Hi guys.

It's been a strange day for me. I've felt hungrier than usual...and guiltier than usual. Although, I'm not sure I have anything to feel guilty about. My goal is to eat like a skinny person...so I can become a skinny person. So that's what I've been doing...but since I'm not officially counting calories or anything sometimes I get this feeling that I shouldn't have had something. Example, I had a slice of bacon on an egg sandwich for breakfast. Afterward, I really felt bad that I had added the bacon. Then I tried to tell myself that even skinny people occasionally have it...so now what? haha I think my hunger is stemming from boredom so I went and got a new book from the library. Hopefully that will help during the times when I don't have a whole lot going on. I'm also going to get my scrapbook out later this evening and do a few pages. I don't allow myself to have food anywhere near it...so that's a great diversion!

Cheryl - Hope court went ok this morning. I have considered fostering many times but what it boils down to in the end is I'm a scaredy cat and a terrible worrier. I just couldn't bring troubled kids into my home where I have my own kids to take care of. That's fear and worry on my part...not an opinion of what your doing. Please understand that. I admire you and hope someday I can get over my own anxieties in order to help those who are born into such unfortunate circumstances.

Linda - Have you managed to keep your home a 3 cat home so far? haha I had to laugh because we're getting a new kitty and I'm so excited I'm about to bust. A friend of a friend has one she's giving away...and he's already a great big lap kitty!!!! Just what I wanted. Problem...his name is Posey...can you imagine??? I'm changing it, though. I figured, if he was a stray I wouldn't know his name anyway so hopefully it won't mess up his whole life. haha I think we're going to call him Hank.

Louie - So your big test continued today? Do you finish up tomorrow? How did it go? I'll bet you can't wait for it all to be over! If I ever have any fish farming questions I'll certainly know to start with you! haha

Erin - Hope you enjoy that new furniture! Although, the moving everything around and general upheaval really is the pits! I hope it goes smoothly and quickly comes together for you!

Well, I think that's all for this moment. Just a general question....what's an NSV?

Talk later, girls!
Tricia

Good Morning-

At last we have cooler temps here...apparently it will be in the 70's all weekend! In honor of this, I have decided that I am leaving work around noon, and getting a head start on my weekend!

Tricia- don't feel bad about how you are eating at all-remember that you are making changes for life, not just for the time being. You are on the right track...

Linda, I have two very active cats that are 11 y/o, and have been toying w/the idea of getting a kitten, just so that God Forbid something happen to one of the older cats, the other wouldn't be lonely.

Erin, You're right-Orange definately isn't my color, and picking up garbage on the side of the road does little for me either! And...I'm w/Tina, spill the beans on the furniture- details please!!!

Robbin-great news on the ticker movement! Pizza Huts around here are pretty bad, but for low cal/I may have to try it!

Tina, I could never have kids, because God Forbid they find out about 1/2 the things I have done! I always wonder how we've all made it as far as we have, without all of the things that kids have today-and doing all of the things that we would never allow our kids to do today! Times have changed, that is for sure!

Cheryl, hope everything went well at court-I imagine that it was a long day-hopefully you can use the weekend to relax...

Louie, almost done w/the exams, or are you finished now? I'm sure you've done well!

And with that, I am off...Happy Friday everyone!!!

Morning girlies! Hope all is well with ya'll today! We have had temps at 100 the last few days with humidity in the 90% range. I just know ya'll want to come visit don't ya....NOT!!! Actually, i am tolerating it better than i usually do. Back to that exercise thing making me feel better about sweating. Plus central heat and air are a GODSEND!!!! Well, got so busy cleaning and rearranging furniture that i never even ate supper. My blood sugar was higher than normal though this morning which really confuses me. Any thoughts on that Linda??? Anyway, i know that is not healthy regardless of how you look at it. I was so tired last night though that i didn't even want to take a bath!! Went to bed with my grandma beads still on!!! (let me know if you don't get that!)

Ryanmi - I am getting new bedroom furniture. We got it from ROOMS TO GO, the Santa Cruz line, you can see it on line if you want. We got the wrap around bed instead of the sleigh bed though. But this has caused me to rearrange the whole house in order to bring this in. But i am getting rid of a lot of stuff that should have been gone a LONG time ago! Well enjoy your cooler temps and the early start on the weekend, you need it!!!!!


Tina - what a busy day! Hope it didn't run you too ragged. I think you were lost in the computer wasteland when i talked about this last so sorry i left you hanging. I am getting new bedroom furniture. I actually got the bed about a month ago but they couldn't deliver the rest until now. This will be the first time since childhood that i have had matching bedroom furniture and even then it was hand me downs. I am feeling like such a grown up! Gotta tell ya though, all the moving of furniture/cleaning to make room and get ready has me feeling like an OLD grown up! Hate to think how i would have felt if i had not been dieting and exercising some before all this!

Tricia - sounds like you are being a little hard on yourself, although i understand very well!!! It is so scary when you are trying to make a change like this, anything that seems a little like our old ways is "wrong" in our minds. what i am trying to do is lighten up and keep moderation and balance in mind. Look to the big picutre for the week. are you keeping things in range and balanced? if the answer is yes then you will be that skinny person one day! Scrapbooking does sound like a wonderful diversion. I have several friends who are into that and have tried to get me on board. I have resisted so far, i think if i ever start i will go crazy! Hang in there and try not to be too hard on yourself! Oh and NSV is non-scale victory, any of those little things that help you realize you are losing and doing good things for yourself that doesn't involve the stepping on the scale!

Well girls gotta make like i am a working worman here and get on the move. will check in later. Anyone getting any PM from Michellrp, not like her to be gone for so long? MIIIIICHELLLLE, where are you, we miss you! Also Shawn seems to be a little awol too, SHAAAWWWWN, do those twins have you tied up somewhere??

Have a good one ladies! Erin

Hi ladies. Just dropping in. I'm trying not to stay away.

I can't go food shopping until next week so my goal for the next week is to at least not GAIN any weight. That's feasible. And I'm really trying to up my water intake. My feet are so swollen that I know some of this weight is pure water. Plus, it's so hot here that all I want to do is drink water anyway.

Good Morning Ladies !!

Well I survived.. I am all done !!! Now I just have to wait the 8 weeks for the marks to come out... so need to try to put them out of my mind and relax for the remainder of the summer. I had a terrible sleep last night.. all through exams I had no problem sleeping and then last night I am all done and at 1:00 I was still starring at the clock

Erin ~ your holidays will be here before you know it. Are you going away or just enjoying some relaxing time at home ?

Tina ~ you make me sound like Martha Stewart LOL Actually it has been pretty easy.. hubby does all the cooking and I have just maintained the necessary housework. However, that will all change starting today as the house cleaning begins.. BLEECH !!

Tricia ~ sounds like you are doing well on your plan. Diversions, like reading and crafts, always help me stay out of the kitchen too.

Ryanmi ~ enjoy your little bit extra long weekend.. you deserve it !!

TeaHoney ~ Nice to see you

Michelle, Robbin, Liza, Cheryl, Meowee (hope I am not missing anyone) ~ have a great day !!

Well I am off to brew me some coffee and see if I can shake these cobwebs out of my brain. Ciao for now

Good morning girlies. Hope everyone had a good night and got lots of sleep. I am running quite a bit behind today and do not have time for personals this morning. I will try to get back later.

The scales were nice again this morning and said 236, but I am not going to move the ticker till I get at least 1 more day with the same weight. I don't want to get all excited if it is just fluctuation.

Weather is beautiful here this morning with temps in the low 70's and not supposed to get over 88 today. We even have a chance for rain, which would be very nice because we are like 15 inches behind for the year.

Hubby is supposed to be home tomorrow, YAY. I am very ready for him to be back, I know it has only been 2 weeks but they have been very long. I really miss him when he is gone. I guess I better get used to it there is a rumor going around that he will be headed to Iraq in January for 18 months. Hopefully this stays just a rumor but from past experience it usually doesnt happen that way.

Well better get a move on. Check back later.

Hi Everyone -- I'm sorry I've been MIA for a few days, but I've been very very down with the situation of my mom, and I've just not felt like doing anything, including the computer. I know everyone keeps telling me that I need to put myself first, and believe me I'm trying very hard, but all I've done for the past three days is cry and be very depressed. I haven't spoke with my mom in over a week, and I haven't seen her in over two weeks. Her doctor and insurance have approved her to go to a facility that has a mental ward, and she will be there for up to two weeks. When she's there, she will be tested and evaluated by mental doctors and other specialists, to see if there is any medication that can help her, and what is her medical condition that has changed her mental status so drastically in the past couple of months. I just find myself constantly thinking of all the times I used to be able to take her out, and how now, I can't even have any contact with her, because she's taking herself away from all family. I'm hoping to get back on plan soon and get back to WATP too. Luckily I haven't gained any weight, but then again, I've had such an upset stomach this week that I haven't hardly been eating. Thank you everyone for thinking of me, and just know I'm thinking of all of you too and will be back soon!

Wow it's after 5:00 pm already and I don't know where the day has gone. Well, I guess that is not quite true . . . I was up very early and have just gotten up from my second nap . . . Our weather has turned all hot and humid again and I think a nasty storm is coming because my old 'weather-forecasting-migraine-prone-head' is hurting. The radio weather forecast is calling for this yicky stuff to continue until Tuesday . . . Oh joy.

You will all be happy to know I managed to remain a 3 cat household. Got thinking about all the turmoil of kittenhood (climbing the curtains, getting into unlikely and dangerous places, shredding the furniture) and decided that Frick and Frack would just have to live with somebody else. It was close, however. As you can see I had already given them names.

CHERYL Glad to hear your sewing room is getting back to normal. Hope the court trip went OK.

LOUIE Glad to hear the last exam went OK. The sleepless night is probably from the release of stress. Things work like that sometimes because you didn't have the ability to give in to the high stress level before . . . and now you do.

ERIN My guess would be you had a hypo during the night because your blood glucose level dropped too low so your liver took over and kicked out some glucose to keep you going and that's a good thing . . . but it always seems to give you too much of a kick and that's a bad thing. Okay, at my age I should definitely know what 'grandma beads' are, but I don't.

TINA Just reading about your day sometimes tires me right out but that's my old age sneaking up on me. The little gift package sounds terrific. Hope it was well received.

TRICIA Don't worry, girl, we all have those 'extra hungry and now I've blown it' kind of days. Just remember one day (or one slice of bacon) will not make or break the journey. Just keep doing the right stuff and the right stuff will keep on happening for you.

RYANMI So glad to hear your weather has cooled off. Enjoy your long weekend. Nice that the little weather timed things out so well.

TRACEY Glad you are hanging in there, chickie. Hot humid weather always turns my ankles into balloons, too, so I imagine quite a bit of your recent gain could likely be attributed to water. Hope it is soon gone (the heat/humidity and the www [weird water weight]).

ROBBIN Glad to hear you are looking at a spell of cooler weather too and hope you do get some much needed rain. Enjoy your weekend with your husband and I really hope that upcoming trip to Iraq stays just an ugly rumour (like to throw in one of those Canadian spellings once in a while, just to keep you all awake).

MICHELLE So sorry to hear about your troubles. Hang in there, girl. This too will pass. I know it's a big worry but in the long run, things will probably work out for the best. Stay strong . . . we are all here for you whenever you need to talk.

Tricia's 'slice of bacon' got me thinking about food additives . . . so here are some FFF on that topic . . .

. . . we each eat between 6 to 9 pounds of chemical food additives per year and the poor liver gets the job of breaking them all down for disposal. . . white bread may have as many as 16 chemical additives just to keep it fresh . . . the majority of food colouring agents are derived from coal-tars and are very carcinogenic . . . there are about 1300 natural and artificial flavouring agents available to food processors . . . processed meats (hot dogs, lunch meats, bacon, sausage) are so high in additives, colourings, and preservatives that they can easily deplete the body of the many nutrients needed to break them down, especially the stress fighting B vitamins.

Read those labels and try to practice moderation with the highly processed foods.

Have a great evening, everybody. Keep on moving and shaking and heading in the great downward direction. Here's a big shot of the good stuff to help us along . See you soon.

Happy Saturday !!

Up and feeling refreshed after getting a good nights sleep. Yesterday I went into work (just to see how everyone was doing) and they had a big bunch of flowers and a card for me and then they took me out for dinner.. how sweet Today the cleaning and resting continues....

Michelle ~ to you. Hang in there and take the time that you need. We will still all be here when you are ready to come back.

Robbin ~ yahoooo a downward scale move, thats gotta make ya happy.

Meowee ~ thanks for the dust !! Sounds like you are having some warm days, but I don't think I could put up with that humidity for too long. Our weather here on the coast has also gotten better over the past few days.. blue skies today.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable Saturday and is able to spend it doing something that they love

Good Morning Girlies

Well I'm feeling better today and hope the 'downer' feeling stays away! My mom finally called me last night to thank me for my note and pictures I had sent to her on Thursday. She said she had been having very bad bloody noses all week, but they finally had stopped. She's on blood thinner every day, and when her doctor ran tests the other day, he had to take her off the thinner for two days because her blood showed to be way too thin. I told her that's probably why she was having the bloody nose. She also said that her sugar level had gone so low yesterday, down to 60, that she was very dizzy, disoriented, confused and shaky. She said the nurse had her sit down and start drinking some orange juice and then she felt better. She has no idea that she will be sent to this mental facility very soon, and it was very hard on me knowing that she will, but I'm not able to tell her yet. Our weather today is supposed to get up in the low 90s, and tomorrow and Monday, it's supposed to be up in the 100s! This will be way too hot for me as I don't handle the heat too well when it gets anything past 80. I want to thank EVERYONE for all of your kind words, prayers and support that you have given me, and know that I appreciate it so much knowing that I have friends here that I can talk to and that you are all understanding, no matter how often I go on about this. On another site I have had a group of ladies I have talked with also for quite awhile, and they have been the exact opposite to me, and hurt my feelings so bad, that I no longer can type there anymore. It's just amazing that some people can be so harsh and know it alls when they haven't gone through anything like I have. I hope all of you have a great day and I will be back later to do personals.

Hi Louie . . . Have a wonderful, restful weekend.

Hi Michelle . . . Glad to hear your Mother is rallying a bit.

Hi everybody else, where are you hiding, today? Goodness it is so quiet here.

It is horrible and stormy today. Not too warm, but the humidity still makes it feel very oppressive. Weather network is now saying it will continue until Wednesday. Wow, I hope not. I already ache in places I didn't know I had. Doing a bunch of napping again today and so far avoiding the migraine that is just tickling around the edges.

Well wherever you are all hiding out, I hope you are having a fun time. See you later.

Hey ladies. I'm embarrassed to say I fell TOTALLY off the wagon. We went out of town for Fathers Day, I started out good, but ended up bad... then took advantage of it all week. And tonight I had a TOTAL binge to the point where I'm MISERABLE. So here I am... back again. Will you guys take me back, pretty please?? The guilt and anger are setting in pretty hard, and while I ready to start, I'm dreading it. But starting right now, nothing but water the rest of the night, and going to start counting points again tomorrow. One problem is, we are TOTALLY broke this week (until payday on Friday), but also have my stepkids all week... so have to go to grocery tomorrow and try to get some healthy stuff that they will eat. but that's all the more expensive stuff, too. Know I will get stepson some of the 10 for $10 pizzas, but gotta stay outta that stuff!!!

Anyhow, I guess I'll give myself a few days to regulate my body before I move that darn ticker back up. *sigh*

Thanks for your support! I need it!

Morning ladies!!! Missed yesterday and had some catching up to do, just so busy getting the house settled in again. Still not there but a whole lot closer. I love my new furniture! It is so pretty. Will try to get a pic and post it. Eating has been erratic at best but good foods at least. I know i am not drinking enough or getting anything close to a balanced diet. Maybe i can get a little better on line today!

Tracey - sounds like you have really got your head on right. Good plan to start with not gaining and then go from there. YOU CAN DO THIS!!! Just keep it simple and go one step at a time.

Louie - YEAH, i know you are glad to be done. Whew 8 weeks to wait is a long time! I'm sure you've done well and there is nothing to worry about. We will be driving to PA to visit my family there. We have a well packed week there with a family picnic sunday, 4th of July picnic tuesday and Amusement park on Thursday, then we leave out late friday or early Saturday to come home! 16 hours driving with a 4 and 6 year old can be pretty exhausting so we like to have Sunday to recover before we have to get back to the routine of life. Your cleaning and relaxing sounds like a contradiciton in plans. Glad to hear you got better sleep.

Robbin - I know you are glad to have hubby home. I would be crazy after two weeks, can't imagine 18 mos. I agree, hope that stays a rumor! I have so much respect for the military families, I don't think we civilians can ever really understand what ya'll go through. Big thanks to your hubby and you for all you do for our country!

Michelle - Oh my heart breaks for you. My father in law was mentally ill and I know what we went through with him. Hopefully your mom's situation is more related to her diabetes out of control or something easy to get back in line. I know we can all say don't worry and take care of you but when it's a parent it is just so hard. I will pray for you and your family. Remember you can lean on us wether you are dieting or not. We are still here to support you! Just read your post from saturday and ditto again. We are hear for you girl any way you need us! Glad to hear you are feeling better today!

Linda - stormy weather is going around. Just enough that i am unplugging everything at least once a day for a 20 minute shower. But we so desperately need the rain and after several days fo 100 degree actual temps and heat indexes over that we need it! Yeah on resisting the kitties, I know it was hard! Grandma beads are that little ring of dirt you get in the crease of your neck when you have been working and sweating in a really dusty environment. I actually didn't hear the expression until i moved south. Probably comes from working in the fields, gardening like SOOO many older ladies do around here. They will be in there 80's and 90's still out there in the garden come summertime. Glad to hear you are keeping that migraine gone. Can you take Imitrex? It is a migraine drug that if you take it early enough in the process can cure it!

Shawn - Oh girl have I been there!!! Don't go the opposite extreme though trying to make up for a bad time. Just get back on plan and stay with it and things will come together quicker than you think!!! It is so easy to let the one day turn into so much more. I have been a binger for many many years and even know can feel that desperation to fill myself with food when i know there is something else really going on. I do it with healthier stuff now, but quantity of anything is not good. Don't beat yourself up, just use that energy to motivate you on the right path! We're here for ya!

Well ladies gotta run, kids are up and I have to be hostess at the snack bar at church today to gotta get moving. Ya'll have a fantastic sunday and will see ya in the morning!

Good Morning, Gals

Nothing new to report for me... did more house cleaning and relaxing yesterday.. I could get use to this, but I am actually looking forward to getting back to work. In my opinion, it is much easier then that darn studying was !!

Michelle ~ so glad to hear that you are feeling better That is terrible about the other group that you post on. Unless you walk in someone's shoes you can't possibly know what they are going through. Keep that great attitude that you have and that smile on your face

Meowee ~ still storming out west ??? I sure hope that migraine doesn't get you !!!

Shyla ~ nice to meet you and glad that you came back !! Isn't it nice to know that you have a supportive group that you can come back no matter what has gone on. That is what I love about 3FC !!

Ryanmi ~ whooohoooo 2.2 lbs the girl is on fire !! Hope your trip to Target was successful. We don't have Target here in Canada, but it is a definate must do anytime I go down to the States shopping.

Erin ~ new furniture.. how nice. I am definately in the need for that as well, but too many things ahead of it on the list right now.. maybe within the next year. Your vacation plans sound like fun.. well except maybe the driving for 16 hours with 2 little ones (I have no kids and there is a good reason..LOL) Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Tina, Liza, Robbin, Tricia, TeaHoney ~ hope you are all having an enjoyable weekend.

Time for some coffee.. have a good one and I will "see" you all soon