HI all and I hope everyone is good! I am doing fine and am glad to finally get a chance to catch up with all my worldly chicks. So I will say right off the start....where are you LINUS?????? yes your gal pals here do worry about you did you read the posts? Hope you are well!
Life has been so busy and continues to roll on at a terrific pace. The deer around the house are getting more plentiful as the mornings are cooling down. And the bees here are a problem also as Happy had mentioned in her post. You should see the huge spiders I have killed.... I sometimes let them live but not when they are right outside my door and look like they could pull you up into their web without much effort. Then they are GONE!
I did attend my friends wedding and it was a blast. Just the greatest sight to see a new bride ride off in black leather chaps pants and vest with a white bridal veil and flowers..... it just made you laugh! The day turned out fine for weather since everything was outside and I like the man my friend married. He welcomes all of her friends into his circle of harley riding buddies. This is not your tattoed bunch of riders...but the aging older guys and gals who love bikes and have conservative job kind of harley riders!!!!!!
My van is experiencing a few problems and I need new tires which is going to be costly, but I need that van to last me. Especially with winter coming.
I have not seen my boys all summer and can hardly believe that summer is over. Both of my sons this summer experienced witnesses car wrecks and being on the scene to help with the drivers and passengers. There fire fighting training has come in handy.
Mel, I am so proud of you getting out and around in your chair. You know people everywhere usually have a story or a bond with others in their life who also suffer illness and loss and they too are familiar with others using chairs in their daily life. It is encouraging for people to see you out and about and you may touch the life of someone else in a way you will never know because of the courage they saw in you. Embracing life is the greatest gift you give yourself because just like for all of us you are that gift to us! Keep is up as long as the weather holds out for you...... Mel my biggest change for the fall and winter is I am not renewing my Dish network for tv this year....yikes for me that is big and am trying to deal...... I want to read more and get my little niggle projects done that keep building up around me in this place. So that is my challenge.
Shad you sound good in your new adventure....how much longer are you there I missed that part of your posts. Shad I want you to know how much I enjoy your photos and Happy's husband pics too..... I sent them to a friend of mine in australia who is trying to decide to travel with some of the remaining time he has been told he has to live...I hope it helps to motivate him to go back to England and see some things.
Teel I am so glad for you that you are getting something you well deserve and I so enjoy hearing about your travels and your cultural visits of plays and music. I do hope you gain some more health and can enjoy your playing and outings so we benefit from them. I don't get my BBC anymore and I shall miss that station more than anything else....!
Meadow nice to get to know you and the quotes are great. Hope you are well and you are so clever with those pics.... I have not a clue about any of that stuff.
Next time I will tell you about the Northern Harrier I spotted and some of the other wild things I have seen......Many Blessings all
NAE

honey im home sorry girls didnt mean to worry you all just had one of those weeks you all know the one "the week from ****"well ive just had one and hopefully its over and done with cause i dont think i can take anymore well you have all been busy SHAD i love the quote you have in your signature but unfortunatly because of the week the first thing that came to mind was "what if your scared of the water" i had a dear freind who used to travel a lot with her company she was a personell troubleshooter and her answer to the changing climate was to visit the second hand or charity shops buy something suitable and then when she left donate them back sort of like hiring the woolies the footie in question aussie rules or soccer?oh good my nosiness is back this week i havent been able to give a damn about much MEL who says its just firemen that make hot lovers ? an old lady that i used to look after in one of the nursing homes i used to work in used to tell me that the reason all the lassies like men in kilts is because "it goes hard in the breeze and saves you the bother"try hearing that from an old lady of 92 and keeping a straight face ill lend you benjy hes such a lazy bugger that he wont go down holes or gaps in the pavement or jump over obstacles so youll just need to follow him and you wont have anymore whiplash actually is that a good thing ?? personally speaking if you like whips lady you go ahead TEEL you sound so high at the moment you stay there as long as possible glad you won with the gov but why do you have to keep reclaiming ???? ive been given up as a hopeless case and got the max for life not that im saying that your a hopeless case but surely with the illnesses you have oh sudden thought maybe they think your condition will change when you get the transplant{?} and there keeping fingers crossed for you ! yeah and pigs will fly i mean about the gov have a heart ROSE good to hear from you girl glad you enjoyed the wedding my freind got married in a long flowing white bridal gown and stayed in it till her gran had gone then changed into there leathers and chains have to go sister is here back later
kirsty

Been there. Done that. ....as they say. Went out this Am at 7:30 and got back home after 9. Met lots of people doing their Sunday thing. Church. and newspapers.
We chatted The weather is cooler in the mornings and feels wonderful. Park was closed. Guess I was too early. Legs are bad again today. Maybe the combo of the accident and cold?! WTF! Who knows. I am back on a steady diet of NSAIDS though trying to get control of it.
Meadow~ I adored the graphic and am still laughing!! LOL How goes the belly dancing! I can hardly wait to hear all about it!

Nae~ So good to see you once again. So glad the wedding was good and you didn''t miss it. Love the animal/insect stories! Spiders! OH MY!!! Hope the friend in Aust. gets where he wants to go and has the energy for it. Poor Guy. ((((((HUGS))))))) for both of you. I saw a man on a cycle the other day and wanted to tell him I need his tires!!! Much more sturdier than mine! Welcome home!! Hope the truck runs ok!! Don't want you marooned out there with the bears!!

Linus~ OMG I thought you got lost on one of your jaunts to the local stores! but I did think you were taking a "vacation" from in the forum. I will be in search for a hard man in a kilt now on breezy days. I can hardly wait to find one and lift his skirt!! I cracked up with your "scared of the water" comment!! How true!!! Till this year I WAS!!! Hope you are feeling ok and love to the boys too from Aunt Fanny!

I am thinking of trying the park again. This day is just too beautiful to waste indoors! But I will pay closer attention to the broken sidewalks!! I looked at it again today and almost when I saw it in the light! Adios Friends of the World and have a wonderful day! I carry you wherever I go it seems!!!

back again havent had the chance before now as the house has been full all day sister and both nephews came and then brother-in-law and yet an other nephew then sister and her tribe went and then mum came as i had invited her for dinner as for some strange reason instead of the regular 2llb bit of silverside i bought a 4llb one thats the thing ordering online you have to make sure you get the poundage right or otherwise the dogs get silverside!!! right now where was i oh yes my freind and her leathers she also waited till gran had gone cause grans never seen the tatoos or the peircings mind you some of them i dont want to see so now HAPPY glad your still organising i do that every so often so that when i move i wont have **** loads to throw out but that is another story MEADOW i always wanted to try belly dancing but my kids said that as i was so fat i could do all the classes belly dance by my self so guess what? i didnt bother there heart is in the right place just there gobs run away from them and as im there mum im fair game for the slagging right now this week im not going into too many details as ill have you all in tears needless to say i didnt get the brand new house i had been promised in writing and only found out when a close freind phones to say shed got one of the new ones and would be mt new neighbour so when i phoned to find out when id get my letter i was politly informed that all the houses had been allocated and nobody could tell me what had happened as the senior housing officer was off till monday so war will commence tomorrow my spine has decieded to throw me a new spanner one of the damaged nerves happens to control my neck and i have been walking around with my neck at a 40 degree angle since tuesday and i now have a very becoming neck brace as dh got fed up with me having to sleep sitting up on the setee and i now have stronger painkillers than before and still havent got into a proper cycle with them yet and therefor am wide awake at 2am and sound asleep at 2pm but after all those years of night shift that probably is just me right ive spoke to you all finished conners homework groomed the dogs done the dishes and put the washing machine on so im to put my feet up going to listen some good music tonight the verve ,robbie williams,john lennon and maybe some aerosmith speak to you all later
kirsty

I hardly say "good morning" to you all 'cos I admit to having only got out of bed for good at 11:15hrs!! I was SO crackered I just kept going back to sleep, which was absolutely wonderful! I think the last few weeks of running on empty have finally caught up with me and my brain was too tired to stay awake.
Well it is Monday today. So what? I hear you cry as one!! Weigh day, my dears...it is my weigh day. And yes I do believe I can at last write that last week =79kg.....THIS WEEK = 77.4 !!! YEE HAAA!!!!
The weather has certainly changed. It is pleasantly cooler...chilly even!! It rained in the night and was very windy. I think England must be getting the very end of the tail of Hurrican Ivan. The destruction these hurricans can cause is enough to make you weep.
NAE I am glad you went to your friends wedding. Sounds like it was a bit of a hoot! A LARGE group of Harley riders conjugate at our local hospital every Easter and take dozens of eggs and pressies up to the chidrens ward. Sometimes it feels a hard job to equate the two! Do you ever get on the back of your friends Harley ?
The wildlife seem to be enjoying your garden again! It puts my few hedgehogs to shame! I wonder what Holly would do if she came across one of your ginourmous spiders? Probably and run and hide under the bed I too don't like spiders. Little biddy ones are fine but once they gor to over a centimeter long they win the war every time
MEL I sweear one day I'm gonna come right over and bundle you up in a vat of cotton wool!! Ouch is the word that comes to mind! I think you ought to install lights on your chair!! Seriously though, I am so pleased you are still in the land of the living. What time do you have your church service? Back by 09:00hrs? I am just about leaving then to go to mine and I get back about 12:30. We have just got a new minister. Seems alright at the moment. I didn't like the last one much!
LINUS I was pleased to see you too back amongst us. I don't like wondering where you are when you go missing from the thread. And its OUCH to you too. Hope the painkillers actually do their job. Which ones are you on? And don't forget to eat with them or you'll be sick! Been there. Done that. Worn the t-stirt! Lucky dogs, by the way! They must love you...silverside for dinner...yum yum yum!! I love the quote from the 92 yr old re kilts...
HAPPYthanks for your p.m. I suddenly noticed on the front page of the site that there is a thread entitled just that very title!! I will wander over there at some piont and see what all the fuss is about. Might even pick up some useful point or two You never know!! DOOF ! To your lovely across the road neighbour for d-i-y-ing at some unearthly hour of the morning! Should definately be a law against it!! I will now be very unChristian and hope he had a darn bad headache after finishing the job! Ooooh aren't I the nasty one!!!!

As for me...well life rumbles on. I have a really bad carpal tunnel in my left wrist and as soon as I started playing the violin in church yestery my hand went pins and needles, then cold and painfull. Suppose I'll have to get it injected soon. The other thing that is happening soon (30.09) is the injection into my spine again for painrelief. I really don't relish the prospect of having that done again at the moment. I would feel better about it if I thought it was going to work but this will be the fourth one I'll have had done...and not one of them has worked yet and the actuall injection is REALLY painfull.
I'll go and see my trusty g.p. He has been away for 3 weeks so I haven't seen him lately. He might say I can leave it. Trouble is the waiting list is so long for any tratment from this guy I have already waited 3 months for this date.
Hooray for an Autumn feel to the weather! Soon there won't be so much ironing to do as we will all be in jumpers and fleeces!! As usual my chest pain is abounding and so is my back pain. I don't hold out any hope for the medics ever getting it down to a reasonable level.
Hee hee my hound, who up till one second ago was peacefully dreamimg, has suddenly shot off the ottoman next to me and sprinted like a you-know-what off to the front of the bungalow. She has just arrived back without barking even once. Perhaps it was the post man...hang on a tic......yes, it was....four junk mail envelopes and one big one from whom I don't know and a smallish white one telling me about the new payment arragements for my car breakdown service.
Ah and I have asparagus soup for lunch...the other half to the half I ate yesterday. It was pretty scrummy!! Then I have something with diced turkey for dinner. Not sure what yet!!!
SHADHello to you. I think it looks like you can't get a look in on these post they have been so busy over the last few days. I do hope you are ok down in Melbourne even though you don't like it much. I trust you are well and hope to hear from you soon!!! Sunday must be missing you...I hope DS is taking great care of him and giving him all sorts of delicious treaty things...
Oh and I have at last put one of the 6 photo c.d.s on to computer, so just for Miss Mel...here is the afore mentioned EYE!!!!!
Bye bye my friends...time I got out of the sand box. I should think it is about time for Miss Mel to be awake and wanting her turn....better rake it over and leave it all smooooth or she'll have my guts for garters!!!!

Time to get up and going!!!! Teel is that huge ferris wheel the EYE....cool now I could probably do something like that one! What a great view and what is the ornate building beside it? OH Teel, it breaks my hear to hear about all of your spine pain and in your hands..... I wish I could get my hands on you and do some things to see if it would help you. I do hope you find some relief. Thanks for taking the time to post those pics. Good Job on the LOSS!!
It rained a lot yesterday morning then again in the evening but it looks like I may see some sun today. I haven't brought my deck garden in the house yet but I will probably have sometime soon!
I made the most delicious salad for my boss for her birthday and also for our staff meeting. Fun to try something different. I modified a recipe I got off the internet. Then I made my mom's diet bran muffins that she was making and using like 30 years ago, still a good one!
So far I have survived my first weekend without my tele..... but I have so many meetings to get through for my group that it will keep me out of missing it for a while.
Hope everyone is fine..... Take Good Care!!!!
Nae

Here are the #'s for the week!!! I have lost 1 pound and 1.5 inches. thank God the scale is going in the opposite direction!!! FINALLY!!
WEIGHT=175 -1LB :
BUST=45 NO CHANGE
WAIST= 42.5 -1"
HIPS= 45.5 -.5"

Linus~ Sorry about the house and hope you get to the botton of this mystery of why it's not one for YOU!!! Good luck!!
Too bad about the meds too. Hope the sleep inproves and you feel better. LEATHER, TATOOS AND PEIRCINGS!! I had a great laugh with that one!

Teel~ The pictures are fab!!!! OMG the ferris wheel is huge and over water! I am not one for heights but I bet the view is stunning!!! thanks so much for posting them!! Nice color too!! sorry to hear about the back and wrists!! OMG!!! Here I was hoping you were feeling good too! Hope you get some relief soon. I didn't go to church but I met others that were on their way. If I went in the roof would collapse! LOL I must take another look at your pictures before I leave here!

Nae~ The salad idea sounded like a nice idea.... But what kind??? LOL A good bran muffin recipe is hard to find!! I have tried many but they are always too dry. I may have to turn cable off if the bills get any bigger! I missed it a bit but got used to it quickly last year when I turned it off to catch up.

Went out early this morn ( 7AM) and got 4 Danish and Crumb cakes. Our little store down the street was shocked to hear me banging on their window! The store is inaccessible so we have a code. Joe was sure he was hearing things! The Maint. Supervisors BD was Sunday and he is a diabetic so I tried to get a plain one that I know he still eats on special occasions. We had coffe and cake first thing when they came in. Everyone is happy!
I really dread the winter and am trying hard not to think of it!!
This Friday and the weekend coming looks very bad with the rain and winds coming so I will make the most of the week then.
Have a great day all and take care of yourselves!

I forgot to say that the other pictures were of the Thames Barrier and Tower Bridge. Unfortunately the day we went on the Eye the weather was not as clear as in the photograph. I took that a few days later.
I am sorry to tell you, Mel, that I love the Autumn...its cooler and pretty colours abound. It also means less ironing as I am not wearing blouses and t-shirts hee hee! It is a lovely blustery day here today and I summoned up enough energy to take Holly out for a walk that usually takes about 20 minutes. Clouds were billowing by and I spied some blackberry bushes in fruit... Have to keep an eye on those!! It is years since I went blackberry picking
My post was so long earlier today I thought I had better come back and tell you more about my holiday! And so here I am...where did I get to? Ah yes, C.C.B.B.!! and I have told you about the Eye and so here we arrive on the UK bank holiday. As it was the Notting Hill carnival we tried to go in the opposite direction to everyone else!! We went to Maddame Tussauds...it was good but not over whelming...the newest thing being that you are now allowed to touch the waxworks...of course my man friend went and cuddled Julia Roberts!! It is a bit more kiddified than in the past...there was a special footie game set up for the children who dribbled round a few obstacles and tried to score a goal and head a ball through a hole in the wall...not many of them managed it...it was qiute a high hole! Then he or she went to stand by Michael Owen who said something like "you would be in the team already if it were up to me...but go and see the guv.," and off they went to sit on the bench with Sven Goran Erikson who said something I now cannot remember!! My friends daughters favourite was I think, the Andrex puppy...it even wagged its tail! After this we went to the London Aquarium as it was too cold to go on the river. This too was good but not as spectacular as I had imagined. And that was day 2. Day 3 we met up with our freinds who now live in Battle and explored the museum warship H.M.S. Belfast. It is moored on the river Thames and is now part of London Museum faculty. Although I couldn't get everywhere 'cos of the wheelchair I got on the lower decks where the galley is...they even had waxworks on there, doing the jobs they would have done in real life. There was a person in the dentists chair and a couple of patients in the sick bay beds and the surgeon was doing an operation on someone's insides!! I was amased as too how much ship room was allocated to food storahe and bakery and cooking...but I suppose the old addage is correct...an army marches on its' stomach...or should that be floats?
We also looked round the new County town hall where the London mayer now works with his team. Quite an interesting builing, very modern with a sort of snail shell like circular ramp linking all the 9 floors. We were only allowed up to the 3 rd floor but I don't think I would ever get any work doe as the view out of the full front glass window was phenomenol. It faced the river and you could see the Eye right in front of you as well of course as everything else
Ok. That is really enough from me for one day. Dinner time. I have a choice of something made with prawns or diced turkey breast!!
I'd better get some more of my photos on to hard drive or you won't get any more holiday snaps!!
See you soon.
T.T.T.T.

Teel I went in search of the Thames barrier. WOW!! What a structure!! It must be an unbelievable sit either lowered or raised!! PHEW!!! The brains it took to think of this. Boggles the mind! I learn something new every day!! LOL Today was 2....with the Eye! ROFL Thanks for sharing these...I had a nice "trip" today! Your vacation sounds more wonderful each time. I must confess something...I love the Autumn more than any othe season. It DOES give me energy and a feeling of rebirth and always has. But when it comes to riding....well then when the colder weather gets here it's no nice for travelling. Like riding a motorcycle. The "wind" freezes these old bones!

I wanted to go out but the call of the loo siren has kept me busy in there! Have no idea why I feel so poopy! Guess today is a rest day. See ya later.TTTT 2!

Hey you all, I came back. I'm still cold and headachy, but I am here. I think I have put on some weight again. Damned if I know how because all I did all weekend was walk!!! Walk, Walk, Walk through the rain, hail and sunshine. BJ shopped. I dropped. Guess I haven't been as diligent with the type of food although none of it has been very bad. (Maybe I will just wait till I get home and measure to see what I have done) Boy that kid can spend money when he is in the mood!!! Anyway we had a nice weekend. Took a few photos but they won't be developed until after this weekend, although I have a few to put here when I get home on Friday or Saturday.
Job is going along, although they can't work out why their Info Pak program doesn't work. Well it works on some and not on others machines! I've given up with it and just carry on as mine seems to work okay. They are now talking of extending the contracts because of the downtime experienced. It had better warm up or I aint stopping!!!!
Good pictures of the EYE Teel. Thats one of the famous hotels next to it, although at the moment for the life of me I can't think of the name of it.
Brendan and I went up the Rialto Tower on Sunday night. Quite a good sight of the lights coming on in Melbourne at sunset.
The cleaner at the flat fixed my video last night, so now I can do the Pilates tape and just do weights at the gym. That's a bit of a saving anyway. I'll let you know how I go when I get through tonights fun show at the flat.
The town is getting ready for the Melbourne Cup - famous horse race and we are seeing the fashion shows around town in the lunch break. Glad the girls haven't got too much up top or flab anywhere or they would all be going like Linus' Scotsman in his kilt. Good on you linus.
Good to hear from Roseblush again. Glad things are sorting themselves out for you and you are getting a few things done around the house and garden (no telly is good for getting jobs done).
Happy, I hope you get to hear something soon. It must be getting a bit annoying, waiting, waiting, waiting. I know I got a bit agro towards the end of my homestay.
Okay, can't think of much else. Better go and copy/paste this into the journal. If I am not before the weekend, don't get excited. I'm trying to save money. The airfare this time round is killing me. How dare they put the fares up this much.
See you.

Hi Shad,
Nice to see you hear...... I can't get my computer to let me into the journals it starts to act like it will the the page comes up that says it can't be shown...what's up with that????
Sorry you are so cold there but we have snow in the mountains here already and that isn't looking too good for a long fall but the weathe here changes every 5 minutes anyway....
Well, just a quick pop in to say hi......
Take Care everyone,
Nae

Hey Miss Shad.....what am I?? Chopped chicken liver?????
Where is MY hello????? HHHMMMPPPHHHH!
Sorry though to hear you are cold and not up to par. Hopefully it will warm up soon??? will you decide to take the extended contract when/if given it?? How goes the other offers?? Any of them still available when this is over?? Inquiring minds want to know!!! Hope the week is a good one and look forward to "seeing" you over the weekend. Stay well.

Nae~Snow in the mountains? Sorry to hear that too. Nae I must admit that I had to wear socks today!! I came back from shopping and was near frozen! So I had black socks on and denim cropped pants when I went for my daily ride!! LOL
People in wheelchairs can get away with almost anything????
Except fatties in bikinis I think!

Have a great night everyone!!! Good morning Miss Sunshine but I know you won't see this! LOL

Morning Miss Mel, SO glad you are getting out and around even if you have to bundle up a bit better. One of the worst parts of the changing season in the light diminishing.... that effects me more than anything. When I turn on my porch light in the morning there staring back are a pair of huge brown ears with enormous ears..... all the mule deer are so close to the house eating away.
Not much to report from the wilderness I am going to see if I can get my tv to switch to antenna reception so I can watch the odd fuzzy program this weekend. TOmorrow I have a pedicure scheduled....it would have been my 26th wedding anniversary.... the date always gives me a little twinge. So I try to do something nice for myself.
Hope everyone is well and fighting the good fight.
Take Good Care,
Nae

I should have gotten married on April Fool's day or Halloween"Trick or Treat" but now I forget WHEN I did! I would have to look for the marriage license! LOL I think it was in November. I must be senile. What a great way to remember the day! With your Happy Toes!!! I have spent a lifetime trying to forget it and it looks like I was successful!!!

Today is dreary and dampish. I am staying in unless the sun shines. There is so much I have neglected and even the bird cage needs cleaning! I gave them little dusters but so far they haven't cleaned a thing!!!

Have a wonderful day and watch out for Nae's mule deer!! They may be eating at a house near you!

Hello all,
I know what you mean about the dwindling daylight. By 8pm it's pitch dark outside. I do not look forward to driving in the darkness again.

Yesterday I heard a bird commotion outside the window. This occasionally happens when the bird village gets together and all perches in one of our shrubs and decides to start singing all at once. This time however, they were hiding in the prickly bushes and screaching because there was a hawk jumping on the top of the bushes trying to break his way in to snatch him some supper. The birds seemed to know if they stayed in the tiny pockets in the center of the bushes that the hawk could not get them - tho he tried a flying leap literally from the grass to the inside of the bushes. DH and I watched for a while - I wanted to chase the hawk away - all are welcome to seed but I draw the line at bloodshed - even if it is nature. He went out there and it finally took off across the street. But a friend who knows hawks said it will be back if "food" is plentiful. We already have a widow dove that hangs around here - a pair of hawks got her mate at the beginning of summer. All these years here and we've never seen hawks right here in our neighborhood. Guess it goes to show you how much we are pushing the wildlife out with all our construction and doing away with the forests.

I am still waiting on the job front. Discussing various anticipated options with DH but I can't make a decision until someone OFFERS me something! Apparently I am the only one in a hurry here. I would actually love to take the first week off in October as holiday - even a drive up north for a long weekend to view the fall colors would be lovely. But we shall see. 12 days and counting to finish out this job.

I have started exercising regularly again. Am alternating between the bike and the treadmill. I seem to be having a row with heartburn each night. Any fat I eat, no matter how minimal - a pat of butter, a spoon of salad dressing or a bit of mayonaise stirs up the heartburn, particularly about an hour after eating when I'm downing my water of all things. It's getting quite annoying. I've been chewing the antacids. Perhaps I will look into some of the over the counter medicines that prevent the acid reflux rather than dealing with it after the fact.

I was in the store this weekend, looking at the ethnic food aisle and low and behold there was a small box of Jaffa sponge cake cookies. Now when I went to Arizona last year, I had a delightful conversation with my seatmate who had spent some time in Australia and told me that Jaffa candies were the scourge of the devil - taste one and you're hooked. So, of course I had to try these Jaffa bikkies. Good thing there are only 12 small cookies in a package - boy were they good DH thought they were quite tasty himself. I have limited myself to just 1 single cookie a night for dessert. And I won't be buying more because they are simply dangerous.

Shad I have a question for you. How do you pronounce Auckland? I was watching the Amazing Race TV show and Phil the show's host who is a Kiwi himself (and the only one of the group who could pronounce Rotorua properly). When they went from Rotorua to Auckland - I thought he said Oakland. We of course horribly mispronounce it here as AWK-land.

That's about it for me. I'm hoping that all this exercise will not be in vain and I am looking for a drop in the scales a week from now. Something has to happen here. I'm getting desperate.

Sounds as if you are all carrying on with life's challenges right now. Hope you are staying pain and injury free. Take care and stay well.