We're back and ready for a new week! In case any of you missed it, we had a huge server crash on Friday and lost two weeks worth of posts (back to May 23). But we've picked up the pieces and are right back on the maintenance path.

The weather is just awful here and it sounds like the same for almost everyone. I have outdoors chores to do but will try to finish before it gets too hot. Thankfully I finished repairing the attic insulation and am now just sorting through boxes (which I dragged into the A/C!)

Today is DH and my 29th anniversary -- are we old as dirt or what?? I woke up to a card by the coffeemaker and another one on my computer keyboard. I think he knows my morning routine of coffee and 3FC! We don't do presents but will go out to dinner when we have a non-busy weekend.

The gym opens in 40 minutes and I plan to be there. It's been really hot there since the weather got nasty because it's in a 1980s-era building that's all glass and not well-insulated. So it heats up like a greenhouse on days like today. That's the advantage of going early in the morning -- at least it's a little cooler.

I'm dying to hear any news about Anne and the boy!

How's everyone else doing this morning?

Can I have an extra weekend day, please?

Great weekend. Friday night we went to a Redbirds game w/The Boy's work. Food was typical baseball food--burgers and hotdogs. I prepped for it, controlling what I ate all day and the burger was actually really good!

Saturday was a pool day and then out to dinner for his grandma's bday. Thats where the food went bad. Did I mention they BBQ EVERYTHING here? My actual meal wasn't terrible--a turkey sandwich that I only ate half of. But I had more than my fair share of BBQ Nachos and sweet potato fries.

Sunday. Ugh. I earned major girlfriend points by going to the golf tournament. I hope I don't offend any one, but I don't see the appeal. We were there for 5 HOURS walking around and sitting(not in the shade) in 95 degree heat. They went into a PLAYOFF!! WTF? When that happened, I left and went back to The Boy's place(his apt is on the golfcourse). Ugh. Boy and I cooked dinner to celebrate 6 months and he gave me the complete Sex and The City series on DVD . It was supposed to be for my bday next month, but he was afraid I would go and find it on sale on Amazon and get it.

Hoping to squeeze in a good but quick workout tonight. Skipping yoga since I have a lot I need to get done tonight but I also need to get to bed early since I have to be at work super early.

Have a great day everyone!

Good morning all,

Since the server was wiped back to May 22 I checked my ticker when I got on this morning to see where my weight is, if I needed to adjust. Nope. I've been yo-yoing up and down around 144 for at least a month now. Still, much better than the 153 I was at Christmas. 2008 is slipping away quickly, though! Maybe by my fourth maintenance anniversary I'll be within my goal range?

I had a good weekend. BF and I went and hid from the tourists and heat at his house in the woods. We made pizza Saturday night (we put lots of veggies on top, I made a 1/2 wheat crust, and I controlled my portions!), and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie yesterday. Plus I got silver sandals to match my blue dress for the wedding. I picked berries from BF's yard and ended up with about 6 cups of blackberries! I can't believe he's been mowing them over for the past 3 summers.

I leave Wednesday afternoon for the wedding, and am busy with work and some extracurricular commitments between now and then. My food is packed up for a few days, and gym clothes are packed.

DGAdDawg, you earn major girlfriend points - golf is not my cup of tea either!

Meg, congratulations on your wedding anniversary! How sweet that your DH left you the cards by the coffee & computer.

Happy Monday all! Have a great week!

Hi guys!!

I had a nice weekend. Caught a couple of babies which is always fun. But now I am sick! Ugh! I've lost my voice and I feel awful. I hate being sick. Plus I go to Vegas this week for a conference/a few days away with DH. My plan is to REST today and drink lots of tea.

Megan, I love blackberries so much. What a boon to have them right there for the picking. I remember at our old house we had cherry trees but we didn't realize it for a few years. I would love to plant some fruit trees but DH seems to worry about things like roots and pipes and such.....

GADawg, I hear you on the golf. My eyes cross a little whenever it is on TV. My DS played for his school this last spring and that was fun though. We walked 9 holes each time he played....and that was my first up close exposure to the sport. I had never really wanted to play it but now I think I might....I used to have to think you had to be good to play golf. After actually being out there, I know that is not true. But yes, you get major points. You sound a bit like me 18 years ago re: soccer.....18 years from now you might know as much about golf as I do about English Premier League soccer. The things we do for guys!

Happy Anniversary Meg!!

I missed you guys! I tried to check in a billion times Friday. Not much difference for me losing two weeks, my weight is only 0.2lbs less. Still a success in my book though!

Weekend was good. I ate some junk, but overall I feel like I did well, and my weight isn't up today even though TOM is supposed to be this week. Hopefully at least, I use Nuvaring for birth control and I'm supposed to take it out after three weeks, and when I went to take it out, it wasn't there! :O I actually went to urgent care to have them look and make sure it didn't get lost in there. Apparently it fell out at some point in the past week and I didn't notice. Sorry for TMI!

We got our first CSA box this week, even though we had to pick it up in a thunderstorm! It had red lettuce, oakleaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, wild arugula, curly endive, sorrel, mint, chives, and radishes. We made soup with the sorrel Saturday night, and yesterday I made a Thai beef and radish salad with the radishes (cooking light recipe). Yum!

Hey everyone! I HAVE to get to work, so this will be quick, but wanted to say hi. The "losing 2 weeks" debacle means I lost my signature - and after I was so proud of earning it!

So I had to fill it out again - and the ticker isn't cooperating. I'll get it fixed eventually!

Had an interesting weekend. Didn't make it to my law school reunion picnic Sat. b/c a dear friend who's single tripped and dislocated her big toe. We had to take her to the emergency room and hang out with her for about 5 hours to get everything taken care of. She thought she'd broken it, though, so it could have been worse! And we got her settled in at home in time to still make our lovely dinner and South Pacific, which was great. It's a very hot ticket here, so I would have hated to miss it.

Meg - happy anniversary!

Midwife - I can't help picturing you out there with a butterfly net, trying to catch babies ...

Golf, I confess, is boring to watch. I hate to say it, b/c I like to play (though I don't get to do so often), but watching? Not so much.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Happy Anniversary Meg! Congratulations! Enjoy your day...

DGAdDAWG-- the golf would bore me to tears too. I'm sure you burned extra calories in the heat!

Megan-- blackberries-- yum!!!

Midwife-- hope you feel better. My throat has been sore with a cough for a week now....allergies still I think though....

Paperclippy-- that is scary about your Nuvaring. Hope that won't give you any "surprises"....

My weekend was pretty good. My weight is up a little but it usually is after the weekend. Now that the weather is warmer, I'm finding excuses to have low fat ice cream and I think I need to nip that habit in the bud before it gets out of control.

I posted on the no excuses thread that this will be a difficult week for me both food and exercise wise so I will do the very best I can and try not to obsess about what I cannot control.

I had a great NSV yesterday. I am still very low on clothes since losing weight so dd and I went to an Ann Taylor outlet. I got very cute shorts and tops and now feel ready for my trip to Houston in 3 weeks. We were checking out and the sales gal asked which one of us the shorts were for because she wanted to know how they looked on. My dd is 13 and skinny so I was pretty stoked that she didn't know who they were for! They also happened to be a size 2 (the others I bought were 4's), so I was pretty excited that I was buying such small sizes. Now not to GAIN any weight or the cute new clothes won't fit!!

Hi everyone,

This weekend I have spent at least 12 hrs. a day helping my DH put a new roof on my MIL's 4300 square foot house. This has to be the hardest work I've ever done in my life. Family or no family next time they need to hire a roofing crew. My eating was hit and miss cause I was definitely too tired and sore to care ,whatever was served , I ate. Temperature is in the 90's and I've sweated off 10 lbs. Feels good to be below goal for a change instead of above it, but I'm sure once I'm totally rehydrated those lbs. will find me again. We still aren't finished yet. Our only help was the two 16 yr. old neighbor boys. The roof is half done. The hardest part was getting the two layers of old shingles off. I have two more helpers today coming to help pick up shingles and haul them off. Plus use a large magnet to pick up nails. My hands and fingers have no room for any more blisters. I have a sunburn. I don't know how many calories are burned by roofing, but it must be a bunch.

To make matters even worse, I spent all night last night at the ER with Lacy having a kidney infection. They gave her some Morphine, IV fluids, nausea med's and IV antibiotics. She got to come home this morning on pain pills and Bactrim. I hope she recovers quickly and with no more trips to the ER.

The hi-light of my weekend was my son called from Iraq. We got to talk for about 30 min's. He sounded in very good spirits. I am very happy to find out that he gets a 15 day leave in October when he can come home. He now has an address for me to write to him and an E-mail address for his new laptop , so communicating with him now will be much easier. It was so great just to hear his voice. Lacy talked with him a while too and it seemed to make her feel so much better just to get to talk to her dear brother.

I hesitated even making a post cause it hurts my fingertips to even type!. Now, gotta get my butt back up on that dang roof. My only real injury thus far is when the neighbor boys cell phone slid off the roof yesterday and landed on my head (I was on the ground picking up shingles). I have quite a knot on the back of my head. I thought at first it must have been a hammer cause it hurt pretty dang bad.

Everyone pray for me to get through this and have the sound mind to say "NO" next time. LOL.

Lily~I can't imagine doing roofing myself! I don't even paint at our house!! Kudos for doing such heavy work!

Meg~happy anniversary! And no, you're not old as dirt! Geez, DH and I just celebrated 20 years--what's 9 more?

Anne~hope you're doing good. Check in when you can.

DGAdDawg~although I've never been to a golf tournament I do watch it on TV and play it from time to time. Right now we're trying to get DS more interested in it so perhaps he'll join the high school team in a year when he changes school. I enjoy it--it's relaxing.

I haven't checked my profile, etc. since the server exploded. I'm sure I need to adjust things. I am "officially" 3 pounds higher than I was at the end of July 2007. I wasn't happy then, so I need to do something now. I printed out a new weight chart and put goals at the end of each column. I hope to be in the 130's by September. It's not unrealistic at all.

I had a scare the other night. My parents are visiting until Wednesday (here for DD's graduation on Tuesday). Mom is still in a wheel chair and uses the walker from time to time. She got up at midnight to use the bathroom and got the wheel of her walker caught up in the oxygen line my Dad uses. She leaned over to un-catch it and lost her balance and fell. She hit her bottom lip on her walker and cut her lip (small--it didn't need stitches) but it's bruised and icky looking. I'm just glad she didn't hurt herself more. Worst thing is is that she said it caused her to lose a lot of confidence. I didn't get much sleep after that.

Meg, happy anniversary! The cards by the coffee and computer are so sweet! It's wonderful that he knows you so well.

Dawg, golf--yuck! My friends live on a golf course, and we sit on their covered porch in comfortable chairs watching the golfer and laughing at their mistakes. Now that's the way to watch golf!

Megan, blackberries already! How yummy! Sounds like a great pizza.

Midwife, sorry you're ill. Hope you feel better soon. Baby catching always sounds great--very joyful. Do you do that in a hospital or at people's homes? I had home births for both my bio kids so I used midwives--they were great.

Jessica, don't you wonder where the Nuvaring went? I'm imagining a little kid picking it up off the floor and asking, "what's this, Mommy?" I always wonder with those CSA boxes if you can eat all that lettuce before it goes bad.

Debbie, ouch for your friend! You're a wonderful person to miss your reunion to take your friend to the dr.

Michele, great story about the shorts. A size 2--can't even imagine a size 2. Being 5'9" (okay, I have shrunk, but in my mind I'm still 5'9"), I'll be happy when I can comfortably wear a single digit size.

Friday was my 27th anniversary (ah, June brides), and I spent it having lunch with two friends because my DH is going to be working out of town for, oh, the next 9 years? We don't know. He's renting a room from a guy who posted on Craigslist. I refuse to give up my house in Oregon to move back to Idaho. Luckily, he feels the same way.

My kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen. The natural cherry cabinets are in, and they're stunning. So much storage!

I have been doing the 21 day cleanse (although it's only two weeks for me) that I saw on Oprah a month ago. I debated about doing it, but decided that I was going to see what going without meat, dairy, wheat and sugar would do for my body. One thing I have noticed is that I'm not congested like I usually am. I'm not sure once the two weeks are over whether or not I'll stay with it (soy yogurt is gross), but it's kind of fun to see if I can do it. Had a wicked headache the first day, but since then, it's been great.

Lily, we must have been posting at the same time. I'm so happy you got a call from your son! And use that sunblock.

Allison, that's scary about your Mom! It's hard to see our parents get older and more frail. Hopefully, she can regain some of her confidence. Perhaps a "better bones and balance" class?

Morning. A quick post as it's shaping up to be a busy day.

Mel - Happy Anniversary! got you beat though, DH and I have been cohabitating for 37 years in Sept (only married for 20 of thos however )

Lily - get down off that roof woman! And get some sunblock. I helped on the original roof of our house (somewhere there's a photo of me up there with my ankle in a cast) but the second time we hired it done and it was totally worth it! So glad to hear you got to talk to Shane, and now have an address for him. Hope Lacy gets better soon.

Sheila - I've heard that dairy is often associated with sinus trouble. You might try adding back things one at a time and see how you feel. Never tried soy yogurt, but I don't eat a lot of yogurt anyway.

As for golf And our city golf course is in my department! Fortunately I have an excellent manager for the course.

Okay, time to scoot. Have a great Monday.

Sheila - LOL, I have no idea where it went! I know it was there a week ago. I'm wondering if it came out when I was sleeping and the dog ate it or something (hopefully not, I imagine it would be bad for the dog). We checked all over the bed and in all the sheets. Usually I can tell when it's falling out, so it would be really weird if it came out in the toilet or something. The weirdest part was that the doctor who looked at me said that it's basically impossible to look in every nook and cranny in there so it might still be in there somewhere, but it's not likely.

Michele - It is scary! DH and I aren't planning on having kids for another few years. I suppose if we do get a "surprise" we'll just be changing the timeline a little! I'm also concerned because I had a decent amount of alcohol last weekend and am planning on more this weekend, but if there's any chance I'm pregnant then I need to not do that. I seriously doubt pregnancy though, we use a backup method, and the ring can't have been out for more than a few days. I should get my period by Friday though so I'll know for sure then.

Lily - Wow, you are one tough woman! I can't imagine doing roofing, especially in such heat! You should strap a water bottle to your belt loops and keep sunscreen in your pockets. I'm sure you are burning a LOT of calories!

As a veteran of looking for lost objects in women's nether regions, that is a load of BS for a normal weight woman. I hope they looked with a speculum and then did a bi-manual (checked with their fingers---sorry if it is TMI). I promise there is nowhere it can go that it shouldn't have been found if it was there.

I use the nuvaring and I love it. LOVE IT!! But I have noticed with my weight loss that I have had pelvic floor changes. I must have had a lot of fat there. I have noticed my nuvaring has slipped on occasion. A midwife friend of mine was surprised that I use it. She is convinced there is a higher risk of pregnancy than the studies show. I'm going with the studies.....unless I have a surprise pregnancy and then I will believe my friend.

Sheila, I attend births at a hospital. I love homebirth and support it very much, but right now I couldn't commit to that kind of on-call/drop everything at any moment. We have an active homebirth community that I support as much as I can and some of my friends are opening a birth center. I am jealous!! But right now I have a pretty cush schedule. Plus I get to provide midwifery care for women who might not seek out a homebirth for a variety of reasons.

I love the image of catching babies with a butterfly net. I had at least one lady this weekend whom I am sure would have been delighted to have that as an option---at least when she was pushing. But she did great. It was lovely.

I get to attend births for women who speak many many languages. Do you know that verbal expressions of labor discomfort sound very similar in Spanish, English, Vietnamese, Navajo, Tewa, and Korean? Birth transcends language. I love it! It is very humbling to be part of such an important event for families.

Speaking of which, I hope Anne is doing well!

Lily, you are a very nice person to do that for your in-laws. I cannot say that I would be so generous with my time and energy.....well, I guess I would. >sigh< I guess we have to be!

Labor discomfort! Ok, that made me laugh. I love birth, but I think I would choose a word stronger than discomfort.

Good morning

Thought I would stop by and say hello before going out for an early morning walk. The cats must have known that the only way I would exercise today was to get out early, so they kindly woke me up by running through the house like lunatics at 4:30. Either that or it's revenge for leaving them for three days to go camping

I peeked in here a few months back when I hit my original goal of 165. However I reset my goal so kept reading but didn't post. Now I am at goal. Not sure what my weight will do but the scale is no longer my focus (I do have a red line weight though). I'm putting my energy into fitness and health goals now. Reading this forum for months has helped me prepare for the hard part of this journey.

Now I have to get outside before it becomes unbearable! Thanks for being here.