Anna - How did you get to be so wise and sage with your advice? You can make me laugh, cry, jump up and down, but you always say the right thing at the right time.

I wanna be Anna when I growup.

Me too.

I just wanna be Anna's next-door neighbor. Anna works too hard for me to want to be her!

I just want to bask in her reflected glow.

Works too hard - this coming from the lady who wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and exercises her butt off? And then does another workout later in the day just for good measure? Hmm....

Yeah, but that stuff is fun!

I don't raise kids or home school or keep a bunch of flakey parents in line or make my truck run on grease or even grow my own food. I'm really a lazy git.

Dora - I think you are a very valuable part of our team. Everyone brings something to the team and you always bring encouraging, reasonable and wise words!! Thank you!

Anna - yeah, they attack A.L.L. fast and hard nowadays. Today he started the regular initial chemo treatment that all ALL patients start - it lasts for a month. His cell levels are 10 times lower than in typical cases when they're first discovered. His spinal tap came back negative which means he has no detectable cancer cells in his spinal fluid or in his brain. Yeah! The plan now is that he'll be inpatient until next Tuesday and then Amy will just bring him up for chemo 3 times a week after that. The doctors say they've never worked with a leukemia patient as *healthy* as him so hopefully it'll stay that way. The thing in the back of their minds though is that they do believe this is caused by a chromosomal abnormality (he's just too young to have "regular" ALL) - and therefore could require a bone marrow transplant.

Hit the gym hard this morning and have no headache!! Yeah!

I bought a new perfume the other day and am enjoying it. It's Cannabis Rose by Fresh. Anyone tried it? I've never worn/liked a "rose" frag before and I really like this one.

Dora, I love having you here on our team. You offer your own unique insight into weight loss and life struggles. Our team can only benefit from having people of different ages, ethniticities, religious beliefs and social backgrounds.

IMO, this chat thread is to share our struggles with weight loss, exercise and life in-general and to be a place of support and encouragement. I know that many of our past chats have centered around some of our unique interests such as vampire "porn", children, dating, music, sexy men, etc. and may not be something that can be related to by everyone on the team. Many of us have chosen to take our off-topic chats to another site. I'm hoping that this can be seen as good thing and not that we might have abandoned our team. Now, the Blue team threads can be more focused on our common goals of weight loss and creating healthy lifestyles.

Please don't stop posting with us. We need you.

BTW - I wanna be a combination of Josephine and Kelly when I grow up.

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Except for those of us who plurk will not work for at home!! Tomorrow's friday, and I work, so I can Plurk!!!

Blue Team,
Thank you Kelly, Jo, Nori, Anna and Rhonda for your encouraging words. I must be in an emotional swing of menopause or something. Or, it could be, I'm becoming my sicilian grandmother who used to think I didn't love her because i didn't hang on her like my cousin Susie did. In any event thank you all for being there, I do enjoy being part of this team

And Nori, just thought I'd share this article http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20080...ntprofile=1055 from our local newspaper about a 1 year old with leukemia (though it is myelogenous not lymphoblastic). Not entirely encouraging, but sometimes it helps to see how others cope with it all. My heart goes out to you and your sister and of course your nephew.

I'm discovering more things I can enjoy, or like Rhonda, can experiment with, in keeping within my high protein, complex carb, small meal plan. Lately, I've added more whole wheat bread and peanut butter (2 slices, 1.5 TBsp, with half a banana = 365 calories). This has me, uh, eliminating more often, too, which I'm sure has helped. I'm eating more edamame and just ordered some nutritional yeast for it's protein, B vitamin content and fiber. I read that it adds a cheesy flavor to some dishes, and cheese is something I miss at times. Also heading out of town to get some SF DaVinci syrups (German Chocolate,Dulce Le Leche, Butter Rum and Strawberry to start) for adding to soy shakes, yogurt and who knows what else.

I have also changed my workout time to first thing (okay 9ish) in the morning, with a few (100 cals) carbs to get me through it. I read that by taking in protein right after your workout you replenish your muscles and help their growth. I missed some workouts this week due to being (Dora)gone but now it's Doraback, like Kelly said, and real glad to be here. And, like Kelly, I'm anxious to sign up for the next challenge, so . . . ? who knows when we do that???

And speaking of Kelly - awesome, girl, about getting to Onederland!!! I'm like you about the scale, I'm on it a lot, because like you said, it gives me accountability. If I go without looking, I start to think, "I'm doing good, I can have a little treat" and it's all down hill from there. I don't know how I could have inspired you, but you, with all your little guys at the bottom, and how much you've lost already, YOU are MY inspiration - as well as Josephine and Kim. Around you three, I can't give myself ANY excuses, I feel your figurative . And because of you and Amy always fawning over your ellipticals, I have started using mine and I'm up to 10 minutes (up from 2!!!) You guys are good for me.

Had a NSV too this week, down from 22 to 18 pants!!!

Thanks again you guys, you're the best.

Dora

I will be Doragone again from August 6 thru the 12th. Not sure if Wifi available, so if I'm MIA, I'm okay now. . . really I am . . . . . . . . . just call me . . . Sybil.

Dora - I'm so happy to see you sounding a bit happier in this post than your earlier one! I love it when you post because your avatar always makes me smile. You've got an infectious smile!

Here's a tomato recipe I wanted to share. I've made it twice in two days.

Less Elegant Tomato Salad

4 large tomatoes washed
1/2 cup fresh basil packed
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese
2 oz balsamic vinegar
3 oz extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Core and cube tomatoes. Tear basil into small pieces. In a bowl and combine tomatoes basil and cheese.

In a glass measuring cup add 1/4 cup (2 oz) of balsamic vinegar pour in olive oil (3oz) until the combined mixture is 2/3 of a cup. Pour dressing over salad and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss and serve immediately

It was waaaay too much dressing yesterday so I kept out half of it and just added some more vinegar for tonight. I don't think you need anywhere near that much olive oil. And I used dried basil and it was still good. I tried it with cheddar cheese last night because it's all I had on hand but the mozzarella is way better. I've also had it with a can of tuna thrown in and it was yummy.

Interesting article, Dora. So sad. I'll ask my sister if she's met the mom, Devin Shoop. I know she has met some moms who are living there right now. They have nice rooms with their own kitchens - microwaves and fridges at least. This afternoon Lucas spiked a fever of 103. Poor baby.

YUM, Kim. I got tons of tomatoes in my CSA box this week, plus I already had some, so I was actually planning to do something where tomatoes were the main ingredient. Thanks!

Nori--I am so sorry for your family! How is everyone holding up?

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not been around much! I WILL catch up soon! We didn't find much yesterday, but we did some more shopping today and went to one antique shop--I hit the jackpot! I collect Fiestaware and I was able to get a box full of great pieces--mostly plates in colors that I don't already have for a really low price. I am SO happy! I can't wait to wash it and put it in the cupboard. Yes, that's right...I use it. I mix it in w/ my 'new' pieces (and I don't have many b/c it's expensive), but I LOVE it and I can't see having it sit in the china cabinet to look at. Granted, I am very careful w/ it, but we deserve to eat off pretty plates! Plus, many of the plates I have are lunch plates and are smaller--which is great for portion control!

That is REALLY good advise, I am so going to try that tomorrow. I had another 3 people at least ask me today.

Very glad to see the chat bumping again!

DORA - Awesome that you are doing weights, they always make me feel strong! There are so many benefits to weight training. I really need to get started with that again myself.

Kelly- Change her name from dora-gone to dora-back, that was a good one LOL - literally =)~

Nori im so sorry about lucas he is so young ... poor little guy i suppose if nothing else at least he is too young to remember all the chemo and everything when he is older..and he looks like he got a bit of reserves for when he doesnt feel well enough to eat .. for lucas
for your sister with such a nice name and
for you .. we will be thinkging of you..


Rhonda im back on track that is why im back and i know exactly what your saying.. no need to worry about me.. i was in a bad place last week and im in a very good headspace now and im feeling fantastic...

Dora i know what you mean about feeling out of place at times that is how i felt at the start o this challenge too but i soon found my place..im with you in the 18s dora funny though since im about 50 pounds heavier.. lol

So now my question is where is Tawnya??? in the weigh in thread its looks like she has quit becuase she posted 2 freebies for the last two weeks.. and its doesnt look good.. is she ok?? anyone here from her?? i know she had a holiday but i thought she was back so whats with the freebies??? have we lost her????

.. as for me i found out why i needed to buy 18s.. i did my measurements and i have lost 4 cm from my hippo hips.. in 2 weeks ..which is unreal considering i had only lost 7 cm when ive lost heaps from everywhere else .. now ive lost 11 off my hips woohoo..