Teri DON'T you go nowhere!! I tend to get frustrated on the weekends when no one is posting! Thats when I need this thread the most!! So you all better get your hinies hineys or however you spell it in here and keep posting! No just reading (like me) and not talking...even if you don't have anything to say just say HI! I'm still alive!

Yes Lilion thats what I need....as I sit here eating a jr cheesburger and side ceasar salad from Wendy's! Ugggh! I am such a glutton!

Oh boy! New thread...I can't go look up what you all wrote now and my memory is lame!

Sharon...welcome to our little humble group here! Yes I am from wake forest well NOT from here but transplanted her for a little over a year now. Was last in Philadelphia for 6 years, originally from Rhode Island where I was born and raised! I have a 5 yr old son in kindergarten and a significant other. How about you? Do you actually live IN Rolesville? Are you from the area? My whole family is here now. I live closer to the little historic village of Wake Forest. You know, the village they are trying to revitalize~~ Well post here often so we can all get to know you! You will like it here...its a little slow on the weekends like I said...but these women are very supportive and forgiving! They will help you see the bright side of things!

I need to get back to work now...so you all or is that y'all come out and post again!

MichelleK

So far, the eating day has gone well; I had a light lunch of 1 cup of chicken broth with five saltines, 1/2 cup of sugar free Jello with 2 tbsp of Cool Whip Lite, and of course, a protein shake.

For dinner, I made tuna salad and I may have another cup of broth with that.

I'll PM you more details! I have been on this particular journey since sometime in June, then I "fell off the wagon" for most of July and got serious again near the end. I have done ok during that time but I am such a lazy wench and my body has taken a beating from my weight that I am not gung ho about exercise at the moment. BLAH!

I just finished my second 1/2 mile walk of the day!

Now just to keep it up! A mile may not be much, but it's more than I ever did at work before!

I'm here and working away at staying OP. At least I'm getting my exercise in. I decided not to go back to the Pilates class at this time, but I have been going to a water aerobic class at 5:30's on Wednesday. It's a deep water class, and kinda fun. But I'm still sore.

Well, my goal for the night was to take down the Christmas tree in the den, so If I'm going to get it done, I have to get started, RIGHT??? So I'll check in later.

Hi again ladies,

I just settled down to watch last night's American Idol and Skating with Celebrities which ought to be a scream. I've kind of gotten into Dancing with the Stars.

TOM arrived today so that might explain some of the emotion this week.

Since about 2002, our company has been for sale three times. This last deal has been in the works for a 1-1/2 years. Which has meant a lot of work for the people in my department (Acctg) and a lot of abuse from my boss. She is a CFO and been with the company for 30 years. However, she's been treating everyone like she's God's gift to the business world and we're all a bunch of idiots. I got to work on Monday to find an email that the sale is off for good. Turns out our Senior Mgmt decided a couple of years ago that it was okay to charge our customers more than the rates we filed with the various state insurance departments. And they tried to hide that one of the states caught it and we have to do refunds based on a review of all accounts for the last three years. Because of this ($100 million in refunds), the buyer wouldn't pay the original agreed price and the seller wouldn't take less. All that work and grief for nothing. The worst part is that our current owner will resume plans to integrate back-office operations of our company into the main company in Chicago. We are of course back-operations. It was a terrible blow because we've heard the rumors that our department will be gone. We don't know what impact it will have. Will my job be gone? Will part of it be gone? Will I be okay? They did say it will take about two years to get all the "integration" done. Several of us have talked and all agreed that we are so angry, bitter, grieving, and did I say angry? Because of the greed of Senior Management and their arrogance that they can fly above the rules, a lot of us have to live with this. They won't be hurt. They can all cash out their retirements and walk away with a huge amount of money. Part of the anger is that they have committed fraud and unethical behavior and are still driving their company cars and receiving a paycheck. The grieving comes from having been there for 18 years and have planned to retire from that company with a very healthy retirement. I felt secure. I knew that unless I did something really stupid, I had a job. And I've done very well since I started as an entry level accountant way back. Now I have to think about this every moment. Another thing that angers is all the hoorah and ramming down our throats that our company is about integrity and making ethical decisions. So I've been on this roller coaster of despair, sadness, fury, heartbreak. My job may be okay -but if I'm okay, my friends that are like a family, may not. Saying goodbye will be horrible. The thought that my boss may be telling me that I don't have a job when its partly her fault just makes me ill. Or worse, me having to let go some of my employees because of her. I haven't been on the job market in 18 years. As one of my peers said, they have us in a box - if we leave early, we'll walk away from a severance package. Added to the stress has been having to put on a positive front for my staff so that they focus on getting the job done and not being worried.

Monday night was horrible. I was almost catatonic - I didn't want to speak at all and DH created a huge fight. I was better on Tuesday night. But last night I had a small meltdown when DH told me I needed to think more positively. I went off about how this wasn't about feeling postive or not. After I was ranting and crying in the living room I think he began to see how deeply it was affecting me. Men can be clueless but he didn't mean to be insensitive. I woke up at 2:30 am having a small anxiety attack. I just wanted to bawl most of this day. I think I'm getting it back together. At least for today.

So there you have it.

Lilion - I am so proud of you! Exercising! Good for you! That is an excellent idea about the walking at work. I have the Walking Away the Pounds tapes with Leslie Sansone and they are kick butt workouts.

Sharon - Welcome to the group. Come back and post often so we can get to know you. I apologize for not welcoming you earlier.

Barb.G - Yep its time to get Christmas back in the box. Hope you got it accomplished.

Michelle - Got your PM - You're welcome! At least that was a junior burger and not the double!

LAnne - That's kind of a fly by post. I don't think you've told us about yourself have you?

2Cute - I hope you find you too. I certainly do miss your upbeat posts. I hope things look up soon.

Valerie - Hope your trip is going well and are back home soon!

I better get this posted before I screw around and lose it.

Have a good night!

Good morning ladies, at least it is a better morning today. My back is finally feeling better. I am not good for anything when it gets out of whack!

I woke up to a bit of excitement at 1 o'clock this morning, sirens blaring just outside my house. Now I have told all of you we live in a one horse town, as my mom would describe it, so this was biggggg happenings. I thought it was the police, especially when I heard what I thought was a gunshot, not sure what that was. It turns out that the Baptist parsonage was on fire. It is down the street from me on the opposite side of the street. I will find out this morning what the details are.

Terri,Don't even think of going away from this site! We have all hung together here for a year and some of you longer than that. It would be like losing family! I do pay attention to what is going on with each of you. Sometimes the words to express myself, on certain matters, just escapes me. I am not always articulate. But I am here and I am reading. I hope you are less stressed now. Work places can be killers! When I worked in a Drs. office in Fl. one of the girls had hung a cartoon on the wall that read something like this "It is hard to remember that your objective was to clear out the swap when you are up to your a-- in alligators!" So true!

Michelle,I will be more than happy to give you that good swift kick in the rear if you will return the favor from time to time! Right now I am doing pretty good with controling that old devil ( the urge to eat everything in the house!). I hope you are too.

There are a couple of new people that I haven't said welcome to so....

Lilion, You are doing soooo well with that exercise! I wish I could motivate myself to do more. I hate exercise!!!

Barb, I miss having a pool to exercise in. I didn't mind doing that kind of exercise so much. I was glad to get rid of the pool because of the expense involved, but now I would like to have it back, only here at this house instead of there. Never satisfied!

2cute, Hurry up and find yourself! We need you. I DO know what it is like to get burned out on posting, but try to come back often, ok?

Hello Thin, you busy lady.

Well, ladies I think that is about it for now. Happy on plan day to you! Ruth

Terri, My heart goes out to you, notihing makes you as crazy as having things at work being so tense. Your senior management sounds a lot like my one doc I've complained about. It's like they don't care what the rules(laws etc) are, do it his way!!!

I did get the Crhistmas tree in the den down. I completely destroyed it trying to get the lights off!! DH came home and said "I thought that was an artificial tree" I told him it was so then he said "So why do you have in outside" The tree was probally 15 years old. It was one my mother had many years, and then I've used it at the business the last 3 or so years. I decided it had definately seen it's last Christmas. The lights had been on it for years, even mother just left them on it. Now all I have to do is get the tree in the living room down!!!

Hi ladies,

I'm just checking in with nothing motivating. I've been up since 3:30. I got to thinking about how it is going to be to have people we've known for so long being let go. Watched Bridget Jones II so I wouldn't be thinking of anything in particular. I have so got to find a peaceful place about this whole situation. I was also having cramps so sleeping wasn't good anyway. At least its Friday. We're having rain/freezing rain today so I should get on the road sooner than later. We're supposed to go out to dinner with Richard and Linda tonight so we'll see if the weather worsen's or not. DH and I have already decided that we're sharing an entree . Hopefully, I'll remember tonight that I'm supposed to be taking care of Molly the dog across the street!

Ruth - Glad to see your back is better. That is miserable to be in pain.

Barb.G - Taking the lights off the tree is never as much fun as putting them on.

Have a good OP day!

Good Morning Ladies!

Terri: One hug just isn't enough! I do have some inkling of how you must be feeling. It's a scary, scary world out there sometimes. I SO feel for you. I'm sending you an IM, since I'm not sure everything I want to tell you should be for public view. Hang in there.

Barb: I love having a Christmas tree up. I hate taking them down! I've been known to throw away real trees with the lights still on them and just buy more lights rather than mess with them!

Ruth: Exciting night! Hope no one was hurt!

Well, I'm not doing so well on exercise. I was going to do the walkaerobics last night, but after I got home I took the dogs out and fed them and worked on thawing out dinner. I cooked for me and DH while he ran the boy to Taekwondo. Then we ate, I cleaned up the kitchen and spent just a few minutes on line then it was time for me to go get the boy. Then it was home, feed the boy dinner, clean some more, then spent maybe 1/2 hour on the net looking for a recipe I've been wanting to make. Then I took the dogs out again and by then it was darn near 9 p.m. and I watched ER and relaxed for a few before bed! I suppose I should have done it rather than watch ER but I was tired by then and DH was using the only TV that has any room in front of it.

So...try, try again. I'll see if I can't get some walking done across the street at the Truman Building - lots of folks walk the 5th floor. And maybe sneak in a tad of walkaerobics tonight!

Later ladies, late for a hearing.

IT's FRIDAY !!!!

Good morning my fellow losers.
Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead of them.

Terri .. hang in there !!! {{{ HUGS }}}
Stress can definitely snowball into negative attitude about EVERYTHING.
Acceptance is a partial solution. Accepting of what you have no control over.
You have no control over what your bosses do. You have no control over what happens to your coworkers. The only thing you have contol over is how YOU deal with it. Make a commitment to yourself to make the best out of whatever happens.

Barb ... I too threw out our Christmas tree. I hoped to get a new one on clearance but never made it to any stores in time.
HUGS and Support to everyone else too. I just don't have time to reply to everyone.

Well ... I started my day off right today.
I have decided to read "POSITIVE and PRODUCTIVE" literature every day to feed my MIND healthy thoughts.
I have found a food plan that is good for my body... and now I am going to also focus on good food for my mind too.

ATTITUDE is EVERYTHING when you are seeking SUCCESS !!!!
I tend to be self critical and that is not good for success.
I am substituting a positive attitude in place of a negative one.
I am substituting a LC food plan in place of high carb foods that are not good for ME.

JUST FOR TODAYI am going to do what it takes to get well.
JUST FOR TODAY we can all do what it takes to get well.
I am not going to worry about what I did yesterday... nor am I going to stress about what I will do tomorrow.
I am going to focus on what I can do TODAY.

Hi Ladies
Its Kim i did not abandon you my computer took a vacation!! Thanks to my my computer Yoda aka: my hubby I am up and running again! I have lost 12 lbs so far and I have had some great meals the last two weeks (i love to cook) I have to go get my daughter from school but I will post again soon. Have a great day!! I need to move my fish again i must have not saved it??

Hi all you hens!

I'm having a pretty good day. Anthony (the 18 y/o) is doing pretty well -- he's trying to get the job/school thing going. He actually has an interview today (with a temp firm, but whatever -- I don't care what he does at this point, just want to see him in the habit of working!). Having Anthony in the house is nice -- he's funny and cute when he's not being irritating .

Work is going pretty well -- our project is going good at the moment, so it's a happy upbeat place . I am going to Japan and India next month -- not real thrilled about the long trips, but I am excited that I should actually fit in the seats and I think I'll get to fly biz class on both trips which should be nice.

Terri -- I can definitely relate to your stress. I worked for 20 years and 2 weeks for one of the top rated companies in my industry. I was in management for 14 of those 20 years, and when the company started to implode, I was at the lowest level of people making the strategic decisions -- high enough to see all the s**t that was going on, not high enough to do anything about it. I went through 6 rounds of layoffs in < 2 years -- each time rearranging teams, projects, etc... Each time, hearing from my manager, "this is it," only to be back at the table figuring out what/who to cut in a matter of weeks. I went from being very proud to be employed by my company to being ashamed of who I worked for and what I did. It didn't help that in the site I worked at, my employer was the dominint employer in a small job market for 30+ years. I let the stress darn near kill me. I had been following the "Body For Life" program quite well and lost ~ 40 or 50 pounds (can't remember the specific # actually). The day this stuff started, I fell off the wagon and couldn't get back on until this fall -- a little over 4 years later . For me personally, being "RIF'fed" (laid off) was a financial windfall and I was able to get a much better job even before my last day -- I only had 2 weeks between jobs. The last 2.5 years of my career have been the best years of my career, but it has taken me a long time to recover from the emotional damage. I wish you and your coworkers all the best during this time and hope that you are able to stick around here and stay on plan and get support both online and in real life.

Lilion, good for you for walking! Getting into exercise is hard at first (it hurts! ) but so worth it.

Ruth, hope no one was hurt in that fire and glad to hear that your back is better. I've had severe back trouble in the past (not recently, knock on wood) and it is amazingly debilitating.

Barb, good for your for getting the tree down . I put the tree up, and it was a nice surprise to come home from work and find that my partner had taken it down.

2cute, thanks for the reminder that all we have is today. Hope yours is going well!

Kim, welcome back!

Ok, I've got to get back to work. Have a good day everyone!

I found this on the last thread after it was closed so I wanted to move it here so no one missed it.
This is NOT my post... it belongs to Wendy
---------------------------------

Way to go Lillian & everyone for losing whether it be weight or negative thoughts that encourage us to eat!
I stepped on the scale this morning and 9lbs less!!!!! I am so JAZZED! I want to weigh in on Monday with at least 10lb weight loss.
Lillian have you been sitting on a ball? You know the big exercise balls?
I am a retired Massage Therapist and swear by them because they help strengthen your core. They are fun also!!
If you are watching TV just sit on it rather than a chair or sofa. It sounds like you are having muscle spasms. They are also great for crunches. It beats the days when we looked for a place to stick out feet under to hold us down LOL!
Sending happy thin vibes out to all of you for the weekend. We can do this!

Ciao4now
Wendyinnm