HI GALS ~

Just hanging around the computer this morning. Angie is at bell choir practice. She has already taken a 3 mile run with the mutts, trying to stay in shape for her next 5K on Apri 1.

We are meeting my ex-wife Brenda, Ryan and Nicole at the house of her parents today. It looks like they are going to try and take it over which is a big risk on their parts. One small detail I didn't mention was that the house is in Nicole's name.

Long story short, a few years back, before she met my son, her parents put her name down as buyer of the home due to financial troubles on their part. the plan was to build equity and sell, with both of them then making some money. Parents would pay the mortgage, she just had to allow them to use her name. Then, parents borrowed on it and were using that money for materials to use, along with his labor (he is a construction talented guy) on another home that a friend purchased with them (the parents) ~ the plan was to fix it up, and make a profit by selling and being able to use that money, along with the sale of the other house, to buy one for themselves and get Nicole off any loans. Big problem though, none of this was done "before" the drop in the market/economy here. So they lost the one house and are losing this one...FAST!

The kids don't want a forclosure in "their" name so they are going to try and make it by getting a room-mate, working extra coaching and dance seasons, etc. This is going to put quite a strain on a "new marraige" as most of us know. It will be very difficult for them to pay the payment now, as time goes on it will/should be easier (?) I was told there was equity in the house, the kids thought there was, there isn't..the market dropped right to the worth of the home at the moment. So asking for much needed prayers for the kids!

The bummer about it is that my son worked his butt off in high school to get schlorship $$$, worked at the sporting goods store and coached as he went to college, saving his $$$. Drove his first car (20 years old) for all of high school and most of college Then saved and paid cash for his "new" (5 year old) car, while his buddies were spending all their $$$ on new cars. Just so he would come out of school debt free and $$$ in savings! Now, what a contrast! He is instantly where he planed NEVER to be!

Tonight Angie and are are going with my ex and the kids to the Fish Club for drinks and dinner at the Sons of Norway Hall. Always fun!

For Angie and I last Sunday. I did end up walking the race, I did the 2 mile trail walk...very hard! Angie did awesome! She got 2nd place for her age group in the 5K..3.1 mile trail run!! Proud of her!

100%ME ~ Sometimes the weight just does strange things! Just keep your focus on your goal and HIM..it will all come together!

HEY LENA ~ glad you had a good time with your sister! Those banana wraps sound good, I told Angie and she is going to try one! Enjoy your week-end.

ROSEBUD ~ AWESOME new work-out!! You go girl! Glad to hear the wether is warm for you, it is supposed to be in the 70's to 80's here this week-end and very nice.

REBA~ Prayers for surgery ~ Have fun camping!

WILMA~ I hope the snow is melting and the curls are not! Hope all is well with the 3 boys and dil!

AUNT SUE~ continued prayers for your surgery! did you go home for the week-end? What's new with the youth at church?

Well get out and WORSHIP where you can! Prayers for all of you...GARY

... Hi Everyone ... Finally got my pc problems fixed; my warriors did their best even though it took days of frustration for me ~ and the good guys won!!!

BTW ... that reminded me of something for this Sunday, always remember this ...
~~~ I READ THE BACK OF THE BOOK AND WE WIN!!! ~~~

Just having a quiet, restful night at home again. Needed to after a busy week; had to re-cuperate from my ski-walking adventure (a few sore muscles). But, it was such fun, I know that I'll be doing that again. I think just about anyone can do it that can walk; but, next time I'll go out for only 20-30 minutes at a time.

GARY ... I have to agree with Margie-B on the house issue; I actually guffawed when I first read about those $ mortgage payments $. Sorry to hear that the over-extended family is having so many house problems; will pray for them. Have they considered putting in a granny suite/flat (apartment) at one end, or in the basement, that they could rent out to help pay the mortgage (I have known people that have done that successfully)?

Way to go ... to both you and Angie on the run and hike; that's really amazing for your first time out. I dream of being able to do that kind of stuff; my goal is to do speed-walking someday ... but, that's a ways off yet for me.

LENA ... Details ~ the large ladies section (300+) has a MARCH MADNESS EXERCISE THREAD; and there may be others out there; you can join any one you like as there are no limits or restrictions, and you set your own goals.

100% ... Have you compared to make sure your scales aren't broken (that happened to me once)? Otherwise, I agree with Gary and Margie; sometimes the scales will disappoint us, but keep on truckin' girl, cuz eventually they will show a loss.

REBA ... you're in my prayers all week ...

MARGIE-B ... nice to hear from you again, and glad everything is going well.

HELLO to SUE & WILMA & MISTI & KELLI ... have a great week ...

That's all for me now; I'm just glad I was able to get in here and catch up on my posting because coming here does help us all and I'm glad for that. Take care all; prayed for you all this morning and for my pc and this site ~ your fellow encourager ... Rosebud.

I thought I had posted a nice long one yesterday but it's not here. Wierd!

Anyway, I had a nice relaxing weekend. I went shopping with my DIL in the a.m. and then in the afternoon with my DH. Didn't get much done at home other than cleaning the bathroom. Yesterday, we took our son out for lunch after church and then just relaxed. I love to read and any chance I get to do that is great!

The snow is melting but it's going to take a while before it's all gone. At least we see progress. I'm looking forward to having the sidewalks clear again so I can get out and walk.

Rosebud: I'm glad you were able to find a new activity. I think that's so important to keep us interested in getting fit.

Margie: Great to see you!

Gary: Sorry to hear that the kids have such a dilemma at such an early age.
I'll pray that it'll all work out for them.

WTG on the walk and tell Angie she's an inspiration to me!

100%: Sometimes we can't explain why things happen. Just hang in there. Keep your eyes on Jesus and the prize and things will start happening.

Lena: I'm glad you had a great time with your sister. I don't live near any of mine and I miss getting together with them.

Reba: I hope you had a great time camping. I can only dream about that right now. Campfire sounds about right!!

Have a great week!

I meant to tell you that I'm praying for your surgery. I had my gallbladder removed quite a few years ago. My recovery time was about 2 weeks. Take care of yourself.

Good morning everyone!

Well I had a so-so weekend... Friday was my birthday and since I don't have a lot of friends down here I didn't really do anything other than a 2 hr walk w/ my puppy. Saturday I helped my friends move, which was a lot of work. lol... I don't feel too bad about missing my morning walk Sat due to the amount of walking I did w/ the moving. Sunday I didn't walk either. I got up late for church then when I came home I did yard work instead. I really don't like raking leaves. After yard work I had stations of the cross retreat w/ my youth group and got home in time to go to bed. Also Sunday was my weigh in. I must say that I'm really getting discouraged. I only dropped 1 pound, and last week it was half a pound. I can rationalize that I'm still doing really good, I'm 8 wks in w/ 25 lbs lost (which is where I wanted to be w/ a 3 lb a week average) but it is so discouraging to see those low numbers when I'm working so hard.

The baby in my arms is my goddaughter. We were at her baptism over Thanksgiving weekend last fall. That's the most current photo of her that I have. I'm looking forward to seeing her this summer, and having a lot less of myself in the photo.

Good Luck all, with everything going on. I've been keeping you all in my prayers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENA!

HI GALS ~

Not sure what happened either WILMA, I thought I had posted. I probably didn't hit the submit reply, I probably just exited. OOPS!

Angie spent most of yesterday after church working on a valance she built. She went to Home Depot, got the wood, sawed it, screwed it, bracketed it, stuffed it and wrapped it (pretty much like she does a turkey ). It looks real nice, I think we will put it up today, it goes over the family room sliding glass door.

Went over the house with the kids, it is not in as good of shape as I had hoped. They have been going back and forth, I am not pushing them in any direction, I am just trying to get them all the options that we can, as a family. There is a lot of labor work that I can do, and my super painting, carpentry doing wife can do. The kids of course too. If they decide to do this her dad will remove some tile in the home (his trade) and replace it with some nicer tile that my ex-wife's SO has left over from a job done at his house. I was over at his house for dinner last week, it is real nice stuff, and a lot of it leftover...someone made a mistake on the order. Brenda is making some conntacts with lawyers this week to see the what if's...if they bail on it.

On a lighter note. we had a great time at Fish Club saturday night. Angie and I, Brenda and her SO, Ryan and Nicole and a couple of other friends. Way fun!

March Madness is here so a lot of basketball gonna be on TV around my house! Plus all the pools we get into. A lot of fun this time of year for my family. Extra bonus this year with Ryan and my top 2 favorite teams in it, UCLA and USC and Angie's alma mater Long Beach State.

LENA~ Happy Birthday again. Wow! Good for you and the walk with your puppy. You know what they say don't you? "If your dog is fat, the owner isn't getting enough exercise!" Pretty sure (with our support here!) you are going to have one flat skinny puppy! Don't worry too much about those ### NUMBERS ### just keep working hard!

WILMA~ Yep, you and I need better security for our posts, that's for sure! Thank you for the prayers for the kids. Things will work out one way or another! It is just really tough on my son, to be thrown in a situation, when he has been responsible and had other plans on how to achieve his goals. Angie keeps me going too! But I tell you, she has to "push" herself too, it isn't easy for her either. Of course I am always telling her she is going to be the "hottest" grandma...this gives her incentive

ROSEBUD~ The kids have been trying to find a roommate if they decide for sure to move in. Actually that was not my first walk/run. I just haven't been training, I usually train for a month or so before I get in one. Angie and I do several 5K's (3.1 miles) a year, we even did a marathon back in 2001. The last 5K I did was Thanksgiving Day. However, this was the first one I did on trails through rough terrain, usually we run/walk on streets through the city the race is in. Great job on the ski-walking!

MARGIE B ~ Thanks for the prayers for the kids. I can't fathom that kind of house payment either, but around here that is the norm lately. I have no clue where these people get the money. These lenders sure messed over a lot of people by "qualifying" them when they really couldn't afford it! Who do you like (OHIO STATE) in March Madness? I hope my UCLA and USC do well but UCLA is a slump right now and USC is pretty tired I think from the games I have seen. Angie says thanks for the info on Harry, she is pretty up to date, although after I told her what you said, she said she needed to pre-order on Amazon. Glad that job is working out for you, it is nice to have some of that pressure of isn't it!

AUNT SUE ~ I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GOOD WEK OFF! Continued prayers in your "journey"!


I have been over in General Chatter a lot lately, a lot of fun for me, but I want you all to know that you gals are my ROCK!

I am back, had a really nice mini vacation visiting with my niece and her friends and babysitting Kaylee. I had a bad week I gained 1 lb instead of loosing any, but trying to get back on track this week, having problems finding time to get all my water in, so may have actually been retaining who knows will see what next week brings. I have one test that is still pending. I had a high cortisol level so they are running more tests, so waiting to hear results of them will keep you all posted. Hi to everyone, EZ I feel bad for the kids, prayers it all works out well. Getting late gotta run in my prayers Lena- prayers on your surgery as well. and happy birthday!!!! Blessings all!!!

Hi everyone ... have been very busy. The snow is actually melting here ~ yahoo. Early spring, we hope ... this is when we start spending a lot more time outdoors. DH pulled out his bike and the rototiller today; he's getting very enthused.

On Sunday aft, did 20 more minutes of ski-walking; I'm getting faster ~ did the same distance that used to take me 30+ minutes. I think the poles are giving me such a boost with my balance. I have also been doing regular walking every day; making a point of it, pushing myself with pep talks. Having fun keeping track on the exercise challenge; I'm almost at goal, and it's only halfway thru the month.

Had to spend a lot of time on maintainance & repairs on my PC lately; and answering emails and such. Had the odd time, wasn't feeling well, but today I feel better. DH and I think it's little colds or flus, not really sure.

LENA ...

Like I said to 100%, the scales will eventually come down; and 25 lbs ain't nothin' to sneeze at girl!!! Give it time; a doctor once suggested to me to only weigh myself every 3-4 weeks so as not to obsess; then you're sure to have lost some. To each his own, but that works for me.

SUE: glad you had a nice trip. Hang in there ... girl!
WILMA: glad to hear everything's well with you and yours.
MARGIE-B & REBA: Hi to both; prayers for Reba for the next while.

GARY: congrats on all those runs. Heard a finance expert on the radio suggest a sale for a similar situation as the kids; but don't know all the particulars; will pray for wisdom for this situation. Sounds like you're a real sports-aholic. I like most sports, but track and figure skating are my favorites. I used to play others when I was young, even touch football. Today, it's things like bocci, ring-toss, horse shoes; and a new one that's similar to bocci only they use mini-tires instead of the balls ... hehe!!!

Anyways, I'm glad to get in here and get caught up. Take care everyone, and have a great week. Just keep on, keepin' on ~ your fellow encourager ... Rosebud.

It's cold here again! I just read a joke that in Manitoba you can turn off your furnace and turn on your air conditioner and then turn on your furnace again in one day. That just about sums it up especially in March. The snow can be melting one day and then we're in a deep freeze the next. At least the cold periods don't last too long this time of year.

Don't fall over but I exercised last night. I rode my bike and did some weights. I can feel it a bit this morning but it's not too bad.

My niece is coming again this weekend. She hates vegetables so I have to be creative in getting them into her. I'm making chili tonight and will shred carrots into it. Along with the tomatoes and mushrooms she might get one serving of veggies.

Not much else happening around here these days. Hubbie is still on the road. I look forward to having him home on weekends again. I don't see much of him this time of year. Kids are doing great! I guess I should be glad that it's boring around here right now.

Lena: A very happy belated birthday to you!!

Gary: I think that's what happened to my post too. Senior moment or something. Your kids are lucky they have such a handy dad around to help them. I sure hope things work out there. Can they sell the property to avoid foreclosure? I think it's tragic that parents have "used" their kids this way.

Sue: Great to see you back here! I'm glad you had a good break. Still praying for you and your upcoming surgery.

Rosebud: Great job on the walking. I'm looking forward to the ice getting off the sidewalks and I can start walking again.

Have a great day everyone!

HI GALS ~

I am home from work today. I have a follow-up to the appointment I had a few weeks ago when I had tubes put in my ear again. It was a late morning one, so I am just taking the day off with MARCH MADNESS starting and all My son is coaching his high school track kids this afternoon at his/my daughter's/my neices, nephew's and my alma mater. I am going to go check that out, I have never seen him "coach" before. He coaches the high jump, long jump and triple jumpers.

Without going to all the boring details for you all, the house situation for the kids is getting "deeper" for them. A couple of you have mentioned selling...no can do...at first we were told there was equity...no way! The mortgage is $585,000 ~ the note is AT that! The loan is a horrible loan too with the adjustable! It was borrowed on to the max 6 months ago, just as the market dropped here. Her dad has had it up for sale at $639,000...just to walk out of it with $000...just even steven on the cost. He has not had any lookers in 5 months..serious ones anyway. My ex-wife was over last night and bless her heart, has done a lot of research and found "things" out. We have another family meeting tonight. Last night was just Brenda, Angie and I...we need to be careful...but realistic...with Nicole. We don't want to damage our relationship with her, or in anyway hurt her feelings...by pointing out TOO serverly how her dad hosed her. We are not bad mouthing him, we are just trying to get them to see all the facts...they are being swayed in another direction when they see her folks. Please continue prayers for them! Heck, I already know you are!! Thank-you all so much

WILMA ~ It is funny you said that about the heater and air conditioner. Yesterday afternoon I had all the windows open it the house, it was in the mid 70's duing the day. Our heater is set to go off automatically at 68 degrees at 4:30 pm...well Angie gets home from work and wants to know why the windows are all open and the heater is on? I I guess it was right at 68 in the house. Time to shut the heater down for the spring/summer. Make it 2 in a row on that exercise girl! You can do this and what better time to start than the beginning of spring!

AUNT SUE~ glad you had a good mini-vacation! Must be so nice to babysit "our" neice! She sure is growing and getting so cute, the "spittin' image" of her dear aunt Sue OK, maybe a little darker What's new with the youth at church? are you taking a bit of a breather with Kristie gone? Continued prayers on the surgery.

ROSEBUD~ I am glad you are feeling better and getting FASTER!! Good to see you pulling out the spring toys and tools...we don't have that issue here. Thanks for the prayers, as you can see the house is not in a selling situation at the moment. The kids aren't looking to get in debt at all, just trying to not get their credit damaged severly for reasons they really didn't have anything to do with, other than trusting your parents for Nicole. Enjoy the weather!

Well, off to get ready for the doctor...BE SAFE!

Hello again everyone! Just thought id stop by and say hello. Not much is going on. This past week has gone much better. Thank you so much to those of you who prayed for me. Im down a pound, maybe even 2, so slowly but surely the weight i gained is coming off. I went shopping yesterday, so of course i feel better. lol
I hope everyone is doing good.
God bless you.

Rosebud- Great job ski walking can't wait till I can get outside here.
Wilma- can understand same thing here, first so cold ya can't get warm (last week) then begining of the week it hit 53 yeah snow starting to melt getting nicer, then tom. we are suppose to get a northeastern with 16-24 inches of snow so there goes that, maybe in a few weeks, thanks for your prayers
E.Z.- wow! so sorry to here about your kids, that awfull. Prayers it all does work out and that families remain on speaking terms when it is all said and done. We are in the begining of planning our ministry trip at church. Looking at setting up a program and maybe leaving the 3rd week of July. I would be about 5 weeks post op so should feel pretty good. No finalized plans yet. It was so nice seeing kristie it is amazing how much I miss her and yet we can talk on the cellphone or im each other alot. but not the same. She is trying to graduate in 3 years instead of 4 and it looks like she'll be able to, she took 3 or 4 clep tests before she started colledge and passed them so she got credit for those courses and now she can take two more history tests and challenge the course with a test. If she passes she doesn't have to take them and she is staying for the may term an extra 3 weeks and taking 3 courses instead 6 weeks in the fall semester. So she has a choice to either graduate in 3 years with honors with a history/political science major and Bible minor or 4 years with a history/polical science major and minor in international studies. Not sure which is better for her as she has plans of going on to a probably Liberty Law University. Not sure which is better for her overall. Kaylee is growing by leaps and bounds, amazing how much her speech is improving. She has extremely bad far sightedness, discovered when she went to eye Dr. for lazy eye, and will have to wear glasses. but overall doing awesome.
100%- congrats every 2 lbs counts!!!!
Well I am doing fine, I am off tom. which is nice so I am going to bed and read for a little while. Have an awesome day!! Prayers

Happy Friday!!!!!!!

Well, everyone... Things are going okay, I guess. I've had a really rough couple days with what I'm eating... I mean, I'm primarily eating healthy, but I am FAMISHED and am eating everything in sight. I don't know what's going on. I mean, come-on! So far today I've had a protein bar, an apple, 2 granola bars, a huge salad, and a banana, and 1/2 gal of water... and I'm still hungry. This totally isn't like me, I'm usually satisfied w/ just my protein bar and morning fruit until around noon then have a small lunch to tide me over until I get home from school... I do not know what is going on...

I do have to give kudos to everyone who posts individual responses to everyone. I always mean to, but then I totally forget who was doing what when I'm typing. I'm thinking I'm going to have to start taking notes while I'm reading through the thread so I can comment constructively in my post.

Oh! I jogged on tuesday and to make sure that I wasn't imagining that I did it, I jogged again last night!!!!! This is a huge deal for me because I tore loose the tendons and ligaments on the lateral side of my right ankle when I was in high school. Between that and my degenerative tendonitis of the knees I haven't been able to do much in the way of high impact exercise. My ankle has finally gotten good enough to wear heels again (which was quite the happy moment for me), and I've noticed that my knees have been less achy at the end of the night. When I was walking Skylar (my puppy ) on tuesday I decided I wanted to try jogging the last 1/4 of a mile to my house, so I did. And I could!!! Then, last night, when walking Skylar I took off at a jog right from the start, jogged about 1/4 mile, then walked about 1/4 mile, then jogged another 1/4 mile, then walked about 1/8 mile, then sprinted about 1/8 mile to my house. It was so very exciting! And, the best part... My knees don't hurt at all today!

Okay... I feel like I've written a novel, and I apologize. Hope I wasn't too boring.

lena