Good morning ladies,

So sorry to hear about Jazz, Meowee. I'm sure you'll miss him.

Cheryl - sounds like you need a . I sure hope your Dad is on the mend. Let us know when your husband is sucessful with his job hunt. I'm sure that will help with the stress. Try to keep up your eating & water intake - not only for weight issues but also to deal with all that's going on.

Donna, Dina, Mama bear.

Talk soon,

Morning . . .

I was up pretty early again and it is going to be a long day . . .

Oh well . . . at least there was no additional snow overnight and (hopefully) the forecast for a pretty calm and relatively 'precipitation-less' day will hold true. However, it is not going to be warm, with the high predicted to be
-9C/+16F. I've lined up a new plow-boy and hopefully he will show up sometime today, too.

Had to take Frack (one of the Bengals) to the Vet late yesterday afternoon. She has managed to scratch the conjuctiva of her right eye rather badly (at least the Vet found no signs of damage to her cornea) and it is running like mad and badly swollen. So far I've managed to get two doses of at least 'some' of the prescribed ointment into the eye and only have one major scratch (on the palm of my hand) to show for it -- luckily she is small enough that the "wrap cat in towel" routine almost works.

Did come up with a little piece of good news yesterday -- Jazz and his two shots of insulin daily, was the main reason I had decided I couldn't go "home" to Ontario for Christmas this year. Now that he is gone, I checked out last minute flights and was amazed to get a real bargain for just the right dates (December 22 with return on January 2) for only $198 -- normal fare at this time of year is closer to $500 (both, plus taxes, of course). So decided it was 'meant to be' and I booked. Called my SIL to make sure I was still welcome and she is probably even more thrilled than I am. My friend LouLou will (I hope -- haven't even talked to her about it yet ) be able to drop in every day or so to take care of the needs of the rest of the menagerie, I imagine.

Anyway, hope everybody has a great day today . . . see you all later.

I thought this might be a good area for me to land. I'm pretty new to the board.

I'm a 58-year-old married gal with a great husband, a lovely daughter, a truly phenomenal son-in-law, and three wonderful grandkids. I've got a slew of medical problems including Type II diabetes that I use a couple of meds and a carb restricted diet to control.

I'd gone from 275 to 225-230 and have been quietly creeping back up. When I got to 247 I sort of freaked. Then I got to wondering - what am I doing differently than when I was successfully losing? Well, lots of things, it seems.

1st - I'm no longer in school, hauling around 50 pounds of books, laptop and various research needs 3 -5 days a week. The pay-off for that is not having a wrecked back, neck, and shoulders and living on ibuprofen, but I'm also exercise poor.

2nd - My on-call hours shelving books at the law library have gone to zero per week. Its amazing how much physical effort it takes to keep a library in shape!

3rd - I'm spending 4 days a week (or more) with my butt glued to a chair in my home office (or that of my writing partner) at the computer finalizing our inordinately complicated second workbook for publication.

4th - I realized that since I wasn't in school all the time I wasn't taking my ritalin. Uh, that was a really BAD idea to sort of forget to stop taking that.

Three days ago I started taking my ritalin again. Gee! Suddenly I finished up 3/4 of the remaining work on my book segments in two days. Plus I'm sure the drivers in Massachusetts are SO HAPPY that I'm using it again. Me? Distractible? Never... OH! Look at that BUTTERFLY!

I never realized before that the ritalin helps me focus regarding diet and eating as well, and address issues around insulin hunger which drives eating that isn't necessary. So, that seems to be one of the missing pieces.

I've lost a couple of the pounds I regained in the past three days, although I have a hunch it is water weight.

I've been doing work with the Pilates Magic Circle to exercise my arms and legs. Those I can do while on the couch. I'm not a floor exerciser. Too hard to get up at this weight, plus I have bad knees.

I also broke out the old Childers exercise bar which I can also use while sitting.

On days when my bronchial asthma permits I'm doing my walk aerobics tapes by Leslie Sansone. (I really like her!)

Anyway, hello!

Foghamar!

It's always nice to have someone new to the group. You certianly seem to be a busy lady. What were you taking in school?

As far as weight loss, we're always here to help in any way we can. It's a hard road for everyone but the ladies here at 3FCs are wonderfully supportive and very knowledgable.

Talk soon,

By the way, weekends are very slow moving so don't be surprised if there are limited postings.

Glad to have you with us FOGHAMER . . . Will be looking forward to knowing you better . . . sounds like you are back on the right downward sloping road to better health and fitness again, Chickie.

Well my day has definitely gone way down in the dumps since my earlier post this morning. Had to take Frack back to the Vet's. Her other eye decided to develop the same problems. Vet has now ascertained that she has Herpes Feline Conjunctivitis caused by the Feline Herpes Virus 1.

-- yes it is related to Herpes Simplex 1 that infects humans -- no the two virus types are NOT transferable between species --

So she is now spending the weekend with the Vet being treated for the infection in both eyes and receiving L-Lysine supplements to attempt to supress the herpes virus. I got sent home with a second prescription of Lysine Supplements to give to her litter-mate Frick. My Vet now figures they were born with it and it has just taken 9 months to manifest itself. Apparently the problem is very common in the "higher-strung-purebreds". She (the vet) figures the three other cats all have good old "hybrid vigour" on their side and probably won't come down with the symptoms.

I have not been successful in getting any of the Lysine paste into Frick (haven't even seen her since my unsuccessful attempt) but the three adults enjoyed licking it off me where it landed when Frick spit it out. At least it won't hurt them.

Sorry to dump on you again, ladies . . . just had to vent a little . . . the past couple of days have not been very happy ones in my "zoo".

Thanks for the welcome.

I was in law school. Graduated this time last year. Spent the next few months driving myself (more) insane studying for the bar. Passed. Still trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I think legal writing is probably it.

Noticed you are from Winnipeg. My grandmother's people came to the US from Winnipeg. Mom used to tell me I had a slew of relatives up there. Who knows, maybe we a 4th cousins 27 times removed.

Good Morning . . .

It snowed a little more overnight, but the sun is trying to poke through today. At least I had a good night's sleep and everything else seems a little brighter this morning, too. I did manage to get a little of the Lysine Supplement into Frick via the 'smear on paws and nose' routine and hopefully a little is better than none. Maybe she will actually grow to like it, in time.

Nothing much else is new in my world. Hope everybody else is having a good day . . . try to keep things moving and shaking, gang . . .

Hi Ladies...Just a quick fly-by for now. I haven't been home much the last couple of days and have a few things I need to do around the house before I go back to the hospital tonight. My Dad is doing better, but the doctor thinks he has the drug resistant form of phnumonnia since he hasn't been responding as fast as the doctor thinks he should. We are still hoping he will get to come home on Monday/Tuesday. Right now I'm looking for an adjustable for my Dad and Mom. Cheaper to buy two twin size, and hook them together, so they can be together. Also busy doing some remodeling on their house so we can list it in the spring and get them into a one level home with no stairs.

I'll be back tomorrow to post personals.

Cheryl

Hi . . .

It's snowing sideways around here again this morning . . . . And Frick (I'm beginning to think she is part snake; the way she twists and turns and slithers away whenever I come near her lately) still thinks I'm just about the cruelest human she has ever seen. In other words . . . SSDD . . .

See you all later . . . try to keep things moving and shaking in the right directions, gang . . .

Hi again . . .

Too cold this morning (-23C/-10F) so at least it isn't snowing. At least it is a change.

GOOD MORNING CHICKIES, Here it is Monday again and I see I have missed a lot of chatter.
First of all I'd like to WELCOME our new gal FOGHAMAR, this is a great time of year to get new people on here. We look forward to getting to know you and we will try really hard to help you along on this tough journey of weight loss.
CHERYL: I sure hope your Dad gets better soon. Sounds like you have been really busy out there. Your weather sure didn't sound very good either. Maybe this will be a better week for you and your folks. Has your hubby heard on a job yet?
MEOWEE: I'm so sorry about Jazz,I know how much you loved him.And now the little ones have eye problems,this hasn't been a very good year for your kitty family. Certainly hope the new year will prove to be better.
Hi there SETTIE what ya doin? and MAMABEAR how are you?

This was a great weekend for me. The first in a long time that I didn't feel so depressed, actually had fun. It snowed all day Saturday and then a little on Sunday. Ended up with about 5" altogether. The sun is shining today but we are supposed to get freezing rain and more snow overnight and all day tomorrow.I made a huge pot of vegetable soup on Saturday, oh yummy, did that ever taste good. Got all of my presents wrapped, made my peanut brittle and some peppermint bark,AND got all of my ironing caught up. I feel like a new woman. When I weighed this weekend I maintained, that is two weeks in a row, but I will take that gladly. I have done pretty well in not over indulging on the goodies,at least so far. Need to get my Christmas cards out in the mail this week and then I will be ready for my m-i-l to be here. We go after her on Saturday if the weather holds out. It is about a 5 hour drive one way and we are just picking her up and heading right back as they are calling for more snow on Sunday. By Monday I will be pooped, but that is a whole week away.
Hope everyone has a great week, I hope to get back here a little sooner.
DONNA

Hi Ladies,

I just got back fron the gym. Had a good workout today and I'm rewarding myself with a coffee and visit to 3FC.

Cheryl, I sure hope your dad continues to improve. It's so hard to see your parents sick.

Donna, I'm glad you had a good time this weekend. Your mood can certianly make or break what should be a good time.

Meowee, those kitties are sure keeping you busy. They are worth it though, aren't they?!

to everyone,
Talk soon,

Hi gang . . .

Sorry I haven't been around before now . . . this is not a great day . . . Frack is not getting any better. The Vet is now trying to track down a Bengal Leopard Cat specialist in the hopes of finding some new clues. If it was just Herpes, they'd expect her to be rallying by now. They have run tests for a few other possibilities (including FeLV) and everything keeps coming back negative. The others (including the other Bengal, Frick) still seem to be fine, health-wise; but I think they are picking up negative vibes from me, because everybody seems to be in a squabbling mood today.

Food-wise, for me, . . . well, let's just not discuss that, okay.

See you all soon.

Another day of high

Just a quick little post for now . . . I am in a nasty humour this morning. I absolutely have to go out today (very important appointment) and we are in for a mixed bag of snow, rain, freezing rain. Additionally, Frick has been sneezing a little and Purrecious has a watery eye -- and I'm panic stricken about it.

Hope to be back later.

MEOWEE: I know I speak for the others when I say we are all with you and wish we could be of some help. Hope the vet can help Frack and that the others don't get it too. You are in my prayers. losing pets isn't any different than losing a child IMO.

Love you, Donna