HI
Hope everyone is doing ok and things are going well for you.
We now have some summer like weather. It was hotter and more humid today. I didn't do much, but when I walked around the yard this evening, I realized I should have picked the beans and tomatoes, they have lots on them.
We are planning on going camping later this week, to celebrate the end of summer. Last night, we went out to the campgrounds and visited some friends of ours that are out there. After awhile, a lot of people showed up. We had to leave, since DH had to go to work at midnight.
Aleka, have they shown your house yet? I would imagine that would be pretty stressful.
Anne, how'd things go today? I was thinking about you and thought about all the extra work your having to do.
Hi, Lynn!
My eating and exercise went into the toilet last Friday and I've not been able to get myself to do right since. Nikki

Good morning,

I got back from having my hair done a little while ago. I'm blonde again and I got a much needed cut. I had let my hair grow a little longer this summer so that I could pull it back into a ponytail, which is much cooler than having it hanging on my neck. I couldn't stand it anymore.

It has been just like fall here these past few days, getting down into the 40's overnight. I heard this morning on the weather that some places farther north will get into the 30's overnight tonight. They were warning those people to cover their vegetation or if possible bring them into the house.

Nikki, don't worry about what happened on Friday. You'll be back exercising and being OP again soon. Even if you just do BF. You will be just fine. They haven't shown the house yet, as a matter of fact we haven't even heard from the RE agent since we signed the contract with him. We've gotten the house really clean so that all we have to do in the mornings is a little tidying up.

ANNE, how is work going so far for you this week? I've been thinking about you and hoping that things are ok with Tanya and

lynn, hope you're having a good time.

Have a great day everyone.
Aleka

HI,
It rained last night and this morning the humdity is 100%. I'm procrastinating going out and picking the vegetables. Don't know why, but I just feel lazy. Went to Walmart last night and they were selling all the big pots of plants for $2. I found a beautiful New Zealand impatient and put it out on my patio. I didn't need another plant really, but couldn't pass up that deal.
I'm glad we aren't going to have frost that soon Aleka. It has been the strangest weather though, this year. I wonder if we will have an early winter and a long cold one.
DD is starting to really enjoy driving. We are working on parking and after she gets better at that, I think she might be able to pass her driving test. We told her we'll buy her a cheap car when we get our next income tax return and that will be so much better for her and for us too. I never thought this would happen.
I'm like you, I ususally keep my hair in a pony tail or in a clip. I have a set of the Toni volumizing hair clips and use them. They look pretty natural and I've colored my hair to match them fairly well. After they are in, I don't even feel them. Makes my hair look like I fussed, but takes no time at all to put them in.
Better go pick beans and tomatoes, Nikki

Good Morning Everyone:

I've been exhausted these last days with the additional stress of knowing
Tanya is leaving. There is a real learning curve to this job. You have to
be excellent at multi tasking. Its all I can do to keep body and soul together
with Tanya here, I can't even imagine what its going to be like

I have had a rotten 2 days on this job. On Monday a patients father showed
up and wanted to collect her "valuables" We are not allowed to release a
patients valuables without their permission. I explained this to the father
and he started screaming at me..."my daughter is in a coma" I calmly
explained he would need a power of attorney for me to release the valuables
without his daughters permission. (these are hospital rules not mine by the
way). He was really pis off.
Well, if that's not bad enough this same patient's mother showed up the
next day. I rec'd even worse treatment from her. She said "you will get up
this minute and get my daughters valuables for me" She came down armed with a letter from the nurse in ICU. I explained (calmly) the nurse has no
authority to give any such permission and I called the nurse in front of the
mother and told her just that. Finally I got in touch with Turns out
all this nasty display was for a bloody nose ring Can you beleive it!!!!!

Thats how my life has been going.....

Aleka, its going to be hot as heck for the next few days. Not my favourite

Nikki, The tony clips sound like a great idea. I curl my hair most mornings with
Caruso steam rollers. In this heat I just pull my hair into a high pony tail and
curl the pony tail with about 4 rollers then comb out. All this humity makes
for rotten hair days for me.

Hi Lynn! How are you doing?

Anne.

Hi everyone,

I had some blood work for cholesterol & triglycerides done last week and the results came back yesterday. Everything has gotten higher, my cholesterol is over 300 and so are my triglycerides. The only good news is that my good and bad cholesterol are within normal range. I wouldn't be surprised if it was because I've gained so much weight. I see my Dr. next week, and don't know what she's going to do. I am going to have to do something about losing weight because I don't want to take anymore meds. I don't know whether to go back to SSizing or start counting points again. Both of them have their good points and both have their bad. I am leaning more towards SSizing because that's how I got my cholesterol down in the first place. The only thing about SSizing is the food combining, which I suppose I can get used to again. WW, I can eat anything I want in proper portion sizes, but I tend to eat too many carbs because they're lower in points. HMMMM What is a person to do????

We had such a nice day yesterday that I took Lacee for a little walk. She throroughly enjoyed it.

Nikki, it has been the strangest summer this year. I will be interesting to see what kind of winter we have. I've been telling DH that North Port will be experiencing its first snow storm this winter...just because we're living there. We're supposed to get back up into the warm & humid weather by Saturday....or so they say. When will your DD be taking her driving test? Good luck to her when she takes it. I can remember how scary it was learning how to drive. That plant was a good buy. Mentioning Walmart reminded me, I bought some low-carb pasta there, Dreamfields, or something similar. It's got 9 gm carbs. Have you ever tried it? We haven't had it yet and I'm dying to try it. I've only got 1 tony pony. I've been tempted to get more of her hair pieces, but I don't. I've only worn the tony pony a few times. I think I got the wrong color, as it matches my hair only after I have it highlighted. When the hair coloring starts growing out, it doesn't match so well. I got the med. blonde, and I think I should've gotten dark blonde.

Hope you all have a good day.
Aleka

ANNE, we did it again...posting at the same time! Sorry you're having such a time at work. It must be frustrating dealing with people like the mother and father of the girl who is in the coma. Did explain to them the hospital policy about patient's valuables? When I had very long hair I used to put it in a high pony tail and put 4 big fat rollers..the size of frozen juice cans..in my hair. Only I would do it the night before work while it was wet and sleep like that. That was the only time my hair came out great while wearing rollers. Hope your day at work is better today.

Aleka

Good morning,
I hear you Aleka about the weight problem. When you said that your cholesterol and triglycerides were high, the first thing I thought was that you should try SS again. I've even been thinking about doing it. I'm just not into dieting and can't seem to make myself do it. I was thinking about all the diets I've done and the one that worked and that I lost the most with was SS'ing. I didn't even exercise that much when I was SS'ing before. If I did it now and exercised like I can now, who knows what might happen. I know the food combining is a pain, but really, after awhile, it's hard to not do it when your use to it. After we get back from our vacation and I have to buy groceries the next time, I think I'll go back to SS'ing. My thighs are starting to rub together and my arms aren't even close to the sides of my body anymore. I hate feeling and looking like this.
Let us know what you think of that low carb pasta. I tried some other brand a couple of years ago when they first came out with it and I thought it was icky. Hopefully, they have improved it some. I see so many products now for low carb eating. They were talking on the HSN board about SS food and how the website is having sales. They thought it must be because of the local competition. Well, really, why pay all that money and then the high S&H anyway. I do love some of her products and read on the HSN BB that her jams are great. Have you tried them? I am going to make some homemade sugar free strawberry jam and use splenda in it. Have you seen that new sugar substitute? I don't recall the name, but it's kind of like splenda I think.
Anne, when I worked on the psych ward, we had people screaming at us all the time, wanting things done right now. Back then, I thought if you had a nice office job, people would treat you better. I guess not huh? Maybe you should request that nursing has an inservice about patient effects and the legal aspects. Obviously, they don't have any idea what they are talking about and it makes the hospital look like it's not all on the same page. I think people everywhere are just more difficult to deal with. Wish I could think up a job that would pay good where we won't have to deal with people anymore. I've gotten to the point, I hate to leave home. Now I know why people become hermits.
I've tried several of the Toni hair products. The one I have now is the best I've tried so far. Some of them have way too much hair and they look fake. Plus, they won't stay in your hair as they are too heavy and the clips are full of the faux hair, so they can't grab on as well. The ones I have now look just right.
It's raining and is suppose to rain every day for the next 5 days. We were suppose to get the camper out to the campground today. I don't know what to do. DH came home from work and started to drink beer, so I guess we won't be taking it out today. I don't know if I should even bother getting it ready. Guess I'll clean it up, set up the beds and wait to haul the food out til we decide we are really going.
Take care, Nikki

Nikki, I am in the dieting frame of mind that you are. I just can't seem to stick with anything. But, I had a wakeup call with the results of my bloodwork. My cholesterol has never been this high, and I'm on medication. She even doubled the dose because it was high the last time, and it was even higher this time. DH & I have decided to go back to SSizing. We even ate our last 2 bananas so we can start tomorrow. I'm going into this thinking more of a lifetime change for my health, and weight loss second. I lost so slowly on this WOE. It took me about 6 months to lose 12 lb. and I got very discouraged. So, if I don't obsess about the weight loss, I'll do ok. When we get settled in FL, I will start walking again. Unfortunately all but one of SSizing books are packed. Just by accident I forgot one which is her latest cooking contest cookbook. So, I'll be using that for the next month or so. We're planning on having that low carb pasta tonight for supper and I'll let you guys know how it is. I haven't tried any of her jams. When we get settled I'm going to order some stuff from her website. We have tried her pancake mixes and they are really good. Our favorites are the whole wheat and blueberry. On her website you can buy whichever flavor you want, plus on her website you can work off the shipping. At least you were able to in the past. Did you clean out the camper?

Aleka

Goodmorning All: The weather has been off everywere this summer. Today is going to be humid and hot. We must all be in the same frame of mind. I had Suzanne's books out last night and will be starting SSizing soon I hope. I did so well on it so have decided to give the diet another try. There is to much going on in the next month to start, I would just be setting myself up to fail. I am also going to join an exercise club in the fall. I had some good news today, my best friend of 26 or so years is retiring to Wasaga. We have been friends since our son's were little so it will be fun this winter. Their house will close in the middle of November. Anne, some excitement in Toronto this am. Did any of your co-workers get caught in the Union Station mess. For you other ladies there was a hostage situation outside the hub of transit in Toronto which closed down the area for a couple of hours during rush hour. It ended with the tactical unit killing the hostage taker but the hostage is OK. The hostage taker had already shot a hostage a couple of blocks away and had grabed a passer bye. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor Mya is missing Cooper and is very "needy" these days. DH and I are enjoying our sleep in's with the pups gone. I really miss Cooper. He was the pup I allowed myself to get close to as he was going to DD. They are having a good time with him. They are off with him until his 12 week needles than he will be picked up by a dog walking service and taken to a leach free park with other dogs to play and socialize for a couple of hours a day. Do you have leach free parks in the States? They are great!!! They are totally fenced and have watering stations for the dogs. Gives the dogs a chance to be free in cities were there are fines if your pet isn't on a leach. Well thats it for now. I might be back later.

HI,
Well, I did get most of the camper packed up. DH thought it was going to rain all day, so decided we would take it out tomorrow. I went out to the campgrounds and found a spot anyway. All the ones I really liked were already taken and I was getting kind of blue about it, then I saw this great spot that I had over looked before. It's fairly private, and the other camping spaces are very far from it. Plus, it's pretty close to the toilet. A gem of a place . I guess it's filling up fast for Labor Day weekend already. I just got done moving out what I can to the camper today, got on the computer and there is a big storm moving this way. Winds up to 60 mph, so it's just as well we didn't try to take it out there.
That sounds great that you guys are going to get back into SS'ing. I'm thinking that any weight loss is better than none and since I quit SS'ing, I've lost, but then I put it back on. I've stayed basically, the same weight that I was when I quit SS'ing. The food is so good too. DH loves it, but misses potatoes. I think this time, I'll fix him some microwave baked potatoes on occasion, so he doesn't get all weird about it. I can take or leave those.
Lynn, that's great about your friend moving closer. It's so nice to have a buddy around to talk to and do stuff with. I hadn't heard about the hostage situation, but we barely hear anything down here about what is going on up there. You'd think you guys lived on another planet. I get so disgusted with our news service. Last night, they did a report on a new walking bridge they built in Pella. DH wanted to know how that is news. I said, that's where all the millionaires are, so I suppose it's news for everyone (like we really care). They probably own the news stations here anyway.
That must have been a very scarey situation. We have leash free parks in the big cities. Here, they say you have to have them on a leash, but the law isn't really enforced.
Guess I better get off the computer. There's lightening and now they are saying winds will be 65mph. Looks like quite a storm is moving in, later, Nikki

Good Morning All:

I am off to an infection control seminar this AM. I think everyone is getting
worried about this bird flu.

Lynn, my husband called me early yesterday about the hostage taking at
union station. He knows I often walk around that area on my lunch hour.
It was a terrible situation there for awhile. As soon as I heard where he was
standing, I knew the police would kill him and sure enough..... It is such a huge open area with so many buildings!!!

You know what Aleka and Nikki, I too want to go back on Suzannes plan.
I am back up to 230 It was the only plan that really worked for me.
I want to reduce by blimpness by Christmas time We should do it
like a team again, Remember... All of us did
fantastic following that plan
My son Sean has been on Suzannes diet over the summer. He is Davids twin.
He looks lovely and trim. It sure did the trick for him.

Anne.

Good morning,
I have to start packing up food in a bit, decided to have my coffe and write a quicky first.
I'm excited about starting back on SS woe with you guys I remember the first time I started it, I was going camping and had just found this thread. It was Aug then too. I think I'm around 230 myself, Anne, boy do I hate this size. It's better than 275 but still, I'm starting to see things I haven't seen in awhile. Like, when I hold my arms down to my side, my hips go past behind my arms. Well, that's enough of that.
I will not be able to start for 2 weeks, but that will give me time to plan, read SS books again and get my kitchen ready.
I decided for exercise, I'm just going to do Body Flex. I like that I can do it in less than 20 min. I like to exercise, but it seems to take so much time and I never seem to get around to it. If I do Body Flex first thing in the morning, and I do it consistently, I know I will get some results.
OOPS, I got to get going. Don't know if I'll be back on tomorrow or not, take care, Nikki

Good morning to you all,

Our IPS is doing some sort of work and we can't send or receive any e mails. It has been this way since yesterday noontime.

YAY!!!! We're all doing SS together again. As a matter of fact I started this morning. Unlike you guys, I did not do well on SSizing as far as weight loss went. It came off ever so slowly, even though my clothes were getting looser. This time around I vow not to weigh myself whatsoever and just chart my progress by how my clothes are fitting. We will be doing grocery shopping later this morning and I've got my list all set for SS foods!!! I am going to make some dishes out of her latest cooking contest book, as that is the only SS book that isn't packed.

ANNE, lynn, how frightening that hostage situation must have been. Especially for you ANNE, where you usually walk there on your lunch hour. I'm just glad that you weren't there at the time. Congratulations to your son Sean, ANNE, on his weight loss.

nikki, have a great time camping. Body Flex will be better on your ankle too, as I believe you can sit down and do it.

lynn, in FL there are certain beaches that are "doggie beaches" where you can let your dog off the leash and there is a little park area that has chain link fencing around it where you can let your dog run. We took Lacee there once, but it was way too hot for her. By the time we got into the car we thought she was going to have heat stroke. So, we didn't take her there this year. We think it was because she still had her winter fur on her.

I'm sending you all PM to start off our SSizing.

Have a great day everyone.
Aleka

Hi All: We all sound so enthused about our diets and it will be good to have each other all on the same page!!!!!!!! I am eating the lasagna recipe as I type this post. It is delicious!!! I don't eat sausage often so substituted a veggie layer for the sausage. It was a little runny so next time I will make it in the morning and and put a plate on with a couple of heavy tins to weight it down and put in fridge until dinner. Than I would pour off the excess clear liquid before putting in the oven.The veggies I used (mushrooms, peppers & onions) plus the zucchini all have a high water content. I spent the morning getting my low carb recipes that will work with SS in a folder. I try to pull a weeks worth of meal ideas before I go shopping and make up my shopping list accordingly.I will be spending some time on the net in low carb recipe sites to expand my recipe file. A follow up to the hostage situation, His first victim was his wife who is going to be ok. Apparently she and their 2 teenage children had endured years of abuse and they had left home several months before and were hiding out. The girl he held hostage was a 20 year old intern at one of the banks. A student and it was her LAST day of work before returning to university!!!! She is the daughter of a judge. As DD said she was so close to work she had her security pass around her neck. That was a strange sight to DD as she says as you walk though Union Station almost everybody is putting their security tags on and is paying no attention to anything around them. Thank God it ended well. She was so composed, it was amazing to see. Once in a while a little tear would run down her cheek. Well I'm off to check out Suzanne's site havn't been there in a while. Talk to you tomorrow

Hi again...

I am psyched that we are all doing SS again. Here is a site I go into to look for SS recipes. Make sure you have your speaker turned on. www.slgkali.homestead.com/RecipeIndex.html

Aleka