[ledom]

LaDean, you have had an EXCELLENT month! Way to go!

[LaDean]

Ledom. you to thanks so much.

[judi]

Hi!!!

How are you all doing?

The scale hasn't moved for 3 weeks, the food part is OK but the exercise part has been abyssmal

Your new fridge sounds great Ledom, I know "Harvest Gold" I had one too, the one before was "Avocado" ... what MADE us like those colors I also had a "Coppertone" stove, which was impossible to keep looking nice.

Summer has been quite busy. I have been enjoying "grandmothering" a lot. The baby is 7 months and he is a cutie...he has 2 big dimples.

I am still doing WW online and so is my D and her BF. She has lost all her weight that she gained with being preggers and then some, he has lost weight too though he didn't have much to lose.

The DH and I have been doing more things socially than we ever have, I guess it is because we are home this summer. We haven't gone to the US since late spring. Miss my shopping there though.

Alice, did you move to Florida? I hope you were not around anywhere where Charley was.

Hi LaDean and Lilybutt, how are you girls doing??

Ledom, have you been kayaking? You must be getting ready to go back to school.

I hope everyone will pop in and touch base. I would love to know what you all are doing.

[aleka]

Hey judi,

Happy to hear from you and that you're doing well. Glad that WW is working so well for you. How much weight have you lost? Congratulations to your DD and her BF for their weight loss. Your grandson sounds sooooo cute.
No, I haven't moved to FL yet. We were supposed to pass papers the end of July. If we had, we would have been down there working on the floor before we moved our furniture, when Charley hit. The house that the sellers are building isn't ready to be moved in yet, so we thought we'd give them plenty of time and put the date to sign papers Aug. 27th. Then they thought they'd be out by the 15th, so we moved the date to sign papers to the 16th. Then we got a call from our RE agent and because of rainy weather they've been having, there had been more delays. So, we went back to our original Aug. 27th date. Thankfully we didn't own the house when Charley hit. DH & I have been on pins and needles for the past few days. We got a call last night from the people we're buying the house from and everything is fine at both houses. Both the houses had very minimal damage, just some shingles missing. The city, North Port, where we're moving to was extremely lucky because all the devastation starts in the very next town, Port Charlotte, then onto Punta Gorda. Needless to say we were very relieved that they and their dogs were alright. As far as passing papers, I'm assuming everything is up in the air, as I don't know how much damage was done to the offices involved. Hopefully people will be assessing the damage this week. Last night before we hung up, they said they'd keep DH & I informed as to what is going on.

Hi ledom..LaDean

I haven't been posting here because it didn't seem as though anyone was interested in this thread anymore. I've missed you all.

Have a good day.

[ledom]

It's so good to hear from you ladies! Alice, I was very concerned about the hurricane in regards to your new house. Thank goodness it was spared.

judi, ohhhhhh, it sounds as if things are going great for you. Your grandson sounds like so much fun.

Yes, I go back to work Friday. I had a great summer, really relaxed w/ some nice little trips interspersed throughout. I am still kayaking and have been doing my usual summer darkroom work. I just taught myself how to make albumen prints which has been a great challenge and gotten me feeling passionate about making art again. That had been lacking for a while.

Weight loss has been good this summer. I am stalled now, just got back from a trip to Kentucky, but am ready to tear into my plan again w/ the coming of fall.

We have had a glorious summer. Cool fronts have kept moving through steadily so it has been the most pleasant summer in terms of weather that I ever remember.

Thanks for starting us up again judi.

[LaDean]

HI, just quit coming in no one here. so glad you started it back up Judi. thanks. i have missed hearing from everyone. I started atkins July 5th and have not had a gain since. loss every week. down 18 lbs. and only 8.50 from my goal. so happy with me. i had no choice had to do it. i am a border line debetic from not taking care of me. that added to the list. so i decided hey i have to do this for my body. so i have been off sugar since and its life time for me this plan. i love the scales going down.. I finally found my life time plan.. I am so happy all of you are doing good to. Judi so happy to hear the grandbaby is doing so good. mine are growing up so. grandaughter in 1st grade this year and grandson in kindergarden. i feel so good. garden is coming on the cucks. so eating lots of them. had my first corn on cob. it needs alittle more to stay on. i have to eat it sparingly and i will. then tomatoes are so late this year. lots of great big ones. but have not ripen yet. we are putting up dill pickles got lots of cucks and give lots away to. well hey i wish everyone a great day. THANKS AGAIN JUDI FOR STARTING UP OUR BOARD AGAIN... i have missed it lots.. LaDean

[judi]

Wow! It was just WONDERFUL to read the posts

LaDean I bet you will be able to reverse that borderline diabetic thing with diet. I hope so. I know I haven't taken care of myself in the exercise dept. and now I have an ankle that has started to act up and I am sure it is because of the weight. I am glad you found a plan that you like...Atkins works for a lot of people. There are a lot of low carb stores popping up for the low carb crowd. I envy you your tomato crop, we don't get enough sun to grow tomatoes in yard. My mom used to send me tomatoes and I would make chili and freeze it.

Alas Alice, the weight loss has only been ten pounds down this summer The hurricane must have been a real nail biting time for you...so close to where your new house is. Are you looking forward to moving? Have you been at your lake house this summer? You must be eager to go down and take a look at your new place to see how it fared. How is dear Miss Laci? Bentley finally has got his allergies under control but he can never deviate from his potato based dog crunchie or they immediately flare up.

Ledom, what was Kentucky like? That is some place the DH and I would like to go. "Albumen" does that have anything to do with egg whites? That is very creative dark room printing. I have been doing just photos with my digital camera ... nothing fancy. My darkroom has turned into a big project room. The projects have turned out to be mainly ironing and scrapbooking. I am going to start making earrings again. Just for fun. My D and I used to make them and sell them at a little store that has jewellery. Has your D. gone back to school yet? Did she have a good summer?

Last Sat. I went to a huge garden party for a friend who turned 65 but looks and acts like 49. It was such fun, the ladies wore big hats all except me because I had some carefully constructed curls (with the aid of a lot of gel) and it would have flattened them. I now have short reddy gold hair with platinum streaks. I like it.

I am reading a good book "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi. It is a memoir of a teacher who gathered together her most committed female students once a week to read Austen, Fitzgerald, James and Nabokov and how their lives intertwined with the fictional lives they were reading. It is very good. I have been reading it slowly and savouring it. Has anyone got any good books to recommend for remainder of summer reading?

[aleka]

Hi,

LaDean, glad that Atkins is working well for you and that you have found something you can stick to for life. Are you using any of his products? I bought one of his muffin mixes and it really was good. It was quite a while ago, so I forget which flavor I made. Congratulations on your weight loss. That's fantastic you're so close to your goal. I know you will reach it. You should be happy with yourself. How is Tuffy doing?

ledom, hope you had a nice time in Kentucky. I've never been there, but from what I've seen in photos and such, it's very beautiful in the countryside. I have a friend who lives near Louisville. Unfortunately we only get in touch with each other once a year at Christmas. I bet you can't believe you're heading back to work Friday. I honestly don't know where the summer went. Actually, we haven't had any summer to speak of. It's been raining most of the time and when it's not raining it's only been in the high 70's, low 80's, which is ok. Usually we have 90's and humid throughout July, but it hit 90 deg. for 1 day, which I believe has set a record. I think I've worn jeans and a sweatshirt more than shorts and a T-shirt this summer.

judi, I would like to add my thanks for starting the thread up again. Congratulations on losing 10 lbs. That is wonderful. I have mixed feelings about moving. On one hand I'm sad moving away from whatever family I have left and leaving this house. On the other hand, I really don't want to spend another winter here, that became apparent when we thought the house in FL was destroyed. I have sold the lake house I inherited from my parents. The property tax was horrible and we just couldn't afford it anymore. We passed papers on that last May. Lacee is doing fine, she's still a little and keeps us on our toes. Glad that Bentley has gotten his allergies under control. How are Esteban and Marley?
The book you're reading sounds interesting. I haven't had much opportunity to read for the past month or so. I have started reading Patricia Cornwell's, Blow Fly. If you like mysteries, comical, and some light reading, I would recommend Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. So far there are 10 books in the series. I would start with the first one, One for the Money, as it introduces the characters. They're the type of books you can read in a day.

Got to start my day. We have some cleaning and straightening up to do, as Saturday the RE agent will start showing our house...hopefully.

Hope you enjoy your day.

[ledom]

Good morning,

Kentucky is beautiful. The part of the country we were in, including Tennessee which we drove through have all benefited from a rainy and mild summer so that the landscape is lush. We rendevouzed in Bardstown, kind of a half way point between my relatives home and ours. It is smallish but historical, it reminded me a little of a laid back Williamsburg. It was just right for meeting and visiting family.

Yes, albumen printing has to do w/ egg whites. You coat drawing paper w/ egg white and salt, then you coat it w/ silver nitrate. The albumen coating keeps the chemistry from soaking into the paper. It was the technique used during the Civil War era. I like all the old printing techniques and teach a class every few semesters on the subject. I'll be teaching it this fall as a matter of fact.

Wow LaDean, you are so close to your goal. That is wonderful.

I have been slogging through books this summer. Nothing recent that I would recommend. Your book sounds good judi, I have been noticing it at the bookstores. I stopped at a great bookstore on our trip and picked up a couple new books but haven't started them yet.

[LaDean]

Thanks for the kind word from you all. its my friends that give me the inthusium and encouragement. yes i am so excited never been this close. they just keep going down the scales. and of course that keeps me in good mood and all. ha ha i just had to make this choice to do it.. i am not one for medication or shots. ha so figured this is my way. so glad its working. I know aleka it must be hard to move on to different area and all. but you know the way i figure it is things are what there meant to be. theres a reason for everything. so glad your place was not destroyed by the hurricane. that would be awful. i sure feel for those people. i complain about the heat we are getting but does not compared to what those people are going through. I am so glad Lacee is ok. tuffy is doing ok. just has his little days. i feel sorry for him. we have had him 12 years now. so i take care of him. he use to take care of us. hes still playing and full of it at times. just sad to see him run into things and all. but a tough little guy just gets up and moves on. ha well to you all i wish you luck. you will be close to goal one day to. we all can do it. together as friends is the main part helping and sharing with one another. yes the atkins is good for me. as carbs are my problem and all. some i know its not. but we each have to find our plan for life i believe and stick to it and go for it. i am all dressed now and waiting for my walkiing partner to come by. i do this and drink my water. trying to build on my carbs now to find what is good for me. oh have a good day all. LaDean

[aleka]

Morning,

Everyone seems to doing so well with their eating plans and exercising. Right now I'm not doing so well. I'm so busy packing that I just can't think of dieting. The only exercise I'm currently doing is running up and down our basement stairs. I've done so much of it that I can now run up them without breathing hard.

The RE agent that is selling our house came yesterday with a quite a few agents from his office for a walk through. It was like a tidal wave. They were here for what seemed like 2 seconds, then they were gone.

LaDean, glad that Tuffy is doing well.

Sounds like you had a good time in Kentucky, ledom.

judi, hope you had a good day yesterday.

Enjoy the day.

[ledom]

Alice, I am sure when things settle down you'll get back to your good habits.

judi, I meant to say your garden party sounded fun. I am glad you are involved in more social activities these days. My social interactions are in a bit of a lull at the moment. I suspect things will get busier with the coming of fall. I have slowly been meeting some very nice people that enjoy camping and paddling. They are from all over the state so I don't get to see them really often but I do have a camping trip planned in early Oct.

On the pet front. Some sad news here. We lost Beatrice this summer. She died very suddenly, just a few hours after I realized she was sick though in retrospect I don't think she had been feeling well. It was a shock. There is a new kitty, her name is Rosie, she is a chocolate point siamese and fits right into the family. Brody is especially fond of her. DD and I can't keep our hands off her though, she is so cuddly.

[aleka]

ledom, I'm so sorry about Beatrice. I know how much you loved her. How old was she? Your new kitty, Rosie, I love that name by the way, sounds so adorable. I wish you many good years with her. Did Brody accept her right away? Again, I am so sorry for you loss.

[ledom]

Thanks Alice. Little Bea wasn't that old, only 5. She had a real problem w/ fleas. We kept her doctored, but she would just chew on her bites until they were infected even after the fleas were gone. We went through this every summer and eventually things would improve. I believe that is what got her though. I felt terribly guilty that I wasn't more on top of her condition. I really didn't get a chance to know exactly what happened as I only considered taking her to the vet when I realized she was sick and then it was too late.

Brody pretty much accepted Rosie right away. He was freaked out but he liked her. He is a bit high strung. Rosie on the other hand is as cool as a cucumber. She was advertised in the paper. Actually her mother was a stray and found the kindest home to come have her baby (Rosie is an only child.) The lady that advertised her in the paper put food in the pet carrier, Rosie walked in and ate while we locked her up. She didn't make a peep in the car on the way home and when I let her out she just stepped out and started exploring. Late in the afternoon she meowed a few times, I think she must have been calling for her mother. That was it, from the first day she just acted like she belonged, no hiding under furniture or anything.

[LaDean]

Ledom. so sorry to hear about bea. pets are our babies and so hard to lose them. and when its a shock makes it even harder. but glad you have a new little one and all.

aleka, I have not tryed any atkins products. but wondered about the muffin mix and all. i did get there catalog. so thanks for letting me know. i am trying now to add the carbs slowly. it seems to be helping. the fruit especially. that is one reason i chose this program is i wanted to eat more protein as its filling. and get off so much fruit. so its working and helping. oh if these darn tomatoes would ripe and turn. there almost starting hubby said. so late i am afraid when they do come on it will come a frost early and tehre they go. got corn to. i am waiting for it to get bigger kernals. have to eat it very very sparingly. so i am not going to bring a lot of it in and cook. just what i want to eat. i been doing up apples into apple sauce. so keeps me busy and mind off food. ha also we pick cucks every other nite. so that is good good exercise. still walking.

well thats enough of me. I wish all of you a good day.. LaDean