OMG! I little girl just brought me a wrapped present. It was huge-- looked like a big board game. I thought that surely it can't be a box of chocolates. It is. A giant box of Russell Stover chocolates (30 ounces). I'm going to put it in the break room. It is 8:01. I'll see how long it lasts!

Jessica, :lol: I love that! I always envy my cat's ability to find the smallest bit of sunlight in the house, curl herself up and nap for hours.

Michele, good thinking on taking the box to the break room.

Allison, that's funny about all the keys. And I'm with you on Hawaii--the perfect blend of heat and humidity. At least in the winter when I go there. I wonder how it is in the summer?

I grew up in Seattle and lived most of my life in the Northwest. My sister and I had facials in Santa Fe a few years ago, and the first thing the aesthetician said was "you're not from around here, are you?" When I moved to Idaho, the skin on my elbows and feet started cracking, and my face felt like all the moisture was being sucked out. Now I slather on moisturizers twice a day. But I still prefer doing that to living anywhere on the East Coast in the summer!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sheila, the only times I've been to Hawaii have been in the summer. Although I know it can get hotter, we've been there over the 4th of July and temperatures were mid 70's to mid 80's which is perfection in my book!

well? Did it make it until noon? Or were there some left with a bite taken out and then put back?

Hi all,

I'm in a good mood bc I had a really good day at work! Today I worked with some school groups at the art show I mentioned last Friday, doing science outreach for them and relating it to the art. I don't have any teaching experience so didn't know what to expect, but the pessimist in me was worried. It was actually quite fun! And the K and pre-K groups that I was most worried about making this relatable to were really fun and asked the best questions.

Jessica, I guess "to each their own" for comfortable spots. Dogs and cats are good at finding them. My dog loves soft things like the couches, bed, blankets, and also loves basking on the porch in the sun. Sounds good to me.

Alison, I love/hate it when one moves and finds all types of random stuff. There are the things you've been looking for, the things you don't need anymore and forgot you had, and the worst, the things you aren't sure what are, but don't want to get rid of them in case they are important.

Michele, good for you for giving up the chocolate. How long did it last?

Happy Valentine's Day all. :val1:

Oh, yeah, the things you find and you don't know what they are! I can't tell you how many cords I've found--not electric cords, but computer-type cords. Well, as far as I'm concerned, if we're not using it now, we won't need it in the future, so out they go!

Right now I'm just a tad upset. Mostly at myself as I "knew" I was right and now have found out I'm wrong. It turns out that the 5 or 6 mile distance means that we're in a different telephone station so we can't take our phone numbers with us. Ugh! I've already ordered and had delivered our new letterhead and business cards--WITH the phone numbers. So now I'm investigating to see if the cable company can do magic and allow us to get cable phone and keep the same numbers. I have to wait until Tuesday to find that out, though.

It's not a giant, huge expense to redo the letterhead and business cards, maybe a couple hundred dollars, but the hassle of informing EVERYONE that we have new numbers will be the worst part! The address is one thing, but the phone--we've had the same numbers for about 24 years!

Last time I looked there were only a few left. I looked at the box and the entire box has 4000 calories!!!

On my desk now is more random chocolate, a smushed cupcake, random lollipops, etc. And I'm madly chewing my snap peas!

I forgot to mention the best/funniest gift. A little girl just brought me a heart tattoo that says Justin Bieber! I am very tempted to put it on!!

Gotta love the Bieb (at least my nieces do). That's so sweet that the kids are bringing you Valentine's Day gifts.

Dagmar

Michele, I agree that it's lovely that the kids are bringing you gifts!

Allison, good luck with that phone number issue. I've had the same home phone number for 25 years and I can't imagine changing it. I know the cable company here can get you your old number if you switch to their phone system (which I really should do).

Megan, I've done some craft-y type things with little kids and have found them to be quite open to learning, and a lot of fun to teach. I'm glad you had such a good time.

And the random stuff we find when moving - I know it well. As I've gotten older and more subject to mental atrophy concurrent with age, I've been getting rid of things like keys and little bits and bobs I find in drawers. And I've started putting labels on all the cords and chargers I have for my various devices because I'm sick of wondering what they're for - Ipod, Kindle, phone, camera? I have even labelled all the cords behind my TV connecting DVR, DVD, stereo system, etc. I love my label maker!

My office was awash in baked goods and pizza and all manner of treats today. I did not do well. I think I'm going to have to turn in my "maintainer" card. But I kicked butt on my recumbent bike when I got home, 60 minutes straight and I added a lot of arm movements to get my heart rate up. I was soaked by the end of it.

Have a great weekend, all!

Steph-- don't be hard on yourself! Yesterday was tough and you went home and had an awesome workout. Kudos!!

HUGE dinner out with BF and snacks before and after. Down a lb, at 122.8 now. Both gym scale and home scale said so. What's going on...?

I have SPRING FEVER badly, a few days over 40 and I'm convinced it's spring. I am looking forward to running outside on the bike path after work.

michele - I am 26 years old and bought those same Justin Bieber valentines w/tattoos for my (also mid-late twenties) friends last year...

alinnell - That's a pretty big annoyance about the changing number. No matter how many reminders you send, people are bound to forget!

Steph - Focus on the workout not the pizza! You are still a maintainer!

Megan - Glad you had a good day at work

I found out this morning that my uncle met his weight loss goal last night - he is my dad's baby brother and is only 4 years older than me so we grew up together. He has lost 190.6 pounds. Wow. That is an entire adult male. I'm so proud of him, he looks fantastic. He says his challenge now is to learn how to maintain that loss. I've invited him to pop in and check us out, hopefully he'll take us up on it. :)

Shannon, congratulate your uncle for me. That is fantastic !

How did your Uncle lose the weight? Wow!!

Take it and run Krampus! Don't ask why! You have youth on your side....

Michele - he used weight watchers. He said his worry now is to figure out how to stop losing weight, he has been in losing mode for so long. He said that he used to laugh when he heard people say that at goal and figured it couldn't be that hard, but now he doesn't know what to do.

Krampus - take the loss and run, absolutely. :)

Allison - I bet that the cable company can move your number, they are VOIP so have less restrictions than the ones from the phone company.

Steph - one day of indulgence doesn't take away your maintainer status. And the fact that you came home and exercised just says you are in control and not the food.

I'm still kind of unsettled and running crazy this week. Hope the weekend levels it out. We are going to a swing dance event tonight - actually, swing music with a dance lesson, imax film and martinis at a local museum. I wanted to do something fun and out of the mold - it is a Valentine's Day celebration as we had DSS last night so our romantic night was frozen pizza and cartoons. We did have a nice dinner Wednesday night, so I guess we are bracketing VDay with two celebrations. LOL

Afternoon all,

I knew BF would cook dinner for me last night, but he surprised me with tilefish. Mmm. We discovered this fish last year at the fish market and love it. It's a meaty, white fish similar to grouper, but without the price tag. It was a nice Valentine's Day gift. Today, more school groups and outreach for work. The classes today were a little more chaotic. This has been a really fun project and I've met some great people. After a few busy weekends I'm looking forward to having a weekend "off".

Shannon, wow, how great for your uncle! Kudos to him. Enjoy your date night tonight. Swing dancing sounds fun.

Krampus, maybe you're burning off more than you realize at the gym... in any case, I'd take the loss and be happy about it. ;)

Steph, sounds like a great workout to balance out some of those office goodies. Real life is about balance, after all, not perfection. Don't beat yourself up too much.

Allison, I hope you can work something out to keep your phone #s. My BF has had the same cell phone # for over 10 years, with an exchange # that is outside of our local calling area so it costs .25 cents to call from a local phone. He could get a local number now, but refuses bc "everyone has THIS number!"

Have a great weekend everybody.

Wow, 190 pounds! That's amazing! Congrats to your uncle, Shannon! My brother has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 60, with about 40 more to go and DD has also lost 60 or 70, but those are "children" compared to your "full-grown male."

Shannon~oh, I do hope the cable company can help!! You'd think that moving from one area of the city to another wouldn't necessitate a change. If it doesn't work out, it'll just be a bit of a hiccup in that we'll have to tell everyone AND get reprints on our business cards, letterhead, checks and invoices. Yeah, it'll cost about $1000, but we've made more costly mistakes!

Krampus~take the loss and run! I'd be ecstatic if it happened to me. Instead I'm staying steady, and at a higher than desired weight.

So I had my annual physical today. Frustrating as I waited 45 minutes in the waiting room and another 10 in my paper clothes the exam room. Anyway, he was fine with my weight, loved my blood pressure, loved my supplements, wants me to go to half-caf coffee (what? NO!) and wants me to exercise more. DH and I have been discussing ways to do this as he needs to do more as well. The Doctor did like that I golf twice a week and walk the course with my clubs, though. So now a mammo and I'm good to go. DH and I have exams with lab work a week from tomorrow, so I'll just have them send the labs to my doctor and I won't have to pay anything!

Shannon-- as someone (me) who lost my weight on Weight Watchers, I love that your uncle was so successful! He needs to keep attending meetings and they will help him understand maintenance. He will be able to add a few more points in for maintenance. I still track my food and exercise (usually) and weight at least once a month-- tomorrow-- gulp....

Allison-- glad your doctor was pleased with your checkup!

As I've said in the "Having a Rough Time" thread Jen Cherrypie just set up, I had a week of setbacks: money worries, mild depression, self-medicating with food, low self-esteem, feeling unworthy of being in this maintenance group at all. I guess many of us have these setbacks, but I sure don't want this one to last any longer!

I had a bit of a :crazy: attack yesterday when my cousin's wife called re my dad. He's on the warpath again. I've had 2 weeks of stress related to selling the house, health issues, working waaay too much, 2 dogs dying, and very unco-operative weather.

I have been eating all sorts of junk, not weighing, and generally being bad to myself. I am now consciously pulling myself out of this rut I've fallen into. Not going to be easy - Dh's birthday celebration is tonite with cake and wine and he gave me my Valentine's chocolates today.

I specifically asked him not to get me chocolate. He wants them, in addition to the ones I gave him on V-day. I will give him half the box and take the rest to my dog sit. I will eat one per day - probably keep them at my house across the street (the sold one - closes March 28). I will sit down and enjoy the chocolate with no distractions. I'm finding my body no longer wants any more than one or two chocs :tantrum: and really reacts badly to any more than that for several days.

Tonite I will have one glass of wine with dinner (we usually drink alcohol after dinner while watching TV later on) and my small piece of cake soon after that. Then, when the alcohol/sugar/fat cravings hit I will go for a walk in the freshly fallen fluffy snow. Hopefully i will not wake up at 2 in the morning with my head pounding and feeling like I'm going to pass out (which happened last night after 3 beers drunk to calm myself).

If I were listening to my body I would be a very healthy person 100% of the time. It really is starting to mutiny against my brain's more destructive tendencies. About time - I'm almost 56 years old. :p

Dagmar :crazy: no more!

Be kind to yourself Dagmar.

I'm off to my bunco and nervous about meeting all the new people. I made two healthy salads and I hope not to indulge too much in all of the other foods that are being brought that sound delicious but not at all healthy-- crepes, cupcakes, cinnabons, to name a few!

Unfortunately I'm operating on almost zero sleep. Dh is in Belgium and called me last night. One of his prior bosses (same company) called and asked if we'd be interested in a move. I doubt it will happen but we had to hash out the options to decide if we'd even be interested. I then couldn't fall asleep, and kept waking up..... It's made my extremely hungry today and I've already eaten enough for the day but I'm still hungry and will undoubtedly have nervous hunger at the bunco.....

My plans tomorrow include both Zumba and Bikram Yoga so hopefully that will offset anything I do tonight.

I also just drank coffee to try to stay awake so hopefully that doesn't keep me up....

Michele Meeting new people can be very stressful. Contemplating a move can be very stressful. I probably would have been lying awake all night with my brain running. Hope you did well @ bunco.

I find too much caffeine makes me crash and then I eat and eat and eat. I have been drinking too much caffeine for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday was the first day I didn't have any caffeine except one coffee at 7 a.m. I had to take 2 naps during the day but was able to do it.

I have to try for more of this on the weekends. I am seriously in "is winter over yet? :tired: " mode during the week. It is a physical struggle to get through the day and then have to make dinner, do laundry, etc. I think DH, who is now down to 1 day of work per week, will have to take on some of this. I can't manage it anymore.

Dagmar :faint:

Thanks everyone. I needed the support. Time for me to put my stubbornness to good use and just power through the cravings for a couple days. After a couple days of no sugar they always settle down. It is kind of nice to know we're all human.

DH and my in-laws and I went for a "real" game of golf yesterday. Our regular course was having it's annual tournament (two days long) so we went to a regulation course we've played a couple of times before and was offering a great deal ($50 per person with cart, which is way cheap for our valley). Since I haven't played a real round of golf for a couple years, I was very rusty. Interestingly enough I had little trouble with my driving, but the fairway woods were my demise. I'd either top the ball or hit 4 inches behind it. Either way, the ball never travelled far at all. It was rather frustrating.

After golf we went to the in-laws RV park for dinner. A couple two doors down had just purchased their lot earlier in the day and everyone was getting together for an impromptu celebration, so we fixed ourselves drinks and walked down. Had to have had 30 people show up in the 5 or 10 minutes after the announcement! It was fun. Stayed there for 45 minutes and then headed back for our dinner.

After dinner, we were seated outdoors at the table, talking (with the heater going thank goodness!) and DH saw something move out of the corner of his eye. At first he thought it was a rabbit, but realized it was much too large for a rabbit. I got up and looked and sure enough, a HUGE raccoon was sniffing around their tangelo tree. When it saw me, it ran under the RV and then we were trying to shoo it away. That got the attention of the partiers two doors down so several came over to help. It eventually ran out from under the RV, then under the truck, then across the street to another RV who's owner had just come out to do something. We were afraid she'd get in the way of it. It disappeared for half an hour and then later I saw it running down the road. This thing had to have been 25 pounds or more! Good thing the kittens were in their enclosure!

Hope everyone struggling is very more hopeful today.

Bunco went well. I wasn't super social but I managed. Seemed like an overall nice group of women, but one lady was very loud (and fairly drunk). It seemed like there were several women unhappy about her and I was told by several that this was very unusual. They said newbies often never show again and they begged me to give it another chance! Several of them went out for drinks and dancing after-- I declined!! I did pretty well with the food too. Just drank water but I wasn't the only one. The hostesses husband grilled hamburgers and hotdogs-- I took a hamburger patty, took one bite and it was horrible-- overcooked and no seasoning-- I quietly threw it away. I tried a few of the other foods including a savory crepe (decent, but not great), but ignored the chips, desserts (no chocolate so I was safe!), and jelly beans!

My weight was up 1 pound but I plan to get rid of it today with zumba and bikram yoga.

I had a real scare this morning though and it was deja vu! About 20 years ago when eldest dd was a toddler, I was carrying her in one arm down the stairs and my then dachshund, Samantha, in the other, when I fell down the stairs. Dh was out of town and I had to drive myself to urgent care. The xray didn't show anything, so I hobbled around for a month, until I went to an orthopedic specialist, who xrayed again, finding a broken foot! I've always been careful on the stairs ever since. Jozi (the Great Dane) rarely goes upstairs as it is hard for her to handle going back down-- my stairs are wood and the floor is also wood making it very slippery for her. This morning I slept late (6:30) and she came upstairs looking for me (and breakfast). I grabbed Dewey (the dachshund) and told her to go downstairs. She just stood at the top of the stairs so eventually I went down carefully. When I was almost to the bottom, she started coming down but she slipped and slid all the way down knocking me and Dewey down in the process. I fell the last couple of stairs, dropping Dewey, and somehow protecting my head from hitting the bottom step. I lay there for a few minutes trying to decide if I was hurt. I don't seem to be, and both dogs seem fine. My head and back hurt a little as I'm sure I jostled them good and I'll take it easy today but it scared the crud out of me!

Allison, with a wait like that, my blood pressure would have been up for sure. Why does he want you to go to half-caf? I've been reading that a couple of cups of coffee is healthy.

Shannon, that's so cool about your uncle. Luckily, WW has a maintenance program that will help him stop losing.

Chris, sorry you're having such feelings. :hug: I'd say most of us have been there so we can empathize.

Michele, how was bunco? We're eager to know! Just saw your post--how scary!! I'm glad you're okay. Definitely take it easy.

Dagmar, winter's been hard on you with all the stuff going on and the extra work. Definitely make DH do more so you can enjoy some relaxation. My body tells me when something isn't good for me, too--sometimes I listen, sometimes I don't (and I'm almost 60). Guess that's human, though.

Two wonderful sunny days with temperatures that don't require fleece and gloves (which I lost--and it's supposed to snow on Tuesday!). Friday my DH and I walked for an hour on the Greenbelt and then enjoyed a glass of wine at one of our favorite happy hour places. And the next morning I'd lost .5 lbs.! Yesterday we met our two sons and one son's GF for an Indian buffet (bet that .5 is back, but I'm not checking). Very yummy! We followed that with a 2 hour hike in the foothills that was supposed to be a loop, but we got started a bit later than we planned so we only went a bit over halfway, then turned back. The colder temperatures are back today, but it's sunny so I think I'll go for a walk on the Greenbelt while DH attends a church meeting.

I have a funny "blip" in my heartbeat which he said is from caffeine in all likelihood. I wonder why it bothers me most some nights when I'm trying to fall asleep and haven't had caffeine for over 12 hours? Anyway, BP was 124/76 which he was happy with.

Michele~stairs are scary, especially when carrying something! Glad you didn't hurt yourself! Glad you had fun at bunco. Why is it that some people just don't know how to grill? FIL made steaks last night, but he had to ask me how long to grill them. Well, mainly that's because MIL says he overcooks them and I don't. All I know is what I've learned online and on TV--don't turn them more than once as that dries them up. Well, he insists on turning and turning. But he did heed my timing and they were still rare, although I had quite a bit of gristle in mine. And their idea of a burger is a pre-cooked, frozen patty that you just reheat. Lately I've found some really good Angus burgers, frozen but uncooked, that have good stuff mixed in like blue cheese or jalapenos. Yum!