Did my circuit workout this morning and then got dinner (lunch) ready, gave mom her bath and got her dressed to go shopping. DS and his GF came along which certainly helped me. We spent a pleasant afternoon shopping at the grocery store and mall. We bought a new TV and DVD player for the basement and loads of groceries (at least they cost as much as loads should have).

Then we came come and had pizza and French fries (oven) and a nice homemade Caesar salad--all within my calorie allowance for the day. So I feel good tonight.

Weigh in tomorrow....(((shudder))).... It's not that bad but I get anxious to know if I've lost anything. Been on plan all week. Never went over calories and got in my exercise 6 days this week.

What a nice warm summer day we're having here in Newfoundland. I was going to cook a big dinner but it's hot dogs on the BBQ tonight. I'm making a broccoli salad with raisins, "bacon" bits, onion, and sunflower seeds or almonds; a warm potato salad and slices of huge tomatoes I bought yesterday. I'm really hungry now because I haven't eaten since breakfast. (I slept in this morning so breakfast was really late.) I've got to punch everything into fitday to make sure I don't go over my calories but I probably won't as I've eaten very little so far.

I got in a good workout but it was too warm to really exert myself too much, but I got it done. Now for a shower and a new sundress I found in the closet that I'd forgotten I owned. I bought it a couple of years ago but it didn't fit so I put it away until it did and now it does!!! So I've got to wear it every warm day we have because by next year it'll be way too big.

Hi Isabella and Chickies!
I am back! I had a great vacation, but I did not take my labtop so I have been incommunicado for 10 days. I missed this place...without support it is easy to start down that slippery slope of inattention to one's goals and desires (so far as weight loss goes, anyway).

But, I did lose one pound on vacation. I did not eat entirely on plan, but what I ate off plan I ate small amounts of...like ColdStone ice cream! I have never had it before, it was a treat I had been looking forward to. And, I walked and snorkled and kayaked and swam and body surfed and shopped the mall (that was one of the longest hikes I did!)

I really liked your sundress story, Isabella. Congratulations for fitting into it! Are you going to get one for next summer that you can look forward to wearing? I found a pair of cropped pants that I haven't been able to wear in a couple of summers right before my vacation. I wore them during vacation and made sure they did not start to get tight again while I was gone! They were a good gauge for me as I was without a scale.

Your broccoli salad sounds delish, as my nieces would say! The broccoli in my garden got all fried up...while I was gone we had some very hot days. But, I have a bumper crop of bean greens and lots of tomatoes and tomatillos. Tomorrow I am going to make some verde sauce and some pico de gallo.

Do you make your warm potato salad like German potato salad, with bacon and vinegar? My mom always made it that way and I hadn't had it in ages and found a recipe for it this summer and took it to a barbecue. It got gobbled up.

My MIL gave me a wonderful old dutch oven that she had had for years and was no longer using, so tonight for dinner I tried it out and made some chicken cacciatori with tomatoes from the garden. It was a great dish to just simmer while trying to get caught up with everything around here. Sauce with fresh tomatoes is so good. It has that tomato tang that is so appealing. Yep, it is harvest time!

Well chickies, I am glad to be home. Time to go to bed, though.

Sheri

Welcome back Sheri. I just checked the Accountability thread and noticed you'd landed in Onederland. Wow!!! You must feel great. Sounds like you had a great vacation and I would've had the ice cream, too. Last summer we were in Prince Edward Island (I was not dieting at all then) and I had a $6 ice cream cone at???? (can't remember). Boy, was it good. My husband just walked away shaking his head. (Not at the cone size but at the price, ha, ha.)

I haven't bought a new sundress yet but I did pick up a nice little black linen/cotton jacket this week half price off the half price tag. It's a size 9 so I expect to be able to wear it around Christmas or just after. It's great fitting into new clothes. I have a winter coat I bought a few years ago that I'd never worn because it was too small when I bought it. I had ordered it from Sears and when it arrived it just didn't fit but I kept it as it was a great bargain and I thought I'd lose the weight. I never dreamed it would be almost 3 years later. The coat is still a little tight but by November it should fit perfectly. Your jeans were a good weight indicator during your vacation.

My hot potato salad is similar to a German potato salad. I'm vegetarian so I skip the bacon and replace it with simulated bacon bits. It was lower in fat because I only used about a teaspoon of fat in the dressing when cooking the onions, etc. But it has the vinegar thickened sauce. It was good.

Now to exercise in a few minutes when breakfast has fully settled a little further down the digestive track. I'll make the bed and iron a dress and start to hem a couple of pair of pants for the fall (more smaller clothes I had poked away ). No dinner to cook today-loads of leftovers from last night.

Good Morning . . .

Bet that ice cream place was COWS, Isabella . . . really great stuff, but definitely not cheap.

After a very stormy evening and night, this morning was absolutely glorious --cool, dry, sunny -- but it is clouding over again, now.

Have a great day . . .

Good morning chickies, I'm in a blue funk again. Gained 2+ lbs from yesterdays weigh in. I haven't stayed on my plan this week at all and I haven't gotten in as much exercise as I had planned. My whole body is aching, like it does when the weather is going to change, but it doesn't sound like we are in for any major changes for several days, so what is going on ? I know I have eaten some salty foods so I am hoping that it is just water weight and it will go away in a day or two. Just needed to cry on someone's shoulder, thanks for being here. I feel better already. Maybe after I get some laundry folded I can get on the treadmill. Donna

Hang tough, DONNA . . . this is a lifetime journey and we can't let one little jog in the road get us completely off track . . .

Thanks Meowee, I always know I can count on you! It just seems like it takes so long and I know from experience that it took me almost 5 years to get from 160 to 130. I just don't get serious enough. I'll stay in the battle though I won't give up!!!

Hey, Donna, we've got broad shoulders here. Cry away and then get goin' on plan the rest of this week.

Meowee, Cows is the place. Great ice cream. I had the super duper waffle cone, dipped in chocolate, edged in chopped nuts and I think 3 scoops of ice cream (thus the $6 price)!

Wonder of wonders, I actually got my exercise done, 2 pair of pants cut off, pinned and ironed up ready to sew, 2 dresses ironed, bed made, mom/DS/me fed, counters cleared off, dishes done and supper planned. I must be in someone elses body!!!

Oh, I bought ice cream earlier this week and we opened a box of maple swirl tonight. Ohhhhhh.....was it ever good. I could have eaten the whole container. Stopped before I ate a full cupful but I did have a good serving. It was the best maple ice cream I've ever eaten. But I think I've got it under control now. Anyway it will probably be gone by tomorrow with the crowd I've got here. I didn't go over calories but I sure could have.

ETA: Had to go post in the Accountability thread before I did any more damage. Once I post I try not to eat any more for the day.

Thanks Isabella. I'm back on plan today. Think I'm ready to start again. I guess that is what it is all about. If you don't succeed try try again.
Love you gals, thanks. Donna

You're welcome, Donna.

Funny thing about that ice cream I had yesterday. Yesterday, the maple ice cream was the best I'd ever tasted. I had a quarter cup after supper tonight and it just tasted normal and nothing special. Last night I could have eaten the whole tub and tonight the small serving satisfied my sweet tooth and I didn't go back for another lick.

I went for my walk today and got caught in the rain. I stayed out and finished my walk as I was already wet by the time I walked past my house. I was totally drenched--every crack and crevice. I came in and made supper and now I'm sitting here in an old housecoat thinking about getting a nice bubble bath and/or coloring my hair. And wouldn't you know it-it's raining again.

Hi Chickies,

Yesterday, I was active all day. That is part of my plan...to stop being a couch potato. I am an English teacher, so I read, write, grade papers and plan, plan, plan. It is a very sedentary lifestyle/career and I have realized how inactive I have become. When I was younger I did a lot of activities, but my career is so all-consuming that my active time has been gradually eroded to where I just spent time sitting and sitting. And, the less you do, the less you feel like doing! This summer, when I went on my diet, I decided that I would try to have a couple of days per week during which I was active all day. So, yesterday a friend asked to me go jet-skiing. I have never done it and thought it would be a great adventure. It was lots of fun and I walked, and swam and skiied all day. Tomorrow I am going to scrub the carpets in the house...do you think that qualifies!?

Isabella, does it normally pour during the summer there? Yeah, once your wet, it really doesn't matter if you are more wet. It rains a lot here during the winter and that has held me back from walking during the winter. I have a friend who puts on her rain gear and goes out walking anyway. She leaves a fire going so she can warm up quickly when she gets back from her walk. So, did you opt for the bubble bath, coloring your hair, or both? Ice cream is a weakness for me, too. It is the one splurge that I allow myself occasionally. My dad loved homemade ice cream and we made it often during the summer. I suppose it is a comfort food. He had a peach orchard, so peach ice cream with chunks of peaches in it is heaven food to me. I am glad I now have the money to buy premium ice cream occasionally...one of life's small pleasures! Hey, thanks for cuing me about Onederland! I realized that it had been about two years since I had been there, so yeah!

Donna, I am glad you are back on track. Somewhere here I read when the scales fail, go to the tape. Maybe you are gaining muscle and losing fat?

Well, I had my little dog spayed, gotta go get her from the vet and then take my son to the doctor. He seems to have picked up strep throat. Our vacation keeps on giving!

Sheri

Well, yesterday I colored my hair and had a bubble bath and slipped into a pair of satin pjs that finally fit again. My hair is now a dark golden blond as opposed to a brassy sun bleached yellow, ha, ha. It doesn't rain here in summer any more than in the fall or spring. We just had hard showers yesterday. I'm surprised we didn't have thunder and lightning. We get a fair amount of precipitation (snow and rain) being an island in the Atlantic.

Glad you didn't get your son and dog mixed up. Sounds like you had a great day yesterday. I'd rather swim and jet ski than clean carpets, but they must be done. BTW, I taught for 31 years but it was mostly in the primary grades so I got lots of running around done during the day with squirmy 6 and 7 year olds.

It's hot here today and I didn't get any exercise done yet and probably won't now. But if it cools down later on and I have any energy left, who knows what will happen.

My new stove arrived today and I want to try baking a small cake to test it out. My old one was never level even though I complained about it, it never got adjusted. But today we got out the level and worked on the little legs going up and down until the bubble was in the middle of the level. I also want to see if it under or over bakes everything. Maybe its just an excuse to bake a bake.