never seen anything like it before.....the patchwork quilt look of the ground when she was landing.......I love that view!

Hope everyone is having a great Mother's day weekend! We are going to BBQ today....I have some HUGE scallops & Shrimps that I think I will put on the grill! I picked up a 7up marinade it looked really good and 0 grams of fat! only 20 cals per TBS and it will go good with seafood! Will let you all know how they come out!

Heather-We promise to be good while you're busy.

Cyn-I hope it reads well. I guess that is the basic desire of all writers is to have someone read their stuff.

I ended up not mowing. Just cleaning 6 months worth of defrosted trash did me in. I'm starting to wonder if I even have the strength back to go to the pool.

Well they are off to prom. We get to go in a few hours and watch the senior waltz. NO limo this year. they have done that in the past. this is her 3rd prom with the same guy.I am waiting for my oldest to get home and get the pictures on the computer for me. I didnt even get a picture of me with her! It was just so rush rush.
Older daughter is coming home with another load of her stuff.LOL
debi

Luan.....I would love to meet up with you and Annie..I just think that you all are further south than I am...but I'm not anti-driving as long as my schedule allows it!! Let me know the details!

Zelma: I would be thrilled to come to Hollywood...we could have a great walking day...checking out the Walk of Fame and whatnot. Up and down Hollywood Blvd is a great place to hang out, people watch and enjoy the outdoors.

I got my brown FitFlops!! Please make me stop before I buy the red ons too. I loved the cream and green ones but they will show dirt and foot gunk as badly as the white ones...oh well.

Tomorrow I am spending the day with MIL for Mother's Day. I really hope she learned her lesson after the birthday fiasco...the thing is, if she isn't satisfied with quality time with people and us telling her we love her...then nothing in a box ever will.

Catherine...unless you write in your book that you actually killed Kennedy or that you play hockey using puppies as pucks..there isn't anything you can write that will give me a negative impression of you. We have all had our stories and our major turning points...some were more major than others...but whatever it is that you did in your impetuous youth...that's yours and by writing it down you've owned it...that's saying a lot right there. So many people are just so anxious to write things off instead of writing things down.

Off to write a scholarship recommendation for one my kids. If she wins she will get full tuition to the school of her choice for all of high school...any school anywhere...plus guidance through the process.

Happy weekend, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!