Bobbi, on the challenge, the date at the top of the column is day 1 for the week. You have until the last day of the week to enter your weight. That's what I do. So for the week of Jan 4, you don't have to weigh in until Jan 10, and 11 starts the next week, and that goes all the way to the 17th. There are some people who don't weigh in every week and some who get discouraged and drop out. The Christmas Challenge was the first one that I finished all the way through. I was very proud that I did that, even though I didn't lose much weight. It's a start. You have always been good at losing once you set your mind to it.

Donna, I remember you. I'm sorry to hear that your daughter got involved with a cult. I hope she finds her way back to her family. I remember the problems your son had and hope he is doing better. I can imagine that all this stress makes it difficult for you. Just do the best you can.

Mary, I'm glad FL keeps you on track. You don't have to do everything they say, but it gives you guidance. I stopped keeping things in the house for my grandson if it's something that I will be tempted to eat. He doesn't miss it. DH keeps things in the house like Twinkies, and I hate Twinkies!! I would have to be starving to eat one of them. LOL

Just got home from the gym and now resting a bit. Going to go out again to get a hair cut soon. Other than that I need to clean our bedroom and adjoining bathroom today plus a few other odds and ends. I haven't been doing so well with the extra things, but will see. Last night dh and I watched a couple movies...weren't impressed with them though. So far I'm onplan, but I've only had breakfast. :D Will have a snack before I leave again.

Carol - You can send any extra Twinkies to me...LOL ...I almost never eat them but I do like them now and then. That's my trouble, I love sweets...not every sweet but way too many of them. I don't crave pastries often, but dh likes them and now and then he buys a doughnut for me. He'll bring it out and ask can you eat this? It's very hard for me to turn it down once I see it.

Bobbi - Glad to see you posting again. I try to keep some veggies on hand to snack on too....my favorites are carrots, celery and radishes and sometimes cucumbers. I don't need dips I usually just eat them plain.

Donna - I remember you. So sorry to hear about your dd. Hopefully things will change when she realizes what she is really into. How old is she? I understand what it's like to have no communication with your child...so painful. Will be praying for you. I'm glad you are back to taking care of yourself...I think when we go through these things, we probably need to do it even more even more.

Sandy, Glynne, Karrine and Fluffy, how are you doing?

Mary Cucumbers are my very favorite veggie to snack on and I don't need dip, either. Radishes and carrots are next favorite, like celery at times and turnips, too. Last summer we grew some Persian cucumbers that were the most delicious of all, but I had them in area that wasn't quite sunny enough. Next May, I'm trying again. We ate them as fast as they came on, and that wasn't true with other cucumbers that sometimes grew faster than we could pick them.

Welcome back Donna Sympathy for your's daughter choice. Hopes and prayers she may wake up and leave quickly.

When I read of the multiple trips out of house and back I'm a bit envious. We live so far from even a grocery store, 10 miles, and same with a drug store. We plan our outings to get many things done on one trip. Can't remember the last time I left the house in car twice in a day.

The snow yesterday was scary to drive in in places because they don't hit our roads with salt or sand except the interstates and main roads. We live 6 miles or more from those roads, still have to go thru the snow or ice.

Now that we are retired, we can stay home if necessary. However, yesterday's trip to the Ophthalmologist was absolutely necessary. My report was very good. DH's not good. Since they dilated my eyes, he had to drive
We go back in 10 days for them to dilate his eyes and find out why his vison went from 20/25 to 20/50 in 6 months. OUCH!!!

Pat fixed buckwheat cakes for breakfast with blueberries and pecans as topping. I ate too much, but left and was so busy I didn't get lunch. Supper was healthy and delicious. I'm spoiled with DH and Pat cooking and I simply enjoy and try NOT to eat too much.

Carol DH loves potato chips (and like your tolerance of twinkies) I don't like them. He brought home fig newtons and as we watched the exciting WVU vs Kansas game, we finished off the entire package!!! I remember they were good, but usually we get package away from us so we don't do such a stupid thing. At least there was some health in the fig part.

Sandy

Good morning everyone,
Nothing has changed with my ankle so I guess I'll be calling the doctor next week. I don't know if anything can be done other than to rest it as much as possible which is why I haven't pursued it any further so far. My best friend's DH had a heart attack a couple of days ago. He just had an operation and had 2 stents put in. He is home now recovering but he sure gave us all a scare.

Donna - Welcome back and I'm so sorry your daughter no longer communicates with you and that your son has so many disabilities. It sounds like you will give "YOURSELF" some time now to focus on losing weight. I'll keep you in my prayers that all these stresses let up so you can do this.

Bobbolink - I absolutely love cheese but had to eliminate it from my particular diet as it has too many points. I sure miss my homemade mac & cheese.

Carol - I weigh in almost every day but just report here on Mondays.

Mary - I love cucumbers too to snack on and don't need a dip. I'm ok with celery too but do find raw carrots to be to hard to chew on.

Sandy - It must be very difficult to live 10 miles away from any store. I am so fortunate in that I live near 5 different plazas.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Karrine Thank goodness we live out from town. DH likes to shop too much. I hate shopping so I do very well.

I agree that I love cheese and make room for it in my diet on some days. When I'm going to be away from the house for lunch, I take cheese, and apple and couple bottles (filling my own) of water for lunch. The money I save pays for one of the massages each month.

Walking in Sunshine today outside with DH. 53 degrees warm!!! Noticed that the only ferns still standing are the Autumn Ferns that still look fresh. Amazing and hopeful that this winter won't be the bad one we had last year.

Sandy

Feeling more energetic these days....perhaps it's because I'm eating less or it's because of getting back to my workouts or both maybe...whatever I'm glad. Yesterday I went shopping for draperies and found some I like ...bought them and a new rod and am hoping to get them up today. Will depend on dh's energy as I definitely need his help. I also bought three tops for myself...one is a blue and green flowered print, one is a red/rust print and the other is black with slightly longer sleeves than I usually wear. Oh and I also bought a pair of workout pants, I really needed and I tend to wear my workout pants as everyday pants for both here at home and going shopping. I used to wear jeans out now I wear these...an accomodation due to my weight sadly. Hopefully that will change one day. Because of all the shopping, I didn't get my house cleaning done yesterday, maybe today.

Sandy, even though I don't care for shopping anymore, I tend to get what I need and go home and quickly as possible...I can't imagine living so far from stores. I like all the options of a small city. I like that we also live near a larger city too but we don't go to Portland nearly as often anymore. Its'a beautiful day here too, don't think it's as warm as where you are though. Glad you got in your walk and with your dh too. Oh my gosh those pancakes sound so good!! Blueberries and pecans are two of my favorite combinations!

Karrine - Glad you're going to get your ankle looked at. Even just for peace of mind about it. Sorry to hear about your friend. Life can change so fast sometimes.

Fluffy, hope you're ok and can get back to us.

Donna - Keep looking up and do what you need to do for your health.

Glynne - Hope things are going ok for you with your diet and you are finding new ways to tweak it to make it easier.

Good evening GG's,

Been battling with myself ~ feeling guilty when I have a day/days when I don't accomplish much. Well, I did do some stuff, but it wasn't important stuff ~ kind of goofing off stuff ~ stuff I enjoyed, but then felt guilty because I didn't do stuff that really needed doing. I told my sister what I was doing were procrastination projects.

I think the thing that causes the most guilt is when I let another day pass and I don't do any of or only part of my PT exercises. And when I don't do any walking. I am thinking I would like to maybe get a pedometer, so I could at least kind of watch how many steps I'm taking and on days when I don't get around to walking, maybe I could at least try to increase how many steps I have taken.

I have been doing ok with the food. Kind of up and down the same couple pounds. I haven't gotten into anything really bad ~ maybe eaten some graham crackers I didn't really need. I think maybe one thing that is stalling me is my dipping (of the raw vegetables) habit. I was using vegetable dip I bought in the store, but I would dip and get a good sized gob of dip ~ so that I probably was getting way more than I should have. So then I started using ranch salad dressing ~ thinking that because it was not as thick as the dip, that I would get less ~ and I think I do get less of that, but because I have been eating the vegie plate more often here lately, that I am still getting more of even that than I should. My sister suggested I just do without the dip. I explained to her that I have given up so much stuff I like already (cookies, candy, chips, ice cream, bread ~ you know all the good stuff that isn't so good for you) since we started this way of eating that I didn't want to give up the dip too. To me, the dip makes vegetables something I look forward to and they seem more enjoyable to me. Anyway, I thought if I used some other kind of dressing that was thinner, that would work. I tried a vinagerette dressing, but didn't like that very much. So then I tried to thin the ranch dressing with a little bit of milk ~ that seemed to work. So, after a few times, I hope to see that the scale starts to move again.

Feeling kind of a little tired now, and I have to get up (need to set an alarm and not just get up when I wake up) in the morning. DS Jason invited me to ride along when he goes to his hearing aid appointment. I enjoy getting a chance to visit with him. It also helps him stay awake, as he has worked all night and not had any sleep at that point. Anyway, forgive me for not doing any personals tonight.

Hope you all have had a good day and that you rest well tonight.

Good morning everyone,
I go to bed early and am up early which is why I post in the mornings. I am in kind of a rut because I'm getting up way too early now. I wish I could stay up longer but I am so tired by the end of the day and I'm not really doing anything to wear me out because of my ankle. Speaking of my ankle - I did a lot of internet research yesterday on sprained ankles and it looks like all you can do is rest; use crutches if needed; cold compresses if swollen and elevate foot as much as possible. The Mayo clinic says the same thing. I can't get away from walking as I'm responsible for everything around here but I am in my recliner reading a good part of the day.

Mary - glad you had such a good shopping day yesterday even though you don't like shopping too much anymore. I have been looking for a new everyday winter jacket but can't find one that fits me in a 3X or one that I like so it looks like I'll have to wear the old one I have that is looking pretty worn until next winter as the stores are already stocking up on their spring inventories.

Gayle - getting a pedometer is a very good idea because as you said you can try to increase your steps every day even if you don't get in your daily exercise. I keep track of my steps on a spare calendar each day and it amazes me sometimes depending on what I do ie: grocery shopping; clearing snow; walking around the house for housework etc.
I hope the ranch salad dressing for dip helps you. It is so hard to give up all the comfort foods we enjoyed so much. I haven't done it yet but have in my mind that just once a month I am going to treat myself with some chips and dip if I have had a good weight loss.

I am doing housework today as my DD might be coming to visit tomorrow because it is her ex mother-in-law's 90th birthday and we are all supposed to go out for lunch with her. At least that is the plan for now but with my daughter that plan could change at the last minute LOL.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Gayle I certainly agree with Karrine that a pedometer encourages me to walk more. When I noticed I only needed 300 steps to reach 5,000 I immediately got up and walked back and forth inside the house till I was above that number and felt proud of myself.

Glad you'll get some time with your son and help him too. Seems rare to get one-on-one time with our adult children and it helps you both.

Mary So I'm not the only one wearing exercise pants even going to the store. I have one pair of jeans that fit, but getting in and out of the car is so much easier with the stretchy exercise pants.

Karrine I track my pedometer steps on a page in my Journal. Notice that in the past month I've really lowered my weekly walking steps. Yesterday's 3/4 mile walk helped increase this week's total, but I've simply got to do more walking even if it is treadmill or in the house. My goal used to be 5,000 steps a day, but I'm only doing that once a week. OUCH.

Sandy, I wish my Fitbit encouraged me to walk more but it doesn't. I just look at it to see what I do each day, but don't do anything to try to increase it. I think I'm just lazy. I'm always going to start tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes.

Gayle, I used to use Ranch Dressing to dip my veggies but when I bought French Onion Dip over the holidays I noticed that the calorie count was half of the Ranch Dressing, so now I'm using the dip. Like you, I like to use a big glob, but I am working at just using enough to flavor the vegetable.

Karrine, if the pain continues too long with your ankle it could be a hairline fracture. I don't know if they would do anything different for that. Maybe it just takes longer to heal. I hope it heals, soon for you. Being on your own you need to be able to get around.

My heavy winter coat is really old and I wanted to get a new one but then decided not to. When it's that cold and blustery no one will notice what I'm wearing, and I have a better coat for when it's not really bad out. I'm starting to become much more frugal.

Mary, I used to wear stretchy pants all the time but they allowed me to grow too much and the next time I tried on my jeans they didn't fit. I wear my jeans all the time, and when they're tight they remind me not to eat too much. I exercise at home so my exercise pants are french terry capris. Too cold here to wear them outside. But I haven't been exercising, and I better get back to it!! Soon!!

My grandson is coming to stay overnight tomorrow night. I really don't like that because of Rusty. Sometimes he nips at DGS and it scares me. DH says he won't bite him but I'm not so sure. DH doesn't realize the consequences of that happening.

It feels like it's been a busy day but I sure haven't accomplished much housework. Did get other things done with the help of dh though...in fact he did most of the real work. He installed my new drapery rod and together we hung the new drapes...took us quite a while to get them like I wanted and he was very patient and I know it wasn't easy for him to keep his arms up there so long while standing on a step stool. I did the easy part. I really like them...instead of sheers I went with two of the heavier material...the outside panels are green with leaves on them and the inside are plain green. I have a rug under the coffee table that has large leaves on it too. The main thing is I like the rod...I was SO sick of the old pleated draperies you had to hook on and the hooks kept falling out after 38 years and then the drapes would droop...I'd had enough! :(

Then the other thing we did was install a security ringer (actually called Ring); in case you haven't heard of it...it is a doorbell to replace your usual one and there is an app you install on your phones and Win 10 (if you want) and when the doorbell rings your phone will ring and you can see whose at the door and actually talk to them if you want...even if you are not at home. You can either hard wire it or let it run on batteries which the company will replace. We don't get many people ringing our doorbell (our family comes through the garage usually), so should last quite a while on battery, but we'd like to hard wire it...we have had a problem though with that because it causes our doorbell chimer to make a wierd sound. Right now we are charging the battery and will try again after it is fully charged, but we do know it works on battery as we've already tried it. So that's our 4th security system! I told dh I really think we are overdoing it. Our other monitor allows us to see if someone is out there but it is not really clear whereas the phone/win10 is nice and clear. I like having the monitor though because if our ding ding (the bell that sounds if someone approaches our yard) goes off, we can at least see them before they get to the door.

Sounds like we are really paranoid but actually we have never even felt afraid before we got all this stuff. But when we were traveling for 3 months at a time we thought it would be a good idea to protect the house, and then I do think my dh as he is aging kinda feels less confident in his ability to protect me, so we added the ding-ding then our son bought us the cameras and monitor and then when dh saw the ad for the Ring he wanted it too...so guess you could say one thing just led to another. ;) I said what are we protecting...we have nothing of great value as far as possessions. So anyway he's been working on installing that (then decided he'd better charge it as it probably doesn't have a full charge), and I've installed the apps on all three devices. Had some trouble with dh's phone plus he had questions about the Ring so spent time on the phone then went into the Verizon store and rep did the same thing Id been doing but it suddenly fully downloaded. Funny, I'd been doing the very same thing since yesterday afternoon and even talked to two people on phone and still couldn't get it done. Told her she must have the magic touch!

Meantime, I've finished up a couple loads of laundry from last night and done one more. Made a yummy chicken rice casserole tonight..using cream instead of a cream of soup, used leftover rice so it was quick and added a handful of frozen peas to it. It also had carrots and onions in it. We both really liked it.
I didn't bother to track all the calories and carbs but figure I got too many carbs because of the rice. It was worth it. Because of my slip ups my weight has not dropped anymore. I'll try to do better the next few days. Tomorow we will be babysitting. They can eat the rest of the Oreos...they do not even tempt me anymore and I do not intend to buy anymore even for them. I don't feel right giving them such unhealthy stuff.

I have taken time today to do some personal things I have wanted to do better at, so all in all it's been a good day.

Carol - I would like a fitbit but think it would be the same way with me. I don't think it would change my behavior just because of it. I have no jeans that fit me altho I do have that pair of jeggings...they look like stretch jeans.
But I hate them because they roll down my tummy so badly. I have no hips to keep them up. The other stretch pants do too...except the new ones I bought, so far they don't. They feel really good on me and dh likes them.

Glynn - Stop that feeling guilty, girl! Life is too short for that! My advice: think about what is really important to YOU to do...what YOU feel is sorta your mission in life, what you don't want to die before accomplishing, and make that a priority. Otherwise do not worry about what you didn't get done, just do what you can, when you can and remember no matter how hard you try, you can't please everyone. I have days I accomplish a lot, other days I don't. I want to please God and my dh and I want to leave a legacy to my children and I don't mean money. It's a legacy that is between God and me, not something people have imposed on me. It is MY priority and it is a very personal thing. It is not guilt ridden but I do realize that I am 72 and life on this earth is rushing by so I do need to get busy with fulfilling it. That is the only thing that is that important to me and as long as I do something toward that, I feel good. What I have found is that the more I force myself to do things I don't care about, the more I rebel against doing them. If it's something you feel you need to do, do it because you want to do it for whatever reason. If you need to exercise, find something you enjoy doing. I have never been one to enjoy much exercise (I do more now though than I did) but I love being silly...and marching around, doing what I realize now are aerobic type movements while cooking or just around the house. I love to stretch cause it makes me feel better. When I was younger I never thought of these things as "exercise," and now some days I don't feel like doing them but I do what I can, when I can because I don't want to lose my ability to move, but I don't feel guilty when I don't get to them either. Glad you got to spend time with your son. Like Sandy says one on one time with adult children gets to be so rare usually as they are busy with their own lives. Of course I know some parents who are with their grown children a lot but that has never been the case with me. That's why having our son live here for a while was such a treat.

Bye for now...

Good morning,
My DD and hubby are coming this morning from up north to visit me and help me with a couple of jobs that I can't do by myself and then we all go to the restaurant to celebrate my DD's ex mother-in-law's 90th birthday. It is a fancy, expensive restaurant that I haven't been to since they renovated. I wish I could get out of going because it means too much food for me on my diet for today. It will probably wreck my week's diet work. Oh well, I have to look at it from the point of view that it will be a real treat to have fine dining.

Mary - you sure do have high technology gadgets. I don't even have a smartphone (just a pay as you go flip phone). I don't blame you for wanting to protect your home if you go away for long periods of time. Your new drapes sound beautiful. I still have the pleated ones but they still look very nice and have kept their shape.

That's all my news for today,
Karrine

Karrine, I think we are going to return the new device. It does not work well with dh's hearing aid streamer.

We are babysitting today, but I have managed to clean the master bath, our son's room (most of his things are still in there), and my office. These are the easiest rooms in the house to clean. I did not get to the kitchen, living room or family room this week so next week will start with them. I have gone from weekly cleaning my whole house, to doing one room a day to now not even getting to all the rooms in week. Oh well..there is more to life and they are not filthy. I do run the vac over some of the carpets most days even if not doing any other cleaning in them. I do this mainly cause Halo sheds so much.

Dh went out for pizza for the kids...I wish he hadn't because they eat so much of that kind of thing. I think he did it because their dad had planned to get it but he didn't have time. I am happy to say that I only ate one piece and they also brought ice cream and root beer with them which I haven't touched. Not really interested. But to be sure, I'm going to make sure they take it home. Yesterday I did get too many calories and carb and don't want to repeat that.

Feeling like I need some quiet time, so hopefully the parents will be here soon.

Good evening GG's,

End of the day now. It has been a cloudy dreary day here today. Sara popped in for a short visit this morning. Got to talk to my sister and my mom on the phone. Didn't really do much of anything.

Enjoyed getting to spend time with my son on Friday.

This afternoon, I watched one of the playoff games for the super bowl. Not because I am all into football, but because my son enjoys it ~ and this was is favorite team playing. The New England Patriots (my son's favorite team) vs the Kansas City Chiefs (the team my grandson is rooting for). I was kind of hoping the Chiefs would win ~ because the Royals (baseball) won the World Series this fall, I thought it would be neat for that city to have both their baseball and football teams win the “big one” for the same season. I don't really have any favorite team. We've lived in several places and I have rooted for which ever team we were living near at the time. Grew up near Cleveland, so it was the Browns. One of my high school classmates was a Pittsburgh Steeler, so rooted for them too. Went to college at the University of Cincinnati ~ so it was the Bengals. Lived then in Maine ~ so it was the New England Patriots. Then lived in Kansas City ~ so it was the Chiefs. Then North Carolina, so it was the Panthers. Now Texas with the Texans and the Cowboys.

I did do a little crocheting. Back along, I had made some prayer shawls. My sister said how much she liked them, and asked if I would make one for her. I had three other ones I needed to finish first for some friends who I felt it would help them to have ~ and know they were being thought about and prayed for. Then I started on my sister's. I had gotten it part way done, and had to take a break as I had some other stuff I had to get done. So, picked it back up today and got several more rows done on it. Sometimes when I don't work on it for a while, I have trouble getting it right and have to ravel out a couple rows and re-do until I get it right, but thankfully today, I got it right ~ right off.

I was kind of a little bummed and stressed this morning. Bummed because even though I felt like I hadn't been doing too badly with the food, the scale isn't going down. I guess I should be thankful that it is kind of holding, instead of going up. However with my frustration today, I didn't try very hard to do the right thing with the food, so if it goes up tomorrow, I won't be surprised. I haven't been doing any walking ~ but a lot of times that doesn't make any difference ~ I lose even without the exercise. I think it is because I don't do it vigorously enough for weight loss. I do it more so that I don't stiffen up and it is supposed to help my blood sugars.

This evening, I have walked a little ~ those 5 minute chunks. I didn't feel like getting on the treadmill. I find that I don't want to go on the treadmill, because the TV in that room doesn't work anymore with the satellite. It gets other things, but (this is most likely an excuse) I want the TV channels to pick from. The reason that is probably an excuse is that even when it did get the TV channels, I still didn't do it. Anyway, I walked the first 5 minutes around the kitchen island ~ in view and hearing of the TV in the family room. That kind of hurt my hip ~ going round and round ~ maybe I was kind of leaning toward one side as I went around the corner over and over again. So the next 5 minute chunk, I just walked back and forth from one end of the family room ~ into the edge of the kitchen and back and forth like that. I seemed to like that better. I feel like maybe I am more apt to get the 30 minutes a day in (and maybe more if I get up and do it even after I've reached my 30 minute goal and do it because I feel stiff and achy and the moving at times relieves that a little) by walking where I did tonight.

Tomorrow I need to get the grocery list together for a trip to Aldi and where ever else we need to go.

Mary ~ hope your kids got there to pick up your grandchildren so that you could get to rest and relax a bit. Sorry that your new security device didn't work as you had hoped it would ~ but glad that you can return it. Your new drapes sound really pretty.

Karrine ~ hope you had a nice time with your daughter and son-in-law. Glad they can help you with some things. How did the meal out go ~ maybe you were able to find some choices that were more on the healthy side. Is your ankle feeling any better? Hope so for you.

Carol Sue ~ hope your time with your grandson goes well and the Rusty can get more comfortable with him so you don't have to worry about him nipping. That is scary to deal with. I mixed the ranch dressing with some milk and thinned it down ~ I am hoping that will work for me. I think in that way, I will get the taste without getting so much of the dressing.

Sandy ~ I can identify with the comfort of the stretch pants for getting in and out of the car and such. When I have to go on an airplane, I have been wearing the knit pants (not exercise pants, but part of a two piece knit outfit ~ the fabric is maybe a little thicker than T-shirt fabric and stretchy). It is more comfortable for moving around in a small space I think.

Welcome Baily ~ glad you've joined us.

TN Donna ~ glad to see you again. Sorry about the troubles with your daughter ~ so sad and heart wrenching. I remember about your son ~ hope the treatment you are seeking for him works out and helps him.

How are things going for you Bobbi? Thank you for posting your cabbage apple soup recipe. I copied it, but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Hi Lynn ~ hope all is well with you.

Fluffy ~ hope you can find us again on the new thread we had to start.

Well, it will soon be time for bed, so I'd better finish up here. Sorry I always get so long winded. I guess it is out of loneliness.

Hope you all have a good weekend and have a good rest tonight.