Dagnabit, I hit a weird key and just lost a lengthy catch-up post. Let's see if I can remember...

Debbie, Spores, Chocolate and whoever else is losing:

Holly, I'm so sorry to know that you have to deal with family shi-stuff. Nobody can cut you to the quick as well as your loved ones, right? I know that you won't let somebody else's pettiness get to you.

Sandi--I've been moping around with shin splints for over a week now. My calves are really strong, but I'm not good about stretching the front of my legs, and I really stepped up my walking this past month. This has happened to me before, so I cut back on the long walks, ice my shins and whine a lot.

Girlie, you sound like you're doing great Susie, I hope you're having a good day.

My TOM weight came and went last week, hooray, and I should be able to post a lost this weekend, despite not going to the gym much (shins hurt like the dickens) or doing a lot physically. I'm back to my normal eating plan, now that the hormonal craving for sweets is gone, and my social life has slowed up a bit. On Friday I have a job interview that I feel really good about. Even if I don't get (or want) this job, I'm happy thinking that by mid-summer I'll have a different job situation. This year has been filled with stupid stress--as opposed to productive, adrenaline-rush stress. I don't intend to let this happen to me again.

Sorry to be gone so long. Keep up the good work, ladies!

judy

Hey everyone,
I've messed around this am and don't have time for much. Just wanted to wish everyone a great day. I've stayed op, except I did't make it to curves yesterday. I plan to go this am. If I get the move on. I'll do personals later. Off to the shower....

BIG HUGS TO ALL

I sat down and couldn't get up!
That was me last night. Everybody and their brother has been cutting grass out here since the weekend. Lots of pollen floating around.My head is foggy!!!
Good day yesterday. Took the kids bike riding in town after supper. Met another family and the Mom and I walked. There is no place to walk or ride here so I toss the bikes in the van and go to town.
I sat down to watch Idol and didn’t get off the couch till 11.It was restful to say the least. I did gather the trash for this morning.


Finished the revision on the handbook but my printer bunged up, arg! Council meeting tonight.
Only 3 little people today. All of them nap in the aft!!!!!
I ate icecream last night.
It was steamy and humid all day but we didn’t get the rain. I wanted it for my grass seed. Sunny and clear today.
Might do some weeding.
I will do yoga!!!!!!

Have a funky day!!!!

Judy: Glad to see you back, and glad to hear things are going pretty well. Yikes, sorry to hear about the shins. Take care of yourself!

Debbie: Good luck making it to Curves this morning! Go go go!

Holly: Good luck at the council meeting. You do so much amazing stuff!

Yesterday I surprised myself. I had expected to work 8:30 to 4:30, but the evening person called in sick, and my boss asked me to work 8:30 to noon, then come back and do 3:00 to close. I thought I would spend those three hours off eating lunch and messing around on the computer, which I did, but I also got my walk in! Usually I would use the extra work hours as an excuse not to exercise, and I am so pleased I managed to overcome that habitual thinking.

Unfortunately, I turned right around and ate junk for dinner. Chipotle AND Dairy Queen! Bad idea. But here’s a cool thing: This fitday software I’ve been using is pretty detailed. You enter what you eat and what activity/exercise you do, and it calculates all kinds of stuff for you, including this neat graph that shows calories consumed versus calories burned. Now, usually after a fast food binge, I am all discouraged and the week goes downhill from there. But I diligintly entered my fast food naughtiness into fitday, and even though I was WAY over on the calories I’d planned to eat, my calories consumed were still under (barely) my calories burned. It really allowed me to see in black and white (well, blue and pink, really) that falling off the plan does not mean some horrible failure that can never be rectified.

I’ve been feeling quite positive all week (I know, it’s only Wednesday, but still). Maybe it’s because school is out. Maybe it’s because I have started taking a multi-vitamin with plenty of B-6 and B-12. I dunno. But I’m feeling good about it. Thanks to all of you for your support!!

Spores~ ride that wave!!!!!!!

hello chicks!!
no i didn't drop off the face of the earth. i have been spending all of my used to be computer time puttering around outside. by the time i come in the house at night i am bushed! i have parts of the garden planted, weeds are semi under control. the pond is running smoothly and the fish are very happy once again. i had a really BAD week last week eating like a crazed woman. TOM came and i am better now, thankfully moving my butt around a little more helped keep the gain to a minimum. i am doing so far so good this week, taking the best care of me that i can. still busy with baseball and softball games most days after work, fun but time consuming. i really feel like i have been neglecting you all i am sorry. i think of you all very often! i hope the moms all had a nice mothers day, i did. we just puttered around all day. my dd made breakfast and dh made dinner. very nice day!

holly- sorry to hear the family is giving you a hard time. hope it all gets sorted out soon.

spores- good for you walking when the dreadmill gods kept cutting off your power! ROFL keep making good choices!!!

girlie- keep up the good work girl! good luck to DH with the job!! how's softball going?

judy- good luck with the weigh in! sorry to hear about your shins! take it easy!!

debbie- great job!!! keep up the good work!

mychoice- good for you getting some help at work!! i hope sunday was nice for you we are all mothers at heart! the little ones in your life are very lucky to have a special friend like you! i too have gained and lost the same 5lbs for way too many months!! heck i could of been done by now if i could just keep at it. the race is still on! we are going to make it!! stay positive!!!

madcatz- you rock!!! great loss keep with it!!
i have a feeling that i missed someone if i did sorry! big hugs to all!! have a great week!!!
xoxox

Hello Everyone,
It's been a very busy week, but I've not been crazy with it! I've left work all this week by 5:15 pm. Yeah for me!

I haven't gotton in much exercise this week. Only 2 days, but I've got to remember I told myself for the next 5 weeks until school is out, I am only accountable for 3 days of working out, and 3 days of posting. If I get more..great..but somewhere I have to keep that balance.

Hoping for good things at the scales tomorrow night.

Holly: Did you get the thing your were working on printed out? I can't wait until someday when you are a famous writer and all of us "Race" girls come to your book signing.

Debbie: You are doing so well! I'm so happy and proud of you.

Spores: Great job with the fitday and the exercise...keep making those little changes..you are working on a lifestyle here..so they count!

Judy: I hope all goes well with the new job.

Ladies, it's storming here and my Dh is freaking out because I'm on the computer.

Got to run!
Susie

Good morning everyone,
I did fair on food Yesterday til dinner. I made fried chicken, And I ate 2 pieces. I
had a very active day so maybe it won't be so bad. I also love fit day. I keep up with it for a few days then forget about it for a while. I'm going to try again.
Very busy day today. I'll get plenty of activity.

Susie: Take time to take care of yourself. I hope the storm wasn't too bad.
We can have really rough weather in the spring.

Jodi: great to hear you are doing so well. keep in touch.

Spores: Yea!! Keep up the great work.

Holly, Sandi, chocolatecat, and Judy:
Hellllooo.
I just saw how late its gotten I have to
be ready to leave in a few minutes.
Have a great day

I emailed the handbook to the principal and he printed it. I want to thank everyone for their concern about the family woes. It is really okay. I talk about it here because they are one of those niggly things that are in my head, that if I dont let it out it eats at me.It is not the biggest thing in my life.
Our glorious principal is retiring this year and our new principal was at the meeting last night. She seemed very keen and interested. She has been offering to come to school events from now till the end of the year!!!!!!
She wants to call me and discuss the handbook. Cool.
She had good hair and funky jewellery(LOL).Her name is Vivianne(thats cool too) I liked her a lot.

I ate comfort food yesterday(again).sigh.

Gotta feed the boy. Have a good day.

Holly: Thanks for the encouragement!!

Jodi: Glad to see you! Glad your gardens are sprouting; it can be so nice to get out into the dirt. Keep up the grat attitude – you’ll nip that gain in no time.

Susi: Glad work is calming down. Good for you for the 2 days of exercise. You have succeeded right there! Don’t get discouraged – you’re on the right track.

Debbie: Hope your active day is going well. Don’t feel too bad about the fried chicken – today is a new day!

Well, ate badly last night at dinner, but am back on track today. Found out last night that BF has high cholesterol! Yikes! He is awfully young to have any health concerns; we’re not even 30 yet! And his dad was just diagnosed with colon cancer, so he is rather worried about his health. Poor guy. I really want to help him with this and be supportive. No more french fries and cheeseburgers. I am going to really commit to cooking healthy low-fat meals and not giving in to fast-food cravings. It’s funny, I am terrible at doing that for myself to lose weight, but now that it’s a concern for him, I don’t think I’ll have much trouble. It’s funny how easy it is to do things for other people, but when it’s just for me, I balk. We are going to start walking together too. I’m rather excited at the thought of doing this whole healthy/active thing with him. In the past I have not wanted to bother him with it (not that he would mind), and I felt shy and self-conscious about it. But the prospect of doing it together, as a team, makes it so much less daunting. I just want him to be healthy; and me too, of course.

Good morning,
I just realized when I was typing that it was Friday the 13th!! Makes me want to go and rent the movie.

I had my TOPS weigh-in last night. I was down .25 lbs...not much..but I'll take it.

I've got a busy weekend. My family reunion is tomorrow, and it's suppossed to rain. We are having it at the local park. At least we have a shelter house. I just hope the whole day isn't a wash out.

I also have a take home Accounting test. I know that sounds easy, but it isn't. The problems take a long time to work out, that's why she lets us take them home. The last test took me 4 hours to complete.

My TOPS group put out a challenge for next weeks weigh-in that we have all losses. The last two weeks have not been good for us. So, that's the challenge. We are calling it, all in the black...meaning that the weight recorder will not have to use her red pen. So, I need to work hard on that this weekend.

Holly: That's great about the handbook.

Spores: I'm really excited about you and BF being able to work on this healthy lifestyle together. I think it will be a big help to you.

Jodi: I missed responding to your post the other day. You should take a picture of all your gardening for us. I'm starting to get interested in it. I"m not much of an "outside" chore person, but I'm starting to like to look at flowers and such and I think to myself, I should just try that. I did some planters last summer and will be doing some more. My Father-in-law loves to garden and plant, so he's helping me.

Debbie, Girlie, Judy...and anyone else I'm missing....hope you are all doing well.

Ok..ladies...got to run.

I won't be around much this weekend. Hopefully I'll make it here on Sunday.
Susie

What am I stuffing down?????
I have been eating things like icecream mid aft and again before bed.I made roast beef, potatoes and gravy the other night. Definitely comfort food. As with anything it is never simple or any one single thing. Physically it is allergies. This is the worst time of year for me. Meds help but I drag and I get a little down. I just plain dont have my usual energy. In the evenings all I can do is lay down and rest by about 9pm.
I feel frustrated. I think I am craving carbs for the energy. If I was thinking I would grab some fresh veg!
It makes me sad that my family does not value me. As a parent I can not imagine not going all the way no matter what it was my kids needed.I dont make it about me and as exhausting as it is I never dont want to be the best parent I can. My son is a royal pain in the ***. I cant imagine thinking, saying or behaving as if it was too hard to be his parent. That was my childhood. AND i was not as difficult as my son.
Breaks my heart.
So 40 years into this life I still have underlying feelings of ......... something. Loneliness. Disappointment. Why am I so hard to love?......
The upside is that I am true to myself, totally love myself, deeply loved by hubby and my kids, loved by the friends who matter......................it is good balance.

Anyhow those are today’s thoughts. I will give them wings and not eat icecream for lunch today!!!

Hello Ladies....

I have missed so much I cannot possibly do personals, however I read every one of them. You all sound great. Even the negative isn't that negative. Congrats to all.

I was sick last week with the URI, ear infection, and sinus, missed one day at my new job. I hated that. I felt guilty but was truly sick. This week has been better, however have ate like a pig, and am starting to oink.

Did not make it to TOPS last week, was sick, and this week I had my standing hair appt., which I got moved from Tuesday to Thursday, so I won't miss anymore TOPS meetings. A little scared to step on the scales, for fear of failure. I can tell it will be bad cause my panties don't fit me well.

Anyway, all have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs Annie

Annieeeeeee!!!! missed you. You have til next Tues to pull it together. Start right now!!!!

Hello everyone...I'm SO sorry for being so...well, gone!
Today has been kinda crazy. Computer crashes, billing and I accepted a job offer...

...so the next two weeks are going to be crazy with trying to roll over my projects and duties to someone else and getting everything updated and ready to transition.AHHH

BUt I start vacation on May 25th, and will be gone until June 4th...then I start my new job on June 6th.

Very eventful and stressful yet exciting. I just keep thinking...two weeks from today, I'll be in rural Virginia, enjoying the mountains, the small town and southern home cooking....GULP...did I say that?!!!!

Our computer crashed at home as my husband was working on his final paper to graduate from grad school...so, I doubt I'll be able to update at all this weekend.

So have a great weekend all, and I'll post on Monday.

girlie