Nori, I've heard of Covington but don't know exactly where it is. We're in Sedro-Woolley. It's just a little town northeast of Mount Vernon which is a bit bigger. Small world, huh?

Michelle, Thanks so much for rearranging things on the exercise thread. I was sorta worried about 777 miles!! This one is much more doable. I love my pretty badges!!

Jill--About the calories. I think you should keep them high until you stop losing. Then adjust. I think that will make your life easier when it comes to maintenance time.

Nori--Reminds me of some of the parents I work with....

Exercise--I'm trying to decide how much I plan to push myself to get these badges. I'm a go hard or go home type of person which leads to exercise burn out so I need to be careful. I did pick up a schedule from the gym--well I sent BF in there to get it--to get me started on planning my week incorporating the gym classes.

Will never needed to have an epi pen handy. Usually an adult dose of Benadryl given immediately did the trick. Even though he was never in mortal danger with his allergies, it still seemed like a lot to put a little body through for my convenience of snack foods. Good lord.

Our business website is up! I don't think I am breaking any 3FC rules since none of you are in our service area. I am so excited, that I want to share!

http://www.packitupboxes.com/index.php

Nori, can't believe that. My oldest (8) is nut allergic and we have an epi. She can eat peanuts just fine but all the snack food has those "may contain" warnings that knock everything out for her. As I told her, the risk is not worth it for one new bag of candy or (the worst!) homemade cookies brought to a soccer game or swim meet. She used to feel really left out, so I would buy her a special snack on the way home or something, but NOW, she is the one reminding US of things she can't eat or to get away from/not kiss her if we are eating a "may contain" product. Our first ped, after she had some choco covered nuts at Christmas time and vomited, swelled up and turned puffy faced, didn't make a big deal of it. We gave her benadryl that nite when we saw her swelling (already had it on hand bc of her milk allergies that weren't discovered until age 1 when she had her first cow milk), so luckily we could attack it right away. When we moved here to the land of Johns Hopkins, our ped immediately sent her for full blown allergy testing by an allergist during our first visit and immediately conveyed how she wanted her to be tested that week. I am thankful we got into a real medical community, altho coming out of Philly with CHOP, DuPont, and Penn wasn't exactly the backwoods either. We're the 2pk epipen family now - one at school, and one at home which lives in my purse. I give it to dh when I go out of town for work and other than that she knows not to try new things if mommy's purse isn't around. I hope we never get the chance to use it.

Anna, very cool! Are you guys the founder or a franchisee for your area? Who's your model - is that you? (I've only seen you upclose with your sunglasses on!)

There is a very similar business in Canada. While we were researching, we contacted them, but they were not ready for franchisees. So we just set out on our own.

No, the model is not me. It is a friend of ours. We did not want the 'face of' to be the owners.

OMG - you gals are chatting more than I can possibly keep up with!

I hope you gals all had a great weekend. I went to a wedding in NYC, and didn't do that great on plan ... But today I'm back on the wagon, and promise to post good numbers again this week!

Way to go everyone on the exercise badges! Let's keep up the good work!

I can't wait to see how we did for the week weight-wise!
Cindy

Anna...now, how cool is that?! I sure could have used you guys when I moved last year. The expense of buying boxes was crazy.

Regarding the discussion of working from home, I've been working from home full-time for the last 10 years. My hubby works from home for the same company...and, he's been doing it for about 3 years. Its has its good points....no work wardrobe, no commute, flexibility for the DD's school events, etc. But, it's boring!.....I sit at a computer all day. I'd much rather have some adult interaction. I've never even met my bosses or my co-workers. Everything is a virtual environment. And, I gained a ton of weight when I started working from home. The kitchen is just too convenient and I catch myself eating to relieve the boredom.

I'm happy to report that I did a speed walk with Hubby this evening!

Atlanta is not on our current list of expansion opportunities, but that is not to say that we would not grow there eventually or offer franchises. It would be nice to have coverage to all major cities some day!

Meara is staying awake just fine....parents are ready for bed.

I know where that is. I have a sister who lives up north. She lives in Darrington - basically Marysville to to Arlington and then east into the North Cascades about 30 miles. Covington is sandwiched in between Maple Valley and Kent, above Auburn.

I work in a pediatric office on Mondays and Fridays, but I also do bookkeeping from home. Flexible daytime hours and just works better for when the girls are small. I do bookkeeping for my father who owns 3 businesses, 2 in WA and 1 in OR - so it is a lot of work, since I do the quarterly taxes, payroll and all A/P and A/R. I work many weekends/evenings when DH is home. I do love working for my Dad though!

Anna - THAT is an amazing business! I bought quite a few storage containers when we moved last year and need to sell them on Craig's list because I don't need 30 of them like I thought I would! I would totally use a service like your's if it were available!

RE: exercise. I have to take it like you Shay. I have a tendency to go overboard with at least 1 area in my life and am working on maintaining balance. If it's not eating, it may be shopping, or exercise, or organizing...to the point of being unhealthy physically/mentally. I have been just as addicted to exercise as to food at times in my life - sometimes doing 4+ hours of exercise a day...day after day...

How is Meara doing tonight?