Desk-top is getting more persnickety by the hour. Lap-top is up and functioning but can't get it connected to the internet until the desk-top cooperates. It came with lots of great free games though. Hopefully I'll be 'in business' on both machines by early in the new week.

Another wonderful looking morning in northern Nova Scotia -- but we are being warned that Hanna is definitely on her way. Imagine you are going to get a good wetting down from her as well, Isabella.

The desk-top has an appointment for this afternoon about 3 . . . add to the time estimate from the 'wizard-guy' of 5 or 6 hours in his shop plus another hour or two when he brings it back, the fact that it is the weekend, and the fact that Hanna is supposed to hit us late Saturday (with possible power outages) . . . I have absolutely no idea when I will get back on-line.

See you . . .

Hi Isabella, Donna and Meowee,
Sorry I have been gone so long, the first week of school is always so hectic. Plus, I had scheduled to attend an out of town training on Friday and then a regional union meeting on Saturday...Yikes! I vegged all day today with a good book and napped in between chapters! I finally roused myself long enough to prepare dinner and fold some laundry. A truly lazy day.

Hope you get that laptop running soon, Meowee. They are so great to have. Mine is indespesible for work. It also made my life bearable when I was taking on-line classes.

Donna, it's good to see you back again! My weight has stalled, too. Maybe we can motivate each other.

Isabella, I agree, the heat affects me more as I get older. When it gets in the 100's here, I want to hide!

I'll be back tomorrow...gotta get to bed!

Sheri

Ah, Sheri, those first weeks at school are only a memory for me. But DH just finished his first week as the bus driver/janitor. Not quite the same as a teacher but it was hot, hot, hot, while he was cleaning. We must have had one of the best weeks of summer the first week of school. This will be my 3rd school year since I retired (a full 2 years) and I don't miss it one little bit. It's as if it was in another place and time. I've got my hands full with mom so I don't get much time to miss anything!!

About your weight stall. Don't worry too much about it yet. Just keep to your "diet" and your exercise and you'll soon see results. It's not uncommon to lose quite a bit the first month or so and then stop for awhile. I lost 10 pounds during January and February and not an ounce the whole of March. But since then it's been quite steady with only a few times where I didn't lose something each week. This week past I didn't lose anything but the week before I lost 2.5 pounds so I guess that'll have to do for both weeks.

Meowee, has been having a bit of trouble with her internet connection. I wonder if we'll see her today?

Good morning girls. It is a cold rainy morning in Nebraska. Only 46 right now and not going to get much over 50 today and the wind is supposed to pick up. Sounds like a great day to be home with a good book and a pot of soup, but I'm at work! UGH

Sheri: thanks for the support. I'm actually having a better month so far. I am hoping to get back into my exercise routine this week. Still having a bit of an upset stomach but talked to a gal Saturday that said she has been having the same symptoms so it must be something going around. If it isn't gone by the end of this week I may have to call the Dr.

Isabella:I just seem to wear out a couple of pounds every once in awhile. I gain them, I lose them and then finally they are gone for awhile and I start on a new number to wear out Thanks for your support also.

Meowee: I sure hope hurricane Hannah doesn't cause too many problems for you. We miss you. Sounds like she is moving pretty fast.

Had a good weekend. Went to a football party and made the chili for it. Only had one small bowl with a couple of saltines and a thin slice of cheese.
Had to wash it all down with a big glass of 1% milk. Did break down and have a small cinnamon roll a little later. Had had my oatmeal for breakfast so I wasn't all that hungry, probably a good thing. Supper was kind of pick and find and I did well there too. Sunday I had oatmeal for breakfast and then early afternoon we went to a retirement party and they had a buffet.
I ate a pork sandwich and then veggie salad and 1 cookie. Supper was kind of a rerun of Saturday night. But never quite got it finished as we noticed the neighbor behind us had smoke billowing out from behind his house so ran over there to find an old garage on fire. My hubby and several other neighbors grabbed garden hoses and started doing what they could until the firedepartment got there. I guess he had put his lawn mower in there right after he finished with it and it caught something on fire. I was worried because he has huge stacks of firewood around his place and that could have been devastating to the whole neighborhood. We have a fantastic
volunteer fire department and they got there very quickly with 4 trucks.
His garage was a total loss but at least it didn't get anything else. The other neighbor next to him had some damage to his garage from it but not too bad I don't think. That was more excitement than I needed.

Have a great week gals and keep up the good work. DONNA

Hi Donna, Isabella and Meowee,
Donna, long ago, I lived in Colorado. I remember those cool days leading into Autumn. I love the definite change in seasons there. The aspens changing and the nights so cold with the stars so bright! I miss it, but I don't miss driving in the ice and snow. You have such a positive attitude about the struggle we all go through. I like the idea of wearing out some pounds. I am thinking that I have been eating too much salt and too many pistachio nuts with salt. I will try to cut them out for a few days and see if that helps. I have switched to plain almonds and will be counting them like I am supposed to do! Also, I spent two days out of town, eating restaurant food, which is generally salty.

Isabella, I saw your before and after pictures on your challenge entry. You are doing great! Your weight loss really shows a lot. You are looking very trim and toned! Good for you! You are lucky to be retired. Some days I look forward to it! As you know, teaching is exhausting, especially toward the end of the school year. But, I really do like my students a lot and enjoy the companionship of my colleagues. I have always loved being a professional and developing as a professional. So, I imagine I will always work in education in one way or another, even when I am a red-hatted, blue -haired old gal. I can see myself working as a travel guide or something like that. There are days though, when I wish I was at home moseying around my garden, permanently! You are lucky that you have the wherewithall to stay home to take care of your mother; she is lucky you can do it!

Meowee, come back to us soon! We miss you!

G'night ladies. I gotta start getting more beauty sleep!

Sheri

Donna, that was quite a bit of excitement in your neighborhood this weekend. We have a huge wood pile in our yard so I know what would happen if that caught on fire.

Sheri, I love being retired. I am tied down more than I'd like with mom but we won't have her forever so I don't mind. I tried to take her out on the back deck this afternoon but she cried the whole time she was out there so we (DS and I) took her back in to her chair. She has the sensation of falling and that's what she was afraid of this afternoon. Thought she was falling out of the chair. She settled in pretty good after her little outing.

Thanks for the encouragement. I look at those pictures and can hardly see the difference, except for the face. I know I've lost though because I'm on a new set of clothes. I bought a few pieces to fit now and I had all these "skinny" clothes that I'd bought a few years ago when I was almost at this weight but went back up before I got a chance to wear them. I have 2 pair of pants, a suit (skirt and jacket), a shirt dress, and my funeral dress.

Now about my funeral dress. Some years ago we had a discount clothing store open up in our town and one day I was in there and saw a size 12 dress in a royal blue. It's actually a two piece with a skirt and a matching over blouse. As I was on a diet (always) I thought I'd buy it as it was only $5. It never fit and I always told my husband that if I died he could use that new blue dress for my funeral. I told him it didn't matter if it didn't fit because when I was dead the undertaker could cut it up the back and it would look good on the front. (I have a macabre sense of humor at times.) Well, now even the funeral dress fits but the style is out of fashion now. My mother loves it though and it would look good on her now (not when she's dead). I haven't tried it on her but the skirt would fit as it's elastic waist. If the top fits I'll get her to wear it to church some week.

Oh, dear what a weird post. Ha, ha.

Isabella the story of the funeral dress is great. Believe it or not

I have the suit I wore to my youngest daughter's first wedding. It is a

size 8 and I have always said I would wear it for my 50th wedding

anniversary and then they could bury me in it. And like you I said I probably

won't fit in it then but hey you can cut the back out and it will look fine.

You don't have to be crazy at this age but it helps. DONNA

Glad I'm not alone in long term planning.

Donna, you are doing really well with the weight loss. I was just looking at the accountability thread and you seem to be losing steadily.

Another dreary wet day today. Some wet days are not dreary but this one is--dark and damp and steady rain. Just the stuff for back to school. I was up early this morning trying to get a few things done and get in my exercise because a friend was coming to do some planning for our church calendar and possibly our Christmas program. She just emailed me that she and her little girl are not feeling well so they've postponed for another day. So here I am just sitting and not doing my exercise yet. I've got a few extra minutes to spare today. Last night I even got a few things ready for dinner so I'd have the extra time today. I don't mind the extra time--now that I'm retired I love long stretchy days that never end. When I was in school teaching some days seemed like they would never end and now I don't care if they ever do!

I've stayed on plan so far this week but I don't know if it will make a difference in the scales this weekend and I'm not too worried if I don't lose for a few weeks (a little disappointed but not worried). But I'm determined to get past the 150 once and for all.

Meowee, are you still lost in cyberspace? We miss you.

Hi there . . . I'm back . . .

The past five days have been horrible . . . amazing how dependent we are on computers. Still trying to find a lot of my 'stuff' and also trying to get used to XP on this machine and Vista on the laptop. But, at lest I am reconnected.

Hannah was hardly more than a little burp around here although there were places in the Atlantic region where there was some serious flooding. Hope IKE soon settles down to a dull roar too.

Anyway . . . lots of places to at . . . see you all soon.

Hi Ladies!
It has been a crazy couple of weeks. At the beginning of the school year I always hope the year will be less hectic than the last, but that just doesn't seem to be panning out this year! We had a parent "go bullistic" on a bus driver in the parking lot of the school yesterday...screaming, cursing, gesturing and speeding crazily out of the parking lot in her big diesel truck. It's the out of control parents that are more of a problem in our school than the kids. I would not be a bus driver for love or money, so give your husband my respect and condolences, Isabella!

Hi Meowee! Welcome back! I am glad you got your computer problems solved and that the hurricane was minor in your area. I really liked your article about HFCS...it is one of the food additives that my health class talked about in depth last year. We did a research project in which we read labels and brought in packaging from foods with HFCS...it is in almost all packaged foods! And, it is in most sweetened drinks. I turned them into HFCS sleuths and food cops. They even nailed me last year on one item I had for sale in my snackbar fundraiser; needless to say, I am not selling that item this year!

A few thougths I have been having...one is that I am down to 194 (yeah)!
I seem to lose in fits and spurts and I think it has to do with my waxing and waning motivation. My weight loss had slowed down, but I realized it was because I had been easing of on the exercise. It is hard to keep it up when life gets crazy. As a teacher, with so many competing activities, it is hard to put it first. But, on the flip side, I am so busy every day that the trips to the fridge are curtailed now! Also, I had been consuming too much salt. I found a wierd snack that I really like and it is a stand in for salty crunchy things...seaweed! Before you gag, prepackaged, dried, crunchy seaweed is very flavorful and it is supposed to be one of those superfoods we are supposed to eat...full of trace minerals. I am thinking that it must have a lot of potassium, which is good on a diet and helps to balance sodium. Okay, now I have made a wierd post, Isabella.

About the funeral dress...there are times when I have bought things that I have thought I would "get into it someday" and "it's such a good deal" only to realize that I will never wear it, whether I can fit into it or not. I pass those things along to the Salvation Army, knowing that someone will just love and appreciate this thing that I never wore. On the other hand, as I go down in weight, I buy a lot of my clothes there, so what goes around comes around! I have to dress nice for work, but clothing is so expensive and I would rather spend my money on vacations and having fun. I save a lot of money there and don't feel so guilty about the clothing I am leaving behind as I lose. I know some people find wearing used clothing repugnant, but I think the clothing industry and the urge to be "fashionable" is incredibly wasteful. Also, I frequently find brand new, top label clothing at second hand stores. I have a friend who goes with me...it is a quest to find the best things at the best prices. I have become much more discriminating as I have done this more and I weed things out that are getting ratty so that I have a very nice wardrobe for work.

Well, it is my son's sixteenth birthday today. I got up very early to bake a cake and now I am going to go frost it. Have a great day, ladies!

Sheri

Good Morning . . .

Wowee, Fall is definitely in the air around here today -- here it is 10am and we haven't gotten into double digits yet (we're below 50F) even though it is a beautiful and sunny morning. I just this time of year.

Nothing exciting for me anyway -- doing the normal Thursday afternoon 'mall-crawl' and trying to find/rewrite some of my staple computer things will probably be it for me.

Hope everybody else has a really great Thursday . . . keep things moving and shaking . . .

Hello all.

Sheri, seaweed is not such a strange snack in my neck of the woods, actually in all of Atlantic Canada. I can't say I've developed any love of the stuff but I know people who swear by it.

I love, love, love, rummaging around second hand clothing stores. One year when I was teaching I bought most of my clothing at Valu Village. The sweaters I bought were beautiful and I still have one that mom wears when she's cold. My kids grew up in hand-me-downs from cousins, friends and second hand stores. I hated to spend so much money on my clothes that just got so worn out at school. And kids grow out of theirs so quickly it's a shame not to use hand-me-downs. When the boys got to be teenagers we went with new stuff all the time. Ha, ha.

Gotta go drive DH back to work.

Oh girls, you don't know how good you made me feel, talking about shopping at the Salvation Army or Goodwill or where ever. I get most of my work clothes there too. I can have a lot larger wardrobe and not spend so much. I agree that being "fashionable" is highly overrated. I leave that to the much younger crowd. What I love is to wear one of my "special" purchases and then have someone say,"Wow, that is so cute, where did you get it"? So ok, I fib, only a little. I say "Oh, I found this in a cute little shop when I was out of town" Hey I did have to go out of town!!! Who needs to know. I really enjoy Holiday sweaters or Football shirts. Here in
Nebraska every Saturday is "Husker Red" day or some wear black as our defense is known as the 'black shirts'. It is our university football team and the closest thing to a pro team that we have. In fact "Huskermania" has been called a religion in Nebraska on football Saturday

Sheri: Congrats on the 194. It is strange how our weight seems to fluxuate. It is hard to work and find time to exercise, but you are doing great. Seaweed, now I'm not sure about that, but I doubt that is even available here.

Isabella: Good luck at your weigh-in. Getting past that 150 mark always feels good. It's good to be concerned but not worried. Sometimes I think I obcess about this weight loss thing way too much and then I defeat myself.

Meowee: Thank goodness you are back and you didn't blow away. Fall is in the air here also. Today is warmer than we've had for awhile. I think that
Hurricane Ike may bring some rain up our way next week.

Better run, glad everyone is doing so well. We must keep going to reach our goals, but we WILL get there. Donna

Good Morning . . .

I've decided I have to 'go to town' again today to find a book -- something along the lines of "An Idiot's Guide to Vista for Dummies" might be appropriate.

Other than that -- SSDD -- see you later