40-Somethings August Week 2 Thread
 

I forget -- do our weeks start on Sunday or Monday? Since we're all in our 40s, I'm guessing the "old fashioned" way of starting on Sundays...

PresMaggie - I really thought that our last cat was our LAST cat, espec. with DH being allergic. But after a couple weeks, I really missed him, missed having a cat. So we got our new LAST cat, who was a 4 year old from the shelter. What an absolute sweetie! Don't be surprised if another cat works his way into your heart... I'm glad you had a good Friday, food-wise.

PatchworkPenguin - too bad about the Microsoft upgrade -- I agree with PresMaggie -- write to complain!

CruiseCAT - thanks for the ideas on where to get more information on the Alaska trip; I came across some new ideas looking at those sites, already. I can't wait to hear all about your trip...

We had a very nice day as a family yesterday. We took our bikes into Pittsburgh and did a 5 mile bike ride along the rivers, stopping for dinner when we were done. It was a great way to spend the day and everyone had a great time. DS8 is begging to do it again today, but I don't see it in the cards...

Its been miserable out today. Its suppposed to rain for the next week, so its very humid,, plus the heat index is near 100* I just checked a weather map and it has a 70* over Memphis. I can look outside and tell them THAT is wrong! Hubby and I went to church, the library, Dollar Tree and TJMaxx and called it quits for the day.

newleaf123 - thanks for doing the new week thread; I guess I should have done that this morning.:o About getting a new cat, it's already on my mind, but the last one was so sick that I'm a bit worried about that happening again. We adopted him from the pound last November not knowing that he had multiple tumors in his tummy. He was the sweetest cat I've ever had and he never took out his pain on others. I think I just need a little rest and then I'll be back to the cat shelter.

patchworkpenguin - that sounds pretty hot! We had our first rain today in weeks and we were really glad to get it. There are a lot of forest fires in the region and there have been some small brush fires in the park close to us, but the firefighters were able to put it out. The fire danger is "extreme" everywhere and outdoor fires have been banned for weeks.

We went to our local museum today and there's a visiting exhibit from the British Museum in London. The British Museum is my favorite museum and it was great to be able to show our boys a real Egyptian mummy and Roman era artifacts without traveling all the way to England.

It was great to be able to walk all around the museum without getting tired like I used to. Chalk it up as another NSV.

Pres. - All the extra clothes for layering was my problem with packing for this trip. Being a desert dweller I'm chilly when the temps drop down in the 70's, 50's is just down right cold. I was just reading about the fires and apparently they have made for some smokey conditions for the last couple cruises. I just checked the weather forecast for all our ports and rain is in the forecast for EVERY one of them for the next week..... OH JOY!!! I like the rain but this might be a little much.

Heidi - What ports are you doing on your cruise?

You bike ride sounded great. How nice that your DS enjoyed it. I bet you passed several GeoCaches on your ride and didn't even know it. Kids and adults alike really enjoy the hunt. With the price of GPS's dropping it has become a very reasonable activity. The thing I love is finding stuff in my own community that I would have never known was there. Here is the link if you are interested if checking out what is in your area: http://www.geocaching.com/

I am cleaning house today so Mack doesn't have to worry about it while I'm gone. Tomorrow will be spent running around and Wednesday I have an early flight out.

I'll check back later.

Hi, everyone! I'm behind on the threads again. There's just some days where I can't face being on the computer for one more minute - I do a lot of stuff at work on them, and at home it's managing all the bills, dealing with email, and sometimes my eyes are tired and my neck says "ENOUGH"!!! It's such a great way to connect, though ...

presmaggie - :hug: we're "resting" all this year. Next spring, DH wants to get another Gordon Setter for bird hunting. DS10 is old enough to help. I got to meet a leopard gecko yesterday (omg - so cute!), so you can see that we have separate ideas about what makes a great pet ... lol!

patch - agreed with the others that dropping Microsoft a line would be a good idea. Could it be possible, though, that like with the Office 2007 conversion, they just put the feature somewhere so totally un-intuitive and stupid, that no reasonable person could find it? I'm still trying to figure out the new Excel, and for a long time, I thought I was decently computer-savvy!

newleaf - I've heard that Pittsburgh is a good spot for a long weekend and is really friendly to biking. If it has kid approval, it MUST be good! I'm hoping to take my son to Wash DC, maybe this fall. My GF there is a fitness FANATIC and has really made the city her own playground. Oh ... I did get my Isle Royale pictures uploaded to Photoworks, finally, so I'll get that link to you.

We had a great day yesterday - spent a day on a non-power private lake (it was a blazing, humid 94 yesterday), and I was able to swim across the middle of it without feeling like I was taking my life in my hands from powerboats and jetskis. Wow! DS caught 3 turtles with his swim team friend who'd invited us out, and we had a lot of fun just hanging out. I'm just a little pink from the sun and just a smidge tired from the swimming. Life is good. :)

Cindy - Y'know, we had cold and rain just about the whole time we were in Alaska. Funny, I don't think about it much at all when I'm remembering the trip. Honestly, I think if you can stay warm and dry (I spent almost the whole time in a technical T, a fleece sweatshirt, and my Marmot Precip jacket), the input coming in from the sights will overwhelm all your other senses. It's so far beyond awesome ... and Alaskans are incredible people. :D

Newleaf, Our week start whenever someone starts the new thread. Let's hope Jacquee finds us! Your bike ride sounded fun. St. Louis has a trail downtown near the river. I'm thinking we might try that this fall sometime.

Patch, very humid here also, makes you want to stay inside! Walked this morning and I was drenched!

Presmaggie, What a great NSV! Noticing things like that really help this journey along. Keep up the good work!

ICU, your day at the lake sounded wonderful! We had a leopard gecko when my son was much younger. In addition to our dogs, we have also done guinea pigs, fish and my DD has the cutest dwarf hamster.

Time to get back to business. Weighed 183 this AM. I will need to adjust my ticker. I have been wavering between 178 and 185 most of the summer. I know what I need to do, so here I go!

Hiya Everyone...

Battening down the hatches here for another onslaught of Sever Tstorms and a Tornado watch. Was up all nite with Geriatric Dobie.. about 3 hours sleep. Not functioning well, but I am eating well. Dobie is napping on the couch.. Lucky pup..

For those of you wanting to go to Cuba one day. Fly out of Canada or Mexico. You do not get a stamp in your passport. YOu get a paper "visa card". That gets stamped and they take one half when you get there and the other half when you leave. No trace of you going to Cuba!

Ok.. off to try and clean house in 100 degree weather.. well 90 but 102 with Humidex... ick..

Happy Hot Monday Ladies!!

My Brilliant Hubby found a easy way to change the print size on my computer!!!!

We downloaded Windows EX 8. In the bottom right had of the screen, right above the date, is a arrow. Hit the arrow and a list will pop up of precentages. This list controls the size of the print on the screen. I'm using 150%!

Hubby is so smart

"Hubby is so smart" Don't tell him that! LOL Glad he was able to fix that for you!

Today is my last day of summer vacation. Back to work tomorrow! This has been such a good summer! I slept in a little, felt good!

Penguin! THank Hubby for me! He just made MY life easier with that little secret! And, yeah, Don't tell him he's too smart...then he and the other men will start thinking they can rule the world without us!! THEN where would they be?? Going to work hungry with two different colored socks on!lol

Onmyway: Last day of vacation...oh nooooooooo..> But at least you got to sleep in! Has the weather been good in your area? Enjoy the rest of your day, I hope you get to have a BBQ and do some fun things!

The expected T-storms didn't show up today. SO I am happy. And the weather is beautiful. I went to my big veggie patch and actually found 3 ripe tomatoes out of about...ohhhh 300? But I got a nice big Lemon BOy! Gonna make a Toasted T'mater Sammich with Cheddar Cheese!

Anyone else get what I call, "Summer Cravings"? For me it's always Watermelon or Tomato sandwiches...

Penguin - so glad your font size issue is resolved - that must have been a pain. And it was probably fun for your hubby to come to the rescue - they need that sometimes, don't you think?

hotsplashes - I'm jealous of your homegrown tomatoes - no garden here so I try to hit the farmers markets when I can but it's not the same.

Am doing the yucky part of a Costco trip - bringing everything inside and putting it all away (portioning, bagging, freezing etc.) and it's too hot so I'm taking a quick break.

Hi all, I’m back home and perhaps can get back to my normal life – like visiting 3FC on a regular basis. I felt lousy on Sunday and still had to do chores as DH is away for another month again. Then when I was done with all the stuff I didn’t even look at my computer. Yesterday at work was swamped with the “how dare you go on vacation – we have needs you know” stuff. But now that I’ve whittled the ASAP list to a normal amount, here I am. I’m glad to be back.

Newleaf, biking with kids is always the best family activity. I walked along Eugene’s river in June and kept thinking how great it would to ride my bike there on a summer afternoon. How wonderful your son liked it so much. :bike2:


Penguin, I’m glad your DH figured out the size change for the new windows.

Presmaggie, great NSV. Isn’t the energy we’ve covered in fat cells for too long so wonderful to find. I love my go button.:running:

Cruise, I hope you’re having a great time on your cruise. On our Alaskan cruise, it was forecasted to rain every day and it did, but just for brief periods. It was also sunny every day, but way too cold for us desert girls.

ICU, I love the new Office formats. I agree that they made if difficult at transfer but I always use Google to figure out where what I want is now hiding. I truly love the Chart templates they added. It made my job so much easier that I wouldn’t go back. My work counterpart hated Office2007 so much he dictated to our district that it wouldn’t be deployed. Except I kept creating databases in it so for people to use it, he had to deploy it. I’m devious. :devil:


OMW, here you go and we’re right there with you. I hope you had/have a great last vacation day. Our teachers return way too soon for my liking. I love that my phone rarely rings. But since it’s the teachers that make a school… :)


Hotsplashes, I’m sorry about geriatric dobie. Isn’t it amazing to what lengths we will go for our 4 legged loves??? I hope you didn’t melt yesterday. I love heat and HATE humidity. So the desert is the right location for me.

Dancer, I feel your Costco pain. That is the bad part of the bulk good deals. But I LOVE Costco!!!

The munchie monster is chasing me and seems to be winning. I still can end my day on plan calories but I must be very good. I hope giving my stomach a decent lunch will get the monster to leave me alone. I successfully lost .5 pound on my trip so I’m happy.

Another NSV – I’m wearing an outfit from the GAP. I’ve never shopped the GAP before. I was too fat. And it’s not the largest size they sell. I look so hip today… ;)


Marie

Just wanted to pop in before I leave tomorrow. I have been running around like crazy trying to make sure Mack and the pups have everything they need while I'm gone.

I'll be back the 20th and ready to get back to some serious working out.

wow, it sounds like everyone has a lot going on! I'm fairly new to the site, struggling to lose weight while dealing with insulin resistance and a herniated disc. starting physical therapy tomorrow and hoping I can get back to the gym soon!

Hi, all. Sorry I've been MIA; I've been in denial as I have spent the last couple of days off plan. Tomorrow is a new day and I plan to be back on track!

I tried something new for dinner tonight -- sauteed beet greens. They were incredible, and I can't wait to do that again! Tomorrow I'll have to roast up the beets that came along with them, LOL

CruiseCAT - if you check back in here, have a great cruise!!! I can't wait to hear all about your adventure, which I am sure will be filled with NSVs... Have fun!

Hubby stayed home from work today. We picked up some kind of stomach bug and vegged out today, napping or watching movies from Netflix. We are starting to feel much better, at least.

Weightlosswanted, Welcome! Glad to have you with us! What part of the South are you in?

Marie, Glad to have you back!

Cruise,Have a good time!

Dancer, Hubby loves to be Mr. Fixit!

Splashes,Glad we were able to help you also.

OMW, Eeeek, on going back to work, but it is that time. Our usual Wed night at our Friend's was cancelled because Thursday is back-to-school for their two boys. We didn't really want to be part of that madhouse!

Good Moring everyone! Eating has been going well. I am obsessed with toasted tomato sandwiches! It's like I can't get my tomatoes ripened fast enough.

Another cloudy day here. It was supposed to be sunny... BLECH...

Weightlosswanted, Welcome to the group!! Jump on in and join us. This is the BEST group on all the forums!!!The Nicest people on this thread EVER!!

Newleaf, Beat greens? I must check this out. I love beets. Never had them roasted.

Cruise, MUST POST PICS!!!!lolol

Dancer, Can you send Hubby over here to fix my leaky tap?lol If he can't come, maybe Penguin can send hers?? Dr. BF is not a Mr. Fix it.

Jacque9999... how's the weather out your way??? Are you the one sending me all the rain???lol

Cruise - have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Weightloss - welcome!!

Marie - so nice to have you back - we missed you!

Newleaf - glad you're back at it - I'm having a little trouble focusing on sticking to plan too if it makes you feel better : ) What are you using as inspiration for the rest of the week? My latest is we've booked a trip in January to Costa Rica which will definitely involve bathing suits which <<shudders>> is scary.

Ok, enough break - back to work!

Newleaf, sautéed beet greens??? Eeks, I think that may push my adventurous nature. I do like the beets though.

Penguin, a veggie day sounds wonderful and relaxing. Too bad you’d been ill or it would have been perfect.

Hotsplashes, what’s a toasted tomato sandwich? Do you put anything else with the bread and tomato? I made sourdough bread on Sunday and have tomatoes. Do tell….

Weighloss, welcome to what I have to 2nd as the best thread on 3FC. Lots of motivated, successful losers here. Weight losers that is… :joker:


Dancer, oooo, the beach in winter. :beach: You can’t beat that. One way to face swimsuits on a tropical beach is to know you’ll never see the people again so who cares if there’s a bulge or cellulite here and there. Besides, you’re gorgeous.

I lost another pound. Yea!. :goodscale Another .2 and I could say two. So I’m not going to change my ticker for a little bit. I had a victory that had nothing to do with losing weight. My beloved little Jeep needed a new battery (why does it die when DH has left for a month???). I bought a new battery and actually replaced it by myself. I printed instructions from ehow.com and wasn’t quite as terrified of electrocuting myself. And it worked. I got to drive around topless today. :cool::joker:One interesting point is that the batteries weigh about 60 pounds – basically what I’ve lost. It was so heavy!!! I started thinking about that 60 pounds on my joints and had a stab of regret that I’d tortured them so long. But now they’re happy so the regret didn’t last. But it was very enlightening.

Marie

We napped a great deal yesterday, so when it was time for bed we weren't sleepy but gave it a try anyway. One of our neighbors down the street decided to have a party complete with load music starting at mid and getting loader and louder. Hubby finally called the police at about 2am. So we didn't get a lot of sleep either. Poor Hubby, more than me, I just slept late.

We are feeling better today, I was afraid to eat anything yesterday, so I expected to wake up starving today.

Marie, Yay on the pound!

HotSplashes and Marie - so how do you prepare your beets? As for the greens, they were so incredibly good. I just sauteed them in olive oil and garlic, then squeezed some lemon juice on them when they were done. Simple and easy.

HotSplashes and Jacque - Here in P'burgh the sun finally came out around 1:30pm, so maybe you all will see some too!

DancerInDenver - Costa Rica in January sounds wonderful!! I've always wanted to go there. As for inspiration for me? Maybe that's the problem, I don't have anything dangling out there in front of me... Need to think about that...

Marie - great job on the battery; I can't imagine doing that myself. And I guess I didn't realize that you had lost that much weight; that's quite an accomplishment

PatchworkPenguin - glad you are feeling better :)

Me, I got my hair colored today, and boy did I need that! Still haven't exercised this week; making it a priority has been difficult. I need to change that.

Marie - my favorite swimsuit coping method is a pretty sarong - covers a multitude of sins and luckily I still have a few so I should be okay. Major congrats on the 1.8lbs and on the battery - I don't usually play the girlie card but I'm just not automotively inclined so I'm particularly impressed!

patchwork - poor you! You just can't catch a break right now. Hope tonight is uneventful!

Newleaf - A friend of ours bakes whole beets coated in olive oil and garlic and wrapped in tin foil. Not sure of the exact recipe but yummy! Amazing the affect hair color can have on your mood, isn't it?

I'm trying to break the lethargic chain by doing a workout today. I told myself to do one section and ended up doing three so I must feel better!

I tried out more of The Best of Tamilee DVD set today. I did the warmup, Buns, Thighs, and one of the abs sections plus the stretch; probably close to an hour total. I didn't like the Buns or Thighs sections, Tamilee went a little faster than I like during lunges etc and I kept losing my balance or getting confused. I think I figured out part of why I like slower workouts; we were doing pile squats and I have to go down pretty low before I feel my glutes engage, which doesn't happen at all at the faster speed, so I feel like I'm just pulsing the whole workout, without getting full range of motion. I liked the ab section fairly well. This is the two DVD set and Buns in on one DVD while Thighs is on the other; Grr, I hate changing DVD's. What I do like is that the set is very mix and match so I can do whatever I feel like today. I'm not sure I'll keep this one, but I haven't tried either yoga, the cardio, or the other abs section.

Dancer, Those baked beets sound very good. Have you ever added them to oven roasted veggies??? That sounds like it might be good too? I' roasted some veggies in the oven a few weeks ago, which we really enjoyed and I'm looking for new additions. I like beets but I'm not sure about Hubby.

Newleaf, I'm getting a much needed haircut tomorrow, so we can be gorgeous together!

*roasted beets are yummy, haven't tried the greens. I just quarter them, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some garlic powder and sea salt.
*I'm in Charleston, SC.
*PT didn't work out today, the bus company gave me wrong info and I can't get there using our public transportation. I'm really bummed about it, I haven't been able to work out since april : ( I can't start again until someone shows me what exercises I can do safely with my herniated disc.
*thanks for all the welcomes, ya'll sound like a great group!

oops, I should have mentioned that since my leg has healed after my car accident, I usually walk 1-2 miles a day getting back and forth to the bus stop. sometimes as much as 4 miles a day. and yet the weight isn't budging!

First day back to school. First day back on plan. DD had soccer practice, walked the track for an hour with 2 other moms. Poor planning on my part had me eating dinner at 8:30 tonight. Not the best but it will take me a bit to get back in our school/practice routine.

Weightlosswanted, welcome to our group! Charleston is one of my favorite places! DH and I honeymooned on Kiawah Island and spent several days in Charleston.

patchwork, great job with exercising even when feeling puny!

Dancer, A January vacation is a great incentive to stay on plan. Good thinking!

Newleaf, A new hairstyle does wonders! What can we do to help you get back into an exercise routine? What about biking with the boys?

Marie, congrats on the loss and the battery! It is nice to have physical examples of how much we have lost. Really helps put things in perspective!

Jacquee, Glad you found the new thread this time! LOL!

Hotsplashes, my summer tomato favorite is tomato mozzarella salad with fresh basil. I have it every day!

PatchworkPenguin - people do add beets to roasted vegetables, but I personally don't like the addition. It can make some of the other vegetables turn pink / purple in the process... I'm glad you were able to work out today!

WeightlossWanted - my nephew is headed off to Charleston for college very soon; I've never been though. Bummer about the bus not working out... sorry to hear that!

it's a beautiful city! which college is he going to newleaf? let me know if he needs anything, or just a local contact in case of any problems. and we can meet for coffee or a bite to eat if you get a chance to visit. is he your first to leave home?

oops, I thought you said your son, just realized you said nephew. i better eat some breakfast!

Happy Thursday, everyone! Count me in the "drifting" group - I've been doing some really sloppy eating over the past few days. For the most part, the caloric damage wasn't bad (except yesterday) and I did get it written down. Yesterday morning I had blood drawn for a whole raft of stuff including hormone profiles, Vit D, inflammatory markers, lipid profiles, etc, and maybe it was having to fast that made yesterday such a train wreck. It was weird and uncontrolled. Back to basics today!

Tomatoes. Oh, tomatoes ... OMW, I'm also a huge caprese fan! It's such a perfect meld of acid, savory, creamy ... I'm drooling. And Hotsplashes, I am definitely going to try a tomato-cheese toasted sandwich. Classic BLT? I'm in! They're kinda hard to work into the calorie count though - and please, nobody try to talk me out of real bacon and real mayo. :) I'll eat salad for breakfast instead. LOL!

Marie - great job with the loss, and with the battery! Electrical stuff scares the snot out of me. I'm willing to fire up a torch and weld or solder pipe together, but I've never been able to shake my deep suspicion of electricity. You are my hero!

newleaf - I've done exactly what you did, but with Swiss Chard instead of beet greens. That's yummy too! Roasted beets are great and the foil pack does make cleanup much simpler.

Weightlosswanted - welcome!

patchwork - sorry about the tummy bug; glad you're on the mend!

More to follow - meeting to deal with!

On the topic of tomatoes, here's what I have been doing, which I absolutely love!!

I cut an eggplant into 1" thick circles, brush with olive oil. Grill the eggplant approx. 7 min. per side. In the final 2 minutes, put a thick slice of tomato onto each eggplant slice.

If DH is home, then I serve the tomato slices separate from the eggplant slices (he doesn't like eggplant). But if it's just me, I serve it just as it comes off the grill. TOTAL yum...

ICUWishing sorry about the bloodwork extravaganza. Today's a new day!

WeightlossWanted he's going to College of Charleston. Yes, nephew, not son. I actually don't even know him that well since my brother (his father) and I are not close... But he's a nice kid, and the first of all the cousins to head out of the nest...

Morning all!

My parents are takng me to lunch, a movie {Julie & Julia}, then to get my haircut! Yay!

My abs and pecs are a little sore from yesterday's workout, but nothing horrible.

ICU,EEEK, on all the bloodwork!

Newleaf and WLW, I put beets on the shopping list and thought I'd give them a try.

Weightloss, I find that what I eat has more to do with weightloss than how much I exercise. I did P90x and only lost a few lbs because I didn't watch my eating. I would personally prefer if I could eat whatever I wanted and just exercise it off but it doesn't seem to work that way, for me anyway.

Thanks for the sympathy on the bloodwork (SEVEN tubes!!!). :) Funny part of it is that I ordered it myself, and am paying out of pocket. Darn engineers - we can never not look under that very last rock. :) If everything is great, it will be a good baseline for the future. And if it's not, I'll have a much better idea of what to work on.

7 Tubes??! Wow! Let us know if you uncover anything...

I'm back from my haircut. Its not much different from before but the sides and back are shorter. I look more like Demi from Ghost. I haven't gotten used to it yet but it doesn't look very different in the pictures I got my Dad to take.

Julie and Julia the movie was much better than the book! They paralelled the lives of Julie and Julia as they discover themselves through cooking. I thought Julie was much more likeable in the movie. While Meryl was hysterical as Julia; I thought the movie was a tad confusing on some points of Julia's life but since I have read her biography that helped clear things up. Julia and Paul were adorable in the movie and so obviously in love!