[thinthinker]

God Bless America!

We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We recently started a Topic of the Day.
Monday........Motivation Monday
Tuesday.......Tuesday Tips
Wednesday.....Wednesday Weigh ins
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We have found them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears...joys and celebrations.

WELCOME!

[peekabooangel]

You may have beat everyone to starting the 600th thread... but I'm posting first...

Post queen to the rescue......

Hugs....

THANKFUL THURSDAY: I'M THANKFUL I WAS HERE FOR THE START OF THE 600TH THREAD

[thinthinker]

WOW! Thread #600!
How far we've come!!!
How much we've grown!!!

Michelle: Thanks for posting that recipe. I saw it in my magazine the other day and thought it looked pretty good. One that would probably pass muster with the FULL FAT crowd.

If you haven't checked out the recipe thread lately, it's growing too. Thanks to everyone that is participating with recipes for good stuff. Some of those recipes have been there for a long time, but I had forgotten about some of them and as I read through them I remember how wonderful they were and how they really helped me stay on track. Time to get back to some of those basics.

Gail: We haven't been anywhere other than a couple days to Niagara Falls here and there in many, many years. Honey's really looking forward to it. I am too, except that I am deathly afraid that I won't be able to walk as much and will be a big disappointment to him. I surely don't want to ruin the first vaction he's taken in years. Potato Soup is in post #5 on the recipe thread. ENJOY!!!

Leanne: I'm sorry you're a bit too far away too. The sister of my neighbor that lives across the street lives in Australia, Tazmania, I think. She was just there last January. Said it was quite a plane ride! I have to keep remembering that your seasons are opposite ours when I'm reading what you write. Although I have to say that today did turn out to be "glorious". The sun was shining and it ended up at 64 degrees! Very exciting for November here!!!

Did anyone see Oprah this afternoon? OMG! I felt bad for the woman. If you didn't see it, her house was horrible. I thought I had a mess, but geez! The thing that was really interesting, IMHO, was how quick Oprah was to pick up on the fact that it wasn't so much the house, but what might be bothering her that made her let her house go. She insisted that the woman find help for herself because no matter how clean her house is now, it won't stay that way until she fixes what is bothering her. Seems like it sure would corralate with us and weightloss. That unless we fix what made us get this way, we will never be able to really drop the pounds and keep them off. Hmmm, food for thought.

It's SURVIVOR NIGHT!!!! Can't wait to see who ditches who.

It's also APPRENTICE NIGHT!!! I can't believe we missed it last week. And all those weeks they did a replay on Saturday night. Do you think they would do that the week I really did miss it on Thursday? NO!

Well, that's about the extent of the posters for the day. Where is everyone??? I'll try to get back later. Love ya's.

[thinthinker]

Hey, Sandy. What's the BIG idea? I had to take a minute to write! You got me. Tag, you're it.

[ljs1223]

Hey guys, I'm here. Not very often, but I lurk every once in a while. It's the same old excuse - my life is crazy busy. The play opens tonight and I'll be "off duty" for a few months after it closes. That is until February when practices start up again for the spring production. I know I told y'all about that.

I can't do replies right now, just wanted to let you know that I'm alive and kicking. Not very energetically sometimes, but still kicking!

I gotta go make supper before we take off. She has to be there for "call" at 6:00 and my house is a mess. I'll give you an update on the play later!

Love to all!

[qsilver]

Hey everyone

Wow, #600! That is roughtly 18,000 posts, helping how many of us along our weight loss journey. Pretty darn cool!

Just wanted to let you all know how thankful I am for this thread and all of its participants. I know I've gained and lost over time, but I've always been accepted here, no matter what. That acceptance matters so much to me, and I think has helped to make necessary changes in so many areas of my life.

A visitor is here, and I had better be polite and pay attention to them, ya think? Hope to be back later.

Andria

[Terri in MO]

Hi ladies,

This will be a quickie. Survivor starts in just a few minutes. Plus I don't have my glasses on so this is in a blur.

My laptop is still not working so I'm downstairs on the old dog. I have the GeekSquad coming on Monday and I pray he can retreive data before reloading Windows.

I've just finsihed earning my 4 activity points for tonight. Food is going great. Exercise is better this week. Journalling is going great too. I haven't been this focused all year. I guess I got kind of bummed about how I hadn't hit my goal of being into the 230's by year-end. Then I thought I could get damn close if I'd just try. So I'm trying hard.

I will watch Oprah at 9 pm. Validation that I'm not so bad after all too!!

Okay, I'm off to the upstairs for TV and DINNER! I'm starved!

Good night!

[gmalil]

TERRI, Thanks for posting the phyllo recipe.
I tried to get the ingreds for it today, but out little town only has one grocer and they didn't have the Phyllo dough ...maybe I'll make it to the BIG city tomorrow or the next day!

I had to copy and paste again! You gals are just tooo fast for this old lady!

[~Kerri~]

Well, I am one tired puppy tonight! We started setting up for the family dinner at the nursing home tonight at one o'clock and I didn't get home until 8 after working all day too. My feet are killing me and DH rubbed them but it didn't fix it all the way. My girlfriends and I at work got all huzzied up and curled our hair and dressed up like we were going out on the town . I don't think I've even fixed myself up like that since my wedding almost two years ago. It felt really good and it's too bad DH just got the aftermath, but we still looked great. We never look like that for work that's for sure! Not when you get up and get yourself and a kid ready for the day in about 45 minutes! Makeup in the car and brush my hair when it's dry right when I drive up at work .

Anyway, we worked our butts off serving over 500 people tonight all after setting up 30 or 40 tables and about 400 chairs and decorating. Then breaking it all down after it was over with. Indulged in the Thanksgiving dinner they served and a skinny sliver of pumpkin pie. It was amazing, or maybe I was just exhausted and starving. Either way, maybe it wiped out my Thanksgiving cravings and I won't want seconds of anything on Thursday! Doing my best to not think about it. Picturing a taste of everything, not a scoop.

THANKFUL THURSDAY: I'm donating blood tomorrow with some ladies at work for a little girl in Austin who is in the hospital and is really ill. They're having a big blood drive in town for her in the afternoon. That makes me very thankful that my family is all very healthy. I don't know how I could ever deal with an illness like that, but I'm thankful I've never had to.


PEEKABOOANGEL: Yes, that advertisement stuff drives me nuts!! The same thing with the plus size catalogs and online shopping for sizes 14+... excuse me, I'd prefer to see someone MY size selling clothes to me, not a thin model so I have a clue how it will look on ME. What is this about pictures I've been reading lately? Do we need to post one of ourselves...? Oh, and Wendy's!! They ticked me off the other day... I ordered the chicken BLT too and asked for the fat-free dressing--out of it. Low-fat? Out of it. Out of baked potatoes. Ahhhhhh!!! So I ate the salad dry. Not my favorite thing to do. Guess I need to invest in some packets to pack with me. Same with sweet and low. That's the only one I like, not splenda or equal. I've become accustomed to the pink stuff and only about of 1/3 of the restaurants I frequent have it. Points to Wendy's on that one. LOL.

2CUTE: I live about 30 miles northeast of Austin here in Texas. I was raised in south Texas my whole life and moved up this way after I graduated 10 years ago. I love this area of TX. It's beautiful country--for Texas . And don't feel bad about the basement thing... when my husband and I were living on the Army base last year, we had a 3-story house... basement, living room/dining room and two bedrooms upstairs. OMG what a pain to drag laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs!! I hated it. Beautiful place, but awful setup.

Just realized I need a pic on my left side up there!! Gonna go hunting for a good one. OOh, and a signature. I need to get creative...wonder if it's too late at night for me to do that...................

[thinthinker]

Hi all! Just checking in before bed. I'd like to crawl in before 2:00 AM in the morning for a change.

Lisa: Glad to see you. Sounds like you are one busy lady! Take a minute for yourself.

Terri: You're doing GREAT!!! You're upbeat, enthusiastic and OP!!! WooHoo for you!

Joyce: Good to see you. Ahhh, small town living. We did that for two years in North Carolina. Had to run to the BIG city for everything.

Survivor: All I can say is poooorrrrrr Chad. I really liked him.

Apprentice: Go Donald, Go Donald!!! OMG, the boardroom was GREAT! I'm so glad to see that bi^@H Maria gone!!!

If you have not had the pleasure of seeing the movie Shall We Dance with Richard Gere and Susan Suranden, please treat yourself. It is soooo good! Please prepare yourself for the scene where Richard comes up the escalator in his tux carrying a single red rose. Ohhhh my! I feel faint just thinking about it. YUM!!!

I have a busy "showgirl" weekend this weekend. Doing a bunch of trailer checks plus counting patrons for Bridget Jones AND I'm assigned the sneek preview for Christmas with the Kranks on Saturday night. Guess you know where I'll be and what I'll be doing for the next couple of days.

[thinthinker]

Kerri: Sorry I missed you, we were posting at the same time. I bet your dinner turned out lovely and look at all the people that were so touched by the effort you girls put out for them. [[[hugs]]] I bet you'll find some creative juices yet tonight. You're probably still trying to wind down after such a big day and will be awake for hours.

[gmalil]

I am thankful for people like you KERRI! who give blood, the gift of life!!
I was once on the recieving end, and remember how very grateful I was to those who gave for me...also a time when a dgd needed several pints.
THANK YOU!!!

THIN, I LOVE this small town living! it is 33 miles to 3 different Wal Marts,(in different directions) we frequent them regularly, fortunately they are all the Super Wal-Marts with groceries!

[cdtobehealthy]

Hey ladies Didn't have a good day today. Cramps nearly killed me, I didn't work out.. I ate really well until I had some greasey cheese sticks with my room mate. Its funny you're all talking about Wendy's becaus I had their Chicken BLT Salad today. I loved it. I never really put dressing on my salad ;p

I'm just on a rollercoaster today. Maybe its pms, though I never really agreed with the ideals of PMS.. but I feel beautiful, happy.. and angry and violent.. etc all at once. I'm just whipping inbetween the moods all within a few minutes. Its okay though, I'm not really upset or anything - just contemplating things. Tomorrow is a new day and I'll just jump right back on track

I'm thankful for all of you, being my bright beautiful stars on a dark night.

[2cute2Bfat]

Good evening friends. It is nearly 1am and I am just now getting here to post. In fact... it is 2am now. It takes me an hour to write what you can read in less than 5 minutes.
I am soooo happy I copied and mailed to myself as I wrote on it... because as always... when I hit submit... it knocked me off line. Grrrrr
It seems the longgggg posts always do that to me. I would have been fighting mad after this longggg post. LOL

I have been running errands most of the day. Did not get home until 7:15pm tonight. Too tired to eat until 8pm, It is not good eating that late. I didn't finish my water for the day until 10:30pm so that means even though I get to bed late.... I will be up early for the bathroom.

I am happy to report too.... that I FORCED myself to exercise at 10:30pm tonight. I grudgingly put in the tape with every intention to exercise my minimum 20 minutes and then turn it off and not finish the whole 30 minute tape. BUT... once I reached my 20 minutes... I said.. "What the heck... let's just do all of it".
Then I went and wrote in my journal so I am batting 1,000.

I spent time looking at stuff for the Christmas challenge game.
I must thank all of you for endulging me with these games.
It is helping me soooo much. It helps planning.. it helps working on them ... it helps playing them too. Like Terri said... I have not been this focused in a longgggg time.

I also want to share that all though most of you have long passed your fall foilage colors .... our trees are just now passing thru theirs. There are some VERY pretty trees here. But I have to admit... it was MORE beautiful in Indiana than here.

Joyce... I want to thank you for recognizing Kerri's generous gift of life for so many needing patients. My sister had to have sooooooo many blood transfusions that she would have died without them. Even though I too read that Kerri was giving blood... I did not relate it to how that gift of life saved my sister many many times. She is a cancer surivior who has struggled hard to stil be here with us.

Kerri ... THANK YOU for all the reasons mentioned above. {{ HUGS }}
PLUS .. thank you for all the work you put in on that Thanksgiving dinner.
I lost both of my parents in 2003. Our last Thanksgiving dinner together was with them in a nursing home. My mom got all dressed up and felt almost normal having my entire family and my sister there eating with them. It was VERY special to her. It brings tears to my eyes remembering. She died Nov 3rd last year. I swear it gets harder with time instead of easier. I have lots of regrets. I did a lot for them... but I just feel I should have done MORE. Famous last words..."If I could only do it over again."

Heck.. those are words I say about weightloss too.
Well.... I am doing it over again... and this time I am going to do it RIGHT !!!

I see you live near Austin. My daughter has several friends who live there... and they LOVE IT.

Terri... Congrats on earning those 4 points today. I finally did too. Last weekend really set me back on those points. It feels good doesn' it.
I wish I had Oprah reruns. I wanted to see that too.

Lisa... how about that update on the play ?

Debra.... I had to come back here and edit your reply. I thought you said your birthday was today... so I sang you happy birthday. But I have since re-read your post.. and it is hubby's birthday. LOL Wish him a Happy Birthday from me.

Leanne.. I am going to be sooo jealous of you having summer while we suffer through zero degrees here. What is your weather like.? How hot do summers get... and how cold do winters get ?? Lots of rain ?? Any snow?
Congrats on passing on that cake. That is TRUE SUCCESS !!!

Sandy... Thanks for getting on me about 2 week breakdown.
I really don't want to do that. I WANT to remain focused and take the steps needed for CHANGE !!!
And when you claim being the posting queen... you need to add LOL

Andria....Hope you are getting better every day. I know you are anxious to get more mobile again.

Michelle... I am here. Like I said... I was off hunting for ideas for our next contest. I have sooo many ideas for January. Heck.. I have ideas for every month. I even have one leading up to our SPRING FLING !!!

CD ... you posted while I was writing my book. LOL
Trust me ... PMS is REAL !!!! I just have to ride it through. LOL
That was a beautiful thing you wrote...
"we are your beautiful stars on a dark night." How sweet !!!! Thanks

Thin... I have sooo much I want to write to you tonight.
I should start a whole new seperate post just for you. LOL
First... I am jealous you got to start the 600th thread. It is hard to believe. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ???

Next... I am planning on coming to the Spring Fling.
I will probably come and stay a week with my daughter at the same time... so I can help if you need any.
I can't wait to see your "surprises". I LOVE surprises ... I think ??
I also love to help plan surprises too. (hint hint) LOL
You tell Susie.. she better come post more or no one will know who she is
I have even planned a game leading up to it. I will have to wait and see if anyone is still interested in games after January. I definitely want to do them for 90 days.
We all need to mark our calendars in pencil for the end of April so we don't plan something that could be done in March or May. Some things we have no control of... some we do.

Now about Vegas. Do not worry. Just enjoy.
You are much more mobile than I am ... plus ... they have schedules of events so you can drive by and see them.... like the water show... the pirate show... duh.. I can't remember them all now.
The old original downtown has a laser show and even I managed to walk the downtown area. There is also a monorail system too for some of it. And some of the hotels have moving sidewalks too. One good thing... they all have chairs everywhere ... with slots in front of them.

"Shall We Dance" ... everyone has told me that is an excellent movie.
I guess I will have to check it out. I have been too afraid to see it.
I feared I would feel bad after watching it. I know the husband was unfullfilled in the movie... and I feared my husband would see how unfullfilled he was and realize how much he is missing because of me and my fat. That has always been an issue in our marriage. Actually after typing this out.. I think I will see it by myself. LOL

Okay... I am SHUTTING UP !!!
Heck you guys probably fell asleep long ago. LOL (sorry)

[peekabooangel]

I LOVE this small town living! it is 33 miles to 3 different Wal Marts,(in different directions)

Gail,
We are living the same small town life here. I know it's like 30 miles to the closest one around here. But, I wouldn't trade it. I tend to like my small town life.

2Cute,
I just love reading your posts. I want to see the movie "Shall we Dance" too. I'm sorry about your feelings about your marriage. I too have the insecure feelings sometimes. Especially where the kids are concerned. I don't want to be a mommy that can't do anything with them because of my size. I don't want them to feel embarrassed in front of their friends. I guess basically I don't like all those insecure feelings that so many of us deal with daily. You know they love us though, or they wouldn't be here with us. That's a warm feeling.

Thin,
Movie girl, sounds like your going to have a fun filled weekend at the shows. I don't know if I could handle being around all that , I just absolutely love movie popcorn. And I am so guilty of having movie butter on it too.

CD,
Guess yesterday was the "Wendy's" salad day. Thats just too funny. Hope your cramps are better today and you are back to feeling yourself. ((hugs))

Kerri,
What a nice thing to set up and serve all those people and break it all down again. Like 2Cute said, you made a big difference in many peoples lives lastnight. And donating the blood, is a precious gift. ((You are earning points with Santa this year))

Terri,
Way to go on the activity points. That rocks. Sorry your laptop is having problems. I can relate, I have been dealing with 2 that we use at work and sometimes I am ready to Bill Gates. I know it's not his fault, it's the users, but damn. Why can't this be easier? I said, now I know why companies have computer techs. I guess I am just wearing many many hats at work lately.

Okay for all I missed, I am sorry, but the time is getting away from me and I have to get these kids motivated today. After today; counting two weekends my kids are out of school for 9 days Lord help us all. lol