Hi everyone.

I am still here, having a so-so week on the diet front, but a busy one in every other way. Still trying to whip the house into shape, which mostly means cleaning out the one room that we have stored a lot of stuff in that we didn't know what to do with when we moved from a house to an apartment last year. Bottom line - we still don't know what to do with it, so it's a slow process. Did I ever mention what a procrastinator I am?

I have been reading all your posts but really don't have the time for personals right now. DH is at a meeting and I need to do something "productive", but I will catch up with all of you soon.

I hope you all enjoy our Friday!

Betsy It's definitely something I'll have to think about good and hard but I think as strong as we both are and as loving of parents we'll be I think we'll be alright. Hope the weeding gets done for you soon!! You sound so busy this week!

Ubee Thank you for the kind words. I know if we have a child with a disability it will be tough, so much to think about. I'm not planning on having kids very soon, but hopefully within the next 5 years. I'm so proud of you!! Sounds good to see you do so well. Keep going lovely!!

Cindy I know exactly what you mean with the stuff you don't know what to do with. My goal is to have DH tackle the room this week so this weekend we can go into the walkin closet that we don't ever go in. The light burned out in it years ago and we just have thrown junk in there over the 5 years we've been here. I wanna get super organized so my house looks half way decent for once.

Today was pretty nice. Still feeling good overall. It's getting ready to rain here which we so desperately need. Hopefully it will cool it down a bit and not be so humid. Thought we need the rain I hope that we still have a nice weekend so DH and I can check out this secret beach I found out about here.

I ordered a canvas over the door shoe organizer today from Walmart. My plan is to buy some herb plants next weekend and DH and I are going to have an herb garden on our balcony. This weekend Lowe's has a bunch of flowers on sale so I think I'm going to go pick some up to add to the one plant I got from Kroger the other week. It's doing pretty good I just need to get her a bigger pot to live in. I wanted it to get some of this nice rain water but it's so windy outside I didn't want to chance for it to get all busted up.

DH is making dinner tonight and I just finished my cardio session. Doing good on the diet front but when I weighed myself today just to see where I was it said I had gained .8 pounds. Maybe I'll still have a loss this week who knows. Could just be from stress or something. I'll still get this weight off me, I'm not going to stress.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy! Have a great day tomorrow!

Betsy ~ Yeah it was a good movie, Thanks I do enjoy my new work out dvd.

Sam ~ Thanks, Like I told Betsy I do enjoy my new work out dvd. Thats cool that your gonna try Jillian's in the near future.

Ubee ~ It was a very good movie, I cant wait to have the movie marathon with Scott once he owns the new movie on blu-ray.

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Had cooking class today, We had Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole, Strawberries,Green beans,a lettuce salad and rolls. I didnt have any rolls though. After 2 p.m. tomorrow we're gonna go to Walmart and do some shopping and while we're there I'm gonna get my new purple head phones that I ordered, I did site to store. At 5 p.m. tomorrow Scott and I are going to DA4A's yearly picnic. I dont have any plans for the weekend though. We will probably go back to Walmart and go to Dillions on Sunday and come home and clean the house like we do every Sunday. Take Care Everybody

Hello Everyone,

Good Morning, Its 8:08 here right now. I've been wake since 6 a.m. Today I need to take a shower and later on today I need to get ready to go to Walmart and go to DA4A's yearly picnic. I'm getting caught up on my shows and then I'm gonna start working out. I cant believe there is just one more week of June and then its July, June went by really fast. Oh I forgot to mention We are getting new windows put in, They are gonna start next month and it only takes a day to install them all. I cant wait to see them when they are installed. Its gonna be expensive but hopefully it will be worth it in the end cause our cooling and heating bills will go down, We hope they do anyway. I hope everyone has a great Friday.

Just checking in... I had to have a MRI of my lumbar (lower) spine yesterday, and because I was in depression level of -3, it was much more difficult to endure than it needed to be. Getting started with the rehab folks doesn't happen 'til next Wednesday. Meanwhile, my craving to make art is pushing me to try over and over again to climb the stairs—so far without success. No wonder I'm depressed!

Finally. It's Friday and I don't have to do yard work. I've got to go into town to get groceries and hit the bank, but that's better than more weeding!

Ubee Yes, please, please, please challenge me/double dog dare me/invoke the weight losing goddesses -- whatever it takes to get me back on track! How about every Friday we report in on......what measure should we use? We lost weight this week (doesn't matter how much)? We stayed on plan the whole week? We met our calorie goals? Pick whatever measurement criterion you would like and then do some trash talking so that I get geared up for this.......or roll on the floor laughing at the thought of you trash talking (the image is just not coming!).

Totally understand the decision to take a step back and not rush in to save the day with your kids. I tend to do it with the nephews which makes it even more ????? whatever the word would be. Plus, you and DH have reached a stage of life where as my mom told me: "It's my turn." Didn't understand what she meant until I hit that point, too. Glad you found some new clothes.

Cindy Glad you're still with us and checked in. We all appear to have the same problem of having too much stuff and can't bring ourselves to address the problem. Let's all take a page from Fi's book and declutter with a vengeance.

Sam A secret beach sounds so romantic! You sounds like you have a nice weekend mapped out -- hope you can get some good buys on the flowers. I did laugh at your having a room (with a walkin closet no less) that things just go in there and who knows what since the light bulb burned out! Oh, Sam. Sometimes I think that we have to be related somehow!

Terra Sounds like you're busy with activities and getting caught up on show watching. I had new windows installed in my old house in NC and it was amazing to watch them do the installation. There wasn't even any touch up painting needed.

Fi I know you spent all of last summer getting everything organized so that you would have everything in your studio, but considering how much good your art does you, can parts of the studio be moved downstairs until you're back to the point of being able to climb those stairs again? Hopefully with the rehab you'll be able to tell a difference soon.

Larry Hope DH is doing better -- we're all thinking of her and hoping for the best.

Since I'm out of jail today on the yard work, I'm going to run into town for groceries. We're going up to the kids this weekend and I'm taking the meal. They are making progress with the lender so hopefully this will all get finished up soon. The lender didn't have 2 of their bank accounts listed including the one that the kids have with the lender. Fortunately, my niece is super organized and has the email and copies of everything she sent, so when my nephew went in person to see them yesterday, he had copies of everything and could prove that every single mistake has been made by the mortgage servicing (that's an oxymoron) agent. Tomorrow we have to figure out how to put a temporary fix on the gate on the fence so that Digger can't get out (the kids' dog). Sunday we go up to their house. Monday my car goes in for a new timing belt and new brakes (watch those dollars fly out the door!), and Tuesday it's back to the yard work. UGH!

On the dieting front, I have realized that the sugar eating happens in late afternoon because I'm exhausted by then and the thought of cooking dinner just isn't going to happen. So, I've decided to start trying out smoothies. Lots of recipes online and I need ones with spinach and kale in them to make sure I keep my INR readings in check.

Enough of my rambling on -- talk about this being a chat room! Hope everyone has a great day and weekend. Ubee, I'm counting on you to bring out my competitive spirit and give me a reason to stay on track!

Hi everyone.
Betsy you are on. I challenge you to stay on plan this weekend. I have a movie, lunch out, and a wedding and I am going to stay on plan. No excuses. No being a wimpy excuse person.
Fi when/if you feel up to it I have a few questions. Do you regret ever even starting on those meds? Do you plan on going on others? I hope you don't mind, it is for my own personal reasons and I value your opinion. Thanks.
Terra good job on not having a dinner roll. Have fun at the picnic and I hope your windows save you some big bucks.
Sam how did you find out about the secret beach? I hope you go and I want some details but not all.;)
Cindy I find that the more stuff I toss out the more weight I lose. Saying good bye to junk and junk food go hand in hand at my house.

I am still on plan but need to commit to daily exercise. Anybody else want to report an on plan weekend please join in. I am sick of being this large and am so done with it.
Have a peaceful day.

Terra Hope you enjoyed the picnic today!

Fi You are one tough broad!! I'm sorry you're going through a bout of depression but I sure hope that the rehab does help you along the way :)

Betsy I'm going to talk about the beach a bit more with DH tonight so hopefully he'll be in the mood to check it out tomorrow :)...I'm sure other people will be there but it won't be near as crowded as the regular beach. I so can't wait to get my patio all spruced up! Next will be the kitchen, I'm trying to think of a clever way to do a back splash...Pinterest is my best friend right now LOL...And yes, for a small apartment having a walk in closet I think it's a little weird but that's where so much has gone...clothes, christmas crap, etc etc lol...You can say we're related if you want...I don't mind becoming your niece :)

Ubee An old friend from school posted pictures of the beach online last weekend. He took his wife and kids out there and he sent me directions on how to get there. I'm really excited to check it out. There's supposed to be a lot of pretty nature there and the water is a lot clearer he said. It should be a good day so long as I get DH up and going :)

Today wasn't bad. Got off work late and had to run to the grocery to get a few things for DH to make us dinner. Not sure how this is going to turn out but he's making us turkey gyros. I'll have mine with lettuce instead of the pita. I'm making another batch of tzatziki and we'll have hummus and cucumbers on the side. I didn't get a chance to work out today. I'm ok with it though. I had to go back to the store because apparently I didn't ring up the cucumbers and they must have been left in my buggy and I wheeled it out without paying for them and didn't even notice that I left them in there lol....So I'm just getting a chance to sit down and catch my breath.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get up early and go look at flowers and such, or maybe put it off till Sunday, not exactly sure yet. I need to get a bigger pot for my petunia that I already have out on the porch and want to get maybe a few hanging plants and get some window box type planters. DH and I might even get the stuff to make that pallet bench I so want to have out there. Next weekend will be the herb garden since I'm waiting on the organizer to put the plants in to come in. I also want to find an inexpensive outdoor rug to put on the floor of the balcony. Maybe I'll take a picture and share it with you guys when I get it all done :)

Going to go relax for the rest of the night...It's much needed. I have a bit of a sore muscle in my back that's kind of popped up over the last hour or so...So I'm going to play it safe and not lift any weights even though I've been contemplating it as I type this post. Take care everyone and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Hi everyone.

Sam, I wish I had a large walk-in closet that I could toss junk in. I love that image. We do have basement storage though so some things are going down there and we are getting rid of a lot. Awhile ago you asked me where DH's son is moving to in SC. He is moving to Whitmire, which I guess is a small town there. I also have a friend who lives in Summerville.

Terra, I want to go see Jurassic World too. I loved the others and this one looks great. I hope you enjoy your picnic today.

Fi, the collage you and Grace collaborated on is beautiful. I'm sorry to hear you aren't able to make it back upstairs into your studio. I know you're anxious for the rehab to begin.

Betsy, DH is such a packrat. He never throws anything away. Much of what is in The room is his and things to go in the yard sale we still hope to have one weekend. We are getting there. I'm glad you get a weekend away from yard work and weeding, but sounds like you have a busy weekend ahead. The smoothies sound like a good idea when you're low on energy or too tired to cook. I like using my crockpot for the same reason. I just throw everything in in the morning and don't have to fuss at night.

Ubee, I will commit to an on-plan weekend. I will be home for most, if not all of it and I went grocery shopping tonight, so I have no excuse not to stay on plan. It's good to see you posting again.

Larry, I am glad DW's heart is ok and her hospital stay was a short one. I hope her bp stabilizes. Good for you for being able to stay on plan during such a stressful time.

As I mentioned yesterday life is busy these days, but going well. Sunday I was able to button and zip a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear in 3 years and I didn't have to lie down to do it.:yay: That made my day. They are snug but wearable. A few weeks ago I wasn't able to get into them.

Kid's baseball is over for another year. They won their championship game the other night, and were so proud of themselves and excited. Two months until they start football!

We may not have had money stolen. I suspected that my spouse spent the money on stuff that he didn't want to tell me about. There's a "Gentlemen's" Club a block away from here. My spouse has ones in his pocket. Gee, now why wouldn't he report the cash stolen? Because it was spent on "legitimate" services. Why do guys think that lying is a good idea? He wants the steady relationship and the fantasy fling, too. Looking at naked chicks, forgiveable. Lying to me about it, is not. He's still not fessing up to it. It's so disrespectful because he assumes that I'm an idiot. I've had enough of relationships in general. He's been decent to me, but I don't like liars. If he lies about looking at naked chicks, then what else has he done? Why don't men get that lying makes them untrustworthy. I've been explicit about what is important to me. He can't pay me that one courtesy.

DW is doing good. We are checking her BP daily and so far so good. We see our primary care doctor this coming Thursday and we will find out what she thinks.

I have spent hours and hours doing heavy carpentry work in our back yard. Bright Sunshine, 97 degrees and super high humidity. Seems like I have been taking three or four showers every day. At least it is good exercise and a big calorie burn. I am drinking lots of water. I have increased my water intake and I am up to drinking 150 ounces a day now. Plain water from our well with nothing added to it. We are lucky we have exceptioally good tasting well water

Today I had another 2 pound loss and I have broken into the 260's now. :D:carrot::D

Not bad when you consider that exactly two months ago on the 19 of April I weighed 307 and now I weigh 269 :D:D

Larry: Glad that your DW is doing okay. Any water would taste good after working in the heat. Congrats on your weight loss. You may weigh less than I do. We will be going home soon, and I'm afraid to look at the scale.

Cindy: Congrats on the NSV.

Sam: Hope that your back gets better soon. A garden sounds lovely.

Ubee: I need work on the diet front right now. We're away, so I haven't been eating a lot of good stuff. We've been walking around, though, so the exercise should be okay.

Betsy: It stinks that they are having so much trouble with the mortgage servicing agent. I hope that it's resolved soon. Goodness you do a lot. I feel exhausted, and I don't do a quarter of what you do. Smoothies sound nice.

Fi: Anyone would be depressed in that situation. You really need to take it easy. I'm worried that you might make things worse by being impatient.

Terra: Congrats on the new windows! Yes, June has flown by.

Have some sort of weird pain in the left side of my neck. I've had if for a few days. I can never get comfortable in hotel rooms.

Good morning. It's another gorgeous day here. Got cold enough during the night that I had to put another blanket on. Ubee, sound like another part of the country where summer is a wonderful season?!

Ubee OK. The challenge is on. But not just for the weekend. I need to be challenged long term (like 250 pounds worth! :o). Would you be willing to be the counter of remaining days in the year/days on plan? I am absolutely out of control and it's absolutely ridiculous! Shame on me.
Sam Hope your school friend didn't tell everyone else about the new beach. Finding less used beaches along the Atlantic is a gift. Hope you're able to get DH out there and can enjoy it. I'm impressed that you went all the way back to the store to pay for the cucumbers. It's the right thing to do, but so few people would do that. I hope they were appropriately grateful -- too often instead of thanking people for their honesty, an attitude is presented instead.
Cindy Way to go on getting the jeans on -- especially since they didn't even fit a few short weeks ago. Hopefully you'll have that yard sale soon and you can convince DH that he needs to part with a few things. I have a good friend whose husband works at the landfill, and she said that he brings home stuff constantly -- TVs that people have thrown out that still work, loads of gardening tools that got mixed in with the yard waste, golf balls, lumber, etc. She threatened to throw him out with the next batch that appears!
Tootsie Sorry about your suspicions about DH going to the club -- trust is so easy to lose and so hard to build. Hope the crick in your neck gets better. Sleeping in a strange bed always brings out muscles we never knew we had!
Larry What are you building, Larry? I don't envy you working in that heat and humidity -- glad you're watching your fluid intake. And congratulations on the fantastic weight loss! I would say that Atkins and your ability to stick to the low/no carb is showing wonderful results for you.

Got to the grocery store yesterday after running all over God's half acre trying to find a strawberry stand that was still open. Everyone was out of strawberries, but the raspberries have started coming in. I bought a half flat of those and most of them even made it home. Today I need to get everything fixed to take up to the kids' tomorrow. My BIL (that would be Bill, Ubee) is coming over to put some temporary fencing on the bottom of my gates to make sure that the kids' dog can't get through. Toby is so big that there's no way, but Digger is a lot smaller.

I'm going to go fix breakfast and think about what kind of smoothie to fix for either lunch or dinner (or dinner and supper if I were living in the Midwest still). Hope everyone has a great weekend. Send positive thoughts this way to keep me on plan!

Betsy ~ Yeah I had a busy day yesterday. I have a busy day today too. Yeah I'm excited to see how they install the windows.

Ubee & Sam ~ Yeah Scott and I had fun at the picnic, We went on a train ride and we tried the paddle boats but I ended up getting out cause I couldnt paddle backwards so Scott went with out me and I sat and watched him and the food we had so good too. Yeah I hope the new windows save us some money too.

Cindy ~ The new Jurassic Park movie is very good. I liked the 1st one I never saw part 2 and 3 so I'm looking forward to Scott and My movie marathon when he buys the new movie on Blu-Ray.

Tootsie ~ Thanks, I cant wait until the new windows are installed.

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I still have to work out, Fold and Put away my clothes, Get my dirty clothes ready to be washed and clean the bathroom so I have alot to do today. I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

Hi everyone.
Terra I like how you always have your jobs planned out for the day. How has your eating on plan been?
Betsy right now we will be working on many short challenges to get us to 2016. (194 days!!!) I need them short to win! I usually am not competitive but this time I am. Every time I want something I think of you. I would be happiest if we all won BUT there is no way I am going to let you beat me! Game on!
tootsie back in the day I used to love to travel. Now I love my bed and my house.
Larry geez buddy take it easy in that heat and humidity. Nice work on hitting the 260's. I plan on being there soon.
Cindy I am glad to have you be a part of our challenge. I will take it easy on you since I'm not sure if you need tough love or kind encouragement. I need tough love.
Sam have you always had this much energy? I mean going to the beach would be a full day for me let alone all the other stuff you do!

I am so on plan. Every time I wanted popcorn at the movie I thought of Betsy. Cindy you also but in a kinder way. We did not go out to eat but instead I came home and had a turkey burger. I am so winning this!
Have a healthy day.