John---we are in the progress of making an exercise room out of our garage because hubby is tired of all my stuff all over the house I have a step, exercise ball, couple sets of weights with some plates, trampoline, health rider, and a bunch of DVDs, which I am always buying new and selling off on ebay for next to nothing. I just gave away the bike because it was very uncomfortable to ride and was crammed into my closet unused. Hubby has one of those big home gym weight things but it' in the back room until the gym is set up and we have room to actually use it. I think it is pretty normal to collect stuff when you get into exercise...but, I do use all of my stuff almost daily.

Pam -- Here are some from my gym playlist you might like:

"The Fox" by Nickel Creek
"Firecracker" by Josh Turner
"High on a Mountaintop" by Loretta Lynn
"The Right Place" by the Derailers
"Dixieland Delight" by Alabama
"I've Been Everywhere" by Johnny Cash
"Country Boy" by Ricky Skaggs

You should be able to find some fun, upbeat bluegrass stuff, particularly if you like traditional bluegrass.

Yes, it is very frustrating. Sorry about your night. I have given birth to two of the worst sleepers on earth, so I know what the morning zombies can do to you!

My little cut her hair a few months ago. It was down to her mid-back and she hacked off a side. Remember Rosie's "I'm out and I'm proud" hair mistake? My baby looked like that.

You are a saint, honey. I could not do that.


When I started running, by body changed a lot, but I did not lose inches or weight. It just looked better. I am ready to rip my hair out.

Cold where you are? Cold here. Want a yummy soup recipe:

http://www.recipesource.com/soups/soups/14/rec1492.html

I ditch the butter and use 3 tbs of olive oil instead.

I add about 2 TBSP worcestershire sauce, and I blend my veggies, return to the kettle and then add the flour.

eat and be joyous

here are the stats
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 289 g

Amount Per Serving
Calories 96Calories from Fat 42
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4.6g7%
Saturated Fat 0.8g4%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 906mg38%
Total Carbohydrates 9.2g3%
Dietary Fiber 1.9g8%
Sugars 3.8g
Protein 5.6g

Vitamin A 29% • Vitamin C 13%
Calcium 3% • Iron 6%

Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

It's rough with sick babies, but hang in there. Mine are all grown up now...and that happens so quick.

GO BLUE!!! Let's whoop the red team this week!

Hey everyone,

I have been out of pocket with everything going on. I am sorry that I have not caught up on the posts. I will try to get caught up. I have not been to my COD in 2 1/2 weeks. My scale here says I have been loosing. I am going to go to COD in the morning. I was POP yesterday. That is the first time since January 10th. I am glad that my mouth is almost back to normal. I can at least chew some now. Nothing hard but beans and rice is not hard.

My FIL is still in ICU but seems to being doing better. Thanks to everyone for the concerns and prayers.

Well, I better go get the house cleaned up before I have to go pick up DS. My hubby comes home tomorrow. And I can't wait. He has been in Malaysia on business.

I will try to check in later. Have a POP day.

QOTD--Just like John and Dee I could open up my own gym. I will cheat and say I love all of my equipment and accessories.

I am looking into getting an ipod or mp3 player. My phone is a mp3 player but the songs are $1.99 a piece and I don't know if I can download from any other place besides Verizon. I'm also thinking I may be using minutes when playing it. All that to say I need to use something different. I don't know the difference bw an ipod or mp3 player. So I need your help. It might be helpful to tell you what I want and ya'll can tell me which is the best fit.

I want to be able to download songs from my own personal cds. I also want to be able download music from the net. I would like to be able to download podcasts. I would also like to be able to shuffle songs or if I want to hear a certain song be able to find it. This is for my birthday or for a reward. Budget wise I really don't want to spend more than $250. I'm willing to pay for quality. Name brand doesn't matter but quality does. I want something that will last. Thanks in advance for any input you provide.

Regarding my exercise plan, I did Taebo Celebrity Get Fit on Tuesday. I plan to do a different Taebo DVD today. On Saturday I am thinking of doing one of the BL dvds. Last week I basically did resistance training and this week I'm doing mostly cardio. I need to do some planning so I can incorporate both next week. My plan is to list all of my equipment and accessories and develop some type of rotation system.

Food--I've been counting calories since Monday. I do a checkbook method. Meaning I plan absolutely what I want to eat and if it doesn't match the calorie allotment I adjust where needed. The plan is-- if I am satisfied with my ability to count calories/make healthy choices by Saturday that beginning on Sunday I will just make healthy choices. Basically I want to stop counting. I will continue to plan meals but will not assign a number to anything. I am still faltering with the binging but I am consuming less than previously during these binges.

Amberelise--Regarding binging, I have started posting in the Chicks in Control forum. They are very supportive. Some are getting professional help and some are not. Many of them are successful losers too. So it can be done. At this moment I will do it without professional help and use that forum as my support group/support system. I also know that I don't believe in the Overeater's Anonymous philosophy. It has its own section in the Chicks in Control forum. One of the tenents is "I am powerless over food". I will never subscribe to that thought.

Yikes! Pam, I can't give you anything from my MP3 playlist. To give you an idea, my daughters are not allowed to listen to my MP3 player because the songs aren't clean at all. I have a lot of hip hop/heavy bass songs. Ironically, I do also love to listen to contemporary christian music when I'm in the car. You might like to check out some songs by Third Day, ZOEgirl, Superchick, Newboys, Stacie Orrico and Sanctus Real.....although, Sanctus Real might be a little too alternative for you. My favorite is Third Day. This is music that both you and your daughter can enjoy.

Afternoon everyone...

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still around although you may not hear from me. I'm just feeling kind of blue today, and thankfully I haven't turned to food to try and make me feel better. I'll be attempting to paint some tonight to try and take my mind off of things. I'm praying that this feeling is gone tomorrow so I can get back to the challenge.

Thanks for understanding

The more problems you have, the more alive you are.
— Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

------------------
This really hit home for me. My life could be easier but it wouldn't have near as much meaning either.

Snack ideas:

hey, you low carbers, I am looking for snack ideas. Low-carb, low-fat, which rules out nuts (I cannot have them in my house. I do love them so.) Any ideas? I already do a lot of fresh veggies in hummus, but I am burning out.

Michelle!! You know what the best thing about today is??

We're all BLUE!!!

Yeah, sleep? For a solid 8 hours? Or maybe even 4? What's that? It's been years now. Actually my 4 yo is normally a very sound, good sleeper, but my almost 3 year old has only slept through the night (by that I mean a solid 7-8 hours) 2 times since birth. I used to be so frustrated with it, but I keep reminding myself that in 10 years I will not be able to pull her out of her own bed! She never sleeps more than 4 hours at a time - but usually she falls back to sleep after 10-15 minutes. Oh well, sleep deprivation hasn't killed me yet. It has however, almost killed my desire for a 3rd child.

Yeah, put me on the dirty words, inapropriate lyrics list also. I have no desire to listen to the stuff when I'm not working out. It's weird. It's not like my whole playlist is rated R, but it does resemble Vh1's Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs!