Hi Sheri and everyone else. I didn't get my bike. DS couldn't get one either. He told me to keep my eyes peeled for the next model up the scale that has a heart monitor with it. He told me it goes on sale every once and a while too. I checked the flyer as soon as I got it but no bike this week. I was thinking of trying a recumbent bike to see if I liked that better but haven't had a chance to yet. I guess I won't ever see such a great bargain on a bike again but maybe all those people who bought the bike may be trying to sell them again this time next year. You know what happens to a great majority of exercise equipment (clothes hangers).

Isabella was my grandmother's and great-great grandmother's name. The last few years I've come across a few little girls who have the same name so maybe it's becoming popular again. I doubt I'll be able to convince either son to carry on that tradition if they have girls. It's my second name so I don't use it in real life so I guess most people don't realize it's my name.

I did 5 real push-ups off the floor today but I should have worn sneakers. I had just gotten out of bed and decided to get them over with for the day. I'm trying to move from the counter push-ups to the real ones over a period of several weeks. I can't really bend my elbows to lower my body yet but I'm working on that. Anyway, this morning I got three done and my toes that were dug into the carpet started to slip and I had all I could do to keep from falling flat on my face, but I managed to finish all five. Ha, ha, I'll at least put on my sneaks next time.

Hooray it is Tuesday again and I can finally get back to you gals. Sounds like everyone is doing great and keeping very busy. Isabella your "stripper"
show sounds like lots of fun. What a great way to get your point across.
Well I went to the exercise class last week and I truly thought the gal was trying to kill us off. I am way more out of shape than I thought,at least for some of the exercises she had us doing. In talking to my boss, the physical therapist, he told me that some of the exercises are too advanced for someone my age and not having been doing that type of exercising before.
Yea I walk on the treadmill a lot do a few lunges and squats but not a lot of floor type exercises. I didn't get real sore but just didn't have the stamina for some of them. My poor old knees couldn't hold some of the poses for as long as she wanted us to. So my boss showed me some easier ways to get the same results. I will have to visit with her before class tonight to tell her I won't be following the routine exactly the way she has it outlined,at least not yet. I guess she changes the exercises each month. I did do most of
them 2 times since the class like she asks.My weight is holding so that is good, won't get down as low as I had hoped by the end of the month, but at least I'm not gaining.
Since I last visited you we have had a hard freeze and our first snow. Golly I dislike winter more each year.
Sheri thanks for the picture, it is nice to see what someone looks like that you are visiting with.
Meowee hope things are well with you.
I'm going to have to run,time is getting short,have a few things to do before I go home then it's off to work then off to exercise. Until next Tuesday,Keep up the good fight. DONNA

Another rainy and windy day . . . but also another fairly mild one . . . I'd love to see a little sunshine, but I know it will no doubt bring the cold along with it.

Nothing very exciting around my neck of the woods. However, since I woke ou way too early this morning and have now just gotten up from a two hour nap, who really knows what exciting things may have gone on without any input from me.

Hi Ladies!
Isabella, your push up story made me laugh! Tonight, when I was standing in line at the video store I stumbled and almost feel down. Totally clutzy move. The guy behind me said, "whoa!" I laughed and said I was trying to fall down. He said he would have caught me. Brave man!

The teens were restless today. Is the weather changing? What's up? I am exhausted! Days like today make me feel like I am too old for teaching!

Donna, it sounds like you are enjoying your exercise class! Keep up the good work. I wish there was a water aerobics class at night at the local gym. They are all during the day so I can never make it. There is an exercise I really like!

Meowee, a nap? I love naps. I am a cat napper from way back. Even when I was in my 20's I napped. But as a long-term night owl, naps have helped me make it through the long daylight hours. I used to stay up until 2 or 3 AM reading my life away when I was younger. I just can't physically do it anymore and my eyes don't like it either. So, naps are the greatest. Don't you just love that drowsy stretch and yawn at the end of a nap? I swear it creates endorphins or some other "feel good" brain chemical. Nap on!

Good night, ladies...a test to write and all that!

Sheri

Good Morning . . .

We are are still having fairly mild weather -- but the sun is supposed to come out later today and the temps will begin falling.

Hey . . . for anybody who is interested . . . I just set up the NOVEMBER ACCOUNTABILITY Thread. Hope to see you all over there.

Thank you Meowee, I've claimed my spot.

Hi Donna, Meowee and Isabella,
It has started to rain here. It so predictable...amost every Halloween it rains for the first time of the season. I remember many times having to put rain gear on my kids, over their costumes, to go out trick or treating.
At school, I got wrangled into organizing the Halloween Carnival. My heart really is not in it and the usual parent volunteers are not stepping forward. Unsually, someone from the elementary school organizes it because it is attended most by the elementary students. So, tomorrow is going to be a crazy and hectic day at school. Maybe I will burn off lots of calories running around and organizing!

I did finally get an exercise bike. I ordered it online through Sears. It made me mad though because I was just there last weekend looking at them and they did not tell me that there was an online sale on the bike I wanted and it was 200 dollars off the in-store price. Luckily, my husband told me to look around some more and check online, too. So, to make a long story short, I saved 200 dollars by shopping online, but I have to return to the same store (a two hour drive) to pick it up. But, I am happy to get it as it has just started raining and the long, cold season is upon us. I will walk when it is nice, but this will give me another aerobic exercise to do.

I am down two more pounds...to 186! I upped my exercise, water consumption and vigilance about what I was putting into my mouth. Like the candy or two off the break table at work really do count. And the three or four big bites of pasta as I prepare dinner really do count!

Well, talk to you all again soon. I am off to make Hawaiian teriyaki stir fry (with pineapple). It was a requested dinner from my DH. Have a great week, ladies!
Sheri

Happy Halloween . . .

Hi everyone. Well, November is finally here. I don't know where October went. I lost 5.5 pounds for October so that was really good. I'm hoping to lose at least that much this month. I'd love to get below the 140s but I think I must be more realistic in my approach. I'll have to leave that to December.

I'm going to put a bit of fire on as it's so chilly this morning. We had the furnace on yesterday not because it was so cold but it was raining and the house was damp. Now today it's cold. I've got mom covered up with her electric blanket and I'm sitting here wrapped up in a quilt. Yup, time for the wood.

Hope everyone survived Halloween last night.

Halloween was pretty quiet around here . . . and that's just fine with me . . . I stopped doing the candy thing a few years ago because there were so few kids around and you know what would happen to the left-overs. So now I give them money which is much better for my resolve and the kids like it anyway.

My November is starting 2 pounds higher than my ticker . . . . . . but, based on an October average weight of 211.2, I decided it's staying where it is and hopefully I can make it stop fibbing fairly soon.

Had another one of those let's get up at 4:00 am mornings and really hope I can break that nasty little habit soon. It results in an early breakfast, followed by a two hour nap, followed by another breakfast. End result is not great.

It's sunny, windy, and cold around here today. I'm more than willing for the sun to continue. Not so sure about the wind and cold, but at least we haven't had any snow so far.

Hope you all have a great Saturday,

I wore my winter coat today. It's cloudy with sunny intervals but it's cold.

Meowee, I hope word doesn't get out about the lady who gives money away on Halloween. You could be swamped with hundreds of kids next year.

We finally have the first white stuff falling out of the sky -- too bad it's also so cold and windy . . .

Hi ladies!
Just a quick hello...it is the end of the quarter and I am trying to keep the diet thing going with PILES of papers to grade!

I made it through the Halloween Carnival "thing" and came away with a good feeling that I can take on such a big project and see it through. Everyone seemed happy and the little kids had fun, so, yeah, it was good! I even stayed away from the chocolatey cupcakes at the cake walk! And, I told my husband to take that huge bowl of candy still left on the table to work!

I really like my exercise bike. It is very quiet and I can ride and watch TV. My husband is a movie buff, and he loves it when I sit and watch movies with him, but truth be told, I have so much to do (including exercise) that it doesn't happen often, so now I can "kill two birds with one stone"!

Meowee and Isabella...it is cold and rainy here, too. We had almost four inches of rain in a 24 hours period! It woke me up it was hammering so hard on the roof. We have only wood heat in our house, so suddenly we are having fires in the woodstove, too. I love a fire, though. There is hardly a match for a finer evening than a warm fire, soup bubbling on the stove and a warm bread, fresh out of the oven.

Hope you have a great week, Donna, and that snow does not sweep across the plains too soon!

Take care ladies and have a great week!

Sheri

I was at a bridal shower tonight and everyone was asking how I'd lost all the weight. There were lots of teachers there whom I had taught with a few years ago and some of them hadn't seen me in a while. I had to give the run down of my "diet" and exercise several times during the evening. I ate pretty clean too. I did have 2 cookies and 2 egg salad sandwiches but I didn't have anything to drink and I munched from the fruit and vegetable trays. I had saved about 500 calories for the shower. I'm always amazed at how many calories there are in cookies and squares. And now I'm hungry again!

Sheri, I can tell you I don't miss grading papers, report cards, or any kind of paper work. I was listening to a few of the teachers tonight talking about the duty roster at school and one of them had worked on it all evening and just arrived at the shower.

I envy you the quiet bike. Mine is so noisy I keep it downstairs so I don't interrupt anyone from listening to the tv or even talking to one another. The new one I want to get is so quiet. I hope I can find it on sale again.

Our nephew dropped by last night and said he'd been driving home from a town about an hour away. He said he'd put in about 20 minutes of the worst driving weather he'd ever driven in while on the way home. He hit driving snow and white-out conditions on the main highway. He almost went off the road a couple of times. We had only had a few scattered snow flurries here and couldn't believe a few kilometres away there were almost blizzard conditions. Of course nothing stays on the ground this time of the year. After Christmas we really start to accumulate the snow on the ground and then we get tons and mountains of the white stuff.