Good afternoon all,

I'm so far behind on this week's thread I can't possibly catch up. I have jumped in and out, reading only. Today there is no ice left on the pool! So, the opening a week Tuesday seems like a good plan.

Oh, and I made tortillas today. From oat flour, which was an odd choice. I was thinking 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 whole wheat but we're out of whole wheat. I should really have broken down and used white flour, but I forged ahead. They didn't turn out too badly (I only made 5). I'll have one more maybe Tuesday at lunch, and turn the rest into baked chips... with a not so subtle oat taste. The one I had today went well with the crockpot lamb curry that we'll have tomorrow for dinner. I'm thinking overall that the bought ones (whole wheat tortillas) aren't such a bad choice overall.

Zelma - I like seeing your pictures. It inspires me. Thanks for sharing.

Same goes to Bernice, Rena, and Debi - my progress pics (such that they are) so far have been in my underwear - to try and be brutally honest. Most of my clothing at the moment doesn't fit well enough to use them for pictures. If/when I go through the swimwear I'll consider taking one for later.

BattleAx - hooray! That's a great achievement.

Debbie - I'm so sorry about the dogs. A friend warned me about getting two brothers (the cats) and the few times the fights have turned nasty (twice) I've always wondered what I would do if they didn't eventually make up. I hope you find a good home for Sadie. It's horrible that you have to do this, but in the end I think you know you have to.

Well ladies, that's really it for me at the moment. I've got laundry calling and maybe a little afternoon nap....

Hope everyone is having the best weekend that they can, and that next week is even better!

Debbie - Sorry that you have to make such a hard choice. Love makes these days extra hard.

Awesome job Battle. I can't wait to be closer to 200 than 300.

Catherine I am excited to read your book. I have just recently purged my chronically overflowing book shelf. So there is room for more books!

Gone to enjoy some sunshine. Hope you catch a ray or two of some as well!

Debbie - my heart goes out to you. You are a responsible, loving pet owner with their best interests at heart. I cannot imagine having to make this choice. Big hugs to you.

Well I survive cleaning my daughters room.It looks awesome now. I even washed down baseboards as i went. I still need to wash windows but will do that when i do the rest of the upstairs windows. We ended up getting rid of 2 30 gallon trash bags of clothes. I counted her tops in her closet and she has 40. That is all summer tops not to mentiosn all the tshirts and tanks folded in her drawers . I dont even own 40 items of clothing right now...Well i do own that many but not all fit. I did find alot of clothes in my summer stuff that fit and some are a little big and some too big. I am so glad to have her room done..and guess what she is moving back into her room...she had kinda taken over her sisters ( who is away at college) bedroom.
My whole body is sore from all the work..and crawling under the bed..lol
Hubby grilled burgers and brats...I ate one of each and a serving of chips. I still came in ok on calories. I had went kinda low today so i could enjoy his grilling.
bernice_ my basement is still wet. yes i got a gallon of vinegar and sprayed down the walls and even on the carpet. It cant hurt the carpet!!! Hubby joked that I was douching the basement.LOL The carpet is still wet. Hopefully the fans and windows open will help dry it.
I will try and get a picture of me when i get cleaned up one day this week. well its suppost to be 70 tommorow and im breaking out shorts...so these white legs will blind everyone who walks by.LOl
I just want to say how much I apperciate everyone on here and how much it is helping me. Yall are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
debi

Hello chickiedees...
Sorry I have been AWOL lately. I have been so obsessed with a project that is just consuming my thoughts and time. On the good side, I am OP and had a great week, and a totally AWESOME weekend...picnic's on both days! The weather was fabulous.

well....I finally hit two goals I have been striving for since the beginning of the year.
1. Yesterday I biked just over 20 miles! in one stretch. 20.7 I was so elated and I can't believe I can even do that! If you would have told me at Christmas time when I got my bicycle that I would soon be able to bike 20 miles I would never have believed it. I started out with 3-4 miles and just kept adding a little more each week.
2. One of the most amazing thrills of my lifetime! I BIKED THE BRIDGE...the bridge I mentioned earlier in the year. The ride down was sooooooooooooooooooo worth the ride up. I will try to attach pictures. The bridge is quite steep and the beginning incline is ugggg HARD, but then it got a little easier. Coming down was freakin amazing. I hit about 47 MPH before I got a wee bit nervous and slowly rode the brakes! OMG....what a thrill! Nigel was right there beside me the whole way, bless his heart! (only he didn't come down so fast!! haha) He is such a great supporter. I had originally set a goal to bike the bridge on my birthday last week but it was raining so we had to postpone it a week. I don't care, it was amazing.

I say to anyone who says they can't....just TRY...you might amaze yourself!

Welcome all the newbies, and love to all my friends....hopefully within a week or so I can get back to posting everyday.
hugs and cheerio
rainbowsmiles

Whew, miss a day or two and I got so far behind on talking to you all.

Sharon: I want to get horses but right now it is out of the question financially. When my dad said he was selling his horses I told him I would buy his saddle. It is the saddle he has had all of my life and most of his. He used to break horses for a living and it has been through a bunch of things. He gave me that saddle and every other piece of tack he had. lol. I have lots of things I will never use. Some of them are silver and very beautiful. I am keeping most all of it and looking forward to the weather warming up and I will sit a table on my deck in the back yard and start cleaning all of the tack I got and oiling it. I do know how to take care of leather having grown up with it around always. My Grandpa's saddle is just so precious and special for me to have. When I get a horse or ride again I definately will use it. Tell Ammi hi and give her a big hug for me.

Walrus: Yeah on not having to wear the cast anymore!!

Debbie: so so sorry about Marilyn and Sadie fighting. Can Marilyn go live with your parents? I don't know if that is far enough away from you guys to have them not fight? I wish I could give you a hug. So sorry.

Battle: What an awesome NSV! You are rockin it. I can't wait until I am closer to 200 then 300!

Jeanne: Hugs to ya.

Catherine: please keep us informed as to when your book will hit the stores. I so want to read it. Hugs.

Tina: Glad you got all moved. Congrats on your new home!

Dmpls: What a wonderful gift from your mom. Growing up my Grandma never ever bought store bought bread or tortillas. She mixed her own all the time and she sure could make them perfectly round. I have her bowl that she used to mix the tortiallas up in. What treasures these are. Congrats to your DH weight loss and so sorry that your DD got somethings stolen. I would just feel so violated. Poor girl.

Carol: Hi sweetie. How are you doing?

Heather: Hi. Glad to see you.

Cyn: Sorry you didn't win at Bingo.

Rat: Hi girl.

Debimitch: Woohoo on getting to 31 pounds lost! Great job.

Rena: I hope you get the pug soon and they get along wonderfully well. I have two dogs and they grumble at each other occasionally but that is about as far as it goes. Never any real violence. I kind of think it is because one is a female and one is a male. I don't know. Good luck with your new baby.

Julia: Hi there. I know that speaking for myself, I have been here since I think 2004 or so. I adore the ladies here and am so looking forward to getting to know you better too. Hugs.

Zelma: Happy birthday! You are so beautiful. I looked at your before and after page and Wow. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful you look. Such an inspiration to me.

Luan: Hi girl. Glad to see you.

Julee: All of the things you are making for your meal sound so interesting to me. I am so sheltered. I don't know anyone who is Jewish, that actually practices the religion. I find it so amazing and facinating. Thank you so much for sharing a tiny piece of that with us. I truly mean that. Hugs.

Well, Yesterday i got an email from a lady, friend now, who had weight loss surgery 2 days before me. She is about 5'5" and at the time she weighed what I weigh now 278. She is already very close to her goal weight, within 17 pounds. She told me that she has tons of clothes for me if I want them. I went over to her house yesterday and I got 8 huge boxes of clothes. All beautiful clothes and very expensive things. I tried on almost all of them when I got home. It took me alllllll dayyyyyy long. I can fit into a few of them but mostly I boxed the ones that I will wear for sure up for a later time. They are mostly 16-22's. Anyway, I really scored big. The rest she said I can put them in my yard sale or take them to good will. After going through all those clothes I asked me hubby if he felt like going for a walk to Walmart. It is quite a walk but after we walked it it turned out to be 2.5 miles each way. I walked 5 miles yesterday all at one time! I can't hardly believe that I did it. I held up really well too. So, all in all it was a productive weekend. Today I made Arroz con pollo for dh and it turned out good. Tons leftover though. lol. Tomorrow back at the job search. I called the lady who told me I have a for sure job in 4 weeks about 3 weeks ago and she told me that it will be another 3 weeks at least. So, I am not waiting around for her. I clipped 3 out of the paper that are county jobs. We'll see what happens with them.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, drink your water and move your bodies.

Blessings,
Annie

Rainbow: Congrats on the biking. Okay that settles it, I'm going to ask my dh to get my bike down from the hanging thing in the garage and pump the tires up. I wanna ride.

Blessings,
Annie

this is the entry side of the bridge, the far left side of the picture, where the tall white railing is, is the bike path across the bridge




we made it!



later we had a picnic at a little area with the bridge in the distance.

BIKING IS AMAZING...THE WIND IN YOUR HAIR...The exhiliration, the strength you feel, its totally empowering!

annie....by all means...go for a ride! it is addictive! i love love love riding. when i am riding i feel skinny! hahaha
love to you all
rainbowsmiles

Rainbow WOW!!!! that is amazing!!! I wouldn't be driving over that bridge with me I pretty much can't drive over a bridge that big!!! I had to in Washington D.C. once UGH!!! I wanted so badly to close my eyes!!! LOL but it definately is an awesome view! I haven't ridden a bike in EONS!!! Maybe now that the weather is getting better I can borrow my DD's and my youngest DD & I can take a few rides!


Annie 5 miles!!!! You Go Girl!!!! thats awesome about the clothes too!!!! I know that will be my troubles once I do drop a couple of sizes! I am ok for 24's as far as work clothes go since when I started working in the classroom I was a 24.....I have a few of those....but once I drop below that either I will need an angel like yours or DH will have to fork over some mula LOL I just hate buying clothes for sizes I don't plan on staying at long!!!! LOL

Well today we moved the computer desk upstairs to the dinning room it was in our den for the longest time. now I have to work on paperwork and junk that was on the desk that no one could find a place for.....and find a place for it....LOL I will not have the desktop look like it did in the den! LOL no one went down there that often but visitors can see the desk from the front door in here so I will need it to be tidy! LOL wish you could see the pile of paperwork, mail, cd towers and misc. crude on my dinning room table right now!!!

Well tomorrow officially starts my spring break....Monday I need to complete the desk & file cabinet organization along with laundry......Tuesday I need to go through my closet and get rid of stuff that doesn't fit DH and organize my too small clothes in sizes for later! Wednesday I will try to get up in the attic and pull down some storage clothes I have up there.......need to figure out what DH can wear now. His pants are literally falling off of him! Thursday I will scrub the floors and clean the windows downstairs as well as throughally clean the bathrooms.....Friday hmmmm can't think of anything else but Im sure I will find something that needs to be completed by then....Sat & Sun I plan on relaxing before I have to go back to work!

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and have a great week to come!
Toodles Poodles!
BErNICE

Rainbow,,,,wow you lead an execiting life. I think the senery is beatiful. Im with bernice though I cant imagine driving over it....no way would I bike over it!!! I live in the sticks so we dont have bridges like that anywhere near here. I know it had to be an exciting day. I am so happy for you...
annie_ great job on 5 miles walk. I am up to 2 but not ready for 5 yet!! I am so thrilled to hear about you getting all those clothes. I have the dress i wore to my sons wedding on newyears eve and I cant just give it to good will I sure wish i knew someone who dressed up and could use it. I may keep my eye out at church for someone who might need it. I have a growing stack of clothes to give away already. I am thankful i have some smaller clothes that will fit soon.
dmpls- dont work to hard this week enjoy it!!!
debi

Annie- 5 miles!!!! Way to go girl!!! I am proud of you. keep it up! HUGS!! Cool all the clothes you got too!

Zelma- Happy Birthday late! Your pics are wonderful looking and you have been doing so well. What an inspiration you are to all of us!

Battle- Yeah, keep going. I loved the size 16! You will be there soon! Can't wait to hear about the date!

Debbie-too bad about the dogs fighting! I hope all works out well for you and they heal quickly.

Catherine- can't wait to read the book! Please let us know. I agree that you should have a book signing for all of us!

Debimitch- I know what you mean about cleaning the daughters room! It always happens that I take out 2-4 bags of clothes, and usually a bag of toys too. I told my hubby about the "douching the basement" He thought that was hillarious! It sounds like something he would have said!!! I remember when we had to pump out the basement! Not fun at all.

Heather-keep your chin up, you are doing awesome! You have already made the first step to change your life.

DMPLS-Have a great spring break! I wish my computer had its own room. My is right inside the front door. The desk always gets piled with tons of stuff!

Rainbow- looks like a fun bike ride. Good for you!!

Well WI today for me and the girls. I lost 2 lbs., older daughter lost 3.8 lbs., and younger daughter lost 1 lb. Hubby lost 6 yesterday. He is now at 101 lbs. officially but unofficially probably another 25. He tells everyone he has lost "our youngest daughter and the cat"!!!!

Wow, biking and walking 5 miles -- excellent exercise accomplishments!!!!

Is someone getting a pug?????????????? We have two and they are precious (except when they're not. Esp 5 am. but mostly precious).

So, who's getting a pug?????????????????????????//

Stop posting here and join us on this weeks thread!!!