Good morning all. Coffee's brewed, I'm having a cup with some sugar-free hazelnut syrup (also carb free!), and figuring out the day.

Terra -- Do you use one of the calorie counter apps? Probably the only way to lose at a faster pace is to cut back on your calorie intake, and the first step is to have a general idea of how many calories you're taking in each day and then plan meals that reduce that amount by a couple of hundred calories. I know with some of the meals you've mentioned I would have gained......but then I swear I gain if I just smell an aroma at the bakery section! Anyway, just a suggestion. You're losing so you're doing something right.

Shan -- 7.5 pounds -- way to go! It sounds as though you're adapting to Atkins very well and seeing the results. Love your idea of just going to a favorite restaurant for Thanksgiving rather than spend $50. Glad your teacher conferences went well, and the parents who didn't show up who should have......well, there's a reason that their kids are the way they are.

Donna -- It doesn't sound to me like you're out of the house all that much, but it's bothering your DH so it's a problem. Does he have things he enjoys doing that are away from home (even if you're not particularly thrilled with them)? I know you have said that you feel isolated and getting out helps that. Do you have mutual friends that you could invite over so DH doesn't have to leave home, but you're not so alone all the time? Is he open to negotiating a "contract" where you each get some of what you want but no one gets everything but at least it's all written down. Could you set up a date night or day maybe once a week or even once a month where he decides what you're going to do with the only caveat being that it can't be at home? Keep those lines of communication open and make sure he understands that you're trying to find a middle ground where you are both satisfied. Of course, keep in mind that this advice is coming from someone who got divorced over 30 years ago and never remarried because men in my age range tend to drive me nuts. Hope that you guys can figure out a good compromise.

Fi -- Thanks for the hint on the broth. I might make some chicken broth to have in the freezer that I could heat in the microwave as the salt in regular broth is more than I am supposed to have in one day.

Got all the silver polished yesterday and the table set. I've also been working on a little redecorating and had ordered a new duvet set for my bedroom. Evidently I went through a flower stage as I realized that every bedroom except for the grands' was decorated with flowers, flowers, flowers. This set is a paisley in chocolate and a medium blue. Very pretty, much more neutral, and Toby has given it his stamp of approval.

Atkins is going well although I'm still struggling with staying strictly on plan. I'll definitely have to try the broth approach because I do get sugar cravings -- always have regardless of the diet. Has anyone else noticed that when they're craving something, the on plan foods don't pop into our minds? Definitely some retraining there is needed for me.

Off to the gym and then home to start on the cleaning. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Hi Everyone!
Scales are up and still waiting for some me time.
Miss you all and our daily chat!

I just sprayed the first coat of finish on a collage postcard that took so long to make my head is about to explode. The problem was, during Thursday night through Sunday night I had a massive breakdown into depression pain that was, ultimately, -5 on my scale. Some of you are familiar with my depression/mania scale. Some are not. Suffice it to say: -5 is a killer.

The postcard is for a swap on swap-bot, one that seemed innocent enough: "Mushroom Postcard." Any collage postcard, any ol' way, so long as it had at least one mushroom on it. I thought it would be simple enough. I laid down the backgrounds for both Grace (my 14-yr-old great niece) and I to make mushroom postcards together, the Friday before this past one. Grace's postcard came along nicely. I agonized over mine. I changed my mind about the theme partway through. Then I got overly ambitious about it. Then this past weekend's tidal wave of depression hit. And I tried to work on the darn thing while my chest felt like it was on fire. Obviously, under those circumstances, my creativity was at its lowest ebb, and the work went extremely slowly.

Anyway, I just felt like saying it's done. The mushroom postcard is done. One more coat of finish, let the finish cure overnight, write & decorate & stamp & address the other side tomorrow, then take it to the post office to be hand-cancelled. It will be late, four days past the deadline, but such is life. Maybe later on I'll post a link so y'all can look at it, but right now it looks like a pile of steaming crap to me.

Hi everyone...

No personals tonight because I'm just pooped. Burned over 800 calories on the treadmill tonight while DH was at band practice.
Had a wendys chili for dinner which isnt on plan but it wasnt the worst thing I could have eaten.

So ready for Thanksgiving! Looking forward to a much deserved cheat meal but WILL be back on track come Friday. The holidays are a a time thst I could easily bring all of my work to a crashing hault so I'm going to do my best not to let that happen.

Too tired to keep writing. I'll post more tomorrow

Donna ~ Yeah he is made of tough stuff

Betsy ~ Yeah I use My Fitness Pal but thanks for the advice.

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I woke up at 5:45 this morning, Its now mid-night, I had to wake up and clean out Clyde's cage and take him outside. Now he is sleeping in his spot on the couch. I'll probably go back to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. and then I'll get up at 5 again this morning cause I have appt. at 8:30 this morning. Mom and I are gonna go to Dillions after 2 pm tomorrow. I'm gonna work out before I go back to bed tonight though. Good night everyone

Sam....what a lovely photo! And what a change in you....keep it up!

Betsy.....I think your date idea is a good one. I try to leave Wednesday free for "us" but that ...it seems....isn't enough. In an way it is the result of being so dependent on DH for the first 3 years of our relationship when I really wasn't well. So now that I feel better it is a 2 edge sword for him. He has real trust issues from previous relationships too so that does not help. I am just trying to take it slowly and not get too frustrated! Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it.

Well, we had managed to miscalculate our outgoings so are almost completely broke this week. I have cut my gym sessions down to 1 but will walk the dogs a bit more....and may not be able to afford swimming with the young man who has a rotten cold anyway poor thing. His school choir (he loves to sing) has made the finals of a Welsh language Christmas competition and is being filmed today so the poor dab has gone off to school with a nose like Rudolph and a cough like a 50 a day smoker!!! The schools in the UK are having a blitz on absence and as he has already had time off for illness and his funny sort of phase when my daughter left home. So off to school with Calpol and hope for the best! Bad Mummy award!!
Food is OK .....not brilliant but OK so I am guessing the score when I weigh in on Saturday won't be too outstanding.
I am making 2 costumes today....a Roman soldier for a church play and a pair of Hawaiin shorts for the school play( don't ask!) As I am creatively challenged it is all a bit stressful!!!
Have great day!

Good morning all -- although it's so dreary out there that it's hard to tell that it's even morning. Everyone sounds rushed, stressed, and challenged -- lots of things going on for everyone.

Ubee -- Me time? It's highly overrated. Just keep telling yourself that. Or else come live in my apartment downstairs for a week or two and I'll show you where the wine refrigerator is located. Hang in there. And stop weighing for now. I think Fi was onto something with her approach -- planned or not -- of just not weighing for 2 months.

Fi -- I hate it when you have such severe depression pain. I know that when you say it's a -5 that it must be close to unbearable. Can't believe you worked on a collage while you were doing that although I did get a chuckle out of your description of it.

Terra -- Just reading about your up and down schedule wears me out. You're a good doggie momma, albeit maybe a tired one.

Sam -- Ditto Donna on the photo. Looked how defined your jaw line is! One cheat meal isn't going to hurt and you are determined to get right back on plan the next day. Bring home the left overs that are on plan and leave the rest for your mom and grandma. Great job on the treadmill!

Donna -- Glad that I could be of some help. Change of any kind is always hard to adapt to and mitigating factors can really impact that. It's taken me a lifetime to learn, but staying calm, talking things through, and trying to come up with a good compromise is the goal......easier said than done. Love hearing about your little guy and reading about all he's up to in school. He's had a tough year already with being sick but not too surprising as I remember all to well that it was more a question of when whatever was going around the school hit, not if. Glad you're looking at other ways to exercise -- being broke is just a way of life at this time of year with the holidays in the US being so close together. Kind of a challenge for me to just see how many meals I can make out of what is in the pantry.

Off to the gym and then home to actually do the cleaning. More of the orders came in yesterday for the giving I'm doing this year, so I took that down to the ECAP center. In with the orders was a new window scarf I ordered for finish off the bedroom redo. So had to put that up. Anyway, I did manage to procrastinate and avoid doing the cleaning yesterday, so really have to hit it today so I can cook tomorrow. This is when I miss my mom and sister the most as we would cook together and all three of us thought we were in charge. It was hilarious and fun and made all of the work that goes into this one meal seem like play. Have a great day all.

Hi Everyone!
First of all thank you for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers.
Second, man do I need you guys! You all have become such an important part of my day.
Bllondy how is your new house coming along? Just the two of you for Thanksgiving? So romantic! Little jealous here. I miss my couple time much more then my me time.
Fi how are your kitties? I am sorry to hear you have had such a painful bout with your depression. I think it is great progress that you have gone through so much and only gained two pounds. Slowly and steadily we will learn to handle our emotions and eating. Good job.
Terra yes, Clyde will be waiting for you in heaven. Enjoy your days with him. You are a good doggie mama.
Shan I am so glad that Atkins is working for you! I was reading about your school and that seems strange to me to only see your teens on weekends. Whether they like it or not they need us to be involved in their lives at this time.
Sam your new photo is gorgeous! So proud of you. I promise to be here on Friday to make sure you are back on plan 100%!
Betsy so excited you are doing Atkins. I've read your Thanksgiving menu and so want to be at your house. It can take me five hours to grocery shop but that is because I live in a small town and it can be a social outing. Remember your mom and sister are still with you.
Donna sorry no advice on the marriage front except give it some time. He needs time to adjust to the new you. Once he realizes the happier new you makes his world better he will get on board with the changes. You are a good mom and I hope your son gets better and stays that way.
My diet has suffered with the stress but not something that can not be dealt with. So glad to be back and hope to post daily again.
Have a peaceful day.

UBEE!!!!!!!! -- No comments, just excited to see you back.

Ok, I'm posting twice today because I am cleaning which we all know I hate. And I'm to the point where the chips and Fritos purchased for the kids are beckoning. But I got a couple of pieces of cheddar cheese and am allowing myself to have a diet Coke. I'm posting it so that you all can ask if I managed to avoid the bad, bad munchies. Whatever works! And I care very much what you all would think that I couldn't even get through an afternoon when the only stress is that I don't like cleaning. Man that sounds wimpy even to me!

Evening Everyone!

Donna Thank you so much!! I thought it was time to finally put a new photo up since it had been since August since I changed it. Sorry to hear about your sons illness and hope he gets well soon. I'm with Ubee on giving it some time for your DH to come around. Everything will be ok

Betsy Who would thought I would EVER have a jawline lol...It's amazing to see myself like this and really can't wait till this time next year to see where I I hope you got your cleaning done today so you can cook tomorrow. I'm still procrastinating on mine but hopefully with the extra days off from work I'll manage to get some done. Stay away from the fritos!!!!

Ubee So glad to see you back!! I have really missed you. I'm hoping things are looking up for your family though I know you have a long road ahead. Thanks for the kind words on my new photo. I know I had promised you one a bit back so I decided to finally change it. Oh and thanks for saying you'll check in on Friday to be sure I'm back on track Means a lot!

As I sit here in bed typing this I have my oldest cat Sugar curled around my foot and my middle cat Squeegee sleeping between my legs. I'm apparently emotional today because I started to cry a little after they snuggled up to me. DH laughed at me and told me not to cry. I just got a little teary because O realize how good it feels to be loved...especially fromy fur babies whom I look at as my children. Today at work was another good catch up day. I got a lot done and only have a few clients coming in tomorrow morning before we close at 1 o'clock and I have a TON of filing to do!! Other than that I'm all caught up and shouldn't be too crazy when we open back up on Monday.

Went to the gym tonight and did the treamill for 35 mins and then worked on arms. My biggest pet peeve is wanting to get on a machine and having to wait because someone is sitting there on their cell phone instead of using the machine!!! I got fed up with waiting for my last machine to open up so I called it a bit of an early night. DH and I made turkey sheppherds pie for dinner. It was pretty good...of course I loved the potatoes since I don't get them very often but I did watch my portion on the potato part and had more meat than potato and also ate a side of steamed green beans.

Tomorrow I'm going to make DH his favorite for Thanksgiving to keep at our house...apple butter pumpkin pie...I follow Paula Deen's recipe and ever since I made it I always get begged to make it again every year. Its been a few years since I made it for him but this year is special so I'm going to do it for him


Well I'm gonna soak up the cuddle puddle going on with my kitties and call it a night. Hope everyone had a great day! Check in tomorrow!!

Well, what the hey, here's the link for my latest collage: 'shrooms party like it's 1967. Please read what I wrote underneath and then click on the image for a better view of it. I hope it isn't too crappy...

I've been more or less better the past couple of days. 0/0/0 on Monday and 0/+1/0 today. I didn't like that drift into low-level (uncomfortable) mania this afternoon, but I have the drugs to deal with such occasions. I feel very labile, as if I could slip off into any direction, down or up, at the drop of a hat. Skating on thin ice...

Betsy— A couple of corrections: First off, that was not two months I went without weighing myself, it was four months. Second, my -5 level of depression pain is not "close to unbearable": it's actually way past bearable. -3 is just barely bearable. -4 is unbearable: I lose all control over my voice and moan out loud in pain, for hours on end, plus feeling really panicky. At -5 I'm just about going berserk: I think of it as the three Ws—weeping, wailing, & writheing. I don't even want to talk about -6. There is a -7, but it only comes into effect during a depression that has lasted several months or more. =shudder= I'm rooting for you not to have the munchies meltdown during your unwelcome bout of cleaning! =smile=

Greetings and best wishes to everyone else—'sorry I don't have the energy for more personals...

Good morning all!

Just a quick note today.. been so busy recently with house matters (paperwork!! ahhh... starting to get a little old. ) and all the fun that comes with packing up your life to move it... and then there's the happiness that is Thanksgiving.. and celebrating that just me and my hubby for the first time.. Don't get me wrong.. I have enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with family and friends these past several years.. but I think it will be very fun to have that day all to ourselves and cook together. He's an amazing cook too.. I need to learn as much as I can. Haha..
Prison services went well this last weekend. When we walked into the guard station to go thru metal detector and security stuff, the guard told us there was a drill planned for that day and if it went down when we were there we'd be stuck for at least 2 hours.. We were a little unsure of what to do but after calling our pastor and talking to him we decided to go ahead and have the services anyway. Good thing we did because there was no drill while we were there (10am til 1:45pm)! The guys who come to our services would have been left in the dark too as to why we didn't show up so.. Glad we did it anyway.
All of you ladies are doing really well with your plans and weight loss!! Keep it up!! I can't remember who asked (I think maybe Betsy) if all I had was smoothies and the answer is no way.. I try to start the day well with lots of fruits and veggies.. but I eat normal foods (as in, not blended up into a smoothie) for the rest of the day. yesterday for lunch I had leftover homemade chicken noodle soup.. that was good!! Homemade chicken salad (vs. store bought) sandwiches for supper.. there goes the bread again.. hahahaha...
Ok.. I will do better with personals when I have a bit more time but wanted to sign in and write a bit before a whole week went by.. time flies when you're not paying attention!!! Have a lovely day and very happy Thanksgiving!!!

Betsy ~ LOL about my schedule, Thanks for saying I'm a good Dog Mama.

Ubee ~ WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so good to see you posting again. Thanks for saying I'm a good dog mama. I will definitely enjoy my days with him.

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Woke up at 5:30 this morning, Its around 10 a.m. right now. I'm gonna do my 2 miles at 1:30 today and then I'll do 1 mile at 8:30 or 9 pm tonight. I also need to finish my laundry before 1:30 this afternoon. I cant wait until tomorrow, We're all getting up early tomorrow morning to get the food ready for the afternoon. I'm making Deviled Eggs and Strawberry Cheesecake Salad. My brother is making his pies tonight and My mom is gonna get the ham and turkey ready in the morning before she goes to work at 10, She'll get off of work at 2 pm. Its gonna be a full house tomorrow.

What is everyone else doing for Thanksgiving tomorrow?

This will truly be a short one for me today -- I know that is a shock -- but wanted to wish all the American chicks a very Happy Thanksgiving and everyone a very wonderful day. And, yes, I did manage to stay out of the chips and fritos. Miracles do happen!

Hello Everyone ... Im Tami, living in Northern VA and new to 3FC. I came across your thread and although it seems you all have a pretty tight group here I thought I would stop in and meet everyone.