Wow, Jill...That is just...Well, HUGE! Yay for you!

I worked outside on the garden bed over the retaining wall we had rebuilt. What a muddy mess after the storm that came through about 2pm! Hauling and dumping three waterlogged bags of hardwood mulch was no picnic, and the outside of my right leg is tingly down to mid-calf. What a weird feeling!

Sad news: Howie's 93-year-old grandma died. She was his paternal grandma and had been in and out of the hospital with congestive heart failure for the last couple years. He's got tomorrow off work and we'll be away for calling hours in Columbus all afternoon and evening...Long day ahead of us. The funeral's Saturday morning.

We're still getting together with our friends for the Independence Day concert and fireworks Saturday evening. We'll be tent "camping" in their back yard with the kids Sunday night. So...All that to say we'll more than likely be scarce this next few days!

Well, I think some dinner is in order. I am so under calories for this time of night...My mind boggles at the thought of having so many calories left for a meal, and just when I'm really hungry from working outside. Gee, and I think I'll spend a hundred calories on a beer.

Oh...And we just heard a friend of ours from Switzerland is in the States on furlough for a month (she is a missionary). She's coming to our place for dinner next Sunday night. It's been a couple years since Pat was here, so it'll be fun to catch up. She always brings us good chocolate, too....Heh. We'll have to make next Sunday our treat day!

Sorry to hear about Howie's grandmother No matter the age or physical condition, it's never easy to lose a loved one.

Chocolate from Switzerland--ooh la la! I'm lucky that chocolate doesn't really do it for me, so I very rarely have any. I make up for it plenty with other junk food addictions, though

So I was right--huge gain at TOPS last night. 4.5 pounds in 2 weeks But my ankles are still icky, so I know I've got to do something about this water retention. I think part of it is that I have NO food in my house (haven't been grocery shopping in over 2 weeks because of the GA trip), so I have been having lunch in the cafeteria here in our office building. Normally, I would just have a big salad, but lately, I have been having a smaller salad and a cup of soup. I try to steer clear of the heavy, creamy soups for the calories and fat, but I know these broth-based soups are LOADED with sodium. It didn't even hit me until I was discussing it with people at TOPS last night, and now it's like, well duh! I should know better! Heh, no soup for me at lunch today

Some of our dear friends seem to have joined the likes of our Marge--Sara, Diana, Heather, Kylie...are we the only three amigos left?? I know it's a busy time of year, though, with vacations, kids being out of school, yard work, jobs, etc... Maybe we'll all be up and kickin' again in a few months. In any case, have a great Friday, guys!

Yah, I know, I miss all the gals!

The soups did you in, eh? I can believe it, salty as they are. Why does salt have to be sooo good??

I lost 3 pounds this week! We decided to start weighing on my MIL's scale, so now we're weighing nekkid. A pound of my loss was probably clothing I'd normally have on, but we decided to go with the scale. I'm at 214 now.

Well, we're outta here. See y'all later!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th! Soooo quiet on here--I think Aimee is gone on her vacation?

Well, Tuesday morning (though it feels like Monday) brings me good news--my scale read 294.5 this morning, so those 4 pounds I gained at last week's TOPS meeting are gone (for now). I think part of it may be because it's been much less humid here this weekend, so I'm probably getting rid of some of that water retention (yay!). I know I shouldn't weigh during the week and it could change again by Thursday, but it was still pretty encouraging, and it keeps me motivated to eat well and drink all my water in order to keep that water weight from coming back!

I'm already starting this week off better than last week--I went grocery shopping on Saturday, so I actually have food in my house Which means I was able to pack all of my food for the day instead of having lunch from the cafeteria downstairs (salad and soup) and dinner at Ruby's (Asian steamed dumplings and peanut sauce). Rather, I have some baked ham and fruit (canned pineapple, sliced apple, sliced fresh peaches, sliced kiwi, and grapes) for lunch, boneless skinless chicken for dinner, and some egg salad for in between (made with ff mayo, mustard, onion powder, and paprika). Now I just need to keep packing my food for the rest of the week!

Well, off to do some actual work. Hope everyone is doing well--have a healthy week!

There is a july thread now lol,in case no one knew that...I think it was started the 1st...anyhoo, See ya there...