Well hello chicks! I'm resting for a moment before I begin to cook dinner. Meeting with the new stylist went well. We seem to be a good fit. She only 26 but she's very confident and not too trendy. I'm going to trust her to give me something age and weight appropriate. Bad news is that she can't redye my hair because she'd have to strip this color and it would be way too damaging. So the plan is to give me highlights and then the touch ups will be with the color I wanted all along at my roots. She's also going to do something to the cut to make it blend better. I think that's "stylist" for shorter which scares me but we'll talk more at my appointment which is Thursday morning. Whew!

I feel like I've been gone forever!

NH Linda, how did today go for you? I'm sorry you're struggling a bit. It will get better.

Anna, welcome back! Sounds like you had great fun.

Angela, I knew your party would be a success. Hope you didn't work too hard today and negate all that sleep you had!

Terry, you seem to have had a great time at the Fest. I'm not going to Taste of Chicago this year. I don't feel strong enough to control myself and everything I would want to eat would be loaded with fat and sugar. I'm not getting the AP's that you are!

Linda, how's it going for you on Flex?

Sandra, I'm so glad you had fun at the tournament and also that you weren't seriously injured. Good GF's to laugh with are more valuable than diamonds.

Melissa, I hope by now you are feeling better. I'm thinking you need a change of jobs. It's hard enough to go to work. It's nearly impossible when you don't feel appreciated or respected. Maybe you can change when DH's new job comes through. Notice I said WHEN! Bad news for you on the soup front. My CFC corrections removed the Progresso Southwestern chicken soup. I'm thinking they just forgot to remove the Campbell's version. If it's really a convenience for you maybe you could count a point or two for the rice. I think it would be better though to find a Core soup you like or to make a homemade version of this soup with brown rice.

Kath, great job on your eating at the Mexican restaurant. I'm sorry your evening was stressful. I am NOT sorry that I'm missing the teen year experiences that you and Frouf are having. What is Coke Zero anyway? Jim just bought it today because he can't find Tab anywhere. Tab is all he drinks and we are afraid that Coke stopped making it here again like they did once before. Is it the one with the Splenda?

Cindy, I'll be staying away from Coldstone Creamery because I have no self-control. Did they have the berries there or did you put them on at home?

Well, I'm getting really hungry so I better go get that dinner going. I'll talk with you all in the morning. Have a wonderful evening.

Sandra, your right about that, we do need to kick these scales in the right direction... My stomach too for that matter. I was bad earlier today. I know it's always hard to get back in the swing of things when you get thrown off. So, I will plan out my food for tomorrow and I am going to force myself into being good. I just wait until I get so hungry that sometimes I feel like im goarging(sp?) myself with food. I have been a non-stop eating and drinking machine since right before my birthday and boy I can sure tell a differnce. Most of my pants dont even fit me right now. I dont know what Im going to wear to work this week!!!!!

Vickie, here's the Coke story:

It seems that the original Diet Coke isn't a diet version of Coke Classic but an entirely different formula. That's why diehard regular Coke drinkers can't get used to the Diet Coke taste. They're nothing alike, whereas Diet Dr Pepper, Pepsi, etc. ARE the diet version of their regular drink. They came out with the Splenda (blue label) version of Diet Coke, which is just our normal Diet Coke made with Splenda instead of NutraSweet. THEN two weeks ago the Coke Zero made its debut. It's made with NutraSweet, but is the diet version of Coke Classic.

So, after many questions and surveys and taste tests among all the folks at work, the general conclusion is this: If you like Coke Classic, you'll like Coke Zero. If you like Diet Coke, you won't like Coke Zero but you WILL like the Diet Coke with Splenda.

I personally can't tell that Coke Zero is diet. There's no aftertaste whatsoever to me, and believe me I can pick out the "diet" taste in 1 part per billion!

is coke zero core. I like diet coke, but i didnt like diet coke w/splenda. I love diet cherry coke. that's my favorite. I saw the coke zero on sale here for 2bucks for a 12pack. I was going to try it, but didnt know if it was core or not

Well, the taste test is in! Jim (Mr. Tab) says that Coke Zero is the best he's tasted in a diet drink and he thinks it taste pretty darn close to real Coke. I taste a bit of the Tab flavor in there (sans the sacharrin). Tab has a bit of a lime/cinnamon taste to me. He says he can live with this if Tab is gone forever. I hope it comes in cases here because I'm sick of paying an outrageous amount of money for 12 packs which is all Tab comes in right now. He drinks about 8 cans a day. I know...I know. I met him when he just turned 40 so he was already set in his ways. I've got him drinking a little water and eating Core. One thing at a time!

Thanks for the info, Kathy. I KNEW you would know!

Where is everyone tonight?

BTW, I ended up not cooking tonight. I'm not feeling so great. Jim got us Chipotle for dinner and I'll make my White Chicken Chili tomorrow. We waited too long to turn our air on and I think the heat made me sick. It's still pretty warm in here right now. I have no reason to go out tomorrow so I'll just be here going through my recipe collection and coming up with some new things to try. I'm going to the ballgame Wednesday and I've got to figure out what I'm going to eat there.

Yay, Vickie! Yay, Jim! Go team Coke! I'm glad he liked it! I raved to the ladies at the store about it, and as I was leaving they were getting one to share. I scooted out of there in a hurry in case they didn't like it and thought I was full of bull!

It's 0 calories, so yes it's Core.

I've been sweeping up doggie hair (blech!), cooking bacon, talking to the neighbors, doing a little bit of laundry for work tomorrow and generally just hanging around the house. The board has been curiously quiet for a few days, IMO. Are we all just too hot and cranky to talk?

Oooh, sorry you're not feeling well! It's definitely AC time, huh? We were going to the game last Saturday night and decided it was too hot but we really wanted to see the Rangers play the Nationals since the Rangers came from D.C. It wasn't a sweep (we lost yesterday) but Saturday night was a great game - too bad we missed seeing it in person. Have a great time Wednesday!

We're having Schlotzsky's catered in for lunch tomorrow, so I'm hoping there's something I can eat. I'm going to take my own food just in case; in fact, I might eat it anyway so it doesn't go to waste. Sometimes they get salad but usually it's just sandwiches, chips, and fruit, and none of that fit my current plan. Which, speaking of ...

You know Saturday morning I was at 159? Well, I was good all day and that night was still at 159. Sunday morning it was 157. I behaved all day yesterday too and last night it was still 157. This morning it was 155. Again, I ate right, drank all my water and tonight it's still 155. At this rate, I'll disappear in a few months! Seriously, this is all water, salt, stored glycogen, etc. No way am I consuming 7,000 calories per day LESS than I'm burning! So I know it's not fat that I gained and it's not fat that I'm losing. In a few days, I'll get down to the real "me" and can start whittling on that.

Sweepin, Sweepin, Sweepin, just like Cinderella. I'd like the cooking bacon part but I'd want to eat it too! It seems to me that everyone is struggling this week, including me. I've eaten all my points and I'm having a hard time pushing through my exercise routine. The week is lasting forever. I'm eating at the ballpark for lunch and we are all going out afterwards for dinner while traffic dies down. Normally, I'd eat salad and bring my dressing but I can't do that because we'll be outside at the game all day. Maybe I can rig up a cooler in the car somehow.

Yeah, these drastic ups and downs irritate me too. I'm sure I'm going to gain this week though. Remember it all started with me deciding to have pizza. It seems I've used points every day since then.

i had pizza too but i blotted the crud outta it plus took 1000mgs phase 2 prior to eating it and i got the personal size.

Seeing that number on the scale Saturday morning shocked me into reality! No way was I going to mess around and get back in the 160s. I have had no problems at all with sticking to this low carb way, which is basically Core plus and minus a few things. It seems like I stay full longer, which is a good thing.

Hey ladies. It sounds like everyone is having a weird week! Kathy I agree the boards have been quiet. I was in such a terrible mood this morning and no one was around. I was thinking, where is everyone, working or something?
Well I have to confess that I totally fell off the wagon and into a hole somewhere tonight. I just cried while I was driving home b/c I felt so miserable, and called DH and asked if he would take me out to dinner. I ate REALLY badly. And then we met some friends @ Starbucks and I had the "I've already messed up today" attitude and had a mint chocolate creme, which I must admit was delightful. Anyway, I am considering fasting tomorrow, at least until suppertime. Not b/c of the way I ate today necessarily, but b/c I haven't wanted to eat anything. Nothing tastes good to me except bad stuff. I made the Tex-Mex Chicken Salad to take to work with me this week and couldn't even eat it all today. I think normally I would have loved it but today I have just been all messed up. I am so exhausted so I am headed to bed, just wanted to check in with you all.
Vickie, thank you for your concern and care. I appreciate your encouragement. I am trying to find a different job but things just don't seem to be working out right now. HOPEFULLY DH will have this new job asap and I can feel a little more freedom to search for something different. I am just pretty darn miserable right now. It was just a really bad day all the way around and I am afraid that it means a bad week. Oh and Vickie thanks for the info about the soup. I've never actually had it, I accidentally bought it one day thinking it would be core b/c I didn't notice the rice. Its been in the cabinet for a month or two and I wasn't sure what to think since it was marked core in my CFC. I didn't think that sounded right. I'll get DH to eat it.
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and permission to whine. I appreciate it. I am reading and keeping up with you, but will have to catch up personally tomorrow.
I have to head to bed chicks. for a better day tomorrow.

i've been bad today, too. do ya'll think it's something in our water? today ends at midnight in more ways than one. tomorrow i'll be a shining example of a core enthusiast.

well, let's all dust ourselves off and just keep on keepin on. we've had our breather and it's time to get back to work.

Poor Melissa and Sandra! I hope tomorrow is better for you both!