TJ Maxx for $20! Love that store. I get so many complements on that dress. This week I found another halter top dress with a cinged in waistband in kelly green at the store. I'll be wearing it to Tuesday night's West Coast Swing dance in NYC.

Yesterday, I finally got together with my next door neighbor who I haven't seen face to face since June. I haven't been home much this summer. Anyway, I notice she's finally lost her baby belly that she's been working on since her 2nd DS was born 2 years ago. When I complimented her on it, she said it was all due to too much stress. She stopped eating and at 5'4" or so got down to 98 pounds! She says she's eating again and trying to gain back some weight, but of course, I'm worried about her health.

Well, I went an jinxed myself by writting that I haven't had insomnia this week. Last night, I lay in bed at least until 1 and then woke up quite a bit all night. This morning, I slept in until close to 11 to compensate.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend's Western Night party at the club. I'm hoping I'll be better at line dancing then I was when I tried it 20 years ago. What does everyone else have planned for the weekend?

My roommate and I love the chef, Curtis, from "Take Home Chef" on TLC. He goes to supermarkets, picks up women, and goes home to help them "cook a gourmet dinner for someone special". Of course he's got an Aussie accent and is gorgeous. We have a wishful fantasy that he will magically show up in our tiny Florida grocery store and 'pick us up' to make dinner. And our "someone special" will be to have Curtis cook for the two of us - what BFs? - and the BFs will be outside knocking on the (curtainless) front windows, calling us, etc. - "Oh no, Curtis, that's nothing, we don't know him/them."

So I was really picturing my Take Home Chef along with all the attractive men standing in the kitchen.

Susan~there's only one thing more infuriating than men not putting the clasp on the bread (or anything else for that matter)--it's leaving an empty carton in the fridge or pantry! I don't know how many times I've seen that we have a box of xxx or a bottle of xxx, so I don't need to pick any up at the store. Right? Then I go to actually use the xxx and it's EMPTY!

I had a bad night last night. I blame it all on DS. Well, I know it's really MY fault, but he started it! He wanted ravioli for dinner, but he wanted a meat sauce rather than just a tomato sauce. I had to stop for milk anyway, so I picked up some hot Italian sausage to add to the sauce. Then we headed to the back of the store for milk--and passed the wine aisle. DS asked if I wanted a bottle. (See it was his fault.) It made me stop and think and I should have said, "no" but I didn't. I bought the bottle. Then, I should have had only one glass, but of course I didn't. So, my weight is up a pound today. I'm sure it'll be gone tomorrow, but it's so infuriating that I did that! I'm just hitting myself over it.

Hi everyone, I'm up now and having my coffee. We went out last night to the Karaoke club and didn't get home til late. I slept in this morning after getting DH and DS back off to work at 4AM.

Todays plan is to pay bills and do my banking. I'll grocery shop this evening.

Robin, I know what you mean. I'm better at losing too than I am at maintenance. . I went ahead and weighed again this morning and am back at goal again. I need to try to stay at goal. It's when I get below goal that I give myself permission to go wild and pack on 4 or 5 lbs. Then I start the losing cycle all over again. My problem isn't a single off-plan meal every once in a while, it's once I eat an off-plan meal, I stay off for a few days. That is where I get my damage from.

Tomorrow night we're having a ladies night out. It should be fun. I hate to post this, but it involves going to see male strippers. LOL, not something I've done in at least 25 yrs. But, my sisters insist that I go with them. DH totally agreed with them that I should go too. Of course, they want me along to be the designated driver since I don't touch alcohol.

Susan, the men at my house leave the bread opened. I hate it when they leave all the cabinet doors open. Plus, the mustard, mayo, ketchup, syrup and such are often left out.

I'm off now to the bank. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Grrrr. It's the bread - and bread products - that really gets me. I've ended up throwing out half packages of tortillas because someone - not me! - didn't close the bag.

Weather has improved today, which since the state fair opened yesterday, is a good thing! We'll go tomorrow afternoon/evening, and I'm going again on Tues with my girl-friends. A totally different fair depending on who you go with - machines/woodworking exhibits vs. food/craft booths. You get the idea.

Hi guys!

I've had a helluva week. I'm really, really, really used to having my schedule be my own to organize and this week with all the orientations and meetings and whatnot has been impossible! Food has been a bit of a mess. I managed to have a big healthy brekkie each morning (egg whites, fiber, veggies, flavor) but lunches were just old soups I grabbed from the freezer. Fortunately my bf took care of dinners, and he's a calorie counter too, so he can be trusted. The worst is the snack foods available in the meetings. Each morning and afternoon they had baked goods and fruit. The fruit was a bonus, and I'd eat a nice nectarine, but I'd also eat a croissant or danish. I mean, it's just sitting there, and I'm just sitting there. I wouldn't mind too much, actually, if the pastries had been really delicious. But they weren't. They were just mediocre pastries...

Luckily, however, despite food spiralling out of my control my weight is still good. I weighed in this morning at 140.6--only 2/10lb higher than last week, s othat's happy making.

But this whole beginning-of-the-semester routine is tricky. Dinner at a friend's house tonight, dessert and drinks party tomorrow night, usual croquet-calorie fest on Sunday. And then classes start and I *really* lose control of my time.

I guess what I mean to say is, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!

Poor Baff! I know how hard any change in our routines can be and I'm sure you resent all your carefully planned out ways of doing things going right out the window. This is a big life-change for you! Things will start to sort themselves out in the new few weeks and I'm sure you'll create a new "normal" and routine. But don't let your needs get swept under the rug in the midst of all the craziness! Try to carve out the time you need and make yourself a priority too. It's too easy to let exercise and clean eating go in the midst of chaos and change.

A "dessert and drinks" party sounds like a tool of the devil!

I'm up early this morning having my coffee. Last night the girls started watching a HP movie that didn't interest me, so I went to bed at 8:30. I got plenty of sleep. I awoke to the sound of it storming and had to run out in the rain to check all my car windows.

I never made it to grocery shop yesterday so dinner last night wasn't too wt. friendly. I cooked meatloaf, boiled potatoes and peas with carrots. I'm out of fresh lettuce, so it feels like I'm out of groceries since I always have salad with my dinner. The main problem is , this is my last pot of coffee until I buy some more. So, no choice, I gotta shop today.

Lacy has a little part time babysitting job that she is excited about. Shelbey is still working at the convenience store. So, I sure have a lot of alone time with the girls gone and DH and DS working away so much of the time.

I have been helping both girls with their Algebra and Geometry and it's a hair-pulling experience. Lacy is loving her Speech class. Both these 15 yr. olds are getting too dang interested in boys. They have been bugging us to let them date. The rule has always been no dating til you're 16 and we're sticking to it.

OMG, after all the expense of getting them started in school only 2 weeks ago, Now we have already had to order their class rings. DH and I decided to wait a few months to get him a new truck since we're experiencing so many unexpected expenses right now.

baffled, hope you can get your routine back soon. I know what you mean on the mediocre danishes. I hate to eat something like that cause it's all that is available, and then not even really like it. It's totally different if it tasted awesome and we wasted the calories on it.

I've noticed something weird about my body. Now that I do so much cardio and have lost the fat off my legs, I look bow-legged.

I have a busy day today! I got up early for my training run--I'm up to two 8 minute run intervals. It's hard! In a couple hours, Chico and I'll leave for our Lab Fest and then this evening we'll be going to the neighbors for a birthday party. Obviously that means no cooking for me (good) but probably not great food choices (bad). My weight is up, but I'm sure it is due to the pizza we had last night. I haven't yet plugged it all into Fitday, but I'm sure I'm well over 1200. I should be back to normal tomorrow as long as I try my best to stick OP.

Lily~I don't know who you order the class rings from, but when I bought Dana's, there was a website where you could design it and get the price. We knew what we wanted on it, but couldn't decide on the metal (she wanted platinum--no way!!) and she wanted diamonds (no way!!). I designed one in white gold with cubic zirconia and it was less than half the price of the same ring in platinum with diamonds. You really can't tell the difference. Good luck!

Baffled~I hope you get back on track soon. Thankfully your weight hasn't succommed to the food choices much!

Morning ladies!

It's a gorgeous sunny morning here. I've got clothes hanging on the line, bread rising, and am about to balance my credit card and checking account. DH has a 15 year old grunt here to help him do stuff in the garden. I don't know if I told you, he (DH) hit his back carrying his one man canoe. His bones are still not 100% even though he is 7 years into remission. His internist sent him for x-rays. Radiologist report says compression fractures. Well, duh, we knew that - it's why he's 5+" shorter. No one thought to compare the current x-rays with the prior ones. So now we're waiting for a report on the comparison. There's a big difference in the activities he can do if it's really fracture/cracked as opposed to if it's just bruised. Meanwhile, they've started him on some new bone-building stuff. It's a nasal spray, and apparently works differently than Fosamax or like products.

My plan for today is get most of our camping trip lined out, esp the food. We leave next Friday, but we have other commitments during the week, so I'd like to just be ready to pack up Thurs night, go to my Friday morning meeting and then take off. We need to be in Haines, AK to take a ferry Sunday night, and we'd like some time to sightsee there, since we've never been there.

Tonight we're scheduled to dance in a square dance demonstration at the State Fair. I doubt if DH will dance, but we got free tickets ($10 value) so we'll go early, look at some exhibits, and show up for the demonstration, which is only an hour. The big trick of course is to avoid the "fair food." I don't like the sweet fried stuff, or cotton candy, kettle corn, etc. But they also have killer cream puffs, peach pie with ice cream, deep-fried halibut and corn fritters. I usually go for seafood pitas, which are reasonably healthy - shrimp, crab (or a mix), lettuce, tomato, sour cream and sunflower seeds. The sour cream is full-fat, but otherwise, it's all good. I don't drink pop so there's no temptation there.

Hope you are all having a good weekend!

Allison they both ordered their class rings from Josten's. I paid 50% down and will pay the rest in 6 weeks when they arrive. I'm glad they didn't get the most expensive ones, they did try to be reasonable.

We got a call from Taylor yesterday (my 3rd SD that joined the Coast Guard). She is doing great and will graduate Basic Training in 10 days. Then, she will be stationed in Memphis, TN. That's only 5 hrs. from where we live, so we will get to see her sometimes. Only bad thing is, Memphis is really close to Tunica, where we have went gambling many times before. But, no more gambling for DH, he goes too overboard with it.

My eating yesterday was off track in that I cooked chicken fried rice and baked egg rolls for dinner. I tried to make it as healthy as possible, but I'm sure I went over my calorie limit. (It was my first time to make this new recipe). I'm wanting to learn how to make some pork, beef or chicken stir-fry type meals that are healthy and taste good. I know the sodium in the soy sauce really causes water retention for me though. I don't want to eat at Chinese restaurants because of the MSG and how everything is so fattening with tons of fried stuff.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday. Both girls begged me to stop at Braum's for ice cream. I waited in the car while they got an ice cream and I managed to not eat one.

I didn't end up going out with my sisters and friends last night. I stayed home, cooked dinner and watched movies with DH.

I'm back on track today after a day of partying! I did eat quite well, it was the drinking that wasn't such a good thing! At the lab fest, I had a burger patty (no bun) and my layered Mexican salad (lots of veggies) and some of the pasta salad as well as a couple glasses of wine. I didn't overdo it there because I knew I had to drive back home again. Next door at the birthday party, I had more than just a couple glasses of wine! Not enough to give me a hangover, thankfully! Food there was okay--I had some tomatoes sliced with a balsamic dressing, some pasta salad and the most delicious sausage. I don't normally like sausage (reminds me too much of hot dogs which I loath), but these were great! I'll have to find out what they were. Also had some polenta and a variety of cut up veggies. After all that, my weight is back to 143 this morning! Staying OP for the rest of the week in hopes of seeing 142 soon!

Lily, Jostens is where we got Dana's ring. I think they hold the market on class rings. I wonder if she's going to want a ring from college, too? She is looking at going to Cal State Fullerton and is really excited to apply. I hope she gets in. The only problem I see is that the dorm is only for 800 of the 30,000 students! We may have to get her an apartment which will probably cost more and I imagine it will be trickier to find her a roommate. Wow, what changes we'll have in store for us then!

Well, need to hit the shower so we can go to Costco. I'll do the regular grocery shopping after that and perhaps we'll all go see a movie this afternoon. DH wants to see Balls of Fury. I wonder if it'll be too stupid to be funny, though.

Morning, All! It sounds as though everyone has had a very pleasant weekend. The dessert and drinks party was, as anticipated, a total calorie disaster. I drank at least 2 bottles of wine, ate 3 brownies AND had a small slice of cake. To top it all off, when we got home, we pulled some Indian leftovers out of the freezer and ate those too. (You know, to soak up the alcohol.) That'll be my calorie budget for the week It's alright. I figure if I stay a few hundred calories below maintenance each day this week, I won't have done any serious damage. Maybe I'll do 40 minutes of cardio a day instead of 30, too.

Allison, that tells me that it's probably a commuter campus, with most students living with their families and driving to school each day. I'm sure they give dorm priority to freshmen so you'll probably be able to get her a room. I think its much better for freshmen to live on campus than off--community building and all that. It's easier for them to make friends.

Happy Sundays everyone.

Hi all.

It's another glorious summer day here. I can hardly believe it as August is usually our rainiest month. The Fair yesterday was a success - at least foodwise. I ate only the seafood pita I had planned - mixed shrimp and crab, yummy. Drank water only. DH was wanting something more decadant, but nothing caught his fancy. THe downside was it was soooo crowded. I heard that the traffic was backed for 8-10 miles - honestly! We fortunately live on the other side of the fair, and could approach the parking lots with about 1/2 mile in the traffic. We ended up parking in a business mall parking lot across the road. I saw 3 parties going to their cars there and managed to snag a spot. We didn't walk any further than we would have from the outskirts of the fair lots. Did lots of walking - but very slowly due to the crowds. I'm still shaking my head at the way people dress!

Today the folks who provided the after-church hospitality had tons of fruit. I was all over it! Today has been another good food day, and I have a left-over salmon dinner planned.

I've been to the store and bought stuff for our camping trip, and have some bread dough rising. And now I'm going out to enjoy the

7 MORE POUNDS And I can be a "MAINTAINER" ~ thought I would check in to see who is here since that is my goal!

I know some of you here ~ LILYBELLE ~ Why didn't you invite me for fried chicken? Angie NEVER makes it...I think that is what I miss most about growing up...food wise.

ALLISON ~ I have spent many many hours at CSUF...between tennis matches and track meets with my daughter and son. Their colleges played CSUF a lot. I lke the campus. I know several kids that went there and had a good time...one of them too good...wink! Too bad she doesn't want to go to University of Arizona...she could stay with my niece in a condo my BIL owns...right across the street from the campus. You won't have any trouble getting her a roommate/s.

Well I will see you all 7 pounds from now.......Gary