Hi Everybody,

Just thought I'd let you know the recent drama in the Altnether household - Friday afternoon I got up off the couch and walked over to my computer to check my Ebay listings. The monitor started spinning so I looked away to try to focus. Well, all He*** broke loose - everything was spinning, I started sweating profusely, I started throwing up and blacking out - I was SO scared I was having a heart attack since Dan just died 3 weeks ago and with my weight. I couldn't see so I had my Princess dial 911 and I told them I needed an ambulance STAT - so they came along with 2 police cars - they put an IV in, oxygen and carted me out the door - I can't believe they were going to leave my babies - I kept telling them to get a neighbor as Bob and Mike weren't home.

Luckily our next-door-neighbor came over while I was being loaded up and offered to stay with the kids until Bob or Mike came home. Once at the ER they gave me valium in the IV for the vertigo (the dizziness) and some other meds for the throwing up. I stayed there for a few hours and then they admitted me. Several blood test and CAT scans later, they decided I did NOT have a heart attack, thank you God! \0/

I just got home a few hours ago and they determined that it was probably a virus that affected my balance (inner ear) and brain and that it just had a sudden onset of symptoms - it sure scared all of us - my poor kids -

I have to get one more test on Tuesday and that is a carotid ultrasound to make sure there are no blockages there -

Always something, isn't there? Dan died, my elderly parents (86 and 88) have been sick, Bob got stitches in his finger on Wednesday and then this. I'm sure things will calm down soon!

Hope you are all warm, safe and well -

LORI~ A billion prayers here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank-goodness you are OK...(depending on future tests)...OK my dear...maybe this is a wake up call....a BLESSING IN DISGUISE FROM OUR GREAT LORD!!.......tAKE IT EASY! EASY!!.. you know what to do.....love ya, Gary

Would it be ok to join this group?

Lori: What a scary thing to have happen! I'm so thankful that it wasn't as serious as it could have been. a little too much excitement for you and the kids.

Baileysmomma: Welcome! Tell us a bit about yourself!

Michele: Yes, having a relationship is work - even for those of us who have been married 26 years. But, the benefits of having a good relationship outweighs the work it takes to make it strong.

It's okay to talk about your nice weather! It's good to know that it's nice somewhere!! We got another inch of snow yesterday.

Gary: I talked to the manager of DS's doctor's office and she said the specialist can be really slow. DS is getting sick of waiting around home so he's going to go to some job fairs and check out other lines of work that don't require so much talking. He is a smart kid and a really great guy. He's just lacking some direction in his life right now. It's hard when they don't know what they want to do with their life. I'd appreciate prayers for him.

Shirl: A warm welcome to you! Hope you find the support here that you need.


We had a really nice weekend. Saturday was DH's Christmas party at work. It was fun even though I didn't know anyone. I did find someone to visit with. Then yesterday our care group met and that's alway a good time. We've just started studying the book of John and I think it'll be interesting.

Now it's back to work!

Have a great day!

Hi everyone! I just got done catching up on everybody's posts from the weekend. It's a beautiful sunny and slightly chilly day here in FL, just the kind I like! I would love to go walking outside, and may persuade myself to make a Starbucks run just so I can enjoy the weather. I'm trying to enjoy it because I probably won't get as much of it when my husband and I move north next year!

I don't have an overwhelmingly busy day (thankfully), but I am going to try and get my law school personal statement finalized. It has been hanging over my head and I really want to be done with it. I never like writing these things because I feel like I'm bragging about myself for two pages. Yuk.

Oh and some fun news. I weighed in this weekend and found I had lost 2.5 more pounds! Hooray! And I was wearing my "big" pants and as I walked around the mall, realized that they were starting to feel a little too baggy. Time to break out the "medium" pants, I think! I also got two new pairs of shoes, which made me a happy girl.

So, that's my exciting life! I hope you all have a great day!

Lori - that's a cute picture of the princess at the birthday party! Love the grass skirts! And I am SO SO happy to hear that you're OK after what happened this weekend. I will keep you in my prayers for everything you and your family has gone through recently.

Michele - continued prayers for Denise. You are such a wonderful friend to her.

Gary - that's too bad that the guy with the lights had to take them down, but I suppose I might have felt differently had I been his neighbor! I hope you're having a great day so far!

Shirl - It's nice to have you here with us!

Baileysmomma - a warm to you as well! I look forward to getting to know you!

Wilma - glad to hear that you had a relaxing weekend!

Shirl and Alana Jo. You will love this group.

Way to go Marilyn for getting back into the swing of things. It is hard to do when you have been out of commission for a while. You can do it.

Gary your posts always makes me drool. Do you do most of the cooking. Hungarian Stew sounds awesome. What exactly makes stew hungarian?

Michele - Homemade banana puddings with nilla wafers. Yum. So Junior not only fixes things around the house, but makes you laugh and can do dessert. He's got my vote.

Karla Prayers for you and your entire family.....especially Baby.

Lori - girl, ya scarin me. Way to go Princess for being such a big help for Mom when she needed it. You have adorable kids.


Everyone else: Sorry, I haven't forgotten you. Take care and God bless.

Make it a fun day. I mean.....do your work, take care of business, but have fun in the process.

Hi Everyone!

Thanks SO much for all the thoughts and prayers - you all are the BEST!

Michele: I thought about the kidney infection too - my potassium level was so low they gave me 6 bags of it in my IV - I have no idea how it got so low - I'm sorry your mom is sad about the smaller group at Christmas - this is going to be a strange Christmas in our family too I'm afraid - with mom and dad having been sick since Thanksgiving and she insists on having it, everyone is going to be on edge that it's too much for them - there will be just the opposite of your dilemma - too many people - sigh - I just pray it won't be too much for them. Glad you and Junior are doing so well - Bob and I have been together over 30 years and I don't know what I'd do without him - relationships formed by our Lord are absolutely awesome, that's for sure!

Christina: Thanks for the prayers! CONGRATS on the 2.5 loss! Isn't it fun to see that scale going down? Yep, that princess looks right at home in that girly grass skirt, doesn't she?

Wilma: Thanks for the nice note - I'm glad you had a great weekend! DH has Christmas parties at his work, but they are usually in a bar and everyone gets drunk - ugh - maybe 20 years ago that would have appealed to me - but frankly, I was dizzy enough Fri. to last the rest of my life!!

Baileysmomma: You will LOVE this group! My oldest son's girlfriend's name is Bailey!

Gary: Thank you dear! Your prayers are much coveted and appreciated!! I'll keep you posted on the test I'm having tomorrow.

Hi to everyone else! Have a wonderful week!

HI GALS

How is everyone today? I had to work today...boy! I sure like it when I get time off like last week...but it sure doesn't $$$ pay $$$ the bills does it? And I sure do like ...to eat!!

I have a hamburger soup cooking on the stove. Angie stayed home from school today...sick...son just got home from teaching and he has it now...he said at least it is finals week so he doesn't really have to teach, just test the kids. My ex-wife has it and my daughter's boyfriends sisters...really going around here.

LORI~ Thank goodness you are feeling better! I will pray that your mom and dad are well enough to handle the large crowd at Christmas...your mom probably just knows that there may not be too many left for her and your pops, and just doesn't give a darn how she feels, as long as she has her family with her. OH~ as far as the last PM~~ down here in "southern" California we really don't include those from Frisco in "our" state so back off on the "NASTY" insinuations Oh by the way~~ what bar does your DH have their Christmas party in? I could chip in and take your spot ...

BETH~ I really have no idea what it takes to make a stew Hungarian..I just found the recipe yesterday morning...it was pretty good...the kids liked it and said I could make it again. It was fairly easy...a crock-pot dish. If you are interested you can go to www.pillsbury.com and put in hungarian stew and it will come up...it is the only one....I was looking for a recipe to use a chuck roast in.

KARLA~ Continued prayers!

MICHELE~ sorry your party may not be as large as you wanted...er...maybe missing some of the people you wanted. Maybe you and your mom could put your heads together and come up with a couple of people to invite that may not have a place to go for Christmas Eve...maybe even an elderly couple from the church that's family is too far away to come to them. As far as what to do...well...in my opinion...alcohol is always good...."OFF MY BACK ANGIE!"....seriously...yea right~ ME~ serious when we have a group of people over we always play a game called Loaded Questions...very fun!! I think you can get it at any Toys R Us...if you don't already know or have it. Coud find out a lot of "stuff" on junior (

Wilma is right...relationships take work at all levels...heck I have been married over 20 years too...just to 2 different women!! 10 years at a time...that is about all anyone can take of me...actually 11 to the first one and 9 to Angie...but #10 is in Jan.!! You just never know...in fact...HONESTLY!! my wife and ex are on the phone with each other right now...something about the kids college graduation pictures....go figure....and to top it all off...HONESTLY!!! My brother and I were at my ex's significant others house today doing drywall on a remodel to his bedroom....so strange............but true!!

ALANA JO~

CHRISTINA~ Maybe you should have your husband come up with "nice" things about you? He should be able to come up with at least a page and a half....IF HE KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM!!! My daughter is a little bummed right now...she took the GRE again on Saturday and was down 20 points.....she wasn't too happy...but at least she went to see Keith Urban a couple of hours later to take her mind off it

Well hello to all the MIA's....you know who you are...off to eat my soup.

Thank you for the prayers, Gary. I will pray for him.. I hope he is doing better!! I haven't looked through many posts and I see I am behind!

Thank you so much for that offer.. I wish I had seen it before! That's sweet of you. My cold is much better now and almost completely gone.. thank you all for your prayers!

I hope you all are doing well.. I will keep you in my prayers. I am so busy right now with finals.. I finished my Spanish III one, but I have an essay for AP English to write that was due today, but I forgot about it then I have pre-calculus homework I must finish before the end of the day tomorrow.. phew!

Take care all, I will be back tomorrow night or Wednesday to catch up!!

Hi. I'm new here. I'm 50 years old, a mother and a grandmother, happily married, not quite 5'3" and 220, a higher weight than I've been in decades. I'm a Christian SAHM. Looking for encouragement and motivation to start the weight loss journey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Good Evening!

Hope everyone is keeping warm! It's around 35 degrees here, but it must be incredibly damp because I'm freezing!

FITCHICK2BE: This is the place to be! I love all of these people in this group! I am 50 also, but have little kids! They are 7, 8, 10, 10 and my oldest is 19! I'm 5' 6" and I started at 315.8 on Sept. 21 and have lost around 30 pounds now. I'm doing LA Weight Loss and like it pretty much. It's been effective anyway. I stay at home too with the kids, 3 dogs, a snake, a kitten, an aquatic turtle and pond fish. I love to read, garden (flowers and veggies) and take care of everybody and their uncle! Just jump right in!

HILARY: Good luck with the finals!

GARY: So you really don't claim those crazy northerners! I wouldn't either! If my boys are any indication, it's a place to stay clear of!! Thanks for the prayers for mom and dad. They just don't know when to slow down and then get frantic when they can't go at breakneck speed! The bar is usually a little hole in the wall in south St. Louis, MO. He works near a place called "dogtown" that's been called that for years and years. It was originally settled by Irish Catholics and they probably have the best little bars in the city! LOL! Anyway, every family had at least one dog and hence, the name. My mom's family is Irish Catholic and her dad is one of 15, one of her brothers had 10 kids, and so on - so.............it's our old stomping grounds. But........I'm still not going to sit in a bar - the smoke alone would kill me. GUESS WHAT????? MIKE HAS NOT SMOKED IN OVER 3 WEEKS!!! How cool is THAT???? Thanks for all the prayers!!

HI TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!

Thanks for the welcome! Hoping to get up the gumption to start losing weight and getting healthier! How did you all make the determination that you were going to change?

Thank you all so much for the wonderful welcome. I think I am gonna like it here.

A little more about me... Well lets see... I am 24 years old and I am happily married. My husband just turned 29 on the 10th of this month. We have 2 wonderful little boys. My oldest is Bailey and he is 4 years old. My youngest is Dalton and he is almost 5 months old. I have been a little heavy my whole life and I really want to drop about 65 lbs but would love to drop even more if I could. I would settle for just 65 more though. I am currently doing WW and doing some sort of exercise almost every day. I would say at least 5 times a week. Thats about it. Anything else you would like to know?

Another new day! Christmas is coming so quickly. Do you all have your shopping finished? I'm getting really close to it. I also have a bit more baking to do.

We put up our tree last night. It's really pretty! Tonight I get to decorate it. The house smells so great right now.

crk: Way to go on the weight loss! Keep up the great work!

Michele: I know how you feel about not having as much family around. This year DH's parents will be alone for christmas. We live too far away and I can't get the time off. One Sis is going to Australia for Christmas and the other one is going to her husband's family this year. They plan to go to a mission and serve Christmas dinner there and then will meet with extended family later in the day. It's really wierd but sometimes that's how it happens.

Lori: Tell Mike we're so happy for him. That's quite an accomplishment.

fitchick: For me deciding to lose weight was when my doctor told me that if I didn't do anything I would end up with heart disease later in life. Thank God it has worked for me and my blood pressure, etc. are at normal levels. I think it happens when you in yourself decide this is what you want for yourself. God and the rest of us here are here to help you through it.

Hello to everyone else. Time to get ready to start another day at work.

Have a wonderful day!